I suppose I should blog one more time before Christmas

Not too much going on here. The Sincoff family is preparing for its' trek to Grandma's house in Pennsylvania. Should be fun to see my mother-in-law, and Vicki's side of the family for a few. It's a total "Over the river and thru the woods" kind of trip. So, it's season appropriate. Should be good fun to get out of Jerz for a few days, anyway.

Work has been crazy busy. Another reason why I have not been posting as much of late. Every person and their sister brought down some invoice or another that needed processing. Alas, that is exactly the kind of stuff that hits my desk. It has been keeping me on my toes!! Thankfully, work is shut for a few days. I'll be able to max and relax & recharge the ol' batteries!!

Couple of the highlights of the PA trip (in addition to seeing my very groovy mother-in-law) will be not only the chance to see the FANTABULOUS NEWCOMERS on a couple of different occasions, but the yearly visit home of M from Hamburg, Germany. She's a cool chick. It'll be good to see her!!

Other than that, I'm spending time w/ V and T, working on being happy, and enjoying the holiday season! I hope everyone else does too!

Zombies Rule, and Tobin likes Caillou!!!

We had an as always interesting visit to Pennsylvania this past weekend. We got to spend some quality time w/ my mother-in-law, Shirley . She and Vicki and I took Tobin to the Harrisburg Mall for trick or treating. Tobin was dressed up as a puppy dog. I'm not sure if Tobe got the while trick or treat concept; but he did dig some of the twizzlers that he got, I can attest to that!

We also got to spend some time with our favorite peeps, The Newcomers! Shirley watched Tobin for us on Sunday and we met up w/ them in Harrisburg for a meal at an Italian place. We had a nice meal, some pasta and some wine. It's always relaxing, and fun to have a meal w/Kayly and Nate as they both really make me smile. So, we relaxed, laughed, had a great meal, and got ready to watch the Zombie apocalypse that is "The Walking Dead" on AMC TV.

What a great show! Basically (based on a graphic novel) this Sheriff's deputy gets shot in the line of duty. He walks up some period later in the hospital to find not only piles of dead bodies everywhere, but zombies walking the earth, yes, THE UNDEAD!!! I enjoyed the arc of the first episode, and I'm looking forward to the 2nd episode tomorrow night!!

It's been an ok week since last weekend. Tobin has decided he loves Sprout TV and Caillou.The show is basically about a precocious little kid who lives in Quebec! I don't get the big time allure of time, but then I'm not an almost 2 year old little boy. The show mellows him out however, and that's certainly a good thing!!

Tobin also has been watching "The Wiggles" alot on Sprout TV!! The Wiggles are basically the Monkeys, but for toddlers', and little kids. They don't even warrant a hyperlink as I SO don't get them, and find 'em insipid :)

Friday, Friday!!

This has been one of those weeks where nothing particularly bad, or stressful has happened. Thankfully, I can honestly say that getting to Friday has not been too much of a chore! I'm still trying to rock my lightbox as much as I can, and I'm getting some results. I'm working hard in therapy, and trying to stay positive. The change in seasons, and the days getting shorter has historically been disastrous on my good vibes!! I'm just trying to do the best I can to stay away from that negativity.

Vicki, Tobin and I went outside last night after I came home from work to play for a bit. It was fun to watch V and T draw pictures of pirates and pumpkins on the sidewalk w/ chalk. I think we have a junior pirate in training w/ our youngster in that he seems to love putting things on on his head that seem like hats to him, scowling, and saying "pirate"! It's very cute. I'm sure Captain Jack Sparrow would welcome the young apprentice. However, Mom and Dad Sincoff don't want to send our youngster off to sail the high seas just yet!!

Howsabout those UFC fights, huh? Was anyone else surprised to see Brock Lesnar get so dominated by Cain Velasquez? That cut that opened up under Brock's eye w as the grossest thing ever!! The rest of the card was ok, nothing too spectacular. I felt Jake Shields looked totally unspectacular in his UFC debut, but that's just me playing armchair sports guy!! In actuality, I think he lost to Martin Kampann in that one. I felt that Diego Sanchez looked fantastic in his return to form against Paulo Thiago!

We're off to PA this weekend. Off to the land of Chocolate and friendliness for a weekend of seeing my mother-in-law (hi shirley!) and the Newcomers (Hi Kayly and Nate!). It's also Halloween, so everyone have a safe and Spooktacular time!! We are dressing Tobin up as a Puppy Dog, which should be cute! I'll be sure to post some pictures when I get back.

Birthday Party was a Success!!

Well, it can now be told how successful my awesome wife, Vicki was in pulling off "the party of the year" up here in Rockaway Township!! Not only did she hold her liquor well, she looked GORGEOUS doing it as well. Look at this groovy picture of my wife. She's drinking a glass of wine, and probably multi tasking at the same time!!!

All of her Hors D'Ouvres were amazing. Her fried ravioli was to die for. It was the perfect mixture of zesty and sweet. Her samosas that the made were awesome as well. So often you will go to a party, and there will be no food there but tons o' alcohol. Well, it certainly can be said that there was both food and drink at my shindig. Thanks Vick for all of your help

The cake was awesome, and very appropriately labelled I think since we just were at week 2 of the NFL Season!! If only the Giants had beaten the Colts in the battle of the Brothers (Peyton vs. Eli Manning) Alas, I think that if Eli and Peyton played each other 10 games in a row, Peyton would win each game. He's just that much better an athlete!! Doesn't make for a fun game to watch, though :( we had it turned off by 9pm, so we could watch the premier of the very awesome "Boardwalk Empire" on HBO!!!! Steve Buscemi has outdone himself again

There's something about the world of the gangster that still resonates, still fascinates. Martin Scorcese described it as the dark side of the American Dream. What if you lived your life as if the rules did not apply to you? It's a fascinating concept that's for sure !!!

Look how delicious this cake was. In fact, I had some helpers who were ready to blow out the candles in case I could not perform my duties in a decent manner.

Thanks to all friends like Rachel M. , Rollie Fingers Rockstar, Kayly N. Belynda and Jarrid, Mike C. and Mary for showing up for an awesome partay. It's great to have friends like you guys around!!

Home, this must be the place

Well, I made it through the birthday. Although we will be celebrating this weekend w/ an awesome shindig at our house. Friends from far and near will be coming to help me give myself a shout out!! The awesomely cool Mary Foy and Kayly S. Newcomer will be coming all the way from Pennsylvania. It's always awesome to see those 2 kids, and I promise that I will not be sooo belligerent about the State of Israel. In fact, I promise to Kayly that I will not even voice my opinion on the Israeli settlement issue (although, you'd be surprised), or anything like that !! I'm that magnamimous a party host!! :)

It's weird saying it, as I usually look for the hole in the silver lining, but this place here on Cherokee Ave. is starting to feel very home-like. Vicki has done a great job (and I'm sure that Tobin helped "manage" the tidying and unpacking!) of getting stuff done while I'm at work. She''s amazing. Just a great wife and Mom. I don't say thank you enough to her. She's the best; I'm just so lucky. Thanks for doing your thang, Vick!!

We've met a few people in the neighborhood also. I'm not saying I'm gonna invite them over for the next UFC PPV yet, however. People seem to go out of their way to say hello and talk to you, and they seem to really mean it. There are alot of little kids in the neighborhood. I plan on trying to get Tobin outside as much as possible so he can meet folks, and form his toddler posse out here. I don't want to diss Marcellus, however!! Belynda's little boy is his main man, and those kids are gonna remain BFFs!! They get on so well together! I hear it's very cute to watch.

Work is going ok. Nothing either too bad, or too great going on. Just one foot in front of the other, really. You can develop a way of just keeping your head down, and getting through tyour work day. I'm not saying I didn't wish that work was a bit mor fulfilling or whatever. It's called work, after all as my Dad would say!! It's a bitter pill to swallow, to realize that, but what can you do?

Well, what you can do, is blog to get your creativity out!! That's just what I'm doing here!!!

It's amazing how quickly UFC has put out a better product than boxing. I caught the last HBO "Boxing After Dark", and it was such a snoozer. I remember the days of Kennedy McKinney versus Marco Antonio Barrera on HBO. Sadly those days are gone . UFC knows how to market their fighters, make them stars, so they are the reason you watch/buy the fights. Somehow, boxing has seemed to get lost along the way.

I'm not sure if it if the lack of true personalities in boxing, or what.. However, it is evident. I dont know about you, but I'd gladly watch Frank Mir fight Mirko Cro Cop rather than Sugar Shane Mosely fight Sergio Mora!! I mean puhleeeeeze. Somebody give Bob Arum a smack, and wake him up. Bob, and Don King need to start working hard to catch up to MMA! They're totally getting left behind in the dust!

Forgot to tell you about the other action going on

It's funny. I usually use this blog as a platform to say "I hate Republicans". Or "professionally I could rock more" or " I love Nate and Kayly Newcomer"! I sometimes forget that real life stuff, not the imaginary life stuff of Coheed and Cambria songs actually happens!! Stuff that you actually could use a blog to vent with. Perhaps I am an airhead, I don't know.

For lack of dramatic buildup, I came down the stairs of our apartment last Saturday. I was gonna rock a bagel run. As The Sincoff's like to bring in breakfast on a groovy Saturday morning. I see this note left by our lovely landlord. In a nutshell, it says something along the lines of "there was a fire alarm that inadvertently went off the other day. The firemen and cops came, but there was nothing wrong. However, zoning laws we were made aware of make it impossible for you (us) to live here anymore".

So, we have to leave this apartment by the end of September! Can you believe those appples or what!!!!!???? If there is anything that I hate more than anything, it is moving. I hate the packing, the purging of stuff, the taping of boxes, the moving of boxes, the sweeping and the preparation. It all sucks. However, I know Bicki and I will pull it together, and make a good move possible. In fact, we are on our way to that already!

We even saw 4 apartments yesterday thru a realtor. 2 in Chatham, and 2 in Rockaway Township. The first (across from Towne Tavern) was a bit too small, and in too industrial an area (but nice). The 2nd Chatham one was an absolute dump. The first Rockaway one was a nice small 2 bedroom house w/ a fenced in yard, but only a washer/dryer, no dishwasher. the final place was a 3 bedroom house, w/a back yard, storage shed, laundry room area, and dishwasher w/ a washer dryer as well. We liked the space, there was even a play area for Tobin.

He kept on running around the place and clapping, saying "yay"!!!!!! I'll keep you posted, but that place looks good.

Having a good weekend otherwise as well. Got my hair cut, and I'm ready to rock the work force tomorrow as our auditor is coming over from Switzerland on Monday. Being the rocking, diligent employee I am, I'm going in on Sunday to prepare! Go me, right??

Other than that. Life is pretty ok. I'm trying some new variations of my meds out, and it seems to be evening out some of the valleys I seem to fall into emotionally. It's always a struggle for me to stay w/ my head above water emotionally. However, with going to weekly therapy appointments, it seems to help me deal w/ the real world, and my place in it a whole lot better!1

Monday Blahs

Well, at least another Monday is in the history books again. It's not that when Monday comes around, I get particularly more depressed than I do any other day of the week. However, I gotta say, there is a certain routine ness, a certain grim return to the norm after a weekend respite that makes it a bit of a bummer.

Factor that in w/ a work place scene that is a work place scene, and you have an equation for being somewhat bummed about Mondays. I'm not talking about being bummed like that girl in San Diego who shot up that school, and was immortalized in "I don't like Monday's" by the cBoomtown Rats. THAT'S a bit extreme!! I do wonder if she realized how famous she was gonna be when she uttered that line!?

Had a groovy weekend w/ the Newcomers and Vicki in Pennsyltucky. My Dad actually reprimanded me for calling the Newcomers "The Newcomers" in that he thought I was characterizing their friendship, and not just referencing their last name!! that's funny! Good one, there Dad!!

Had an "eh" da y at work, and now it's back into the bosom of the old family !! I gotta give a big shout out to the kids at Kashi Foods in that they make a great product! I had one of their frozen lunches today that was amazing, AND we had a pizza that they make for dinner that was awesome as well!! Good stuff!!! Sometimes life has some amazing moments, and you don't even expect it!!!

Rain Rain, go away!I

I'm sitting here in Central Pennsylvania listening to the rain come a crashin' down. The wind is howling, and the is shaking. To put it mildly, the weather really sucks outside!! However that will not deter Vicki and I from going to H'Burg tonight, and hanging out w/ the Newcomers!! They are our amigos in crime, and a trip to Vicki's parents is not complete w/o seeing them!!

Hopefully the wind will not blow our car off of the road tonight! I think we're gonna be ok, though!! I'm psyched for some good Pan Asian/Vietnamese cuisine tonight!! Should be a good time. I need the talk to the Newcomers aside from eating dinner w/them. I need 'em to roll up their sleeves, and give me real "war room" like advice!! It'll be much appreciated!

For my friends who follow boxing, you know it is the night of "The Event" I'm a big Manny Pacquiao fan. Joshua Clottey is a tough, durable fighter from Ghana. I've never seen him hurt. However, he's not a spectacular fighter. Manny Pacquiao is a spectacular fighter, one who is truly special to watch!! I think you will see a late round stoppage victory for Manny tonight at the new Cowboys Stadium in Dallas.

Man, it's raining so much outside that one would think that Captain Ahab, and Moby Dick are gonna float by any moment now!! This "land lubber" is gonna go now, and begin to get ready for tonight!!

2010!!

Well Good afternoon, Dear Readers, I'm baaaaaack!

I've taken some time off from writing the old blog, just did not feel all that creatively inspired. However, my therapist, Dr. Dave,has strongly suggested that I return to the creative out put no matter what. So, you will see my posting on here a bit more frequently than once every 4 months!!

Tobin turned 1 on December 4th. It was pretty wild and emotional. We had a little party for him at the indoor playground at the Madison YMCA. Lot's of little kids running and screaming and climbing on things! It was a blast. My Dad flew up from Florida and we did not even fight that much :) He kept his distance, and I kept mine!!

Special shout outs to Rock Star Rollie and Rachel for staying until the "after party" was over!!

Young Mr. Sincoff has matured and developed at an amazing rate. I'm not saying my son is a genius or anything, but he's developed quite the sense of humor!!! It's pretty amazing to come home from a day at work at gnirreF to see my little boy giggling and jumping up an down when he sees me!! It's pretty wonderful.

We celebrated New Years at the lovely Newcomer residence just a couple days ago (I write this blog posting from the in-laws in PA) . A rocking time was had by all. I needed yesterday to recover. I'm feeling slightly better today, more human and less hung overish. Kayly and Nate really know how to throw a party, and are great hosts. Kudos to them, and even thanks to Ethan Newcomer for letting us crash in his room!!

So, all eyes are on the prize so to speak. It's the beginning of 2010. What does the year hold? Well, The Sincoff family machine will struggle on, and we are hanging in there. I plan on sticking to blogging alot more. It is refreshing to be back on here again.

Tobin Samuel Sincoff Rocks like a Hurricane!!!

Sorry I have not posted in a few days. A certain handsome young lad has been requesting my presence!! :) In all seriousness, Tobin FINALLY arrived on December 4th @ 4:47pm. The shot you see above is literally his first moment in the world. The doctor leaned over to me and said, "Ok, Ethan, it's the 2 minute warning, get that camera ready!" Lo and Behold Tobin appeared.

The first couple of days were spent at St. Barnabas hospital in Livingston, NJ. The staff was wonderful, and they took great care of Mr. T, and Vicki. We got to go home as a family a week ago today!! Ironically, Tobin and I watched the Giants play lamely against the Philadelphia Eagles, and tonight we are watching the Giants blow a game against the Cowboys!! I've had the past week off of work, and it's been great helping Vicki a bit, and to immerse myself into fatherhood as much as possible.

Fatherhood is amazing. I wish Tobey would let his Ma and Pa sleep a little more at night, but hey; he is a night owl like his parents! In all seriousness, I feel asleep this afternoon in my reclining chair in the living room. Tobin was strapped into the baby carrier that I wear, with his head facing me, against my chest. It was pretty amazing. Eventually our breathing (snoring!?) became like one as we slept there. Pretty incredible.

I would be remiss to not give a shout out to Vicki's BFF, Aunt Kayly who came over from Harrisburg this past week. Kayly, thanks for the company, you were great!!!!

Thanks to various folks for all of their well wishes as well !!! Now, sadly, it is back to work tomorrow!!!

Moving Right along here

Sooo, we are past the election. The Democrats have soundly defeated Steve Schmidt, and the Republican Machine. We have sent Steve back to Sacramento to watch more UFC. I'm sure that despite running one of the worst political campaigns in modern history, Steve will soon be running some other politicians' life. Either that, or he has planty of time to check out the UFC when they are at the Arco Arena again!!!



Our good friend Susannah came over this weekend to help us work in the Nursery for Mr.T. It was awesome to see her, and she was such a help. She seems really at peace, and full of hell!! I think she is in a good place now!



Vicki finally said "yes" to maid service. The Maids (tm) came in here the other day, and they literally kicked some major butt! You could eat off of the floor here!! I'm totally loving it. Hopefully we can keep it up, and keep the place looking ok. I will try and get some pics up here so you can see how nice it looks!



Dude, I just finished watching Spike TV's "The Ultimate Fighter", and there is this fighter who was born in Poland, and moved to Canada @ age ten named Krzysztof Soszynski. He is one scary MF'er!!! I would not want to meet him in alley, dark, or otherwise!! In all seriousness, the fight he was in today was over too quickly for me to judge if he is the real deal, or not. However, he seems like he can "impose his will" when he wants to in the Octagon!


I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Randy "The Natural" Couture against Brock Lesnar at the UFC event in Las Vegas this Saturday! Randy has managed to fight Father Time off, and be a true inspiration. He also seems like one of the most genuine, nicest guys in MMA. So, my hat is off to you, Captain America!!!

We will be at the in-laws this weekend. We will get to see my favorite Pennsylvanians, Kayly and Nate Newcomer!!!! (and Ethan, and Holden, and pets) Hopefully, there will be a little bit o'wine flowing.

A question for Vicki and Kayly to ponder: if you guys dig Keith Olbermann so much, why don't you dig Anderson Cooper? You would think he would be up your alley!!

Post Election Day & a childbirth orientation at the Maternity Ward

I write this post today still in AWE of the events that transpired last night. While it ended up not being close(ish), I felt that it was up in the air until 11pm, when the West Coast polls closed, and suddenly Barack was over the top with the 270 Electoral votes.

However, upon thinking about it now, the immenseness of it all just blows me away! The states Barack took that Bush had in '04.... I can't name 'em all, but there must have been 9 of them. To see him take Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio, FLORIDA, North Carolina (not officially called, but looks that way) , Nevada, New Mexico.. truly an amazing night

There is no way that I can write as eloquently as Vicki, and my good friend, and Vicki's BFF, Kayly did in their most recent posts. However, I too got teary at the fact that sometimes America, and Americans can fulfill their potential. This is something I think we did in choosing the 44th President of the United States. This time, we got it right.

My 81 year old father called up crying last night as well. He was blown away by Obama's victory, and this repudiation of the Republican Party.

53% or so of American voters actually thought that the past 8 Bush years were horrendous, that 2 wars were stretching us thin domestically and internationally; causing thousands of tragically needless deaths, and injuries. That this economic down turn we are in, was the result of a hyoooooooooge increase in the size of Government. Which is not what Repubicans are supposed to be about.

How anyone could still like Bush (most disliked modern day President), let alone vote for McCain and his phony war hero, "Maverick" b.s..... I don't know. Politics are a weird thing to discuss with those on the other side of the aisle..... It's difficult. I, for one, take it personally. I'm not gloating now with Barack Obama's win, but John Kerry's loss hit me terribly in 2004.

For the record, I do not buy McCain as a war hero, or a Maverick, or anything other than a spoiled rich guy (read the recent Rolling Stone article, as Kayly has suggested). However, kudos to him, for at least conceding with a certain amount of class that his campaign did not show during the heat of things. I will give him that .
Some folks, who I like, who are on the right are saying that "they are not working today, cause Obama is gonna pay their mortgage, put gas in their car, and give them free health care". It's sad that they can not find the appropriate words for how special this Election was. However, I won't diss them that much, because they are nice people.... we just fundamentally disagree.

From Joe Louis being heard on all the radios in Jewish and Black neighborhoods during the Great Depression, to Jim Crow to the murder of Emmett Till, to the successes of the Civil Rights Movement to the assassination of MLK, to the Watts and Newark riots... to last night

We accomplished something last night, us meaning us America. Seeing Condeleeza Rice get emotional was amazing.

In thinking about the future, Vick and I did a run through at St. Barnabas Hospital today. We checked out the Maternity Ward, and actually had a childbirth orientation. We got to look in, and see a very red faced, very cute newborn kicking his cute feets. I can't wait for Tobin Sincoff to enter this world.

His mother and I look forward to welcoming him to an America that today, is a little more hopeful, and offers unlimited promise to all who try hard.

My Obama Family Dream

With the election literally around the corner, I wanted to take a moment, and share something lighthearted that has arisen as result of the Obama Campaign. In watching Barack Obama campaign for the past 20 months or so, I truly feel like I've gotten to know both him, and Michelle, his wife!! I know that this dream/fantasy thing is something that I share with Vicki's BFF, Kayly, as we have talked in depth about it. I wanted to just drop it in here right now:

I think that with the right bit of luck, and some chutzpah, Vicki and I can become close pals of the Obama's!!

They truly seem like the greatest family! It looks like Michelle and Barack are ultra in love, and are great parents to Malia and Sasha. Vicki and I can end up being true pals with the Obama's, we're talking being invited over to the White House and stuff!! ("Ethan, call me Barack. None of this Mr. President stuff.")I see our friendship forming and bonding in the following ways:

1) First, we all gots to get out and Vote on Election Day on Tuesday!! Let's hope everything goes our way!!

2) All things pointing the way the do now, Barack Obama gets elected President of the United States!! Of course, the lovely Michelle Obama, will become our First Lady. Barack will get sworn in on January 20th, 2009!!!

3) Vicki and I will write them a sassy, cute "welcome to the White House/Congratulations" card. In which, we are witty, and charming. We describe our support for the Campaign, and how much Barack's candidacy has meant to us. We also tell the Obama's the following: The next time you come to New Jersey, why don't you come over to our house for dinner!!

4) We conclude the letter by including a picture of Vicki and I, as well as pictures of Fred and Lulu! The pictures of the 2 most loveable Shih Tzu's around will certainly seal this in our favor once Malia and Sasha sees their pictures, how could they resist?

I see the friendship starting out slowly at first. Then, perhaps after a few swings thru NJ, Barack and I will talk sports, and stuff, and I'll make him laugh. From that laugh, and Vicki bonding w/ Michelle and the kids(I think Michelle will love Vicki's sass!), we will get invited to the White House!!

Then, weekends at Camp David!! I tell you, friendships will be formed!!!