Hallie’s Birdie
All posts by bentoncrane
Super Pooper
by Benton
I’m pretty sure Hallie is a super pooper. She must average at least 2 blow-outs per week. I have 4 younger siblings so I grew up around plenty of diapers. I don’t think any of my siblings had a blow-out rate even close to that. It might just be the proud papa in me, but I’m quite confident that Hallie is super!
Am I wrong? Anyone else have a super pooper?
The Presidential Inauguration
by Benton
I promise I’m not taking over Britt’s blog. It’s just that living and working in the DC area has exposed me to a bunch of wild facts about the upcoming inauguration and I want to share them. I keep thinking, “Wow! I should tell Dad about that.” or “Burt would find this interesting.” I decided I would write a quick post to share with everyone.
All 1600 Capital Police Officers will be on duty that day, but they will relinquish control of the building to the Secret Service and its roughly 5500 agents.
DC has roughly 50 different law enforcement agencies. Pretty much every officer/agent will be active.
Extra military and law enforcement are being brought in from states throughout the country.
All residents within a few blocks of the capital or White House either have to find remote parking or not drive for 36 hours before the inauguration. The Secret Service will use that time to sweep every building in that area for any threats.
Every storm drain and man-hole cover in the same area will be welded shut.
All major roads into the city will be accessible only by vehicles with permits. Buses, taxis, and limos all had to apply in advance to get a permit. Civilian cars will not be permitted.
The current attendance record for a presidential inauguration was set in 1965 at Lyndon B. Johnson’s inauguration. There were 1.2 million people in attendance. We’ve talked to friends who attended George W. Bush’s inauguration. They said it was insanely crowed and getting around was super slow. Estimations for this inauguration are over 3 million!
All non-security type federal employees (like me) get a paid day off.
Needless to say, we are staying home. Just me, Britt, Hallie, netflix, and redbox if necessary. đŸ™‚
The NFL is way better when you live in DC!
by Benton
Brittany took a more family approach with her blog than I did with mine. My blog is a bunch of rants about my two favorite things: cars and liberty. If that sort of thing interests you, please come join the conversation. If, however, you just want a little Crane family gossip, this is still the place.
Brittany is allowing me to join her in posting things that family and friends would enjoy. I will still leave the “Hallie rolled over” posts to Brittany, but I will chime in occasionally when I have something I think the family would like to hear about . . . you know, Hallie might flip the bird or fart really loud in church.
Today’s post is directed mostly to my brothers. Being an NFL fan in Utah sucks! The closest teams are 10 hours away in Denver or Phoenix. By comparison, we now live in football’s promised land. There are 15 NFL teams within a similar 10 hour range:
- Washington Redskins–right here
- Baltimore Ravens–45 minutes away (still in the playoffs)
- Philadelphia Eagles–2.5 hours (still in the playoffs)
- New York Giants–4 hours
- New York Jets–4 hours
- Pittsburgh Steelers–4.5 hours (still in the playoffs)
- Cleveland Browns–6.5 hours
- Carolina Panthers–6.5 hours
- Buffalo Bills–7.5 hours
- New England Patriots–8 hours
- Cincinnati Bengals–8.5 hours
- Detroit Lions–9 hours
- Indianapolis Colts–9.5 hours
- Tennessee Titans–10 hours
- Atlanta Falcons–10 hours
Today at work I went to the gym. One of the personal trainers was giving me some tips when a guy stormed in the gym wearing a Baltimore Ravens jersey. He was yelling, taunting, and dancing like he just scored a game winning touchdown (black guys can get away with random public dances). My trainer, probably a Steelers fan, yelled at him from across the gym and all of the sudden all exercising stopped for a massive trash talk session. Men, women, black, white, everybody joined in. Some of the one-liners were great:
“Maaan, You would’n bet 2 dawlas on yo own team!”
“Ya man, dat’s all I can affode. Da rest is goin fo my super bowl pawty!”
Don’t get me wrong, Utah’s sports scene gets really good once a year when the Jazz are in the playoffs. There is always some passionate trash talk that seems to bring out all the Lakers’ lemmings. But what we’re experiencing out here simply takes it to a higher level. We’re surrounded by people who seem to live for next week’s game. They plan huge parties, buy insane amounts of alcohol, schedule “sick time” for the day after, and are always willing to speak their football minds.
So, if you’re planning a trip out here, you ought to check next year’s schedule for Monday night football games. We’ll let you take us with you :). Make sure to get your ticket well in advance, the games always sell out.