Favorite TV Sitcoms

This is a blog that I saved from MySpace that I decided to update and repost:

Mom and I were talking about our favorite TV sitcoms.  These were among my favorites, beginning with shows that went off the air no earlier than 1990.  Many of the shows were in blocs that aired on ABC Friday (TGIF), NBC Thursday, and CBS Monday.  I'm sure of the nights and most of the dates, but some of the dates are approximate.  Most would probably consider these nights to be the best on TV over the last 20 years.  If anyone has any feedback, let me know.

Top 10 (Not in any particular order)

Married with Children, FOX Sunday, 1987-97

3rd Rock from the Sun, NBC, 1995-2001
Two and a Half Men, CBS Monday and Thursday, 2003-
Boy Meets World, ABC Friday, 1993-2000
Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, NBC Monday, 1991-96
Becker, CBS Monday, 1998-2004
Cosby Show, NBC Thursday, 1984-92
Perfect Strangers, ABC Friday and Tuesday, 1986-93
Full House, ABC Friday and Tuesday, 1987-95
Modern Family, ABC Wednesday, 2009-

Next 10 Best (Not in any particular order)

Seinfeld, NBC Thursday, 1991-98

Cheers, NBC Thursday, 1982-93
Step-by-Step, ABC Friday, 1991-97
Family Matters, ABC Friday, 1989-97
Everybody Loves Raymond, CBS Monday, 1996-2005
King of Queens, CBS Monday, 1998-2007
According to Jim, ABC Tuesday, 2001-
Home Improvement, ABC Tuesday, 1991-98
Blossom, NBC Monday, 1990-95
George Lopez, ABC Tuesday, 2002-07

Animated Sitcoms

The Simpsons, FOX Sunday, 1989-

King of the Hill, FOX Sunday, 1997-2010

2013 Year-in-Review

Cousin Nikki and Andrew, who were living in Maryland, moved back to Ohio in March, buying a home near the Portage Lakes.  Soon afterwards, Nikki announced she was expecting her first child.  I went to see her house a few times, once in May and once in August.

 

On March 15, Deacon Michael Petrochuk was ordained as a Minister of the Episcopal Church and a Friday evening service was held in his honor, with a reception afterwards.

In May, Aunt Kathy asked me if I wanted to re-stain the deck at her home, which I decided to pursue.  I had to fight a rainy two months in June and July before the weather dried out around the beginning of August.  It paid a lot better than what I make at work, plus she saved a lot by not having to hire a professional.

Dad took time off of his job at Maaco in late June to due chest and leg pains.  He ended up getting two stints put in at the Cleveland Clinic on July 26 and decided to retire following that.  This led him to sell his toolbox, some tools, and car (Mom and Dad will share a car from now on).  I will post a separate post regarding the sell of his car.

August was the best month of the year by far.  I worked three eight hour shift to start the month, which was also the first three days of Acme's meat sale.  After that, I was on vacation from August 4 to 10.  I finished working on the deck on Monday and got my final check for it, which was great since I was getting ready to leave on vacation with Scott.  Scott picked me up at my house on Tuesday morning as we headed off to New York state.  We stopped for lunch at Bob Evans in Jamestown before getting to Oneneta to check into the Clarion Hotel around 5:30 p.m.  We got dinner at Subway before relaxing at the hotel the rest of the evening.  On Wednesday, we drove to Norwalk to see the Northeast Classic Car Museum before heading to Cooperstown.  We got lunch at a small restaurant in town before heading to the National Baseball Hall-of-Fame and Museum around 1pm.  Scott brought his nice camera with him and we got over 200 great pictures.  The entire experience was awesome, so I couldn't say that I had a favorite part.  After leaving the HOF-Museum around 5pm, we stopped at some sporting goods shops in the downtown before driving back to Oneneta.  After getting back, we had dinner at a local Italian restaurant and returned to the hotel for the evening.  We drove back on Thursday, stopping for lunch at Panera along the way.

I returned to work on Sunday, but I still had the BHS 10-Year Class Reunion to look forward to on Saturday, August 17.  It was held at Loyal Oak Park from 3 to 8pm.  It cost $15, which included pizza, pasta, salad, chicken, and jo jos from Fat Boy's, which tasted pretty good.  Many class reunions cost up to $60, but by eliminating the fancy meal, pre-paid alcohol, paper invitations, and postage, we saved at lot of money.  Most of the reunion was planned on Facebook, but Stephanie (class president) placed two ads in the Barberton Herald shortly before the reunion to make sure people who weren't on Facebook were aware of the reunion.  Stephanie was also smart by having a long one day event, instead of two evening events.  After leaving the park, we spent the evening at David B's.  I had two beers and left around 1am.  About 50 graduates and 10 guests attended, most to both events. 

I had a short night because the next morning at 10am, St. Andrew's had their annual church service and picnic at Columbia Woods Park.  It was a nice time as usual.

I started the Spring 2013 semester with two classes, Visual Design Literacy and Political Methods, both three hours classes.  PM was on Monday and Wednesday and VDL was on Tuesday and Thursday, so I had to drive to Kent four days a week for only two classes.  The first class was smooth sailing to earning an A, but I never completed the second class due to technical difficulities and conflicts with my work schedule.  I ended up dropping the class in March and decided to change my major from Broadcast Journalism (School of Journalism) to Applied Communication (School of Commuication) because it was more commuter friendly.  I considered returning to the University of Akron, but they started to require a 14 hour foreign language requirement for communication majors starting the Fall 2011 semester.

I signed up for a summer school course, Criticism of Public Discourse, but it was canceled due to low enrollment.  I then signed up for Visual Design Media, but it was also canceled due to low enrollment, so I decided to take it online.  After hassling with tech issues for three days, I canceled the online cours and decided to take the summer off.

I started the Fall 2013 semester with four classes, each three credit hours, since I fell behind during the past calendar year.  The courses are Foundations of Communication, Into to Technical Writing, and Communication Theory.  All classes were held Tuesday and Thursday, but I had a 3.5 hour gap between the first two.  There is also an online class, Information Fluency in the Workplace and Beyond.  I finished the semester with As in Technical Writing and Communication Theory, a B+ in Foundations of Communications, and a C- in Info Fluency.

In January, I found out I had to get hernia surgery, which had to be performed laproscopically above the right groin area.  I scheduled the surgery on March 27, since I was on Spring Break from Kent State.  It was also good timing so I would be home for my birthday, Easter, the end of March Madness, and the beginning of baseball season.  I was off of work for three weeks as I recovered.  I was eligible for sick pay from the UFCW, plus I took a week of paid vacation from Acme.  I returned to work on April 16 and was back lifting as usual in early May.  I was looking forward to going swimming again this summer with co-workers at Dogwood, but due to Matt working another job, we never got anything together.

Acme offered a buyout to full-time employees in February, which cashier Beth took, in addition to three deli associates.  The deli also transfered three associated out, with another leaving a few months later.  Long-time assistant manager, Tony, was transfered to Norton Acme 6 at the end of March.  The manager, Bernie, retired on Sept. 6 as well as packer Newman.  Grocery stock man, Jim, retired from Acme the following day.  Other long time associates left this year, including Sherise, Dianna, and Una.  Several new associates were hired in May and a bunch more in October and November.

The holiday season was slightly different this year than in past years.  Instead of going to Grandma Maybin and Susie's house on Black Friday, we met at Aunt Kathy's house.  Also, cousin Krissy decided not to make the trip to Barberton for Thanksgiving and Christmas, instead opting to wait until Nikki's baby arrived.  I didn't get to see Dad's family this year, only getting to talk to them on the phone or on Facebook on some occasions.

2013 Fantasy Football Review

The 2013 season marked the second season that my fantasy football team, Big Mike Boyz, participated in the Damn D Fest's league, started by Matt D. in 2008.  In late July, the annual draft lottery was held at David B's in Barberton to determine the draft order of the 12 participants, which is done in a snake format (draft order reverses from round to round).  A month later, the draft was held at Greg and Mario's house, where we paid our $100 entry fee, up from $80 last season.  The extra money was used to compensate both the team with the best regular season record and the post-season champion.  There were two new owners in the league this season, Tyler (Acme co-worker) and Kyle (Matt's BHS friend).

The championship, won by Lee, was held in Week 16 since many NFL teams would be resting their starters in Week 17.  Lee had a big turn-around this season, after finishing tied for last place during the 2012 season.  Nick missed the postseason and had a losing season for the first time in the league's six season history.  Big Mike's Boyz overcame a low draft grade in 2012 to make the postseason, but that would not be the case in 2013.  Big Mike Boyz finished last place (12th) with a 2-11 record, only beating Kyle and Corey's teams, who finished in 10th and 11th place respectively, with 4-9 and 3-10 records.  My biggest undoing was drafting four players from the Atlanta Falcons, who went from being a potential Super Bowl pick in the preseason, to finishing 2013 with a 4-12 record.

This is a recap of my roster:

QB: I drafted the Falcons' Matt Ryan, who had a solid season.  My backup, Giants' QB Eli Manning, had a disappointing season, but I only started him during Ryan's bye week.

RB: I drafted Ravens' Ray Rice in the first round and he had a down year due to injuries.  Bills' Fred Jackson turned out to be my top RB for the season, with waiver wire pickup, Lions' Joique Bell, giving me a fill-in during bye-weeks.  Rams' RB Zac Stacy gave me a good stats once he got healthy, which happened to be around the time I acquired him.

WR: I drafted Falcons' Julio Jones in the second round, who ended up on the IR with an ACL tear during mid-season.  This led me to trade Rice and Rams' WR Austin Pettis to King Blake in exchange for WR Demaryius Thomas and RB Zac Stacy.  I definitely made out on the better end of this trade, although it was too little, too late for my team.  Vikings' Greg Jennings and Bucs' Mike Williams were both major disappointments, with Williams ending the season on the IR due to an hamstring injury that required surgery.  I picked up Chargers' Eddie Royal off the waiver wire and he was probably one of the most inconsistent fantasy players in the NFL this season.  Titans' Kendall Wright gave me decent stats for several weeks out of the season as a flex WR-TE.

TE: I drafted 37 year-old Tony Gonzalaz, who turned in a solid season in his 16th and last NFL season.

K: I drafted Falcons' Matt Bryant, who gave me a decent season.

D: I drafted the Broncos defense, which was expected to be one of the NFL's best this season.  Unfortunately for me, it turned out to be very average.

The Luminas and My Years of Driving‏

The 1998 Lumina that I took my driving test in, left the driveway of my family's house one last time on August 26, after 12 years in the family (all but 2-3 months of our time living there).  It was sad to see it go, but it had seen its better days and we no longer had use for it.  My mom first purchased the car in July 2001 after having it recommended to her by Dad, in addition to Grandma and Grandpa Webster.  Grandpa Webster drove a 1996 Lumina from 1998-2012.

I got my temps for the first time in March 2001, practicing with Mom's 1989 Chevy Cavalier.  I got to be a pretty good driver with that car, but since it was hard for my parents to get me out for practice, it expired prior to me being able to practice manuability and highway driving.  I renewed my temps the following June and scheduled my driver's test for August 31, the first Friday of my senior year sat Barberton High School.  I didn't have to take driver's ed since I was 18, although my mom later said she wished I had.  After my mom purchased the '98 Lumina she gave my dad the Cavalier, which she drove for the past six years.  My dad had been driving a 1985 Oldsmobile Cutlass Cierra, which was driven by Grandma Muffet before she had to give up driving.  Grandma told me at one time that I could drive her car whenever I wanted it since she did little driving.  After having a stroke in Sept. 2001, my parents decided to keep her car around for me since that was her plan.  However, that car was getting beat up, so the '98 Lumina became the car I drove most days.  Mom couldn't get out when dad worked and I was in school since she was caring for Grandma who was homebound.  I was glad that Grandma rode with me while I practiced driving since she could no longer get out by the time I earned by license.  Her stroke took place in the backseat of the '98 Lumina when we were returning from vacation after visiting family in Louisville, KY.

I got my parking pass for my senior year, which was done on a first-come, first serve basis, instead of class priority as was previously done at BHS.  Since I didn't like going to school early, I usually parked in the gravel S lot (sections of BHS parking were named by letters of the word "Magics"), across Barber Rd. near B&C (which closed in 2007).  I liked it better than parking behind the school anyways because I could drive right out of my spot right after school, although I usually got stuck talking to someone on the way.  The new BHS was only in its third year of existence, so driving in the parking lot was a free- for-all since it had not be regulated yet.  In those days, I still had my first cell phone, a huge Nokia phone that looked like a portable phone.  I used to leave it in the driver's side door compartment since it was too big to carry around, since I only had it for emergencies.  The most bizarre memory of the '98 Lumina was when I slid on ice and into a snow bank.  The insurance company sent someone out to tow it out of the snow bank at no cost.

In Sept. 2004, my parents loved the Lumina so much, they decided to buy another one, this time a 1999 version.  Mom was going to take the new one and give the old one to Dad.  However, I ended up totaling it after falling asleep behind the wheel on the way home from UA in late October.  Dad bought it off the insurance company and remodeled it with help from a few friends.  The project took a year and all three of us shared the Lumina, an experience I would never want to go through again, and it racked up 20,000 miles in that year.  Dad decided to keep it and gave the '98 back to Mom.  I continued to drive it to the UA until graduation in Dec. 2008.  After graduation, I began to save money for my own car and in May 2009, I bought a 2007 Chevy Impala, which is in the same family of Chevy cars as Celebrities and Luminas.

I drove the Lumina once in a long while after that and in Sept. 2012, Mom was tired of the air conditioning giving out on it and decided to buy a new 2012 Chrysler 200.  Dad sold his '99 Lumina and started using the '98 Lumina for another year as a work car until his health caused him to retire in August 2013.  In addition to the memories above, we also drove it on memorable drives to graduations, funeral, and to hang out with friends.

2012 Personal Year-in-Review

This blog makes mention of important events that took place in my life this year, in addition to those written about my week's of paid vacation and going to college.

I had several good moments this year, with both my co-workers and high school friends.

Starting with my co-workers, I started 2012 celebrating New Year's at the home of Matt's sister and brother-in-law, Lauren and Jason.  It was the best New Year's I ever had.  I continued to go swimming this summer with my co-workers from Acme.  After going to Norton's Griffith's Pool in 2011, Austin introduced us to Dogwood Park in North Canton.  I went there three times this summer, usually with Matt, Max, Justin, Austin, Tyler, Todd, Dayne, Sarah, Sara, Jessica, and others (sorry if I forgot to mention your name).  Lauren and Jason, turned 30 this spring and were nice enough to invite me to their birthday party, which was awesome.  I also went to a nice party at Justin's house in June and to Jacob's (aka Hawk) graduation party in July.  I haven't even mentioned playing fantasy football this year with Matt and his buddies (I'll need a separate blog to discuss this, lol).  Megan left Acme this year, but we continued to stay good friends.  We lost Keefe for a few months, but fortunately he found his way back.  Ashley left to stay home with her new son and later decided to come back.  It was a bad year health wise for several older co-workers, but almost all of them have improved by year's end and have returned to work.  I've become more acquanited with some fun new customers too.  I always know who to look for on certain days of the week to come through the checkout.

My friend from high school, Mandi, moved to Colorado in April and she had a nice going away party at the Hunky Club in Barberton.  In December, I went to a Christmas Party at the home of Father George and Kathy Tarsis and ran into several old friends there, including Paul and Megan.  A few weeks later, I got to meet Brett and Josh for the Greynolds Classic.  Sean wasn't able to join us this year, but I got to see Brett's son, Andrew, for the first time.  I'm looking forward to continuing the tradition next year and for many more to come.  Josh and I also met for a few other Magics sporting events, which we continue to enjoy as we're now approaching 10 years out of high school.  Since Adam is living in Streetsboro now, I now meet him on occassion in Kent on my way to school.

I don't have much of a social life at Kent State, but I do have to give a shout out to my new friend, Jesse.  We met in Newswriting this summer and since she's really good at photography, she helped me gets some really nice photos for my assignments.  We also took Law of Mass Communication this fall.

Father Tarsis is retired from St. Andrew's, but Deacon Michael Petrochuk arrived this summer and I enjoy having him around.  He has a good personality, is well-organized, and gives good sermons.  Scott and I continue to usher once a month and we always go to Taco Bell for lunch with his parents on Sundays.  We went on several road trips while I was on vacation, in addition to a trip to the Dennison Train Depot in Tuscarawas County.

A few people I knew passed away this year, including Uncle Larry Hanshaw (a previous blog details this), my former next door neighbor Millie Sharkey, classmate Frank Bochard, and family friend Darah Farris.  Two new cousins were born this year, Jackson (Sarah and Evan's son) in January and Anna (Krissy and Brett's daughter) in November.  Now that Krissy has three daughters, I'm still the only male born into Mom's immediate family (we'll see how long I can make that claim).  Speaking of Anna's birth, it was the week before Thanksgiving, so this was the first Thanksgiving I didn't see Krissy.  Fortunately, her, Brett, and the girls made it for Christmas.  Aunt Kathy and Uncle Tom celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary on June 12 and a surprise party was held for them at Barberton Center Court (a few weeks before it closed).

2012 Fantasy Football

This year was an exciting year for fantasy football as my team, Big Mike Boyz, participated in the Damn D Fest's league, started by Matt D. in 2008.  His friend Jeremy was not available to play this year, so I filled in place of his team.  In late July, a draft lottery was held at David B's in Barberton to determine the draft order of the 12 participants, which is done in a snake format (draft order reverses from round to round).  A month later, the draft was held at Greg and Mario's house, where we paid our $80 entry fee.

Once the season started, Nick got off to a 7-0 record and finished as the regular season champion before losing in the semifinals.  The championship, won by Mario, was held in Week 16 since many NFL teams would be resting their starters in Week 17.  The weird thing is that the 5th and 6th seeded teams played for the championship, both of whom finished the regular season 7-6.  Actually the weirdest thing was Jason starting 0-5 before winning 4 straight with a large number of points.  Big Mike Boyz's finished 4th place with a 7-6 record before losing 100-76 in the first round.  I started the season 4-1, before losing 3 straight and leveling out for the final weeks.  I won $15 the last week of the regular season for finishing with the most points in the league that week.

This is a recap of my roster:

QB: I drafted the Lions' Matt Stafford in the 2nd round and he had a rough start to the season before having a strong finish.  At one point, I had to bench Stafford in favor of Bengals' Andy Dalton.

RB: Dolphins' Reggie Bush and 49ers' Frank Gore were questionable picks coming into the season, but they both gave me a good year and Gore was selected to the Pro Bowl.

WR: I drafted Texans' Andre Johnson in the 1st round and gave me a good, but not great, year.  Steve Smith was solid and I was in trouble at the beginning of the year because my other WRs were garbage.  I made a bad pick with Titans' Kenny Britt.  As soon as I made it, I thought I should've drafted Redskins' Pierre Garcon, but looking back now that wouldn't have been any better than Britt.  Packers' James Jones had a big first game so I decided to pick him up off the waiver wire and he saved my ass.  Jones was the only significant waiver pickup I had this season.

TE: I drafted 36 year-old Tony Gonzalaz in the 9th round and he proved to be a steal.  He had a big year and made it to another Pro Bowl.  I drafted Cowboys' Jason Whitten a few rounds earlier, which was risky considering his spleen injury, but after a slow start, he finished strong and also made the Pro Bowl.  I used Whitten as a WR-TE flex.

K: I drafted Patriots' Stephen Goskowski, which to no surprise was a great pick considering the large number of points the Pats score.

D: I drafted the Texans and with J.J. Watt on their line with 20 sacks, it turned out to be another great pick.

2012 Educational Year-in-Review

In 2012, I continued my pursuit of a bachelor's degree in journalism from Kent State.  It had its highlights and lowlights.

In January, I began the Spring 2012 semester taking Media Writing and Multimedia Techniques (three credit hours each).  Media Writing teaches journalism students the basics of Associated Press style journalism writing.  It was challenging to learn so many grammar rules, but it was a very helpful class.  The instructor was tough, but she was also fair and helpful.  Multimedia Techniques was definately my favorite class of the semester.  It was a "hybird" class, which means that we had to meet for two lectures a semester and the rest of the assignments were submitted online.  We could also meet with our section instructor on Tuesdays to help us with our major multimedia assignment for the class.  The first few weeks of the class, I was having trouble thinking of a topic, but one night I had a dream about going to old Rolling Acres Mall when I was a young child.  When I got up the next morning, I realized that was going to be my assignment for the project.  I went to the abandoned mall to make a three minute video of what the mall looks like now, completed three interviews, gathered narrative material, and old pictures of both the mall and my family being there to complete the project.  At the end it was a very fulfilling experience.

In May, I took a three credit hour, three week, intersession class, Principals of Microeconomics, which was much easier than I expected.  In June and July, I took a three credit hour, eight week, Newswriting class.  I got two articles published in the Daily Kent Stater from that class. 

At the end of August, I began the Fall 2012 semester taking Law of Mass Communication and Broadcast Beat Reporting.  Law of Mass Communication, a three credit hour class, was a very interesting and informative class, where I researched an interesting report on political advertising.  Much of the class was based on the 1st Amendment protections for freedom of speech.  Broadcast Beat Reporting was a much more eventful class, despite it only lasting one month before I had to drop it.  I never realized how much more demanding broadcast was that print journalism.  I had to constantly be on campus to complete assignments and with my status as a non-traditional student, it was too much to handle.  I plan to get caught up with the loss credit hours by taking Print Beat Reporting this summer, also a four credit hour class.  Once I complete that class, I will decide whether I want to focus on news or magazine journalism.