How Do You Celebrate New Years With An Infant?

"I'll be no where near here on New Year's Eve."

Timothy A. Clary, AFP/Getty Images

New Year's Eve always seems to be a let down for me. Whether it was having to go to bed too early as a kid, or my parents making me stay home while all my high school friends went to Times Square, I always felt like somewhere other than where I was, people were having a lot more fun than me.

The one exception was New Year's 2005 when my wife and I saw The Killers perform at the Giant Village event in Los Angeles. That was pretty cool. But apart from that, my New Year's Eves have been marked by sitting in front of a TV watching other people go nuts at raucous parties around the world.

Last year was my last chance to do it up big time before fatherhood, so I went with my 8-month pregnant wife to a New Year's party in downtown Washington, D.C. We got to the restaurant at 7:30 p.m. (the early seating) and were promptly told that our table needed to be vacated by 9:30 p.m. (the later seating). This meant they were clearing the plates as fast as we could eat -- not what you'd call fine dining.

After dinner, we headed downstairs to the restaurant's club. It was basically empty at 9:31 p.m save for the cheesy party lights, a foul smelling fog machine and a sparse crowd of clueless early birds like ourselves. I was a little nervous about how my wife would hold up on the dance floor. I was imagining the worst, like if her water broke or something like that (I hope that video isn't real). Fortunately, that was one scenario I didn't have to face.

About an hour and half later, my wife's feet were killing her, and it was clear coming was a bad decision. That notion was confirmed moments later when we spotted the gross used car salesman whom we had met the week before. He was trying to talk up some ladies at the bar. Check please! We made our way for the door, only to be met by a mass of partygoers who were now swarming the entranceway. It was the first time I had to fight my way to get to the BACK of the line at a club. We did however make it home well in time to watch the ball drop from our couch, which wound up being far more romantic anyway.

As predicted, the birth of our daughter also brought along the demise of our late nights out. With the cost of babysitters obscenely high these days, more often than not, my wife and I tend to go out early and take the baby with us. Saturday night dinners used to start at 8:00 p.m. and last long into the night while we lingered over a good bottle of wine. Now we rub achy joints with the geriatric crowd. Getting seated at 4:45 p.m. means we can still make it home for our daughter's bedtime.

Luckily, this New Year's Eve our friends who also have a baby came up with an ingenious plan: In honor of the husband's Northern Irish roots, we'll be throwing confetti at the same time as his mates in Belfast (which is at precisely 7:00pm ET). So I'll have my champagne and maybe a shot of Irish whiskey as well, and still have my daughter in bed by a decent hour. I'm wondering, do you think she'd appreciate a mirrored ball hanging above her crib, you know kind of like a New Years mobile?

4:15 PM ET | 12-30-2008 | permalink

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What Would Rob Do...To be a Fantasy Football Champion?

Above is the podcast I did this week with my fantasy football organizer Mike Pesca. In case you're wondering, my fantasy team came in dead last in his league (I know, it's sad). In some other competitions, the worst player actually gets a prize, too. It's called "Shooting the Moon" like in the card game Hearts. Pesca had nothing for me, the only consolation prize I got was that he let me vent to him about how poorly I played.

"This pretty much sums up my fantasy football season."

Tom Hauck, Getty Images Sports

But just rehashing my dismal play to Pesca, while cathartic, wasn't necessarily going to make me a better player. I figured if I was really going to turn around my fantasy losses for next season, I'd have to talk to a real life expert. I turned to ESPN.com's Matthew Berry (known in the fantasy world as "The Talented Mr. Roto"). In case you're wondering, "Roto" stands for "Rotisserie League" another term for Fantasy Leagues.

Berry explained to me that my biggest problem was inattentiveness. I made some rookie mistakes like leaving in active players who were injured, or whose team was on a bye week. In my defense, I had thought this would be done automatically by the computer, (kind of like a fail-safe for slouchers).

My other big problem was that I played with my heart, not my head. According to Berry, if you want to win, you have to think of players as "statistical pieces of meat." For Berry, a die-hard Redskins fan, that means picking some Dallas Cowboys players. Whoa, that may be taking things a little too far.

But even though the fantasy football season is drawing to a close, there are other virtual ways I can show off my sports know-how. Matthew Berry told me about ESPN's Gridiron Challenge, which is a form of fantasy football for the playoffs, except you don't have to monitor your team every week. Now that's the kind of fantasy football this La-Z-Boy likes to play.

3:06 PM ET | 12-25-2008 | permalink

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What Music Would Rob Listen to on Hanukkah?

Tonight my wife and I lit candles for the third night of Hanukkah, something we have always enjoyed doing, even more so now that we are sharing the experience with our new daughter. We've eaten our fill of gourmet latkes (thanks to a great recipe from cookbook author Joan Nathan). And even though our baby is still a little too young to play, we even took out the dreidls and let her watch us spin them around. The one tradition I haven't been as eager to pass on is listening to cheesy Hanukkah music. If you're wondering what this sounds like, this parody says it all:

Luckily, there have been a whole slew of Jewish bands making contemporary music that's much easier to listen to. Groups like The LeeVees and Good For the Jews are helping to reshape what Hanukkah sounds like. I interviewed Jacob Harris the founder of the Jewish music label JDub Records about this last year; he had some interesting things to say about the evolution of Hanukkah music.

This year I'm inspired to look beyond the confines of music made just for Hanukkah. Today on Tell Me More I talked to Cheryl Corley about the great secular music out there made by Jews. Some of my favorites are Herb Alpert, Guster and Sammy Davis Jr.

I also mentioned that Jews can even take pride in some popular Christmas tunes because a fair number of them were written by members of the Tribe; this includes "White Christmas" by Irving Berlin. Here's a more extensive list of Christmas songs written by Jews, in case you're interested.

Happy Holidays!

8:14 PM ET | 12-23-2008 | permalink

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How to Leave a Phone Message, Part II

Above is the podcast on leaving a phone message that I did with Carl Kasell. In my previous blog post I discussed leaving a good voicemail greeting. Now let's talk about how to leave a good phone message for someone else.

For some advice, I turned to Marie Nelson, my supervisor over at Tell Me More. I figured it's always good to know what your boss will respond to best in a voicemail. Here are three things Marie says are important:

1) Make sure you pronounce the person's name right. Saying Maria instead of Marie isn't close enough.

2) Don't ramble (try to keep your message to 60 seconds or less).

3) Script it out if needed. It's a good way to make sure you get all your points across. Even Carl Kasell admitted to doing this sometimes.

Those are great ideas, especially when you're leaving work messages. Here's what I would do for messages you leave outside the office.

1) Be nice. Remember you're leaving something that can be played back repeatedly so don't say anything that might embarrass you if other people should happen to hear it. Just ask Alec Baldwin about the message he left for his daughter.

2) State your name at the beginning of the message. Don't just assume everyone has Caller ID and leave the "Hi, it's me" message and then hang up. It can be tricky knowing who to call back if your wife and mother-in-law sound exactly the same.

3) If you happen to be leaving a message for a woman you've just met at a bar, don't leave mulitple messages. Don't be like this guy in the movie Swingers:

3:25 PM ET | 12-16-2008 | permalink

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What Would Rob Do to Record a Voicemail Greeting?

This week's podcast is all about how to have a great voicemail greeting...you know, the message everyone hears BEFORE the beep.

Even though it's something most of us have done countless times, a lot of people completely botch it. Which is perhaps why there was a market for something like Crazy Calls, a tape of seven funny singing greetings that you can use instead of your own voice. A steal at just $14.95. My favorite one is "The Rap":

So in trying to figure out who the experts on this subject might be, I realized that the king of all voicemail greetings happens to work in the same building as me. I speak, of course, of the great Carl Kasell.
As part of his job as judge and scorekeeper on Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! he records answering machine messages for the show's lucky winners. Here are some recent examples he shared with me:

Another good guy I know who knows a thing or two about phone mail messages is my Dad, who's been in sales for over 30 years. He says he likes to be clear of his whereabouts when he leaves an outgoing message. "I'm in the office today, but am unable to take your call" is a favorite refrain of his. He says people want to know when you're going to call back.

"It's Luke, you should still know the drill.."

Steve Finn, Getty Images

As if Carl Kasell and Papa Sachs aren't enough, I also like the example set by Dylan McKay (aka Luke Perry) of 90201. His famous answering machine greeting was that laconic, "It's Dylan. You know the drill." Apparently, I'm not the only one who marvels at the simplistic genius of Dylan. The band Boys Night Out has made that line into a song (heads up, it has explicit lyrics).

What are some of your favorite outgoing messages?

8:00 PM ET | 12-10-2008 | permalink

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What Would Rob Do to Propose? Not embarrass her

Click above to listen to the podcast I did with Tamara Keith on how to propose. In talking with Tamara, I incorporated Brakkton Booker's story about proposing to his fiance Cory. As for my own proposal story, it didn't have all the bells and whistles that Brakkton's had, but hopefully matched it in the romance department. It was a cloudy afternoon and raining slightly when I took Anna for a walk around the park where I used to play baseball growing up. We wound up finding shelter in the dugout looking out onto the field. I looked into her eyes, told her about all the reasons we were meant to be together, and then popped the question there. Four years and one daughter later, we're still going strong.

For a broader perspective on popping the question, Millie Bratten of Brides magazine turned out to be very helpful. She told me there's really no wrong way of asking. If the girl says yes, then you've pretty much done your job. She also stressed that each experience has to work for both of you. So if you're a goofy couple, you can go the goofy route, i.e. hide it in her drink, or do skywriting or something. Bratten said pretty much the only way you can go wrong is to embarrass her. Like how this guy did:

So hopefully your proposal doesn't end up like that. For some happier endings the everything-wedding website The Knot rates its top proposals of the year. Here's the 2007 list.

One last thought. Millie Bratten mentioned that should you happen to see a proposal that outdoes yours, don't worry because you can always have another chance to do it all over when you recommit yourself down the road. Tamara warns though this usually involves upping the ante in the jewelry department.

12:00 PM ET | 12- 8-2008 | permalink

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Getting Engaged Part II -- Brakkton's Proposal Story

For the Next WWRD podcast, I'm going to be talking with Tamara Keith about how to get engaged. Tamara and I will share our engagement stories and discuss my colleague Brakkton Booker's story; he just popped the question to his fiance Cory last month. You can click above to hear how he did it. We'll also hear from Millie Martine Bratten, Editor in Chief of Brides Magazine. So check back for that. For now I hope you enjoy hearing about Brakkton's romantic proposal.

6:06 PM ET | 12- 4-2008 | permalink

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How to Get the Perfect Engagement Ring? Ask Her to Help

It's that time of year again. It's December. And you know what that means. No, not that it's the offical Holiday Season. Not that it's time to make plans to go see the family either. What it means is that people are going to be getting engaged! That's right, December is the most popular month of the year for marriage proposals. You might have thought Spring, but it's actually the coldest darkest time of the year when people decide they want to spend the rest of their lives together. But before anyone can pop the big question, there is that little question of what to put on her finger to worry about.

It was four winters ago now, about this time of year, that I popped the question to my beloved Anna. Not really THE question, it was more of a prelude to THE question, but it pretty much made my intentions clear when I asked, "If we were to get an engagement ring, what would it look like?"

I know it wasn't technically a proposal, but it was pretty close to it. I actually went back and forth about whether or not to ask for her opinion because it felt like ruining the big surprise later on. But then again the alternative wasn't too appealing either. Here I was about to make the biggest purchase of my life--an item that someone else would be wearing everyday for the rest of her life--and I have no idea what she likes, and oh yeah, know next to nothing about rings in general. Way to be set up for a major screw up. It wasn't only the fear of buying the wrong ring that had me worried, the process itself was daunting. We were already living together and so figuring out the logistics of such a high stakes operation without her finding out wouldn't be easy either.

Continue reading "How to Get the Perfect Engagement Ring? Ask Her to Help" »

3:30 PM ET | 12- 3-2008 | permalink

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