This Election is Stressing Me Out

Man, am I ready for October 7 to come and go (municipal election day). Moreso, though, November 4 can't get here fast enough (or, should I say, November 5).

I'm not going to be one of those journalists who tells you who I'm going to vote for - that's not my job, and it's unprofessional. Too many media people do that these days.

I'll leave it at this -- my mind is made up, and it's an easy choice for me on each of the races (presidential, congressional, and mayoral).

I will say all the news coverage is stressing me out. Campaigns are nasty this year. Candidates may say they're going to keep on the "high road" but that went out the window months ago for a few of them. They'll do anything it takes to win these days.

Whoever you vote for - just vote. Get registered now. Don't put it off. And don't whine when you have to wait in line for a few minutes (or more) on election day. Don't let that discourage you from voting, either. It's a beautiful thing to see the polls packed on election day. It means people want change, and they're willing to do something about it.

And no, I didn't give away my presidential choice there. Aren't both candidates preaching that these days?

New Picture of Nick

Here's a new picture of our son, Nicholas Joseph Aiello ("Nick"). He's almost 4 months old now!
No, he's not named after Nick Saban. Joey and I just both like the name. More pics soon.. I've got my digital camera back, thank God.

Who's the Man? Saban's the Man!

Today, another post about why I love Nick Saban. No, not because he led the Crimson Tide to victory this past weekend over Clemson. That was nice, by the way.

I love that Saban speaks his mind. Namely, he's not afraid to bring fans, alumni and others in the UA establishment back down from Cloud 9 and tell them to chill out.

"It's one game. You know, confidence can screw you up, confidence can be a good thing, but what our players need to understand, what our fans need to understand, what everybody needs to understand, it's one game. It's one game. Alright? And we need to keep playing better, and we need to improve, and our players need to have the focus to improve, and remember how they got where they got, rather than think we can just show up now and think we can beat whoever we play, because we have a tendency to think that way around here, instead of just kicking people's a** like you're supposed to, and working to do it. Alright?"

Then, the clincher... "So when you ask me those kind of questions, it really pi**es me off."

Saban then told the reporter he wasn't ticked off at him for asking it, just the mentality of it.

Watch all of Saban's post-game comments here.

So... did the media listen? Hell no. Look what hits the newstands a few days later:

This isn't going to help one bit. I wish the national sports media would just ignore us till about game 5 or 6 in the season. If we're doing well by then, GREAT.. give us some good coverage.. bring the ESPN College Gameday crew.. but doing this stuff early in the season just sets us up for failure.

Our football fan base has been drooling for another national championship since 1992. And every year, they get their hopes up when we beat a big team early on, and then wonder what happened to our golden run when we lose to a team like Louisiana-Monroe.

I quit getting my hopes up in the late 90s, and ever since then, I've been a realist. It's good to enjoy an Alabama win, but if we don't win every weekend, my life will still go on. We'll live to see another day. The world won't fall apart.

I tell you, though, I don't envy the sports reporters who have to ask Saban questions after the game. That takes courage.

Off the subject, I finally saw "The Dark Knight" this weekend. It rocked.

Peace!

Custom Cabinets!

I got to do something really fun this past weekend. We built some HUGE storage cabinets for the garage!

This was taken after they were finished.. so we were sweaty and glad to be finished with the three-day project. We also had my cousin's wedding to attend later that day, so we had to get them done.

Inside, that's me, Elena and my mom's friend Bob, who came up from Florida to help build them. I say "help", but that was more my job.. "Bob the Builder" was in charge and he knew what he was doing. I really had fun, too... I learned a lot about construction, and learned that things never go quite according to plan. But, you improvise along the way and it turns out even better.

These cabinets are 8' high, and our ceiling is about 8' 4" high - so it got a little tricky to stand them up once we had them built.. we knocked out a lightbulb in the process, but oh well. No one got hurt.

I also got to use a drill and circular saw over the course of the three days we worked, so that was FUN! It's alot easier to saw 2x4's than it is to saw a big sheet of plywood. Almost had a scare there.. but we got through it.

Now we have plenty of room to store our stuff! THANKS BOB!!

New Family Pics

Here are a few family pictures...

This one is taken at my cousin Mike's wedding. It was good having all the family on my side come to Huntsville for a change!

Here's Elena at the YMCA pool... she loves to swim!

Elena in her watermelon dress from Grandma Peggy... who she calls "Peggy," not Grandma, by the way...

Elena in her Cinderella dress - a birthday gift from Daddy.

I need to take a few more pictures of Nick, I know.

Back to the Grind

Well, today marked my return to work. I will admit I cried all the way in, after dropping off Nick at daycare. It was so hard to leave him -- my little boy is going to grow up so fast!

Elena spent a few extra hours with my Mom, and I'll pick both kids up later today.

My first day back went pretty well... things haven't changed too much, and I only had 9,341 emails waiting in my inbox! I'd say 8,900 of them were spam. We get a lot of spam here at WHNT. Wish someone could figure out how to block it. The subject lines are pretty risque'.

If you've sent me an email in the past few months and are waiting on a response, please write again. Chances are it got lost in the oblivion.

Record Profits, Again

I bet this story ticked many of you off, just as it did me. In today's edition of the Huntsville Times, "Exxon Mobil earns the biggest profit ever."


While we all suffer!!!!


Before you tell me to "go green" - I am working on it. I have used less gas this summer, and I'm trying to be smart about where I drive, keep my errands close together, etc. It has helped that I've been home with the kids, too, this summer, but I am all about not having to fill up the tank as much as I can.


And, prices have dropped a few cents. Bless their black hearts.

Screw 'em. These rich oil companies will get what's coming to them. Prayer at the pump won't help... the executives should start praying for their souls.