No More Blogging

Since I was kicked off of Adsense, I am not motivated to update this blog anymore. No, I can not tell you why they kicked me off because I do not know. Plus, it takes too much time even though I only updated this blog once or twice a week. Continue to keep up with the Welch's at http://welchfamilyhouston.blogspot.com/.

A Night of Hope

Gram and I went to Joel Osteen's Night of Hope show last night at the Mellon Arena. We had a fantastic time. It was nice to experience Joel live. His messages are very inspirational and from the heart. The music was phenomenal (you do not see this part of the service on his television show). It was like going to see a rock concert and he was the rock star.

This is my Bible: I am what it says I am; I have what it says I have; I can do what it says I can do. Today, I will be taught the Word of God. I'll boldly confess. My mind is alert; my heart is receptive; I will never be the same. I am about to receive the incorruptible, indestructible, ever-living Seed of the Word of God. I'll never be the same - never, never, never! I'll never be the same, in Jesus' Name.

Yes, I missed the Pitt game to go to this event. The guys at work said I missed a great game. Oh well. God was more important to me last night.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2008 Class

Or should I refer to it as the Pop and Roll Hall of Fame 2008 Class. The two notable inductees this year are Madonna and John Mellancamp sans Cougar. I would actually watch the live telecast if Madonna was performing. An inductee that is not dead or in rehab that will be in attendance will not perform. What a shame and slap in the face to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! I feel she is a very influential artist and is a fantastic entertainer. I think this move lacks class (no pun intended) on her part. She was the highlight of this year's class and is a pop pioneer. Maybe the Kabbalah juice has gotten to her head.
Anyways, enjoy the performance of Man on the Moon by 2007 Class Inductee, R.E.M and presenter Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam (Class of 2016? A band or performer is eligible 25 years after the release of their first record). R.E.M. exploded onto the music scene via the college airways. If it were not for them, we probably would not be listening to music by Phish, Dave Matthews Band, Bare Naked Ladies, and many others. It was a nice sight to see Bill Berry back again on drums after leaving the band due to health issues.

SURPRISE!!!

The South Hills Elderly Softball League MVP celebrated his 60th Birthday this past weekend. Please click on the following link to see pics and videos:

http://welchfamilyhouston.blogspot.com/2008/03/happy-birthday-pappy.html

Happy Birthday Big Play Ray!

Jack Welch Vacation Pics

My dad took his first journey away from this continent in his 54 year life. I envy him. I have only been as far west as Indiana and as far south as Tennessee. He and my Uncle Reed vacationed to Singapore and Thailand.

We watched the news every night to hear reports of a Hickory, PA man being caned for not following proper etiquette in Singapore and the punishment resulting in a caning. Remember Michael Fay?

Included are some pics from his trip. To see more of his travels, visit http://www.jack-welch.blogspot.com/.

Elephants love nuts!

Milkshakes

Eddie and I went to see There Will Be Blood a few weeks back. One of the lines by Daniel Plainview (The performance by Daniel Day-Lewis was one of the very best I ever witnessed) from the film has become very popular.

I drink your milkshake! I drink it up!

Saturday Night Live did a great job in spoofing the final scene from the movie.

Pitt beats Orange

I still can not get used to calling the Syracuse Orangemen the Syracuse Orange. Anyways, Pitt spoiled the Orangemen's lead in the final minutes and got Coach Boeheim T'd up. This win was a huge road win and assured the Panthers of a .500 or better Big East Conference record. I feel this locked up their NCAA bid.

Pitt beats Cincy

Last night's win against Cincinnati was a huge win (I can not believe I just said that). A loss would of been their fourth in a row, the Bearcats would have beat us two games this season, and another home loss would not have looked poor for the Tournament resume. Sam Young played great......and didn't miss any dunks. Let's see what happens against the Orange this weekend. I feel we can beat them.

Myron Cope

The Pittsburgh sports scene lost a legend today. Myron Cope passed away at the age of 79. My fondest memories of Myron are from his WTAETV days when he would close his segment with his famous line, Myron Cope ooooonnnn Sports (I could not stand listening to him on the radio. I would rather watch Randy Cross provide color commentary on TV. That's not a compliment for Randy Cross.) Although he will be remembered for his Terrible Towel and Double Yois!, the most important work he performed was for Autism charities in the region. God bless Myron.

No One

Every time I am in the car flipping through the channels, I always hear No One by Alicia Keys. That's cool. It reminds me of the two special girls in my life.

If you have not heard this song before, please enjoy the live performance. I am not a huge R&B or Pop music fan but she is a phenomenal entertainer, musician, and singer.

Story Time 02/25/2008

The night started with a rousing rendition of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star by the children. I think there are some future American Idol contestants from our neighborhood. Miss Lynelle read Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me by Eric Carle tonight. Buggy and Mommy each own books by Eric Carle. I enjoy reading his books to Buggy. I also think his illustrations are very unique and creative. Buggy was having too much fun drinking out of a juice box for the first time. She thought she was hot stuff.

All Apologies

I apologize to my readers for not adding any new posts lately. We have had some issues with the Internet. For a few weeks it was not running properly. It is frustrating when you are paying for a DSL connection and operating below a dial up connection speed. I spent so much time on the phone with my provider's customer service department, I was starting to understand broken English, if you get my drift. Anyways, all of a sudden we are operating at full capacity.
The following clip is appropriate. Enjoy All Apologies by Nirvana.

Sled Riding!

Our long-awaited snow arrived this past week. Buggy and I have been dying to try out their new sleds. Unfortunately, the snow was too heavy and wet to really get going. So I just pulled Buggy around and even gave her a taste of the white stuff.

Win, Lose, Win, Lose....

Pitt crushed a team and was cruched by another this week. Pitt handled the Providence Friars Tuesday night in an easy win. They were outplayed and outhustled by the Marquette Golden Eagles Friday night. I was so disgusted I turned the game off and went to bed. No notes at this time.

Story Time 02/11/2008

Story time tonight had a Valentine’s theme as Miss Lynelle read The Kiss That Missed by David Melling. Buggy and I were also in charge of bringing snacks this week. At this age, bringing the wrong snack could ruin your rep. So, we brought some M&M cookie snack packs and Capri Sun juice packs. She was a hit. I was not so much because the kids were bouncing off the walls after enjoying their snack.

Hair and Teeth Brushing

It's never too early to learn about personal hygiene. Enjoy the videos of Buggy brushing her teeth and combing her hair.

Pitt beats WVU on Final Shot

Razor Ramon hit a three at the buzzer to beat the hated Mountaineers at home Thursday night. The final score was 55-54.

Notes from the game:

• Brad Wannamaker has taken a lot of criticism lately for not living up to his hype. I feel Thursday was his coming out party. He looked comfortable the entire game.
  
• Dejaun Blair was 3-13 from the floor and missed a bunch of easy buckets. He either hit a freshman wall or took the game too lightly. Either or, the problem needs corrected because he is a valuable player now and in the future.

Booger Suckers

Someone thinks their booger suckers are maracas!

Story Time at the Library 02/04/2008

Tonight's story was The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper. A timeless classic!

Great quote from one of the kids tonight:
An older boy was sitting in the outer ring of the circle. A younger girl in front of him was kneeling and listening intently to the story. The boy could not see so he yelled out to the girl, "Hey ding dong. Sit down. I can't see." Bill Cosby was right. Kids say the darndest things.

Giants Win Super Bowl

Congrats to the New York Giants for winning their third Super Bowl. It was an exciting and entertaining Super Bowl to watch. My wife and I were on our feet pacing back and forth hoping for a Patriot’s loss.

I would like to send a thank you out to Bill Belichick for the Spygate scandal. Now I have a great example for when I teach my daughter the cheaters never win and winners never cheat life lesson. It was appropriate that the Patriots went 18-0 and lost the biggest game of the year. You know why: Cheaters never win.

Super Bowl Thoughts:

• What a catch by David Tyree to preserve the drive!
  
• What a move by Eli Manning to avoid the sack!
  
• The Patriots are sore losers. Running with their heads down towards the locker room before the last play of the game (even though the last play was meaningless).
  
• I wish the Steelers still had Plax.
  
• Why would Gisele be dating that loser, Tom Brady?
  
• The commercials were nothing to write home about.
  
• Earl Morrell, the back-up quarterback, of the undefeated Miami Dolphins was my father-in-law’s Little League Baseball coach.
  
• Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers still freakin’ rock!

Pitt loses to UCONN 60-53

Pitt lost a tough road game today at UCONN. Some people think these grind it out, low scoring games are boring, but I love them. It is the signature of the Big East Conference. Thursday's game against hated WVU is a must win.

Groundhog Day

Happy Groundhog Day. Enjoy the clip from the movie, Groundhog Day starring Bill Murray.

Super Bowl Commercials

We are a few days away from the big game and I can not wait........for the Super Bowl commercials. Below is one of my favorite all time commercials from Reebok--Terry Tate:Office Linebacker. That's a long distance call, Doug. Enjoy!

Pitt versus Villanova

I was unable to watch this game because my cable provider does not carry ESPNU. That stinks. However, it gave me the opportunity to listen to the most tenured college basketball broadcast team in the country, Bill Hillgrove and Dick Groat. You all know Bill Hillgrove as the voice of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Pitt Panthers football and basketball broadcasts. Many of you do not know who Dick Groat is. You should.

I feel Dick Groat is one of the most under recognized athletes to come out of Western Pennsylvania. He was a great baseball and basketball player and an entertaining color analyst (I love his bias towards the Panthers, "Come on guys.") . I have listed some of his achievements below:

• 2 time All-American Basketball player at Duke


• 1960 National League MVP


• 1960 and 1964 World Series Champion
  
• Jersey #10 retired at Cameron Indoor Stadium
  
• College Basketball Hall of Fame


• Most importantly, served our great country

By the way Pitt won.

Story Time at the Library 01/28/2008

Last night's story was Pip and Squeek by Ian Schoenherr. Buggy was too busy walking around the library when she should have been listening to Miss Lynelle who was reading the story. Sorry Miss Lynelle.

I did learn the following facts about mice:

• When mice are born, they are called kittens.
  
• Mice are born bald.
  

It's true. You never stop learning.

Gram's Movie Wishlist

My Grandmother had surgery on her foot a few weeks ago. She has been laid up at home and is very limited in what she can do. In anticipation of her recuperation process and being bored out of her mind, she got a DVD player from my Dad and a Netflix subscription from my Uncle for Christmas. A few weeks ago, I stopped up and we created her account and her wishlist with Netflix (Note: She has a dial up connection. You can not imagine how painful it was to wait for the Internet sites to load. Her provider will not allow DSL or cable providers in the area). We added movies from the Musical and Western genres and I advised her that the next time I was visiting her we would add more movies to the wishlist.
That next time was this past weekend. She said she was in the mood for some Romances. So we logged on and selected the Romance genre and displayed a list of some popular Romances. But there was this one movie she wanted to see but could not remember the title. She said it starred that young man that just passed away (she meant Heath Ledger).

Me: "A Knight's Tale? "

Gram: "No."

Me: "10 Things I Hate About You? "

Gram: "No."

At this point I started to get a little embarrasssed and think to myself "Oh God, how can I get out of this converstion?"

Me: "Brokeback Mountain?"

Gram: "Yes, that's the one."

PS - I did not add it to the list. I love you Gram!

Pitt upset; Rutgers wins 77-64

Last night was the Pitt Panther's 100th game at the Peterson Events Center. The Panthers should have walked away with an easy victory. They didn't.

Thoughts from the game:

• This loss does not sit well with me. Why? We lost to Rutgers!


• I was glad to see Freshman Brad Wanamaker play some important minutes. We need him to have more experience in the event that Ronald Ramon or Keith Benjamin go down with an injury or have foul trouble.


• I can understand why fans want to see Freshman Gary McGhee more. He had a great game at South Florida when Dejuan Blair was in foul trouble. We saw some glimpses of his promise. But, come on, he shot an airball at the free throw line.

Happy Australia Day!

My desk calendar reminded me that today is Australia Day. So, Happy Australia Day.

Send it in Jerome!

Today was the 20th anniversary of the most famous dunk in Pitt basketball history. I was eleven years old at the time and unable to remember this game. Please enjoy the highlight and the famous call by Bill Raftery.

Ray Fittipaldo catches up with Jerome Lane in today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Walker, Buggy Welch

We've got a Walker people! Buggy is starting to walk all by herself. We are so proud of her. Enjoy the clip.

Pitt crushes St. Johns

Pitt wins big over St. Johns 81-57. Local guy Tim Frye hit a 3-pointer with a few minutes to play in the game.

Chuck Norris Fact of the Week

Chuck Norris ordered a Big Mac at Burger King, and got one.

Story Time at the Library

Story time at the Chartiers-Houston Library started up again. The freezing conditions did not keep Buggy and me away. Last night's story was Henry and Mudge and the Snowman Plan by Cynthia Rylant.