Kayaking in the Times

  For those of you who are on Facebook with me, you'll recall I was twittering about being in the Florida Keys working on a travel story for The New York Times last month. Well the story finally ran this morning in the Escapes section. Check it out if you have a chance either at the newstand or online (http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/01/30/travel/escapes/30keys.html).

  I'm in the middle of a marathon of Superbowl events and don't really have time to write more about my adventures in the southern most part of the Continental United States. I had a great time in the Keys and will blog about it later this weekend along with all the festivities I've been shooting this week in Tampa.

  Now I've got to get a little more rest before heading out to shoot Peyton Manning and Kurt Warner at lunch and then on to my next NFL party tonight. BTW, Go Steelers!!!

Fine Dining

  Last night Cathy, Benjamin and I met up with my cousin Darryl and his wife Charlotte for dinner. We decided on Maggiono's on International Drive as it was convenient for us both. 

  Darryl and Charlotte flew down from Delaware for her birthday and so Darryl could attend the PGA Show this week in Orlando. It was just nice to be able to visit with them as we haven't seen them since their wedding in Boston four years ago. 

  I have to say that Benjamin for the most part was a well-behaved 14-month-old. He ate like a horse through the entire two-your meal and I only had to take him for a walk twice. In all not bad. 

  Benjamin got some special treatment and of course flirted with all the ladies. (I mean come on no one can resist those blue eyes of his.) I had the server quickly bring out the chicken fingers with mash potatoes and broccoli while the rest of the table decided what they wanted for their dinner.

  He loved the chicken, mash and broccoli. Eventually when Cathy and I got our entrees he wanted to try what we had before eating his dessert cookies (which daddy had to try).

  When it was time for Benjamin to stretch his legs I quietly took him to the lobby and let him run like the monkey he is. He would run down the banquet room hallway before turning around and head for the front door. To his credit he never yelled out while running past the booked banquet rooms.

  By the end of dinner though he was ready for bed. He had an exhausting day at school, Gymboree and dinner with family. I signed the bill, picked up my little boy and headed for the door. At the table next to us were a party of eight who looked like they were in town for the PGA Show. One of the gentlemen said to me as I was passing, "He's a really good boy."

  "Who? My kid?," I replied. "Were you in the same dining room as us because I thought he was disruptive with all the squaking."

  The man responded, "No he was quiet."

  So I guess I was overly sensitive to Benjamin's noises during the dinner. 

  It was really good to see Darryl and Charlotte and to introduce them to Benjamin. Hopefully next time won't be so far in the future.

Helping to Remember

Dear Benjamin,

  I know that you will never remember for yourself what happened yesterday but I wanted to let you know what you were like on the day of President Barak Obama's Inauguration.

  The day began routinely for you. It was very chilly and you had your normal waffle and milk for breakfast. Afterwards you ran around the house like the wild man you have turned in to recently. Around 10:30 you had tired yourself out and went to bed for a nap. For the next hour I wondered if you'd be up in time to watch President Obama take the oath of office.

  As 11:30 am rolled around I called our neighbor and your friend Bella's mom to let her know that you were still napping and that we wouldn't be over until later for your playdate.

  At 11:45 am I decided I needed to wake you up out of your sleep to witness history. For the record, I did feel a slight bit of guilt as I know how much you need your rest.

  Boy were you bewildered when I woke you. You had this expression as if you wanted to say, "Dad, what's going on? Why'd you wake me? To watch TV?"

  We went out to the living room and sat on the ottoman and watch the live broadcast of the Inauguration. You actually sat very still for once. Usually you squirm and want to be let down to run around like a monkey but you politely sat there and watched the television.

  During the ceremony cellist Yo Yo Ma played a piece that was beautiful and you stared at the TV. As the song ended you started to clap without any coaxing which kind of stunned me. You looked at me as if to say, "Come on, Dad. Clap!"

  It was really neat to have this moment with you. I wasn't at a job or shooting some assignment. I got to witness history with you in my arms.

  You will have many sad days that are historic during your life. Your grandparents will tell you precisely where they were when Kennedy was assassinated. I will tell you about how I called your Great Granny to make a lunch date with her only to have her inform me that a jetliner crashed into the World Trade Center. But today was truly a happy day in History.

  There will be so many things that happen in your life that you will be able to remember on your own but I know this will not be one of them. And for that I will serve as your memory with this entry. It is because I want you to be able to say with conviction that you watched the day President Obama took the oath of office of the Presidency. I guess it's also a bit of selfishness on my part because I hope that you will tell your grandchildren one day that you watched it with your dad.

Magical First

  Saturday we took Benjamin to Disney's Magic Kingdom for the first time. Sergio was able to get us in to the park for free like he has done at the other parks for Benjamin. It also allowed me to have him take a picture of the three of us which is a rarity for me as I'm usually the one taking the picture.

  The park was packed but wasn't bad for us as we weren't going on any of the rides. We ended up walking around the park and enjoying the wonderful weather.

  Almost right after we entered the park Benjamin was hungry. We grabbed hot dogs for us and corndog nuggets for Benjamin and found a table outside. It was during lunch that we discovered that Benjamin requires dinner theatre in order to woof down a meal. He was fascinated with the ducks surrounding our table and just kept eating anything we put in front of him. I just wish he'd do that for me during the week.

  After lunch we found a hidden gem inside the Magic Kingdom. Around the corner from Main Street USA Disney has set up a baby center. The center is there for newborns as well as older babies complete with a heated changing room, nursing area and rocking chairs. Heck if you run out of diapers or need a new pacifier they have those too. Cathy and I felt like we could've stayed just in the baby center for the afternoon.

  We took Benjamin through the park and wound up at the Winnie the Pooh playground. This was perfect. It had stuff Benjamin could crawl around and under including Pooh's house. The ground was a rubbery pad that wouldn't hurt if he fell which is always a possibility when it comes to my son.

  The playground pooped him out as well as us. We walked around tomorrow land for a little while before heading out after a good four-hour visit. To our delight he ended up taking a 3+ hour nap that afternoon.

  We had a fun time with him at the park and feel very fortunate that we don't have to pay admission. It's one of the gifts that my father-in-law can give Benjamin whenever. I look forward to a day when Benjamin will be big enough to ride on Splash Mountain or be bored when I tell him about the first time I rode Thunder Mountain railroad with Mimi and Grandpa. But all those times will come after his first time and this time was great.

Thanks for the Lomardi Gruden

  So six years removed from standing on a riser and hoisting the NFL's Vince Lombardi trophy following his Superbowl XXXVII win Jon Gruden is unemployed. Late yesterday the Tampa Bay Buccaneers fired it's head coach after a disastrous end to it's promising season.

  I have to say my take on Gruden's firing is one that I've been expecting for two years. In fact following the 4-12 effort of the 2006 season I took the picture above at Gruden's final post-game press conference thinking he was going to get the axe the following day. He didn't.

  Over the last six seasons I watched how my childhood team played on the field and the way Gruden captained our ship. When I shot for the team I had the chance to be around the coach and found him to be very much off the field as he was on the field, intense.

  That intensity and what his former players have said about his coaching philosophy and demeanor left me with a bad taste. It wasn't the attitude the team held when Tony Dungy was building them into a dominant team. It sounded like Gruden was not a good role model period. But as long as your winning those things can be brushed aside. I guess after starting 9-3 for the season and then tanking the whole month of December to no post-season appearance will change that.

  Along with Gruden the Bucs also fired his puppet of a General Manager Bruce Allen. The way Gruden ran Rich McKay out of town and brought in his Oakland buddy Allen just didn't fly with me. The two of them seemed to go after the troubled players and questionable types. That thinking also doesn't fly in Tampa. Tampa ain't Dallas, Oakland or New York.

  So it looks like the team has decided to give Raheem Morris a double promotion in one month from Defensive Backs Coach to Defensive Coordinator to now Head Coach. That's pretty good considering he's only 32. And the Glazers appear to be naming Mark Dominik, 37, as the new GM of the Bucs. With these two very big changes it seems like the Glazers are saying, "We want to invest for the long haul."

  As a fan I'm expecting some rough waters the next couple of seasons. There will inevitably be rookie mistakes made by Morris but hopefully Dungy and Gruden have left a good enough foundation that it won't crumble like it did during the Leeman Bennett era.

Taking care of the customer

  I just wanted to write a quick note about a company that cared about this consumer. This past Christmas Cathy got me a cordless grill brush from JLR Gear to replace my old and very worn out manual grill brush. It looked intriguing as it ran on AA batteries and was compact in size. Not to mention a cool gadget for me with which to play.

  I headed out to the grill on Christmas day to remove all the caked on gook from my many cookouts. Well I guess the grill was no match for my gook as it stopped rotating soon after I started. Now looking back on it I probably could've helped my cause by heating up the grilling surface first using the burners. I have also learned that you don't have to press to firmly on the grills for the cordless brush to work effectively. These two things may have lead to my brush's early demise.

  Like a kid who just broke his Millennium Falcon soon after unwrapping it I went inside to tell Cathy the upsetting news. She calmed me down and said she'd see what she could do. I whimpered away to go play with my Legos .. err I mean my Apple TV.

  Cathy found JLR Gear's website and wrote a letter explaining what happened. A few days later she received a response from the company who apologized for any inconvenience and said they were sending a brand new one to replace the old one. NICE!!!

  So yesterday my UPS guy dropped off the new one and I quickly broke it open, inserted 6 AA batteries and headed out to the grill. Yes I turn on the burners first and yes I went lightly around the grills with the brush. 

  The cordless brush is amazing to watch. I know it's probably like watching a dental hygienist polish the plaque off of teeth but it was way cooler. All the gook came off so easily. I probably needed to flip them over and get the under side but that would have to wait until later as I had chicken to grill for dinner.

  So as I've written here before, I always like to highlight when a company gives good customer service. Thank you JLR Gear you took care of me.

  Now I wonder what Mattel could do about that Millennium Flacon I broke back in 1981.

Date Night

  This wekend I had a chance to go out on a date...with my WIFE! Yeah I know been there, done that but it was nice. I called my mom earlier in the week and asked if she wouldn't mind having Benjamin stay the night at her house Saturday knowing full-well she wouldn't have any problem.

  We went out for dinner at Carrabba's where we had a gift certificate from my step-sister and husband. We made an agreement to not discuss certain things Saturday night. Topic number one we were not to discus was the cutest, Benjamin. And topic number two was money. Both of these were to be avoided and allow us to have conversations that we normally don't talk about.

  We arrived a few minutes early and had a drink at the bar before being seated. Dinner was really nice. We told the server that we weren't in a rush and wanted to take our time through dinner. We ended up having a four-course meal and enjoyed each others company without the thought of where were the "Goldfish crackers" or "did he just poop?" We talked about what we wanted to do with decorating the house and doing some landscaping. In other words it allowed us to catch up with what the other was doing and give the person our undivided attention.

  Then the table behind us was sat with an adorable 11-week-old boy. And I broke the pact. I told Cathy to turn around and look at the little guy drinking from the newborn bottle. 

  "Remember when Benjamin use to drink like that," I asked. The little guy was almost asleep but still drinking his milk just like our Mino used to do when he was that little. You forget how tiny they were and the little things they used to do. Now the little booger runs around and grabs every item available to his sticky fingers. And we haven't even gotten to the terrible tw... Never mind we were on a date and I wasn't supposed to be talking about him.

  No we had a great time and looked forward to not having to make the nightly trip across the house to retrieve someone's pacifier. We could sleep in as late as we wanted without the alarm clock of a hungry child to wake us.

  I think we'll do this once a month. Even if I still wake up at 6:30.