Ok… so this news is only a few weeks old, but the premise is so outrageous that I am surprised that no one else has posted it.  It seems that a woman in Germany has filed for divorce from her husband of 15 YEARS. Why you may ask?  Some Hollywood marriages last mere hours so this would seem like an eternity.  It seems that Mr. Christian Kropp of Sondershausen Germany has a slight problem with cleanliness.  It is NOT that he is a slob and insists upon not ceaning up after himself, but he is apparently a bit TOO neat.  One day, the obsessive compulsiveness went a bit overboard.  One of the walls in the house did not meet with Mr. Kropp’s white glove treatment so he did what any sensible, well-intentioned man would do: he knocked the wall completely down.  Here is a rather amusing reaction to the incident:

Guys get a bad rap in the culture as a whole. You can’t turn on the television without seeing men portrayed as incompetent morons who wouldn’t be able to convert oxygen into carbon dioxide unless there was a woman there to help them out. Anybody who has ever spent any time in a dance club would observe that the dysfunction is pretty much spread equally between the genders. While this is true, men are the ones who are most often portrayed as lazy, slovenly, and the type of critters that would happily wallow in a mud hole if given the chance. With that said, it is odd to see a man get a divorce because his wife believed that he was way too clean.

Christian Kropp of Sondershausen, Germany is a bit of neat freak. Like many of the guys who are the basis of home improvement shows, Christian excels at cleaning, various household chores, and rearranging furniture. While many women may find this a charming trait in their mate, some also may be a bit intimidated by a guy who invades their sphere of competency; especially if he has better taste then his female counterpart. Mrs. Kropp apparently put up with this for a while, but called it quits on the marriage when her hubby decided to demolish and rebuild a wall that he couldn’t quite bring up to his standards with any cleaning products that were on the market.

While this may have been vexing, it should not have been completely unexpected. Mr. Kropp’s addiction to cleaning may have been unusual, but it was eventually going to collide with the hardwired male trait to take things apart. She is lucky that he didn’t take a chain saw to the entire house and start the whole thing over from scratch.

I wonder if he lifts the toilet seat when he is done or squeezes the toothpaste from the bottom of the tube.  Hopefully, the two can find happiness again elsewhere.

I know what you are thinking… this is yet another post on the upcoming summer musical… but you would be wrong.  Opening week of the new baseball season took a tragic turn early this morning when a 22 year-old rookie pitcher for the California Angels of Anaheim was killed as the result of a hit and run accident after he had pitched a stellar game.  Nick Adenhart was a young man like a lot of other kids who dream of someday playing major league baseball was achieved for one moment.  He called his father Tuesday night and told him that he better come to the game Wednesday because “something magical is going to happen.”  Unfortunately, that magic ended just a few hours after the rookie celebrated his six innings of pitching shutout ball against the Oakland A’s.

It really puts a damper on the new season and puts life in perspective.  I turned the tv on to see if the Yankees had started the year at 0-3 and saw the headline “Angels postpone game with Oakland” and shortly discovered the reason why.  Suddenly, the Yanks victory over the Orioles seemed totally trivial.  Hopefully, not only do the Angels cancel their game but all baseball takes a moment to honor the young man whose life was cut so senselessly, dramatically short.

Have you ever had a late night craving that only the “tow all beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onion on a sesame seed bun” could cure?  Apparently, that was the motive behind a woman’s irate shooting at a McDonald’s drive thru window Sunday morning.  The woman, driving a white Dodge Intrepid, entered the drive-thru of a Salt Lake City restaurant an wanted to order lunch, dinner, anything else besides what was being offered.  Apparently, 24-hour McDonald’s change from lunch/dinner to breakfast only around 2AM.  I never understood the need for fast-food establishments to have different hours for different meals.  Is there something that prohibits them from serving quarter pounders at the same time as egg mcmuffins?  In any case you can follow the link to the full details and a possible connection to other shots heard a few hours ealier

There are several things one can do right from the convenience of their car.  Fast food can be ordered and picked up. Convenience stores and pharmacies typically have a pick up window. In Las Vegas, a marriage ceremony can be performed while the couple sits in their car.  On Monday, a bank robber was able to successfully obtain a large sum of money from a drive-thru bank teller.  The perpetrator drove up to the window of the Lone Star National Bank in Pharr, Texas.  He slipped a note into the box listing his demands.  The female teller filled the order and the crook drove away.

I was torn on my reaction to this story.  From what I understand, there was no apparent weapon involved and the teller was behind a bullet-proof window.  However, there was no information regarding bank policy when confronted with that situation.  Yet at the same time, I could not help thinking that this would make a phenomenal genius post, but decided to give the teller the benefit of the doubt.

PHARR, Texas — A bank robber in South Texas held up the place from the comfort of his car.

Police in Pharr say a man used the drive-thru lane Monday morning to rob Lone Star National Bank. Police say the driver slipped a note to a female teller, who provided an undetermined amount of cash, then he drove away. Lt. Guadalupe Salinas says the man was alone in the car and did not appear to display a weapon. Salinas told The Associated Press there’s no indication that the robbery was an inside job. Law officers declined to release the contents of the note. Police are reviewing bank surveillance video. The FBI declined comment.

The next time a group of would be house robbers decide to go looting someone’s home, they will think twice when reading about Ellen Basinski of the suburban Cleveland community of Elyria, Ohio. Mrs. Basinski was on the phone with her husband, Judge David Basinski, when a group of four young men entered her home and started by emptying the contents of her purse. Mrs. Basinski sprang into overdrive and grabbed her Emeril Lagasse saucepan and whacked one of the the boys with it. Hilariously, the perpetrator stared in stunned disbelief and asked, “What did you do that for?’ The 70 year-old whacked him again. You can read the full details of the not so frail woman by following the link.  By the way, the chef has personally guaranteed Mrs. Basinski that he would replace the saucepan and probably cook her a special meal besides.

Apparently there is no clause protecting Santa Claus from being ticketed just like every other joe in the world. Back in November, 60 year-old Chip Cafiero was given a citation for being double-parked on a Brooklyn street. His horse-drawn carriage full of treats for good little boys and girls was parked near his SUV. Mr. Cafiero recently had his day in court to contest the ticket by claiming he was illegally parked to protect the children and carriage from traffic. However, the Jolly Elf paid the $155 fine but  said that the grinches would not take away his Christmas spirit.

By Caitlin Millat

NBCNewYork.com

The NYPD just landed on the naughty list.

Kris Kringle will have to pay a $115 double-parking ticket he received last Christmas while handing out toys to kids in Brooklyn, the Daily News reported.

Chip Cafiero, 60, parked his horse-drawn carriage — ahem, sleigh — in Bay Ridge last year as he delivered goodies to bright-eyed area kids.

Grinchy cops promptly slapped Cafiero’s carriage and the Chevy Suburban next to it with fines for occupying more than one space.

“The agent saw me handing out toys to kids and walked over and slapped me with a fine anyways,” St. Nick told the Daily News. “Has this city lost its heart?”

St. Nick tried to appeal to the Department of Finance but lost his battle with the city today despite public outcry that the ticket be overturned.

“Obviously not even Santa is exempt from traffic enforcement here in New York City,” state Sen. Marty Golden (R-Bay Ridge) said.

The Fifth Avenue Merchants Association told the Daily News it would pick up Cafiero’s tab.

Cafiero said the ticket wouldn’t zap him of holiday cheer.

“The city can take my money,” Santa said, “but they can’t take my Christmas spirit.”

Why oh why?  Just a few short month ago, Michael Phelps was on top of the world, setting Olympic records, winning gold medals in every swimming event he competed in in Beijing (8 in total) and the world watched.  In 2004 in Athens, he won multiple gold and silver medals and a few months later was involved in a DUI incident.  Funny how this was never mentioned this season… not that I remember anyway.

Over the weekend the golden one was at a college party in which marijuana was present.  And of course Mr. Phelps was human and young enough that he admittedly partook as a photo most likely from one of the fellow partiers cell phones surfaced.

I’m not going to defend anyone in this post.  Not Phelps nor the person snappin the picture.  I will say that anyone living in any high profile position needs to be careful.  I’m not sure if Michael felt that he would be able to escape the limelight twice but apparently he was not being careful.  Human but not careful.  I think the people who are ultimately responsible are those who place these people on such a high pedestal that if they blink, or turn right when they should have turned left they are forever demonized when mere moments ago they were “heroes.”

The following post, while going beyond my normally tame fare, just could not be resisted.  Besides, it reminded me of one of my favorite moments in the entire Brady Bunch mythos.  You know the moment when Peter threw a football and it came flying into the daydreaming face of Marcia, Marcia, Marcia.  Marcia screamed “OWW, MY NOSE“.  This gave the young lady a huge swelled nose and a severe blow to her ego as well as throwing any chance of her big date with the star football player out the window.  Well… a similar incident recently occurred at an establishment in Akron, Ohio.  However, it did not involve a football.

AKRON, Ohio — A northeast Ohio man who was smacked in the nose by a stripper’s platform-style shoe is suing a nightclub for $25,000 over injuries he says will require surgery.

Yusuf Evans says he wanted to entertain his cousin, who had come to visit from out of town, so he took him and a friend to the XTC Nightclub in Akron. 30 minutes later, Evans says he was doubled over in pain.

“When the boot hit me in my face all I could do is drop…and just holler for about ten minutes”, he said.

Evans says, while performing a dance move, a stripper’s shoe flew off her foot and smacked him in the face. “She ran, at a nice speed, grabbed the pole and flung her whole body around, all her weight flung like that in a circle around the pole and her boot flew off and it hit me in my nose”, explained Evans, who filed a civil lawsuit on Tuesday in Summit County Common Pleas Court. He’s asking for $25,000 in damages over injuries he says will require surgery. “Right here. It’s chipped”, he said, pointing to the left side of his nose. “This side of my nose, I often get clogged all the way up, where I can only breath out of (the opposite) side”, he said.

The lawsuit says XTC management allowed dancers to wear improper attire and required strippers to perform dances that made the stage a hazardous place.

“Safety reasons and that they’re responsible because it happened in their establishment by their employee”, Evans told FOX 8.

The owner of the XTC Nightclub had no comment.

Evans filed the civil lawsuit the same day he says he was injured exactly one year ago. The 37-year-old Akron man says he still has pain from the chipped bone in his nose.

He says he saw a doctor the day after he was injured. He has medical bills and was told he’d need surgery. “The bills, the pain, my nose that ain’t gonna go away unless I have surgery and I don’t like surgery so I don’t know what I’m gonna do about that.”

I guess next time I decided to invite a cousin to a night on the town, I would choose a safer place to be entertained.  I wonder what the man’s significant other thought about the incident.  The evening news reports that the victim is not a frequent patron of clubs and just wanted to show his cousin a good time.  I guess he thought the good time would be a little safer. [poll id=”15″]

I just marvel at the sight of witnessing an Inauguration Day on television.  Actually being within miles of the actual ceremony must be exhilarating.  The pomp and circumstance of the changing of power from one administration to another is just inspiring.  Millions of people gathered at the Mall facing the Capitol Building (I heard an estimated report that there was 1 port-a-potty for every 400 people), a chilly day indeed unless you are wearing layers upon layers of clothing.  The appearance of the three living past Commanders-in-Chief as well as their seconds in command preceding the oath is yet another traditional element of the passing of the torch.  Of course, there was a small snafu involved in the ceremony, it was a moment or two behind.  Is it in the 20th Amendment that the oath must be administered at noon?.  It does state that the President’s and Vice-President’s tenures ends at 12PM on January 20th.

Poor President Bush was mocked so heavily by David Letterman (among other talk show hosts) in what seemed like nightly installments of Great Moments in Presidential Speeches.  Mr. Letterman may well have his first moment for President Obama even before he was even sworn in.  The President-elect rushed over the Chief Justice in the recitation.  I believe that this inadvertently caused Justice Roberts to slightly flub the second line of the oath.  Probably the excitement of the moment.

I was impressed with the history making address of the new leader of our country.  He pulled no punches and made it blunt that there is work to be done in the U.S. as well as abroad and that it would not be easy days ahead but necessary.  I think the moment was made more profound when he alluded to the fact that 40 years ago, his family and others like him could not enter certain restaurants and be served;  now he is now the leader of that country.  A change has indeed come.  Let us hope that the next four years are filled with a new spirit and new prosperity.  I just hope that the president and his mother-in-law are on good terms.  Of course, the White House is a big place.

Yes, our president-elect is a self-proclaimed comic book aficionado.  Mr. Obama is such a fan of the Amazing Spider-Man that he is being featured on the cover of an upcoming issue as well as a story within its pages.  This is not the first time that comics have met the real world.  Many heroes took part in stories following the events of September 11, 2001 especially the web-slinger since his home turf is in fact Queens, New York.  Presidents are not new to comic book pages, either.

• President John F. Kennedy was seen in the pages of Action Comics #309 which was published months after the assassination.
• President Clinton and Hillary were part of the World Without a Superman
  in the pages of Man of Steel.

• President Ronald Reagan (or some artist’s rendering of him) was seen in the ground-breaking series Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.

Yes, sometimes the worlds of fantasy and reality do merge.