FML - Make my kid a Gerber baby!

So Gerber is running a contest to find new baby models, and I think my adorable son has a chance.  Voting is now through 9/21, so follow this link to go vote.  You can only vote once per day per facebook account.  Please also get your friends to vote as well!  My son is in the Sitter category (they have 6 different categories of children) and you can only vote one child per category, so if you have friends with kids in other categories that's fine, but make sure you vote for Jackson for Sitter! 

I mean come on, look how cute he is!  Now go vote!

Happy 100th Birthday Max Dickerman!

So today, September 3rd, 2012 my step-grandfather Max (Mac) Dickerman turns a whopping 100.  That is so incredibly awesome!  To put that in to a bit of perspective, it's time for me to whip out my history teacher hat.  Here's a bit of what has happened since he was born: 

• He has lived through 25 presidential elections (this November will be # 26).
• When he was born, William Taft was our nation's 27th president.  Currently, Obama is our 44th.
• He's lived through 2 World Wars, the Cold War, and the U.S.'s wars in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq twice.  Not to mention all the other little conflicts where our soldiers have been deployed.
• When he was born, he was one of about 1.65 billion people on the planet.  Now he's one of over 7 billion.
• In the U.S. there was about 96 million people when he was born, now there are over 314 million Americans.
• He saw the Soviet Union both form and cease to exist (1922-1991).
• 132 new nations have joined the maps of the globe (most had been former colonies or territories held by other nations) by gaining their independence.
• The 16th through 27th Amendments to the Constitution were enacted, including the following changes:  direct election of Senators, prohibition of alcohol as well as its repeal, two-term limit for Presidents, lowering of the voting age to 18, women getting the right to vote, poll taxes become outlawed, and the federal government being able to collect an income tax.
• The year he was born saw the U.S. go from 46 to 48 states with the addition of New Mexico and Arizona to the union.  He went almost half of his life (47 years) before the U.S. had 50 states with the additions of Alaska and Hawaii in 1959.
• He was almost 8 years old when the U.S. heard it's first radio news broadcast (8/31/1920).  He was 15 when the television as we know it was invented by Philo Farnsworth in 1927, but he would have to wait until after World War 2 for the invention to really catch on.
• He was 65 years old when Apple began selling its Apple II home computers, just in time for his retirement, but he would be 81 before the first web browser, Mosiac, would be released, allowing access to the world wide web.
• He has seen the betamax, VHS videocassette, laserdisc, HDDVD, tape cassette, 8-track, compact disc, record player and both 5 1/4" and 3 1/2" floppy disks all come and go.
• He was 60 when the first videogame, Pong, was released, so he's seen the creation (and/or implosion) of every videogame company.
• The Ford Model T had only been on the roads for four years at the time he was born.

Obviously this list only scratches the surface of all the amazing changes that my grandfather has witnessed in his life.  He's an awesome man that I love very much, and today I salute him.  Happy Birthday Mac!

FML - Let the indoctrination begin



Already practicing the arm raise for "Hail"
in Hail to the Victors

 So today Michigan kicks off its 2012 college football season versus Alabama.  I've already started priming my son Jackson for loving all things Michigan.  It started in the womb, with my playing "Hail to the Victors" on my iPod and holding the speaker up to my wife's belly.  After his birth, he had a mobile over his crib that played "Hail to the Victors" instead of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" as his lullaby.  We brought him to Ann Arbor for the first time this past May on Memorial Day weekend.  He also has a Michigan hat and a pair of Michigan onesies that we love dressing him in (as you can see, to the left).

Tonight Michigan plays Alabama in a game that Michigan is expected by many (unfortunately including myself) to lose, as the spread is 12.5 points.  Win or lose though, this will be the first of every Michigan game that Jackson watches with me, so I am excited for kickoff to happen.  I'll actually be in Michigan today (though not at the game, they're playing in Dallas) so it'll be great to watch the game in the state where I met Jackson's mom.  I'm looking forward to watching games with my son for the rest of my life, so today a new Saturday tradition is born.  Obviously, he's not going to fully understand what is going on just yet, that will come in time, but the tradition stars now nonetheless.  Now, only 18 years until he goes to Michigan as a freshman!