Hey, it's Brian Demay!

Scary Science Questions

2012-01-25T16:10:00.000-05:00

My two children haven't reached the point in their lives where they feel smarter than their parents. Yet.

I know it's coming, but for now I am enjoying having the answers to all their questions about science, math, and history.

A recent study found that two-thirds of parents admit to being baffled by science questions from their children, such as 'Why is water wet?' and 'Why is the sky blue?' Just under a quarter - 24 percent of a survey of 2,000 parents - admit to being frustrated and embarrassed, and 26 percent believe their children know more about math and science than they do. So what are the most dreaded science questions?

1. Why is the moon sometimes out in the day?
2. Why is the Sky Blue?
3. How much does the earth weigh?
4. How do airplanes stay in the air?
5. Why is water wet?
6. What makes a rainbow?
7. Why are there different times on earth?

Now, as a public service to frantic parents everywhere, here are the answers to those perplexing science questions, above:

1. The moon can be lit up by the sun, depending on where it is in the sky. If it reflects the sun's rays, we can see it, even during the day. It all depends on its angle towards the Earth.

2. Sunlight arrives on Earth in every color, but it hits particles in our air that 'shine' blue.

3. The earth weighs 6,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000kg - weighed by its gravitational attraction to nearby objects.

4. Planes lift up by 'driving' air downwards using specially shaped wings - the 'push' from the air flow is stronger than gravity.

5. 'Wet' is a word that people use for liquids - primarily water - and the way they feel. Not all liquids behave the same way.

6. Sunlight going through water droplets in the air 'splits' into all the colors.

7. People decided to have 'time zones' so that it would be light during the day everywhere on Earth. If we didn't, some people would have midday in the middle of the night.

What's the most puzzling science question your child ever asked?

--Brian

Unsaid

2012-01-06T00:00:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine posted that recently, and more than once, she had gone above and beyond at her job, but got no pat on the back for it, no thanks, nothing whatsoever from management even acknowledging her extra effort. Sadly, I think that's the case at most places these days; everyone is working harder, hyper-focused on their own responsibilities, and the time to say thanks is scarce, if they even remember to do it at all.

That is one of the things I am going to change about myself this year. I want the people in my life to know how thankful I am for what they do, and who they are. That seems like a better New Year's resolution than to lose weight or exercise, doesn't it?

Ever since college I have been a fan of Ursula Le Guin. She is, by far, my favorite author, from the fantasy classic Earthsea series to the Hugo and Nebula award-winning The Left Hand Of Darkness, and many many others. She is a prolific writer of such talent she can do entertaining children's books (Catwings), segue into poetry and music (Always Coming Home), and also write powerful, thought-provoking novels (The Lathe of Heaven). I am, frankly, in awe of her talent, and I have told my wife this for many years.

Finally, Heather said to me, "Why don't you write her a letter, and tell her how you feel?"

I had put it off for years, thinking someone of Ursula Le Guin's standing must receive fan mail all the time. My letter would be lost in a stack of others, meaningless. But then I got to thinking about how the only feedback many of us receive anymore is negative. I thought about my friend who worked very hard and received no thanks whatsoever; and I realized how much I appreciate positive comments from listeners at my radio station(s), and how rare they truly are.

I wrote the letter to Ms. Le Guin.

I did not expect a reply. I would have been surprised to have even received a generic form letter from an assistant; but instead, I received this:

A hand-written thank you note? From an award-winning author of world renown? In this day and age? Needless to say, this one is going in my scrapbook, to be preserved forever.

If you have been putting off saying thank you to someone you love, if someone in your life did something you appreciate, don't wait: tell them.

One small thing you do today could have ripples of positivity forever.

--Brian

Ancient Law Of Abundance

2012-01-04T10:30:00.000-05:00

Last year, I wrote about the two thousand year old Ancient Law Of Abundance which is supposed to guarantee financial prosperity in the coming year. The idea is similar to the "law of attraction;" thinking about something brings it to you. Hey, it's worth a shot in this economy, right?

This has become an annual topic on my show, and a lot of people always call wanting the info, so here's what you do, adapted to 2012 technology:

Take a blank check.
Date it with the current date.
Make the check out to yourself.
Use your full legal name.
Leave the dollar box and line blank.
In the memo area write, "Paid in full."
Sign the check, "Law of Abundance."

That's it! You will need to keep the check with you at all times in the New Year (except when bathing and sleeping). You have until the first new moon, which is January 9th this year, to make out the check.

I do this every year, and I will say this: no goal was ever accomplished without first writing it down. Looking at that check in my wallet every day reminds me of the goal I set, and isn't believing half the battle?

Good luck! I hope this works for you.

--Brian

Six Strange Christmas Traditions

2011-12-20T11:19:00.001-05:00

One of the best things about the holidays are the traditions; but not all traditions are created equal. Here are five of the strangest Christmas traditions from around the world.

1.) The Christmas Pickle. If you know anyone of German or Spanish descent, check their Christmas tree. There's an old tradition of hanging up one Christmas ornament that's shaped like a pickle. You're supposed to hide it among all the other ornaments on the tree. Then the person who finds it gets an extra gift on Christmas Day.

2.) Eating Kentucky Fried Chicken. In Japan, less than 1% of the population is Christian, but for some reason, it's become a tradition to eat fried chicken on Christmas Eve; especially Kentucky Fried Chicken. Then it's followed by strawberry shortcake for dessert. Apparently it all started with a Christmas ad campaign by KFC in the 1970s.

3.) Spider Webs on Your Christmas Tree. There's an old folk tale in the Ukraine about a poor family that didn't have enough money to decorate their Christmas tree. When they woke up on Christmas morning they found it covered with silver and gold spider webs. So in the Ukraine during the holidays, it's not unusual to see Christmas trees with fake spider webs on them, to bring good luck.

4.) Hiding Every Broom in Your House. In Norway, everyone's supposed to hide their brooms on Christmas Eve. According to legend, evil spirits will rise from the dead and ride around on the brooms like witches if people don't do it.

5.) Roller Skating to Church. From December 16 through December 24, cars aren't allowed on the streets in Venezuela's capital of Caracas until 8:00 a.m. Instead of walking to early-morning Mass, the custom is for everyone to roller skate there.

6.) The Pooping Log. Caga Tió, the "pooping log," is a bizarre and widespread Christmas tradition in Catalonia. It starts with a hollowed out log, which is propped up on four little leg-like sticks and then painted to have a face. Every night, beginning December 8, Caga Tió is “fed” and covered with a blanket (so that he doesn’t catch a cold). On Christmas Eve or Christmas day Caga Tió is put in the fireplace, beaten with a stick and ordered to “poop” chocolates, nuts, and other candy.

When he is done pooping candies, nuts and such, Caga Tió will then give one last push to reveal an onion, a head of garlic or a salt herring.

That has got to be the most bizarre Christmas tradition EVER. My kids will love it!

--Brian

The Relationship Quiz

2011-12-12T14:30:00.001-05:00

Okay, you're engaged to the person of your dreams. Do you have what it takes to live happily ever after? Thanks to a Relationship Quiz from Dr. John Gottman of Washington University in St. Louis, you can find out.

The questions test couples on how much they know -- and don't know -- about one another. Answer these 22 questions and then see below to find out what your answers mean.

I can name my partner's best friends.
I know what stresses my partner is currently facing.
I know the names of some people who have been irritating my partner lately.
I can tell you some of my partner's life dreams.
I know my partner's basic philosophy of life.
I can list the relatives my partner likes the least.
I feel that my partner knows me pretty well.
When we're apart, I think fondly of my partner.
I often touch or kiss my partner affectionately.
My partner really respects me.
There is passion in our relationship.
Romance is still part of our relationship.
My partner appreciates the things I do.
My partner likes my personality.
Our sex life is mostly satisfying.
At the end of the day my partner is glad to see me.
My partner is one of my best friends.
We just love talking to each other.
There is lots of give and take (both people have influence) in our discussions.
My partner listens respectfully even when we disagree.
My partner is usually a great help as a problem solver.
We generally mesh well on basic values and goals in life.

What your answers mean:

15 or more positive answers: You have a lot of strength in your relationship.
8 to 14 positive answers: This is a pivotal time in your relationship as there are strengths you can build upon, but do focus on the weaknesses that need your attention.
7 or fewer: Your relationship may be in serious trouble and could be headed for the rocks. If you're concerned about this, it means you probably still value the relationship enough to get help

--Brian

Cheap travel dates

2011-11-29T16:41:00.001-05:00

While it's true there's no place like home for the holidays, this year it's going to cost you a little more. Thankfully, Priceline.com looked at average airfares for the dates leading up to and following Christmas based on ticket purchases made by its customers looking for the most affordable days to take-off. A lot of us are traveling this Christmas, so here are the dates you can book right now, and save a few bucks:

December 14-15
December 18-20

Good, but not the best travel days, are:

December 21
December 25
December 30-31.

While tickets on these dates might be cheaper, they certainly aren't cheap. The average airfare for Christmas is currently $451, up 3% from last year.

--Brian

Faith

2011-11-22T10:55:00.001-05:00

One of the great things about working for WJBR is how many people we (indirectly) help through various food drives and charitable events. This year's Turkeython to benefit the Ministry of Caring is the most recent example of how many people can be helped through hard work, cooperation, and in one particular instance, faith.

Faith is harder and harder to come by these days. As I have gotten older, I will admit my faith in my fellow man has been shaken on many occasions. That's why the example of Brother Rudolph was inspiring to me.

Rudolph Paretti is a Capuchin Franciscan friar, a former Zambian missionary, and truly one of the nicest people I have ever met. Here is a man who lives simply, and trusts that God will provide. He doesn't just have faith, he lives it.

Yesterday, he joined us at the Pike Creek Acme before 6am, and stayed there the entire day until we closed up at 7pm. He was on his feet the entire time, and brought no food with him. He had faith.

Before lunchtime an orange rolled out of a car that drove away. Brother Rudolph picked it up with a smile and ate it, as if there were no doubt in his mind that he would have just this sort of lunch. Later a listener came by with two Oreo snackpacks, one of which we gave to Brother. "An unexpected snack" he called it.

When we spoke about the Emmanuel Dining Room, he mentioned that on a typical day 500 people are served a hot lunch. He said "it doesn't matter how many people come, everyone always leaves with something." He has faith.

When I spoke with Dorine, the Ministry's Assistant Manager, I mentioned what Brother had said. She told me a story about being 20 turkeys short one Thanksgiving, which meant that 20 families would go hungry. They searched the freezer and all around for turkeys, hoping to find some stashed away but no one could find any. Brother Rudolph went down and came back with exactly 20 turkeys. "They were right there in the freezer," he said.

Except no one else could find any.

He has faith.

Radio is a business that often requires you to fly by the seat of your pants. We plan as best as we can, and always hope for the best - but when the turkey count was far behind what we had done in previous years, my faith began to waver. Brother Rudolph said "we're doing well. The response has been great." The cargo van was less than a quarter full at 4pm.

By 6pm progress was made, but we really needed 100 turkeys to get back to last year's total. I talked to Brother on the air and he smiled and thanked all those who donated. Donations of money started coming in, something we didn't really ask for, but got anyway. We went in the store to buy turkeys. 6:45pm and we were still 10 turkeys short. It was a valiant effort but I was ready to throw in the towel and say "good enough."

Then a man and his daughter, Riley, pulled their cart next to our table with 10 turkeys. "This is her favorite radio station, and she said you needed 10 turkeys."

Brother Rudolph just smiled.

May we all learn by his example. May we all live simply, care for others, and have faith.

And may the great work of the Ministry of Caring continue.

--Brian

When to toss it, when to keep it

2011-11-17T16:18:00.001-05:00

If you’re like me, you look in the fridge and occasionally see some questionable stuff: is it OK to eat, or not? Here are some tips about thingsthat may be past their prime, courtesyof Woman’s Day magazine.

· Chinese takeout. Should be good for a fewdays, right? Nope - you should toss it after 24 hours, experts say. In thoseflimsy paper cartons, the food will spoil after a day, even in the fridge.

· Eggs. Aside from the carton’s expirationdate, here’s a quick way to tell: toss them if they float in water. If theysink, they’re still good.

· Mascara you should throw away after 3months, or after it becomes dry. You could actually get an eye infection if agerm-coated wand touches your eye.

· Your toothbrush. Always get rid of itafter 3 months, or sooner if the bristles become frayed. And if you’ve beensick? Replace it right after you start feeling better – because germs in thebristles could keep you sick longer. And you don't want that.

--Brian

Dollar Store Do's and Don'ts

2011-11-09T16:06:00.001-05:00

The holidays are coming up, and dollar stores are a goodplace for stocking stuffers – Christmas decorations could cost 70% less there, as amatter of fact! But there are some dollar store deals you should SKIP. Here’sthe top 5, according to iVillage.com:

1.) Don't BuyToys. They're cheap, almost guaranteedto break, and they might not be safe.

2.) Don't BuyBatteries. A lot of genericbatteries are made with carbon zinc, not lithium, and they don't last aslong as name-brand batteries you would buy normally.

3.) Don't BuyVitamins. Consumer Reports foundthat multi-vitamins at dollar stores don't always have the same amount of nutrientslisted on the label.

4.) Don't BuyAluminum Foil. Not as good, and not that much cheaper than in a regular store.

5.) Don't BuyExtension Cords or Power Strips. They're not made well, and could damage your electronic equipment. The same goes for USB cables.

So what CAN you buy at the Dollar Store?

1.) Shampoo. 2.) Cleaning Products. 3.) Greeting Cards. 4.) Spices (Just check the expiration date.) 5.) And Socks. Generic white socks are a pretty good deal –you can often get a 4-pack for the same price as one pair at a regular store!

We're always on the lookout for great bargains. Where do you go to save some green?

--Brian

3 Ways To Save Money On Groceries

2011-11-07T14:56:00.000-05:00

My wife and I were putting together our budget for 2012, andnext to our mortgage, our grocery store bill is the biggest item on the budget. (Our two growing children are eating everything in sight!) Real Simple magazinecame out with three tips that can save you thousands of dollars ayear in groceries – you just have tomake a few simple changes:

1) Washand cut your own fruits and veggies. A bag of pre-washed romaine lettucecosts over a dollar more than a head of cut-it-yourself lettuce. Ditchpre-packaged produce, and you’ll save over $400 a year.

2) Buymore fruits and vegetables. It’s cheaper than meat, and the American Dietetic Association says whenfamilies add more produce to their diets, not only do their waistlines getsmaller, their food budgets shrink by more than $900 a year!

3) Andfinally, the important tip: Make a list and stick to it. We allfall prey to impulse buys – but the Universityof Pennsylvania says if we avoid impulse shopping and stick to your list, you’llspend nearly 25% less on your grocery bill.

--Brian

Post-Halloween Stains

2011-11-02T14:11:00.000-04:00

If you've stillgot Halloween laundry to do, you're not alone. Here's a list from Reader'sDigest of three Halloween stains, and how to get them out.

1.) Chocolate. This one's pretty easy. Just scrape off as much as you can withoutrubbing it into the fabric, then apply a stain remover like Shout, and throw itin the wash. That should do it.

2.) Oil-BasedMake-Up is a little tougher. You’llneed to use make-up remover or rubbing alcohol and a damp wash cloth. Once thespot is wet, dab it with a dry paper towel until it stops picking up make-up.Once you’re done, use a stain remover, and wash it in warm water.

3.) For HairDye, use bleach and mix a quarter cup with one gallon of cold water. Then soak the stain for 30 minutes. If you’reworried about bleach, you can pre-treat with ammonia – just pour it right onthe fabric - then rinse and throw it in the wash.

Now if we can just do something about all those calories we consumed.....

--Brian

Test Your Halloween Candy Knowledge...Which Choice is Healthier?

2011-10-25T12:00:00.004-04:00

Real Simple magazine has a list of Halloween candy choices with info on which one is worse for you. So let's see how much you know. Here are six different Halloween candy options, which is the healthier choice?

1.) Skittles or Peanut M&Ms? A snack-sized bag of Skittles only has 61 calories, compared to 90 calories in a snack-sized bag of Peanut M&Ms. But peanut M&Ms are lower on the glycemic index, which means the sugar gets released into your bloodstream more gradually. So the winner is . . . Peanut M&Ms

2.) Reese's Peanut Butter Cups or Snickers? Reese's have more protein. But fun-size Snickers have less fat and 10 fewer calories than one peanut butter cup. So the obvious winner is . . . Snickers

3.) Sweet Tarts or Smarties? Sweet Tarts are a little bigger, but even if they were the same size as smarties, they'd still be worse for you. An entire roll of 15 Smarties only has 25 calories and five grams of sugar. Just eight Sweet Tarts have about 50 calories and 13 grams of sugar. So the winner is . . . Smarties

4.) Twix or Kit Kat? They're both bad for you, but Twix has more calories and three times as much sodium. So the healthier option is . . . Kit Kat

5.) Caramel Apple or Candy Apple? They're not as bad as you think, because underneath all that sugar, you're still eating an apple. But caramel is made with butter, which adds more calories and fat, so the better choice is . . . the candy apple

6.) Tootsie Rolls or Candy Corn? They both have artificial colors and flavors, but you have to eat four pieces of candy corn to rack up the same number of calories in one Tootsie Roll. So really, candy corn is healthier. But the problem is, you never eat ONE piece of candy corn. Or even just four pieces. Twenty million pounds of it are sold every year. That's why Real Simple calls it a tie.

This time of year, more than ever, the old Ben Franklin proverb applies: ‘Everything in Moderation.’

--Brian

Fuel for Art

2011-10-18T22:47:00.001-04:00

In the early 90s, one of the artists who truly inspired me, and who I had the good fortune to see "live" on more than one occasion, was David Wilcox.

The album "How Did You Find Me Here" was one great acoustic song after another, sung in an earnest, introspective style that spoke to me immediately. He was singing about MY LIFE at the time, it seemed, so I bought the next 4 of his CDs.

He, like me, got married in the mid 90s, and it was then that his music changed..and I stopped listening to it.

There is a phenomenon I have noticed in myself, my wife, and others, that appears to be universal: we are all much more creative when we're single, lonely, and semi-depressed. What is it about unrequited love, thoughts of what might have been, and sheer loneliness that inspires our art?

When I got married, I stopped writing songs. When Wilcox got married, his songs stopped resonating with me.

In the waning days of my bachelorhood I was writing a song or a poem every week, and some were actually pretty good, if I do say so myself. I was regularly corresponding with friends in delightful prose, making astute observations about life, love, and how it all relates. I even had time to play tennis, golf, and basketball semi-regularly. Of course, I was lonely and unhappy much of that time, but I think that was the fuel for my art. Now, I'm lucky to have time to spell-check a cryptic email before I send it.

The point of this post is that I rediscovered the early David Wilcox in a pile of old CDs. I hadn't heard him in so long that it immediately took me back to those days, when I had too much spare time, and I was dreaming of...well....the life I have now, I guess. All the old feelings came flooding back, all the remembered tears made me want to play my piano again, strum my guitar, and write a song or two.

But when I pulled into my garage, and my children ran out to greet me, nothing but pure smiles and childish excitement, I realized the trade-off; taking the time to feed the singer/songwriter in me would mean less time with my son, daughter, and wife.

Not only that, but the songs I write now would probably suck....like David's now do (sorry, Dave!) I'm just not in that place anymore, and neither, I think, is he. Loneliness can be beautiful, I guess.

So please, if you can find them, pick up "How Did You Find Me Here," "Home Again," "Big Horizon," and even "East Asheville Hardware." Early David Wilcox is an artist worth discovering, or in my case tonight, rediscovering:

"When I get lonely
that's only a sign
Some room is empty
That room is there by design
If I feel hollow
That's just my proof that there's more for me to follow
That's what the lonely is for"

("That's what the lonely is for" - David Wilcox, 1996)

--Brian

The Great Apple Taste Test

2011-10-04T13:45:00.000-04:00

Every Fall my family and I take a road trip to a nearby orchard and bring home as many varieties of apples as we can, to do the Great Apple Taste Test.

Through the years we have tasted some amazing apples, and some not so amazing, but it's always fun.

This year we drove to nearby Maryland and stopped by Milburn Orchards, where we sampled Golden Delicious, Empire, Jonagold, Red Delicious, Cortland, and a unique variety called Stayman-Winesap.

Based on our blind taste test, here are the results for 2011:

#6 - Red Delicious. Yuck. We have talked to farmers through the years that have told us the Red Delicious varieties today are much different than they were 20 years ago. Back then they were actually delicious, but smaller and not as red. Today, it's all about image, and what's left is a very lovely red apple, with very little taste or texture.

Add caption

#5 - Empire. This variety is hit or miss, depending on the season and area. Some New York Empires are tasty, very crisp and tart; but more often than not they are mealy and bland. That was the case with these.

#4 - Golden Delicious. This was a bit of a surprise. We expected the "delicious" varieties to both score low, but these goldens were crisp and sweet, and actually quite good.

#3 - Jonagold. These apples were neck and neck with Golden Delicious for flavor, but they were a little crisper, so we ranked them higher overall.

#2 - Cortland. This is the first year the Cortland scored this highly. Beautiful white flesh, and a nice tart taste. Very tasty. But the #1 apple by a nose is:

#1 - Stayman-Winesap. In the past we have tried Winesaps, and didn't like them. We have also tasted Staymans, and didn't particularly like those either. This is a cross between the two varieties, and it's a winner! Extremely crisp, fantastic size and color (a deep red with white dots), it feels nice and solid in your hands. The taste is a very tart/sweet blend which was phenomenal. It's got an interesting tang at first, which turns into a satisfying sweetness as you chew, but not too tart or too sweet. It's one of the best apples we have ever tasted.

While there's still time, find yourself an orchard and try a fresh picked apple right off the tree. This is the best time of year to do it!

--Brian

Secrets of your birth date

2011-09-27T14:11:00.002-04:00

How do know you're in the right career? According to CareerBuilder.com, you need to consider all the options - including numerology. As wild as it sounds, many people use numerology to determine personalities and personal attributes, which in turn can help identify compatible jobs.

In particular, your actual birth date can reportedly tell a lot about the sort of job for which you're best suited.

The first thing you need to do is figure out is your master number from one to nine, which is calculated based on your birth date. Each master number is assigned certain characteristics with specific strengths and weaknesses. How to compute your master number:

Write your birth date in numbers. Example: 1/20/1976
Add the numbers in the year together: 1+9+7+6 = 23
Add the month and day of birth to the year number: 1+20+23=44
Add the end result together to obtain a one-digit number: 4+4 = 8

Master Number 1: Leadership, independence. A natural leader and innovator; excellent in management levels. Ideal careers include inventor, designer, director, retail business owner, producer, sales manager, engineer, executive or small business owner.

Master Number 2: Cooperative, team player. Doesn't mind not being the boss. Ideal careers include lawyer, diplomat, clerk, caterer, insurance adjuster and architect.

Master Number 3: Joyful, creative. Multi-talented; requires self-expression for happiness at work. Ideal careers include artist, musician, medical field, lawyer, athlete, designer and actor.

Master Number 4: Structure; order. Best when working with form and structure. Crave an organized environment to produce best work. Ideal careers include building trade, mechanic, accountant, executive, software designer, banking.

Master Number 5: Craves variety. An ideal communicator with strong language skills. Ideal careers include salesperson, advertising, writer, teacher, editor, marketing, e-commerce, actor and lawyer.

Master Number 6: Giving and receiving love. Strong in service to others and domestic concerns. Ideal careers include homemaker, teacher, artist, florist, singer, beautician, fashion field, musician, caterer.

Master Number 7: Spiritual inner knowledge. Philosophical with a yearning for truth and education. Ideal careers include healer, author, farmer, photographer and researcher.

Master Number 8: Material expression. Competitive and authoritative. Ideal careers include banker, financier, pharmacist, engineer, lawyer, broker and real estate.

Master Number 9: Humanitarian endeavors. Idealistic and compassionate. Ideal careers include scientist, spiritual leader, doctor, teacher, clergy and diplomat.

What did your "master number" say about you?

--Brian

5 Ways To Save on Air Fare

2011-09-13T17:42:00.000-04:00

A great site to get low air fare is FareCompare.com - and the CEO recently shared some tips about how you can save some money on your next plane ticket.

1.) Buy On The Right Day. Each airline announces its newest deals every Monday. And by Tuesday at lunchtime, all the other airlines have matched those prices. So Tuesday afternoon is usually the best time to buy.

2.) Fly On The Right Day. Leave on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Saturday, and you'll almost always pay less.

3.) Fly At Night. Most people don't like traveling at night, so those flights are a lot cheaper.

4.) Compare Airports. Flying out of one airport might cost twice as much as flying out of another. If you don't mind a little extra driving, you could save up to 50% on your fare.

5.) Sign Up For Airfare Alerts. Most travel websites let you sign up for email alerts that tell you when new deals are posted. And you can even have them sent to your cell phone or Twitter account when they hit a level you can afford.

Good luck, and happy travels!

--Brian

8 Super Cheap Health Foods

2011-08-23T16:28:00.002-04:00

One reason people don't eat healthier is because they think healthy food is more expensive. But here's a list from iVillage.com of eight super-healthy foods that are also super-cheap.

#1.) Kale. It has vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, fiber, calcium, and omega-3s, and it only costs about 60 cents per serving.

#2.) Low-Fat Milk. An eight-ounce glass has nine essential nutrients, including some that most people don't get enough of, like calcium, potassium, and vitamin D. Non-fat and 1% milk are healthier than 2% and whole, but they cost the same.

#3.) Mangos. One cup has 80% of the vitamin C you need in a day, plus 25% of the vitamin A, 7% of the potassium, and three grams of fiber. And one mango only costs about 50 cents.

#4.) Dried Cranberries. A lot of people drink expensive pomegranate juice for the antioxidants. But dried cranberries have them too, and they're a lot cheaper. One cup costs about 50 cents, but don't eat too many because they're high in sugar.

#5.) Sweet Potatoes. They have beta-carotene, which is what gives them their orange color, and beta-carotene is good for your skin. Studies have shown that getting enough of it can result in fewer wrinkles, and sweet potatoes only cost about 43 cents per serving.

#6.) Eggs. One hard-boiled egg has about 70 calories and only costs 20 cents. But unless your doctor tells you to, DON'T just eat the egg whites . . . because most of the vitamins are in the yolk. If you're worried about cholesterol, don't eat more than seven eggs a week and you should be fine.

#7.) Pinto Beans. They have protein, fiber, and B vitamins. Plus, they have more antioxidants than almost any other bean. But pinto beans are also the CHEAPEST type of bean. They cost about 13 cents a cup.

#8.) Black Tea. You don't have to buy expensive tea to get the health benefits, because regular black tea has the same flavanoids that protect against free-radicals. And people who drink tea also age better. All for about 5 cents a cup!

--Brian

Resume tips to further your career

2011-08-02T12:30:00.002-04:00

Packing your résumé with overused, meaningless words is not the way to get a new job, according to career.com. Several career consultants shared a list of 10 words to leave off your resume. They are:
Outstanding
Effective
Strong
Exceptional
Good
As well as excellent, driven, motivated, seasoned, and energetic.

Career.com says that those 10 words "claim" that you’re great, but they don’t give any proof to back it up. For example, anyone can call themselves an “excellent employee,” and anyone who’s ever had a co-worker can call themselves a “team player,” but where's the proof?

So, what should you include on your resume?

First, describe your accomplishments, and let hiring managers make up their own mind about you based on actual results you’ve achieved.
Make sure you list specific, quantifiable details of what you’ve done. For example, “as office manager, I expanded our workforce from 10 employees to over 50.” You can even use direct quotes from an old performance review, like “consistently exceeds company goals.”

Finally, here 10 words you should include on your resume:
Created
Increased
Reduced
Improved
Developed
As well as researched, accomplished, won, on-time, and the ever popular under-budget.

These are “action words” that describe your experience, and to a hiring manager they say that you have the background and the initiative to get things done.

--Brian

Sites (besides Groupon) to save you money

2011-08-01T12:55:00.002-04:00

If you think concert tickets and iPods are too expensive, join the club! The good news is, there are ways to save some serious dough but still go to the shows you want to go to, and own the equipment you want, too:

If you’re looking for affordable tickets to a concert, sporting event or Broadway show, check out ZebraTickets.com. It combs through major ticket retailers’ websites so you can find the best deal. Also, you can have the site alert you if, say, seats to a Bon Jovi or Taylor Swift concert dip below $50.
Woot.com is another great site that features one deal per day, but specializes in audio equipment and computers that are often refurbished. I bought a $200 flipcam on the site for $40 last year, and it’s been a great product for me. Last month they were selling refurbished tablet computers for $100!
You could also consider swapping stuff you already own. Sites like TitleTrader.com and SwapTree.com make it easy to exchange DVDs, CDs and books with other people.
Believe it or not, you can save some buckage on refurbished iPods and computers from Apple.com. Just go to the website and click on “store” to find pre-owned gadgets that have the same warranty coverage as new ones.

What money-saving sites do you go to?

--Brian

Brian's Best of Delaware

2011-07-28T14:29:00.000-04:00

When you move to a new city, it's always fun to discover where the best places are: the best burger, where to take someone on a romantic date, etc.

On the WJBR Facebook page the first thing I asked was "Who has the best pizza in town?"

It was amazing how many responses I got! Although there wasn't a unanimous choice, several places got multiple comments. In no particular order, the multiple vote-getters were:

- Pat's Pizzeria
- Grotto's
- Mazella's
- Seasons Pizza
- Margherita's Pizza

I also asked who has the best burger. Here the choices were a little more unanimous. In a dead heat for first place was Jake's Wayback Burger and Five Guys.

Since I'm still relatively new to Delaware, I am going to take your suggestions, see what my favorites are, and report back. We'll call it Brian's Best of Delaware, and post it here and on wjbr.com. I think it'll be fun.

In the coming weeks, I'll be asking for your suggestions as to places I should try. I already have a head start on pizza, burgers, and Philly cheese steak, but there's a lot more to come! I hope to visit your favorite place soon.

--Brian

To Own or Rent?

2011-07-06T18:47:00.018-04:00

For the last several months I have been living out of a suitcase; first in a hotel, and then, when our Buffalo house sold, a small apartment with my family and our dog. Now that we are moved (at last!) I have been thinking about what a strange time-warp experience it was for me to live in an apartment again.

The units were very nice, with great amenities, and a fabulous pool and clubhouse, all of which left me feeling a bit nostalgic for the days when maintenance and every aesthetic responsibility wasn't entirely up to me.

Yes, apartment dwellers have people above and/or below, rent goes up and you have no control over it, the list of cons is as big as the pros; but I remember my time in an apartment fondly, mainly because of the sense of community.

Back in my salad days in Piqua, Ohio, I lived in a crappy apartment for 6 years. It wasn't a place I took people to and felt necessarily proud about, but it served its purpose, and I never had to cut the grass once. All my appliances were in place when I moved in, a far cry from the fridge-dash we made upon arriving in Delaware! The super was a nice and extremely thoughtful person who gave me furniture because she had it lying around. Being a bachelor working in radio, I appreciated this gesture more than she probably knew at the time.

From that dorm-like starting point, the apartments got progressively nicer, mainly because my wife expected to live like a normal person - not a bachelor in radio - and soon we had saved enough to buy our first house.

Once you have children, apartment living loses a lot of its appeal. Kids like to have separate rooms, and if anyone visits, it's nice to have a guest room, and more than one bathroom. For the price of renting a 3 bedroom 2 bath apartment, you might as well buy. It makes fiscal sense.

The downside of ownership is the loss of community. No matter how well you know your neighbors, you don't know them as you would if you shared a wall with them, and saw them everyday in the halls. No matter how often your friends stop by, there are many days and nights when it's just you at your house. And the luxury of having a pool on a hot summer day - that you don't have to pay extra to enjoy - is a pretty big mark in the "pro" column of apartment living.

Not that I would trade my beautiful home for an apartment again - despite the sea of boxes we now need to unpack - but renting does have its community advantages.

--Brian

Do you understand the words coming out of my mouth?

2011-06-27T22:12:00.001-04:00

What I do for a living is, basically, enunciate words properly. Despite this, at nearly every drive-through microphone in the world, I have to repeat myself several times before the person taking my order comprehends what it is I really want to order. Here is what transpired recently at a local drive-through:

"Would you like to try one of our value meals today?"

"No thanks, I'd just like a hamburger and a diet coke."

(Different voice) "Thanks for waiting, what was your order?"

"I would like a hamburger and a large diet."

(Pause) "Double cheeseburger and a chocolate milk?"

"No, I want a HAM-burger, and a large diet coke."

"What size coke?"

"A large diet."

"So I have a regular hamburger and a large coke. Will that be all?"

"Large diet."

(pause) "Was that 2 large cokes?"

"No, just ONE large diet coke. To recap my order, I want one hamburger and one large diet coke."

(Pause) "I'm sorry, was that just one drink?"

"Yes, just one drink. One large, diet coke. One. One hamburger also - just one of each."

"Please pull around for your total."

Maybe if I slurred my speech at the drive-through I'd have less trouble being understood. Perhaps I could practice different dialects and see if "East Indian" voice works better than, say, "elderly man with a hearing problem," which is one of my wife's favorites.

Happily, I went back to my desk and enjoyed my hamburger, and small diet coke.

--Brian

What do we really need?

2011-06-09T11:25:00.004-04:00

Years ago I had a debate with a friend about a song by David Wilcox called "The Farthest Shore." The lyrics go like this:

Let me dive into the water,
Leave behind all that I've worked for
Except what I remember and believe
and when I stand on the farthest shore
I will have all I need

At the time, I thought that leaving everything behind was a little frightening, regardless of who you were with on that shore. My friend thought the opposite, and we left it at that.

It's been over a decade since I first heard that song, and I have certainly acquired a lot of "stuff" since then; next month it will take two moving trucks packed to the gills to get what was in our last house into our new house! But I realize now that David Wilcox, and my friend, were absolutely right.

I spent my first three months in Delaware living out of a suitcase; first in a hotel room, then a small room in an apartment. It was tough, but I never missed my "stuff" back in Buffalo: I missed my wife, my kids, my dog, and my friends. Now that my family is here with me, even though the apartment is cramped and we're all sharing one bathroom, I'm happy.

Would it be nice to have my big screen TV? Yes. Would it be nice to have two bathrooms? Absolutely. But is it absolutely necessary for my happiness to have these things? Not at all.

I was thinking about this when I came home the other night, and jokingly asked my son if he would be OK with us staying in the apartment instead of moving into a new house. He paused, and then said "yeah, that would be ok."

Maybe the pool had something to do with his response, but it made me smile nonetheless.

--Brian

Cheap Fun Wine: Kitchen Sink

2011-06-01T12:09:00.002-04:00

Continuing in my series of Cheap Fun Wines, it is time we talked about Kitchen Sink, a blend of delicious California varietals, that adds up to a very drinkable and very inexpensive bottle of red.

Kitchen Sink is made of Zinfandel, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Syrah. It's very smooth (thanks to the Merlot), fruit-forward (thanks to the Zinfandel) and has a bit more depth of flavor than other blends, because of the Cabernet and Syrah.

With flavors of blackberry, chocolate and just enough oak, this deeply satisfying red can be had for around $10, and as low as $8, depending on where you find it. I grabbed it at Total Wine not long ago for no reason other than I liked the name; my wife and I finished the bottle so quickly, I had to go out and buy a few more for good measure.

Essentially made from a bunch of leftovers, Kitchen Sink's red table wine is a reminder that sometimes the most humble of "scraps," thrown together in a thoughtful manner, can add up to more than the sum of its parts. This approach basically made "Two Buck Chuck" a household name: leftover juice in a fabulous vintage can result in some very drinkable, but cheap, vino!

I hope Kitchen Sink can continue this quality as time goes by. Since the blend consists of grapes from different vintages (years), there's no way to know how well it will age, but it's very drinkable now, and a fabulous value for the price. Try it with pasta, beef, or by itself. It's an easy-drinking, party wine that you and your friends will enjoy.

--Brian
DKW4Y57ZRPAM

Thor is cool!

2011-05-16T14:04:00.006-04:00

While I wait to be reunited with my family here in Delaware, I'm staying at a stripped-down bachelor pad without the amenities I'm used to, namely TV and internet. I guess I didn't realize how addicted I have become to modern conveniences, because I find myself pacing the floors of the apartment wondering what to do with myself.

I have finished three books, done a lot of laundry, and cleaned the place stem to stern, but often find myself returning to my office at night, where I can get more work done, and because there's web there.

Over the weekend, I decided it was time to leave the office and take in a movie. Thor sounded like fun, and with Shakespearean actor/director Kenneth Branagh at the helm, not to mention Anthony Hopkins as Odin, how bad could it be? So on went my 3D glasses and into the theater I went.

I'll admit, my expectations were low, only because I was a fan of the comic, and portraying an actual Norse God on-screen seemed a taller order than your typical superhero. You'd think with CGI effects it would be easier than ever to portray true superhero behavior these days; however, the sheer power and force of these super-beings never seems to be adequately portrayed on screen. The Superman movies, in particular, always leave me cold, because you never feel like this guy is invincible.

Thor changes everything.

In this film, there are many fights where every single being onscreen is superpowered, and all of the punches and kicks and throws are full-strength, nothing held back. The action in Thor is staged extremely well, and there are some images that push comic book language on film to places we really haven't seen before. It is a thrilling ride.

Add to that Chris Hemsworth's swashbuckling confidence and you have a real winner. He obviously looks the part, tall and muscular with flowing blonde hair and a twinkle in his eye. My wife calls him "eye candy." I also appreciated that there was no montage in this film of Thor on earth learning to fly or tentatively trying out the hammer to see what it can do. He is Thor from the very beginning, fully expecting to win every battle, and he usually does.

I read that the 3D effects in this movie were upconverted, i.e. it wasn't shot in true 3D. That may be true, but I was impressed nonetheless. The 3D effects don't distract, and the scenes of Asgard, the mythical Norse kingdom and one of the Nine Realms, were fully realized. I especially liked the "Rainbow Bridge" to the other realms, which is rendered spectacularly, as some sort of rippling plank of celestial fiber optics.

I think in other hands this story may have dragged or gotten too cartoony; but with Branagh at the helm, the story has more heft, and just enough humor to keep it moving. Kids will love it, and obviously based on its first two weeks at the top of the box office, adults will too.

This is a fun movie, so take the family and enjoy it!

--Brian

Traveling light

2011-05-06T11:33:00.000-04:00

There's something cathartic about the moving process. Going through all your things triggers a lot of memories, and forces you to reassess what was and is important to you.

While I was clearing out our enormous basement (full of junk!), I found notebooks from just about every place I've ever been in my life, going all the way back to high school. I'm happy I saved them, because I realize how much I've changed in the last 20 years.

The handwriting is different, of course; my college notes were very cramped and slanted. Now I write messier, but much bigger. Probably indicates an increase in confidence as well as not having enough time to write neatly these days!

But what is most interesting is how these notebooks take me right back to the moment I was writing them. Journal entries trigger memories of people, books, and songs, long buried in some hidden part of my brain, yet springing once more into vibrant life as if no time has passed. What is it about physically writing something down that makes the moment so much more memorable? Typing into a computer seems so transitory by comparison; if you make a mistake you just back up and revise it. Physically writing something down perhaps forces you to think more about what you're writing.

Needless to say, I'm keeping the notebooks.

What's bizarre is seeing the weird stuff I decided to save, and then never unpacked in the 5 years we've lived in Buffalo! We've thrown so much away this time, I think a tip for the garbage man is definitely in order.

It feels good to stop carrying so much junk with us from house to house. It's liberating to make the decision to throw something away, despite whatever good feelings you may have had for that item in the past. It's also easier to keep a mental inventory of the things you touch and experience on a regular basis, as opposed to boxes of things gathering dust in the cellar.

Certain aspects of life in Western New York will be easy to leave behind (taxes, endless winters) but the friends we have made here are not so easily left. Perhaps more than any other place I have lived, I have felt most at home in Buffalo/Lockport. Leaving, and change, are both a part of life. Though I am leaving, a part of Western New York will always be a part of my life, and I leave it most definitely changed.

--Brian

Glee = Idol = Karaoke

2011-04-25T00:20:00.006-04:00

As I caught up watching Glee online this week, it occurred to me yet again how powerful music can be. It moves us today just as it did thousands of years ago, as our ancestors gathered around a campfire singing songs of the hunt. Music has always evoked powerful feelings in us, and despite years of scientific study, researchers have yet to find a "music center" in the brain. They literally don't know why music can give us goosebumps, or make us cry, it just does.

And hearing the kids in Glee sing Train's Hey Soul Sister or Lady Antebellum's Need You Now does give me goosebumps. Ultimately it's not the story or the acting that makes the show so interesting, it's the music.

Music is what brings people together in a bar to hear each other sing karaoke. There is a limit, of course, to how much bad karaoke one can tolerate, but more often than not my mind pays less attention to the semi-drunk person singing, and remembers instead the first time I heard that great song being sung. American Idol is like karaoke, with choreography. We clap when a performer is able to mimic the original version of a song we like; when they are able to bring something new, something of themselves to a song, we go out and buy their CD. But it's the music that moves us.

It's the reason I got into radio. When someone calls and asks me the name of a great song I just played, I know that in some small way, I become associated with that song. That's a powerful thing.

And so, as William Shakespeare said, 'If music be the food of love, play on.'

--Brian

Split

2011-03-21T23:30:00.001-04:00

One of the byproducts of having to change jobs is what it does to a family unit. After a new hire, most employers expect you to start work as soon as possible, and rightly so; within two weeks is pretty standard. The problem with that for a homeowner is the 3-4 month process of actually settling your financial affairs. In New York State, even if I accepted an offer on our house today, it takes 2 months minimum to finally reach a closing date and get the money figured out. (There are a lot of Albany lawyers and lobbyists who demand their piece of every mortage pie in this state.)

So my family has had no choice but to separate, for the first time ever. I am working at WJBR during the week, while my poor wife stays behind to manage the household, parent the kids, watch the dog, and keep the house immaculate, while we wait for a buyer to make us an offer. It's a raw deal for her, since she has to also continue working fulltime to maintain our health insurance for the next 90 days, or so.

Despite my making the 7-8 hour trek northward on some weekends, by and large I feel pretty helpless when it comes to managing the affairs of my own home. Sure, there's phone, internet, and Skype, but any way you slice it the burden falls squarely on my wife's shoulders.

There's a lot left to chance at the moment, and most of it hinges on how long it takes to sell the house. Even if we find the perfect house/lot down here, we're hamstrung until our closing date in NYS. So, do I lease an apartment here? And if so, for how long? And how in the world do we afford to pay for a mortgage AND monthly rent?

It's easy to get caught up in the stressful minutiae of our situation, so I try to keep proper perspective:

I am in lovely Delaware, not a war zone in Afghanistan, Iraq, or Libya.
No matter how long our separation is, it's ultimately temporary, and the family will eventually be reunited.
We're selling our home, not pulling our belongings out of the wreckage of a Japanese earthquake.
That which doesn't kill us, makes us stronger, and I thank God that all of us are healthy, and in no danger of being killed!

The bright side of all this is that I am gainfully employed again, working for a great company, in a thriving area, where it's already springtime. It's going to be a great place for the family to put down roots, and this time next year, we'll be singing a much different tune.

In the meantime, wanna buy a house?

--Brian

Prospects, and Change

2011-02-11T09:44:00.003-05:00

It's been a busy few weeks in my post-Entercom life. I have received so many concerned phone calls that I am honestly overwhelmed. You never know how many people you know until something like this happens, and then you are grateful for each and every one.

I am happy to say that I have a few fine prospects for future employment, thanks to my incredible network of friends and colleagues, who were not shy about putting in a good word. Soon I'll know where I'll end up next, and where I hope to stay for a good long while.

Now the hard part begins: does anyone have any advice about selling a house in the dead of winter in Buffalo?

That's step one. Step two is packing up said house, and uprooting the family on another trip across country, where we'll unpack and start all over again. Big change like this is never easy, but there is a certain excitement about starting fresh, and I must admit the prospect of not having to pay NYS taxes holds a very strong appeal.

Some thoughts about the last month:

Rudy (above), our gigantic puppy, desperately wants to bury the bones and chew toys we give him. He runs around the house whimpering, with a bone in his mouth, fruitlessly searching for a pile of dirt. Sorry dude, the best I can do is this blanket to cover it up.
The cliche "Daytime TV sucks" is so true. Thank goodness for the History Channel.
Now that I have some time on my hands, patching the ceiling and painting the trim in the bathroom isn't so overwhelming after all.

And finally, a tip if you happen to know any unemployed people: do them a favor and send them an email. Any email. Whether it’s an offer from a Nigerian prince about a large sum of money, a survey with far too many questions, or even something you may have forwarded before, take it from me: the unemployed are happy to receive new emails. A good chunk of our day is spent sitting in front of the computer refreshing our inboxes, hoping.

I somewhat miss the days when I had to go through hundreds of emails at work, and I guess I got used to being harassed by my Blackberry’s flashing red light throughout the night.

If all goes according to plan, my next post should be good news. Stay tuned!

--Brian

Welcome to the new normal

2011-01-28T18:44:00.001-05:00

Winters in Buffalo used to evoke oohs and aahs from people in other cities, who couldn't believe the stories of snow and wind. We do have that reputation. This winter, however, the eastern seaboard has gotten far worse weather than Buffalo has. As a matter of fact, New York City, Long Island, Philly, Waterbury, and several other cities have all gotten more January snow than Buffalo; it's not even close.

One of my resolutions is to think more positively this year, which was more prescient than I realized, given my current employment status. Anyway, it got me to thinking about the benefits of a colder climate. Here's my Top 10 list:

1) You can't ski when there's no snow. I was in Virginia for 10 years and didn't ski once. After strapping on my cross country skis again this year, I have to say that I really missed it.

2) One word: HOCKEY!

3) Your car is a fridge. During the winter I can go shopping at lunch, pick up milk and eggs, and leave them in my trunk all day. You can't do that when it's 70 degrees on Christmas Eve.

4) Your cheeks always have a rosy glow. Wind chill does that to you.

5) The reassuring crunch of salt beneath your feet. 'Nuff said.

6) Everything sparkles when the sun shines. While everything south of the Mason-Dixon line is brown and drab this time of year, in Buffalo there are diamonds sparkling everywhere you look.

7) Your dog can do his business in the yard, and it gets covered up almost immediately.

8) Winter fashion is easy. Pull on some boots, put on a cap, and you're ready to go out!

9) Instant snow cones. Who's got the syrup?

10) You can actually use your fireplace. How often can you use a beautiful gas fireplace in the Carolinas? We use ours 6 months of the year!

So enjoy yourselves this winter, ye who aren't used to winter! Welcome to the new normal.

--Brian

Is the Zodiac completely wrong?

2011-01-14T10:30:00.001-05:00

If you believe in astrology, and you’ve lived your life based on your Zodiac sign, I have some bad news.

Astronomers say the earth’s axis has shifted since the Babylonian period, when the zodiac was created, which throws off all of the dates when the sun is in each zodiac constellation’s “house.” If you want to believe today’s scientists, you may not be the sign you think you are!

Here is the way the Zodiac signs are supposed to break down, based on more accurate astronomical data:

–Capricorn: January 20th to February 16th.
–Aquarius: February 16th to March 11th.
–Pisces: March 11th to April 18th.
–Aries: April 18th to May 13th.
–Taurus: May 13th to June 21st.
–Gemini: June 21st to July 20th.
–Cancer: July 20th to August 10th.
–Leo: August 10th to September 16th.
–Virgo: September 16th to October 30th.
–Libra: October 30th to November 23rd.
–Scorpio: November 23rd to December 17th.
–Sagittarius: December 17th to January 20th.

Did your sign change?

–Brian

Stuff I Talked About On Air

2011-01-10T14:14:00.004-05:00

Matthieu Ricard is a Buddhist monk. He's also been called "The happiest man in the world," since MRI scans on his brain have shown zero negative emotions! In case you’re wondering how to be truly happy yourself, here are five tips from Ricard himself:

1) Meditation. When you meditate you train your mind. You can actually teach yourself to block out negativity and keep yourself emotionally balanced.

2) Don't be a pushover. If someone makes you angry, let them know. Letting your anger out is a lot healthier than holding it in.

3) Don't worry about being sad. It's okay to be sad sometimes.

4) Don't tie your happiness to wealth, fame or power. Ricard says it’s better to focus your ambition on becoming a better person instead.

5) Help other people. The best way to be happy yourself is to help others.

The Ancient Law Of Abundance precedes Matthieu Ricard by about two thousand years. It's an ancient method of guaranteeing financial prosperity in the new year, adapted to modern methodology. Here's how it works:

1) Take a blank check.

2) Date it with the current date.

3) Make the check out to yourself, using your full legal name.

4) Leave the dollar box and line blank.

5) In the memo area write, "paid in full."

6) Sign the check, "Law of Abundance."

That's it! You will need to keep the check with you at all times in the new year (except when bathing & sleeping). You must complete before the first new moon of the year, which this year is January 13. Good luck, and please remember me if you win the lottery, or something.

Change Your Toothbrush! If you find yourself getting sick a lot this Winter, the reason could be your toothbrush. Experts say we should always rinse our toothbrushes with hot water after every brushing, and change them every 3 months. (Most of us don’t). And the latest research says after you’ve had a cold or illness, it is imperative that we switch our toothbrush. Bacteria can live in the bristles for quite some time, so even if you’re feeling better, you could be re-infecting yourself by using the same brush.

--Brian

Breath Of Autumn

2010-10-19T19:53:00.006-04:00

Fall has always been my favorite season. There is something about that first chill in the air, wondering if this will be the last lawn mowing of the season, or if the leaves will still be on the trees next weekend, that makes us stop and savor the brilliant colors, and the beauty around us.

It's that balancing act between summer and winter that makes fall so poignant: we never know just how long it will last. But more than anything it's the smells of fall that bring it home for me; the sweetness of the leaves crunching underfoot, of apples ripening in the sun, and bonfires springing up everywhere. We cherish what little time we have left with the sun still relatively high in the sky.

It's that desperate need to keep fall alive that inspired this poem, "Breath Of Autumn."

A wonder in the air tonight
As potent as a young boy’s memory
What lungs can hold autumn?

A sweet fall fragrance
Of moist earth
And passing leaves
A bite, a nip, a hint
of what
I’m not ready for

To hold this
To breathe this
fleeting sweetness

Postpone tomorrow
Freeze

But cold, crisp, unbidden
It will come

The night is changed
A breath of autumn remains

--Brian

Cheap Fun Wines: Apothic Red

2010-10-12T11:46:00.005-04:00

It's been a while since my last Cheap Fun Wines post, mainly because I hadn't, until now, been able to beat any of the wines I wrote about previously (Menage A Trois, Earth Zin and Fire, Garnacha de Fuego). But recently I came across several that are worthy of consideration.

Having been to Napa, I know the difference between a bottle of wine that you store for years and save for a very special occasion, and a bottle you break out and have with pizza or burgers. This series highlights the everyday wines that may not impress your wine snob friend, but will probably please everyone else.

I saw Apothic Red at Global and picked up a bottle, since my wife and I have been enjoying red blends lately. In my opinion, you can't go wrong with a California red blend, and this was no exception.

I knew it was a winner when I opened the bottle to wonderful smells of dark cherries, blackberries, and a hint of spice. Made by the Gallo family, this is a blend of 45% Syrah, 44% Zinfandel, 9% Merlot, and 2% Cabernet Sauvignon that comes from primarily Lodi, as well as Sonoma, and California's Central Coast.

Often a wine of this price (around $10) will taste good at first but leave you with a strange aftertaste. Apothic finishes with a silky/velvety texture that lingers at the back of your throat in a very pleasant way. If you're looking for a smooth, easy drinking, fruit-forward wine with hints of vanilla, this is one to try. Even Robert Parker of The Wine Advocate gave it an 87, calling it a "beauty (that) will provide enormous relief for weary, recession-challenged wine consumers."

Break this bottle out at a party and I guarantee your friends will ask what it is, and how they can get a bottle for themselves.

--Brian

Football, Mad Men, and stuff

2010-09-20T14:03:00.009-04:00

As much as I looked forward to football season starting again, I am equally frustrated two games in. One on hand, the woeful Buffalo Bills; on the other, the plucky but tough luck Detroit Lions; and then you have my two unlucky Fantasy Football teams. I'll save talking about that disaster for another time.

I'll be honest, I didn't expect much of the Bills coming into the season. A new coaching staff doesn't come in and immediately excel, especially given the lack of any serious change in lineup. Pre-season gave me some hope that there would be more offense than last season, but instead it's just offensive how Trent Edwards keeps getting hammered, hindering his ability to see anyone downfield.

Meanwhile, their 50 year rebuilding project nearly complete, the new-look Lions appeared ready to convince people that times were finally different in Motown....and then franchise QB Matt Stafford went down with (another) shoulder injury in the first half of game one against the Bears. Miraculously, they hung in there, and won the game on a last minute TD grab by Calvin Johnson - until it was called back in a ridiculous ruling that cost them their first road victory in 20 games. Another heartbreaking loss to the Eagles (35-32) in game two proved, at least, they are further ahead than the Bills on offense, but any way you slice it, 0-2 still sucks.

On the bright side, the Lions and Bills are tied with the Minnesota Vikings and Dallas Cowboys at 0-2. (Who expected THAT?) I guess you could say there's always hope, especially this early. A team that starts 0-2 could theoretically finish 14-2. Then again, donkeys could fly out my butt.

Mad Men
I have not missed an episode of Mad Men on AMC since the beginning. Every season has been fascinating, but this season has been looser, with many unexpected plot twists. Kudos to creator Matt Weiner for capturing the topsy-turvy nature of the mid-60s with storylines that reflect the unsettledness of the era.

Here are the three reviews I always read on Mondays. If you love the show as much as I do, I would bookmark them:

http://www.open.salon.com/blog/silkstone

http://tvrecaps.ew.com/tv-show/mad-men/

http://tunedin.blogs.time.com/tag/mad-men/

And for a wonderful video recap, including insights from cast members and writers, click here.

--Brian

Top 5 Puppy Tips

2010-09-07T10:45:00.010-04:00

My wife and I spent a good amount of our Labor Day weekend puppy-proofing the house. It's been a while since we have had to deal with a very curious animal sticking his nose into everything, and trying to chew...everything!

Cesar Millan, aka The Dog Whisperer, has some very effective training techniques that we have been trying to take to heart, one of which is limiting access to the entire house. Especially when you're trying to keep your new dog from peeing everywhere, it's important to provide a safe, secure area from which to interact with the family. This could be a crate, or a designated area of a room. So far, this has been working great with our new puppy, Rudy.

Rudy's a pretty laid back guy, with a much different energy than our previous dog, Rocky. Whereas a Jack Russell Terrier likes to run full-blast from point A to point B, fearlessly looking around each new corner, ready for anything, Rudy is pretty trepidatious about trying anything new. At first he really hated the leash and collar, and would rather lie down on the ground and chew it than go out for a walk with us. He's doing great now, but Rocky by contrast was fine with a leash from the start, and would even pull me on my skateboard down the street at full speed! (In retrospect, that probably wasn't the best way to train a JRT....)

Certainly we aren't dog training experts, but we have learned quite a bit from Cesar, the SPCA, and our own personal experiences (i.e. mistakes along the way!).

Here is our Demay Top 5 Dog Training Tips, if you are thinking about bringing home a new doggie to your house:

1) Give your dog a designated area to spend his time in each room. Whether it's a dog bed, a crate, or a blanket, let him know that the house is yours, and he needs permssion to go outside of his territory. This is great for both owner and dog, since it allows you to keep an eye on him while you're home, and it sets limits for your dog, establishing you as leader of the pack.

2) Always lead your dog. When you leave a room, or go out a door, always go first. When he's on the leash, keep him walking at your side, and slightly behind. (This is easier said than done with terriers!) If you always let a dog go first, you are making him believe he is the leader of the pack. To most dogs, this is a pressure-situation, and they don't like it. Excitable, yipping dogs pulling hard on the leash don't respect you, and think it's up to them to make decisions for the pack. It makes them nervous, and nearly impossible to train! They'd much rather follow you, and let you look out for them, so always lead.

3) Dogs are a mirror of you. If you're nervous and excited around them, you're going to get a nervous and excited dog. Likewise, if your dog runs around and jumps up on you, and you pet that dog or say his name at that moment, you are telling him it's OK to run around and jump up on people! Whatever attention you give a dog, positive or negative, reinforces that behavior of the dog at that minute.

4) Ignorance is Bliss. Dogs always live in the moment. Their memories are very poor. If you want to discourage bad behavior, turn your back on a dog when he's doing something you don't like. Don't even make eye contact at that time. Wait until he settles down and is acting the way you want him to act before acknowledging him, and giving him praise. This reinforces only the good behavior!

5) Crate-training is a very good thing. It's hard for people to understand at first that confining a dog to a kennel or crate is actually soothing to him. Humans don't like to be put in cages. Dogs, on the other hand, really appreciate not having to always watch their backs. A crate, as long as it's large enough to stand up and turn around in, is a safe, secure place where a dog can relax. Plus, they won't pee where they sleep. So if you keep your animal in a crate for a good part of the day, immediately lead them out the door to pee the minute you come home. This reinforces that peeing is an outside activity only, and makes the house a nice place to be for both dog and owner.

That's our Top 5, do you have any tips to share? Would love your comments!

--Brian

That New Car Feeling

2010-08-17T11:30:00.011-04:00

For the last 7 years I have driven a very nice car. When I bought it in 2003, it was the nicest car I had ever driven; over the last 165,000 miles, however, it started to show its age, and was almost like a diary of strange driving events:

There was the slight dent in the back bumper where an elderly man backed up completely out of his driveway, across the street, into the driveway of my daughter's daycare provider, and into my bumper - despite me yelling and waving my arms for him to stop.
There was the rust spot on the driver side door, which occurred thanks to (another) freak Lockport wind storm, that jerked the door out of my hand and into a parking lot pole 2 years ago.
And there was a tiny chip out of my windshield, always exactly in my field of vision, that happened during a hailstorm last spring.

No matter how much we love a car, car owners know when it's time to say goodbye. That time for me came last night, when I was shocked to realize that I could somehow afford the lease of a 2010 Toyota Camry XLE.

Despite my former car's shortcomings, and thanks to the generosity of Mike Basil Toyota, I drove off the lot with an amazing new vehicle.

As I drove home, it was like a cloud had lifted. I had been worrying about my old car for quite some time. I knew that eventually it was going to start costing major buckage to keep on the road; it was just a question of when. To not have that worry hanging over me anymore was liberating.

Everyone talks about that "new car smell." For me, it's more than just a smell; it's that new car feeling, and at the moment, I'm loving it.

--Brian

Grief is grief

2010-08-05T18:56:00.010-04:00

Many of you already know that our family dog Rocky passed away last week. To all my friends and acquaintances who expressed their condolences, I thank you. It means more to me than you know.

While Rocky's death was "expected," I don't think anyone is ever really ready for it. The finality of death, and in Rocky's case the quickness of his decline, took us all completely by surprise. After nearly 14 years, the shock of suddenly not having him around was quite profound; not just for me, but for my wife and children too.

Rocky pre-dated both of my kids. We brought him home as a puppy shortly after buying our first house in 1997, and his claws clicked on the floors of that house, and two others since, until last week.

I think what struck me most about this experience was how universal grief truly is. As a child I remember being terribly sad when the family dog died, but this was different. I would say it's no less difficult dealing with the loss of a cherished family pet than it is mourning the passing of an elderly relative: grief is grief.

Before we buried Rocky underneath his favorite tree in our backyard, we stood and remembered things about him that made us smile:

One morning I had Rocky in the station truck with me. I left something in the house, so I ran in to get it, leaving the truck running. When I got back, Rocky had locked himself in the truck (and me out of it), and had his paws on the steering wheel, seemingly ready to drive off without me. I had to have someone from the station drive out to my house with a spare set of keys so I could make it into work that day.

We lived near a mountain lake in our first house in Virginia, and would often let Rocky loose at the tail end of his walk to run free. He really looked forward to being let loose from the leash, and would run faster than I have ever seen any dog run. We learned later that his parents were both award-winning Jack Russell Terrier racers.

But probably the memory that sticks out most is when I took his squeaky toy and put it on our refrigerator, because I couldn't take the squeaking anymore. Rocky looked at that squeaky toy, paced around the floor, and decided to go for it. For at least 30 minutes he took running leaps, getting higher and higher, until he finally grabbed the squeaky toy from off the fridge, and victoriously ran off with it. I have never seen any dog that determined, and certainly never saw any dog jump that high.

Rest in peace, Rocky. You are, and will be, sorely missed.

--Brian

Darcy's Joke Book

2010-07-17T13:56:00.004-04:00

My kids have always loved telling jokes. Most of these jokes are not funny. But that has never stopped anyone from telling jokes, and I have to give credit for at least trying. We still quote my son Connor's very first original joke, told when he was four:

Knock Knock
Who's There?
Big Lemon
Big Lemon who?
Big Lemon Head!

Well, Darcy took this a step further with her latest "book," The Joke Book, decked out in red construction paper, and stapled with lined notebook paper pages. Here are some examples:

What do you call a snail on a boat?
A snailor!

What animal likes corn?
A unicorn!

What is a butt's favorite food?
Butter!

The last one's my favorite, because it's so bizarre.

Have you heard any good ones lately?

--Brian

Old Spice Man

2010-07-14T12:38:00.004-04:00

Every now and then, a commercial hits that everyone likes, and everyone quotes. ("Where's the beef?" "My bologna has a first name..." "Nothing but net.") Sadly, I still quote these oldies but goodies.

This year, that commercial is obviously the Old Spice Man. Guys think he's cool, women do too, but they have other obvious (shirtless, muscular, abs...) reasons for liking him.

I liked the first commercial, which appeared during this year's Super Bowl, a lot. But what makes 36 year old Isaiah Mustafa so endearingly cool is his personalized videos, based on his Old Spice Man character, that he is making in response to totally random posts on his Twitter page.

For example, someone with the handle "BabyMan" commented, and Old Spice Man spent about 30 seconds in his response video wondering if the man was a baby with a man's muscle tone, or a man with a baby's softness and purity of spirit. Priceless!

There are a lot of these response videos on the Old Spice Man YouTube Channel. What is your favorite?

--Brian

Why we live here

2010-07-07T10:49:00.016-04:00

Every year we say the same thing around here: 12 months of activities, and only 3 months of summer to cram them all in! That was never more true for me, personally, than last week.

Starry Night in the Garden was another fantastic success. Despite some concerns about the weather, the skies cleared and gave us a cool but dry night, and the artists didn't disappoint. If you missed any of the performances, definitely check out our video recap and a whole bunch of pictures here.

It was a very diverse lineup this year, with Melanie Fiona kicking things off, just before her big European tour. Serena Ryder got warmed up for the Lilith Tour by playing a very intense acoustic set, and then we were able to celebrate Alex Band's CD release by presenting him with a cake on-stage, thanks to his fan club.

But Collective Soul was our headliner, and I mean no offense to any of our warm-up acts when I say they truly deserved to top the bill. Hit after hit after hit, with songs that I think sounded better acoustic than they do on record. If you ever get the chance to see Ed and Joel acoustic, do it without hesitation. A very appreciative crowd of 2500+ loved every minute, especially "Buffalo Barry," who got up on stage and played guitar with the band.

So a fantastic night of food, wine, and music on Wednesday, followed by Thursday At The Square and Martin Sexton downtown.

Friday night, Heather and I were lucky enough to visit the Saturn Club for a wonderful dinner and dancing (Thanks Mike and Christa!) while we listened to music in the courtyard from Mark Mazur and his Little Big Band.

Saturday night, the Hard Rock Summer Concert Series kicked off in Niagara Falls, and I was able to experience the Gord Downie phenomenon firsthand.

Gord's normal job is lead singer of the fantastically popular Tragically Hip, but he hits the road now and then with The Country Miracles. When it was announced that he was headlining the first concert of the summer at the Hard Rock, I was wondering if his side project would draw - but as you can see, Old Falls Street was packed. We stuck around and saw fireworks after the show, since it was July 4th weekend.

South of town, the rest of the Star Crew spent the holiday weekend in Ellicottville for the Summer Festival of the Arts, enjoying Survivor and the BPO with fireworks on the slopes of Holiday Valley.

Sunday, we took the kids to see Toy Story 3, which was a fantastic movie, and we finished the weekend with our own city's fireworks display at Outwater Park in Lockport.

Whew!

So yeah, Buffalo gets a bad rap for its winters, but we more than make up for it with an incredible selection of summertime activities.

For example, this weekend: Taste Of Buffalo, Thursday At The Square, The English Beat at the Falls, Huey Lewis at the Casino, Vans Warped Tour.....

--Brian

From vinyl to iPhone in a blink

2010-06-08T09:46:00.003-04:00

With the unveiling of the new iPhone this week, my thoughts wandered to how far things have come technologically just in my lifetime.

As a struggling radio guy in Northern Michigan back in my 20s, I'd DJ weddings and occasional parties to make ends meet. I would lug two huge speakers, stands, an amp, CDs, a huge stack of vinyl records, a mass of cords and adapters, a couple of turntables (exactly as pictured), two CD players, my mixing board and headphones to each event. It took about an hour to set up, another hour to tear down, and I shared the front seat of my Chevette with at least one of those huge speakers. At the end of the evening I was pretty tired, but a couple of hundred dollars richer for my troubles, so it all worked out.

Today, all those cases of records and CDs I lugged from event to event can be replaced by one iPod, and the size of the speakers I need today would be half the size they used to be back in the day, but putting out much fuller, more realistic sound.

An iPhone can download just about any song I would want in seconds, so if I were to go back to deejaying, I could handle just about any request on-the-fly. How amazing is that? My 20 year old self would be shocked, awed, and so very covetous of this technology!

Random Thoughts

New studies now indicate that eating blueberries helps reduce belly fat. A University of Michigan study found that obese lab animals who ate a blueberry-rich diet lost abdominal fat and experienced lower cholesterol and improved glucose control, whether they ate a fat-rich diet or not. Yesterday I ate a 2 pound container of blueberries for lunch. So far, same amount of belly fat, but I am hopeful.
Now that the TV season is over, and Lost is over for good, all I have to watch at the moment is Friday Night Lights. Still a great show, but I can't wait for this Sunday's True Blood premiere. Check out the Season 3 teaser here!
With vacation season here, a health tip for you: carry disinfectant wipes and clean your hotel's light switches, TV remote, telephone, light fixtures and faucets. According to a recent study those are the 5 germiest things in a hotel, since they're never cleaned! Wipe them down first, and you could stave off a cold - or worse - in your Summer travels.

--Brian

Ontario Anniversary

2010-05-27T10:10:00.008-04:00

A yearly tradition for my wife and I is our anniversary weekend across the border at Niagara-On-The-Lake. Before I came to Western New York, I had no idea there were even vineyards and wineries here. The fact that there are world class wineries, incredible chefs with five star restaurants, and an internationally recognized theater company just minutes from my house is a secret that more people need to know about!

I always take my show on the road to kick off the Shaw Festival Theatre season. I have come to know many of the people responsible for making the Shaw such an amazing operation, and every year I seem to learn something new about it. For example: did you know that Queen Elizabeth herself dedicated the Festival Theatre complex in 1973? And from very humble beginnings in 1962, the Shaw now plays to over 300,000 people every year. That's a pretty remarkable number, considering NOTL has only 15,000 year round residents.

After my event on Friday, Heather and I stayed at the Sterling Inn and Spa. Regular listeners of mine know we often give away One Tank Getaways here, and this time I was lucky enough to take one of my own. If you have never been, I would seriously recommend taking advantage of one of the packages they offer. I challenge you to find a more luxurious experience for so little money! Plus you're within walking distance of the Falls, with free parking - that alone is worth the trip.

First we had one of the finest dinners of our lives at A.G. which is located right at the hotel. I had been hearing great things about chef Cory Linkson for years, but hadn't had the chance to experience his genius first-hand until now. Heather and I have had some amazing meals in our lives, but Friday's dinner ranks at or near the top. It was 7 courses, with a specific Ontario wine paired with each course. What made the dinner so memorable to me was the interesting food pairings and textures. For example, I would never think to put scallops, lentils, and chorizo (mexican sausage) together, but Cory did it, in an incredibly delicious way. I was blown away, even more so because everything on the menu was locally produced. There truly is something about fresh, local ingredients that makes your dinner experience that much better.

We floated happily away from dinner and checked into our suite. It was huge, clean, ultra-modern, and absolutely perfect. You really can't beat an in-room jacuzzi; and I hated to leave the extra-large multi-head shower Saturday morning, but there were wineries to visit, so off we went.

Our weekend coincided with the Wine and Herb Festival in Ontario Wine Country, and we had passports which let us take part in special food and wine pairings at each winery we visited. We decided to focus on ones we hadn't visited already, and were pleasantly surprised by Palatine Hills Estate Winery, which we found mostly by accident on our way out of town, by way of Lakeshore Road.

Hard to believe it's been 14 years of marriage to my beautiful wife, but I'm happy to say we still have fun together after all these years, and there was plenty to be had during our anniversary weekend in beautiful Ontario.

--Brian

Lost without Lost

2010-05-24T10:38:00.010-04:00

Now that I have had a few hours to let the Lost series finale sink in, I'm torn. I feel uplifted, because ultimately it was a happy ending. But I also feel sad; that the series is over,
certainly, but sadder still that so many questions about Island mythology will remain unanswered. More about that later.

(Spoiler alert...do not read further if you haven't watched the finale yet...)

Emotionally, I thought the finale tied everything up in a neat bow. It was wonderful to see most everyone paired up with the ones they loved the most at the end. The Jack-Kate-Sawyer love triangle was finally resolved in a satisfying way, and Sawyer and Juliet finding each other again is what we all wanted to see. My wife and I shed a lot of happy tears throughout the 2.5 hour extravaganza.

It was also brilliant how the producers were able to explain Sideways World. For six seasons they have been denying that the Island has anything to do with Purgatory. Technically, that is true. The Island didn't have anything to do with Purgatory. That Sideways World was, indeed, a Limbo/Purgatory was a brilliant way for them to hide a key plot point, in plain sight! A loophole, if you will.

I went into the finale thinking the writers were going to merge Sideways World and the Island with some sort of nifty physics explanation by Daniel Farraday which included a lot of math scribbled in his little notebook, and possibly featuring Desmond as the catalyst - but this worked a lot easier than that. It also allowed them to include some beautifully shot flashback moments between the characters that put a satisfying emotional finish to this very special series.

While I enjoyed seeing Sayid reunited with Shannon, it was also a bit puzzling, since he spent his entire life pining for Nadia. I had almost forgotten their island romance, to be honest. That Shannon is Sayid's one true love, after having spent so little time together, seemed a bit contrived. But, it was a nice way to reunite her with the cast and bring her brother Boone back for the finale, so I guess that's why it happened.

The classic good vs. evil, Jack vs. MIB/Locke battle wasn't as momentous as I expected; no black smoke coming out of Locke's body at the end, but it got us to where we wanted to go. And seeing the True Locke forgiving Ben on his way into the church at the end was a nice touch.

I read so many Facebook status updates last night quoting Miles: "I don't believe in a lot of things, but I believe in duct tape." And speaking of Miles, "Welcome to the club," he said plucking a gray hair from the head of a startled Richard Alpert. Looks like Richard's immortality died with Jacob.

As usual, lots of religious allusions. Kate's comment to Desmond outside the church: "Christian Shephard? Really?" And Locke on Jacob's choice of Jack: "I expected to be more surprised. You're kind of the obvious choice, don't you think?" Not to mention Jack dying from a stab wound in his side, and checking that wound, ala Doubting Thomas.

I truly loved that the series ended as it began six years ago, with Jack lying down at the edge of the beach, near the bamboo forest. It was also sweet that Vincent, the dog, lay down with him at the end so he wouldn't be alone, and seeing the Ajira Airways plane leaving the island reflected in Jack's eyes was a fitting, and poetic end. I commend Lost for going out in style.

Questions...Questions....Questions....

But what about the Island? What the heck is really at the bottom of that Spring? Who put it there? Will we ever really know?

What is with the ancient Tunisia/Island connection?

The statue, the hieroglyphics; what about all that, Lost producers?
Why does poor Aaron have to spend eternity as a baby? Just sayin'...

The chalice of wine that Jacob drank from with his "mother" when he took over guardianship of the island involved some sort of ritual chant. Jacob also chanted something, although it was less involved, when he gave Jack the cup to drink. Poor Hurley drank muddy puddle water out of an old water bottle, no chanting, barely any ritual significance. But the implication in the finale's church scene was that he had a long and successful Island stewardship with Ben as his #2. So....what was with all the chanting? Geez.

Where is Locke's love connection? The poor guy "moves on" alone, with all the people who didn't exactly make his time on the Island a totally pleasant experience. His revelation, the key life moment which brought back his Island knowledge, was seeing his toes wiggle. That seems a little unfinished to me, for such a key character in the series.

Perhaps, we will get some explanations this August. Entertainment Weekly says a complete series DVD set with close to 2 hours of additional material will address many Losties questions. That will drop Tuesday, August 24, so look for it then in a video store near you.

I'd love your comments, so feel free to post your thoughts!

--Brian

Lost Recap: "Across The Sea"

2010-05-12T17:45:00.011-04:00

After watching last night's Lost, my lingering fear that this series will end in a very unsatisfactory way came rushing back. When all the dust settles, and all the big explanations come down, are we going to be stuck with some kind of New Age spiritualism at the heart of this story? I hope not, since that hardly justifies six seasons of obsession!

Tuesday's episode, "Across the Sea," came a little too close to that for me. I half expected Aslan, or Yoda, to suddenly appear in the clearing, explaining a key plot point.

Building an episode this late in the year, this close to the finale, around the origins of Jacob and the Man In Black (MIB), was a very risky move, and one that I don't think paid off, at least not for me. Couldn't this storyline have been explained in a flashback during a previous episode? Why bench your entire cast after such an action-packed episode last week?

This was an uneven, overly emotional, rather violent, Oedipal mess of a story, in which Allison Janney, the West Wing's CJ Cregg, plays a harried, robe-wearing mysterious long-ago island guardian who kills a shipwrecked woman to take possession of her babies, one named Jacob and the other, frustratingly left nameless. Doh!

Along the way, we got some of answers we've been clamoring for (below), but the resolutions dropped awkwardly, explaining bits of one mystery, only to unveil a new set of questions.

"Every question I answer will simply lead to another question," Janney's nameless mother figure says to Jacob and MIB's birth mother Claudia. That's a quote that might as well be the show's unofficial motto!

Janney, hereafter to be referred to as CJ, sees average people as evil. So even though she (I think) drew Claudia to the island so Jacob and MIB could be candidates to replace her, she tries to keep the boys away from their human brethren, afraid they will be corrupted.

Eventually, we learn that CJ is protecting a hidden light in the island, the source of all that magnetic energy the Dharma people were chasing for so long. CJ says if that light, "the light which shines within all of us a little bit," is allowed to go out, then it goes out everywhere.

That doesn't sound good, does it? It also didn't do much for the storyline! What struck me was how stilted and wooden the acting was during this episode. We have seen so much better through the course of this series!

I'm still frustrated by what we still don't know:

Where did this light come from, and how did CJ wind up guarding it? (And does Toby know?)

How was she able to decree that Jacob and MIB couldn't hurt each other?

If she's that powerful, why did she need to bring another woman to the island to steal her babies?

Why could MIB see their dead mother, but Jacob could not? Claudia was Jacob's mother too!

CJ handed Jacob a glass of wine during a ceremony entrusting him with guardianship of the island, from the same bottle that Jacob later allowed Richard Alpert to drink from in "Ab Eterno." Is the wine infused with some sort of "eternal life" serum? Or is the incantation CJ said prior to Jacob drinking the wine somehow a part of this? Will we ever know?

On the bright side, we did get a few answers:

MIB apparently built the big "donkey wheel" which somehow taps into the "secret light/power," and can move the island. That being said, how did MIB accomplish this, with only rudimentary bronze-age tools? The well in which he and his camp uncovered a shortcut to the "power" was even dug by hand! Somehow devising a machine he could stick into the light to move people and places around seems like quite a stretch to me.

MIB was turned into Smokey when Jacob pushed him into the light/pool. His body died, but his soul lives on as the Smoke Monster. Admittedly, the birth of Smokey was one of the cooler things I have seen in this series.

This raises the question of Ben, Sayid, and Claire's dunking in the temple pool: is the water in that pool connected in a lesser way to the "pool of light and goodness," which could explain their slowly turning bad from the inside out?

CJ destroys MIB's dream of leaving the island, burning down the village of the humans he's spent 30 years living with, in order to push him into killing her, which (we presume) releases her from guarding the light. But, how did CJ manage to overpower an entire camp of strapping young men?

MIB uses a dagger to kill his "mom," after which CJ thanks him. This dagger appears later in the series timeline, presumably the one Ben uses to kill Jacob, and which Sayid unsuccessfully uses in an attempt to kill Locke/MIB. Is there a greater significance to this dagger?

"Every question I answer will simply lead to another question."

Hmmmm. The most important question I am asking now is this: how in the heck can the producers end this show so that it won't feel like a jarring mix of explosions and Chronicles of Narnia-like magical spirituality?

One more new episode before the two and a half hour finale. My doubt is growing by the minute.

--Brian

Patio Indecision

2010-05-04T11:51:00.010-04:00

Last year, my wife and I bought a gazebo for our back patio. We put it together ourselves, and enjoyed it for one week, before a freak May thunderstorm came through, picked it up like a toy, and deposited it in pieces into the woods next to our house. Here is the tragic before and after.

This year, we are looking for something to put on the back patio again, but we're having a hard time deciding. There is a very cool, heavier-duty gazebo (below, left) at Lowe's that is just in our price range. It is more open, less like a parachute, but it's only about 50 pounds more than the one we bought last year. There's no guarantee it won't suffer the same fate.

There's also a heavier, but slightly smaller, steel pergola (above, right). The flat "roof" isn't as cool as the gazebo, but it's still a nice looking structure. The down side of both of these choices is that we would have to pay extra for delivery, and we'd have to find the time to put them together.

I am leaning heavily toward a very large 11' by 11' cantilever umbrella. What I like about it is that it offers better coverage from the elements, the base is nearly 300 pounds so it won't tip over or blow away, it's retractable so during a storm we can quickly crank it down, plus it can be fully retracted and covered during the winter months.

It will also be delivered to our home and set up (sand in the base, etc.) free of charge.

My wife doesn't think it's as attractive as the other choices, but what do you think?

--Brian

Darcy has some bad things to tell you

2010-04-11T14:21:00.006-04:00

One of the great things about my kids' school is the belief that writing, or "journaling," is important. Since kindergarten, both kids have been writing down whatever they want, whether they can spell it right or not. Connor, in particular, had some very unique spellings up until recently; but the point was to get used to writing, and to express yourself through writing.

My daughter has been especially keen on this idea. She loves putting together her own books, stapled together, above and beyond the class-required quarterly journals. One book in particular caught my eye: Darcy Has Some Bad Things To Tell You.

Here is a list of what my 6 year old thinks is pretty terrible stuff.

I have bad luck.
We can't find my Easy Bake Oven
Hailey threw a snow ball at my face
I do not get to have any more candy
I only got to watch half of iCarly
I had a bad dessert
Connor got soap in my eyes
I missed some rainbows
I don't have a placemat
Cindy is not my friend anymore
Dad plays Guitar Hero when we are leaving (editor's note: guilty as charged...)
My hand hurts

But she ends it on a hopeful note:

13. "But it doesn't happen now," with a smiley face.

As a parent, I feel awfully good about this journal. Of course, things are bound to change when she hits 13; I imagine by then she'll be able to think of a few more pages to add! But for now, Darcy's bad things aren't so bad at all.

And for that I am incredibly thankful.

--Brian

Happy Dyngus Day

2010-04-05T10:27:00.006-04:00

Western New Yorkers take for granted that everyone knows what Dyngus Day is, but a lot of the country does not. A lot of my Facebook friends, for example.

So, for those who aren't familiar with what this traditional Polish celebration is all about, here is a little background:

Dyngus Day, also known as Wet Monday, is a celebration that Lent is over, Spring is here, and - like all good happy Spring events - has quite a lot to do with boys chasing girls. And what better way to get a girl's attention than by dumping a bucket of water over her head, right?

Traditionally, boys would literally dump a pail of water on a girl they liked, sometimes first thing in the morning! Over time a pail of water gave way to squirt guns, with some amorous lads even adding a little cologne to the mixture. (Whether this evolved into getting sprayed with cologne upon entering department stores is unclear.)

Boys also get to chase after their chosen girls by smacking them gently about the legs with twigs, traditionally pussy willow branches. This time of year, you see a lot of pussy willow arrangements in vases.

So far, Dyngus Day doesn't seem like such a good deal for the girls, does it? But no worries. The Tuesday after Easter, girls can reciprocate in much the same manner. Since there is no time to be subtle when it comes to love - and men - ladies traditionally let the object of their affection know in no uncertain terms how they felt...by throwing dishes. I don't think that part of Dyngus Day has survived to modern day, but I could be wrong.

Of course, in Buffalo Dyngus Day is also another good excuse to throw a party. Check out a list of activities here!

--Brian

Request-a-thon

2010-03-26T13:22:00.005-04:00

It's been an interesting couple of days at Star 102.5 as we finish up the Request-a-thon for the Alzheimer's Association. Putting this event together has taught me a lot about the disease, and how many are touched by it. So many people have come up to me, or called, or emailed to tell me how they are dealing with it in their lives.

To be honest, it also brings back painful memories of my grandmother's passing, and more recently my aunt (pictured, middle), who both suffered from vascular dementia. As far as we have come with research and development, like cancer there is no cure for Alzheimers. There are many promising drugs in the pipeline, we are tantalizingly close to finding a cure, but it is still out of reach. That is what makes an organization like the Alzheimer's Association so important.

In addition to the ongoing research, I think knowing you have help 24/7, even if it's just being able to call someone for support, is incredibly important. I can't imagine being a caregiver day-in and day-out watching someone you love slipping away. That feeling of helplessness is hard enough, but there's also the underlying fear that you might be watching a future image of yourself going through the same thing.

So, I feel good about playing Frank Sinatra, Metallica, Selena Gomez, and the Beatles back-to-back, because it's helping us break the chain of this terrible illness, and helping keep future children from going through it too.

Check out www.alz.org if you'd like to help.

--Brian

Pet beginnings and endings

2010-03-23T00:01:00.009-04:00

Star 102.5's most-visited blog for the last few weeks, by far, has been Rob's. Like you, I have been visiting his site looking at pictures of his new puppy, and reading about he and Linda's first foray into pet parenthood. My only question to those two is, what took you so long?

Meanwhile, my 13 old Jack Russell Terrier, Rocky, is having a rough time. He was just diagnosed with Cushing's Disease, which is basically an extreme imbalance between his adrenal and pituitary glands, and pretty common in older dogs. We noticed several months ago that he wasn't himself. He's been extraordinarily thirsty, lethargic, and unable to control his bladder for any reasonable length of time. He's also developing a pot belly, which for an energetic dog like Rocky is unacceptable! He mopes around the house like he doesn't know where he is half the time, and only seems able to relax by lying down on our cool ceramic tile.

There are two drugs normally prescribed for Cushing's Disease. One has a decent track record, and no side effects, so our vet suggested we try it first. So far we're having mixed results. A week into it he's perked up somewhat, but his extreme thirst hasn't gone away (he'd drink a gallon at a time if we let him), and now he has a sore on his side that won't heal; another symptom of Cushing's.

If this drug strikes out, the only alternative is a type of chemo, which I'm leery about because if we don't get the dosage right, he could crash. Since Heather and I both work during the day, it's not going to be easy to monitor his progress.

Regular readers of my blog know that Rocky's been completely blind since 2006, having suffered from a severe case of glaucoma in both eyes. Up until now, he's been incredibly resilient, amazing the vet with his ability to get around, up and down stairs, in and out of doorways, without sight. To have this happen on top of his blindness breaks my heart.

Anyway, reading about Rob's new puppy brought back a lot of memories, as I try to keep my poor old dog comfortable in his final year of life. Hard to believe it's been 13 years since we brought our own little fuzzball home for the first time.

--Brian

Does "adapted" mean "invented"?

2010-03-09T09:38:00.006-05:00

One of the Oscar nominated movies I actually watched this year was Up In The Air, one of the better George Clooney movies of recent years. The role of road-warrior Ryan Bingham was perfect for him, showing off a confident vulnerability that is his hallmark. I really enjoyed the storyline, as well as the two female leads, played by Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick, both of whom were nominated for Oscars as well.

Up In The Air is one of those movies that sticks with you for weeks afterward. You wonder about the characters, and what happens to them after the credits fade. So I picked up Walter Kirn's novel upon which the movie is based, and jumped into that world once again. But here's the thing: the novel bears little resemblance to the movie. As a matter of fact, the book is a real drag.

I loved the movie because while Ryan's existence is shallow and isolated, flying from place to place but not really connecting with anyone, he finds a sort of redemption in the end. He realizes that there's more to life than isolation, that there is a place for people, and you do need more than what you can fit into your backpack.

In the movie, the two strong female characters, Alex Goran and Natalie Keener, bring a different perspective to Ryan's life. He learns from them, but they in turn learn from him. Ryan is good at his job, and shows not only knowledge about the backgrounds and skills of those he counsels during job transition training, but also compassion for their situation.

Kirn's book basically shows Ryan as not ever buying into what he does, and meeting and forgetting those he meets on the job almost immediately. There is a shocking revelation about why that is, which also doesn't appear in the movie. I won't spoil it for you, if you decide to read the book.

The movie also invents the character of Natalie Keener, and makes Alex Goran into someone completely different from the book.

So what do we have? A movie called Up In The Air, based on a book called Up In The Air, which aside from certain character names and similar minor plot points is a totally different story entirely.

I guess I never realized "adapted" could mean "invented!"

I know there are other books-turned-into-movies where this has happened. Perhaps money is at the heart of it; Walter Kirn could sue Jason Reitman for writing a screenplay loosely based on his book, even if the plot lines are completely different. This way, everyone is happy, Kirn sells more books, and gets to put George Clooney on the cover.

But I would wager those who saw the movie first and read the book later, like me, are much less satisfied than those who read the book first.

Up In The Air - the movie: A
Up In The Air - the book: C-

--Brian

Florida in February is Cool

2010-02-19T18:00:00.007-05:00

Since the kids started school, we are really stuck as to when we can take vacations outside of summer break. We love to go to Florida mid-Winter to spend some time with my parents in the Sarasota area, but the last few years have been pretty cool the second week in February.

This year gave "cool" new meaning: below-freezing temps, and cold, gray, very Buffalo-like conditions for the first half of our visit!

Thankfully, we got a couple of nice days at the end to hit the beach, and the pool, and get some color. But regardless of the weather, it was nice to get away.

It is instinctual to want to feel sunlight on your face. We need it. When we don't have it, feelings of lethargy and fatigue take over. I know a lot of depressed people this time of year in the North, and I honestly don't know how anyone could handle Alaska's constant dark days. Even in the colder weather, to see a clear, blue sunny sky down there was enough to recharge my batteries. And though we were stuck inside much of the time, I did learn a few things.

Did you know:

Before Prohibition, there was no such thing as a mixed drink. Before Prohibition hit in the 20s and 30s, people would go to a bar or saloon and order whiskey, beer, wine, whatever they had in bottles. When alcohol was outlawed, people started making their own, and a lot of it tasted so bad- even poisonous - that bar owners masked the taste with fruit juices and soda, and the "cocktail" was born. (Thanks, History Channel!)

The stingray is closely related to the shark, with the exact same skin. We were able to touch some stingrays at the Tampa Aquarium, on one of several rainy cold afternoons. It was a very interesting experience. Rays were amazingly friendly, swimming right up and putting their heads above the water! The kids loved it.

A little frost, as long as it's not too severe, actually makes oranges and grapefruits sweeter. We were able to taste for ourselves from an actual grapefruit tree in my parent's neighborhood. A tasty way to start the morning.

I actually saw Floridians in winter parkas making "snow angels" in the beach sand. We were in shorts and t-shirts at the time, and it was sunny and almost 60.

As much as I like wine, there is nothing better than a frosty mug of Dos Equis when you're eating Mexican food. Heather and I had a great lunch at Restaurante Tequilas in Palmetto, and it was just what the doctor ordered.

And lastly, even with cold weather, to be able to get away from Buffalo to Florida in February is a great thing.

We will be back mooching on you next year too, Mom and Dad!

--Brian

Super Bowl and Halftime Show

2010-02-08T17:56:00.003-05:00

Super Bowl XLIV split the country. A lot of people wanted to see the Saints win, for the city’s sake more than anything else, but just as many wanted Peyton Manning to be crowned one of the (if not THE) greatest quarterback ever with his second Super Bowl win.

A pick six and 31-17 loss put that on hold, for a while anyway.

And the other thing that split the country was the perception of the halftime show: was it good? Bad? Great? Everyone has a different opinion.

I thought it was fitting that The Who performed on CBS, the network that features them so heavily during the intros to all those CSI shows. As for their performance, here’s my two cents:

1) Very cool stage. It was very modern, visually arresting, yet retro with the circular shape hearkening back to the old 45 rpm singles that were popular when Pete and Roger were in their prime. I thought it was spot on.

2) I worried for Roger as he prepared for “the scream” during Won't Get Fooled Again. He’s in his 60s, he looks very professorial now with his little round glasses and scarf, but it sounded cool. Not as cool as on the record, or on CSI, but cool.

3) Pete Townshend looked a little drunk, but he was having a good time on stage, and delivered with his guitar. His voice? Well…he wasn’t lead singer, so who cares?

4) That was Ringo Starr’s son Zak on drums. Considering original Who drummer Keith Moon gave him his first drum set many years ago, it was fitting that he plays with the band now. Keith’s godson is as close to kin as we’ll get, and he gave a very flashy performance.

5) The crowd loved it. This was true arena rock, in an era that has basically forgotten what it was. It’s not supposed to sound exactly like the CD! That’s what happens when you don’t lip sync to a recorded track.

Sadly, this is probably the only exposure to “live” Who music many people watching this year’s Super Bowl have ever experienced. My perspective: they’re a lot older now, but the kids are still alright.

–Brian

Digital Exile

2010-02-01T23:37:00.004-05:00

Almost 2 years ago we bought a home laptop with the Windows Vista operating system. At the time, it was the height of technology, but we soon realized the folly of our ways when programs began to stop working, and everything...just...slowed...down.

This marked the onset of a trend of technological failure in my life, culminating in last week's perfect storm at Entercom Buffalo, in which every piece of digital equipment I used, both at work and at home, failed. It was ridiculous.

First, voicemail went out at work. People couldn't leave messages, and the ones that were left before the system crashed could not be retrieved. Then our work network went down. None of us in the building could access any of our documents or files. Our company internet went down next. And finally, the coup de grace, my Blackberry stopped working.

For a few hours I was completely cut off from the digital world. It was very strange, and I admit, a bit unnerving.

Then a funny thing happened. The hallways filled with people forced to come out from behind their desks and talk to each other. We were united in our fear and frustration, and with one voice we shouted:

"Where is Jim from I.T.!?"

For Jim's sake, thank goodness, our digital exile didn't last too long. Although, I had the distinction of being the last work station in the building to have service restored. Over the weekend I bit the bullet and bought a Windows 7 upgrade, which miraculously fixed all our laptop issues, and a quick stop at the Verizon store got my Blackberry working again.

This all begs the question: when did we become so dependent on computers that we can't even function without them?

There was a sci-fi novel I read in college about the future of the human race, in which mankind lived on, but grew increasingly stupid as computers and various machines took over most of the duties and jobs that humans used to do. Pretty soon man lost the knowledge of how to even work the machines keeping us alive, and all that was left were the machines themselves.

When I was a kid I used to take apart my various stereos and put them back together. I changed my own oil, took off the head gasket of my first car engine, even adjusted the carburetor. Today? Not a chance. Nothing is mechanical anymore, everything is digital.

20 years ago when I read that book, it seemed a fanciful notion of the apocalypse, but today I can almost picture it happening as written.

Maybe the Amish have a point...

--Brian

Priorities

2010-01-25T00:16:00.004-05:00

The whole Conan/Leno Tonight Show fiasco makes the David Letterman escape to CBS back in '92 seem tame - and they made an HBO movie out of that whole story! One would think the once mighty NBC would have learned something from that experience, since most of the same players are still calling the shots at 30 Rock.

Nope.

Check out a truly bizarre animated cartoon explaining the so-called "Late Night Wars," direct from Taiwan's Apple Action News here.

Making them into Super Heroes was a nice touch, Apple Action News animators!

So Conan gets 7 months before being called an "astounding failure" by NBC exec Dick Ebersol. Seven months, which believe it or not isn't the shortest tenure as host of the Tonight Show. (There were two hosts in 6 months between Steve Allen and Jack Paar back in the late 50s.)

Given Conan's gargantuan #1 ratings in his final week, can you still honestly make that assessment Mr. Ebersol?

I was thinking about all this until the news from Haiti started to roll in last week. With 150,000 people dead, suddenly who hosts The Tonight Show ceases to even be interesting anymore.

And watching tonight's Extreme Home Makeover, while I was choked up to see all the good that happened on Buffalo's west side (Thanks ABC!), what was more amazing to me was how much that shipment of shoes meant to the children of Jamaica, in Delores Powell's former home town.

$45 million dollars was what Conan O'Brien got just to walk away from NBC. That would buy a lot of shoes. It would pay for a lot of construction in Haiti, and New Orleans, and Mississippi.

Priorities.

--Brian

Stupidest Statements of 2009

2010-01-04T13:47:00.007-05:00

OK, one more. Here are my Top 5 Stupidest Statements of 2009. This is a purely subjective list, but I am sure you will agree, very little thought was given beforehand to what was being said.

5) "I'm gonna let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time."

Kanye West, after snatching Taylor Swift's microphone at the MTV Video Music Awards and interrupting her acceptance speech for Best Female Video.

4) "You have a drink on you? You have a car?" Then his daughter said, "Daddy, it's me -- Tatum!"

Ryan O'Neal, American actor, trying to pick up an attractive woman at the funeral of his longtime partner, Farrah Fawcett.

3) "We need to uptick our image with everyone, including one-armed midgets."
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, on the GOP's need for a "hip-hop makeover," whatever that means.

2) "Yes, it's Gordon...Gordon Ramsay, isn't it?"

Paris Hilton, when asked at a UK press conference if she knew who the British prime minister was.

1) "I don't know anything about cars."

Edward Whitacre, Jr., the new CEO of bankrupt General Motors, summing up his knowledge about Detroit's auto industry.

And, the Stupidest Statement Of The Decade Award, goes to Laren Caitlin Upton, Miss South Carolina Teen USA, who was asked in 2007 why a fifth of Americans cannot locate the US on a world map:

"I personally believe that US Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some, uh, people out there in our nation don't have maps and, uh, I believe that our, uh, education like such as, uh, South America and, uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and, I believe that they should, uh, our education over here in the US should help the US, uh, or, uh, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future, for us."

Happy 2010 everybody!

--Brian

Simon is always right

2009-12-08T10:22:00.006-05:00

Earlier this year Susan Boyle captured the imagination of the world when she sang "I Dreamed A Dream" on Simon Cowell's TV Show Britain's Got Talent. The idea of an angelic voice like hers coming from a pudgy middle-aged Scottish woman's body was a great story. It didn't matter that she didn't ultimately win the competition, she had made her mark on popular culture; a feel good story for the ages, and now she would fade from view like all the other reality show also-rans.

But a funny thing happened on the way to obscurity. Susan Boyle became the biggest selling female artist of 2009 in her first week, and set the record for the highest debut of any solo female in history when her CD I Dreamed A Dream sold over 701,000 copies this month. Think about that for a minute: Susan Boyle's very first CD sold more than any other solo female's in the Soundscan era. More than Mariah Carey, more than Carrie Underwood, more than Taylor Swift, more than anybody. (Proving yet again that Simon Cowell is always right.) You can hear Susan's version of Silent Night now playing on Star 102.5.

Holiday Tid Bits

If you’re staring blankly at the wall, feeling unmotivated at work, the key to getting your creativity back could be as simple as putting some fresh flowers on your desk. Texas A&M researchers found that people who kept a vase of colorful, blooming flowers on their desks, generated more creative ideas. And in a separate study of typists, those with flowering plants nearby were less stressed and more productive. If you can’t be outside in Nature, bring Nature inside to you!

Believe it or not, asparagus may reduce the effects of alcohol and ease a hangover. A new study found that asparagus suppresses free radicals and more than doubled the activity of two enzymes that metabolize alcohol. With holiday parties kicking into overdrive, asparagus could be your secret weapon!

And Spanish researchers found that people who drank two glasses of milk mixed with 40 grams of cocoa powder every day for 4 weeks had lower levels of clogged arteries, compared with when they drank only milk. It's the polyphenols in cocoa that are responsible for an anti-inflammatory effect. So hold the marshmallows, and have some cocoa today. It’s good for you!

--Brian

Family Time

2009-12-04T00:15:00.009-05:00

I always look forward to Thanksgiving weekend because it's a chance to get away from work for a few days and have some fun with my family. This year we continued the tradition of having my brother join us from D.C. for turkey, football, and the World's Largest Disco.

Heather once again outdid herself with the feast, and in particular with the pumpkin/pecan/caramel cheesecake for dessert! And after dinner, thanks to a generous donation of Christmas money from my parents (which we spent a little early - sorry, Mom and Dad) we broke out the Beatles Rock Band game that we had been eagerly waiting to play.

My rationalization for opening it early is the fact that my brother and my parents will be in Florida over Christmas, so we wanted to share it with family while Drew was here. And since the Lions got blown out so completely - again - on Thanksgiving Day, we needed an emotional boost.

Let me just say that for Beatles fans like us, this game is nirvana. Everything from the graphics to the way each song sounds is perfect. We worked our way up from Easy to Medium relatively quickly, and even to Hard on several songs that we know particularly well. Heather and I were on bass and guitar, Drew on drums, and even the kids sang vocals on some of the easier songs.

There was a moment during Here Comes The Sun that moved me. The song is already so wistfully hopeful and bright, and maybe it was also seeing the late George Harrison playing serenely on screen with us, but the experience of performing it together with my little family created another indelible memory. Being able to share this music, a piece of my childhood, in such a unique and modern way with my children was pretty special.

From a technical standpoint, I can't think of a better way to introduce basic musical concepts to children than Rock Band or Guitar Hero. It's easy to follow the vocals and guitar in the beginner modes, so you're playing along immediately, and you really do get a decent feel for rhythm while following the drum prompts. It's music, but it's a video game, which makes learning it cool, rather than work.

We literally spent hours playing the game between Thanksgiving and Saturday night, when it was time to get our costumes on and head for the World's Largest Disco. What can I say about the event except it never disappoints. As you can see, a good time was had by all.

Funny story: the afro I was wearing, at some point in the evening, started moving from the front to the back of my head. I whipped it off near the end of the night, and somehow lost track of it between the time we finally left the party and got home. I have no idea where it is now, but I have a feeling it's not the only foam-padded black curly wig that was misplaced that evening.

Until next year!

--Brian

Napa

2009-11-20T00:39:00.011-05:00

Today, my wife looked at me and said "I wish we were still in Napa." I have been so busy since we got back that I waited to let the whole experience sink in before I wrote about it. But now is the time.

We had never been to California, before. The whole idea of a trip out west had always seemed so far away; something on our to-do list, certainly, but always with a "someday..." attached. Then the radio station became involved in the Live In The Vineyard contest, and we were given the opportunity to actually go to Napa ourselves.

Right up until we left, I still thought it couldn't really happen for us; but then things started to fall into place: my parents were available to come down and watch the kids, a room opened up at the resort where the event was being held, the company actually approved our travel, and then, suddenly, we were going! We left Buffalo on a cold Friday morning, arrived in San Francisco and promptly got lost trying to find the Golden Gate Bridge. But when we crossed over into California wine country, our trip of a lifetime began.

Napa is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. It was an explosion of color driving in; all the beautiful colors you'd expect to see in Fall, only double because the leaves on the grape vines were changing too. We had to keep pulling over to take pictures.

Our first day we toured the historic Trefethen Vineyard, where we had some amazing wine (2005 Trefethen Cabernet), and were treated to an intimate acoustic performance by David Gray. Since my Charlottesville days I had always liked his hit Babylon, but I had never heard him live before. We saw a lot of great performers during our trip, but David was my favorite. I stood there, to the left of the stage, completely blown away by his talent, lost in the music. He also appreciated the setting, mentioning the falling leaves, the dappled sunlight, and quoting Yeats. It was magic.

From there we enjoyed a brief tour of historic downtown Napa where we were treated to a wine and cooking demonstration by Greg Cole of the world famous Cole's Chop House, a wine pairing from Spring Mountain Vineyard, and an opening night cocktail party featuring an amazing assortment of Napa's best wineries.

But music was center stage both weekend evenings, with two great nights of performances featuring Green River Ordinance, Diane Birch, Uncle Kracker (left), American Idol Kris Allen, our friends from Parachute, and culminating with a fantastic concert by Collective Soul, who rocked the house and reminded us just how many hits they have had since the early 90s.

Wow.

What is truly unique about this event is the ability to get up close and personal with all these artists. Everyone is in a good mood (you can't not be in a good mood in Napa!) There is so much great food and drink, and between sets you could very well be talking to the next artist on stage, as they mingle with the crowd. It's very relaxed, and extremely well organized, thanks to Claire and Bobbii, who put the event together, and their LITV team.

But probably my favorite day overall was our final day in Napa. Heather and I were able to drive around a bit and explore. We got up and had breakfast at a great corner deli, drove up a winding mountain road to take in more scenery, explored the town a little more before lunch, and then headed to a private cave tour at Miner Family Vineyard.

A wine cave is the absolute perfect place to store wine as they age in oak barrels. It's underground, so the temperature is naturally constant, without the need for excessive heating or cooling. It's a great use of space, since you can plant vines above ground, and store the wine underground on the same plot of land. (And really, is there anything more pleasant than the smell of wine barrels? I think not.)

As we toured the cave, we sampled fresh wine from the barrel, compared different vintages, and enjoyed another intimate concert featuring John Ondrasik (above) of Five For Fighting, truly one of the nicest and most down-to-earth guys you will ever meet.

On our way back to the Silverado, we stopped at Cliff Lede Vineyards where we were lucky enough to try one of the most amazing bottles of wine ever. Ideally during a tasting, you start with something decent, and work your way up in quality. At this particular tasting, it started off great, and got successively greater until we reached the pinnacle of wine-making, the 2006 Moon Sympathy (left). This huge cabernet is one of the top 3 I have ever tasted in my life. It's truly a stunning wine.

And finally, a group of us were guests at the house of Kat and Rob McDonald, proprietors of Girls In The Vineyard winery. There we met up again with their partner, winemaker Matt Stone, who hosted a wine blending competition. Sorry to say we did not win, but it was fun to pick out the different characteristics of the wines available, and blend them to our taste. Lisa Stalvey of NBC's Cutting Block whipped up some delicious quesadillas for us all, and we headed back to the hotel, tired, but happy.

A lot has been said in the press about how America "doesn't make anything anymore." After spending just a few days in Napa - far too little time, I might add - I could not disagree more. The winemakers here are experts in their field, and make world class wines that meet or exceed anything the world has to offer. It was fascinating to talk to the different winemakers and see how different their approaches were; so many different techniques, hundreds of new ideas and unique applications of technology. It is a world class brain trust all concentrated in one relatively small area.

If you love wine, Napa will blow you away.

And I can't wait to go back.

--Brian

Halloween 2009

2009-11-02T15:20:00.003-05:00

Halloween 2009 was a tremendous success. My kids loved their costumes this year - click for a slideshow. And man, what a haul of candy! So different than when I was a kid. My brothers and I used go out trick-or-treating for hours, and we'd come back with maybe half a bag full of candy. My kids, on the other hand, go out for half an hour, don’t even leave our street, and come back with more candy than they can carry. Good candy, too: Dove bars, Heath bars, Snickers, it's unbelievable! Our neighbors are awesome.

Today, I can't stop thinking about last night's Mad Men. They say Matt Weiner tends to pack more into the the season's penultimate episodes than the actual finales, and this year was no exception. From the Kennedy assassination and how it affected the country, to the secrets finally revealed in last week's episode, there was a lot to take in. Each week, I rely on two resources that always help me to make sense of all the subtle detail. As much as I think I get all the nuance, reading Silkstone's synopsis every week always proves me wrong:

http://www.open.salon.com/blog/silkstone

And it's always a good idea to hear what the show's creator has to say each week - here is the Inside Look Video from AMC.com:

--Brian

Halloween, Bills, Mad Men

2009-10-19T15:46:00.003-04:00

It's that time of year again, and we had a heck of a time finding costumes to fit my son and daughter over the weekend. Connor is in one of those in-between sizes, where everything is either too long or too short; and Darcy is skinny, but very tall, so the pants were all too loose. BUT, I think we found two solutions. Halloween pictures forthcoming.

No offense to Trent Edwards, who my wife says is "dreamy," but I would like to take another look at Ryan Fitzpatrick next week. I saw sparks of hope in last night's ugly win.

And if you missed last night's Mad Men, check out a nice "inside" look at the episode here.

--Brian

Balloon Boy

2009-10-15T17:53:00.008-04:00

I talked about the Balloon Boy today on Star 102.5. In case you missed it, an experimental balloon in the shape of a flying saucer was untethered from a house in Colorado, and floated nearly 40 miles with the wind, supposedly with 6 year old Falcon Heene inside. All the news networks were covering the balloon's flight live, until it landed nearly 3 hours later - with no 6 year old boy inside.

Where was he? Had he fallen? No, rescuers had traced the path of the balloon and found nothing.

Had he set the balloon free by accident? Could he be hiding out of fear of reprisal? That was my theory this afternoon on the air, and it appears I was right. CNN reports Falcon has been found, alive and well, hiding in the attic.

UPDATE: Charges will be brought against Falcon Heene's parents, Richard and Myumi. Police were tipped off initially when the Heenes were interviewed on CNN following the incident. Falcon was asked why he did what he did, and he replied by saying, "You guys said we did this for the show."

On Saturday, officials with the Larimer County Sheriff's Office announced that, yes, the whole thing was a fake, and that they expect criminal charges to be filed against Falcon's parents. According to a department spokesman, "Needless to say, they put on a good show for us and we bought it."

Richard and Mayumi could both be charged with conspiracy, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, making a false report to authorities, and attempting to influence a public servant. If that's the case, they could each be looking at several years in prison, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.

Did You Know....

Teachers say they can identify the naughtiest kids, as well as the brightest and most popular kids, on the first day of school just by looking at their names? Bounty.com found in a study of 3,000 school teachers that more than one in three expect children with certain names to be more of a handful than others.

Bounty says keep an eye out for children with names like Callum, Chelsea, Connor and Jack. The study also revealed girls called Aliesha, Casey and Crystal put teachers on edge as do boys named Kyle, Liam, Jake and Brooklyn.

Interestingly, 57% of teachers said the naughtiest children at school are also the most popular, and often make friends easier than well behaved children. More than a third also claimed that the naughtiest children are often the brightest – and the most sensitive.

(note to self: should I be worried about my son, Connor?)

What is it about Beatles and car rides with my children?

I was driving home with my daughter, listening to the Beatles the other night.

I said "The Beatles are my favorite."

Darcy said, "You're my favorite, Daddy."

And just like that, another unforgettable memory was created.

--Brian

Mad Men/couch potato weekend

2009-10-05T14:29:00.004-04:00

Because of all the murky weather, I spent most of the weekend playing Guitar Hero, and watching TV. Since talking about the Bills, or the Lions is too depressing, let's instead discuss my favorite TV show, Mad Men.

I have been hearing from a lot of people today who didn’t like last night’s episode, because "nothing happened." Last week, lots of action, a guy loses a foot in a drunken lawnmower accident, among other things; but if you’ve been watching the show from the beginning, you realize that “action” episodes are not the norm with Mad Men. It’s always a slow burn. I usually leave an episode wondering what is going on behind the scenes, what someone is really thinking, what we might not know about these characters, or even what an expression on someone's face really signifies. In particular, Betty Draper's face.

This is a masterfully written show, because nothing is a throw away. Things that happen may seem inconsequential at first, but they always seem to come back later. Something you may not even be paying attention to at the time – a news story on a TV in the background, for example – somehow relates to the theme of the show. I really wish it could be 2 hours every week. One always leaves me wanting more.

I had a few questions about deeper meanings in last night's Episode 8, Souvenir, which is explained in the video recap below by the show's brilliant creator, Matt Weiner.

Until next weekend,

--Brian

Guitar Hero vs. Rock Band

2009-09-29T18:16:00.006-04:00

My wife and I really want to get Beatles Rock Band, but we didn’t know if we wanted to pay all that money if we didn’t like the game – so we rented Guitar Hero: World Tour over the weekend. We played for hours between football games and had a blast. My fingers are actually a little sore!

I play a little acoustic guitar in real life, but Guitar Hero and Rock Band are quite a bit different. If you’ve ever played either game, you know that you’re looking down the neck of a guitar, with colored lights coming at you telling you which buttons to press, and when – it’s really mesmerizing. So much so that after the songs were over, it kind of looked like the room was spinning.

We realized early on that the Beginner level was way too easy, Medium got a little too intense for newbies like us, so we kept it at Easy, and had so much fun! I’m happy to say, the Demay Family Band can now play a mean Band On The Run, Demolition Man, and Eye Of The Tiger.

Can't wait to see how we do this Christmas!

--Brian

Brian's Beatles Hit List

2009-09-04T11:45:00.009-04:00

Although I wasn't alive during the actual Beatles era, I grew up listening to them, since both my parents were fans. My first Beatles record was my dad's old Parlophone 45 with 4 early tracks, including "Twist and Shout," that I literally wore out. Too bad, because it would be worth at least $300 today, according to eBay!

Sorry about that, Dad.

So from an early age I have been listening to and enjoying the four lads from Liverpool, and never really outgrew their music. In 1987 when the Beatles catalog was released on CD, I liked it, but as with many early CDs back in those days the sound was a little iffy. Compared to cassette and scratchy vinyl it was quite good, everything on CD seemed like an improvement back then, but audiophile friends of mine have often commented about how something great was lost during the digital mastering process.

It was with great excitement that I heard the completely remastered Beatles catalog this week. It's not for sale yet (not until 9/9/09 - true fans get the significance of that) but being in radio has its privileges. Let me just say that the music brought me to my knees.

I had never heard such clarity. As I listened, each album got successively better, and fuller, with a more clearly defined stereo space. By the time I listened to Abbey Road, I couldn't distinguish the sound quality as less than anything done today. It was state of the art in 1969, and now, with today's technology, it sounded as if I was listening to a live performance right there in the Abbey Road studios.

After listening to the CDs from beginning to end one night this week, I have compiled my Top 10 favorite Beatles tracks, in no particular order. This is a purely subjective list, based almost on which songs I haven't over-listened to through the years, but which made the biggest impression on me after listening to the remasters.

1) A Day In The Life, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. So many things going on in this tune! I love Ringo's drum fills, Paul's middle eight, and the jarring orchestral crescendo leading up to that final note, held out for so long that a studio musician creaked his chair, causing the other musicians to "shoosh" him. Yes, now you can hear it on this track.

2) Here Comes The Sun, Abbey Road. I always loved this song on the radio, but I never noticed how full the synthesized backing track sounds, or the crisp hand claps, or the high frequency synth that kicks in near the end. This is much more than just a simple acoustic guitar and vocal.

3) Words Of Love, Beatles For Sale. Just a nice, tight, pop song with typical early 60s guitar work by George, and trademark polished Beatles harmonies. 2 minutes and 4 seconds!

4) I Am The Walrus, Magical Mystery Tour. Man, what a strange, trippy song. Now you can clearly hear John's lyrics, which were hard to decipher before, and all the bizarre sound clips interwoven into the mix. Check it out in headphones for the full effect.

5) Come Together, Abbey Road. One of the best, well-crafted rock songs ever. John's vocals are biting, Ringo's drums are heavy and thumping, some gritty guitar work from John and George, there's even a Billy Preston keyboard solo, but Paul's prominent bass is what makes this song so cool, especially in the remix. He anticipates each note from John, and hits it just a half beat before, making the song slink from measure to measure. Aerosmith covered this tune, but couldn't match its pure rock musicianship.

6) Mother Nature's Son, The White Album. All of a sudden you can hear Paul tapping on a notepad, the brass section fading in from nothing, and subdued background vocals that were missing before.

7) Two Of Us, Let It Be. This song is on my list for purely sentimental reasons. When my son Connor was a toddler he and I would drive back from daycare every night, and often he'd want to hear this song, because Paul and John were singing "we're going home" over and over. "We're going home too, Daddy," Connor would say. (Again, this is a purely Brian-centric list.)

8) Rain, Past Masters Disc 2. Ringo's drumming on this track is so interesting. It's more of a lead-drum, rather than the fills he normally played; front and center in this song with Paul's bass, with John's vocal in right channel, and harmony vocals on the left. A treat for the ears.

9) For You Blue, Let It Be. I love John Lennon's slide guitar, in which he used a shotgun shell, interestingly enough. Again the stereo space is enhanced dramatically in the remaster.

10) You've Got To Hide Your Love Away, Help! You can hear Bob Dylan's influence on John's writing at this point in his career, but it's more his vocal that stands out to me. At times wistful, then growling and confident; it's something Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder couldn't duplicate in their recent cover of this song.

So there is my Top 10, a list which is subject to change at any moment. Whatever your list may be, I urge you to buy your favorite Beatles album on the 9th, and listen to it as it was meant to be heard. Just phenomenal.

--Brian

Fleeting Summer

2009-08-26T00:00:00.008-04:00

Kevin O'Connell's forecast this afternoon said "get ready for a touch of Autumn this week."

Autumn? Didn't we just start getting summer weather? It's still August, no leaves changing around here yet, but it exemplifies just how fleeting summer in WNY can be. Just as fleeting as childhood.

My Dad used to call 8 years old the perfect age for a child; still wide-eyed and innocent, but intelligent enough with which to have meaningful conversations. My son Connor is 8, and we have had many serious talks, but he still likes to hold my hand when we walk, he still believes in magic, and the sweetness of a little boy remains. I know this won't last for much longer, the evil teen years lurk, so when he comes home from Summer Camp with a construction-paper hat, all smiles and pride in workmanship, I savor it.

Just like I savored our last big summer concert of the year.

In the dead of winter when planning began as to who we wanted for our big outdoor concert series, late August seemed like it would never get here. Now that the shows are over, I can't quite believe it. So many amazing performances: Matt Nathanson, Safetysuit, Vertical Horizon, Parachute, Mat Kearney, Matt Wertz, Ingrid Michaelson, Sugar Ray. It's been an incredible summer of music, and if you listen to Star 102.5, chances are you have been front and center for at least one great concert this year.

Below is a video recap of our last show in Niagara Falls with the Hard Rock Cafe. If you missed it, here is a link to the interview I did before the show with Matt Scannell of Vertical Horizon, talking about his career, and where it's headed. He particularly blew me away Saturday. With just his voice and an acoustic guitar, he owned the stage, and the crowd was with him from note one. The video below is of his biggest hit "Everything You Want," which hit #1 here and in the UK, and hasn't left the radio since.

Click Pic For Video

Matt Wertz flew in on the redeye from Vancouver to play his first show in Niagara Falls. There were a lot of happy young ladies in attendance, especially when he played his latest hit "Everything's Right." We saw him at the Casino afterward, waiting to play roulette. I hope you hit it big, Matt.

Click Pic For Video

And Pittsburgh's own Rusted Root closed the show with their big hit "Send Me On My Way."

Click Pic For Video

As much as I like video, it doesn't do these songs justice. You truly had to be there. If you weren't, make sure to join us for our next concert!

And hold your kids hand while you still can. Autumn's chill comes before you know it.

--Brian

Historical perspective

2009-08-13T00:10:00.004-04:00

Some of the protests at town hall meetings across the country have been a riot. Literally. Thankfully we have avoided serious injuries thus far, despite a NH protester who was packing heat during President Obama's recent town hall (left).

Seeing stuff like this makes me wonder why there can't be civil disagreements, and sane discussions about health care, without name calling, demonization, or worse - violence.

But looking back on our history, American politics has never really been civil. Although close friends late in life, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams had fierce policy disagreements, and attacked each other ferociously behind the scenes, as well as in the press. It took many years for them to put aside their differences and reconcile.

Abraham Lincoln's decisions were questioned and attacked mercilessly in the press, often by members of his own cabinet, who either wanted the presidency for themselves, or strongly disagreed about his Civil War policy at the time.

And ignorant protesters? They too are nothing new.

Jefferson's quote referenced in the sign above is "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants." The rest of that quote basically says rising up, even if you don't have all the facts, is better than sitting back and doing nothing. Jefferson's point was that it's good and proper to take an interest and a stake in one's government.

But he also understood that the blood watering that tree of liberty was just as much that of the uninformed masses, who perhaps didn't have all the facts at their disposal, but took up arms anyway, versus the occasional tyrant:

"What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon & pacify them...What signify a few lives lost in a century or two?"

In other words, don't condemn the uninformed; get the information out there, but deal with the recalcitrant if violence continues in the face of the truth. Fresh from the Revolution, Jefferson expected a few deaths here and there to make a point, lest anarchy rule.

But we are not in the 18th century anymore. Given the ease with which we can find all the information necessary to make sound decisions, bringing guns into presidential town halls and carrying signs talking about "watering the tree of liberty" to me, at least, seems hopelessly and ridiculously outdated.

--Brian

Me on my soap box

2009-07-29T00:05:00.004-04:00

In the old days, people wanting attention would bring a soap box into town, and they'd stand on it to make a speech. Seems kind of silly in these days of YouTube, not to mention microphones and amplifiers, but everyone still knows what it means. And so, up on my proverbial soap box I go for a little speechifyin'.

I put together a harmless little video slide show featuring pictures of our summer so far, and legally purchased a song that seemed appropriate for it, adding it as the video soundtrack in my little amateur production. While attempting to upload my video on a popular social networking site which shall remain nameless, I received a "copyright infringement" notice. My video was removed, and I was threatened with legal action if I tried to upload the video again.

I thought that was kind of harsh.

Apparently the song that I purchased legally from iTunes can't be used as a video soundtrack since I don't own the rights to it. A record label does. Even when videos are set to "private" meant to be seen by only friends, they are either taken down after the fact, or prevented from being uploaded completely.

I am all for artists getting their fair share, my business is promoting music after all, but this seems a bit crazy to me. Who, exactly, is benefiting from hearing a cool song used as background music to my slide show? The artist. Someone caring enough to watch the video may be inspired to buy the CD or download the track themselves if they like it. I paid for the song, I'm not offering the MP3 as a free download for anyone to steal, I'm certainly not making any money by using the song, so what is the harm? Wouldn't that constitute Fair Use of the song?

Nope.

It amazes me that something as simple and innocuous as this can be construed as illegal activity, but lawyers and litigators rule the roost these days.

As I step down from my soap box, I wonder if these types of things were even debated in the days of soap box speeches.

"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." --William Shakespeare, Henry VI, written 1590.

Guess so...

--Brian

Quite a summer so far

2009-07-21T02:38:00.004-04:00

It took a while, but temps are finally settling reliably into the 80s this week. After a fun picnic on Saturday, I realized how many cool things we've already done this summer, with a whole month and a half yet to go.

Here's a little slide show of the Demay Family Summer of '09 so far, as Matt Wertz sings, "Everything's Right."

--Brian

Thanks, Casey

2009-07-06T14:25:00.002-04:00

I got a few requests to re-post this note from the Star website.

--Brian

This weekend, as we celebrate our country's independence with fireworks and backyard barbecues, Star 102.5 will be airing the final countdown from one of my childhood heroes, Casey Kasem. It airs 39 years almost to the day of his debut of the original American Top 40 on July 4th, 1970. The word from Casey and Premiere Radio Networks is that the decision to discontinue American Top 20 was mutual. Casey is 77, after all.

In a statement he said "This decision will free up time I need to focus on myriad other projects."

I'm saddened by this decision mainly because my radio career actually began by running Casey's American Top 40 countdowns. I have happy memories of every week getting a stack of records that I would have to cue up on the turntables in-studio, and pause between segments to do weather, news, and commercials. Listening to this radio legend "tease" a song coming up was an art form that I poorly imitate every afternoon on Star 102.5.

So although a weekend without Casey won't seem quite right, we don't begrudge him his retirement. All of us at Star 102.5 wish him well. In the meantime, we'll be keeping our feet on the ground, and we'll keep reaching for the stars.

Starry Night 2009

2009-06-29T18:24:00.014-04:00

I have been posting pictures and video from Starry Night in the Garden on my station websites for over a week now, but I figured those that don't check mystar1025.com regularly might like to hear how the whole event went.

All I can say is, Holy Smokes, what a GREAT show! It's going to be hard to top next year, that is for sure.

The weather on the 24th was absolutely perfect - not a cloud in the sky. All the artists arrived safely and on time, their hotel rooms were satisfactory, and best of all, the show was a sellout days before.

I love when that happens.

But most of all, the performances were top knotch. I heard every act, from Safetysuit's first notes, to Matt Nathanson's encore of Journey's Don't Stop Believing, and Mat Kearney in-between.

I say this every year, but one of the great things about my job is being exposed to new music, and then putting together fantastic live versions of my iPod playlists for an audience. It's very cool for me to be able to share a vision for a great live show, and have people like it.

If you missed any part of it, there is a great photo recap and video content here:
http://mystar1025.com/Starry-Night-In-The-Garden-2009/4674381

Before and during the show, we managed to talk to all the artists. Safetysuit discussed with me making a hollywood style video, the VH1 Top 20 countdown, and who actually writes their songs.

I also talked with Mat Kearney about how he got his start, the Nashville scene, and breaking and entering to play piano here.

And John Anthony snagged an interview with our headliner, Matt Nathanson, just before he hit the stage.

All in all, it was a great night, and one of the best Starry Nights ever.

The primary reason we do this show every year is to raise awareness and help in the restoration of the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens, an architectural treasure, and one of only a handful of Victorian tri-dome botanical gardens in the world. If you have never seen the gardens, make a point to visit this Summer. And definitely come to next year's 10th Anniversary Starry Night in the Garden show!

--Brian

Being a Dad

2009-06-22T18:16:00.009-04:00

8 years in now, it's difficult to even imagine me not being a father. It's not an easy job, especially as I watch my son and daughter leaving childhood behind far too quickly. To hear Darcy's little girl voice slowly going away is so hard. To watch Connor fielding calls from girls after school amuses me, mostly, but it also speaks loudly and clearly to me they're not going to be little kids much longer.

(Hopefully there won't be boys calling Darcy at home for many many years...)

So I try to savor it, and enjoy these fleeting moments while they're here. Fathers Day morning was one of those moments. The kids woke me up with very sweet cards and projects, like these.

Connor made me a new mousepad (pictured) as well as a book of things he would give me, if he could. (Sample: "If I could give my Dad something, it would be a transporter, so he wouldn't be late.") My boy knows me a little too well.

And Darcy put together a book of "Why My Dad Is Special." On page 3 (pictured), My Dad Cooks With Me. At first I thought she was referring to the excellent grilled cheese sandwiches that I occasionally make on the weekends, but looking at the drawing I realize we are on the back patio, I am at the grill, and Darcy is at the picnic table.

I'm sure every parent has stories and drawings just like these. As much as people watch and talk about shows like Jon & Kate + 8 and all the rest, it's not the excesses that make life wonderful, it's the small moments, like Fathers Day morning, that I know I'll remember forever.

And now, 10 Things Your Father Was Right About.

1) You are the prettiest girl in the world.
2) Sinatra.
3) You should always keep jumper cables in your car... just in case.
4) Righty-tighty, lefty-loosey.
5) That guy really wasn't good enough for you.
6) You do not need a pony.
7) The cardinal rule of grilling: Pressing down on the burger will only dry it out.
8) Yes, honey, all your male "friends" do secretly want more.
9) Paying $200 for a haircut is crazy.
10) It's not worth trying to repair the toaster yourself.

See you at Starry Night tonight! Pictures and video to come.

--Brian

Up

2009-06-15T15:06:00.009-04:00

We took the kids to see Pixar's latest masterpiece Up on Saturday night, after being thwarted the last two weekends, due to weather and other obligations. Even three weeks into its run, the crowds seeing Up were undiminished at the Transit Drive-In, and for us it was well worth the wait.

My review of this movie is best summarized by what my son Connor said as we were driving home that night: "I was crying a little, because I was sad and happy at the same time."

That juxtaposition of joy and melancholy can be applied to all the great Pixar films, and it illustrates once again that story, not special effects, is what draws people to these movies in the first place, and keeps them watching on DVD long after they've left theaters.

Where Finding Nemo (and, to a lesser extent, The Incredibles), so effectively portrayed the fierce love a parent has for a child, at the heart of Up is the aching sadness and longing that Carl Frederickson feels for his wife Ellie, when she dies too soon.

For those who haven't seen it yet, that sounds like such a downer, doesn't it? But this film is also a rollicking hilarious adventure that will have you, and your children, laughing out loud so often, you won't be sad for long.

The funny: so many dogs, with so many clearly defined personalities, and all of them talk. Not to mention a bizarre undiscovered species of bird that communicates just fine without words.

The adventure: thousands of helium balloons turn a house into an airship, dogs piloting fighter planes, a dirigible, what more could you ask for?

Up is a movie to watch, then watch again, and then own. It's better than Wall-E, it's much better than Cars and Ratatouille, it's at least equal to Finding Nemo.

The Demays give it 4 thumbs up.

--Brian

TATS, Yard Sales, Health Tips

2009-06-11T17:49:00.005-04:00

One of the great traditions in Buffalo is Thursday at the Square. I love hearing great live music downtown and pigging out on all the food and drink, but what is it about Thursdays and the weather lately? Every week, Wednesdays are great, Fridays are great, Thursday it rains. Once when we were setting up, the wind kicked up off the lake and it took 3 of us hanging on to the tent to keep it from taking flight.

I guess that's another reason why our Starry Night in the Garden show is always on a Wednesday.

I got some requests for this info, so here are some of the things I talked about on the show this week.

Yard Sale Tips - according to YardSaleQueen.com:

The best time to hold a yard sale is on a weekend. Pick a weekend when a large number of other garage sales are scheduled in your neighborhood. The more traffic in your area, the better.
Start your sale 30 minutes earlier than the other sales. That way people begin their garage sale day with you, when they have the most money to spend.
Find store ads offering the same products you’re selling, and attach them to your items so shoppers can see the deals they're getting.
Don’t forget the batteries. People like to be able to turn something on to make sure it works – just buy cheap generic batteries.
Place your items on tables, even if this means borrowing folding tables from neighbors. Goods are less appealing when placed on the ground, and a lot of shoppers won’t bend down to pick up the merchandise.
Don’t bother selling furniture - people want things that’ll easily fit into their car. Sell furniture on Craigslist, as with anything over $20 in value.

Home Remedies That Really Work - here are three with scientifically proven results:

Dish Detergent prevents poison ivy. If you’re exposed to poison ivy outside, wash as soon as possible with regular dish detergent. A recent study of 350 adults found 50% who did this got no itchiness or rash whatsoever, the rest got greatly reduced poison ivy symptoms.
Witch Hazel gets rid of cold sores. Several times a day, dip a fresh cotton swap in witch hazel, and dab it on your cold sore, and it will heal faster than if you do nothing.
Baby Shampoo relieves itchy red eyelids. If allergies are causing your eyelids to get crusty or inflamed, twice a day, rub a few drops of baby shampoo in your wet hands, scrub your closed eyelids, and rinse. It’s safe, tear-free, and will remove pollutants, bacteria, eye makeup, lens solution, and whatever else may be causing your lids to itch.

Tune in weekday afternoons to hear more tips like these on Star 102.5!

--Brian

The Simple Things

2009-06-02T12:29:00.005-04:00

Sure, we have a Wii, dozens of computer games, hundreds of books and cable TV channels; but this is what captivated the kids in our neighborhood all week.

A large cardboard box.

Who needs Mario Kart when you have a box?

It's always the simple things.

--Brian

Working with your hands

2009-05-28T00:27:00.007-04:00

There are certain movies that seem to get funnier or more meaningful the more times I see them. I liked Office Space the first time I saw it, but I didn't love it. Now it's one of my favorite movies of all time.

It's extremely quotable, ("yeah, I'm going to have to have you come in on Saturday...") funny in a broad sense, but also reflective of how many of us feel each day, working in an artificially-lit environment, doing menial tasks that don't affect the greater good, and wondering why corporate America makes the decisions it does.

One scene in particular sticks with me. Ron Livingston's character, Peter Gibbons, has left Initech to work on a construction crew, which ironically is cleaning up the debris from Initech, recently burned to the ground. Peter says "this isn't so bad, makin' bucks, gettin' exercise, workin' outside."

Amen!

I joke with my wife about someday selling the house and moving to Florida, where I will run a hot dog stand on the beach; no "overhead" except sunshine, everyone would know me, "the hot dog guy," and at the end of the day I pack up my cart and go home. If I don't feel like working that day, I don't. What a great life!

Last week the office building had a barbecue outside. It was a beautiful spring day, and it just so happened I had a band coming through to do a little performance. I asked them if they minded playing outside, where there was a good sized crowd, and they agreed. Check out their performance here.

Something about that day clicked: people mingling outside, having lunch, listening to music. It's what we've done for centuries! As cavemen we sat around a fire, eating together, sharing stories and songs of the hunt. We were meant to be outside, working with our hands, not in a cubicle staring at a computer screen all day, hermetically sealed from Nature.

It's springtime in Western New York. Let's make time to go to the beach, take a hike, work in the yard, and get back to what makes us human.

And no, Lumbergh, I won't be coming in on Saturday.

--Brian

So Glad I'm A Parent

2009-05-21T11:58:00.004-04:00

There are times in every Dad's life, when we're picking socks out of the kitty litter, or wiping orange juice off the ceiling, or scraping melted crayon off the inside of a dryer, that we question why we became parents. We say things like "THIS is why we can't have anything NICE!"

And then, there are times when we find notes like this in our briefcase:

My daughter always makes sure to put pigtails on the smiling girls in her pictures. I love you too, Darcy.

--Brian

A Few Theories About The Lost Finale

2009-05-14T15:06:00.005-04:00

If you haven't watched the finale, beware; I have put together a bunch of Lost spoilers. After sitting up last night scouring post-finale message boards and fan pages, this is what I think happened:

The man in black at the beginning of the episode, we'll call him "Esau," is trapped on the island, can’t leave (like Jacob can), but can take the form of people who have died. He is the “smoke monster,” who has also appeared as Jack’s father Christian, Ben’s daughter Alex, and now Locke II.

Jacob was never in the cabin Ben visited while leading The Others - it was Esau, the mystery smoke monster man.

Ilana says Frank, the pilot, could be a “candidate” - for what? I think, to replace Jacob, if Jacob did indeed die. Jack could also be a candidate, if he didn’t end up getting nuked. Where Richard now fits into all of this I have no idea.

I think the bomb pushed the island into more time-shifting. The question is did Jack, Sawyer, Kate, Miles, Hurley, Sayid, et al shift with it before the bomb exploded? (I think they did.) Did Juliet really die? (I think she really did.) And will Sun and Jin be reunited in the present? (I think they will.)

Interesting note: Ben Linus says “I’m a Pisces,” when he was actually born in December. Does he ever tell the truth?

Season 1 started with Jack's eye opening, much like it appears in the Final Season Preview (above). I think it's Jack's eye.

I can’t believe we have to wait until February 2010 to see what happens next!

--Brian

Starry Night 2009

2009-05-11T00:04:00.001-04:00

One of the cooler things I get to do each year is put together the lineup for our premier event, Starry Night in the Garden. Mark your calendar for June 24th! Starry Night is Buffalo's #1 outdoor concert and wine event, with gourmet food tasting and great live music. Tickets are on sale now, so don't wait, because we sell out every year. Best of all, proceeds benefit one of Buffalo's architectural treasures, the Buffalo Botanical Gardens.

This year we have 3 awesome acts. Our headliner, Matt Nathanson, has two hits this year alone ("Come On Get Higher" and "Falling Apart"), and his concerts are selling out everywhere. To see Matt's recent in-studio performance in the Star Lounge, click here!

Mat Kearney should be very familiar to Star Listeners. We have been playing his first hit "Nothing Left To Lose" for the last 2 years, and his new single "Closer To Love" is climbing the charts, and now playing on Star 102.5. Hear more of Mat's music here, and be sure to check out a recent live performance here.

Safetysuit has already played Buffalo once, and they've been on the road for the last several years with Hinder, 3 Doors Down, Seether, and Puddle of Mudd, to name a few. Their new single "Stay" is in our Top 20, and they spent some time recently with Rob Lucas in the Star Lounge. Check out that in-studio performance here!

I love Starry Night because it's a beautiful setting, outdoors on the grounds of the Botanical Gardens, and there's a phenomenal array of food and drink. For $40 you get dinner and a surprisingly intimate live music experience.

If you've never gone, make this your year to experience it!

--Brian

Swine Flu Over Troubled Water

2009-04-30T18:28:00.005-04:00

It amazes me how quickly we as a society can become unhinged. Take the latest swine flu hysteria. Regular human influenza each year causes nearly 40,000 deaths in the U.S. alone, but we're freaking out late in the flu season about...let's see...zero confirmed deaths in this country?

People (well...stupid people, anyway) are not eating pork, bacon, ham, or ribs for fear of catching it. Despite the fact that you can’t get this or any virus from eating pork, Egypt is destroying its pigs, and several other countries are not importing pigs from the U.S. or Mexico.

Does anyone check their facts anymore? Instead, like lemmings we rush headlong over a cliff together, encouraged by the national media in search of a story.

God help the Mexican travel industry.

I, for one, had ham today, bacon yesterday, and plan on a full plate of pulled pork at One Eyed Jack's tomorrow.

I received a copy of an unusual album recently, Live 1969, by Simon and Garfunkel. I grew up listening to Simon and Garfunkel, my parents were fans, and I remember in particular hearing Bridge Over Troubled Water a lot on my Dad's "hi fi." The songs on this CD were recorded live prior to Bridge being released to the public, so it was a curiosity to hear the first reaction to some of the most well-crafted and now well-known songs of the era. In particular, I appreciated the initial hush of the crowd following Bridge Over Troubled Water, which was followed by thunderous applause, as if those hearing it for the first time realized they had witnessed something great, and needed a moment to take it all in. The album swept the 1970 Grammy Awards, and has since been recognized as one of the seminal albums of all time.

Despite S&G playing to huge crowds in 1969, what struck me about this CD was how intimate it all sounded. Many songs were just Paul and Art together with one guitar, and if you didn't hear the thousands of cheering fans after each performance you'd think they were in a small coffee shop somewhere.

Like so many successful music partnerships, Lennon/McCartney, John/Taupin, Hall & Oates, Simon and Garfunkel were never as good solo as they were together. I recommend this CD for the pure poetry of Paul Simon's lyrics, the uniqueness of their vocal harmonies, and the appreciation of hearing two great performers at the top of their game.

Four Stars.

--Brian

Lonely Island

2009-04-21T00:11:00.004-04:00

OK, confession time. A long time ago, when I was fooling around in a radio production studio, I recorded a rap song. (Stop laughing at me.)

There was a time, pre-Snoop Dogg, that goofy white guys like me thought we could legitimately do stuff like that. I think I may have even played it for my wife years ago. As I recall, she just looked at me really funny, and implored me to never play it for her again.

The difference between me doing rap and the genius goofy white guys of The Lonely Island Band is vast.

When Incredibad was released back in February, I got an advance copy, and it has been in my car disc player ever since. Anyone familiar with Andy Samberg on SNL has heard a few of these tunes already; "D***k In A Box" and "Lazy Sunday" are two breakthrough videos that have been on YouTube for a couple of years now. What Samberg, and co-writers Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer have done is create an incredibly funny 19 track CD that not only parodies 90s rock, reggae, and hip hop styles, but also serves as an homage to those styles. That's no easy task. These guys understand and appreciate the music they're skewering, and the parody is in the writing, which often takes a few listens to fully appreciate.

Take, for instance Ras Trent. Only Andy Samberg could include a lyric about Selassie, and make it funny, and pertinent, in a song about a white Rastafarian college student; or as Samberg puts it, a "rude boy living in the shanty dorms."

Is every track great? No. Like all great comedy albums, some jokes are funnier than others. But taken as a whole, this is sharp, truly inspired comedy writing, with amazing production values you would not normally expect from a comedy album.

Buy this CD, and I guarantee you'll find something to laugh uproariously about. (Just don't play it for the kids - strictly adult listening.)

--Brian

Happy Easter

2009-04-09T14:03:00.006-04:00

It is kind of sad that Easter has become a holiday for candy, but to kids, that’s pretty much what it is. The average American will spend over $100 on Easter food, candy, and toys this year! My wife and I bought stuff to fill the kids' easter baskets over lunch today. Of course, being a parent, it is our prerogative to sample Easter candy every year, and as a public service, here is what you need to know before you grab a handful this Sunday:

1 Marshmallow Peep is probably your safest bet – only 28 calories
10 small jelly beans = 41 calories
1 chocolate covered marshmallow is 42 calories
12 Whoppers Mini Robin Eggs will set you back about 95 calories
1 Cadbury Creme Egg is 172 calories
And everyone’s favorite, a 1.5 ounce solid chocolate bunny is 230 calories.

On a related note, how do you know if you need to lose a few pounds? When your 5 year old daughter pokes your stomach, says "Squishy squishy squishy," and starts to laugh.

Darcy, I want you to know, that hurts Daddy's feelings.

Adventureland

For my birthday, Heather took me out to the Golf Dome, dinner at the Melting Pot, and then we hit the movies to see Adventureland. I have to admit, I did not expect the movie to be as good as it was. I figured it would a goofy, forgettable 80s flashback movie, but instead it turned out to be a bittersweet, engrossing story about college age kids figuring out what to do with their lives, in 1987. It reminded me exactly of how I felt after graduation: so many possibilities, so many paths you can go, and nothing quite works out like you think at the time, but it does work out.

If you grew up in the 80s, you’ll like the music, and how everything about 1987 at an amusement park is lovingly recreated. It was funny, don't get me wrong, but far deeper and better written than I expected. I recommend Adventureland, but definitely don’t take the kids.

--Brian

Useless Tidbits

2009-04-01T12:52:00.006-04:00

The Paomnnehal Pweor Of The Hmuan Mnid.
Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are,the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm.Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Isn't that (above) weird? Weird but true.

Monsters and Aliens
The Demay clan took in our first drive-in movie of the year last weekend, and saw Monsters and Aliens. (You know it's finally Spring when the Transit Drive-In opens again!) It was a fun movie, but the story-telling wasn't in the same class as The Incredibles or Finding Nemo. Still, it was fun to watch with the kids, who really thought the Blob character was funny. I like anything with Reese Witherspoon, so I'm biased.

Side note: if you’re an Office fan, you may be interested to know that the voice of the chief alien Gallaxhar is none other than Dwight Schrute, Rainn Wilson (left).

So, if you're looking for an entertaining movie to take your children to see, 4 thumbs up from the Demays.

Twitter
I'm not sure if I like Twitter yet, but it's early. I just set Star 102.5 up with an account, and it's a little like "OK, now what?" But I think the immediacy of it is a cool thing. Usually you have to have a reason to change something on the station website, for example, but with Twitter, you can just send a "Happy Birthday to Brian" note and it's out there, and that's that. One more social networking tool to keep track of...

--Brian

The Trashman Cometh

2009-03-27T18:17:00.008-04:00

When I started in radio many many moons ago, I did a little bit of everything. I was on the air, I wrote and produced commercials, I wrote and delivered the news every hour, and when I was done, I turned off the transmitter, emptied the trash, and went home.

At the time that seemed like a lot! But back then, all of those duties related to being on the radio...except for the trash thing.

After our basement flooded last month I went through a lot of old pictures, which triggered a lot of old memories, and it struck me that the bulk of my job these days is completely unrelated to the traditional notion of what radio is. For example: it's after midnight as I write this, and the reason I'm up so late is because I'm working on the station website. From Photoshop to HTML coding to blogging, a big portion of every day is spent making sure the website looks the way it's supposed to look.

That isn't radio, per se, but it's what radio has become today.

I used to joke with co-workers that a radio person's uniform was a logoed polo shirt and jeans. We laughed at how stuffy the TV people looked in their suits and ties every day. Today, radio people worry about dressing in appropriate outfits, and lighting the studio effectively, so that a band performance will look sharp for a video, that then has to be produced, edited, and uploaded for "viral distribution."

20 years ago I would have said, you're crazy - that's not radio!

Today it is most definitely radio, and I spend a lot of time editing and producing these videos, which compete for your attention online with other videos produced by well-dressed TV folk, and your neighbor (possibly in his underwear) down the street.

I didn't even mention yet the daily digital audio editing of a special on-air bit, or podcast, that also has to be packaged and uploaded. Yes, Star 102.5 is an on-air radio station, but it's also an online radio station that (believe it or not) is quite different from what you hear on the radio. Did you know that we play completely different commercials online, as well as unique web-only content that radio listeners don't hear? It's like a baby radio station I program for online listeners only.

"On Demand" has been the buzzword for years. Back in college, there was no such thing.

I guess the point of all this navel gazing is to look at how fast things are changing. Not that long ago people used to listen to music on AM Radio, music that was performed either live in-studio or via spinning platters of wax. Today, it goes from my ears to yours thanks to an amazingly complex series of digital compression schemes, computer chips, and, if I do my job right, a little magic.

I guess that part hasn't changed.

Excuse me now, while I empty the trash.

--Brian

Blatant Littering

2009-03-25T18:06:00.006-04:00

Yesterday I was driving home, and this guy in the truck ahead of me opened the driver side window, and threw a straw onto the road. Then I watched him take the lid off his drink, and throw IT out the window too.

I’m thinking at this point, "Seriously? Are you really doing this?"

Then he tips his cup back, finishes whatever was inside, and tosses his cup out the window next. Without even a second glance.

I was stunned. People obviously throw stuff out the window, you can’t help but see the trash on the road, especially this time of year, after a long, dismal winter, when everything buried is there, on the surface again.

So I know this kind of thing happens, I just never saw anyone do it so blatantly before. This was on Millersport in Amherst, during drive time, with a line of cars going both directions, and police patrolling the highway. This loser just tosses his trash out the window, for someone else to pick up.

He did it within a few feet of a Noco, where he could have easily just pulled over and thrown it away properly. Instead, he drove on by, lah dee dah.

Unbelievable.

Jerks like this are why this poor man can't stop crying.

--Brian

Cheap Fun Wines: Garnacha de Fuego

2009-03-10T17:46:00.006-04:00

Here's another from my Cheap Fun Wines series. As I come across good inexpensive wines, I will share them here with you!

For some reason we have tried several different wines with flames on the label lately, and they have all turned out to be delicious. This one in particular was recommended at one of my favorite wine shops, and each bottle we've had since has been just as good as the first.

Garnacha de Fuego is a Spanish wine, which translated, basically means "grape of fire." If you've never tried garnacha before, you should. It's called grenache in the U.S. and France, and it's a grape from Southern Spain that loves hot weather, much like Southern California zinfandel and Australian shiraz.

For around $8 a bottle, you can't beat the flavors represented here: ripe plum, black cherry, with a touch of spice. It's exceptionally smooth, with just enough pepper to keep it interesting. I even taste a little vanilla in this one.

So look for the label with the flame on it, and give Garnacha de Fuego a try.

--Brian

Negative Ions

2009-03-03T15:16:00.006-05:00

It's been a few days since we got back from our all too brief Florida vacation. This would have been posted sooner, but it took me this long to get un-buried from all the work that piled up when I was gone!

It wasn't hot during our week by the gulf, but I will take sunny and around 70 in February any day, especially during this especially difficult winter! And not just the weather has been difficult.

In addition to all the depressing news stories of late, I made an unpleasant discovery in our basement right before we left. After an ice cold shower Saturday morning, I went down to check the water heater, and found shin-high ice cold water everywhere. Computers and boxes were floating, furniture was ruined, it was completely unexpected.

I think it was a power surge right before all the snow melted in our yard during an unseasonably warm spell. Our poor sump was overwhelmed. After I unplugged and reset it, it only took a few hours for the water to subside, but the damage was done.

I learned a lot about re-lighting pilot lights that cold, miserable weekend.

Needless to say, it was GREAT to escape to the beach for a while and forget things. Returning to work, even though I was majorly behind, didn't seem quite as overwhelming, thanks to our time by the Gulf. Sunshine and negative ions truly do refresh the soul.

Did you ever wonder why you always feel refreshed after breathing ocean air? Here's why, according to WebMD:

Negative ions are odorless, tasteless, and invisible molecules that we inhale in abundance in certain environments. Think mountains, waterfalls, and beaches. Once they reach our bloodstream, negative ions are believed to produce biochemical reactions that increase levels of the mood chemical serotonin, helping to alleviate depression, relieve stress, and boost our daytime energy.

There's a reason so many people retire to Florida!

--Brian

Life is Short

2009-02-13T15:22:00.005-05:00

By now everyone has heard about the crash of Continental Flight 3407 in Clarence, last night. Buffalo is often described as the biggest small town in America, with only 3 degrees of separation between everyone in the community, instead of the usual 6 degrees. While most of us may not know anyone personally on board that flight, we all know at least someone who does, and that makes this day especially hard for all of us, as a community.

Heartfelt condolences to the friends and family of the 50 who died. I can't even imagine what you're going through. You're in our prayers. Click here if you need information from Continental about what you can do.

And complete support and thanks to the emergency crews who worked through the night, battling winter cold and extreme heat. There is no happy ending for these people, in a tragedy such as this.

The WBEN News Team mobilized almost the instant they heard about what happened. The members of our sister station worked without sleep bringing the latest news, and have since set up on location in Clarence to keep us completely informed. I think we take for granted that there is such an incredible resource in our city, always there when needed.

Check out the latest coverage here.

A day like today shows us again how life can change in an instant.

--Brian

Super "Bowl" Weekend

2009-02-02T10:36:00.003-05:00

With the Super Bowl and Heather's birthday, we had a lot going on this weekend. Saturday night we had a great meal at our favorite Italian restaurant, Trattorio Aroma, where Heather opened her presents from me, and then we popped into the mall for some kid-free shopping and browsing. It's amazing how different the mall can be when you don't have to keep track of your brood zipping to and fro, knocking things off shelves, and constantly saying "I want this!" As a young couple Heather and I would often hang out at the mall after a date, so Saturday brought back pleasant, long dormant memories of more care-free days.

Sunday we all went bowling for the first time as a family. The kids have been playing it on Wii for a couple of months now and wanted to go, since it was super "bowl" weekend, after all. The downside of Wii bowling? Real-life Connor was very upset that he couldn't bowl as well as Virtual Connor. Despite that, we had a lot of fun, and I actually bowled one of my best games ever: 182. I once broke 200, but that was quite a while ago, so this was a nice surprise.

After picking up some snacks at Wegmans, we finally sat down and watched the game. If you missed the Super Bowl Commercials, you can check them all out here.

My 3 favorites were Bridgestone "Mr. and Mrs. Potatohead," Pepsi Max "I'm Good," and Priceline "Negotiator," with the Asian guy talking like William Shatner. How about you?

As for the game itself, until the 4th Quarter I was pretty bored, but the last 15 minutes were one for the history books. I felt bad for Kurt Warner, who always seems to star in very exciting Super Bowls, but was happy for the Steelers, who were the best team all year. You can't argue with Big Ben's skills, scrambling in the pocket, re-setting plays and finding his receivers when it counted. Warner's red zone interception really was the difference in this game, and marred an otherwise stellar performance. He's a future Hall of Famer, and I hope he comes back for one more season.

And to cap off Heather's birthday weekend, she ended up winning the Super Bowl Squares game here at work, with a nice chunk of change to take home. All in all, quite a weekend! Hope yours was too.

--Brian

Rite of passage

2009-01-29T13:47:00.003-05:00

My son's haircutting skills leave much to be desired.

Apparently Darcy asked Connor to cut her hair, so he did, with kids safety scissors.

Her bangs look marvelous, don't they? And the one pigtail being 2-3 inches shorter than the other will be a trend, I am sure.

I think every sibling is victimized like this at one time or another in their young lives. Ask my younger brother sometime about the hair style I gave him when he was 5. (Still sorry about that, Pete...)

I guess, pardon the pun, we Demay boys are just not cut out for this line of work.

--Brian

Unforgettable Niagara Icewine Weekend

2009-01-27T11:13:00.005-05:00

If you ever get the chance to experience the Niagara Icewine Festival at Niagara-On-The-Lake, you really should do it. My wife and I had a fantastic weekend, touring the wineries, finding out more about the history of icewine – and most importantly, having some amazing food.

Saturday we enjoyed a gourmet luncheon, which featured chefs from Niagara-on-the-Lake, Anna Olson from the Food Network, and several world famous winemakers. For dinner I sat with Amy Bond from Jackson-Triggs, and we talked about the techniques and hard science that go into growing and tending the grapes, before they even come off the vine, not to mention the unique blending and barrel aging that gives each varietal its unique taste.

While we chatted, chefs came out and described each meal, and what motivated them to put together the ingredients. The setting was the wonderful Inniskillin, with architecture inspired (and possibly designed) by Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as Edgewaters overlooking the frozen wonder of Niagara Falls.

Have you ever tasted something so good, words escape you? That was, in a nutshell, how our entire weekend went.

And just to bring home the whole Icewine theme, downtown we drank from ice glasses, sat on ice chairs, and were served from several actual ice bars.

What an amazing experience, which always seems to be the descriptor we use following our Ontario trips.

Let me close with this funny example of how uniquely Ontario our weekend was. We checked into the Pillar and Post, a historic hotel a block or two from downtown. Our doorman showed us to our room, looking very distinguished and sophisticated. He explained our amenities in a deeply respectful tone, talked about the history of the hotel, and then asked us what we had planned for the night.

"We're going to the formal gala upstairs."

"Well, have a good time, eh?" He said.

Indeed we did. If you want to see more, here's a slideshow.

--Brian

There's pavement under there somewhere

2009-01-22T10:30:00.003-05:00

When the first snow hits, it's easy to get out there and shovel the driveway and sidewalk down to the bare pavement. It gives you an early sense of accomplishment.

"I've beaten the elements! Winter? Bring it on!"

This foolish enthusiasm lasts for the next few snows.

Then the hump of packed snow and ice at the end of the driveway starts to grow, deposited there lovingly by the snow plow guy every couple of days.

Before long, the driveway pavement disappears, and you're just skimming the loose snow off the surface.

By February, snow weariness sets in, and a set of tire tracks in the driveway are sufficient, just so you can pick up enough speed to get the car over the snow mountain at the end of the driveway. The rationalizations begin:

"Keeping the porch and sidewalk shoveled is the important thing."

By March, the hard-set yellow stains of ice everywhere (thank you Rocky - pictured) begin to melt away, and the pavement returns.

The shorts come out when it hits 40 degrees, and to quote Carl Sanburg, "The Wind Sings Welcome in Early Spring."

As I write this in the dead of winter, here's to renewing our spirits sooner, rather than later.

--Brian

Let Them Eat Cake

2009-01-21T10:59:00.002-05:00

Connor showed me his November Journal for school. For the entry right after Barack Obama was elected, the question was asked, "What would you do if YOU were President?"

Connor said if he were President he would let everyone eat cake for breakfast. He didn't see any reason why we couldn't eat cake for breakfast, and his favorite cake was chocolate, with chocolate frosting and sprinkles.

Now that is change we can believe in, my friends!

--Brian

Hey, it's Brian Demay!

Scary Science Questions

Unsaid

Ancient Law Of Abundance

Six Strange Christmas Traditions

The Relationship Quiz

Cheap travel dates

Faith

When to toss it, when to keep it

Dollar Store Do's and Don'ts

3 Ways To Save Money On Groceries

Post-Halloween Stains

Test Your Halloween Candy Knowledge...Which Choice is Healthier?

Fuel for Art

The Great Apple Taste Test

Secrets of your birth date

5 Ways To Save on Air Fare

8 Super Cheap Health Foods

Resume tips to further your career

Sites (besides Groupon) to save you money

Brian's Best of Delaware

To Own or Rent?

Do you understand the words coming out of my mouth?

What do we really need?

Cheap Fun Wine: Kitchen Sink

Thor is cool!

Traveling light

Glee = Idol = Karaoke

Split

Prospects, and Change

Welcome to the new normal

Is the Zodiac completely wrong?

Stuff I Talked About On Air

Top Viral Videos of 2010

Breath Of Autumn

Cheap Fun Wines: Apothic Red

Football, Mad Men, and stuff

Top 5 Puppy Tips

That New Car Feeling

Grief is grief

Darcy's Joke Book

Old Spice Man

Why we live here

From vinyl to iPhone in a blink

Ontario Anniversary

Lost without Lost

Lost Recap: "Across The Sea"

Patio Indecision

Darcy has some bad things to tell you

Happy Dyngus Day

Request-a-thon

Pet beginnings and endings

Does "adapted" mean "invented"?

Florida in February is Cool

Super Bowl and Halftime Show

Digital Exile

Priorities

Stupidest Statements of 2009

Top 5 YouTube Videos of 2009

Simon is always right

Family Time

Napa

Halloween 2009

Halloween, Bills, Mad Men

Balloon Boy

Mad Men/couch potato weekend

Guitar Hero vs. Rock Band

Brian's Beatles Hit List

Fleeting Summer

Historical perspective

Me on my soap box

Quite a summer so far

Thanks, Casey

Starry Night 2009

Being a Dad

Up

TATS, Yard Sales, Health Tips

The Simple Things

Working with your hands

So Glad I'm A Parent