The REAL Josh Anderson

1. I get called a lot of interesting names. Some of my favorites are Sloth (yeah, the guy from The Goonies), Humpty Dumpty, Bald Bull, and King Hippo. I am, however, a little disappointed that no one threw out Jabba. That one seemed so obvious to me.

2. Hair insulates amazingly well. I am constantly astounded at how much cooler I am without hair.

3. Breezes are way more noticeable now that my scalp is bare. This certainly helps with the cooling effect when I start to overheat.

4. My head is quite weathered. We found dents, scars, and odd nicks when the rug was removed. My shaver, Jeffery Paul (whose clients include Al Learner and other famous folk) even remarked at how much it appears my head had been through.

As previously blogged about, I volunteered to shave my head for childhood cancer. Many people stepped up to the plate and donated their hard-earned money to help support this great cause. I thank you all who helped me raise $650 in less than 48 hours. If only I had started sooner...

Well, I know you are all waiting to see what my massive melon looks like sans hair, so here you go (click on the image to see the scary image up close and way too personal):


Since I reached my "bonus" goal of $500, I agreed to have my head shaved again and painted brown and orange the Friday before the first Steelers/Browns game. That should be interesting, and I am sure those pictures will be even more eagerly anticipated.

My boys (The Bearcats) just inked a home-and-home deal with Oklahoma. Most impressive...

The Bearcats will travel to Norman on Sept. 6, 2008 to begin the series and will host the Sooners on September 25, 2010 at Paul Brown Stadium.

I really like the direction they are headed, and Coach Kelly seems to know the steps needed to get us to that next level: "If we expect Bearcats football to be a national presence and compete in the BCS, we need to play nationally recognized programs"

The big question on my mind is, how long will Coach Kelly stay around? Is this just a stop on the way to bigger and better things? I fear that it is, but I sincerely hope not. I like what he has done over his first few months. Whether they win or not, remains to be seen. But I feel good about the season...

Labels: Bearcats, football

My company has a long-standing tradition of supporting many wonderful causes helping childhood cancer patients (St. Jude, Wigs For Kids, etc.). Our latest endeavor is St. Baldrick's, and after receiving full clearance from the wife (I'm no dummy!), my head gets shaved on Wednesday morning.

So, exactly how much would you pay to see my with a shaved head? There is one way to find out. Please donate, anything you can (either online or the old school way by printing this PDF).

The boy must have seen the pride flowing through me as Leia garnered the lion's share of attention during the weekends ceremony. Not wanting to be out done, he decided to lay down the trump card and take his first steps.

Deuce never really seemed too keen on walking until this morning. He motored around wherever he needed on his hands and knees for months before even thinking of walking.

Knowing that out vacation to the beach may do even more damage to his poor, roughed up little knees, Renee and I began really pushing the walking subject with the little guy.

Dragging Joshua around the house dangling from our grip, he put up with our "lessons". Hardly interested, Deuce hung rather limp, not moving his feet very much until we finally released him back to his duties of drooling, screaming, and generally destroying things (hence the Godzilla nickname Leia and I dubbed him with).

For about two weeks, every time Deuce stood up on his own, we waited axiously and called for him to just take one step towards us. He was happy to comply, on his terms though. Plopping down on his hands and knees, he would scurry over with a massive grin.

This morning, going almost unnoticed, 1, 2, 3 steps. After alerting Renee to the big news happing right before our eyes, she screamed, Leia jumped and little Deucie clapped for himself after he dismounted. Over the next hour, stpes 4 through 50 occurred. Having realized the power of walking, nothing else was on his mind. Stumbling everywhere, he is determined to master this thing we call walking. That sand is gonna be hot in a couple of weeks buddy, so keep on practicing!

Daddy is proud of you.

I think the picture pretty much explains Proud Papa Moment #3.

Labels: fatherhood

Parenting whirls you through all kinds of emotions as you watch your children experience new things. Pride was the big emotion this weekend. Sure, I have been proud of my little ones many times before, but seeing one of them do their thing in front of a sizeable crowd, without missing a beat, marched this memory up to #1 on Leia's list of proudest moments for Daddy.

Labels: fatherhood