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.