Props to Lil' Old Me!

So we celebrated my 2nd Father's Day yesterday. I can honestly say that Vicki outdid herself the entire weekend! I could not ask for a better wife, and partner in crime!! The weekend started by some frantic cleaning on our part. We had our pals Caleb and Lisa over for brunch on Saturday.

I really think we fixed the place up decently. It was totally dealable! Vicki made this amazing breakfast tart that was just to die for!! All in all, it was a great brunch w/ great company. Tobin was quite the little host, and it's amazing to see him thrive!

It's funny, as Sunday was "my day", I got this great card from Vicki and Tobin, time to take a nap, and time to read in peace!! Could you ask for more?? I don't think so!! I try really hard to be a good husband to Vick, and a good dad to Tobin. I hope that I do well. I'm very self conscious of trying to be a good Dad, and it's something i strive for. Tobin certainly seems to have fun with me, so I must be doing something right!!!

I adore that little boy. I would do anything for him, and I just love being his his dad! I look forward to many more Father's Day celebrations w/ V&T down the road!!

What don't kill a nigga, MAKE a nigga

So said the late, great, rather hefty Notorious B.I.G. It's a lyric. Don't think I'm being all racial as Ali G would say. I think it's a appropriate lyric for those of use out there, dealing with ups and downs in life. For with every up, there seems to be a down too. Seems to be a lot of struggles out there!

Things are great at home. I've been taking Tobin to the playground alot and he is loving it!! He had the run of the sandbox yesterday all to himself!! He was sooooooo psyched. I was pretty psyched to watch him! I was also glad to give Vicki some time to herself!! We have also been doing bath time at night, and we're having a blast establishing these Daddy/Son rituals. It's amazing how these things bring a smile to my face.

Yet at the same time, I do struggle w/ dark moments. In fact I was just talking to my therapist about this today. I have a great wife, who is awesome, and sexy and funny... I have this amazing little boy, who can light up my world, and I am amazed at how he is growing... yet there are moments of real depression that I have to surf through.... Crazy, huh?

Crazy stuff has been happening @ the old drug workplace. The Grand Poo Bah of my area, the one who once said I was not a good employee, and gave me a horrible performance review, and made sure I got no bonus for the year suddenly got fired last week for poor performance!!!! Yup. You read it right, and yes, Ma'am that is irony dripping off of this paragraph!!

The Big Big Poo Bah from Europe said so eloquently "this is the last day of the _____" Inserting Grand Poo Bah's name into the space there. I thought it was a weird, and anti climactic end for a guy I could have told 'em was an empty suit some 2.5 years ago when he interviewed me! When you walk into a Poo Bah's office, and he stares (no joke) at your resume w/o saying anything for 4 minutes, and you, the candidate have to begin to interview yourself; you know he's a little meshuggeneh.

I also have to mention my old friend, let's call her S that I have known for a long time. She is a dear, close friend. In fact, I jokingly say that S is my favorite person that I never, ever see! LOL Anyways, I got a call from her the other day. She sadly told me that her husband, let's call him B of several years (10?Plus some dating in college before that) had decided to leave out of the blue.

I will simply say that B's actions have left me really saddened, in a multitude of ways. I don't know what he is looking for... I totally don't dig how he handled it. I KNOW that he can not be looking for someone else more sassier or better looking or kind, for S is all of those attributes and then some. In fact, I quoted the lyric from the title of the blog post to S today! She is hanging tough in the Pacific NW, and I know she will bounce back and overcome this, and be resilient because that is what she is all about!

It wouldn't be a blog post of mine if I did not reference MMA. Does anyone really even care about UFC 115!? What a horrible card! I mean Rich Franklin vs. Chuck Liddell??!? What is this, 2004??? Both of those guys are dinosaurs. Adding Mirko Cro Cop to the card would be great if it were 6 years ago as well. Alas those ships have long since sailed!! Suffice to say, I do not think I will be getting this PPV.

Tobin Sincoff is a rock star!!

Tobin was the center of attention for both Saturday and Sunday. It was such a blast!! Saturday we drove out to Brooklyn for the day. We saw my Aunt Eileen and Uncle Joe. They hadn't seen Tobin since his welcome home party in January of 2009. He loved running around (and around and around) their house!!! Non Stop he was, from the living room, to the dining room to the kitchen, and even up some of the stairs

Now, Joe & Eileen are the 2 closest relatives to my family on my Mom's side. Joe & Mom were 1st cousins, but always acted like brother and sister. Hence Uncle Joe, & Aunt Eileen. I've always been close to them, and their kids. It was Joe being a professor of History that encouraged me to major in History, he really made the subject approachable. Eileen was a life long teacher in the elementary school system of New York City. 2 great people.

Did Tobin love them!! :) He totally rocked Ocean Parkway, and then he had a blast @ Marine Park which was just down the road. He ran around from the moment he got there, til the moment we dragged him out of there (where does he get his energy). As I watched Tobin scale a foam octopuss; It got me thinking,

How come adults search near and far for that kind of elusive happiness?

We never seem to quite grab it, no matter how much good stuff (family, love, wealth, iPad) we have.

We try therapy, medication (legal and illegal), some of us drink, some of us abuse ourselves in other ways. It's fascinating, and makes you think. Perhaps it's the work thing coupled w/ the aging thing; but as we get more stressed in life, it becomes harder for us as adults to find that spiritual foam octopuss. Perhaps we can get back to that state of glee somehow.

Uncle Joe kept on going to Tobin; "Boy, would your Grandma have been crazy about you". Of course, that got me thinking about my Mom, who has been gone a long time. It's true, she would be soooooooooo in love w/ Tobin as her grandson, I smile now thinking of it! She would have made such a fuss over him. I get a kick out of that :)

Sunday was spent brunching w/ Rachel M., Rock Star Rollie & the lovely Susannah in Jersey City. Again, Tobin had the flashbulbs popping, and was the star of the meal!! Susannah and Rachel had their cameras going so fast, it was like some sort of movie premier or something! We laughed, caught up, and no one counted any calories :) Topped that off with a great evening w/ a killer episode of "Breaking Bad"!!!! Life is pretty good.

UFC 113 Results - Ethan doesn't do too badly at picking the winners!!

So, I'm thinking that if I ever decide to leave the purchasing world , I can get one of those jobs on ESPN.com or one of the plethora of MMA website where I can prognosticate my face off!! I think I can go Mens Wearhouse, get myself some suits, and some French Cuff Shirts, and put one of those headset microphone thingys on my face and just rock it!! No one speaks w/ passion on boxing and mma like I do! I think I can just really speak well on the topic. Until Dana White calls , I can only feel confident in my ability while waxing philosphical here!!

I'm soooo ready for my closeup, Mr. Demille!! When is the UFC or Strikeforce gonna call me??? Will it ever happen????? I could so call a fight, and interview the particpants!! Can't you just see me joking w/ Frank Mir, and joshing Jose Aldo??!??!

I picked 2 of the PPV fights correctly, so that was a good thing! Josh Koschek did indeed beat Paul Daley w/ his superior wrestling skills (not to mention Daley's sucker punch after the fight which cost him a job w/ the UFC), and Matt Mitrione did beat the farce (and ratings grabber) named Kimbo Slice. Dana White, being the gangster that he is, immediately fired Kimbo after his losing effort!

Of course, I was way way way waaaaaaaaay wrong in my prediction of the main event!

Mauricio "Shogun" Rua totally dominated and KTFO'd Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida in the very first round!!! It's funny how quickly the tide can turn in the fight game! Just a few weeks ago, people were talking about "The era of the Dragon"!! Now, of course, it's Shogun's Time!!

On the home front, things are groovy. Tobin is just amazing(even though he got cranky at Rob's Bistro last night!)Vicki is one amazing wife, let me tell you, I always have to give her major, major shoutouts all the time!! She is the greatest Mom too. Just the best

Lulu and Fred Sincoff are still 2 dogs w/ attitude!!! They are groovy puppy dogs. They have been under the weather lately in that they got into the garbage, and they ate some bad turkey breast! Poor Lulu has been wimpering for a couple days. She is just now starting to feel like her sassy puppy dog girl self :) At least she is back on the mend. Fred must be a little younger in that he was under the weather for just 24 hrs!

In other fights/MMA news; we have "Strikeforce Heavy Artillery" coming up on Saturday night on Showtime!! It's a fairly okish card w/ some interesting fights/fighters. Andrei Arlovski is fighting, which should be fun (although Vicki said "I could fucking beat him now! Fang mouthpiece or no fang mouthpiece!!") as is Holland's favorite son, Mr. Alistair Overeem. Who, not only is Dutch, but he's black! Which totally rocks! Here's hoping he passes the pre and post fight urinalysis (big steroid rumors) and that he beats the former Sam's Club worker in Bret Rogers!!!

I'd be remiss to not mention we had a rocking picnic w/ Caleb and Lisa!!!!! :) Two groovy new friends! The Sincoff's are rolling "nothin' but 7's!!!"

Shout out to the Mom's!

Well it's been a gorgeous week here in the Lovely Jerz! There's nothing that gets the ol' serotonin pumping like a few days of nothing but sunshine! Vick, Tobin and I were at a wedding in Pennsyltucky last weekend. It was a fun, interesting time. I'm fascinated by this whole line dancing craze, don't get it... cowboy hats... in Pennsylvania..... kerazy. However, Vicki's niece and her hubby are good people so it was groovy to see them and do that. Although I did not agree w/ the pastor preacher dude saying that marriage is only between a man and a woman.... what can ya do? It wouldn't have been my choice of rhetoric in the middle of a fun, joyous moment :)


We have a very special weekend coming up here. Of course, it's Mother's Day on Sunday. It's holidays like these that of course make me very sentimental for my Mom. I can't believe she has been gone for over a decade. At the same time, I'm moving onto a stage in my life where I have a family of my own. She would have been proud to see how great Vicki is (and she is amazing) as a Mom. As they say "the kid can pick 'em"! I certainly picked the Greatest woman in the world to have a child with, and to raise a family with. Vicki, you are my rock, and the anchor of this family!! I love you babes :)

In honor of Mom's Day, I'm gonna let Vicki pick out a menu, and I'm going to cook on Saturday night!! Should be fun. Maybe Mr. T will even go to bed at a reasonable time so we can have a glass of red wine or 7! I'm totally looking forward to Mother's Day. Should be a blast!

Not only is is Mother's Day weekend, but there is a UFC Card, UFC 113 up in one of my favorite towns, Montreal, Quebec Canada. It's a pretty groovy MMA card. Now, I judge a card by how "deep" it is. For example, ok, the headline fight is good, perhaps the co-main event is good, however, are any of the prelim fights on the card good? That is often the deciding factor if I get a PPV or not.

Even though Vicki's boyfriend, Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida is fighting, we will not be getting this PPV as it will interfere w/ the Mom's Day festivities. I just thought I would give you a break down of who I thought would win:


I just thought I'd break down the big fights on the card really quickly:

Lyoto is fighting Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in a rematch of their controversial first fight from October of last year.

I thought it wasn't as controversial as they made it out to be. Yes, it was a close decision, and it could have gone either way, however it went to Lyoto. I see Shogun as being the better aggressor, but Machida is the better chess player, point counterpoint. He's a brilliant tactician. So I pick him to win a decision.


As for Josh Koscheck vs. Paul Daley.... two guys who can bang.. and of course, Daley is Black AND British which is a rocking combination...However Koscheck is an excellent wrestler. Kos will win in the 2ND round via Ref stoppage due to GnP.


As for Mr. Kimbo Slice....

Who cares? He seems like a nice, humble guy, but he is the MMA equivalent of car crash material! He has no skill, just charisma and a punch!! So, let him and Matt Mitrione slug it out and go crazy. I'm sure it will be fun, and fascinating in the same way a horror film is cool!

Happy Mother's Day to all the great Moms' out there! Vicki, you are the greatest wife and Mom a guy could ask for!!