I'm generally not a resolutions person, but I thought I would make an exception for this year. 1. Get in Better Shape Yeah, yeah, this is your standard resolution. At my annual physical last month, I was up a few pounds heavier than the previous year and weigh more than I have in 20 years. Need to do better in 2025. 2. Drink More This seems to go completely against item #1 and warnings from the surgeon general. I'm a social drinker and primarily have a beer when playing trivia or at a poker night. I may also have a glass of wine or cocktail at a restaurant. Basically, I need to get out mo ..read more

I started this blog 20 years ago tomorrow without any clue about what I was doing. (Yes, you can still say this today.) My first post didn't include a title. My second post misquoted the start of Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock's It Takes Two. Over the next few weeks and months, I wrote mostly short posts which would today be considered tweets or Facebook updates about a wide variety of topics though mostly about Pittsburgh sports. I was recently married and several years away from any kids. We didn't even have a cat yet! 20 years later, I have now spent over 40% of my life writing a bl ..read more

While I've written this before, I dislike best and worst posts that come out in November or early December. What happens if you see something great in late December? Does it qualify for the next year or is it just forgotten? Now that 2024 is complete, here's my annual best and worst list. Please note that the items in this post represent what I watched or saw in 2024 even if they came out before this year. For example, The Sound of Music was released about 60 years ago, but I saw it for the first time over the summer as part of a live outdoor screening/sing-a-long (which was a lot of fun).&nbs ..read more

It's time for my annual trip around YouTube to find some of the best videos about and celebrating Hanukkah. White the videos below are fun and/or entertaining, none of them mention the new-ish tradition of pickles during the holiday. I don't have any musical talent, so maybe next year someone will mention pickles in one of their songs. A long-running subplot of this blog is that there must be some type of rivalry between the a cappella groups Six13 and The Maccabeats. They're like the sharks and the jets. Or Coca-Cola and Pepsi. This year, both groups took this rivalry to a whole new le ..read more

My friend Josh does a series of best of the year posts which I highly recommend checking out. Josh is also smart in that he does several posts on specific topics (such as favorite song, podcast, etc.) rather than one long post like I do each year. While I still plan on writing my one "best of" and "worst of" post in the next week or two, I feel like sharing my favorite songs of the year. A few notes. Many of the videos below are live performances because the actual official videos have a word or two that is not suitable to be viewed at work or with kids. In one case, I actively dislike the off ..read more

When I was a sophomore in high school, I participated in Junior Achievement. Once a week in the evening, I would carpool with two friends and join about 20-30 other students from the Eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. I don’t remember much of what we did other than make hangars and sell them. While I appreciated the mission and purpose of JA, I really haven’t thought about the organization in years. Fast forward to a few months ago at The Moose’s back-to-school night where his Civics teacher mentioned a field trip and the need for volunteers. All Fairfax County 8th graders visit Junior Achievemen ..read more

I recently submitted an application for virtual media access to the 67th annual Grammy Awards in February 2025. Unfortunately, the Sean's Ramblings budget does not allow me to travel to and attend the red carpet and ceremony in Los Angeles (assuming that I get accepted), but I think it would be fun to cover the Grammy Awards remotely and provide interesting and informative information to you. To demonstrate my music credentials to the Recording Academy, I am writing this blog post to show a trend in music history maybe not known to many. And my finding/theory is this:  Spelling a word in ..read more

Now that we're through Thanksgiving, it's the perfect time to, um, revisit Pittsburgh Pirates predictions made back before the season started. While the full post is here, let's see how we did. 1. What do you expect from Paul Skenes this year? Skenes exceeded all expectations. He finished the season with a record of 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, and 170 strikeouts in 133 innings pitched. Skenes won the National League rookie of the year, finished 3rd in the NL Cy Young voting, and started the All-Star game. Josh predicted Skenes would have 10-12 wins and finish top 3 in rookie of the yea ..read more

With our mom passing away a few months ago, my brother and I put her home up for sale. Part of this process included cleaning out her place, so last week, we went through her home for likely the last time. We donated some items to a breast cancer charity and others to family friends who will use it to support other organizations. We also threw away a lot of toiletries and other items. It's amazing how many pairs of reading glasses she owned. (These got donated.) We found some fun personal items and pictures and loaded them into her car and drove up north. Before writing about the road trip ..read more

My friend Christian and I are attempting to attend a National Hockey League game in every city with a team. While our annual hockey road trips haven’t been as annual lately (thanks to kids and Covid), we’re closing in on our goal. This year, joined by our friend Jason, we visited Winnipeg along with North Dakota. I already wrote about our dining experience in Winnipeg and will write a separate post about being a tourist in Winnipeg, our time in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and how we confused both American and Canadian border agents. This post focuses on the Winnipeg Jets-Pittsburgh Penguins hoc ..read more