Last Day of May Thursday Rundown

I hope everyone had a great month. As we enjoy our last few hours of May, let me help send it out with a Thursday Rundown. Here are my five topics…

Coastal Baseball Weekend – Our baseball team at CCU had a fabulous regular season and a dominanting conference tournament performance. It all pays off with an NCAA Regional right here at Springs Brooks Stadium. Over the next few days, our University will host UCONN, Washington, and ULI-Brooklyn to determine which team makes it to the Super Regional round. I have the pleasure of covering the action for our social media audience and I couldn’t be more excited. Go Chants!

I am excited to work the Regional baseball games this weekend.

Baby Teething Hack – I have a couple Facebook friends who raved about the comfort that a teething necklace brought their young ones. With Sloan’s teeth starting to come in (she already has five), Sidney went out and bought one for her at the Kangaroo Pouch, a local baby supply store in our area. It works wonders! Sloan will sometimes wake up from a nap crying in pain with her hand in her mouth. Knowing that her teeth are bothering her, I will slip on the necklace and it will calm her. The relief will last for as along as she has it on. I highly recommend this piece of “bling” to anyone who has a baby battling teething issues. Not only will your child appreciate it, but she will feel pretty cool with such a stylish accessory around her neck!

Teething necklaces just aren’t useful, they are stylish!!

Great Work, Sid – I wanted to recognize Sidney for an extracurricular activity she has involved herself in the past two weeks. My wife has worked hard to assist with her school’s production of “The Lion King.” She volunteered her makeup and costume skills to make the students stand out. When I sent the below photos to my family’s text messaging thread, they couldn’t believe how cool the costumes looked. My dad responded, “Is Sid moving to Broadway?!” (dad joke). It will be standing room only at Palmetto Bays Elementary this evening for the first of two performances. I have enjoyed listening to Sid tell me about her experiences and how talented the students are.

Some of the costumes that the Palmetto Bays students are wearing tonight. My family sure was impressed!

Movie Heaven – We are movie buffs. Although we don’t get out to the theater as often as we would like, we make good use of Netflix. But now we have another option! We recently changed cable providers and one perk we received for signing up is access to all the movie channels. For 90 days, we get HBO, Showtime, and Starz. Since those big names all have a family of channels under their umbrellas, I can turn on my TV at any given moment and choose from 10 different movies. It is really nice! We have already made good use of this luxury, with the last movie we watched being “Man on the Moon.”

Weather and Disney – I have written two prior blog posts on May 31. Two years ago, I addressed my obession with the weather in relation to long term forecasts when I had an event or vacation coming up (it has gotten a lot better!). Three years ago, I wrote one of my more controversial blog posts of Don’t Blink when I had the audacity to suggest that Disneyland was better than Disney World. My wife sure set me straight!

I have been on the Teacup ride at both Disneyland and Disney World.

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Hope everyone has a great June. Enjoy the long days that come with the month and remember to root on those Chanticleers! Don’t Blink.

First Thursday Rundown In Two Weeks

I took a rare break from the Thursday Rundown last week to celebrate a little holiday called Thanksgiving. Hope you didn’t miss it too much. Don’t worry, it is back again! Here we go with five topics…

Our Christmas Tree – Let me start off this rundown on a positive Christmas note. Our tree is now set up and decorated! Sidney purchased it at Lowe’s (hardware store) for $30 on Black Friday. It is perfect! We have all my favorite ornaments on it from last year in addition to a few new ones. I like to walk Sloan up to the tree but I can only go so far until she starts yanking the ornaments off.

This is our 2017 Christmas tree.

Vandalism – Now let me continue this rundown on a negative Christmas note. Sidney used to work at a baby supply store called the Kangaroo Pouch. She is still close with the owner of the store. Earlier this week, a couple of hoodlums entered the business right before closing and overturned a giant nutcracker, completely destroying it. They then sprinted off. Law enforcement believes that the suspects did it for social media fame. Believe it or not, there is an audience on Snapchat and Instagram hungry for mean spirited pranks carried out by bored losers. To watch the video of the act, click here. To provide any information you know about the crime, contact the Myrtle Beach Police.

An oversized nutcracker inside the Kangaroo Pouch in Myrtle Beach was destroyed by two individuals who rushed the store right before closing (photo courtesy of Chris Richardson, Kangaroo Pouch owner).

The Matt Lauer Coverage – The major headline yesterday was the firing of Matt Lauer. An icon in the news industry, his abrupt termination predictably caused a media firestorm. What intrigued me the most was the coverage his former employer gave the development. I watched NBC Nightly News last night as the surreal reality unfolded in front of my eyes as Lester Holt, a friend of Lauer’s, led off the broadcast detailing the fallout. The most interesting (or ironic) point came when the report mentioned that NBC News had reached out to Lauer for comment but he had not responded to inquiries. The company that welcomed the man into its studio for thousands of mornings over the course of 20 years, and that had just talked to him hours ago (albeit to fire him), could no longer even reach him for a statement. Although I understand that Lauer wasn’t going to say anything until he could release a statement on his own terms, it was just a weird moment.

Photo I took of the NBC Nightly News broadcast last night as Lester Holt led off the program with Matt Lauer coverage.

Santa Visit – Sloan met Santa for the first time this past weekend! I don’t want to give too much away about her experience because we are still awaiting the photos from the photographer. However, here is a look at the wardrobe she wore to meet Kris Kringle. Sidney’s mom picked it out for her and I must say she looked adorable. More to come on this later…

Sloan dressed up in her Christmas best to meet Santa.

Sloan At 37 Weeks – Many times in the past week we have observed Sloan get on all fours and prepare to take off…only to stop at that point. Not that she has a problem getting around. Despite not crawling just yet, she uses a combination of rolling and shifting to get across our living room floor at a rapid rate. Want to make Sloan laugh? Just show her a video of herself! Our baby girl will break into a big grin and lightly laugh when we show her iPhone videos of herself. It is a pretty neat trick! Sloan is doing great and we are excited for her to experience the magical month of December.

This is Sloan’s photo collage at 37 weeks.

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Ahhh…it feels great to be writing Thursday Rundowns again. I wish everyone a great first weekend of December and I thank you for reading Don’t Blink. Have a great night. Don’t Blink.