Someone e-mailed me photos of several signs from a restaurant in North Versailles, Pennsylvania. The name of the restaurant is Casa D'Ice. Apparently, their signs are getting a lot of attention. If you go to their website, www.casadice.com, there are several photos of signs that have been displayed.

Well, sports fans, the Carolina Hurricanes have won the Stanley Cup,as SixFoot Blonde has reminded me. And the Miami Heat have won the NBA Finals. And the Arena Football League has had its Arena Bowl.

Now it is just baseball. The great summer pastime. The crack of the bat, the throw to the plate as the base runner slides into home, and the manager arguing with the umpire about a bad call.

I miss Lou Pinella!

I will be following The Tribe, and hopefully they will finish playing better baseball, as well as the Braves. I do not think anyone thought the Braves would be doing as bad as they are. The Mets are playing great, as well as the Tigers, and the Oakland A's are on a tear.

As for the Devil Rays, they are on the bottom of the American League East. But I will be watching them when I get a chance.

As for watching sports, I hope some of you have been watching the World Cup. Team USA plays tomorrow. I will have the television on at work, periodically keeping an eye on the score.

The World Cup is soccer at its best. These are the best players in the world. And it is fun to watch the crowd as well as the game itself. If you think NFL fans are rabid, you should see the attire some of the soccer fans wear to support their teams.

In 1994, the United States hosted the World Cup. Orlando hosted a few first round matches with teams from the Netherlands, Ireland, Mexico, and Morocco. I attended a few matches, and I can honestly say that it was one of the best sporting experiences I had in my life. Since then, I have always tried to follow the World Cup when it is played every four years.

As I watch the World Cup and baseball, I will be counting down the days.

Yes, in July, the practice fields will be mowed, the yardlines will be painted on the fields, and the goal posts will get a fresh coat of paint. Then under the hot summer sun, football players of another kind will take the field for practice. They will have cleats and shorts on, but they will also have shoulder pads and helmets with face masks on.

It will be pre-season. But the NFL will be back!

And I am counting down the days.

Go Browns!

There will be a Game Seven of the Stanley Cup NHL Championship on Monday. It should be a great game. After I finished watching Game Six, which Edmonton won by the score of 4-0, I decided to stay in for the night and watch television. A few random thoughts about what I was watching while flipping through the channels.

James Blunt was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. He performed the song "You're Beautiful". I turn the radio on in the truck, and there is not much to listen to. And then a song comes along that grabs your attention, and all you can say after listening to the song is "WOW"! I think it is the best song to come around in awhile.

South Park is in syndication, and is played late at night on Channel 27 in Orlando. I know it is politically incorrect, and many people find the show offensive, but why is it I always laugh my ass off when I watch it.

"Oh my god! They killed Kenny! You bastards!"

Channel 29 is televising another season of the Canadian Football League. It is fun to watch, but that fifty-five yard line takes some getting used to.

A few of the channels have some infomercials on. One is advertising a home gym, and another is promoting how you can make more money on the internet. I wonder if the "poop" guy that Donuts was writing about will come on?

It looks like Channel 9 has a horror movie on. Captain Morgan was writing about scary movies in his blog. When I was little, I would stay up late on Friday and Saturday nights and watch the old horror films with Vincent Price and Boris Karloff. I miss those movies. I miss the old horror and sci-fi films from the 1950s. You know the ones I am writing about. The ones that were so bad, they were good.

Hey, it looks like I found one. Bad acting, bad make-up, and bad special effects. It's so bad, the hostess of the show is an Elvira rip-off. Oh, now I know this is going to be good!

Well folks, I have to go. I'm going to watch this 50s movie about some giant running around terrorizing a Ricky Nelson wannabe and his girlfriend.

My sinus cold is getting better, but it is hanging in there. Like the pest who has to sit next to you at the singles bar.

JUST...GO...AWAY!

Although I am feeling a bit better, I still feel a little bad. Not from the cold, however.

I came down with the cold on Monday. So after I finished work, I came home and took some medicine and had a nap. I was not up to cooking, so I just warmed up some leftovers and cooked some instant soup. When you are feeling under the weather, you do not feel like doing much of anything. For some reason, however, I felt as if I needed to do something special.

For what? For who?

Then I looked at the calender. Monday, June 12, 2006. I then remembered that it was Mom's birthday.

Mom had passed away four years ago. If she were alive, she would have been 85 on Monday. Usually on her birthday, I remember her by cooking a meal she may have liked. Or maybe have a glass of wine in her honor. I don't drink much wine, but Mom liked to have a glass every so often. She also liked Kahlua. Especially in White Russians. On Mother's Day, I do this as well to remember her by.

Father's Day is also around the corner. My dad passed away in 1990. I still think of him, especially on his birthday, which was April 5. If he were alive, he would be 89. Come to think of it, I can't remember doing anything special to honor Dad. When I used to smoke cigarettes, I would buy a pack of Camel Non-Filter Cigarettes and smoke a few in his honor. Talk about a rough smoke!

It has been six years since I have had a cigarette, and Dad never smoked cigars. He also quit drinking when I was an infant, so it's not like I can have a favorite drink of his so I can toast him on his day.

Father always enjoyed cooking on the grill, and steak was the favorite. One memory I always have of Dad is cooking on the grill, turning over huge sides of beef as the flames rose up through the grill.

"Now that's a fire!"

We never had to worry about an Uncle Gus or Aunt Bunny ruining the cookout, and the steaks always came out great. Not even some of the best steakhouses could touch Dad.

Mom and Dad's birthdays have passed, as well as Mother's Day. I will be working on Father's Day, so I will not have time to cook. Maybe tomorrow I will get the grill out, buy the biggest side of beef I can find, and cook it in Dad's honor. And while it is cooking on a low flame, I could enjoy a White Russian.

I usually drink beer when cooking on the grill. There's something primitive about having tongs in one hand and a beer in the other as you stand over flames grilling meat. But I'll have a White Russian. For Mom.

I should be feeling better by then. And I will not have to worry about Uncle Gus and Aunt Bunny driving up in their Barnie Goo Goo mobile. Or any other pests, for that matter.