Life

I'm watching the Ken Burns documentary on PBS about World War II. It's interesting and will be on for ten more hours the next five nights. Two things which really struck me from tonight's show:

In 1941, the U.S. automakers produced three million cars. They only produced 139 more the rest of the war because they switched to building tanks, airplanes and such.

During the height of the war, factories were producing a long-range bomber every 63 minutes.

We subscribe to Netflix. During the summer, we pay $5 a month and get a couple movies a month. During the winter, we'll up it to $18 or so and get unlimited movies. We watch a lot more then. Netflix recently started offering unlimited movies over the internet. I'm "watching" the Italian Job right now and it is incredible. First, its included in my monthly charge. Second, the picture quality is fantastic. Third, its free. I'm not sure how many movies they are currently offering but I like it a lot. Now, I won't sit at my computer and watch a 2-hour movie but Sarah thinks they will be selling something that allows you to get the signal to your tv. I'm sure that's not far off.

Finally back after a week off from the blog. What did I do? Well, early Thursday morning I flew to St. Louis then drove three hours to the Lake of the Ozarks for a Midwestern Utility Lobbyist conference. Golfed in the afternoon and then had a nice KC Strip Steak with the group for dinner before hitting the resort "night club". Woke up Friday morning with a headache and went to a 3 hour meeting on electric issues in the midwest. Flew out of St. Louis Friday afternoon around 4:00 and I was home.

Saturday morning was the St. Cerveceria Club Championship. That's a golf "club" that I formed years ago with some friends. I've yet to win it, mostly because I seem to have a couple blow up holes. This year I had an 8 and a 9 on two holes and that cost me the championship. Oh well, the Buckeyes won later that day and it was fun having everyone over to watch the game and drink a couple beers.

Sunday, Henry and I went to Cleveland to watch the Bengals beat up on the Browns. We sat in our suite. I'm still not sure what happened although it didn't surprise me. Road teams after a Monday night game seldom play well. It was hilarious, after we were pulling away from the stadium, Henry commented "that's kinda weird that the Browns were winning". Oh the wisdom from a child's mouth.

Monday we found out Jack has a double ear infection. Henry had to get tubes when he was little, we're hoping this is a one time thing. Jack's pretty much been sleeping in our bed for the last week and that's getting real old. But its easier than getting up every hour and putting his pacifier in.

I'll post some photos soon.

The internet is slow tonight, brutally slow at the Briggs house. I was going to post some photos of Henry's first soccer practice but it'll have to wait until I return from the Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri. I'm heading there for a utility lobbyist "conference" and will return on Friday.

Last night I went to the Bengals Monday night game, kind of a last minute thing. I sat in the Duke Energy loge and it was nice, right on the 50-yard line. Besides seeing a great game, I saw a familiar face in the loge next door. Actually, I never would have known who this guy is except someone else knew. Anyway, he was a longtime assistant coach to Paul Brown. When Coach Brown stepped down from coaching the Bengals, he named this guy his successor over someone by the name of Bill Walsh, who had some success for the San Francisco 49ers. The guy next to us: Bill "Tiger" Johnson. I spoke with him after the game, told him I was from Massillon. Nice guy. Interesting note, his son is the CEO of Heinz.

This Sunday I'm going up to the Bengals v. Browns game and sitting in the Dominion loge. I'm taking Henry, he loves it.

I have lots of fun stuff to write but its late on a Saturday night and I probably have a few more minutes of college football to watch. But I'll dispense with the Pittsburgh night quickly. I had our suite for the Pirates v. Cubs game last night and Sarah and the kids met me on I 70 after my Salt Fork conference. We stay at a great hotel, the Renaissance, a short walk over the bridge to PNC Park. I had a former state Rep and his family and a current state Senator with his family plus a couple lobbyists in the loge. The game was great, the Pirates won and everyone had a good time. It was a short game, probably 2 1/2 hours and we were in bed by 10:30. I love PNC Park but this will likely be our last trip since Dominion sold our PA utility.

Tomorrow: A few great stories about Salt Fork.