A Very Mary Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house, not a creature was stirring...



...except for Sammy who had antlers thrust on his head.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care....



...if you consider "care" some wire wrapped around bricks.

The red stockings were a gift from my sister Karen, by the way.

So many gifts had found their way under the tree...



... that instead of just two people...



... it appeared there were presents for 33!

Many of the packages contained outfits for Mary...



... like this...



... like this...



... and this...



Making it a Very Mary Christmas for one and for all a good night!

More later,


Mark

Looking A Lot Like Christmas

My parents and Mary's Mom, Grace, enjoyed (we hope!) an early holiday this past weekend at our home.

As you can see above, Dad read by the glow of our vintage 1965 Sears Roebuck and Co. seven-foot aluminum tree. Don't believe it glows? Check it out:



Wow! You probably now need sunglasses to continue to look at your computer screen! What makes it glow so? About 800 lights and a multitude of kitschy ornaments from our wacky, yet beloved, collection. Like these:



My parents basked in our tree's awesomeness:



Now, we have more pictures to share but many of the pictures feature gifts that are similar to gifts that have yet to arrive at other locations, so those pictures will be delayed for a week or so. Needless to say, in the great Sweetwood tradition, drinks were consumed (including champagne), feasts were prepared by Mary and cool gifts were exchanged.

I got this fantastic jacket:



Grace got some cool earrings:



We had a great time! It was terrific enjoying some early holiday cheer with the parents!

More later,


Mark

Of Blago And Jagoffs...

OK, Tuesday would have been a fun day to be editor of an Illinois newspaper, covering the fourth prison-bound governor of the past eight. And here is the way such an obscene story should be covered:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Rod Blagojevich Is a Jagoff

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Not to be outdone, our Tuesday story was the pending homecoming of imprisoned former congressman Jim Traficant:

Jimbo's Coming Home

More later,

Mark

"Hardrock, Coco and Joe"

Hey everyone, the Holiday Movies site is all decked out in its holiday finest and ready for you to check out here:

Holiday Movies

All of your old friends are there waiting for you there including "Hardrock, Coco and Joe," "Suzy Snowflake" and George Bailey and the entire "It's a Wonderful Life" gang.

Enjoy!

More later,

Mark

Happy Birthday, Eric!

It's my brother Eric's 45th birthday today!

Here he is from a couple months ago when he visited us in beautiful Ohio:



That's him hooking up with Batman's Lee Meriwether. We had an awesome weekend together with my great friend Brad Keefauver.

I can hardly believe it was five year's ago that Karen, Bud, Mary and I pulled off his surprise 40th birthday party at Fat Jack's in Bloomington, Ill. An amazing amount of changes have taken place in five years. Yikes.

I am extremely fortunate to have such a terrific brother and a friend like Eric. As we've grown up, we have developed as many similar interests as we have differences (he is finally mature enough to begin to admit that DC sucks and Marvel rules). We still spend a chunk of every Sunday on the phone during Bears games celebrating and/or sympathizing with each other. And we both like our beer.

More importantly, we both like to laugh and appreciate each other's sense of humor whenever we get together.

Have a great day, Eric! Maybe we'll throw you another party at 50!

More later,


Mark

Extra! Extra! Bathroom Renovated!

Mary is almost done with the second bathroom renovation project here at our awesome new Boardman home.

When we first saw the house, it was hard not to be captivated by the basement bathroom. For one, it was a full bathroom and three full bathrooms seemed a bit much (although cool) for two people. Secondly, the wallpaper featured a newspaper motif. Now, even to two old newspaper fiends, this struck us as a bit over-the-top and shortly after we redid the master bathroom, Mary vowed to overhaul the basement bathroom

So, this:


OLD LOOK

Was replaced by this:


NEW LOOK

Mary redid everything from the walls to the ceiling to the floor. I was the chief financier and pounded in floor molding and did the electrical work (Mary even did the plumbing). She did an amazing job!


OLD VANITY AND SINK


NEW LIGHT AND SINK

I am so proud of her I even captured her plumbing:


MARY THE PLUMBER!

Now, I shot the sink area before we added the mirror so that you'd be able to see something other than me taking pictures of a new bathroom. The next project: The Orbit Room!

More later,

Mark

Happy Cyber Monday!

Speaking of Holiday Steals and Deals, here's the site I first developed last year to help shoppers track all of those, uhm, holiday steals and deals:

Holiday Steals and Deals

Enjoy!

More later,


Mark

Memo to Devin Hester:

• Back⋅ward [bak-werd]
–adverb Also, backwards.
1. toward the back or rear.

• For⋅ward [fawr-werd]
–adverb Also, forwards.
1. toward or at a place, point, or time in advance; onward; ahead: to move forward; from this day forward; to look forward.

They are not the same.

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Mark

P.S. Thanks to the fine folks at Dictionary.com for helping me help Devin.

That Darned Sammy!

While watching us watching the Bears watch Gus Frerotte throw a 99-yard pass past Charles "Toasted and Dry Roasted Peanuts" Tillman, Sammy crawled into the last remaining nook and/or cranny that he has yet to explore.

For the record, the hit on Frerotte from behind was just as clean as the hit out of bounds Kyle Orton sustained when he got his ankle sprain. Neither play resulted in a flag...

More later,


Mark

How I Spent The Day After Thanksgiving

With the help of mother-in-law Grace, we transformed our mod house into a cool yule abode.

This year's decorating lessons: I learned how to use a masonry drill bit, how not to buy a wreath at Lowes and how not to throw a fit in Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts because no one thought to put the bows near the wreaths that you were forced to buy because the Lowes wreath was stupid.

Instead of making you imagine how the house will look during a fierce Ohio snow storm, I have taken the liberty to augment the photo below:



More later,

Mark

Turkey Day Steals and Deals!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am busy today helping crafty shoppers prepare for the big Black Friday shopping day tomorrow over at my blog at The Vindicator's web site. You can find it here:

Holiday Steals and Deals

Hope this finds you and yours enjoying a bountiful holiday feast!

More later,


Mark

Go Yearbook Yourself!

Ah, yearbooks...

Those handy reference guides to our most awkward eras.

Someplace in my vast collection of useless stuff, I have all of my old high school, yearbooks. Since the senior one is 30 years old, I don't see any reason to drag it out and get all depressed about wasted youth.

And hair. My long, lost, beautiful hair...

Sigh...

However, one funny Web site is allowing you to take any current picture of yourself or a friend (or enemy) and transform that picture into a very realistic (not to mention scary) yearbook photo from different eras.

Check it out:


ME IN THE 1950'S

I think I would have fit in with Wally and the Beaver.


ME IN 1976

I was a sophomore in high school in 1976 and I think my hair was a lot like this.


ME IN 1978

This was the year I graduated. My hair was not anything like this. It was more like Peter Brady's.


ME IN THE 1990'S

Skip and I were totally yuppies, for sure.

You can find the Web site here:

Yearbook Yourself

Have some fun!

More later,


Mark

Weekend in Ottawa

Our weekend spanned about 900 miles and four generations.

We traveled to visit family in Ottawa, Ill. where I grew up from 1969 until I left for college in 1978 (though I did a stint there after college from 1982 to 1984, too).

My parents had flown in from Florida to visit their great-grandson Kaleb Nimke, the five-month-old son of my niece Angela and her husband Fred. So, my brother Eric and his friend, Jen, came up from Normal, Ill. and Mary and I gave the Kia Sportage a 900-mile workout to join the family.

It was quite the whirl-wind trip: We departed at about 6 p.m. Friday and arrived at our hotel about seven hours later. Saturday we got to meet Kaleb in person and Saturday night my sister Karen and my brother-in-law Bud fed us a delicious ham dinner.

Like all families, we have a lot of fun whenever we get together and we laughed a lot. My sister, who demanded I take down the picture of her in cat-glasses that adorned this site a couple of weeks ago, is such a sweet person, and she always makes me laugh (usually, quite by accident).

It turns out, she still owned those cat-glasses! Though, because of the many, many years that have gone by since her youth, they were crumbling. That made us all laugh even harder.

Kaleb is pure joy. He is a happy little guy and full of smiles and hugs. And we finally got to see Angela and Fred's house that they are refurbishing. It is an amazing project and just as impressive as the sweat equity are the many wonderful pictures of both Kaleb and his older brother, Hunter throughout their home.

We got up early Sunday morning and shot back across Illinois, Indiana and Ohio to arrive at Jillian's in just five hours and 50 minutes. We missed just a bit of the first quarter of the Bears-Packers game, although it would have been fine if we had missed the whole thing, as it turned out.

Anyway, here are some pictures from our great weekend:


HERE ARE ANGELA, FRED AND KALEB.


THE ENTIRE GANG, SANS MARY THE PHOTOGRAPHER, GET READY TO DEVOUR HAM.


ANGELA AND KAELB...


...GREAT UNCLE MARK AND KALEB...


...GREAT-GRANDMA AND KALEB...


...GREAT GRANDPA AND KAELB...


...GREAT UNCLE ERIC AND KALEB...


...KAREN AND KALEB...


...MARK, MARY AND KALEB.

As it turned out, we took a lot of photos of Kaleb... It was a fun-but-exhausting weekend!

More later,


Mark

Goodbye Rex!

Yes, I have finally been driven over the edge.

Click on the logo below.



Please visit and add your comments.

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Mark

Holy Bat-Traffic, Batman!

Watch batman clip2 in Entertainment Videos  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

One more clip from Batman as my way to boast that between The Adam West/Batman event and politics, Mark's World has never had more visitors!

Plus, those old WWF(E) wrestlers are apparently on a world tour and every time someone googles "Honky Tonk Man" in Germany or China, they are showing up here to view the pics shot by yours truly.

October was a record month and the first week in November was equally impressive.

Thanks for stopping by! And a special shout out to those who return!

More later,


Mark

Maybe Sarah was Right? You Betcha!

Well, those crazy, liberal hacks at Fox News wasted no time in unleashing another partisan attack on their favorite punching bag: Sarah Palin:



Sheesh...

More later,


Mark

How Election Night Looked

Editor Todd Franko used one of our nifty video cams to capture Election Night '08 behind the scenes in The Vindicator newsroom. Here's what it kinda looked like...



Our talented Designer Dan edited the video down to about six minutes (which still contains way too much of me). In watching it, I was struck once again by how many smart people work at the Vindy. A lot of talented people contribute to the print and online news efforts.

More later,


Mark

Thanks, But No Thanks...

... to your offer to help bring credibility to journalists. Perhaps you should begin bringing credibility to politicians with a zeal for designer clothes.

This does make me laugh, however...



Please, Sarah, understand that you only served as a 60-odd-day joke that began "Two old miserable, conservatives named Limbaugh and Dobson walked into John McCain's campaign and warned him that if he picked Lieberman, Pawlenty or Ridge as his running mate there would be a floor fight at the Republican convention and that fracas would extend deep into the election season and end with conservatives staying home on election day..."

Ba-dum-bah.

Now, go back to Alaska and let us never hear from you again...

More later,


Mark

'Change Has Come'

It was an exciting night in the newsroom as U.S. Sen. Barack Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States.

The Vindicator team was busy on both Web and print fronts and the results of our ambitious plan were pretty amazing. The night for the editors ended when we set and e-mailed the news assignments for the Wednesday day shift at about 2 a.m.

I went home, got caught up on some TV coverage, had a beer and am about to go to bed.

Check out our lead story here:

Change has come

Our election page with our moment-by-moment ticker of the race in Ohio is here:

www.Vindy.com

More later (maybe a lot later),


Mark

VOTE!!!

Finally: Election Day!

I am going in to work at about noon and I told Mary that I had no idea when on Wednesday morning I'd be home. The Vindicator has an ambitious game plan for print and Web featuring a couple of late press runs and video stand ups in the newsroom on top of the typical election fare. If you want to know how Ohio is going, check out:

WWW.VINDY.COM

Meanwhile, I do have some early election results for the great state of Ohio:



As you can see, it is too early to call...

Mary and I voted a couple of weeks ago. After hearing there could be problems for new voters in Ohio, we decided it was best to vote early. I'd rather try and resolve any issues 10-days out then on Election Day. As it turns out, it was a breeze.

So, regardless of how you vote today, just get out there and demonstrate that democracy works and vote!

More later,


Mark

Some Ads Just Confuse Me...

I am sure John McCain knows what he's doing, but this ad seems very odd...

Make your own Attack Ad

More later,

Mark

Today is Her Birthday!

If you see Karen Roth in the next day or two, ask her: What is 51 minus 48?

Three!

My three-year older sister hit the big 5-1 Sunday and she doesn't look at day over ... well, YOU be the judge:



It hardly seems like it was an entire year ago that we all conspired to surprise her as she celebrated her 50th birthday. This year, for her 51st, she celebrated it quietly with her daughter, Angela and the new grandbaby, Kaleb. It was not as grandiose as a year ago, but something tells me she enjoyed it just as much...

Me? I still remember her as a mixed up kid back in Kankakee, Ill.

Happy Birthday, Karen!

More later,

Mark

The Youngstown Effect

Shameless plug: The Vindicator gives readers a taste today of how other media has portrayed the importance of Youngstown area voters in terms of the Campaign Trail '08 and you can find it right here:

The Youngstown Effect

It's been a wild ride and it is kind of hard to process that it will all soon be over...

First, of course, we must survive election night and a very ambitious print/Web project...

More later,


Mark

The Latest Endorsement

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Mark

BOO!

Happy Halloween!

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Mark

Jon Stewart on 'Going Rogue'

A long clip from Wednesday's "The Daily Show" features the insipid "Joe the Plumber" and the his views on international affairs that will make you, at first, laugh, and then, tremble with fear that the McCain-Palin campaign has put such a dimwit on the campaign trail. Joe's views on Barack Obama are so incredibly wrong-headed that Fox News is forced to come to Obama's defense.



Fresh from his late-night appearance with Obama in Kissimmee, Bill Clinton hits town today for a campaign appearance. And our staff will provide pool coverage for John McCain's Youngstown appearance on "Good Morning America" Friday.

More later,

Mark

The Socialist Running For President

On Tuesday, Stephen Colbert interviewed Brian Moore, the Socialist Party candidate for president who, it turns out, does not back that "capitalist" Barack Obama. Shocking news (for the McCain campaign)!

Meanwhile in Youngstown, Ohio, the frenzy is getting whipped up as we hit the homestretch in Election '08. Tonight is the "Rock the Vote" concert featuring the Beastie Boys and Sheryl Crow and others at the Chevy Centre. Bill Clinton is here Thursday and John McCain will be live on Good Morning America a couple of blocks from The Vindicator office downtown Friday.

We know there will be more candidates and surrogates before Tuesday.

More later,


Mark

What You Get When You Combine Election Week and Halloween

Well, it's a little dated (might be from last Halloween) but I hope you at least find the casting inspired in today's video

It's another ditty from the fine folks at Jib Jab who allow users to put various people's real heads into comical creations. For me, it's a perfect opportunity for all kinds of mischief...

Hence, this is my attempt to combine Election Week with Halloween, two of my most favorite times of the year...

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

More later,


Mark

A Simple Message

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

I think it'll be kinda political around here for the next week or so...

More later,


Mark

Sammy's Growing!

We took advantage of the Bears bye week to tear out a toilet and take new pictures of Sammy. He seems to grow a couple of inches every day and he's already learned to beg for treats like his brothers/mentors Louie and Clyde. He's into EVERYTHING which makes it kinda fun ... for Mary.

Above, he's modeling for us in preparation for one of his many, famous, long naps. Below, we caught him in midst of one of his famous, long naps clutching one of his favorite toys.



That toy mouse has seen a lot of the house as Sammy carries him from room to room. Usually, he piles all of his toys on our bed, for reasons we cannot comprehend.

The other night he was upstairs with us in the bedroom when he decided he needed to use the litter box. So, he grabbed his mouse, ran downstairs, did whatever he had to do and then came back, still clutching the mouse. We presumed he had put the mouse down to use the litter box because to imagine anything else made us feel yucky.

More later,


Mark

Opie, Richie are Pro-Obama

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

Regardless of the politics, it's kind of fun watching Ron Howard dig deep into his acting roots to pull off reprisals of his "The Andy Griffith Show" and "Happy Days" roles. Of course he needed the help of Andy Griffith and Henry "The Fonz" Winkler. And both he and the Fonz needed the help of some wigs and makeup (although ol' Ang seems pretty au natural).

So, if you wanna catch up with Opie Taylor and Richie Cunningham, click above...

More later,


Mark

All-New Celebrity Wall of Fame

With all of the autographs we scored this weekend, we've augmented the old Celebrity Wall of Fame from the old Illinois Rat Pack Bar with cool new folks for a soon-to-be unveiled project.

Looking from left to right, from the top to the bottom, here's who is now featured for permanent display:

• Adam West and Yvonne Craig
• Yvonne Craig
• Burt Ward
• Julie Newmar (in color)
• Julie Newmar (in black and white)
• Lee Meriwether
• Malachi Throne
• Noel Neill
• Robert Vaughn
• June Lockhart
• Don Adams
• Rose Marie (to block)
• Steve Allen
• Dawn Wells
• Alan Young and Connie Hines

On hiatus are Jim Nabors, Robert Stack, Harry Morgan, Donna Douglass and Pat Priest.

More later,

Mark

One More Bat-Related Video

Here's Adam "Batman" West discussing his role among 1960s icons during the Adam West Banquet which kicked off the Screaming Tiki Comic and Pop Culture Convention last weekend.

Of course, sadly, I missed shooting his "live" rendition of "The Adam West Song." Holy Amateur Videographer!

More later,

Mark

Screaming Tiki Hits YouTube!

I found a couple of fan videos from this past weekend's Screaming Tiki Comic and Pop Culture Convention on YouTube.Com. Above, a group of Batmen pose for a picture with Catwoman. Below, the Batcopter takes off!

Enjoy!



More later,

Mark

For My Sister

ERIC AND MARK!

My sister Karen writes "I was really hoping for a photo of my 2 brothers reliving the good old days with bath towel capes safety-pinned around their necks!"

Well, here is the next best thing: Eric and I hanging out in the Rat Pack Tiki Bar after the Screaming Tiki event with our Bat-shirts on enjoying Bat-Tiki Punch.

More later,

Mark

One Great Bat-Time!

Yes, that's me and Yvonne "Batgirl" Craig, during one of the many memorable moments from this weekend's Screaming Tiki Comic and Pop Culture Convention in nearby Niles, Ohio at the Eastwood Expo Center.

I am going to really let my geek flag fly today. This was my first-ever con (a fact that amazes long-time friend Brad who still maintains that I have done much weirder things) and I was literally a kid in a celebrity candy shop all day Saturday.

Some observations:

• Julie Newmar is wild! I could not tell whether she was in character or just a character in general. Unlike the other stars, she sat on her table and beckoned fans over. She even dared them. Here's the original Catwoman with Eric and me.


PURR-FECTLY PHOTOGENIC.

• Brad and I got to sit in the perfect recreation of the TV Batmobile. For $20, we also got a nice 8-by-10 of the moment that we pretended to drive the streets of Gotham City in search of evil-doers.


ATOMIC BATTERIES TO POWER! TURBINES TO SPEED!

• Adam West is funny and polite and accessible, which means he is everything that his manager Fred is not. Fred was the one person at the con who seemed to rub absolutely everyone the wrong way. Fans told me of how he interrupted conversations, of how he was rude to those taking pictures (including The Vindicator photographer), of his general kill-joy nature in general. But I will still always cherish the fun times with Adam.


WILD, WILD WEST

• The biggest bargain at the con was at Tiny Titans booth where genius artist Art Balthazar would do a drawing of you as any superhero for $1! He did me as the Incredible Mark Hulk, Eric as Batman and Brad as Kid Flash.


MARK SMASH!

Here are some other images from the day (many shot by Mary who, oddly, was not photographed at the event).


DANGER! DANGER! BRAD AND MARK MEET THE ROBOT!


BRAD MEETS MALACHI "FALSE FACE" THRONE ... OR DOES HE?


BRAD MEETS YVONNE "MARTA" CRAIG ... SECURING A STAR TREK AUTOGRAPH FOR HIS WIFE KATHY


ADAM TRIES TO KEEP UP WITH JULIE DURING A PANEL DISCUSSION

Actually, I have a snippet of video from the panel. Here, Julie has just complimented Adam as the best Batman ever and he returns the compliment...



More later,


Mark