Thank You, Stan Lee.

I clenched my hands, summoning energy from the sun, growing more and more powerful by the second.  My enemies had me surrounded, but they didn't know that they were about to be engulfed in a huge storm of psionic energy that would tear them apart.

"I said...GET BACK!"

I throw my hands up to the sky, releasing a wave of solar gathered power all across my backyard, destroying the robots who had come to lock me up, for fear that I was not safe, and that my abilities needed to be suppressed.

Of course all of this was imagined; just a chance to go outside and pretend that I was one of the heroes I found in another Marvel comic book.

On Monday, Stan Lee, one of the greatest creative minds of the past 50 years passed away.  Scrolling through social media as well as National Headlines, it becomes clear that the characters that he helped to create have left a colossal imprint on the psyche of America.

While in the DC universe Superman and Batman may be the most recognizable Super-Heroes of all-time, I fell in love with the creations of Spider-Man, The Hulk, and then finally the X-Men.

To me it was the X-Men cartoon that really made me fall in love with this fantasy universe.  I had always enjoyed the idea of fantastical heroes, but something about the X-Men drew me in more than the rest, and I think that something was in how they were made.

I was different from most kids due to my relative size.  I was bigger than most and that made me an outcast at times.  I wanted to fit in, but on some level it always felt like someone would point out something that made me different, that made me not like the rest of the group.

I think that's why so many kids enjoyed those comics, that they always saw a little bit of themselves in the actual build of the characters.  They also saw those characters then battle adversity and eventually succeed.

For most people who are left out of the mainstream, that was a big message.  That even though some people may not like you because you're different, that doesn't stop you from doing the right thing and becoming successful at your own right.

Growing up can be hard at times, but I'll always have Stan Lee to thank for making my life a little easier.

High Expectations On A Rainy Day. Why I'm Looking Forward To Tomorrow's PSU vs. Wisconsin Game

The rain poured down this Friday morning like cold shrapnel, taking the last of the leaves off the tree in my backyard.  It was forming a bit of ice and slush on the porch and on my windshield.  The skies are grey and the level of optimism for the weekend seems to be plummeting with the temperature. 

This Saturday the weather will be in the 30's, cold and wet.  There will be little to no sunshine, and the football team that so many in the area enjoy rooting for has been struggling for over a month since they lost to Ohio State.

Yet all I can think about is how this is another opportunity football team, and it's fans and alumni to prove themselves.  To show up and support one another through another difficult climb.

Will we have enough love for each other that we still want to celebrate?  That we still want to cheer on those athlete's that give it their all for one another and for those who came before them?

I will be attending tomorrow's game against Wisconsin, my first game since the Ohio State loss.  I plan to eat some cheese, and maybe even have a glass of wine or two, and spend some time with friends and family talking about Penn State football, pop culture, and whatever else we want to celebrate. 

A part of me can't wait to show up tomorrow.  I can't wait to show my support for a team that has struggled through this season.  Because I believe we need each other now more than ever.

For the past seven years this community has been healing and bonding, and we have achieved things far faster than anyone expected.  We took the adversity the world had thrown our way and responded by doing the right things day in and day out. 

I couldn't have been happier as two coaches helped push Penn State out of the mire and a positive attitude and an incredible zeal for doing things the right way kept the school and it's alumni together.  Even in the losses and the struggles, you could see that the effort, passion, and exuberance to play for the sake of the game, for the sake of each other was still there.

I believe that tomorrow we will see exactly what type of team we will have to finish this season. 

I do not expect a sell out crowd, I do not expect good weather, and I don't expect Penn State to play anywhere close to a perfect game.

But I do expect us to bring energy and enthusiasm to that stadium tomorrow.  I expect that the fans that show to be loud and passionate just as I expect the players to do the same.  I expect that we don't turn on one another, to point fingers at players and coaches and to instead pick each other up and encourage for the next play.

Penn State football will always be more than wins and losses.  It will always be more than the size of the crowd.  Penn State football, and Penn State athletics in general is about the pursuit of greatness in the face of adversity.  It's about beating odds and not worrying about the weather.  It's about being a great person as well as a competitor. 

It's about doing the things that make each other and ourselves happy.

Tomorrow, win or lose, bad weather and all, I expect that I will leave with a smile on my face.

 

Our First Halloween.

The child looked in my direction with a look of absolute dread.  He had stopped flatfooted, his eyes staring with wide eyed trepidation as to what he was about to encounter.  I smiled behind my mask.

Ever since the purchase of our new home, Halloween was a date that my wife and I knew we wanted to be a part of.  The dressing up and pretending to be things that were mystical and fantastic, beautiful and horrifying.  The days of yesteryear and the present mixing up as vampires, wizards and pirates go door to door with comic book and movie characters. 

It is also a day where friends and families increase their bond. 

I remember Halloween very fondly, where I would go door to door with my best friend Billy, and our parents would drive us from neighborhood to neighborhood so that we could get as much candy as we could.  To us, it was an adventure, to briefly pretend we were something else and to get as much sugar as possible.

Looking back now it seems like we must have gathered literally pounds of it by the time we got home. Our bags full of bite size bits like tootsie pops, gummy bears, various chocolate bars, licorice and more.  It was always exciting to see the newer candies become introduced and to enjoy the latest concoctions from Nestle, Hershey and Mars.

This is a time to create memories that seem to last a lifetime.

So needless to say, I wanted to make an impression.

As we went through the stores looking for decorations, the first thing that came to mind was a fog machine. 

To me, the holiday screams for a mist that shrouds the night further in the shadows, where tricks of the light can help create an atmosphere that's frightening despite the real knowledge that at the end of the day it's all an illusion to get some treats.  The fog machine, I felt, would help add a lot of depth to the occasion.

My first decoration, Bert, the fancy skeleton.

I settled, without much reading, on getting a smaller model I thought would do the trick, as well as a few various light up decorations for general decor.

Oh, and a semi-lame, semi-cool skeleton that shakes its cage as a motion sensor is triggered.  Very cool during the holiday, very annoying if you forget to turn it off after demonstrations to your friends or family.

Decorations in tow, my wife and I begin the set-up.  Lights and cobwebs begin to adorn our front porch, followed quickly by plastic spiders and other various creepy crawlies.  While putting some near the window sill, I notice a real, rather large brown spider run back behind the opened window shutter.  It makes me a bit nervous that I've set him up with more cobwebs to potentially drop from. 

One sheet of cobweb can go a long way.

After some yellow and black warning tape is finally applied, my wife and I are pleased with the set up and anxiously await the 31st.  The house, we believe, will be a success.  I did however fail to test the fog machine, an error I would later regret.

As the day arrives I fill with both excitement and dread alike.  Will everything go as planned?  Will it be as enjoyable as I had hoped?  Was I making too big of a deal about this?  I finally test out the fog machine and am severely underwhelmed.

The machine sputters out just a few sprays before needing to go into a cool down mode.  On top of which, the fog almost immediately dissipates in the open air.  The machine I had gotten was designed as an indoor only model, best used for one room.  A fact that was lost on me at the time of purchase.

I try to think of another way to utilize the fog machine, settling for running the machine inside to obscure the house as the kids would open the door to get the candy.  It still kind of worked, but it also resulted in fog escaping through small vents near the roof and looking like our house was actually on fire.

As a bit of good news, my wife was extremely thankful that a neighbor noticed and came by to make sure everything was OK.

The final touch is a blue tooth speaker playing a "Spooky" playlist off of Spotify.  It adds another festive touch to an already festive scene.

With the night about to begin, I decided that I would not try to scare the kids by jumping out of bushes or anything, but rather take a more subtle approach my just putting my mask on and watching the kids come by.

Patiently Waiting..

For the most part, it was an exercise in extreme patience.  The rain had begun to trickle down and certainly played a factor in how many were willing to brave the streets and for how long.  After about 40 minutes, I had still not been noticed by any trick-or-treater's. But then, finally, he saw me.

The boy looked to be maybe in the second grade, no more than 8 or 9 years old.  An age where you still believe that rabid panda in the window might not be exactly what it seems.  The glow of the soft orange lights and red mesh eyes made it difficult see, but even I could see a look of terrified apprehension. 

Then, my excitement faded, as I had gone too far, and the kid and his parents turned around.

"Allie, go tell them we're here, and to get a bag of chips; they're going away."

My wife volunteered to be the one to actually give out our treats, and with a background in child care she deftly handled the situation, giving the child an extra bag of chips for "finding the panda."

After two hours and roughly 50 guests later, the night is over.   I think about the night in its entirety and I'm pretty happy with how the day went.  I felt that we did a good job of making the night memorable, that years later, the people that visited our house will think about it as a positive experience and one that they might pass on to others.

The finished products.

The Home Of The Brave.

The leaves are no longer a dark green, but seemingly a sun touched yellow that gives the illusion that it is permanently day break outside.

The houses becoming adorned with various gourds and the obligatory carved pumpkins.

The local stores have begun to put out their Christmas decorations in an effort to get people in the spirit to spend, spend, spend.

In grocery stores and coffee shops, cinnamon spiced treats, seasonal beers, and the newest variations of pumpkin spiced lattes get introduced.

The chatter changes from what you did on vacation, to where will you be for the holidays in November and December.

It seems almost like your standard fall in good ol' US of A.

Except this year also involves the mid-term elections.  One of the true opportunities the citizenry of the country has to actually change how the government operates.

In front lawns and rear bumpers, the names of political candidates are plastered about, letting other people know who they support.

For the past few months I've done my best to stay out of politics and talk and type about other things.  Things that I can actually affect.  I can't vote out people in July or September.  But come this November that can change.

The America that I believe in is one that believes in easy immigration, one that risks the outsider coming to this country because no matter where you were born, you are welcome here.  That you can live in peace here, no matter what religion you practice, if you practice at all. 

If a caravan of immigrants is coming to America in search of a better life, to seek asylum, to seek peace, we should be welcoming and doing all that we can to help those that are so desperate that they would risk death to come here and find peace.

If we hold true to the idea that all are created equal, and that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are true inalienable rights, then we must be a country that makes it easy to come to and become a citizen. 

Hostilities and fear directed at the outsider coming to America is not unusual, but that doesn't make it good.  The far better model is one of inclusion, that takes the incoming assets and makes use of them in a way that is better for everyone. 

I understand that taking care of others and helping them assimilate can be difficult, but those are the values of America.  To give people a sense of freedom and liberty as opposed to the places they are from.

We need not be a fearful country, that we may let people from all religions and origins congregate under one roof and not fear that one will act against the other, for the American belief should be that all are free, and all are welcome here. 

Sadly over the past few years we have seen that not to be the case.  Hate crimes and tension are clearly on the rise including the recent attacks in Pittsburgh, as well as the bomb attempts made against the President's self-declared "Enemies of the People."

Some talk about Jews, Blacks, the uneducated, Christians, Muslims, Whites as though they are all different species and outsiders rather than a kindred human spirit. 

It is this culture that I choose to vocalize against. 

There are others that will care more about the economy.  Perhaps you care about guns, or gay rights, or how we allocate our taxes, and those are all worthwhile discussions.

But at the very core of America, we need to decide if we will continue in the spirit of equality and freedom, or if we will be restricting and controlling this country, with the use of force, who is free and who is not.

There is a large group of people who want to come to America, that have heard stories about how it doesn't matter where you're from, who your parents were, or what you believe.  That America is a country that will welcome you if you are willing to help one another and not trespass against another person's rights. 

I for one do not care where people are from because to me, you are a human being first and as such, you deserve to be respected and treated as my equal, as a brother or sister. 

As Tuesday approaches, think about the world we live in today and think about what the right response is when a stranger approaches you for help.  Will you help that stranger, or will you turn your back out of fear or anger?

If America is truly a land of the brave then we will not fear the immigrants and outsiders that come to our doorstep.  We welcome them.

Preparing For A Change In Season.

The chills settle in quickly, as though they had been there all along, just waiting for the sun to finally, gently settle in the distance. 

At first the cool air breezes into the bedroom nights comfortably, almost soothingly.  The colors of leaves turning and falling, seems like a slow motion ballet of the universe, where we bear witness to another change of the season.

Then a rainy day comes and goes and you're able to see the leaves change.  The sun remains out but no longer carries the weight that it did in August and September.

As time passes a growing sense of anticipation of what comes next begins to settle upon the consciousness.

It sends a reminder to the soul that slight chills will become an outright cold.  That the need for warmth and heat will become paramount.  That the days will become filled with less sun, and more of a bitterly dark sky.

The pessimist in me, the depression in me, it all gives off a sense of dread that I know that I'll have to combat.

I think the best way to do that is to find the sunshine in the snow and to rely on the relationships of friends and family.  That despite the oncoming weather and grey skies, try and find the beauty and positive in it rather than focusing on the obvious negatives, and share your positive feeling with those close to you.

For example, while over the next week the weather calls for 50 degrees, clouds and off and on rain, my wife and I will be shopping for our first Halloween house decorating experience. 

This may sound small for you, but to us it's a big deal.  It will be our first opportunity to show our neighbors a bit of our own personality.  We want to be known as a great family-friendly place in our community and to enjoy the experience the same way we did when we were children. 

I have no idea what the costs of things will be, what ideas I can or can't execute.  I'm going through the process a bit blind.  For this reason it kind of excites me, that this can be its own little adventure to write and share.  How many skeletons will be in my yard?  Do we have power outlets to give off creepy lights, sounds or fog?  Will I go super adult and play a live part and try to jump out to scare the kids?

Later there will be Thanksgiving, Christmas, and I'm sure some birthdays to celebrate. The point being there will be opportunities to enjoy life despite the dropping temperatures.

The earth can be an unforgiving force sometimes.  The weather will undoubtedly have an affect on not only myself, but many others.  However it's important to recognize that there are things we can do about it to help ourselves through it, and when it gets cold, we have the options to become close to others and share in the warmth.

Why Saquon Barkley Was A Better Pick Than A Quarterback.

Saquon Barkley does not need me to write this article to validate him. 

He is, without question, already one of the most exciting players to watch, routinely making the national highlight reels game after game with plays that defy the imagination. 

While scoring two touchdowns, overlooked was a 30 yard run where he made two defender miss, explodes through two, would be, tacklers, before finally being tackled by 3 defenders.

He is leaping over linemen, juking linebackers and overpowering secondaries. 

He does not, however, play the most important position in football.  He does not play quarterback.

The question in the 2018 draft became what quarterback should go first?  The gamer in Baker Mayfield?  The groomed product in Sam Darnold?  The athlete in Josh Allen?  Maybe the prodigy in Josh Rosen.

Much of the talk surrounding the draft and post draft has been about whether or not Saquon Barkley will end up being a better pick than those quarterbacks, and really, if he's better than all of them. 

After watching the Giants first few games it has become clear to me that Eli Manning is on his last legs and that the offensive line is still a work in progress.  They have started 1-4 and in all likelihood will miss the playoffs. 

But I think they're turnaround will be right around the corner, especially when you look out west at the LA Rams as well as the Kansas City Chiefs. 

Those two teams are currently dominating the league thanks to a two pronged plan that balances a running and passing attack. 

Both have dominant young running backs AND quarterbacks.

I believe that Saquon is the best running back in the league, that if he played on a team with a dominant or balanced team, that there would be no disputing his talent.

If the Giants get their young quarterback next year, I believe they will be just one or two years from becoming a dominant force in the league for years to come.

I believe that right now the new crop of quarterbacks entering the league are far better than the ones exiting, and you are just as likely to get a franchise QB in next year's draft as you were in this one. 

For arguments sake, let's say the Giants miraculously turn around their season. There are at least six quarterbacks that potentially could be drafted in the first round.  Just like last year, it's still a bit of a crap shoot as to who will have the best career.

If the Giants finish with one of the six worst records in the NFL, then there is an incredibly high chance that they could draft a "Franchise" quarterback next year.  However there is not another Saquon Barkley.  There really isn't anything close.  His combination of size, speed, agility, hands and intangibles hasn't been seen in the NFL for some time.  Some have compared him to LaDainian Tomlinson and Barry Sanders. 

I acknowledge that quarterback is a more important position than running back, but I think it's also important to acknowledge that the position is far harder to grade than running back.  The closest thing there was to a first round pick was Peyton Manning and even in that draft some analysts thought Ryan Leaf was close to being better.

While players like Carson Wentz and Jarrod Goff look like MVP's over the past two years, neither looked good during their rookie campaigns. They were, at the very least, inconsistent.

My point being that QB's are as big a risk as ever in the first round and that you are just as likely if not more so to draft a dud in that first spot as you were to hit it big in the late first to early second rounds.

Nothing was closer to a sure thing than Saquon Barkley.  Time will tell whether or not he captures the Hall Of Fame career that many envision for him, but he's far closer to a sure thing than any of the quarterbacks that have been drafted over the past 4 years.

Documentary Review: Overturning Roe Vs. Wade

There is probably no more important documentary to watch right now. 

The story begins in a present day courthouse.  A woman is arguing vehemently about what motherhood has meant for her.  How beautiful the experience was for her, how incredible it made her feel. 

Here in the Texas House of representatives, it seems like the woman, will side with the men who hate the idea of abortions based specifically on religious grounds, and a graphic rhetoric for some late term abortions.

However in a turn of events, despite her strong feelings on motherhood, she insists that she does not believe that her situation needs to be the same as every other woman's. 

From there, the documentary takes off and takes us down the rabbit hole of the most divisive, and least spoken about issue today.

Historians, religious leaders, activists from both sides, and everyday people tell their versions of a law that is most certainly in jeopardy, that according to economists, may have helped solve the crime epidemic of the 1990's.


Incredibly profound observations from the feminist movement in the seventies.

It talks about how in the early stages of the issue, that Republicans thought that the Government had no vested interest in telling a woman what to do with their pregnancy.  They go on to explain as to why their politics would go on to change.

After about an hour we get to the essential argument of Roe Vs. Wade. 

While it gets to the crux of the argument it becomes clear as to why a conservative court would have a 7-2 decision in favor of legalizing abortion.  It is argued that the state should be interfering less in people's lives, that the state has no interest in controlling the population.

From there the story changes to the perspective of the religious right, it shows the anger of some people who became so filled with rage that they would go on to commit heinous crimes.

The story can be extremely personal, as a woman talks about caring a fetus to term that was going to be born without arms and legs, to the graphic imagery and language of "partial-birth"abortions, but through it all it manages to keep a professionalism through the story to tell it as objectively as possible.

The story comes together fully, with amazing footage and interviews that come across as unabashedly honest.  It tells as whole a story as you could hope for in a little over an hour and thirty minutes.

If you want to understand the issue of why the Supreme Court is so important today, please do yourself a favor and watch this film.