where did 4 months go

so it is what it is, that was a 4 month hiatus from the blogosphere, shoot me. unlikely however, since there are only about 3 people in the world that may actually know about iiWii...

but 4 months. wow. what a whirlwind the first-third of 2014 has been, and in the final week of that first-third, i became a dad and life as i knew it changed forever. the day was april 24, the time 7:59AM. and while my son is pretty amazing, watching my wife go through what she did in order to make sure his arrival was safe and healthy was nothing short of remarkable.

its quite funny. go to the hospital as husband and wife, and leave as father and mother. an incredible transition in the matter of a few days. the first week at home is nearing it's completion, and as first weeks go, i'd like to think we knocked it out of the park. he's been eatin, poopin, sleepin and stealing mom and dad's hearts more and more each day.

and of course, like any first week at home, it's been a great week of firsts.. first walk, first flyers game, first phillies game (on television of course) and now on this first saturday in may, we're settling in for a nice afternoon of ponies and the Run for the Roses, the 140th running of the Kentucky Derby. while lil' jay can't understand any of it, iiWii... it'll be a blast watching him grown and sharing more of these days ahead together!

"i like that it's hard"

Greetings and Happy Holidays iiWii'rs. I hope you all have been enjoying time with family and friends, turning off BlackBerries, eating too much, drinking a little too much, sleeping in, thinking about the year that what was and the year that lies ahead. I hope you've been doing a few of those things, because honestly, I've done them all.

If you're like me just a bit, iiWii, this time of year is always exciting. As I already mentioned, you get to reflect on accomplishments and hardships throughout the year, all while looking ahead to a new, New Year, a clean slate--unless of course your fiscal year ends June 30, I can't help ya there. (sorry Love)

For all intents and purposes 2013 yours truly had a year filled with pretty low lows, and pretty high highs. Life is short, we all know this. We could also probably agree that with all great things that life has to offer, in many cases it could have been a combination of good timing, hard-work, but the people in your life that helped guide you along. If this year has taught me anything, it's that even in the absence of those guides you can continue to work hard and find your way. It's not easy, and I like that it's hard... iiWii... "I like that it's hard." Thinking about that, I was immediately reminded of a fantastic episode of the West Wing where Toby Ziegler meets a middle-aged, middle-class guy at a bar and he says the exact same thing... advance to 6:20 of the following YouTube clip to watch if you'd like...

While nothing in life is sheer certainty, I can pretty much guarantee that while fictional, the gentleman's story to Toby is without a doubt reality for many hard working Americans across the country. iiWii, America isn't easy... and DING... another Hollywood moment comes to mind... advance to 1:02 of the following ...

So a New Year, 2014, begins in a few hour from now... will it be easy... maybe... maybe not... regardless, iiWii, I like that it's hard and I'm looking forward to it.

Until next time....

remembering Sandy Hook.

A year ago tomorrow, I wrote the following letter/email to Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett, I remember where I was when I heard the horrifying news out of CT and I remember where I was when I wrote the message below. And unfortunately, iiWii and we have a Congress that could not find a way to pass common sense legislation to better protect against more tragedies like witnessed a year ago.

___________________________________________________________________________________

December 15, 2012

Governor Corbett:

First off, I'm a Republican, and I voted for you. In the wake of yesterday's horrific tragedy in CT, I felt it was necessary to share my thoughts with you instead of taking my political thoughts to Facebook or Twitter. While I undoubtedly support every American's 2nd Amendment rights, folks that want to purchase a gun should be required to pay for a full background check, and I will go as far as making it mandatory that they be required to have some form of a mental evaluation. Imagine if we'd had better security measures in place on September 10, 2001...

Ironically for the first time in my life I went to an indoor firing range in Philadelphia last weekend with a friend of mine who owns a 9mm handgun. I've had an interest in learning how to fire a weapon for some time now, and if I was to take the next step towards purchasing a gun of my own, I would have no qualms with having to go through a rigorous background check. Anyone that would take issue with that either has something to hide, or does not value the gift of life. To anyone that takes issue with the mandatory background check, simply show them a collage of the pictures of our children and heroic educators that had their lives stolen from them and their families.

I am hopeful in the days, weeks and months ahead, you and your colleagues in Harrisburg can find the political will to have the debate, free from any influence from the NRA. How many more innocent people have to die at the hand of a mentally deranged maniac?

The spirit of the holiday season is without a doubt dampened throughout the Commonwealth and our nation as we try to grasp with how something like this could happen in a small town in CT, a movie theater in CO, a shopping mall in OR... let's bring some common sense to this debate. To future gun owners I hope the conversation sounds something like this:

"You want to purchase a gun?"  'yes...' "Okay, that will require a $--- fee for a full background check and mental screening,"  'why?'  "This is why, let me show you what happens when guns get into the hands of the evil and mentally insane." (show the faces of these innocent victims; show the horror on the faces of Newtown residents and parents) Enough is enough, the time is now to make these changes.

Thank you Mr. Governor,
Jeff Flynn

stroller.shopping.

iiWii - we're 20 weeks and 1 day along and that 1 day happened to be today, Black Friday 2013. off we went to Babies R Us, quite the place. in short, if you're ever running low on good laughs, just head to your local Babies R Us, post up in the stroller section, and just watch a bunch of first-time parents try to figure out how these things snap in, buckle, pop out, collapse, glide, rock, slide, snap again--i mean, these things have more technology built into them than the early lunar modules that landed on the Moon.

roughly 3-hours, 2 Babies R Us', and 1 Buy Buy Baby later, the wife and I learned a lot. we encountered some great customer service, and some so-so customer service, came across a fellow shopper that loved to share how great her stroller was, (a shiny, City Mini GT--per her suggestion, ya' gotta' go with the GT)--we'll see about that--nevertheless, that City Mini and the Britax seem to be the early leaders in the clubhouse for LBF (that's little baby flynn for those of you keeping score), we also had a fantastic post-Thanksgiving lunch, in true American fashion -- and would you believe this woman came in to complain about her double-cheeseburger, missing a burger, then because she had to wait, she demanded a new order of fries because, "my fries will be cold by the time you fix my sandwich," -- a power move, as obnoxious as it was... and of course, iiWii, what Black Friday would be complete without some of the worst drivers our roads have ever seen.

until next time, keep on strolling America.

it. is. What. I. is. - Thankful!

Good morning iiWii'rs, and Happy Thanksgiving. Today's special edition goes something like this: it is what I is... Thankful.

The last couple of weeks have been a little tough watching the news and learning of this new 'game' or phenomena, called Knock-Out. There are many things to describe the horrific images/videos you see on the news about this 'game', and all I can think of is how it reaffirms there is truly SCUM that walk among us.

But I'm thankfully reminded that for every scumbag that walks the Earth, I truly believe there are 10 angels, maybe 100 or a 1,000, that walk among us as well. One such angel I was thankful to learn about this week is Olivia Wise--she passed away this week from an inoperable brain tumor, but before she left us, she sang Katy Perry's Roar, and it was nothing short of awesome.

I am forever thankful for my friends and family - friends of yesterday, friends of today, and the friends of tomorrow. And where would we be if it wasn't for the brave men and women of our Armed Forces who spend these holidays in far away places to ensure our safety at home--iiWii, we are extremely lucky to live in a nation with people like that.

Happy Thanksgiving all!

always amazed by what the media spends time on

iiWii'rs... for starters, "let me be clear," (sound familiar?!)... no seriously, let me be clear... i'm not one of those right-wing nut-jobs that believes the media is all left, all the time. if you must know, i'm an ABC and CNN watcher....

at any rate, to my point, why are we spending time on this Rob Ford guy from Toronto and George Zimmerman -- 2 people that add zero value to anything and somehow they're top stories in the news. something tells me Will McAvoy would put these turds in the D-block, and if commercials ran a little longer they wouldn't even make it into the broadcast.

on the flipside of media coverage this week, the horrific tornadoes in the midwest. my prayers and thoughts are with all those affected, and i sincerely hope they can find some kind of normalcy with family and friends this Thanksgiving season. i'm confident there are truly amazing stories to be told from that area, but you'll have to read about them on Facebook, Twitter, local news outlets, etc... why? look no further than Ford and Zimmerman.

We the People...

iiWii'rs... my sincere apologies for the hiatus. I write this Sunday afternoon after a long weekend away with the wife in a city that is undoubtedly in the midst of a serious revival--New Orleans. The Po'Boys, the casino (which left a small dent in my wallet), the music, merchants, artists, restauranteurs, bartenders, waiters and waitresses, cab drivers---everyone---seemed in high spirits. That Cafe du Monde---whoa, doctor---you can't beat that place with a stick.

In 4-days in the Crescent City, I somewhat detached myself from national and world news, although I did catch the horrifying news on Twitter out of LAX, I did not hear one story, or hear one person discussing the Affordable Care Act - if you're like me, you actually cringe every time you hear the mention of "Obamacare". If we could, let's just stick to using the term Obama, when we discuss when we mention President Obama--not the actual law itself.

But, iiWii, it remains big in the news--something about a computer glitch--(understatement of the year?!) In fact, the President spent a nice portion of a beautiful October 21st morning in the Rose Garden telling us about it...and yes, the ensuing Wordle speaks to it:

What I was immediately drawn to was the following: People want affordable health insurance. I can't agree with that more, who doesn't want affordable health insurance?! But again, iiWii, there are problems with the website which is supposed to let folks compare the various marketplaces. And while the AFA was to enroll millions of folks, I still haven't heard the administration release the actual of number of folks who have enrolled. Well folks, this post has rambled on worse than a Ted Cruz interview, so I'll just cut it short right there. iiWii... the AFA is not off to the 'as-advertised' start, but let's hope "We the People," can find a way to right the ship.