March 14th, 2010 | permalink

SEBBL Texas Hold’em Fundraiser

Yes, I will be managing the Pirates again this year in the South Euclid Boys Baseball League T-ball division. Looking forward to coaching those little Pirates again. I think our new sponsor is going to be the South Euclid Cooperative Preschool.

The league, in conjunction with the South Euclid Girls Softball League, will be hosting a Texas Hold’em Tournament Fundraiser. It will be held on Saturday, April 10, 2010 at the Winking Lizard Party Center on Miles Rd. Doors open at 5pm and the gaming begins at 6pm. The entry fee is $75 and is limited to 120 participants. The total payout is estimated at $5,000. Hope to see some of you gamblers there.

For more information Download the PDF.

May 31st, 2009 | permalink

The new definition of busy weekend

Saturday began bright and early with Kade’s last soccer game of the season.

Then, we moved on to his first tball game (rescheduled from Weds.). We played 4 good innings and the boys did pretty good. Looking forward to the next game.

Since Great Grandma and Grandpa and Grandma and Grandpa Kraus came up for the tball game, we ordered some pizzas and picnicked out back.

They brought up a new batting cage/soccer goal for the kids.

Sunday morning. Planning on a dog day afternoon, but that is not very fun. Sit at home and chill or go out and enjoy the day?

Brunch at The Vine and Bean on their patio. Great food. We tried the waffles with peaches, rhubarb and whipped cream and caramel; turkey, avocado and bacon panini; and the veggie egg pie. Their homemade hot sauce is pretty great too. Then, we spent the afternoon at the Cleveland Botanical Garden. Beautiful day for it.

I have to say, that the new definition of a busy weekend suits me just fine. Kade’s last soccer game, his first tball game, mowing the lawn in between, grandparents up to see the tball game and picnic afterward, brunch and botanical gardens on Sunday. We had a great day on Saturday followed by a good Sunday, we can’t ask for much better than that.

April 25th, 2009 | permalink

A new era in our lives

Today was the start of a new era in our lives. We have entered into new territory being the parents of children participating in extracurricular activities. It will be 18+ years until we are out of this time of taxiing kids to and from practice, rehearsals, games, matches, events and performances. If this era is anything like today, that will be fine with me.

It was a beautiful day to start the South Euclid Lyndhurst Kids Soccer League. It was warm and the sun was shining. With this being Kade’s first venture into organized athletics, we were wondering how it would all unfold. He did great. Not that he was the best soccer player on the field, but he participated, listened to his coach and could not
wipe the smile off of his face. He ran all over the field with his grin and even let out a few screams of excitement throughout the game. When it was his turn, he played goalie and actually made two saves.

I was a proud father and tried to give him a few pointers along the way. Having never played soccer, I wasn’t trying to be a coach, but just encouraging him to drive the ball down the field and more importantly pay attention to where the ball is, especially when playing goalie. After some encouragement, I got him to get down in a more “ready” position for when the kids were trying to score. Ok, hands on your knees is not the best ready position but it looks better than having your hands in the net.

Hopefully baseball season will be as much fun. We had the managers meeting last week and I am starting practices next Saturday. Wish me luck!

More photos.

February 19th, 2009 | permalink

Getting involved

After my blog post regarding our neighbors, one of our city councilmen contacted me and ever since we have had an open conversation regarding living in South Euclid. He informed me of a meeting at Notre Dame College regarding their growth and the effect on the community. I thought that it would be a good idea to attend.

Before the meeting began I was able to meet with Robert Hartigan our councilman who contacted me after my initial post. I also met Brian Emerson who is the Dean of Students at Notre Dame College, John Phillips Director of Finance and Development at NDC, Karen Poelking who is the Vice President for Community, Corporate and Government Relations at NDC. Also in attendance were three members of the Housing Authority of South Euclid, Keith Benjamin and Sally Martin and other residents.

The topic of the meeting began with information on new dorms being built to accommodate the growth in enrollment at the college. Since the college switched from all girls to co-ed there has been an added need for housing. There are two new dorms under development, the north hall and the south hall, that will satisfy most of the housing needs for the college. Today there are approximately 1,700 students including commuters, online students and non-traditional students. Of the enrolled students, 40-45% are non-traditional students which usually means they are adults going back to school. The remaining 800 students are students that either live at home with their family or need housing in or near campus. This number is expected to rise by 150 next year.

Currently, it is estimated that 35-50 students are living elsewhere in the community. With next years rise in enrollment, who knows what that number will be. The new on-campus housing and the fact that most of their growth comes in non-traditional and online courses should help ease the influx of students into the residential areas of South Euclid.

After discussing the new dorms the mood quickly shifted. There were many residents in attendance that had more concerns than I and it was comforting to see others at the meeting to try to come to some middle ground. I know that it is not Notre Dame College’s fault that we have 6 (or 7) college boys living in the house right next door to us. I am grateful to our councilman for inviting me to this meeting that discusses all of these issues in an open format.

While sitting in this meeting it became immediately apparent that the school is concerned about the community and wants to forge a relationship with the community to keep the lines of communication open. NDC supplies their off-campus students with the South Euclid Good Neighbor Guidelines.

Having representatives from the college, the city and residents, it made for an informative meeting. Here are a few things that I learned…

1.) When there is an issue, call the police. South Euclid has a nuisance abatement that fines the landlord every time that the police are called.

2.) After reported three times in 90 days more drastic measures are taken.

3.) Only 3 unrelated people are allowed to live in one single family home residence.

4.) If a scholarship holding athlete at NDC gets their scholarship revoked, they pay a $10,000 fine.

It is not my goal to get anyone evicted, fined or kicked out of school. I just want to protect my family and my biggest investment, my home. Like I have said, it could be worse but it also could be better.

It was nice to attend this meeting and I am happy to get more involved with my community. I think that Notre Dame College and the City of South Euclid are taking the right steps to resolve some of the issues that come with the growth of the school. I look forward to being a part of more of these meetings and ensuring that the voice of the residents is heard.

January 27th, 2009 | permalink

Neighborhood watchdog

After this past weekends events with the ‘boys next door’ party, I did not anticipate having to put my neighborhood watchdog hat on again for a while. But then, as I was driving home from work, I pulled down our street and noticed a minivan ahead of me driving close to the curb and not slowing down even though there were cars parked ahead of him. Our street is pretty narrow and when there is traffic in both directions one car usually has to wait for the other to pass because there are cars parked on the side of the road. In this incident, there were no cars coming in the opposite direction. This driver could not have been paying attention at all as he rammed into the back of a parked car 2 doors down from our house.

After the minivan rammed into the back of the parked car, it jerked from the impact, went into reverse and sped off. At that point I was not close enough to see the plates so I kept driving past our house and followed the minivan as it went around the block and into the Giant Eagle parking lot. By that time I had the license plate number so I drove home and put a note on the car with the license plate number.

It could have easily been one of our friends, family or even our own vehicle parked out front. I would hope that our neighbors would do the same if they had witnessed the same thing. The back of the car was pretty mangled.

All of this on top of the fact that Notre Dame College recently sent out a ‘Timely Notification Bulletin’ email warning of a recent sexual assault on the corner of Mayfield and Sheffield. I think we should get some ‘Neighborhood Watch’ signs on the street.

January 25th, 2009 | permalink

Sleepless in South Euclid

So the boys next door had another one of their party’s last night. It must be the start of the Semester party or something. Like I have said, it is not like they have a party very often but when they do it is pretty loud.

You would think with the temperatures in the single digits that they would stay indoors and have doors and windows closed but the urge for nicotine is to strong and so groups of partygoers like to congregate between the houses to smoke which makes for a lot of noise.

While getting ready for bed, the noise was reaching pretty high levels. I figured I would just walk over and talk to the boys and try to get the noise down to a reasonable level. First, I walked around back to find that they go outside for more than just smokes. One of the boys figured the corner of our house was a good place to releive himself. He got shy all of the sudden when I made my presence known. Before he slipped away I told him to get inside and keep it down and spread the word.

Before heading back inside, I walked around the front and met with a few of the resident ‘boys’. They were receptive to my request and Jason even complimented my Steelers winter hat. As I told them who I was they said they knew, that they found my blog. I think that is a good thing. Maybe they will read this and figure out how to keep the noise down at their parties ;). One of the other ‘boys’, Kyle, came out with his King crown on offering me to come in and join them for a drink. I declined and at that moment felt like the old man next door as I told them that this is ‘their’ time, have fun, just keep it down. I explained that there are families on each side of their bachelor pad and that someone will eventually call the police.

I went back inside to get some sleep. Eventually the party died out, not sure what time as I fell asleep long before. Erika on the otherhand was kept up by the noises and the fear of the noise waking up the kids. We survived. We always do. It does make me wonder about renting our house out to Notre Dame College students and moving to a more family friendly street here in South Euclid.

August 17th, 2008 | permalink

South Euclid Perfect 10-miler

It was a perfect day for the South Euclid Perfect 10-Miler. Erika did a great job, finishing 5th in her age group (Female Age Group: 25 – 29). Her time was 1:21:52 with a pace of 8:12. Erika’s blood glucose was high, around 250 the whole race, but she did great. Kade and Liv were excited to run in their first race.

The kids and I drove up to the corner of Belvoir and Sheffield to see both mile 5 and 7 before driving to Korb Field for the finish. The kids were well behaved and cheered the runners on, very loudly at times, but most of the runners approved and gave their thanks. They also practiced for their race, running up and down the sidewalk. I think Kade was trying to race the participants as he would wait for one to come up on the side and then run trying to beat them to me.

When mama came through, the kids yelled louder and waved wildly.

We made it to the finish to see Erika cross the line.

Then, the kids participated in the Fun Run, a 50 yard dash. Kade acted like he was an old pro and took off running fast through the finish. Liv did not like the fact that mama was trying to help her and started crying about halfway through. They both did great for their first race and all came home with medals. I don’t know if Kade will take his medal off. He wanted to keep running and told us that he is going to run in every race from now on. I think having the kids there and participating with her made Erika happy to pass on something that she enjoys so much.

More photos.

August 16th, 2008 | permalink

It’s in their blood

Tomorrow is the South Euclid Perfect 10-miler and of course Erika will be running in it. The race starts at 7:30 am and we will try to catch sight of Erika at mile 5/7 on Belvoir Road and then see her finish.

This year, the kids are going to participate in the Kid’s Fun Run too which takes place at 9:00 am on the football field at Korb Field, Brush High School’s stadium. The kids are excited and it is fun to see them get involved in a sport that mama loves so much. This could be the start of their running careers too.

August 16th, 2008 | permalink

Paint Job

House, before and after.

Garage, before and after.

I spent the day starting a project that is long overdue, painting the dormer on our house and garage. I was inspired after realizing Liv’s birthday party is here next weekend and there will be a lot of family and friends in attendance. Plus, I could not stand to look at the chipping paint anymore. We are planning on getting it all sided soon, but this is a quick fix that will make the house look a lot better.

The ladder that I have does not reach high enough to get the trim at the top of the house, so Erika called up Lewis and Emmy to ask if they had a taller ladder. Fortunately they did. The brought it over along with some picnic tables for us to borrow of the big party. It is nice to have friends so close and willing to lend a hand. We sat out back and visited with them a while as the kids played(?).

After they left, I finished off the trim on the house and then the dormer on the garage. There is plenty more work that could be done and I will try to get more done before the party, but I am happy to have the ugliest part done.

July 13th, 2008 | permalink

No weekend plans

Even when we have no plans on a weekend, we end up making plans. Friday was a nice relaxing night at home. Saturday morning started with Erika going out for a run in the heat and humidity. The kids and I met her half-way through her run to supply some water, but she still had to cut the run short due to the heat.

The afternoon was pretty stormy and then the skies cleared up. We walked over to the St. Gregory the Great Festival just down the street. I was pretty amazed at how big it actually was. It was a shame that the rain made a mess of things as most of the rides and games were positioned on grass. It was like a swamp. We were suckered into a couple of games that were way over priced but at least we stopped there and did not let the kids ride the rickety rides that were $3 a head. For that price, we could have drove to and from Cedar Point and spend less with our passes.

The food was good, local and priced well. There were plenty of beer vendors as well. We opted for Italian sausage sandwiches and cavatelli and meatballs for the kids and fried dough and a waffle for dessert.

After a long day, I went to the store to pick up some ingredients for Patron Silver Margaritas. Patron, Cointreau and fresh lime juice over ice. The were pretty good, but I’d rather stick with a premium gin or a single malt scotch. We ordered Cloverfield on Dish InDemand and settled in for the night.

This morning was pretty soggy with the promise of sun in the afternoon. We stayed in and Erika made pancakes and then ran 5 miles – what a woman. We went to the pool in the afternoon and Kade showed me his moves that he has been learning in his swim lessons. He is learning a lot. After swimming it was time to address the lawn. I clipped the bushes out front and mowed. The cooler weather today made it more comfortable to do it.

I guess all the activities keep us all busy and out of trouble. It takes my mind off of work for a little while, until I check my email on my iPhone.