Tieche October Update

So, it's time, I suppose, for a Tieche October Update.

The big news for the family is that last weekend, my wife heading back home to Michigan for a brief vacation. She wanted to go home and see the gorgeous colors of Autumn – that conflagration of color, that smell of warm cider, all those white people. So she and Justus flew out for a four-day weekend with her mom. My parents also drove up from Ohio, to see their grandson, which is also exciting.

The best part is that Nicole was able to redeem her old frequent flyer miles from Northwest Airlines, so the trip is going to cost her 12 dollars. And Justus is not yet two, so he’s free. That’s just awesome.

Speaking of Justus, he is in an interesting and challenging stage. He’s still so cute you can’t even stand it, but he’s also becoming more difficult. He doesn’t quite understand the consequences of his actions. He doesn’t understand, for example, that throwing a nerf ball at someone is not the same as throwing a die-cast metal matchbox car. I have the bruise to prove that.


Here is Justus, donning his cowboy hat. Unfortunately, he's also wearing his PJs, which doesn't get you a lot of style points in the Wild, Wild West.

Justus also learned to escape from his crib, which is exciting because that means he’s nimble and athletic. Which means he could have a nice future as a professional sports star. Or a cat-burglar. One of the two.


This picture is of Justus and I playing on a metal play structure at Happy Hollow petting farm and zoo. Happy Hollow is a pretty good petting farm, but it's kind of a lame zoo. The best thing they had was a jaguar, but that kept pacing back and forth in the tall grass, as though it were really pissed off about something. They had lemurs, which reminded me of this guy and made me want to sing, "I like to move it, move it."

I will close with a short rumination about Sports. My wife is from Michigan, and a lot of her family are rabid Detroit Tiger fans. And after watching a few games of the ALCS, I have to say, the Tigers are looking pretty unbeatable. Of course, I'm going to root for any team that beats the dreaded Evil Industrial Complex Syndicate Yankees. You can read more about my thoughts about the Yankees here. My buddy Jeff is a big Yankees fan, which I constantly tell him is like rooting for Big Tobacco. So, I say, Go Tigers!

I also have been delving deep into my deepest obsession, which is college football. Michigan does look very good. But there is another team very close geographically to Michigan, say, one state south, that is looking EVEN BETTER. I am looking forward to a possible meeting on Nov. 18th between two undefeated OSU and UM teams – winner plays for the National Championship. How cool would that be?


Pictured here, OSU quarterback and Heisman front-runner Troy Smith. Smith has led the Buckeyes to a perfect 7-0 record and fills my Saturdays with joy.