Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

Santa delivered a brand new Nintendo Wii on Christmas morning. Santa's elves were kind enough to set it up in the basement before leaving! Needless to say, the kids spent the entire weekend playing it. It has been a tremendous hit, as you can see in this entertaining video. We have enjoyed Wii games including Super Mario Brothers, We Cheer 2, We Ski and Snowboard, and Sports Resort. Cari also bought me Guitar Hero for Wii as a surprise.

Cassie Turns Seven

Our Cassie turned seven on Christmas Day! She enjoyed parties in Springfield last weekend and at our house on Christmas and also has one with the Eckerts in St. Louis over New Year's. It is hard to believe that seven years has past since she was born. She just about received her two front teeth by her birthday, by the way. Happy Birthday, sweetheart!

Tommy Sings at Bombeck Center Christmas

Tommy and his friends in the Jets room at the Bombeck Center sang three songs for his Christmas party on Wednesday: Cascabel, Walking in Winter Wonderland, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. Videos posted below. Enjoy!

Happy Christmas Week from EckSpot!

We would like to wish you a blessed Christmas week! We are staying in Ohio for the week as Cari has the Christmas week as one of her holidays to work this year (she is off on Friday but works on Thursday and over the weekend). We enjoyed a wonderful trip to Springfield, IL, last weekend to celebrate with Tom, Mary Ann, Eric, Dawn and Ali, and are going to Missouri for the long New Year's weekend to spend time with Leo and Sandy and many other friends and family members at gathering at Todd and Nancy's and Dan and Linda Knoll's.

We have posted other pictures of the kids you may enjoy on our
Picasa web album:

General Christmas Pictures (we'll add pictures to this folder through New Year's): http://picasaweb.google.com/jason.c.eckert/Christmas2009#

Pictures from JCP Photo Studio: http://picasaweb.google.com/jason.c.eckert/ChristmasPicturesJCP#

Merry Christmas from Cari, Cassie, Tommy and Jason Eckert!

Cassie's Artwork featured in St. Henry's Mailing

Cassie's Christmas card design was one of the student designs featured in an all-parish mailing advertising Christmas schedules at our parish. A scan of the actual card we received in the mail appears above. We are very proud of her work!

Merry Christmas from UD Career Services

I solicited the help of my student and professional Career Services staff members here at the University of Dayton to record our second-annual Christmas card. Most participated without too much arm twisting. :) We sent it out to the campus community and all of our employer partners. Enjoy!

Cassie's Solo Performance at the BLS Christmas Concert

Cassie's first grade class performed five songs on Monday night at the Bishop Leibold School Christmas program. Cassie had a solo speaking performance telling a joke as a part of the "Silly Holiday Song." Cassie's line appears at about the 59 second mark of the video. Her actions at the end of the song are also priceless. For the record, her joke was, "How long does it take for a candle to burn down?" The students respond, "About a wick!"

We are very proud of her -- all five songs were great!

Tommy Basketball Video

Tommy scored the final basket of his final game in the YMCA 4-5 year-old basketball league, as you can see from this video. He also had two rebounds and two blocks (which are not necessarily encouraged) in the game. Tommy had a great time and does plan to continue his basketball career!

Cassie's First Experience as a Lector

Cassie was selected to read part of the Responsorial Psalm at the Immaculate Conception Mass at Bishop Leibold/Our Lady of Good Hope on Tuesday. She did an excellent job and projected very well. (We'll work on that eye contact at a later date.) :) I am very proud of her. Both Tommy and I were able to attend the Mass on the feast day to support Cassie.

Tommy Two-Baskets

Tommy is playing in his first basketball league, a league for 4-5 year-olds at our local YMCA. Thus far he has had two games and is doing very well. In fact, last game he had two baskets and four rebounds. He is one of the taller kids (it is a co-ed league) and is playing well (and most importantly having fun). His next game is this Saturday at 10:15 a.m.

After Tommy's game, we attended the University of Dayton men's basketball game. UD defeated Creighton 90-80. The game was a blast (UD came back from being down 11 in the first half). I'm very pleased at how observant Tommy was during the game, asking great questions about the sport!

Happy Birthday to Cari

Cari celebrated a birthday last Friday. We really celebrated during the previous weekend as we were joined by my parents for a nice extended weekend. I surprised Cari with a trip to the Camp Kern YMCA Ozone Zipline Adventure. Cari and I enjoyed seven ziplines, which provide an excellent view of the Little Miami River area. The day was beautiful and capped off with dinner and a night away from the kids (thanks to my parents).

Halloween Pictures

Cassie and Tommy had a great Halloween season. They each went to parties and collected enough candy to last for months. Tommy went as Spiderman for the second year in a row. Cassie could not decide between two costumes and was a witch by day and a devil by night (I'll keep my fatherly comments to myself).

The Halloween album may be viewed at http://picasaweb.google.com/jason.c.eckert/Halloween2009#.

Cutest Godson Baby Video -- Ever!

This video of Dylan Frankovis is so cute! If you are ever in a bad mood, check out this video and smile.

Cassie's First Grade School Picture

Tommy's Monkey Bus Birthday Party

We celebrated Tommy's 5th birthday a little early this weekend with a visit from the Monkey Bus. Tommy was joined by Cassie and 14 friends (along with Grandma Sandy and Papa Leo and some parents) at our house for the party on Saturday. We scheduled a visit from the "Monkey Bus" from 2-3 p.m. The Monkey Bus is a moving play gym featuring a zip line, ball pit and climbing area. As you can see from the pictures, the kids had a great time.

View pictures from the party at http://picasaweb.google.com/jason.c.eckert/TommySMonkeyBusBirthday#.

EckSpot Brief Review of Transformers 2

Cari and I don't get out to movies very often. This weekend, with my parents in town, we had the opportunity to go out for a date night and decided to see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen at our local "value" (formerly dollar) theater. We really enjoyed the movie!

Transformers 2 is a fun action flick. It does an excellent job telling the story of the Transformers and the origins of their ongoing civil war. Although I grew up with the original cartoon series and collected the figurines, I never realized that the Transformers are actually an alien race. The special effects and action sequences are very well done. The movie was a little long (150 minutes) and some of the dialog between the Transformers was difficult to understand. Having said that, enjoying the performance of Megan Fox made the duration of the movie very enjoyable, especially for the men in the audience.

We highly recommend Transformers 2, especially as a value theater or DVD selection.

Labor Day Weekend at Lake Lure, NC

We enjoyed a great Labor Day Weekend trip to Lake Lure, NC (about nine hours from our house). We spent lots of time at the pool, rented kayaks, took a guided tour of the lake, saw Chimney Rock, and enjoyed tennis and mini-golf. A quick but memorable trip. Our pictures are shared at http://picasaweb.google.com/jason.c.eckert/LakeLureNC#.

Cassie Enters First Grade

Cassie starts first grade today at Bishop Leibold School. This is her first year in a uniform. Pictures of our morning may be found here.

Tommy's Home Run

Tommy completed his first t-ball season last week. In his second-to-last game he hit this "home run." He had a great fun-filled season with t-ball. Next up for Tommy: fall basketball at the YMCA.

RIP: The Weekly Eckstra

RIP: The Weekly Eckstra
by “Weird” Dave Borchardt
Special to the Weekly Eckstra

Jason will attest to the fact that I tend to be an “I told you so” type guy.

With this in mind, it was I who offered a word of caution to Jason months ago when he held an informal contest to name his newly founded weekly blog column. In all fairness, I liked “The Weekly Eckstra” (though it wasn’t my submission), but was worried the title would insinuate, just slightly, that his column would be…well…weekly.

Jason is the eternally happy Clark Griswold driving in his family station wagon endlessly down life’s road of good intentions. I, on the other hand, am the grizzled guy in the orange safety vest picking up dead animal carcasses on the same road: thus, I think it’s safe to say we can pronounce “The Weekly Eckstra” in the same category as Jason’s Wedding Webpage (which I am convinced is still out there in cyberspace, somewhere waiting to be updated) and the time in 1996 that Jason took us to what he described as a Missouri “beach” which turned out to be what I would describe as a very, very large boat launch covered with sand and gravel (but mostly gravel) on a cold, dark lake.

At this point, you may be saying out loud, “what’s with all the Eckert bashing?” and I mean no such disrespect--after all, I, myself am the king of moderately conceived ideas that fell way short (case in point, the senior year “pie” incident).

In place of the unfulfilled promises of The Weekly Eckstra, there is a ray of hope, however. We are privy to, on a semi-regular basis, a great deal of banter about local sports teams, family visits and home improvement updates. Pure entertainment to me (as I’ll try to establish), but somehow lacking the unique wit and comedy value of “Balloons are Gifts from the Devil” without a bit of explanation.

Allow me to expand upon some of Jason’s recent blog topics to demonstrate:

If you do visit Jason’s family weblog from time to time as I do, you’ll note the backyard has been just as big a story as Michael Jackson’s death in passing weeks. To some, just another verse that could be part of the song “Ordinary Average Guys” by Joe Walsh, but to me, pure comedy gold. Upon reading the updates some may muse to themselves, “Man, that’s a big patio—wouldn’t you rather have some wonderful, lush grass for the kids to play in?”

Having lived in the greater Miami Valley for two years, few may realize that house builders in the area have a habit of scraping away all the topsoil and building new houses on almost literally gravel, bedrock and the giant plate of Uranium that most of Ohio is positioned over (check your basement for Radon, Jason). The result is a yard maintenance situation that is similar to trying to grow grass on concrete. Jason, being an intelligent guy, has realized and brilliantly avoided this problem and surrendered to the inevitability of a backyard of dead grass and removed most of his grass himself. There’s enough rock, paving stones and mulch now in his backyard that, if he were close to a sports venue, he could charge $25 a car to park in his back yard and on his patio.

Local sports teams: have you visited your local “AA” minor league ball club lately? If you have, you might say to yourself, “Why, Jason? What’s the big deal about taking the family to the Dayton Dragons?” Again, having lived in the Dayton area, you may not realize the Dayton Dragons play in a league more akin to professional wrestling than baseball—a visiting pitcher was arrested for assault during a game a couple years back. No joke. The trial just ended. To boot, the Dragons play in downtown Dayton a place you definitely do not want to be after dark. Half of the houses in Dayton are abandoned and at least one is burnt down on almost a nightly basis. Again, knowing Jason’s jovial personality, I have no problem picturing him offering career assistance advice to a robber as he is being mugged. Hilarious. (In all fairness, the Dayton Dragons do put on a pretty good family show inside the ballpark.)

Finally, topics near and dear to my heart: visits by Jason’s relatives. I don’t know very much about Cari’s family except what I read in the blog (I also assume they probably hate my cat). Jason’s family on the other hand is of real concern to me because, based on my indiscriminately obnoxious behavior as a juvenile while a guest in the Eckert home, I have no doubt when I pass from this life into the next, Sandy Eckert will be the one calling numbers at the DMV-like office at the gates of paradise. The updates about Sandy and Leo are less about comedy for me and more about personal safety: knowing they’re in Dayton allows me to pinpoint locations and stay far away. I know Sandy is a sweet and kind mother and grandmother, but I also know payback is hell.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I finally submit to you there have been as many “guest” columns on The Weekly Eckstra than columns by Jason himself. The Weekly Eckstra is dead, but that’s OK. It’s spirit will live forever in backyard parking lots and in between the gunfire outside the ballpark in downtown Dayton.

Jason's Reaction: Okay, Dave has a point. Calling the column weekly was foolish. I would argue that the "Eckstra" is not dead . . . but is also most certainly not weekly. Perhaps monthly, quarterly, or whenever someone submits a quest column. I actually do have some ideas to publish in this space. The "Eckstra" will be dusted off -- but won't be weekly. Thanks, Dave, for the creative piece and good natured ribbing. The basement is, by the way, Radon free, and the pie incident (during which Dave stuck a pie in the face of "legendary" teacher Chris Mess at DeSmet) remains one of the funniest moments of high school. My mom, by the way, does love Dave (and loves him even more states away from her grandchildren in Houston). :)

Welcome Tess Knoll

A warm EckSpot welcome to Teresa (Tess) Knoll, born July 16 to proud parents Dan and Linda Knoll. We can't wait to meet you, Tess! You may follow Tess on-line at her own site as well.

T-Ball Tommy

Tommy had his first T-Ball game at the YMCA last Thursday (his first-ever organized sporting event and baseball action). We had three nice hits in three at bats (every at bat is a hit -- he actually did hit the ball) and had a lot of fun. This video is his third at bat. We should have some nicer pictures from future games. He has two more game this week.

Springboro, OH Named the 41st Best Place to Live in the U.S.

Our little corner of paradise, Springboro, OH, was just named the 41st Best Place to Live by Monday Magazine. Not as nice as the Eckert Property, but pretty darn nice. http://tinyurl.com/lrafwx. We are in between Dayton and Cincinnati, near I-75, with a strong public school system, reasonably stable home prices, and convenient services.

SkyFort is Complete!

Our SkyFort is complete! After weeks of on and off construction we are very pleased with the final result, as are the kids. This video shows Tommy and Cassie, along with neighborhood friends Jackson and Connor, checking out the new areas.

Independence Day Weekend in Ohio

We had a great time hosting almost all of Cari's family (minus Tom plus Johnny and Katie) over the July 4 Holiday Weekend. We had plenty of fun time around the house, enjoyed the hot tub, saw wonderful fireworks in Downtown Dayton, and went to the Cardinals-Reds game in Cincinnati.

Oregon Recap

I spent the weekend of June 29 in Oregon with good friends Matt Bachmann, Pete Erschen, Chris Lubbe, Jeff Lorentz, and Larry Holzen (all friends from SLU and St. Louis). We stayed in a great cabin near Mt. Hood, visited and hiked to Multnomah Falls, went actual white water rafting on the Deschutes River, visited great micro breweries, and played catch on Mt. Hood. What a great weekend and opportunity to catch up with friends I don't see nearly enough.

The pictures from the weekend were great. View my pictures and Jeff Lorentz's.

Gearing up for Independence Day Weekend

Cari and I have been getting everything together for a weekend of fun as we are hosting 13 people this weekend (all of Cari's family sans Tom and Johnny and Katie). We play to go to the Dayton fireworks on Friday night and the Cardinals-Reds game on Saturday. Stay tuned for updates!

Cassie and Dylan Frankovis

During the recent visit with the Frankovis family, Cassie had the opportunity to have some quality time with her "God brother" Dylan (if that is even a term -- I am Dylan's Godfather). The video is priceless. At the end of "Head, Shoulders Knees and Toes," Cassie sings "Dylan is so cute to me." Credits go to Meg Frankovis.

Deacon Tom

It is official -- Cari's dad, Tom Burns, was ordained as a Roman Catholic Deacon over the weekend during a beautiful Mass in Springfield, IL. We are very proud of Tom, who has worked over five years for this accomplishment. (I had no idea how much academic and spiritual work goes into becoming a Deacon; Tom earned as Master's degree and then some.)

Many friends and family members attended the events of the weekend. On Sunday, Tom celebrated his first Mass as a Deacon and had the honor of delivering the Gospel reading and homily. He did a great job and told the story of his personal journey to ordination in relation to Job's own struggles with faith and decision-making. Congratulations Tom!

Visit with the Frankovis Family

We were visited by Matt, Meg, and Dylan Frankovis last weekend (June 12-14) and had a wonderful time. Dylan is getting so big and is a happy, mobile baby. We explored the Springboro area and had plenty of hot tub time.

Sky Fort Under Construction

Cari and I spend the weekend working on constructing a play system (the Sky Fort) for Cassie and Tommy. We finished approximately 60% of the project, as you can see in the pictures. I believe that if a marriage can survive Sky Fort construction it can survive almost anything (and we came through with flying colors so far). We hope to complete it over the next couple of weeks. We need to add the monkey bars to the left, a swing bar to the right, a slide and rock wall to the front, and a "crow's nest" lookout area above the swing bar.

Follow our progress in pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/jason.c.eckert/SkyFortConstruction#

Backyard Projects Near Completion!

After weeks of work, our backyard projects are near completion. The garden is in and growing, the paver patio looks great, and side beds are mulched. We put together our patio set, fire pit, and anti-gravity chairs. The irrigation system is done and calibrated (controlled by a panel in our garage and includes a rain sensor).

Pictures of the project from start to today may be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/jason.c.eckert/YardProject2009#.

Our last significant step is to construct Cassie and Tommy's play system. An area bound by timbers has been created for it (see below). We plan to construct the sky fort, which is currently in our garage, this weekend.

Early June Updates

We are really enjoying the start to summer, including fun times with neighborhood friends (including Elizabeth and Jenna, pictured above with Cassie and Tommy). Both Cassie and Tommy have been enjoying swimming lessons at the YMCA. Tommy is enjoying a summer science program at the Bombeck Center and also starts t-ball next month. Cassie finishes kindergarten this Friday and starts summer camp (also at the YMCA) next Monday. We have also been enjoying weekend trips to Kings Island, which has both an amusement and a water park.

Backyard Project Update

Progress continues on our backyard project. Our crew (from O'Heil Irrigation) continues to make excellent (if slow) progress. The irrigation system is in and the garden area (see lower left corner of the above picture) is in. Cari spent today planting our tomatoes, squash, green beans, cucumbers, peppers, strawberries, and spices. We hope the project wraps up in the next week. To see more updated pictures (updated every few days) see http://picasaweb.google.com/jason.c.eckert/YardProject2009#

Backyard Under Construction

We have started a major backyard renovation project. We are installing an irrigation system, adding a paver patio with a bench wall, extending planting beds, and starting a garden. There is much commotion and many machines involved. We are very excited about the project, which is scheduled to be done late next week. (No, we are not doing the work ourselves, although we will be adding many of the plants after it is done.)

You may follow the start to finish pictures of the project (I am updating the pictures every few days) on Picasa: http://picasaweb.google.com/jason.c.eckert/YardProject2009#

Dayton Dragons Trip

We took our first trip to a Dayton Dragons game on Friday night. The Dragons are the Cincinnati Reds "A" affiliate and play in beautiful Fifth Third Field in downtown Dayton. The kids had a great time and stayed into the ninth inning! They also really enjoyed watching and meeting the Dragons' mascots, Heater and Gem.

Dragons games are very entertaining. The stadium is intimate -- all seats are close to the action. There are also many family-friendly features and between innings promotions.

Bowling is not a sport. –Defining the Criteria for Classifying Sports–

Bowling is not a sport.
–Defining the Criteria for Classifying Sports–
by Matthew Bachmann
Special to the Weekly Eckstra

Bowling is not a sport. Neither is billiards. Golf – not a sport. These are all competitive activities.

I have been working on a theory that proposes a subtle, yet distinct difference between a sport and a competitive activity. Your natural tendency will be to refute the theory, dig for technicalities that expose its flaws, or simply dismiss it as poppycock. That’s a great word. Challenging the theory is expected. It’s never been published for mass critique, and we’ll see if it holds up. Here goes:

Criteria for Sport Status
To be classified as a sport, the contest must meet 2 of 3 criteria. Any two. In any order. It’s that simple:

1. Participants that are physically fit have a clear advantage. (“fit advantage”)
2. Physical contact between competitors is expected during the natural course of play. (“contact”)
3. The contest is governed by time. In other words, it’s a timed event or has a game clock. (“timed”).

Now let’s try it out.

Golf. Not timed. No contact. Fit advantage debatable. NOT a sport.

Swimming. Timed. No contact. Fit advantage is huge. A sport.

Baseball. Not timed. Contact, yes. Fit advantage for sure. A sport.
(Note: Some could debate me here using a “fat baseball guys” retort. My response to that is if physical fitness didn’t give baseball players a clear advantage there would never have been a steroids era.)

Tennis. Not timed. No contact. Fit advantage for sure. NOT a …Yes it is a sport.

Tennis is part of the “net” exception, the one exception that proves the rule (proves the theory). The “net” exception states that if the contest uses a net at the centerpiece of competition, the contest only needs to meet 1 of the 3 criteria for Sport status. That means Tennis and Volleyball are sports as they meet the fit advantage criteria, while Table Tennis and Badminton are not sports as one can’t build a case for a strong fit advantage.

As my sports classification theory was formed, other criteria were considered, but ultimately discarded for a variety of reasons. For the sake of full disclosure, here are the rejected criteria:

1. Has a Hall of Fame
2. Is shown on ESPN
3. Requires participants move within an area greater than X (X still to be defined)
4. Uses a spherical object
5. Has some sort of governing body (“league”) or administrative entity that keeps official statistics or rankings providing participants the ability to evaluate their performance against others.

I encourage your feedback. And let’s not get too technical people. When you stop to think about it, it shouldn’t be that hard. It isn’t rocket science. And rocket science isn’t a sport.


About the Author: Matthew Bachmann develops, shapes and manages creativity for a living. His resistance to blogs, Facebook and all things social media is something he’s working on. Bachmann’s currently working on a 15th Anniversary Director’s Cut of the legendary Turtle Creek Farm video. View the grainy 4:00 trailer at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLNOGEGD_Wc

Notes: The fit advantage criteria was loosely formed by myself and my colleagues. Credit to the “all on the field” blog for defining it in a tighter way. Also, baseball is the most unique of all the major sports as it is the only one where 1) managers wear the uniform, 2) there’s no game clock, and 3) the defense controls the ball, not the offense.

Surprise Visit from Uncle Todd

Cari's brother Todd paid us a surprise visit on Wednesday. Todd decided to travel to Dayton for business at the Air Force base in the morning and joined us for dinner that night (at Rusty Buckets near the Dayton Mall). He also came out to the house and became our first guest to use the new hot tub. We had a wonderful time (and always welcome surprise visitors)!

Jason Hates My Cat

Jason Hates My Cat
by “Weird” Dave Borchardt
Special to the Weekly Eckstra

It’s not a secret: Jason hates my cat.

I can say with a high degree of confidence on behalf of the cat the feeling is mutual. Most cat owners will agree, though, a cat’s hatred is often, in is most redeeming quality, equal opportunity based. Just like most other felines in the world, my cat doesn’t discriminate—he hates just about everybody.

What is unusual to me is that the cat hates Jason.

Jason Eckert is perhaps the most loveable, giant stuffed teddy bear on the face of this planet. This is the same guy who gave his real estate agent a hug--not the one in Milwaukee selling his house--the one in Dayton, Ohio whom he had just met in person the day before.

Suffice to say, Jason Eckert is the one person on this planet who I can think of who potentially has no enemies.

Except my cat.

This mutual disdain isn’t new—it began years ago when Jason and the cat first met in Georgia. In one of life’s little ironies, as the Eckerts were transitioning from Milwaukee to Dayton, my family and I were in the middle of transitioning from Dayton to Texas. In an effort to show some hospitality and to see a friend I hadn’t in so many years, I opened my house to Jason, Cari, Cassi and Tommy to stay for a few days while they checked out the jewel of lower-central southwestern Ohio.

As Jason and Cari had a great deal of house-hunting to do, we went our separate ways during the day. One evening, while enjoying an overpriced coffee and studying for an exam at the local St. Panera Bread Company, I received a phone call from Jason.

“Uhm…Dave….there’s a problem with the cat.” I was concerned. As many of you know, “Uhm…” is what Jason says out loud instead of the four-letter word he his thinking of.

In the course of the conversation it became apparent the cat had somehow attacked Jason and his family and now was holding them hostage. They had locked themselves in a room and from the commotion in the background, it sounded like my cat and a legion of Orcs were trying to break down the door.

No, I am not kidding.

I have owned my cat for more than 10 years now. It weighs a whopping 9 ½ pounds and has no front claws. It has never, and I mean never, drawn blood other than accidentally while jumping from my lap or playing—except for this time.

Next on Fox: when Dave’s cat attacks.

When I arrived at home, I found the cat sitting in front of a door that was normally open. He approached me, rubbed my leg and then went over to his food dish, clearly unconcerned as if to communicate “Cat: one, Jason: zero.”

I cautiously opened the door and found Jason and his family barricaded in my home office. Had Jodi Foster been present, I would have mistaken it for a scene from the movie Panic Room. Every few months or so, you read about a tragic story where, for seemingly no reason, a chimpanzee tears off someone’s face, a panda bear rips off someone’s arm or a tiger mauls an overly flamboyant Las Vegas magician. Apparently, these sorts of situations are not confined to exotic pets—you just don’t hear about my cat in the news.

The attack was a fairly traumatic event for the Eckert kids—at least for Tommy. I was upset, Jason was concerned (Jason never gets above “concerned” for anything short of nuclear war), I believe the cat was in real danger of being strangled by Cari and I was a bit fearful I was next. Needless to say, the cat was confined for the rest of the visit, Cari and Tommy made a visit to the local doc-in-a-box and, hopefully, the physical scars have healed.

I truly still feel bad about the incident. How do you apologize for such a thing? Hallmark doesn’t make a “sorry my cat tried to eat your family” card. The cat still lives with me in Houston and, though we don’t discuss it, I am pretty sure he still hates Jason.

Jason told me a few months ago, long after the incident, Tommy turned to him out of the blue and said, “Daddy, (Dave’s cat) doesn’t like us very much does he?”

Despite what Tommy thinks, the cat hates Jason, but loves Jason’s family.

They’re delicious.

On Dave, His Cat, and His Posting

I hope you enjoyed the first-ever guest posting from a Weekly Eckstra contributor. From time to time I'll mix in guest postings from friends who are frequent readers. (Contact me if you are interested.)

Dave, his wife Diana, and their beautiful daughter Catherine are dear friends of ours. Dave was, in fact, the best man in our wedding. We were very sad to learn that just as we were arriving in Dayton, they were departing for Houston. Notice how I didn't say that the cat was a dear friend of ours? The experience with Scooter was tramautic to say the least. I think the physical scars have just about healed (for the record, both Tommy and Cari were attacked after Tommy somehow accidentally spooked the cat). Rather than actually kill the cat, I kicked him out of the computer area and barricaded our family behind the doors which conveniently separated the computer area from the rest of the family room. We thankfully had a phone and could call Dave home from his coffee/studies.

To her credit, Cari laughed out loud when reading Dave's post. I asked her for her reaction to the column. She said, "That posting is so Dave. I can laugh about it now, although I'll never, ever sleep under the same roof with that cat again." I have a feeling the kids feel the same way (but would love to see the Borchardts in the near future).

Cassie's First Father-Daughter Dance

I had the joy of escorting Cassie to our first Father-Daughter dance as a part of her girl scout troop's annual program. The dance was last Saturday night and was so much fun. I also learned the lyrics to so many Miley Cyrus and Jonas Brothers songs! Cassie seemed to really enjoy herself and also won the raffle drawing for the large princess basket.

Explaining Jason’s Sports Allegiances

Explaining Jason’s Sports Allegiances
A Weekly Eckstra Column

Those of you who know me well know that I am a sports fanatic. I love following so many sports, listening to sports talk radio, playing fantasy football – the list could go on and on. The upcoming NCAA men’s basketball tournament makes March one of my favorite times of the year. Many friends love to poke fun at me over the teams I cheer for and wonder if there is a method for my madness.

To be fair – my odd rooting pattern only applies to college basketball. I am fairly traditional for most sports, cheering mostly for St. Louis-based teams for baseball, the NFL, and the NHL. After living in Milwaukee for nine years, I also tend to cheer for the Packers, Brewers, and Bucks, but not when they are playing for my beloved Cardinals and Rams.

I must admit that I do cheer for a large number of college basketball teams. Part of it has to do with my occupation – not many people work at organizations that also host NCAA Division 1 teams. Imagine how it would feel if your employer had a major basketball program playing on television. (This week we have Wells Fargo taking on SSM Healthcare with the winner facing the winner of the Enterprise-Boeing matchup.) I have been fortunate to attend and work at institutions that have had basketball success during my time there: Saint Louis University, Oklahoma State University, Marquette University, and now the University of Dayton. How do I decide who to cheer for, especially when they play each other? For the most part I adopt a “love the one you’re with” philosophy. In order of preference, I cheer for:

1. Dayton (great young team and hey, they pay the bills)
2. Marquette (worked there for nine years and taught most of the players)
3. Oklahoma State (went to graduate school there)
4. Saint Louis (was an undergrad there)
5. Missouri (grew up in St. Louis with many fans of Mizzou)

I’m thrilled that all but SLU made the tournament. While there are many tournament possibilities, it is likely that Marquette and Missouri will play each other in the second round. I’ll be cheering for Marquette – we’ll see who my bracket predicts as the winner.

Speaking of March Madness and brackets . . . it is sad that only four non-BCS conference schools made the big dance (Dayton, Xavier, BYU, and Butler). You wonder if the “power conferences” have influenced the committee to not select as many “mid-majors” as have been in the tournament in previous years (and for the most part done well). I hope these teams (especially those from the Atlantic-10 Conference) make some noise. Enjoy the college basketball!

Enjoying Our New Hot Tub

We are now the proud owners of our very own hot tub! We purchased this hot tub after a recent visit to the Dayton Home Show (and a surprise tax refund from Uncle Sam). It is a great addition to the back patio and another great reason to visit us!

Cassie Loses Her First Tooth!

On Saturday morning, while visiting Grandma Sandy and Papa Leo in St. Louis, Cassie lost her first tooth! This process took a very long time as Cassie was very reluctant to allow anyone to touch her touch her tooth as it was getting more and more loose. I have a feeling future teeth will come out much more quickly now that Cassie knows that the process does not hurt much and that the tooth fairy brings a crisp $1 bill for a tooth!

We had a very enjoyable weekend in St. Louis. We spent most of the day on Saturday at Todd and Nancy’s house for Matthew and Christine Burns’ baby shower (their son, Matthew Jr., is due in May).

March 14 Update: Cassie lost her second tooth today. She really wiggled this one out quickly. She is now missing to lower front teeth and the Tooth Fairy needed to make change in a hurry!

Balloons are a Gift from Satan

Balloons are a Gift from Satan
A Weekly Eckstra Column


The Devil puts many things in this world to tempt and frustrate us. While not necessarily bad or evil in their own right, these temptations, when enjoyed in excess, can lead to problems. Some examples of this are Facebook, Sprecher products, gourmet ice cream, and pictures of Jennifer Anniston or George Clooney (insert you own favorites here). I’m firmly convinced that balloons are one of the Devil’s gifts, put on this earth to tempt children and eternally frustrate parents.

I hate balloons. I am not the kind of person who likes to hate anything but can’t help but to hate balloons. To clarify, I don’t hate the type of balloons that serve some sort of practical purpose, such as hot air balloons and balloons used in healthcare procedures. I hate your common everyday balloon given to children at parties and restaurants. Nothing good can come out of giving a child a balloon! While balloons produce momentary glee on the faces of children, they ultimately lead to sadness, tears, and depression. I speak from firsthand experience. Once Cassie received a helium-filled balloon from the local Applebees (Tommy was still a baby). After we reached our next destination and opened her car door, the change in air pressure sucked her balloon out of the SUV and into the heavens. Tears and a fit ensued and we eventually drove five miles back to the restaurant for a new one.

We just experienced a reenactment of this situation. On Sunday, we enjoyed lunch at Red Robin in St. Louis with my parents and cousin Johnny. Red Robin has a plethora of brightly colored balloons at the entrance of the restaurant. (Satan is obviously a leading investor for Red Robin, along with his financial holdings of Applebees and TGI Fridays.) We told the children that they could not have a balloon because we are traveling and were about to depart for Datyon. We ultimately gave in, mostly because Tommy refused to go to the bathroom until he was granted a balloon (hey, I’m a softie and a four-year-old who consumed four cups of lemonade really needs to go to the bathroom before the start of a six-hour drive.) As we got the kids into the car, I thought to myself, “How long are these balloons going to make it.” The answer was about two hours. For the first two hours of the trip, the kids beat each other with their balloons and took turns using their balloon to block the view of the screen of the DVD player. We stopped for gas and a break in Central Illinois. When the door to the minivan opened Tommy’s red balloon was sucked up into the atmosphere. I tried in vain for a couple of seconds to grab it as Tommy’s tears had already begun. Cari tried to help, saying, “It’s okay Tommy. We’ll get you another balloon . . . someday.”

Even if they make it home, balloons simply don’t last. They either pop from playing with them or lose air the first night they are in the house. Balloons are also a source of frustration at one of our favorite local all-you-can-eat buffets. A creepy clown often works the crowd at this restaurant, giving balloon hats to the children (and also to the super hot women). He wears a big button that reads, “I’m paid only by your tips.” I should ignore this but always find myself paying the scary man a dollar. The buffet balloons not only cause problems (such as getting caught in the mac-n- cheese and dessert selections); they also cost me money!

Balloons also cause me problems from friends who know how much I hate balloons. “Former” dear friends and EckSpot subscribers Matt and Meg Frankovis decided to introduce chaos by purchasing a balloon for Cassie during our recent trip to the Wisconsin Dells. The problem was that they bought a balloon only for Cassie, not for Tommy nor the other two children who were with us. As you can imagine, Cassie did her “I have something Tommy does not have” dance and the three kids without balloons were none too happy. I bought a balloon for Tommy which was somehow defective, causing more crying. The restaurant replaced Tommy’s balloon (they actually have a little machine that defrauds parents out of $1 for a balloon), although I refused to talk to Meg or Matt for a good five minutes.

Nothing personifies Satan’s involvement in our lives more so than balloons. I suppose the actions of airline executives, parking attendants, and most elected officials come close. The next time you see a balloon, think of me pulling my graying hair out!

American Baglady Airlines

American Baglady Airlines
A Weekly Eckstra Column

Welcome to the first-ever official edition of the Weekly Eckstra. As I write this I am flying over the American Southwest, on an American Airlines flight from Phoenix to Dallas which will hopefully connect me to a flight back home to Dayton. While some of you were predicting that the first column would focus on a certain long anticipated anti-balloon rant (still to come), I decided to instead describe my experience flying to Phoenix on Friday.

If you have not flown in some time you may not realize that like many airlines, American Airlines now charges you to check a bag. The fee is $15 for the first bag and $25 for a second. I am unfortunately not blessed with the ability to travel lightly and also had many materials to bring with me for my presentation (to the University of Dayton Phoenix Alumni Chapter). Thus the need to check a bag.

Despite the unnecessary revenue enhancement collected by American, the check in process was no problem. Boarding the plane was. You see, on this particular flight (from Dayton to Dallas) nearly every passenger decided to avoid checking a bag by carrying all of their possessions on board the aircraft. People had plastic shopping bags, duffle bags, laptop cases, overstuffed purses, pillows, and more. In addition, people had the large but just small enough to cram into the overhead bin after 30 seconds of grunting rolling suitcases.

The overhead bins quickly filled and a minor state of panic set in. American Baglady Airlines offered to check anyone’s bag for a fee, an offer no one accepted. People were angry when asked to put their bags in overhead bins past their seat locations where there was a little space (this would delay the deplaning process by at least 35 seconds). Passengers were rushing about stuffing their belongings in every possible opening.

Ultimately the situation did work itself out, although the flight crew could not close the doors and push back until all of the “Wal-Mart shoppers” had gotten completely situated. I honestly don’t blame the people for trying to save a few bucks during a recession and also avoid the risk of lost luggage. I blame American Baglady Airlines for creating the policy which produced the chaos. If revenue is tight, increase the airfare by $15 rather than shaking every nickel and dime out of us. And while you are at it – let’s find a way to actually let us listen to our "portable electronic devices" for the vast majority of the flight!

Tommy and Cassie Can Ski! (2009 Ski Trip Report)

We recently had a great time on our annual family and friends ski trip, this year to the Wisconsin Dells area. It was quite the extended weekend of skiing and waterpark adventures. The big news from the trip is that both Cassie and Tommy entered the trip in more lessons and left as decent young skiers! By the last day of our trip green runs were no problems and easier blues were also an option. Cari and I are very proud of the kids!

There were also many humorous moments on the trip, such as this moment when Johnny climbed into the corn fields near one of the ski areas. I added a fun caption for effect.

We were so glad that Meg, Matt, and godson Dylan Frankovis joined us for the trip as well. Meg skied with us for one day and was quickly up to speed. She was so proud of herself!

The Winner Is -- The Weekly Eckstra!

Voting ended last week on the poll to name my new column on EckSpot. The clear winner is

The Weekly Eckstra

Thanks to those of you who voted. Special thanks to Mr. Matt Bachmann who came up with the winning name.

Now comes the hard part -- writing a column each week. I'll be honest in that I doubt there will be a new one each and every week week. It is a good goal and I'll pledge to do my best. I already have a running list of topics. I certainly welcome your suggestions and even guest column contributions from EckSpot regular readers. You are also welcome to start a dialogue by using the comment feature (the whole point of a blog, right?) What will I be writing about? Things that interest me in terms of things the kids are doing, sports, national/world events, pet peeves, fun stories, etc. I realize that this column probably won't be read by that many people (which was reinforced by someone from my almost immediately family who told me that he didn't vote because he doubted he would ever ready it). Perhaps more and more people will read if the columns are funny and have quality. We'll see.

Send me an e-mail (jason.c.eckert@gmail.com) if you'd like to be notified when a new column is posted.

As always I welcome feedback and ideas!

Jason Turns 34!

Jason's birthday is Monday, February 9. We had a wonderful weekend with Jason's parents, Leo and Sandy, who were visiting from St. Louis. They took the kids to see Madagascar 2 on Saturday and allowed Jason and Cari to go out for a date night. They also stayed in town to see Cassie's third basketball game on Sunday afternoon (more on that story in another blog post). Jason's big gifts were a wireless headset for work and the MLB TV package from Leo and Sandy and ski boot heater/dryers and a UD sweater vest from Cari and the kids. The cake (pictured above) is from MacArthur's Bakery in St. Louis and features the UD Flyer (thanks Mom and Dad).

We are also gearing up for our big annual ski trip. We leave for the Wisconsin Dells on Thursday morning and are skiing Friday-Monday at Cascade and Devil's Head. We are very excited to return to the Wisconsin slopes and visit with friends and family members. This year we are being joined by Todd and Nancy Burns, Brad Burns, Katie Stevenson, Johnny Eckert, the Moore Family, and the Frankovis Family.

EckSpot Turns 1!

Happy Birthday to EckSpot! A year ago this weekend I launched the blog, replacing our older family website. To date the site has received almost 1900 hits! We are very pleased with the site and so appreciate all of you for visiting and following the adventures of our family on the web. Keep visiting and by all means send me suggestions.

What will year two of EckSpot bring? I'm glad you asked:

1. The launch of the "occasional sports and life commentary" portion promised in EckSpot's header. I plan to post a weekly column on something of interest to me (and hopefully you). I asked a few creative friends and EckSpot readers (Matt Bachmann, Dave Borchardt and Matt Frankovis) to suggest titles for the column. Rather than pick one I am going to post a poll on the site and will go with the winning selection. The four finalists are:

- The Weekly Eckstra
- Eck’s Box
- Seven Days, One Thought
- I Love Cities That Begin with "S"

Stay tuned for the poll!

2. The addition of Google AdSense (which was actually live as of two weeks ago). This service places ads from Google in the lower right side of the page. When a visitor clicks on one of the ads, I earn something like one-millionth of a penny. Perhaps it will add up to enough to buy a Diet Pepsi to enjoy while writing my new weekly column.

3. Even more family updates, pictures, and videos. Now that Cassie has her own real pink digital camera, and Tommy has a nice toy version, the sky is the limit!

Thanks for reading and please watch for more EckSpot fun during year two!

Jason

Dylan Frankovis Rocks!

Over the weekend we took a trip to Milwaukee attend the baptism of Dylan Frankovis, Jason's new godson and the son of our friends Matt and Meg Frankovis. Dylan is an absolute sweetie and the baptism and party were wonderful. We also had the opportunity to spend time with 30 friends on Saturday afternoon at Organ Piper Pizza. It was a great weekend, and the King holiday on Monday allowed us a chance to catch up and relax.

EckSpot as Wordle

I have found a favorite website of the day -- http://www.wordle.net/. This site allows you to create text art (also known as word bubbles) out of a document or website. Very cool. I put EckSpot into the Wordle applet and created the following images. Enjoy!