The Mrs, the MNA and myself went out to my favorite restaurant for an early dinner this evening. When we arrived they were still printing out the menus. The regular menus were no good since they were putting out a special spread for New Years Eve.

My wife knowing how I follow the grease stained pages of the The Holy Book of Bacon quickly drew my attention to the top of the dessert section.

Then while perusing the back page I found the smokey delight of the third salad listed.

I had already planned on getting the NY Strip Steak. The best steak in town and keeps me coming back. I was not going to eat a full salad along with soup and the steak. I ordered the smaller sized house salad with that enticing swine based dressing.

When it arrived there was no doubting the Baconie goodness. They started with a pile of sliced and diced fried Bacon and with herbs, oil and balsamic vinegar added over the pieces of perfection they constructed a salad dressing good enough to excuse the eating of vegetables.

Then it was time for the dessert to arrive. The description shown above did not do it justice. The sugar cookie was not a vanilla sugar cookie but a Bacon sugar cookie. My guess instead of using butter or shortening they used Bacon grease.

The three cookies ringed together had their crunchy side connected while topped with milk chocolate Bacon fudge. You read that correctly. Let me glory in again saying it. Milk chocolate Bacon fudge. Coated with more sliced and diced bacon.

Drizzled on top and over the plate dark chocolate syrup infused with the essence of Bacon and a white chocolate syrup. The only negative was the lack of Bacon in the white chocolate.

I knew word of this other white meat gifted ecstasy must be shown to the world. Smuggling out a menu was imperative. The totalitarian vegetarians and the PETA secret police can be anywhere at anytime, exercising caution was a must.

At this point I request a moment of silence for Wilbur Porkberg. As a devout Jew he was above suspicion or so we thought. As a true believer in the power of the mighty pig from the secret teachings of his non-practicing uncle he had never tasted the truth. He still had served the cause. He is a hero and will always be remembered.

Let it be known now by one and all for there will be no doubt. PETA I will extract my pound of flesh!

Now that the truth about milk chocolate Bacon fudge is out let your voices be heard. If you can not find a chef who can deliver form clandestine classes and learn from each other. If you don't know how, experiment.

Trust me on this one. The taste is worth it.

My need to possess you has consumed my soul
My life is trembling, I have no control

I will have you, yes I will have you
I will find a way and I will have you
~Animotion

It was no secret my feelings towards McNabb. The end of last season I wanted to trade him to Chicago for their tight end and a draft pick.

Then I heard a sports radio show pointing out how Philly fans are the only ones against him. How so many teams who would kill for a QB would take him and not winning it all any day.

I thought about how he did a lot for us and was worth giving a second chance as a fan. I did that this year and my initial gut response was right.

I do not want Donovan McNabb to be a Philadelphia Eagle next season.

I'll repeat that so no one can say I was not clear enough.

I do not want Donovan McNabb to be a Philadelphia Eagle next season.

I have no animus towards him. I no longer believe he will ever deliver Philly to a ring. He deserves the opportunity to try elsewhere just like we deserve the opportunity to find someone who can.

He has no right to use that benching 5 games ago as an excuse to leave town. If he wants to use any of the other off field issues he has had or caused over the years that's one thing.

Complaining about being benched in football when you play horribly is immature. By the time you make the High School team you know it's an established fact of life.

Notice how well he played the next 3 games when he realized his ass was on the line. His improved play proved it was a good move regardless of his opinion about it.

No I do not have grandiose ideas about Kolb jumping in and being great. He at best will play like a rookie with rookie mistakes.

McNabb can be brilliant. Can being the operative word here. He has the lowest interception percentage ever. This is because he either hits his target or more likely puts it 3 feet in front of the target out of reach. He passes to toes not hands.

Every year we see him have ups and downs and at the end of the season he makes us giddy. Then he does his same bullshit. Yes he gave us winnings seasons and I am proud to say he was an Eagle.

I wish him well, just not as an Eagle.

I stopped my dreaming
I don't want to go back
I started looking closer
and I know what it's become
I wish I could learn
to never go back

~Dag Nasty

A few days ago the MNA told me out of the blue she did not like a kid in pre-school. He is a problem child who throws fits and sucks up the teachers time/patience. A wonderful result of parents who want to be their kids best friend. I asked what had happened and she replied,"I just don't like him." In order to change his name to protect the not so innocent I shall call him Gnash.

Yesterday waiting for the MNA to put on her boots/coats to go home from pre-school the teacher told me humorous anecdote. There is a child in class that does not play well with others who can be a bit of a bully. He is the kid who sucks all the teachers time and patience and throws fits all over.

I told her it was ok to not like people the world is big and there are good and bad people in it. The trick is to be one of the good people.

Yesterday I was waiting for the MNA to put on her coat/boots to leave pre-school and her teacher told me of how the MNA had handled this kid. He was acting up in class so the MNA walked over and firmly commanded him to sit and pointed to the ground. He plopped down and shut up. The teacher almost giggled.

THAT'S MY GIRL!

I told this story to everyone and anyone I talked to or regularly text with. I think it rocks. Funny part is she treated him like one of the dogs being bad and it worked.

Then there was today which was not as good. Again while the MNA was donning her cold weather gear the teacher lady pulled me aside so the two of us could talk.

Teacher: The MNA had her first time out today.

Not Teacher (word scramble hint: eM):
*raise an eyebrow*
Oh really?

Teacher: During lunch one of the other teacher ladies (contrary to popular belief teacher ladies travel in prides, no in schools) poked me with her elbow and told me to watch because the MNA had just poked Gnash with a plastic fork.

Both ladies stopped what they had been doing and watched as the MNA reached over, grabbed a book and bashed him in the face with it. In his defense for once Gnash had not provoked or caused this attack.

It may be popular opinion here and there that he deserved it from prior acts but this time he was in the clear.

I was less then pleased. I made sure she had apologized to him. If not she was going back into the classroom to do it before leaving.

We got home and she received no snack or pre-nap book reading. It was straight to her room and put her PJs on.

In order to drive the point home I called all grandparents and she had to tell them she was bad and why. I told her we were calling them so she could tell them she was bad for hitting someone.

No one can nail you with the "I am very disappointed in you" with the stopping power of experienced parenting found in a grandparent. My father in law nailed it. If expressing disappointment through vocal means only was a sport he would be in the hall of fame.

My mother in law was solid. My mom was a wuss. I am not sure when in life my mother went soft but it happened a few decades to late in my opinion.

Tonight she was to join her school in their winter choral concert. Each class (based on age) goes up and sings 2 songs. Then when done they all sing 2 songs en masse. The evening ends in juice, cookies and giggles.

Not this time. If you do not behave yourself at school you lose the privilege of extra curricular activities. Tucked her in and went about my business.

The standard is when you are in trouble and go to bed for either nap or night time you wake up with a clean slate. As we say it "it will be a new day and you won't be in trouble anymore."

I woke her from her nap at the usual time and after she got her clothes on and woke up I sat down with her and asked her if she would hit another kid. She said no. I told her if things were bad like that to tell a teacher first. I believed she caught on.

It was big hug time and told her it was a new day and we continued on as we do. I asked her about it again later without being stern and she immediately said she wasn't going to hit anyone and smiled over it, not being worried about a wrong answer or getting busted all over again.

I never raised my voice. I did not hit/smack/shove/etc. I got my point across strongly and believe it hit home. Sure she might do it again but she now knows there are consequences and if she doesn't think twice the foundation for what happens when you hit has been laid.

If she does it again I will have no choice but to limit the amount of times she can watch Goodfellas in a week.

~The Dad