Holy Matrimony Bites

Matrimony
A special congratulations goes out to our wonderful friend Dan Wilkerson (aka Lt. Dan) who is getting married in October. Dan was the best man in our wedding and is now stationed in Fort Bragg, NC, an hour away from us here in the Triangle. Dan comes up to visit us periodically when he's not jumping out of Blackhawk helicopters or going through training exercises deep in the woods of eastern North Carolina. When he came up back in August he gave us the good news, and over the weekend he called to tell us the date is set. Amy & I will be traveling to Shreveport, LA for the ceremony. Congrats to Dan!

Other tidbits from our piece of the planet...

Abuelos
GJ & Pappy spent the long holiday weekend with our crew. I got a night out for my Fantasy Football draft (which featured two Cincinnati Bengal selections as well as a former Kentucky Wildcat in Keenan Burton thank you very much). Amy & I got a date night out as well together as well which was a great time. We appreciate the long drive down to NC to see our crew and spend the time with us. Tess is still walking around shouting, "GJ, are you?"

Soccer
Amy & I are venturing into the world of organized sports for our kids. We signed Owen & Gus up for a 12-week indoor soccer program. This place even has a league for 18-month olds (!) so in theory we could have registered Tess. But when I took her to the place a couple weeks ago while the boys checked it out, Tess was more interested in the whack-a-mole and the flashing lights in the arcade so I think we have a while. As parents Amy & I are making a vow to each other not to be one of those deranged Little League parents that plays the whole "living vicariously" angle through their miserable kids. In other words I promise to give it a couple of weeks before I show up with face paint on at one of their games.

R-Fed
I didn't think it was possible for my wife to like Roger Federer any more than she already did. But since he won his incredible Wimbledon title over Andy Roddick earlier in the summer, Federer went off and became a dad for the first time -- to twins no less! So now Mr. Swiss Cheesehead is now on my TV screen in Gillette commercials and Rolex commercials, he wears tailored white warmup suits before some matches, and he now posts Facebook updates on parenthood. R-Fed is an incredible champion, but I think I could take him in a diaper-changing contest. (Admittedly I am actually coming around a bit on Roger. I enjoy giving Amy grief about him because she's such a rabid fan, but he is definitely one of the classier sports stars out there.)

Are we sure we can?
Trying not to get too bogged down in the politico stuff, but I have to say after watching President Obama deliver his health care address to Congress last night in primetime, I have to say:

"Where in the heck has this guy been for the past 8 months?"

Finally.

Getting people to accept change is a helluva lot easier than getting people to simply vote for it.

Adam Nagourney has the best analysis of the speech that I've read today.

Football
Finally, my Wildcats are 1-0 after a 42-0 drubbing of lowly Miami (OH). I am playing fantasy football for the first time in a few years after taking a hiatus. And the NFL season kicks off tonight. Fall is definitely in the air -- I love it.

Cheers!