Scrabble, Anyone?

Tuesday, March 1 is my mother-in-law's birthday. Happy Birthday, Donna!

Anybody else notice that the letters in "mother in law" can be rearranged to spell "woman Hitler"?? Didn't think so.

Bye Bye, Buddy

I've said a time or two (and thought about it a whole lot more) that having a pet was almost, but not quite, like I'm guessing that having a child will be (to a much less extent). If you don't mind sticking with my analogy here, Leah and I lost a child last week.

Our not-quite-5-year-old orange tabby, Teaser, died suddenly on Wednesday (For those wondering about his name, it came from a character in the musical Cats--Rumpleteaser). We got him when he was 5 weeks old, and Leah pretty much saw him as her first "on her own" pet; she wanted to get him as a companion to Sherwood. All indications are that Teaser had the feline equivalent of a heart-attack, so his suffering was minimal. It definitely hurt to lose such a spunky and unique cat. One of his most entertaining traits was an untrained ability and/or desire to play fetch--wadded up paper or aluminum foil could be thrown and returned numerous times. He had his share of health challenges--he had a couple of short multi-night stays at the vet's office, so we had definitely seen him in times of intense pain and trauma. Those were the times that it pained us greatly, and we only hoped that the future would get easier for him.

Teaser

May 19, 2000 - February 23, 2005

Teaser kicks back on the couch.

Teaser chills with his older brother Sherwood.

So long, Teaser. Sherwood and Grizz miss you, man. Not to mention Mom and Dad. You're gone, but you'll never be forgotten. Thoughts of you will ALWAYS put a smile on our face.

Checking the Schedule

Now that football is done for the season (I'm still seeking therapy), and the NHL season is a done deal.....wait, never mind, I don't give a rat's arsenal about hockey....forget I ever said that. Anyway, most sports fans' minds now turn to the first week in April. Baseball season!!

My Chicago Cubs have dumped off a bunch of dead weight in the form of Sammy "I can sure hit it a long way, but the rest of the time I'm striking out" Sosa, so I'm anxious to see how they do this year. I still remember being 5 outs away in 2003 until that Steve Bartman dork changed our destiny. (We were in Florida, and I was sitting on the couch in the condo, and I just said to my father-in-law, "Well, the Cubs are now 5 outs away from the World Series." That must've done it. )

A great opportunity for me to see the team from the Windy City lies in the "Gateway to the West"--St. Louis--These longtime division rivals lock horns for 16 games a year (i.e., 8 times in each city). Apparently the schedule-makers have recently become aware of this, and have begun mocking me by making it inconvenient to attend. The perfect situation would be for there to be 2 4-game series in St. Louis--either Thurs-Sunday or Friday-Monday. One of those being over a holiday weekend (Memorial Day, Labor Day, etc) would be an added bonus. No way!! This year, this is what we have:

• 3-game series in July: Friday-Sunday. Cool. As it turns out, this is probably my only shot.
• 3-game series in September: Monday-Wednesday. Gosh, those early week series sure bring in tons of folks, don't they?!
• 2-game series. Yes, you read that right--a TWO GAME SERIES, in April: Wednesday and Thursday. And just to make absolutely certain that I won't be attending that game, the Thursday game starts at 12:10--Lunchtime!!

There you have it. Oh, by the way, the 8 games in Chicago vs. the Cardinals are, you guessed it, 2 4-game, Thurs through Sunday series. Uggh. Maybe it's time to drive a little further and experience Waveland Ave.

Steve and Jeff also have a road-trip opportunity--the World Champion Red Sox play the Cards in a "World Series Pounding" re-enactment at Busch Stadium June 6-8. Of course, Jeff lives in the Braves' backyard, but Steve and I don't have the luxury of Major League Baseball being so close.

A New Addition to the (Virtual) Family

OK, ladies and gentlemen: It's time to do the peon equivalent of calling a press conference. Time to let the ole cat out of the bag. So start your digital recorders as I step up the mic. Please, all pagers and cell phones on vibrate, as a courtesy to all attendees.

CORDOVA, TN (AP)--Eric Russell, the webmaster of such popular Russell websites as http://home.midsouth.rr.com/ericnleah and http://ericnleah.blogspot.com formally announced today that he and wife Leah have secured the domain name russellbaby.com in planning for a future pregnancy and childbirth journal. Russell said that the site will link to an already existing blog by a similar name, and will be a constant source of updates as to the pregnancy planning and achievement.

Although he doesn't expect the site to compete with, nor have the huge visitor traffic, that long-time Russell webmaster Steven has (http://www.russellsabode.com), Eric stated that he and Leah are eager to share thoughts, experience, emotions, and the like will all friends, out of town family, and doggoneit, anybody that's fortunate enough to end up with a browser pointed there.

There you have it. A new website. No, Leah and I aren't pregnant. But we're trying. And not without some difficulty, which is partly the reason I created the blog. This was my brainchild, and nobody else's. I've actually been blogging since January 3rd, and Leah only found out about it a couple of weeks ago. In a nutshell, here's the scoop:

• Website is http://www.russellbaby.com Right now, there ain't much there.
• Blog is http://russellbaby.blogspot.com and is linked from the main site. Currently the comment feature is off--this is subject to change in the future.
• If I can remember the password, our email address through the site is myparents ATrussellbabyDOTcom
• I promise you......Site is very bare right now, but feel free to stop by as often as you wish!

Forget Waldo...Where's Abby??

So last Wednesday night, I'm at Kroger. In the "accounting room" with a really big safe and large amounts of cash to count. My cell phone rings, and it's my mother-in-law (aka Donna).

"I'm at your house......And Leah's in a lot of pain. I'm taking her to the E.R."

"Oh, crap. See you there."

So Wednesday night turned into Thursday morning. We rang in midnight in room 24 of the emergency room of Baptist East hospital (although technically, the "East" part has been dropped due to the absence of a "Central" location, but hey, this is the town of Memphis State University, right?!). What a nice gentleman that Dr. Enrique Guillermo was. No kidding.

You see, Leah's side was hurting a bit Tuesday night. She didn't really think anything of it and wasn't concerned. Started hurting a bit more Wednesday night. Thought it might be, uh, let's see......uh, gas. Before you armchair medics start screaming "appendicitis" at your 17" monitor--she had that out in high school. Turns out it was a grocery list of things:

• kidney infection
• bladder infection
• ruptured ovarian cyst

Ouch. So, Dr. Guillermo sent us home at 3 AM, complete with prescriptions for a pain killer and a "oops, did I forget to mention there isn't a generic" antibiotic. 25 bucks, 3 pills. That's $8.33333(to infinity) per pill. Damn, that crap better be good.

Thursday and Friday were days off of work, playing R.N. Fetching medicine, preparing cold wash rag after vomit session.....you know, all those things that seem to be the emotional polar opposite of standing on the ship deck, looking at the sunset over the tip of Aruba (did I mention that we've been there?). Saturday she eased back into normal activity and food, and by Sunday, she was as good as new. But had more laundry to do. : D

Where's Waldo?

Geez, it has been awhile, hasn't it? Sorry for the delay...I'm sure I have no worthy explanation which will exonerate me from your desired punishment. Actually, I'm trying to be just like my cousin Steve, with his recent "3 posts per week" policy. Just kidding Steve.

Last week I worked an inordinate amount of hours at the 2nd job (Kroger, for all you people who are competing for the rights to Eric Russell: The Authorized Biography) due to some folks on vacation and general need for quality, customer-focused personnel (at least, that's what I tell myself). Throw in some real estate work also, and it was quite a busy time!

This weekend I was busy caring for my under-the-weather spouse, who seemed to have either the flu or a distant third cousin of it. See, neither one of us has ever had the flu (Looking for large, heavy wood object to knock on), so it wasn't like both of us said, "Yep, this is it! Here it is. Uh oh, spaghetti O's!" All I know is that she had no appetite, had no energy, and the thermometer hovered between 100-102 degrees for a couple of days. At least, that was her excuse for missing 2 days of work and contributing absolutely nothing to the household. Just kidding, honey.

I upheld a somewhat yearly tradition on Valentine's Day by delivering flowers for our friend Regis. I've done this for several years, and it truly is something that a lot of fun (in a "drive around town 5 times in 6 hours" sort of way). Sure, there are some people who seem to almost expect the delivery, but others seem genuinely surprised and shocked, and you can tell that their smile will not fade anytime soon. From a single rose in a vase, to a 3-dozen rose arrangement accompanied by a mug of candy, I delivered them all.

That's all the blogging for now.....There should be more to come.

The Grass Is Greener.....On Another Field

Once upon a time, I kinda felt sorry for pro-athletes. I mean, they're essentially treated like property in a sense of "Oh, by the way.....We traded you to a city on the opposite coastline. Here's the number to our relocation department--good luck selling your house." Now, I'm sure it's not quite that blunt, but when you think about the wife, the kids, the kids' schools, and the practical side of having to learn a whole new city.

But these days, I'm convinced that average Joe Athlete deserves no sympathy because it's all about the Benjamins. Green. The cheese. You know what "loyalty" means? Squat. I sometimes believe the argument that a player wants to go to a team that has a better chance of winning a championship (who doesn't wanna win one or two of those in their career?). But more often than not, I think that it's all about the number of zeros and commas on the paycheck.

A recent article in The Tennessean (Nashville's newspaper) about departed members of the Tennessee Titans illustrates this quite nicely. They point out several folks that have been victims of team salary cap issues, but in my opinion, these people could've worked out a deal to stay if they really wanted to. They chose to be a free agent, they chose to explore their "market value", and they chose to not sign any new contract or extension. Look at this quote from John Runyan, who departed for the future-Super-Bowl-loser Eagles, addressing his departure:

''I knew I wasn't going to be a lifer in Tennessee. I don't think anybody is a lifer any more. Everybody is moving around....But it was a situation where I had to better my situation by going elsewhere. "

Translation: I had absolutely no intent of staying there. Never even entered my mind. Regardless of the situation, it's all about me, my ego, and my luxury car(s). I may make a kazillion dollars, but if another team offers me a kazillion plus $50, I'm outta here. Everybody's doing it, which makes it much easier to make myself feel better."

I know that sports are a business. I know there are hard decisions. But how is it that you have people like Brett Favre that care enough about their team, their city, and their organization to say, "Hey, I wanna stay here.....and I'll do whatever it takes."

Which makes it all the more hilarious when people like Mr. 2-yards, Eddie George, packs up and goes to Dallas for a little more cash. What does it get him? How about a broken streak of consecutive starts? Or games played? Or better yet, having to play the part of the opponent's running back in practice. Did you sleep well this season, Eddie?.....Cause the bed you made for yourself should've been comfortable.

Super Bowl "Contest"

Aside from a NCAA bracket contest every year during "March Madness," my office never really has been a participant in things such as office pools, fantasy leagues, and the like. So I decided to take the lead this year and organize the 1st Annual "Super Bowl score-selection contest." I was very careful about being fair and unbiased. The 10 x 10 grid is filled out--"X" axis is the Patriots and "Y" axis is the Eagles--and my numbers are as follows:

• Pats 8, Eagles 6
• Pats 7, Eagles 4
• Pats 9, Eagles 3
• Pats 0, Eagles 3
• Pats 1, Eagles 0

These type of contests have NEVER been friendly to me, but I figured I'd try again. So we'll see. Being that I think that Tom Brady and Company will have NO problem covering the 7-point line, I'm hoping that something like 27-14 is the end result. Show me the money!

Is It Really the Best Buy?

I got this $20 Best Buy gift card that I plan on using toward the purchase of Cheers--Season 3 that will complement my Season 1 and Season 2 boxes nicely.

Bestbuy.com has it for $34.99, but there's a catch: Can't use my gift card online. No problem.....I'll just go to the store. Well, it seems like there's a "you walked through our door" surcharge of $5, because the shelf price is $39.99. I guess $40 plus our almost-10% tax, minus $20 gift card credit (use the order of operations here--PRMDAS "Please Remember My Dear Aunt Sally) would still be better than paying full price online. But what's up with a 14.2857% price difference at the store?? Your employees aren't even that helpful (the ones I can find, anyway). Or cute.

In all fairness to them, there is a teeny tiny, 6-pica message at the bottom of the web page: "Online prices and selection generally match our retail stores, but may vary." But hey, it gives me something to blog (read: complain) about, and as of yet, I ain't sure what I'm gonna do about it. Just an observation about the blatant inconsistencies in retail America.

Getting a Stranger in the Sack

So a guy's dad passes away, and funeral home forwards a bag from the hospital, presumably pop's personal belongings--wallet, keys, spare change, pocket knife, etc. Not quite.

Smelling an odor that no doubt reaked worse that a week-old bologna sandwich in July, it turns out that it's a human limb. Thinking it might be dad's arm (part of it was apparently amputated during the illness), the son is somewhat optimistic that there's a perfectly logical explanation for this bizarre occurrence. No such luck.....It's actually a portion of a human leg, complete with a toe tag.

The funeral home insists it ain't their fault, because they don't open the bags of personal belongings. I bet that counseling to overcome this traumatic experience will cost him........(you can see this coming, can't you)........an arm and, well, never mind.

Give 'Em a "W" for Effort

I'm gonna try this post AGAIN.....I tried it a week or so ago, clicked "Save", and then the Blogger servers promptly laughed at my attempt, mocking my wasted time, and coughed back an error message. And didn't even apologize, either.

I've got to give 'props' to our Memphis Grizzlies. But this is a classic case of "To better appreciate where we are now, we must understand where we've been" type of thing (I'm sure Plato or Socrates or somebody said that more concisely, but oh well....)

It was 2001, and Memphis had just inherited a bad team. Proverbial laughing-stock of the NBA. Throw in some likewise inherited poor business decisions, bad trades, and then some key injuries....you had a recipe for NBA upside-down cake. Two friends of mine and I bought a "Power Pack" that season--an 11-game "mini-season-ticket" package. We witnessed lopsided losses. We saw 4th quarter leads evaporate. Every time a game looked promising, the result was the same--a LOSS. We said, being only partially facetious, that our goal for the year was to see a victory. I think we finally did--something that they only did 23 times that season (a 28% winning percentage).

Last year, the scrappy Grizzlies climbed into view on the NBA's radar of respectability. The previous season's record of 28 wins was blown to pieces with a 50-32 record. 50 wins and the playoffs! Even though we were swept by the mighty Spurs, I was actually at an NBA Playoff game (Game 3) involving my team. It was fun to be a fan again.

This season started slow (5-11 record). No big deal. Then, Coach Hubie Brown suddenly retires. Uh oh--that can't be good. Then, Don Poier, the only radio announcer the team has ever know, dies of an apparent heart attack while in Denver for a game vs. the Nuggets. And they had to play that night (they lost, by the way). Now the leading scorer, Pau Gasol, is hurt and gonna miss at least 5 games. Ditto for James Posey. Mike Miller and Bonzi Wells had to leave the game last night w/ injuries. What does all THIS translate to? Currently the Grizz are 26-20. 14-3 since Christmas. 3rd place in their division. If the playoffs started today, they would be the 6th seed in the West. All for a team that some in Memphis didn't want.

Keep it up, Grizz. You're doing this city some good. In a town that's recently made headlines for their Mayor's illegitimate kid and state Senator's multiple households, you're hustling, and winning, and making this fan proud to wear your logo on his cap. No lawsuits, no DUI's, no battered girlfriends. Just a 1st class team that I love. Go Grizzlies. And Rest In Peace, Don. I miss your broadcasts.