Today my son starts High School.  Yup, my 14 year old who knows everything is a freshman.  The cool thing is that he is attending the same high school that I went to in Townsend called North Middlesex Regional.  I’ve waited for this moment for many years.  There is something calming about the fact I live in a small town and my son is attending a school that I know and love.  While most of the teachers have changed, there are still a few there from my days and I enjoy the fact he is walking the same halls I once did.  One of my favorite teachers back in the day was Jim Solka in Room 3.  He retired 2 years ago and I always hoped Tyler would get to have him at least once, but I digress as Jim Solka Room 3 is a whole different entertaining story from my High School days!

Today it really hit me though.  My son has grown up really fast.  It seems like it was only a few years ago I was picking him up at pre-school…waking him from his nap on his cot to take him to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch.  And then his early years of school in his little uniform at St. Stephens in Worcester.  He was a cute little kid with a semi Harry Potter hair cut!  I remember when he came to live with me when he was 7 and how happy I was to have my son with me every day.  Now, he is really a young man and in a few years will be off to college!  Where did the time go?

Me & The Kids When They Were Younger Playing "My Little Pony"

When he was little, I would play Madden Football all the time.  He would watch me and want to play.  Since I would’ve easily defeated a 4 year old, I would set the game to play against the computer and tell him he was the team that I really was…that way he thought he was beating me when in reality I was beating the computer!  Now that he is older, he gives me a good run for my money.  He was actually beating me for the past year by a pretty good margin…until I found out he was changing the settings so he was on easy status and I was on the hardest.  Now that we’ve fixed that little issue, I rule Madden!
I guess I really am not looking forward to having him grow up anymore than he has.  The day will come soon where he will be off to college and then off living on his own.  He won’t need me anymore to drive him around or be home to play games with.  He will be off doing his thing and I guess I will miss these days.  Like I said, time went by way too fast!

Tyler getting ready for practice

I am enjoying watching him play sports though.  He just started Freshmen Football and looks pretty good out there.  He is now 6”1 (210 lbs) and playing the line on both offense and defense.  He had his 1st scrimmage last week and did well.  He also plays (and loves) basketball and lacrosse.  I guess I will just have to sit back and enjoy watching him play over the next 4 years and absorb as much of it as I can.  I’m happy he turned out to be a great, good looking kid.  I love being a father and wouldn’t trade it in for anything.

Libbie (right side) & her friend Eleni "posing" for the camera

My daughter is 8 and going into 3rd grade so I have plenty of time to watch her grow before I have to go through this all over again!  Even though she is only 8, she has the personality (and attitude) at times of an 18 year old!  She likes to watch Seinfeld and The Office with me even though she probably shouldn’t!  I don’t even think she really likes it, she just likes laying with me and laughing….and I can’t complain about that.
So there it is.  That is my back-to-school story.  I guess I better practice up on my Madden because soon it will be just me and the computer again and the computer has seemed to improve over the years…unless I can teach my daughter how to play!

Is anyone else having  a bad “1st day back to school” day?  Feel free to share here so I know I’m not the only one!

**** On a side note…. here is a picture of Tyler and his pal Francis enjoying a nice 1,000 ounce Big Gulp last weekend.  Francis would be upset if he was left out of this and complain to me for a week so I thought I would give him some space in my blog!  Both of them are happy to know that 7-11 is opening in Pepperell so they will be well hydrated moving forward.

Tyler & Francis enjoying a Big Gulp

Middlesex Superior Court / Woburn

It was my 1st time being called for Jury Duty and I wasn’t sure what to expect.  When I walked in, I was given a # and told to take a seat so that they could go over everything with us.  There was about 125 or so people there so I figured I had a great shot at being sent on my way.  To my surprise, we were then told by the court officer that there were 15 trials scheduled to start that day and we would all most likely be needed!  Thankfully, I brought my IPod and sat back waiting for what would happen next.
About an hour later, I found myself in a courtroom being asked a few questions and then sent back into the hall.  We were all brought back in and my # was called.  I was now Juror #7.  We were told the case would go until at least Friday and possibly Monday or Tuesday so it looked like I was going to be spending quite a bit of time in the new courthouse.

Jury Duty was not like the movie!

At this point we are all seated in our box and we start to get the details of the case.  Long story short, the defendant is charged with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon.  Back in August of 2008, there was an incident outside of Cambridge Rindge & Latin High School and the victim was injured after a confrontation that left him with 2 stab wounds.  At the time, the defendant was 19 and already out of school and the victim was 15 and taking summer classes.  At 1st when I heard the basic details, I was thinking that this guy was guilty and what was he thinking stabbing this kid!

The Prosecution started off calling witnesses to the stand.  At the time of the attack, the victim was with 4 of his summer school classmates.  The victim, along with 2 of his friends were called as witnesses.  Then a few detectives/officers were called and then followed by a few experts.  It was your typical “Law & Order” episode.  Listening to everything and seeing all of the evidence (especially the pictures of the young boy in the hospital and his blood soaked clothes), you really felt bad for the victim. 

One thing that was odd was that the friend’s testimony was all different.  I knew they were young, but you would think being there when this happened, they would have been a bit more convincing.  They were all consistent saying that they did not draw the defendant to them…that he walked by them and then came back to start with the victim.  They all said the defendant pulled a knife and stabbed the victim. 

But what was strange was that they said the victim and the defendant were arguing, but not raising their voices and they didn’t hear a thing.  One said they were about 5 feet away, one said more like 10 and one estimated more like 15.  1st, I have heard many people argue before, and it is never in a calm, quiet voice.  2nd, there is a big difference between them being 5-15 feet away.  And 3rd, I could not understand how they did nothing to draw the defendant in…that he walked by and came back to approach them.  It just doesn’t sound logical to me.
There was no doubt that something happened and the victim was stabbed BUT, something just didn’t add up.  The defendant had headphones on and was listening to his mp3 player.  Why would he just walk by, walk up the street and then come back?  Is it logical the defendant would come back to start trouble with 5 boys especially since he is much shorter and most likely weaker than them?  And why would he want to do this seeing he was on his way to meet a guidance counselor at his old high school to help him fill out some financial aid papers and get himself into college?
But then things started to get a bit clearer.  It was brought up by the defense attorney that the defendant was gay and that as the defendant was walking down the street, these boys made “gay type” gestures to the defendant.  The defendant has experienced this type of behavior before and had had enough.  He went up to the boys and asked them why they were doing that.  A verbal confrontation ensued with the victim pushing the defendant and spitting in his face and then a few punches were exchanged. 

At the same time, 1 of the other boys was standing behind the defendant.  The victim put him in a headlock, and the defendant, fearing for his safety, pulled a knife he had in his back pocket (which he stated he had because he was sick of being treated this way) and started waving it around to get the victim off of him and in the process, stabbed him at least 4 times, 2 of which penetrate into his side and sternum.  The defendant now free, ran off to the school seeking the counselor he was supposed to meet.
In the meantime, the victim tried to get a cab to take him to the hospital, telling the cab driver he was stabbed.  The cab driver REFUSED to take him and said that he didn’t want blood in his cab!  This was really bothersome to me.  This kid was 15, stabbed and bleeding, and this cab driver refuses to help and drives off leaving him in the street to find some other way to get to the hospital.    I hope at some point, they figure out who that cab driver was and that he gets fired!  There is no reason to refuse anyone, a child or adult, a ride to the hospital when they need it, especially when he is bleeding in front of you!   Thankfully, a member of the Cambridge Public Works was driving by and gave the victim a ride without question.
In the end, the victim was released from the hospital 2 days later and to this day, has no serious lasting effects.  During the trial, not 1 doctor was called to talk about the victim and the stab wounds, which I thought was odd, but also had me thinking that maybe injury was not as serious as it looked.  As jurors, it was our job to decide the fate of the defendant.  We were told to think the details over, talk about it and use the guidelines we were given to declare him guilty or innocent.  We were to also use common sense and ask ourselves if the Prosecution proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was guilty as charged.  In the end, we found him innocent as we believed he was acting in self defense and did not go to the school that day with the intent to harm or murder anyone.
I won’t get into what we discussed as I don’t want to share what my fellow jurors had to say (nor do I know if legally I should share it), but the consensus was the defendant was enticed into this by the harassment he received when walking by, and in an attempt to say he was sick of it and to stop, a confrontation ensued and quickly it was 5 against 1.  His only choice was to take out this knife to get free.  At 1 point, the Prosecutor did say the defendant could’ve said he was sorry and that he made a mistake and then walked away, but as much as people want to think that is an option, it isn’t.  If there were 5, maybe.  But when you are talking about young boys and fists are coming out…if the defendant would’ve tried that, nothing would’ve changed.  Kids at that age don’t care.
Now, why am I sharing all of this?  Obviously there is nothing funny in this blog post and all of my blogs either are silly or stupid and hopefully make you laugh.  But this time I am writing to all parents to take a minute of your day and just talk to your kids about bullying.  In the past, I’ve told my son to make sure he never does it, especially after watching the news and seeing how kids are taking their own lives or how they live in misery and nobody seems to step in and do anything about it. 

But after being a juror on this case, you have to add that when you bully someone enough, they may take things into their own hands to get you to stop.  And it could be you that gets hurt.  In my heart, I didn’t believe the defendant meant to kill anyone.  He clearly had enough and this was the day someone pushed him too far to the point he wanted to speak up and during a fight in which he was going to be out numbered, he used the only thing he had that he thought would get him out of it…a knife.  In the end we are lucky nobody was killed.  But again, it is a HUGE warning sign!

While we should all be telling our kids to get along and not to bully others, we should also be teaching them to stop their friends from doing it or step in when they see someone else getting bullied and break it up.  We do not need to have kids hurting each other with words and weapons and especially hurting themselves to the point they take their own life.  It is easy to do nothing and think “my kid isn’t like that,” but how would you feel if you get a call that your kid is the bully and has pushed a fellow student to the point where something tragic has happened?

It doesn’t matter if someone looks or acts different, is gay or straight, is loud or quiet or dresses in designer clothes or hand me downs, we need to teach our kids to treat others with respect immediately!  If you don’t like someone, keep it to yourself and move on.  It is time we all do our part to stop this growing problem before it gets out of hand anymore that it already has.  This trial I was just a part of didn’t have to happen.  The defendant would’ve filled out his papers and been in college.  The victim would have continued on his way to play basketball with his friends and never would’ve been stabbed.  The defendant and the victim probably would never walk past each other again and went on with their lives.  Instead, August 4, 2008 will be with them forever and they both will never be the same because of it.

Hopefully some of you will share this link with other parents so they can see what can happen and talk to their kids as well.

((And for the record, I probably unintentionally left out a few parts of the story and explained things in the way I interpreted or understood the details.  Any thoughts and opinions are meant to be mine only and are not meant to sound like I am speaking for anyone else on the Jury.   This was more to summarize it and to get the point out that we need to talk to our kids about the growing problem with bullying.))

Dear MIKE-FM,

The other day my 12-year-old daughter came home from school, and I noticed she was wearing foundation, blush, eye shadow and mascara.  She said she bought the makeup at the drug store, and all the girls at her school wear it.

Is my 12-year-old daughter too young to be wearing makeup?  At what age should girls start wearing makeup?  Should I tell my daughter she needs to wait a few more years before she can wear makeup to school?

Thanks,

Lisa

———

Ok Lisa…in no way, shape or form am I am expert in anything, nor should you take my advice with any hope that I know what I’m talking about, but I would say no way.  12 is too young to me!  Kids seem to be jumping into yound adulthood (is that even a word?) earlier and earlier in my opinion.  Once you start letting them do things, good luck getting them to stop!

My daughter is 8 and she wants to wear makeup.  Since the only money she has is what she “helps herself to” from my pockets and is not allowed to go anywhere alone, I feel confident my ”NO” is good enough.  But at 12, your daughter  can get away with it and not tell you if she washes it off before you see it.  Plus, makeup will attrack boys and the longer she can avoid boys, the better!   The only thing you can do is home school her and not let her go out until she is 25, which is a good age to release her into adulthood.  Sounds like a easy, solid plan to me!

That is my opionion.  Anyone have a different one?  Share it here.

Big Daddy

The MTV Video Music Award nominees were announced yesterday and Lady Gaga led with 13 nominations.  That’s more VMA nominations than has been received by any other artist in a single year.  Eminem had the second most this year, with eight.

Gaga received 10 nominations for “Bad Romance” and three for “Telephone”, her collaboration with Beyoncé.  Meanwhile, Beyoncé got five nominations for  “Video Phone” which was her song featuring Gaga.  (Apparently, the “Telephone” nominations belong solely to Lady Gaga, and the “Video Phone” nominations are strictly Beyoncé’s.)

Paramore singer Hayley Williams is also enjoying some multiple nominations.  Her band is up for Best Rock Video for “Ignorance” and she’s featured on the B.o.B. hit “Airplanes”, which is up for four awards.

It’s probably also worth noting that Taylor Swift and Kanye West are both up for one award each.  It was at last year’s VMA’s that Kanye stole the mic from Taylor after she won Best Female Video for “You Belong With Me”.  (You know, because he desperately wanted the world to know that Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” was one of the best videos of all time.)

This year’s awards go down on September 12th.  Voting is open until August 24th and you can cast your vote HERE. 

Here is the complete list of nominations:

VIDEO OF THE YEAR:

–Lady Gaga, “Bad Romance”
–Lady Gaga featuring Beyoncé, “Telephone”
–Eminem, “Not Afraid”
–B.o.B. featuring Hayley Williams, “Airplanes”
–30 Seconds to Mars, “Kings and Queens”
–Florence + the Machine, “Dog Days Are Over”

BEST COLLABORATION:

–Beyoncé featuring Lady Gaga, “Video Phone”
–Lady Gaga featuring Beyoncé, “Telephone”
–B.o.B. featuring Hayley Williams, “Airplanes”
–3OH!3 featuring Ke$ha, “My First Kiss”
–Jay-Z and Alicia Keys, “Empire State of Mind”

 BEST FEMALE VIDEO:

–Lady Gaga, “Bad Romance”
–Beyoncé featuring Lady Gaga, “Video Phone”
–Taylor Swift, “Fifteen”
–Ke$ha, “Tik Tok”
–Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg, “California Gurls”

 BEST MALE VIDEO:

–Eminem, “Not Afraid”
–Usher featuring Will.I.Am, “OMG”
–B.o.B. featuring Hayley Williams, “Airplanes”
–Drake, “Find Your Love”
–Jason Derulo, “In My Head”

 BEST NEW ARTIST:

–Justin Bieber featuring Ludacris, “Baby”
–Ke$ha, “Tik Tok”
–Jason Derulo, “In My Head”
–Nicki Minaj featuring Sean Garrett, “Massive Attack”
–Broken Bells, “The Ghost Inside”

BEST POP VIDEO:

–Lady Gaga, “Bad Romance”
–Beyoncé featuring Lady Gaga, “Video Phone”
–Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg, “California Gurls”
–Ke$ha, “Tik Tok”
–B.o.B. featuring Bruno Mars, “Nothin’ On You”

 BEST HIP HOP VIDEO:

–Drake, Kanye West, Lil Wayne & Eminem, “Forever”
–B.o.B. featuring Hayley Williams, “Airplanes”
–Eminem, “Not Afraid”
–Jay-Z and Swizz Beatz, “On To The Next One”
–Kid Cudi featuring MGMT and Ratatat, “Pursuit of Happiness”

 BEST ROCK VIDEO:

–Paramore, “Ignorance”
–30 Seconds to Mars, “Kings and Queens”
–Muse, “Uprising”
–Florence + the Machine, “Dog Days Are Over”
–MGMT, “Flash Delirium”

 BEST DANCE MUSIC VIDEO:

–Lady Gaga, “Bad Romance”
–Enrique Iglesias featuring Pitbull, “I Like It”
–Usher featuring Will.I.Am, “OMG”
–Cascada, “Evacuate the Dancefloor”
–David Guetta featuring Akon, “Sexy Chick”

 BEST DIRECTION:

–Lady Gaga, “Bad Romance”
–Jay-Z and Alicia Keys, “Empire State of Mind”
–P!nk, “Funhouse”
–Eminem, “Not Afraid”
–30 Seconds to Mars, “Kings and Queens”

 BEST CHOREOGRAPHY:

–Lady Gaga, “Bad Romance”
–Lady Gaga featuring Beyoncé, “Telephone”
–Beyoncé featuring Lady Gaga, “Video Phone”
–Usher featuring Will.I.Am, “OMG”
–Janelle Monae featuring Big Boi, “Tightrope”

 BEST BREAKTHROUGH VIDEO:

–Dan Black, “Symphonies”
–Gorillaz featuring Bobby Womack, “Stylo”
–Coldplay, “Strawberry Swing”
–The Black Keys, “Tighten Up”

 BEST ART DIRECTION:

–Lady Gaga, “Bad Romance”
–Beyoncé featuring Lady Gaga, “Video Phone”
–Eminem, “Not Afraid”
–30 Seconds to Mars, “Kings and Queens”
–Florence + the Machine, “Dog Days Are Over”

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:

–Lady Gaga, “Bad Romance”
–Eminem, “Not Afraid”
–Jay-Z and Alicia Keys, “Empire State of Mind”
–Mumford and Sons, “Little Lion Man”
–Florence + the Machine, “Dog Days Are Over”

 BEST EDITING:

–Lady Gaga, “Bad Romance”
–Eminem, “Not Afraid”
–Rihanna, “Rude Boy”
–P!nk, “Funhouse”
–Miike Snow, “Animal”

 BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS:

–Lady Gaga, “Bad Romance”
–Eminem, “Not Afraid”
–Muse, “Uprising”
–Green Day, “21st Century Breakdown”
–Dan Black, “Symphonies”

Tony called today to talk about his new show on NBC called “Breakthrough with Tony Robbins” which airs on Tuesday nights at 8pm.  Click here to listen to my interview with Tony.

I remember being in college and buying his books and I think watching a ton of infomercials he was in.  Of course, I remember him from one of my favorite movies, “Shallow Hal”.  The guy has been around for awhile and still has the energy of someone who chugged down 10 red bulls!  I guess when you’ve had the success he has and make the money he has made, you do whatever you have to do to keep it going!

He was really cool and I had a great time talking with him.  I’m thinking I may take him up on his offer and check him out in New York, although I’m not to sure I want to walk on fire!  I’d rather just follow him everywhere and have him buy me an expensive meal!  Maybe even buy me one of those nice suits he wears.

Check out the show and his site at http://breakthroughinsider.com to share your story and help a friend.  I know I am going to submit one of my good friends!  To see a clip of his show, click here.

Here is a funny clip of Tony on Lopez Tonight where they measure his head and shoe size!

Today I had the chance to interview  Jodie (click here to listen to it) to promote her new book “unSweetined”.  I will admit, I didn’t get a chance to read the book over until about 30 minutes before the interview but when I did read some pages, I was pretting interested in it.  Not so much for the fact I was a big Full House fan growing up, but because I could not believe all the crap Stephanie Tanner…I mean, Jodie had gone through!

Growing up as a child star. drugs, finding out she was adopted, drinking, more drugs and a nasty divorce…this lil gal has dealt with it all!  It is odd to know that when I now watch Full House, I am looking at a cast that for the most part, is nothing like the characters they play on the show!  The Olson Twins have had their share of issues, Bob Saget is a dirty comedian, John Stamos just dealt with an extortion case where he was accused of rape and cocaine use, Candace Cameron is a die hard Christian (not that there is anything wrong with that…just it is so not “D.J. Tanner”) and Dave Coulier is about as famous as my left shoe.  Add in the crazy life Jodie has had and this show’s cast turned into a Full House of problems! (insert rim shot here).

Jodie All Grown Up!

Take a listen to the interview and if you want to check out some of the book, click here to read some of it.  While it is sad to hear about these child stars and the life that became of them after the show is over and they get older, it is good to hear of someone getting help and turning things around before it is too late.

Click Here to listen to a remix someone made of Stephanie Tanner saying “rude” in “Rude Boy” by Rihanna!

Here is a video mix of her saying “How Rude”

Click Here to listen to the interview with Jodie

If you’ve always dreamed of owning something that once touched Elvis Presley’s body, now’s your chance.  Autopsy tools that were used to prepare Elvis’ body for the hereafter are being auctioned off in Chicago on August 12th and are expected to sell for up to $8,000.The items include rubber gloves, forceps, needle injectors, an arterial tube and aneurysm hooks. 

Also included are lip brushes, a comb, eyeliner and a “John Doe” toe tag which they actually had to use temporarily because someone at the hospital had stolen Elvis’ original toe tag.  The auction house says these things were only used once, on Elvis, and then saved by a senior embalmer at the Memphis funeral home where the work was done.

To get in on the bidding, click here to check out the auction site.

According to Forbes.com, here they are in order:

#1.)  U2, $130 million
#2.)  AC/DC, $114 million
#3.)  BEYONCÉ, $87 million
#4.)  BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, $70 million
#5.)  BRITNEY SPEARS, $64 million
#6.)  JAY-Z, $63 million
#7.)  LADY GAGA, $62 million
#8.)  MADONNA, $58 million
#9.)  KENNY CHESNEY, $50 million
#10.)  TIE:  BLACK EYED PEAS, TOBY KEITH and COLDPLAY, $48 million

Consumer Reports recently surveyed over 1,000 people around the country to find out what annoyed them the most on a daily basis:  They gave people a list of 21 annoying things, and then had people rate them on a scale from 1 to 10.

Here are the top ten most annoying things and how they scored:
 

#10)  SPAM.  Email spam rated 7.5 on the annoyance scale. 

#9.)  WAITING FOR REPAIR PEOPLE.  It also got a 7.5.

#8.)  DISCOURTEOUS CELL-PHONE USE:  7.6.

#7.)  UNRELIABLE INTERNET SERVICE:  7.6.

#6.)  DOG POOP:  7.6.

#5.)  BILLS THAT ARE HARD TO UNDERSTAND:  7.8.

#4.)  PEOPLE WHO USE THEIR CELL PHONES WHILE DRIVING:  8.0.

#3.)  TAILGATING:  8.3.

#2.)  GETTING A RECORDING WHEN YOU CALL CUSTOMER SERVICE:  8.6.

And the most-annoying thing we experience on a daily basis is . . .

#1.)  DEALING WITH HIDDEN FEES.  According to the study, the average annoyance rate for hidden fees on a scale from 1 to 10 was . . . 8.9. 

And here’s some other stuff the study revealed:
#1.)  MEN AND WOMEN WERE ANNOYED BY DIFFERENT THINGS.  Women were significantly more irritated by 11 of the 21 things, including SPEEDING and having to remember their PIN NUMBERS.
#2.)  PEOPLE OVER 50 WERE ANNOYED BY:  Discourteous cell-phone use, email spam, and people who talk on the phone while they’re driving.
#3.)  DEMOCRATS DON’T LIKE PEOPLE WHO YELL:  And Democrats were more annoyed than Republicans by TV and radio shows where people SHOUT their opinions.

(For the full list and how they rated, click HERE.)