It's Samurai Mike!

MIKE SINGLETARY HITS TOWN
© The Vindicator

One of the things that I don't think I've mentioned about our Ohio abode is that our house is right down the road from the DeBartolo Corp., the owners of, among other things, the San Francisco 49ers.

After the Eddie DeBartolo unpleasantness with the NFL, his sister Denise and her husband John York took over the team. At the end of 2008 John and Denise became team chairmen and their 28-year-old son, Jed York, took over as the NFL's youngest team president and owner.

Jed's first order of business was to make Singletary head coach. The kid is off to a great start...

Both Jed and Mike were in town Monday for the Edward J. DeBartolo Memorial Scholarship Foundation dinner and The Vindicator was in full-coverage mode. It was weird seeing Mike Singletary on The Vindy's sports cover this morning signing a Bears helmet.

A small world, indeed.

On top of that, Jerry Angelo is a Youngstown guy... Weird, eh?

Mary and I were tempted to shell out $350 on tickets but we eventually decided since we had met Mike on a couple of different occasions back in Illinois, we'd wait and catch him next time. Still, it was cool to have a great ex-Bear in town and I wish Jed and Mike all the luck in the world, except for on Thursday, Nov. 12. On that date, they must be crushed.

Anyway, read all about Mike here:

Singletary embraces challenge of 49ers

Today's story on Jed is here:

Young executive

More later,


Mark

Has Anybody Here Seen My Old Friends Ed, Farrah and Michael?

Here is an important announcement about recent events from the office of the Death Trilogy Commissioner:

Death Trilogy Commissioner

More later,


Mark

The Final Word

One last post on the The 2009 Thurber Treat...

The fine folks at the Thurber House have posted all of the winners of this year's award. So, for your reading pleasure, check it out here:

THE ANNUAL THURBER TREAT WRITING CONTEST

Me? I've framed my award and it will soon adorn a favorite wall.

More later,


Mark

The Moment They Ran

Heres a battle between the state-run militia and protesters in Tehran, Iran on Saturday that I found on Andrew Sullivan's blog. As he suggests, watch until the very end...

Battle w/ Police - Tehran, Iran - June 20th 2009
by mightier-than

More later,

Mark

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

Yes, this DOES look suspiciously like the Mother's Day cartoon except with a few keen edits to make it all about dear ol' Dad. Well, blame the fine folks at JibJab.com. I just work here.

Anyway, here's to the best Dad ever and all the dads out there: Happy Father's Day!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

More later,

Mark

The Return of Lake Sweetwood

When I got home at about 7 p.m. last night, Lake Sweetwood was back!

I snapped these pics as the rain eased. In fact, it had pretty much stopped and within the hour, the lake had all but receded.

I shot the first two while perched upon the famed Groundhog Hill:


LAKE SWEETWOOD!


ABOUT THREE FEET UP THE APPLE TREES IN THE FIRST ROUND.


LOOKING TOWARD NEIGHBOR JOE'S YARD.

After much of this water receded, another huge downpour occurred. I checked our sump pump every 10-15 minutes but shortly after 9 p.m., we started to take on water due to the high water table. Our downstream neighbors had it worst, apparently.

Our sub-basement storage room had about an inch of standing water which spilled into The Orbit Room. Friend Todd came over to help vacuum up the water and move furniture as Mary and I struggled to keep up with the flooding.

By morning, the impacted floors were dry, which is good. The Orbit Room carpeting, however, is still an issue...

More later,


Mark

BREAKING NEWS

Disaster struck Northeast Ohio Wednesday night!

A freak rain storm that started at about 4:30 p.m. and ended at about 9 p.m. has caused severe flooding! While weather forecasters initially said we saw about three inches of rain, our neighborhood suspects it was much more than that amount. The lake reformed behind our home and one neighbor said the roaring water sounded like Niagara Falls. It was at least five feet high near our apple trees.

The Orbit Room was impacted! While the new sump pump did it's job and the areas of the basement fixed with the foundation repair last spring remained dry, water seeped in from below the house near the water meter and sewer access. It was NOT sewage water as originally feared.

Sadly, The Orbit Room was breached and the new rug may have been ruined. Most of the new furniture was removed and is safe.

We just finished hauling out about 50 gallons of water with the help of our friend Todd. There is much to do tomorrow.

More later,


Mark

Got 9 Minutes to Spare?

OK, here is the video of my reading last week as I accepted the Thurber Treat from the fine folks at the Thurber House in Columbus, Ohio.

I was going to edit it, add titles, etc., but since it will already be a week old Wednesday, i just decided to throw the raw feed up here for your, uhm, enjoyment...

More later,


Mark

Happy Birthday, Kaleb!

Our Illinois trek continued Saturday as we attended the first birthday of Angela and Fred's son Kaleb. Angela is my niece and Fred is my nephew and that makes me a great uncle, which seemed obvious to me all along.

There was a huge crowd of well-wishers and Kaleb was a perfect gentleman for the entire party, mingling with party-goes (and enjoying cake as only a 1-year-old can) and a gift deluge that can only mean there is a Toys R Us empty somewhere. It was a wonderful evening and it was great seeing everyone again.

Here are a few scenes from the big bash:


KALEB SEEMS MYSTIFIED BY THIS ODD STRANGER.


MARY, KALEB AND KALEB'S MOM (AND MY NIECE) ANGELA ENJOY THE PARTY.


MY MON AND DAD (AND KALEB'S GREAT-GRANDPARENTS).


KALEB GETTING READY TO ATTACK HIS CAKE ...


... AFTER THE CAKE ATTACK.


KAELB ENJOYED OPENING MANY GIFTS ...


... BUT SEEMED TO THINK THIS FIRE ENGINE WAS PRETTY COOL

More later,


Mark

My Life And Good Times

COLUMBUS — Well, the Thurber Treat event could not have been more fun.

A crowd of about 150-200 fans of James Thurber and the ongoing efforts of the Thurber House packed a nearby cafetorium to hear the three winners of the Thurber Treat kick off the 2009 Literary Picnic season by reading their works. We were chosen after submitting our tales of our "unforgettable experiences" at the Thurber House and we were rewarded as winners of the Thurber Treat prize.

Playwright Noell Wolfgan Evans shared his hysterical account of how he faced the prospect of growing old while sitting in his car outside of the Thurber House listening to "classic" rock. Martha Miller, a long-time Thurber House volunteer, shared the story of her night as she responded to an alarm that sounded at the house while a writer-in-residence was living there. And I shared my tale of that November 2005 day when our visit to the house escalated into a police call.

It was a fantastic evening and I was just very grateful to play a role. Most importantly, I received a certificate that I will frame and place in a very prominent spot in our home. Though the event was moved to nearby cafetorium because of threatening weather, Mary and I recreated the reading on the Thurber House porch afterwards.

I will share more details later, but the battery in my computer just gave me a warning sign that the night is over (by quitting mid-thought). So, here are a couple of images from an unforgettable evening:


JOHNNY DILORETTO HANDS ME THE THURBER TREAT


HOW MY READING WOULD HAVE LOOKED IF DELIVERED FROM THE THURBER HOUSE PORCH

More later,


Mark

Spring Is A-Poppin'!

A sure sign of spring here in woodsy Northeast Ohio: I almost mowed over five baby bunnies Sunday.

Turns out, a rabbit had made a nest in the middle of the front yard. I had mowed over what I thought was a clump of old, dead grass a couple of times now. On Sunday, as I got close to it, bunnies started scampering out. Afraid I might accidently puree one or two, I turned the mower off. A couple headed for the safety of the large blue spruces that line the end of our front yard (clearly Momma rabbit had taught them an escape plan).

One remained frozen in the yard. Another made a break for it but went the wrong way and stopped in the middle of the street!

Mindful of not wanting to touch them else Momma Rabbit reject them (Is that a urban legend?) I got into the street to usher him/her back into the safety of the pines with the rest of the brood. That worked. The one in the yard seemed paralyzed with fear. I stood right over the frozen prey and nary a move was made. So, I turned the mower on again and off he/she flew to be with the rest of the brood.

This follows the unveiling Friday of four new baby groundhogs by Momma Groundhog in the backyard (yes, I resisted the urge to get out the BB gun). And later Sunday, a baby squirrel investigating the deck made Clyde the Cat quite crazy. He'll put up with just about anything, it turns out, save for a young red squirrel staring at him from the deck.

Our property abuts a woodsy area and a protected wetlands (just a creek methinks). Hence we have no choice but to live in harmony with nature. Until, of course, these critters get old enough to become BB fodder...

More later,

Mark

Meet The, uhm, Authors?

Well, today I discovered that the big Wednesday Thurber Treat Literary Picnic was promo'd in the Columbus Dispatch. That made it – and, therefore, my participation in it – feel even more real.

However, and not to take issue with this issue of a great metropolitan daily newspaper, the item about the event was under a column headlined "Meet the authors."

"Author?" Technically, I'm somewhat of a writer/editor/blogger-guy. Aren't authors published? To make this point while writing this entry, I hit Dictionary.com and looked up "author." I found this:

"...a person who writes a novel, poem, essay, etc.; the composer of a literary work, as distinguished from a compiler, translator, editor, or copyist."

So, now I don't know what I am or what I am doing or how I got mixed up in this crowd. It appears I am heading down a scary path. Brad Keefauver has already suggested I now need a tweed jacket with leather patches. Tweed makes me break out in hives. The worst part? I'm not even sure what a hive is...

Anyway, I've practiced reading the piece. All that revealed was that I am probably not destined for a job doing "books on tape" – or any other format.

Good tickets, however, are probably still available...

Here's the link to the article:

Meet the authors

More later,

Mark

Welcome to Thurber Country

Well, the e-mail bin actually scared me today: There's now a mass e-mailing for the June 10 Thurber Treat featuring my attempt at a short, funny bio I was asked to submit.

Today's realization: Apparently, people are paying actual money for the opportunity to listen to me (and two far more capable writers) read their works.

This concept had not previously crossed my mind. Quickly, that realization morphed to this thought: If you pay to watch something, you have the right to boo or toss uneaten picnic food at the general direction of the podium if you are not amused.

Yikes.

Luckily, I've already made many friends with the courageous members of the Columbus Police Department. Maybe they'll form a protective cordon around me. I could always sneak back into the house and set off the alarm...

Anyway, the PDF of the invite looks like this:





Now, curious, I googled the Thurber Treat to see what a typical crowd of jeering, food-throwing literary critics looks like during a Thurber Treat Picnic...



Oh, no. They look ready to pounce. I'll be surrounded...

More later,


Mark

The Orbit Room Update!

SAMMY ENJOYS THE ORBIT ROOM

Well, I promised more pictures, so here are the latest views of the fabulous Orbit Room!


THE NEW COUCH

The new "safari" print couch really completes that end of the room. That photo screen both covers the water meter and features autographed pictures of all of the top stars of 1960s television series. In the center? Rose Marie to block!


THE BAR

Mary enjoys some pinball which abuts the bar area which features some cool cabinets, lights, the carousel of booze, a refrigerator, ice machine and a cool Frank Sinatra canvas art piece. The cool iPod player Mary got me for my birthday is at the far right. On top of the cabinet at the far right is the new bottle chiller we found on sale for $19.99 at Sears.


MARY ENJOYS SOME PINBALL


LOOK! IT'S DINO!

Dean Martin gazes at the cool pub table and stools. The stools were an eBay find and the plexi-glass table was nabbed at a 2008 sale at HomeDecoratorsOutlet.Com. Very retro and very comfortable. Sammy has moved to the chair as you can see...

We just have to pull the fluorescent lights this weekend and replace them with track lighting and add a drape to the entrance and, of course, stock the bar!

Then, we're all set for company!

More later,


Mark

A Surprising Treat

When I started the Mark's World blog more than four years ago, I am not sure I had any real expectations.

For me, it really was a convenient way to keep connected with folks I cared about during a period of change. I also used Mark's World to learn about HTML, and gain a skill or two, like embedding code or some other nifty function.

It was also a way for me to keep writing. Mark's World gave me the ability to share everything from a household adventure to a snippet from the book I am (always) writing on the fast fading days of newspapers.

The book's working title, if I might digress, has evolved over the years as I struggled to find a tangible center to a story about inaction, greed and the other vexing reality, media audience convergence. It started out as "Why Your Newspaper Sucks." Then I toyed with "Why Your Newspaper Died." Now I am partial to "Why You Should Care That Your Sucky Newspaper Died."

Working these days for an ownership that really cares has really tempered my zeal for this project. Plus I often come home tired.

Anyway, as any blog author will attest, feedback has been fleeting. Occasionally readers share an "Attaboy!" or a "What You Don't Know About The Internet Would Fill A Library, Whatever A 'Library' Is!" More often, my stories of our occasional travel misadventures would cause people to write something like "As God Is My Witness, I'll Never Travel With You!" That is paraphrased from an actual e-mail from my actual sister.

Well, nearly 17,000 visits later, I am almost embarrassed to reveal that my writing here has resulted in an honor that eclipses anything I could have ever imagined. And I have a pretty crazy imagination.

Way back in November, 2005, Mary and I drove from our then-Illinois home to Corning, N.Y. to visit her Mom for Thanksgiving. We had time on our hands and decided to see the world, using Ohio as the mid-way point for both directions of the trip. On the way there, we would spend some time in Columbus, Ohio visiting Thurber House, the home of my literary hero, James Thurber.


THE THURBER HOUSE

On the way back, we would stop at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

Well, travel misadventures ensued in Columbus and after the police sorted things out, I posted my inspired attempt at a Thurberesque blog from the relative safety of our room at the Renaissance Hotel:

Alarms and Diversions: A Visit to the Thurber House

Fast forward four years. We are now Ohio residents. A few weeks ago I received an e-mail from the Thurber House seeking entries for a writing contest in conjunction with the summer kick-off to the annual series of literary picnics:

"Local authors, of any age, are invited to submit entries to the 2009 Thurber Treat writing contest. For this year’s contest, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of Thurber House, tell us about an unforgettable experience or memory you have had over the past quarter century involving Thurber House, perhaps as a camper, an academy participant, or someone who has enjoyed visiting the house and attending our events."

"The three winning authors will be guests of Thurber House for dinner at the Wednesday, June 10 Literary Picnic, and will read their sage or silly entries."


THE THURBER GENIUS

Did someone say "silly" story? I told Mary about it and she urged me to dust off the blogged story and adapt it for the contest. Which I did, while managing to keep the word "surly" misspelled, mind you.

Today I received a call from Anne Touvell at the Thurber House and my little entry about an insignificant police event on Jefferson Street won!

Mark's World is one of the 2009 Thurber Treat contest winners!

I was stunned and I really could not think of a coherent thought to express my gratitude. I believe I did wonder aloud whether I was the only entrant...

Well, we were heading west next week anyway. Brad Keefauver and I are marking the 25 years since we first befriended each other during the wild Tazewell Publishing Co. days when I lived in Peoria (it really is just an excuse for me to visit and torture him with bad movies). Then my great nephew Kaleb is the guest of honor for his first birthday with a big party at Angela and Fred's house in Ottawa.

So, we will now leave Wednesday afternoon and spend the evening with the good folks of the Thurber House.

To be included in a program at the home where James Thurber conjured "My Life and Hard Times" and to be associated with people who are heroes for keeping his legacy alive is really one of the great and most surprising honors in my life. From the moment I was introduced to him in a freshman American Lit class at Bradley University, I was enamored by his genius not only as a wordsmith but also as one of the 20th Century's most provocative humorists.

In the Bradley Bookstore, I found a copy of "Thurber Country," which has been at or near my bedside no matter where I have lived for the past 30-plus years. It is in bad shape, having survived, among other disasters, a bedroom flood in my college basement apartment during senior year. I also have a first edition on the book shelf but this one has character and well-worn pages. And I have never been so far down that "A Friend of the Earth" hasn't made me smile.

Still this is as daunting as it is incredible. I am not sure how a reading of my own work will go, but I guess I've got a week to practice...

For more on the Thurber House and the Summer Literary Picnics, go here:

The Thurber House

For more on James Thurber, go here:

James Thurber at Wikipedia

More later,


Mark