Missing the AMAs

This is the best example yet of how upside down my life is today, compared to a year ago ...

I had no idea the American Music Awards were last night.

Kates and I didn't realize what we were missing until we began getting ready for bed, a few minutes before 10 p.m. mind you -- again, upside down. I turned on the TV to catch some of the local news and we caught the New Kids on the Block and the Backstreet Boys, or should I say NKOTBSB (Seriously!?) wrapping up the show with their spectacle of a performance.

I might be more sad about missing the AMAs if every headline I saw about the awards today didn't have Justin Bieber within it.

Between that and my absentee viewing this year, it's no wonder ratings were down.

Sunday reading

Some of the reads that caught my eyes during the last week ...

Baseball ...
a Maddon's unorthodox thinking pays off with playoffs for Rays
a To the finish, nothing comes easy for them
a Most valuable half-pint
a Picture quite bright for Rays
a The Dodgers are best in the West, but are they playoff-worthy?
a After Saying Goodbye to Playing, Piazza Returns for Shea’s Farewell
a To Pilots, Shea Is Less Ballpark Than Landmark
a Top 10 immortal years in sports
a Winning slogans sure to inspire baseball's also-rans
a Where Yankees fans thrive
a How Yankees fans survive in Red Sox Nation

TV ...
a Through it all, 'ER' won her heart ... My affection for ER isn't what it used to be, but there's no doubts the show holds a special place.
a 3 Questions about this fall's TV

Politics ...
a Guilty by association
a A father's charm, absence: Friends recall Barack Obama Sr.
a Sarah Palin should bow out ... You know it's bad if a conservative columnist is causing for Palin's resignation.
a Into the wild of Wasilla, Alaska, where Sarah Palin once ruled
a Palin's policies in Alaska weighted toward development
a Sarah, talk. Joe, stop
a McCain’s Suspension Bridge to Nowhere
a Steering the McCain Campaign, a Lot of Old Bush Hands
a Thinking About McCain
a Don’t Blame the New Deal
a The Bush Doctrine?
a The Truth About Politicians? It's At Snopes.com ... Ah, Snopes. Great site ... Though when I tried to reference it in a story once, my editor discounted it as a legitimate Web site. The irony.

Internet & media ...
a New Chicago Tribune publisher Hunter called a 'change agent'
a Columnist's 'dream come true' nears the end
a Music Critic vs. Maestro: One Loses His Beat
a Two Stories That Pushed Some Buttons
a Spinning through online entertainment and connected culture
a Some Facebook users aren't fond of website's new face ... Like all changes, it's going to take awhile. I didn't like it initially, either. But I'm learning to like it.
a The Dangers of Auto-Replace

Music ...
a Juliana Hatfield on life after the spotlight fades
a Going Down to Yasgur's Farm, Almost 40 Years Later
a New Kids on the Block soak up love on reunion tour ... Here's a review of their show in Boston on Friday night -- to which Kates and I tried to win tickets. We failed.

Life & other stuff ...
a We’ll Fill This Space, but First a Nap ... Yeah, consider I was up at 5:30 this morning doing "work."

Sunday reading

Some of the reads that caught my interests this last week ...

Baseball ...
a Memories of historic '98 season now seem a little tarnished

TV & movies...
a Series get a new post-strike lease on life
a Graduation nears for 'High School Musical 3: Senior Year'
a 'SNL' throws its hat into political ring
a `SNL' returns with spotlight on prez impersonators

Music ...
a Catching Up With... Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger
a Gilmour says no Pink Floyd reunion
a Singular Sensations: Some Acts Went to the Top, Then Faded to Background Noise
a New Kids know their way around the block
a Rollin' on Empty: In the World of Rock Music, Songs About Cars Have Lost Their Way
a The Twist Tops Billboard Hot 100 Era

Politics ...
a Bush painted as a failed wartime chief
a TV jokesters warming to Palin challenge
a A Tangled Story of Addiction: Consequences of Cindy McCain's Drug Abuse Were More Complex Than She Has Portrayed
a Daley vs. Daley

Media & the Internet ...
a Just Let Me Check One Last Thing . . .
a Lazy EyesHow we read online
a The Humble Moderator's Grand Goodbye
a Newspaper E-reader to be unveiled
a Facebook unveils new look with a new approach
a Fiddling Around With History: Gene's idea wasn't old, it was well-aged
a Twittering From the Cradle

Travel ...
a Mass. shrines split Lizzie Borden's legacy

Saturday morning videos!

So Kates and I are doing are Saturday morning thing ... Watching the VH1 countdown ...

Love the new Weezer video for "Pork and Beans" ... It's a who's who of YouTube personalities. Nice!

And then! there's a new video from the New Kids on the Block!

Sheesh ... I don't care how much cheese you want to spread on it -- Kates and I were laughing and gleaming through the whole video. It's a cool, catchy, summer song, and it's great to see the boys together again ... and so surreal. In an instant we're transported back 18 years to one of the golden times of our childhoods ...

Notes from the week

... Trying to catch up a little on the last seven days, though they've been such a whirlwind, there's no chance I'll be able to remember everything I wanted to write about ...

* * *

Sunday was Mother's Day. Besides being our first one, it was pretty low-key. We dressed Phoebe in her "strawberry shortcake" outfit, as we call it. And Kates got cards from both Phoebe and I -- plus a bonus card from both of us that read:

Wishing you a Happy Mother's Day to the wonderful, proud new mom!

(open it up)

Keep this card. You can read it again at about 2 a.m.

 

Pheebs made her debut at church on Mother's Day ... We were running late -- as usual -- which meant we arrived just as the service was starting. But it worked out for the better because we got to carry Phoebe down the aisle and draw oohs and ahhs from the congregation as people got their first looks at her ... Phoebe was quiet and well-behaved for the entire service. Although, Kates had to take her out for a feeding toward the end, which left me stranded at the end of the service with an empty car seat as people were coming over with hopes of meeting Phoebe ...

The afternoon was spent sharing dinner with Kates' family and watching baseball games -- something I'm sad I haven't had a whole lot of time to do yet this spring.

* * *

... When I came home at one point earlier this week, Kates gleefully announced she was getting Phoebe into a routine! ... Which is something I had wanted to do in the very beginning, before an unexpected return to the hospital threw off those plans. But I could tell Kates was excited about whatever words-of-wisdom baby book she had read, and I didn't say anything ...

We're still amazed at how well Phoebe sleeps during the night ... Needless to say, getting her to take naps during the day this week has been a little tougher.

Ah, but we've quickly discovered she loves Enya. Before she was born, I built a playlist of good baby-type Enya songs, thinking we could put them to use. Sure enough, put a little Afer Ventus on and it's put her to sleep every time ... On the downside, I'm not sure how many more nights Kates and I are going to be able take before that angelic music gets grating ...

* * *

... So there's a gigantic kids festival coming to town in July. "The Ultimate Kids Fest," they're calling it. Raven-Symoné and other big kids stars are going to be there ...

My office is playing a role in it and selling the tickets. And I wrote a piece about the festival ...

So on the day before the tickets were available, my phone was ringing with parents desperate to spoil their children. "What am I supposed to do when those tickets go on sale tomorrow morning and I need to get my daughter tickets!? I need to know what I'm supposed to do!" one irate mother screamed at me.

... All the while I'm thinking, sooner than I know it Phoebe's going to be wanting tickets to the show of some heartthrob, too.

And then it it really hits me. I'm a father ... of a girl.

* * *

Speaking of heartthrobs ...

The New Kids on the Block have reunited ...

And Kates and I watched our DVR recording giddily tonight of their performance on the Today show.

The phrase "blast from the past" doesn't even describe it. Seeing and hearing the adult crowd screaming like it was 1989, I laughed and said "This is like our parents seeing the Beatles reunite ... "

Hardly. But it was the best I could come up with ... and The New Kids still sound good. Here's some clips ...

* * *

There's been some good TV this week too ...

On "How I Met Your Mother," Britney's return was forgettable (when are the TV execs gonna learn ... A good thing never works twice ...), but watching Marshall and Lily sell their stuff was fun. And oh yeah -- guyforceshiswifetodressinagarbagebagforthenextthreeyears.com is an actual Web site ... nice!

Grey's Anatomy is as good as it's been in a long time ... Though I'm loathing the idea of two-hour season finale next week. Grey's has never done those well ...

Lost is getting really good ... And my mouth is watering over that season finale ... (I'm contending these flash-forwards we've been seeing aren't necessarily things that happen around the end of the series. In other words, these flash-forwards could be the foundation for some plot lines before an eventual return to the island to reunite or rescue the rest of the passengers ...)

And last night's "Office" ... was pretty darn good, too. Amy Ryan was perfect as the new HR girl; here's hoping she stays ...

Monday, Monday

Nothing like coming home from a long day of work to a spring rain shower and turning on some good music ...

... and then laughing hysterically with your wife when she comes home from work and the two of you dance to an old New Kids on the Block tape ... and reminisce on your middle school dances.