A man I look up to that emphasizes integrity, hard work, and success on and off the field has been recognized by the Washington Redskins.
Coach Mark Burke, head coach of Model Secondary School for the Deaf’s football team won the “Coach of the Week” award by the Redskins this week. He is the first Deaf coach to be recognized. That’s a big honor, especially noting that up the beltway in Frederick, MD, coach Andy Bonheyo of the Maryland School for the Deaf has had some notable teams and success himself, first at MSSD, then Texas School for the Deaf and now at MSD.
I worked with Mark for two years when I was at MSSD and when the AD resigned, I couldn’t think of anyone better than Mark to take over and in two years, he has done wonders for the athletic program at MSSD.
UPDATE: QueenAlpo has volunteered to chip in $5 extra if the caption does not reference to “farting, constipation, pooping, or any other emission (or lack thereof) of the latter end of the gastrointestinal tract”.
People are allowed to submit as many as they want, and the deadline is Wednesday, November 12 at 8pm EST.
Create a caption for this picture…if I get awesome submissions in the comments section, I’d consider giving the winner a $10 Barnes & Noble or $10 Starbucks gift certificate!
If you want to be considered, give me a VALID e-mail address when you leave your comment (not in the box, but in the field).
Last weekend Alli had a very small birthday event.
My brother Trevor and his new wife (a.k.a. sister in law) Annie came down for the weekend to visit us and take Leah trick or treating on Halloween.
Of course they were invited to the birthday event. We warned them they’d be the only hearing people there. That would be a big turn-around for them as it’s normally the deaf people who are the only ones there. I had a relaly tough weekend trying to be cheerful and happy for my brother at his bachelor’s party the end of August. By the second day, I was so miserable that I couldn’t even cheer up or laugh at little things. I was totally left alone (with the exception of Tom, Trevor’s awesome friend, and Kyle).
So, this time around, it’d be them with us. Trevor can sign a little, but is quite rusty. Annie is a beginner. And I mean really a beginner. She barely knows the alphabet and a few catch signs (eat, drink, cat, etc.).
Turns out, it looks like they both had a good time! At least they had each other.
(TJ and Annie, with Bobby in the foreground)
It was a nice night with them and the next day a relaxing day! My sister got really jealous. Don’t worry Mel, you and Anthony are next!
The clip with the MSD cheerleader and myself in it didn’t make it on live national TV last night. Instead it was a clip of the football team in practice, in a game, and the head coach, Andy Bonheyo.
From what I hear from officials at school today, the clip with me in it actually makes it on TV this coming Sunday, October 19.
I just hope it actually will air.
Thank you all for the comments, pager messages and such. It is an awesome thing…really.
A couple of weeks ago, a crew from the Toyota Line of Scrimmage came to where I work (Maryland School for the Deaf) to film the cheerleaders and the football team and to profile our star running back, Ryan.
Tonight at halftime during the Sunday Night Football game on NBC will be the first of two segments. The next one is next week.
So, either watch during halftime the Toyota Line of Scrimmage segment tonight — it’s only 45-seconds long, so don’t miss it — or watch the clip from the website.
This is my brother’s car. (Duh, it’s like, obvious. Look at the Yankees plate frame.)
This is his damaged rear window.
This is a result of the Sirius radio antenna getting stuck in one of the rotors and “whipping” into the window, damaging it.
My brother told me he was sitting in the car while it was moving along when he suddenly heard a loud bang and looked in his mirror to see his window shattered. He immediately started honking his horn like crazy and they shut down the wash, but by then the back of his car was full of soap suds and water.
Let this be a lesson for y’all.
Oh yeah…the car wash center will pay for his window, but probably not the rear radio speakers. (And he’s hoping to get them to pay for the replacements.)
My little brother and his awesome bride, Annie, tied the knot on September 20.
Yes, I know, it’s been two weekends since, shut up. I haven’t had time to blog that much. Plus I was freaking out over a 100 mile bicycle ride I wanted to accomplish on October 4.
It was one of the nicest weddings I’ve been to. Friends I grew up with, family members I haven’t seen in 10 years. Leah going nuts on the dance floor. Plus, I’m biased. It’s my brother and the wonderful woman who can keep him on his toes, Annie.
I’ll let the pictures do the talking, with some narration.
Me and my little sister, Melanie. I think it’s one of the nicest pictures of the two of us together.
Leah and her grandpa (my Dad). Again, one of the nicest pictures of them together I can recall.
