What IS The Orbit Room?

For months I've been discussing the progress on our new lounge, The Orbit Room. I'd make a passing reference and people would say:

• "What's an Orbit Room?"

• "What do you mean by a 'lounge?'"

• "Is this replacing the Rat Pack Tiki Bar?"

• "How many bars can two people reasonably enjoy in one house?"

It all started last fall, when we were trying to decide what to do with a curious room in what we call "the sub basement." It's a quad-level house so every level has a name: Second floor, first floor, basement, sub-basement.

The room looked like this:



The wall was cantilevered with a square hole which confused us, until we contacted the former owner. It turns out, he built the wall for his son's train set and the hole allowed his son to sit in the middle of his train village and operate the set. Very ingenious. And while we liked the "bones" of this area, part of the wall would have to fall...

We decided we wanted to make this a relaxing room, a lounge of sorts. We considered various themes until we happened across this sign online:



The Orbit Room was born.

For the past seven or eight months, we've begun the process of outfitting the room with a mid-century flair. Think: Jetsons meets the Rat Pack in a Eames blender. It's complicated...

The Internet became the colors to our blank canvas. HomeDecoratorsOutlet.Com, eBay.com and Overstock.com became frequent stops.

Patiently, we scored huge deals. A pair of bar stools that cost $340 new was found for $60 on eBay since they were floor models. A chrome bar that once sold for $299 was $49 after a coupon on HomeDecoratorsOutlet.com. That same site yielded a $300 chair for $89 a $589 endtable for $69 and a chrome/plexiglass pub table that once sold for $200 for $59. A $200 lamp at J.C. Penney's cost $46 after clearance – and Mary's discount.

We scored deals and hid them away in the furnace room section of the sub basement.

Mary patiently painted the walls and even the floor. She spent days recovering the ceiling tiles in fabric.

This weekend, we began to start putting the pieces, as Dave Wannstedt might say, in place, Now, the room is almost done but there are finishing touches yet to come. The fluorescent lights are being replaced, the couch has yet to arrive. Floor molding needs to be done.

Still the room's cool is emerging. That cool was augmented with an early anniversary present: A pinball machine. The name? "Super Orbit," of course.

So, for the curious, here are some sneak peaks at our new, intimate, cool lounge: The Orbit Room.


THE MAIN BAR


THE PINBALL GAME


SAMMY INSPECTS SOME OF THE COOL NEW ORBIT ROOM STUFF

We'll post more when the room is done.

More later.


Mark

Happy Mother's Day!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

The fine folks at JibJab didn't have a new Mother's Day video this year, so I can only offer this rerun!

Happy Mom's Day! Enjoy, Mom!

More Later,

Mark

Stroke of Luck

ERIC AND JEN

My brother Eric gave us another scare a couple of weeks ago when he suffered a stroke. Luckily - if such a term can be used in this kind of circumstance - he was out having a few beers with my Uncle Dan who recognized the signs of a stroke and called 911. He was whisked to the nearby hospital which handled his heart valve operations in 2004 and 2006. They happened to have a neurological team on hand who rushed him into surgery and the clot was promptly removed.

Because of everyone's quick actions, Eric suffered no ill-effects and the physical therapy team deemed him normal after the first visit to his hospital room. In the end, I came to believe that this episode is yet another example of how beer drinking saves lives...

Mary and I scooted across the miles last week to pay him a quick visit. He was released last Wednesday and his fiance Jen, as you can see above, is probably the best medicine. She's smart and wonderful and has stepped in to oversee Eric's transition to a better diet and more carb-free lifestyle. They may never know what caused the stroke but everyone who loves him is just grateful for the final outcome. I only have one brother and I want to keep him around!

While visiting, we got re-introduced to his menagerie. Like our household, Eric has three cats. The eldest is Foggy, who I usually just see via a quick glance. The ruler of the home is the huggable and talkative Guinness...


GUINNESS

That big ball of loveable fur is Chumley, who must weigh nearly 40 pounds...


CHUMLEY

Chumley is just about the nicest cat you'd ever run into ... But Guinness has a lot of personality, too.


ERIC AND GUINNESS

It was good to see Eric and Jen again, though I'm sure we would all prefer less extreme circumstances. He lives in a great town, Normal, Ill., that has a cool downtown featuring a terrific comic book shop and a couple of used music shops, so it was good to spend some time together when we headed out the first day after he got home.

In the past week, Eric has continued to make great progress and even attended his school's honors program. He's a great teacher - the handmade get-well cards he received from his high school students were awesome – and as his year was winding down anyway, he'll get a nice rest before the start of the next school year.

More later,


Mark

Yes, I Feel Lucky, Punk!

So, I fill the Kia up with gas about every other weekend and, normally, I'll pop a $20 plus whatever I won from the previous visit into the instant Ohio Lottery machine to see what happens.

This, of course, does not replace the Vegas trips of the past, but it keeps my gambling needs satiated.

A few weeks ago, I parleyed $25 into $70. I pocketed $40 and put $30 into the machine on my next visit and won $10.

Boo! I prefer winning all of the time, obviously...

Today, I was out running errands and filled up with gas and cashed in that $10 winner and added $30. I was feeling lucky.

I bought two $10 tickets and four $5 ones. For my $20 in $5 tickets, I garnered $5. Not good.

Then I began to scratch at the first $10 ticket. The very first number matched! $20! Then the next one: $20. I was ahead! Yay!

The third one? A $50 match! What was going on...?

In all, there were 15 potentials for matching winning numbers. They all matched!

• Ten $20 winners.
• Four $50 winners.
• One $100 winner.

The take? $500. And on this game, there are two bonus areas where that amount could have multiplied up to 100 times the value... I almost could not scratch those areas. But I did and it turns out that 1 times 500 times 1 equals 500, which I am cool with...



This is my biggest lottery winning. The gas station doesn't have that kind of cash, so the ticket goes to the grocery store Monday!

The second $10 ticket? Another $10 for a total of $515!

What will we do with the Ohio Lottery winnings? The cash goes right into The Orbit Room project! A new couch is likely.

More later,

Mark

2009-10 Bears Schedule Released!

The Chicago Bears just released the 2009-10 game schedule! Here's what they sent out (all times CST):


Five prime time games, plus the Superbowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers in the Soldier Field home opener on September 20th.

PRE-SEASON

Saturday Aug. 15 at Buffalo 6p

Saturday Aug. 22 vs NY GIANTS 7p

Sunday Aug. 30 at Denver 7p

Thursday Sept. 3 vs CLEVELAND 7p


REGULAR SEASON

Sunday Sept. 13 at Green Bay 7:15p

Sunday Sept. 20 vs PITTSBURGH 3:15p

Sunday Sept. 27 at Seattle 3:05p

Sunday Oct. 4 vs DETROIT Noon

Sunday Oct. 11 bye week

Sunday Oct. 18 at Atlanta 7:15p

Sunday Oct. 25 at Cincinnati Noon

Sunday Nov. 1 vs CLEVELAND Noon

Sunday Nov. 8 vs ARIZONA Noon

Thursday Nov. 12 at San Francisco 7:15p

Sunday Nov. 22 PHILADELPHIA 7:15p

Sunday Nov. 29 at Minnesota Noon

Sunday Dec. 6 vs ST. LOUIS Noon

Sunday Dec. 13 vs Green Bay Noon

Sunday Dec. 20 at Baltimore Noon

Monday Dec. 28 vs MINNESOTA 7:30p

Sunday Jan. 3 at Detroit Noon


This reminds me of the year I was living in upstate New York and was able to watch so many of the games each weekend because of the regional telecasts involving the AFC East. This year, they take on the mighty AFC North which means, combined with Sunday night and Thursday night telecasts, we are guaranteed to see six of the first 10 games at home. I don't how Jillian's will fare without us... And if the Bears are winning with Jay Cutler, we could do more in the final six games than just the Monday nighter against the Vikings. Plus we'll get the Cleveland preseason game, for sure. Maybe Buffalo.

So, the schedule looks fun and very accessible – to us! All Bears fans will rejoice when we destroy Green Bay right off the back and then face down the Super Bowl champs, on the way to Mike Singletary's Youngstown-owned 49'ers! I get bragging rights against the Browns twice, which is awesome. Plus, it's a season chock full of classic reunions: We get to visit our old buddy Kyle Orton in Denver, Cedric Benson in Cincinnati (if he avoids felonies through week No. 7)) and Rex Grossman in Detroit (that's just a guess).

I can't wait!

More later,

Mark

Time Flies! The Brady House One Year Later!

HOME, SWEET HOME!

It was just a year ago today when we moved into our new home in Boardman, Ohio.

Remember? Click here:

One Year Ago Today

It is astounding how fast the past 365 days have flown by. In that time, we re-established the Rat Pack Tiki Bar (in full plasma glory), re-established the Bears room and the Elvis bedroom, repainted the master bedroom, overhauled two bathrooms, established a yoga studio for Mary, cut down 11 trees, added a patio, added a flower bed and are currently creating the our own lounge, The Orbit Room.

That's actually a scary list...

The division of labor has been fair: Mary decided whether she could do the project or whether we had to contract out for the work; I wrote the checks. And mowed.

Frankly, without Mary's ingenuity and great design skills, the fine Brady Bunch House would not be as cool. But we just love this house! And as soon as The Orbit Room is done, we plan to do us some entertaining! If you happen to pass through Northeast Ohio (Hey! It happens!) stop by for a visit and a complimentary glass of Tiki Punch!

More later,

Mark

Jon Stewart Agrees!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Baracknophobia - Obey
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

On Monday, I shook my fist at partisan far-right nut jobs who show no shame in their attacks on President Barack Obama. On Tuesday night, "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart did it much better...

"I think you might be confusing 'tyranny' with 'losing.'" Classic!

More later,

Mark

Our Political Discourse Has Gone to Hell (So Let Me Go With It)

Our country no longer has statesmen.

None. Zero. Nada.

We have a political divide that is repugnant at all levels. We have a two-party system in which both parties are merely consumed with besting each other to the other's peril. Neither truly party cares, in large part, for the electorate which they seemingly view as a necessary evil; mere simpletons who can be manipulated in any given direction on any given day.

Conservatives right now are the focus of my angst (although I can just as easily call out the liberal extremists). President Obama has had what? Seventy days in office? And he hasn't completely done everything he's promises despite the fact that he's had a whole 70 days?

I listened to Rush Limbaugh equate George W. Bush's entire eight years the other day to Obama's first two months and thought to myself "There are people out there who will not question comparing accomplishments in 96 months to two. They will think Rush has a point here."

The reality: Limbaugh is a an infantile hack who panders to under-educated individuals' most base emotions. I have to actually shut down brain cells whenever I listen to him.

Just tonight listened to another conservative claim that when President Obama gave a short ceremonial bow to Saudi Arabian King Abdullah, he capitulated to Islam on behalf of the United States. The bow looked like this:


OBAMA BOW

Now, of course this is crazy. But that hasn't stopped conservative talkers from preaching their stupidity to their faithful. However, this might just prove that maybe the political parties are right. Maybe the electorate really is made up of mere simpletons who can be manipulated in any given direction on any given day.

Why do I say this? Remember that guy who was president right before Obama?

Here are some reminders showing him...


KISSING ARABS...


...HOLDING HANDS WITH ARABS...


...BOWING TO A FOREIGN POWER...


...PRANCING WITH PUTIN.

Apparently, conservatives are hoping that everyone has forgotten Bush's foreign dalliances. DAMN THOSE CAMERAS!

Can they really be concerned that President Obama won't be the dignified leader that Bush was?

The fact is, in pursuit of diplomacy, our foreign leaders have always acted in deference when traveling abroad (or hosting members of the Saudi royal family over for sleep overs). To try to attack President Obama is just more of the same old anti-muslim, religion-baiting that appeals to, frankly, the not-so-bright with short memories who only seem to remember what Rush Limbaugh told them yesterday.

Hence I publish this as a public service.

More later,

Mark

Jay Cutler Speaks!

Reality has begun to set in: Good ol' No. 6 Jay Cutler is in the house!

Man, I could not be more pumped! Enjoy this video from Jay's first day at Halas Hall.



More later,


Mark

Jay Cutler? This BETTER Not be a Late April Fool's Day Joke!

What?

The Bears signed Denver Broncos QB Jay Cutler?

What?

The Bears signed St. Louis Rams left tackle Orlando Pace?

Bears? Signing? Top? Free agents? I've never before had to compose a sentence including those specific words...

By the way: Jerry Angelo? A Youngstown, Ohio guy. Just saying...

Now, what do we know about this Cutler guy? Perhaps this five-minute interview conducted by a self-important jabbering moron and his lesser-talented sidekick will shed some light:



OK, after reviewing that, I guess "self-important jabbering moron and his lesser-talented sidekick" was a bit rough. Let's try: That was like watching Albert Einstein getting interviewed by Jim Varney and his new best friend, Mr. Obvious. "Ernest Gets Over His Head While Sniffing Jocks."

As for Pace, check out his Ohio State Buckeyes highlight reel:



To be honest, I felt a little bad hounding Rex Grossman out of town. But it had to be done. And, since I now live near the Amish, I'll miss Kyle Orton's beard, too. But the Cutler/Pace/Forte/Hester/Olson era has arrived and I, for one, cannot wait.

In other football news, the Mahoning Valley Thunder kicked off it's 2009 af2 season with a 44-34 thriller last Friday night at the Chevrolet Centre. Saturday night, they take on the Milwaukee Iron.

We'll be there to jeer Old Milwaukee and cheer on the Thunder! In weeks to come, we'll tussle with Tulsa, grunt out Green Bay and pile on Peoria.

More later,

Mark

A Sturm Warning

Someday, you'll read a book by me that exposes the ineptitude of clueless newspaper leadership evidenced in recent years in such groups as the Newspaper Association of America. Until then, enjoy this video as Stephen Colbert plucks the wings off of NAA gas bag John Sturm from Tuesday's "Colbert Report."

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Better Know a Lobby - Newspaper Lobby
comedycentral.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor NASA Name Contest

More later,


Mark

On The Move Again!

Yes, the news today is as incredible as it is startling: The Sweetwoods are on the move again!

The newspaper industry is an ever-changing beast and here's what I've learned: If you don't stay one step ahead of the beast, it will devour you. Just ask those poor folks in Seattle and Denver and Ann Arbor and Crystal Lake*.

Well, no more for us. I love the noble newspaper and I will always cherish the way it covered me and anything I held dear every morning in ink, but a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. And this man is a newspaperman no more.

Starting in May, I will be executive director of the Lyndon B. Johnson Library in Austin, Texas.

Yeah, that's a big leap. But after serious reflection, I decided that newspapers may die, but history lives forever. And the fine folks at the wonderful Johnson library made me a Texas-sized offer I could not refuse.


PRESIDENT JOHNSON

There's irony in that the president who once observed "The fact that a man is a newspaper reporter is evidence of some flaw of character" now has a old newspaper editor as head of his library. He famously clashed with the Washington press corps, but also installed the three-TV set up in the White House so he could simultaneously monitor the ABC, NBC and CBS evening newscasts. Elvis Presley copied that idea for his basement rec room.

The president is also credited with one of the all-time best newspaper quotes: "If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read: PRESIDENT CAN'T SWIM."

Despite Mary's long-held contention that "God hates Texas," we've already made several secret trips to scout houses and we will not live anywhere near the Bushes (Mary also stipulated that).

Here's how I won the Texas debate:

• Austin was selected as the No. 2 Best Big City in "Best Places to Live" by Money magazine in 2006.
• The average temperature in January is 60 degrees.
• If we could go from Gators to Buckeyes,we could go from Buckeyes to Longhorns.

We love Ohio (like we loved Florida and, before that, Illinois, and, before that, New York) and all of the people here (like we loved all of the Florida people and, before that, all of the Illinois people and, before that, all of the New York people). But how could I pass up the opportunity to blend my love of history, my fascination with the 1960s and my intense hatred of winter?

So, in 30 days we are Austin-bound. Yah-Hoooo!

More later,

Mark

P.S. OK, April Fools. We love Ohio and The Vindicator!

* Referring to the former Crystal Lake Times newspaper which died in 2000.

An open letter to Major League Baseball Players

Many of you have spent years on steroids. Confronted, you've taken many different, interesting tracks.



• Stars like Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez denied taking steroids then denied that they knew exactly what that stuff was that was being injected into their bodies.
• Stars like Sammy Sosa suddenly forgot English and became the embodiment of Chico Escuela.
• Mark McGwire just sobbed and denied reality like the little girl he now resembles because of his lack of testicles.

Me? I'm coming clean. I spent a week on steroids. And I am here to say that anyone who is on steroids KNOWS he is on steroids.

So, on top of being cheaters, these men are liars.

The doc prescribed prednisone as an anti-inflammatory when I came in with a bad case of bronchitis. I also got the Z-Pak and the delicious codeine-laced cough syrup...

Mmmmmm... Codeine...

Anyway, within days, I began to feel the effects:

• Fatigue
• Blurred vision
• Acne
• Sleeplessness
• Night sweats
• Restlessness
• Increased urination
• Bizarre appetite fetishes

That was just the beginning.

By the end of the week, my gonads had shrunk to the size of mere grapefruits...

I forgot to mention, this blog is rated R because it might contain "adult themes, adult activity, hard language, intense or persistent violence, sexually-oriented nudity, drug abuse or other elements."

The prescription ended Thursday. By Saturday, I still had acne and new symptoms, these brought on by prednisone withdrawal, including fatigue, headaches and a smaller hat size.

Sure, I killed at the batting cage. But all in all, this was not a pleasant experience. Bronchitis sucks enough but when you add night sweats, it's downright miserable.

So, Major League Baseball stars, come clean. Whether you hide behind lies or some 21st Century masking agent, you can't hide from yourself. You know darned well that when you start sweating profusely at night even when you are all alone, get more zits than Jessica Simpson at a french-fry eating contest or suddenly fit into a youth-sized cup again, that steroids are to blame.

More later,

Mark

Extra! Extra! Pavlik Wins!

I mentioned Sunday that we had special "Pavlik Wins" copies of our Chevrolet Centre Edition of The Vindicator at ringside minutes after Kelly Pavlik retained his middleweight title Saturday night.

Now, as I have explained, I didn't see the fight due to many circumstances beyond my control, but thanks to someone who aimed a camera at the PPV and then posted the video on YouTube.com, I was able to see the fruits of some of our labor.

Now we had dummies printed on Friday that looked like the Chevy Centre Edition but did not contain the actual story (since we are not psychics). Editor Todd Franko guarded these in the press box. When the fight ended, he hustled the dummy copies to a guard to get them into the ring, whetting the appetite of the crowd who would want the actual special edition newspapers from hawkers downtown within a half-hour of the fight.

That was the plan, anyway.

Well, some folks had glimpsed the newspapers at the end of the PPV, and now, thanks to the aforementioned YouTube.com pirate, here is what they looked like:


THE CROWD GOES WILD!


A CLOSE UP OF THE PAPER.


LOOK BEHIND KELLY'S HEAD.

That is pretty cool.

More later,


Mark

I Just Wanted to Watch the Fight

So, I've spent the past couple of weeks working with others to marshal an aggressive plan for the coverage of the Kelly Pavlik-Marco Antonio Rubio fight.

The background: The middleweight champion of the world, Kelly Pavlik, is a Youngstown, Ohio guy. A couple of years ago, he pulled himself off of the canvas to earn the right to be called champ.

It looked like this:



Last fall, Pavlik lost a non-title match to Bernard Hopkins. Knowing the champ needed a rebound, Top Rank Chairman Bob Arum decided to stage Kelly's next fight in his hometown, in the relatively new Chevrolet Centre.

This would be the first championship fight in the former steel town's colorful history and quite a boost to the local economy. For months, The Vindicator staff planned coverage that included:

• Daily newspaper coverage throughout fight week.
• An ambitious plan for Vindy.com featuring everything from voting on ring card girls to picking a national anthem singer to live round-by-round scoring during the fight (along with video, etc.).
• And, since our production facility was a few blocks from the venue, a "Chevy Centre Edition" for sale to those departing the fight and partying downtown within minutes of the end of the fight.

Hence, the days have been long, the headaches many and the stakes were high.

Now, I knew almost from the beginning that my place would be on the newsroom floor, hence putting the staff's biggest boxing fan in the one building downtown blocks from the arena that would NOT have a feed to the fight (to get the feed, our company would have had to pay a commercial rate based on fire marshal occupancy that would have been exorbitant).

Not to be a victim, I hatched a plan. A few months ago I grabbed a Slingbox off of Woot.com that I had never found time to install. What is a Slingbox? It is a device that sends your home cable feed to your home computer, even when you are far away.

Read about it here:

SlingMedia.com

So, I ordered the PPV Saturday and even was careful to record it, too, on the DVR. I hooked up the Slingbox and within an hour, I could watch the Rat Pack Tiki Bar TV's cable feed from anywhere in the home on my computer.

Just to prove my technical prowess, I made a screen grab of a current show on one of the HBO channels here:



So, I grabbed my laptop and headed to work Saturday afternoon. I was pretty full of myself, until I discovered a problem: The newspaper's firewall was blocking the feed.

The systems people confirmed this. I was frustrated, but resolved myself to watch the fight after work.

The evening saw a culmination of good people executing good plans, both for Team Pavlik and for Team Vindicator. Kelly won when Rubio's corner stopped it after nine grueling rounds. We had dummy copies (printed a day earlier) of the "Chevy Centre Edition" at ringside as the fight ended to whet the audience's appetite for post-fight hawking and we hit deadlines for both editions.

Our regular edition looked like this Sunday morning:



Our Web site is chock full of stuff:

Vindy.com

I got home a little before 2 a.m. Mary was still up: She actually gave me round-by-round byplay so i knew where things were heading throughout the fight. I sat down with a large, cold beer and decided to watch Kelly pummel Rubio. Flicking on the DVR, I was met with an error message.

Of the three DVRs, we've never recorded on this one. Hence, we would not have known that it had a problem. Alas, once again, i was being prevented from watching this fight.

I could have cried, but didn't. "My Cousin Vinny" was on, after all.

It was a fight night, I'd never forget, even if the only actual fight I got to see was Vinny wrestling Ms. Mona Lisa Vito back into the courtroom...

More later,


Mark

One Crazy Day!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

More later,

Mark

Happy Valentine's Day!

Well, I had to go to work. Then, Mary had to go to work. So we are planning a late night feast of champagne and filets. Above, Mary is displaying her lovely flowers that arrived from the fine folks at 1800flowers.com.

In these days of economic strife, i don't mind bragging about my renowned shopping prowess, even on such a revered holiday. The bouquet, delivered, $4.94.

Finally, I live in an age in which my bargain-hunting can now be a source of pride!

Sorry for the lack of updates, lately. It's been busy and I had to shake off a bad cold. Consider this my valentine to you!

Cost: Nothing! Genius!

More later,


Mark

I'm Just Saying...

Has It Been Eight Years Already?

I was struck and sometimes moved by the peaceful, joyous transfer of power witnessed today.

I was at my desk both watching the live CNN broadcast and talking by phone to John Goodwin and Bill Lewis from our staff who got on a bus at midnight to travel the "Trip of a Lifetime" with a church group traveling to our nation's capital to witness history.

And as the editors worked our plan to bring the inauguration home both in print on with continuous live updates on our Web site, every so often I'd take a moment to catch the festivities. And as I saw President Obama and his wife walking joyously down the parade route to the White House and listened to the cheers of happy Americans, my mind wandered back eight years.

Was the same parade route taken by President Bush 11 weeks after the controversial 2000 election really as much of a contrast as I recalled?

A quick google tonight found a treasure trove of bad memories and the news guy in me spent a few moments reliving the beginning of the last awful eight years. I don't know whether they were made awful by President Bush or by happenstance, but the point is they started out bad and never really recovered, save for a few weeks of unity following the worst terrorist attack on our nation (and if those are the good ol' days, I've made my point).

The Iraq War? The stock market? The Bill of Rights? Haliburton? The treatment of our vets? Jobs? The environment? New Orleans?

Feeling good about any of these topics?

So, following my daily admonishment stolen from George Santayana and/or Winston Churchill that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it, here are a few quick snippets from this day eight years ago.

Look how far we've come.

God bless, America!









More later,


Mark

Watch It Again

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Sad Breaking News from the Associated Press...

BOB MAY, CENTER, HAS DIED

This was just e-mailed to me:

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Bob May, who donned The Robot's suit in the hit 1960s television show "Lost in Space," has died. He was 69.

May died Sunday of congestive heart failure at a hospital in Lancaster, said his daughter, Deborah May.

He was a veteran actor and stuntman who had appeared in movies, TV shows and on the vaudeville stage when he was tapped by "Lost in Space" creator Irwin Allen to play the Robinson family's loyal metal sidekick in the series that debuted in 1965.

"He always said he got the job because he fit in the robot suit," said June Lockhart, who played family matriarch Maureen Robinson. "It was one of those wonderful Hollywood stories. He just happened to be on the studio lot when someone saw him and sent him to see Irwin Allen about the part. Allen said, 'If you can fit in the suit, you've got the job.'"

Although May didn't provide the robot's distinctive voice (that was done by announcer Dick Tufeld), he developed a following of fans who sought him out at memorabilia shows.

"Lost in Space" was a space-age retelling of "The Swiss Family Robinson" story in which professor John Robinson, his wife and their children were on a space mission when their craft was knocked hopelessly off course by the evil Dr. Zachary Smith, who became trapped in space with them.

May's robot was the Robinson family's loyal sidekick, warning them of approaching disaster at every turn. His line to one of the children, "Danger, Will Robinson," became a national catch phrase.

OK, technically, that's NOT Bob May in the middle of that picture with Brad and me from the Screaming Tiki Con this past October. But it IS the The Robot, or a good facsimile of The Robot. And I did try to find the "Danger! Danger!" thing online, but this is the best I could do:



More later,

Mark

Winter Wonderland

Well, we finally got a real blast of winter here in northeast Ohio. By the time this is done in the wee hours, we might have upwards of 10 inches on the ground.

I posted these images for all of our friends down in Florida...


A SHORT TIME AFTER I SHOVELED A PATH TO THE FRONT DOOR, IT PRETTY MUCH FILLED BACK IN IMMEDIATELY. IT WAS SNOWING AT THE RATE OF ABOUT AN INCH AN HOUR AT THIS POINT.


I STARTED TO SHOVEL THE DRIVEWAY AND A COUPLE OF NEIGHBORS CAME BY WITH SNOW BLOWERS TO MAKE QUICK WORK OF IT. IT IS A LOT LIKE LIVING WITH THE AMISH. PEOPLE HERE ARE VERY HELPFUL. WE HAVE AN AWESOME NEIGHBORHOOD.


HERE'S THE BACKYARD WITH A RARE VIEW OF THE BACK NEIGHBORS 300 FEET AWAY. WITH THE LEAVES DOWN AND AFTER THE 11 TREES WE REMOVED, IT LOOKS A LITTLE BARREN.


More later,

Mark

Remember 2008? Here's A Reminder...

We did not mail out Christmas cards this year. Had we done so, I would have been obligated to share a note about the past year, mostly to answer the question: "Whatever happened to the Sweetwoods?"

Well...

The year fondly recalled as "2008" started out great as Mary and I partied our way into the new year at Old Town In Kissimmee, Fl. We were still Florida residents at that point.



That seems like so long ago...

Within a few days I had made a clandestine trip to Youngstown, Ohio to interview for the managing editor's job. And a week after that, my grandma, Ann Kuglich, passed away and back north we trekked as the family gathered for the funeral.

Counting the November 2007 birthday parties of my sister Karen and friend Brad, I had flown north three times in a couple of months. I think fate was telling me something ...

Also in January, we attended wrestling in Melbourne and my iconic picture of the Honky Tonk Man getting his throat stepped on is soon one of the most googled images of the Honky Tonk Man on the Internet.



Check it for yourself:

Google Honky Tonk Man

February made me shiver, with every newspaper I edited to be delivered. Mostly, what made me shiver was the prospect of leaving the warmth of Florida to return north to accept a job offer in Ohio. In February. Timing is everything in life.

I made the announcement right here on Feb. 6:

The Sweetwoods Head to the Land of Thurber

On on Feb. 22, I left Mary to finish packing the condo and loaded up the Kia Sportage to head north. My first day of work was Feb. 25, which was also my birthday...

March featured mostly me getting accustomed to new surroundings, searching for a new place to live and fighting with the Resident Inn's horrible Internet company. I flew back late in the month to help finish packing and after the movers left the Florida condo, we headed north, this time in the Chevy Cavalier with two cats, Louie and Clyde, in the backseat.

April saw us moving into our new home, affectionately known as the Sweetwood's Brady Bunch home.



In May, we continued to get used to our new surroundings and my parents visited My Dad took this great shot at Mill Creek Park:



And I was THISCLOSE to middleweight champsion Kelly "The Ghost" Pavlik:



Looking back, June was hectic. Work continued and we spent some time playing in our new surroundings (and kept up on home projects). We saw the Cleveland Indians play, became regulars for the Mahoning Valley Thunder arena football team and my niece Angela and her husband Fred welcomed young Kaleb into the world.



July was a busy month, too. Mary's Mom visited...



... and we staged a backyard fireworks spectacular for the Fourth of July.

We hit Cleveland again and took in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and another Indians game (they always won when we went, by the way). The month ended as we learned how South Shore Drive got it's name: There used to be a small lake where the backyard is and if you get like six inches of rain in an hour, this will happen...



August was a blur of activity mostly punctuated by our ill-fated vacation to Florida which coincided with the travel plans of Tropical Storm/Hurricane/Tropical Storm Fay. This lead to one of the most popular months ever on Mark's World as we provided full coverage including one memorable, spittle-filled video:

Mark Takes On More Hot Air

But we got to see old friends and make new ones, especially during The Great Tropical Storm Fay Bar Rebellion. As the month ended, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and their wives stopped by for breakfast at the Yankee Kitchen Family restaurant about a mile from our home. Ohio actually got tired of all of the presidential candidates by the end of the campaign. We still can't get Joe Biden out of our house.

The election is over, Joe! Please leave! No, we don't want you to do the dishes again! Yes, we agree, Sarah Palin is a nutjob! You already got our votes! Leave! Sheesh...

Anyway, September saw us all filled with hope at the prospects of a great Chicago Bears season. How sad...

It was a busy month that saw everything from a massive windstorm caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ike, of all things, and the new addition to our family, Sammy!



Mark's World set all new records for site traffic in October when brother Eric and friend Brad arrived for Bat Week which saw us attend the Screaming Tiki Comic and Pop Culture Convention in nearby Niles. Mary's photos were fantastic:







November saw the election finally come to an end (OK, Joe? It's over!!) and also saw me call for Rex Grossman to leave the Bears. I even started a site (click the image below):



My sister turned 51 (!) and Mary and I drove to Ottawa for a pre-Thanksgiving visit that also saw my parents fly up from Florida. We finally got to meet Kaleb in person!





It struck us that we can be anyplace we want pretty easily from here. The Pittsburgh airport is less than an hour away and we can hit Illinois in a matter of hours. In fact, Chicago will host the Browns next year and Soldier Field is five hours away ...

Mary's Mom Grace came to visit for Thanksgiving and she helped me decorate the house:



Sammy continued to grow as December came around ...



... and my parents showed up for an early Christmas!



However, tragedy struck once again when, on Christmas morning, I dumped the contents of my Christmas cranberry juice into my laptop. But, like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, after drying out for a little more than a week, it's as good as ever!

In fact, I am using it right now to both thank you visiting Mark's World in the past year and to wish nothing but the best to you and everyone you care about in 2009.

More later,


Mark

I Just Can't Help Myself

My Mom is a big Peyton fan. And Kathy Oliveira just sent me an e-mail touting the end of the Bears season. So, I dedicate this to two influential women in my life...

More later,


Mark