Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Feb 6, 2012, 8:58 pm
The McBonerito values time spent in quiet conversation with good friends. Lalalala!I know you are, but what am I?No TV, social networking, no mobile devices; just two boys kicking back in their favorite chairs waiting for snack time. nwb
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Feb 4, 2012, 12:38 pm
Some moustaches are born to inspire: Others repulse: Then there is the rare moustache that falls under the category known as 'game changer': NOML Moustache of the Month - February, 2012 My brother-in-law Jonny unveiled this modern-day masterpiece to the Northern Ohio Moustache League on January 1...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Jan 24, 2012, 7:57 pm
As a parent, it's written into my very soul that I must worry about my progeny.  What do I worry about most?  Monsters, of course!  Also the future.  Sometimes the two terrors merge to form that most beastly of specimens... The Future Blob! I owe my every success in life to that greenish-brown ...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Jan 21, 2012, 3:18 pm
... glass--the only shot glass I've ever owned.  The shattered vessel depicts the Großglockner, the ... but no more.  I loved my shot glass.  I loved its shape and heft.  ... little handle.  You could say this shot glass inspired me to make my own ... by shot, through the years.  My s...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Jan 19, 2012, 8:46 pm
Nothing better than sitting back with the kid and enjoying a classic from the steaming bowels of the West Coast comic underground. The McBonerito has little use for the mainstream.  If he's not busy gumming the corners of some socialist pamphlet, you can probably find him at a local Occupy movemen...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Nov 1, 2011, 12:33 am
On this Halloween night an omen presented itself, as omens will, in sudden and mysterious fashion. In anticipation of the birth of our son, the McBonerito's four grandparents are gathered in one house for the first time since our wedding day, 11 years ago.  The due date looms tomorrow, but dates a...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Oct 24, 2011, 7:28 pm
On Saturday, after the first session I woke up at about 2pm after a very brief nap on the couch in my mom and dads living room.  The couch has always been my spot, in fact you can often times find me sleeping on mine in my living room.  I don't know what it is, but I can sleep on the couch just as...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Oct 19, 2011, 9:13 pm
The day had finally arrived.  I literally had been dreaming about an opportunity to play professional basketball my entire life. Not just deaming though, but searching out opportunities to make it happen.  Now I found myself, on my 30th birthday, driving down I-77 South heading towards a high s...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Oct 17, 2011, 7:44 pm
Ok wait, there is a little more to get to before the actual tryout.  I think it's important to have the entire experience down in writing.... The Friday morning before the big day I woke up at 5am to get a workout in.  I played basketball with the usual 6am morning hoops crew to work on a few sm...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Oct 17, 2011, 11:15 am
The story of my tryout did not begin on Saturday, October 15th 2011 on my 30th birthday, but long ago when my favorite sport became my passion.  Basketball is a game I started playing around four or five years old.  I took every opportunity available to pick up a ball and shoot at anything even ...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Oct 16, 2011, 3:17 pm
Fall.  Some call it their favorite season.  Some go as far as to wax poetic about it.  I understand.  Hell, I'm an autumn child.  As seasons go, fall is one of the best, but I don't love everything about it. This is the pile of leaves I raked this morning: McGraw 1, Leaves 0 Notice that none...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Oct 15, 2011, 8:41 pm
Today is my idiot brother's 30th birthday.  It also happens to be the day of his big tryout with the new NBA D-League team, the Canton Charge.  What business does a thirty-year-old have on the same court with much younger and much taller NBA aspirants?  Understand that my brother grew up idolizin...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Oct 8, 2011, 11:33 pm
My sometimes-pregnant wife can't get much bigger.  Here I am getting sucked into her gravitational pull. Photo by Spronk, whose leftover lunch is now under 24-hour observation at the Purdue University Department of Food Science. nwb
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Oct 3, 2011, 8:05 pm
My idiot brother turns 36 years old today.  Six years is all that separates the two Bowler brothers.   But it's actually quite amazing how big a difference that six years can make. The fact that I have an infinite amount more of natural athletic ability,  I'm a thousand times more handso...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Sep 30, 2011, 10:52 pm
I believe that most people think and dream about their aspirations and goals constantly.  Probably every single day.  I know that I do. And I guess I have nothing to prove that this statement is true, but I would say that approximately 99% of those people don't do a damn thing to act on any o...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Sep 30, 2011, 1:24 am
I have a terrible taste in my mouth after the Indians concluded what was a more or less successful season.  Considering the preseason predictions and the financial climate in which they operate, I should be happy with a 11-game improvement over last year and a decent outlook for 2012.  Still, did ...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Sep 25, 2011, 11:07 pm
Last week my very sprightly, sometimes-pregnant wife sprang up from a sitting position, catapulted herself over the orb... ...somersaulted to my desk, grabbed the camera, and, a split second before it flitted away, captured this eastern bluebird perched atop our feeder stand: A tree-filled city ne...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Sep 24, 2011, 7:19 pm
As my two partner bloggers recently chimed in regarding the breakup of R.E.M., I feel compelled to hold up my corner of the triumvirate.  What follows is a brief history of my experience with the band: 1989 - Watched video for Stand.  Outwardly dismissed it as 'weird.'  Inwardly embraced it as 'a...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Sep 22, 2011, 12:51 am
I don't know much about Troy Davis, except that he died tonight by lethal injection.  He could well have been a cold-blooded killer who shot a cop to death, but I'm in no position to opine on that.  This isn't about Troy Davis, anyway. This isn't about morality, either.  I don't have any real obj...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Sep 20, 2011, 10:13 pm
... this space to tell you all how much I liked Drive.  You know, like back in the distant past when ... and a seriously laid-back 'tude.  Not to say Drive is a snoozer--there's real menace behind the ... of humor here and there, at no point does Drive feel like parody.  The scene in question...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Sep 16, 2011, 5:31 pm
I think maybe sometime early in my teens I decided that I was going to live life to its fullest.  Every opportunity to create a "memory" I was going to take, and every opportunity to do something "memorable" I would be open to the adventure.  Life is so fragile and I think people are so often held...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Sep 13, 2011, 11:10 pm
This will sound rather pessimistic in tone, but please keep in mind that what follows is my first post since watching the Browns' season opener. Articles like this one from the NY Times simultaneously exhilarate and frustrate the fuck out of me. Is there life out there?  Of course.  Obviously. ...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Sep 11, 2011, 10:23 am
All I'm going to say is that one tragic day begot ten tragic years and counting. It's time to wrap this business up. Bring 'em home. Now. Peace, nwb
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Sep 9, 2011, 4:59 pm
I was asked that question maybe 35 times today, starting with the first person I saw when I got into work, the security guard. It is amazing living in a city that can bring together every single walk of life.  No matter what race, gender, ethnicity, job, or where they live, we all have one thing in...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Sep 8, 2011, 5:58 pm
One man, the owner and founder of Quicken Loans, has some ideas that I think have some merit.  Dan Gilbert has put his money where his mouth is, at the very least, you can't argue that.  The owner of a variety of companies in Detroit, Cleveland and Columbus, he has invested in the Midwest cities a...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Sep 5, 2011, 8:15 pm
Take a look at the deep-fried soul we were cooking up earlier today: That's right.  Is there any more comforting sight in the world than hot oil turning food a glorious shade of golden brown?  What's that?  Don't think a pasty Caucasian like me has any right to dabble in the sacred art of soul f...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Sep 4, 2011, 6:57 pm
So many things in life piss me off.  Goverment, politics, mayonnaise, hate, cancer, etc. etc.  Life can be so stressful at times that it actually becomes difficult to function.  Had a slight meltdown two weeks ago in fact, I actually had to leave work....Which I NEVER do.  But when I'm with my...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Sep 3, 2011, 1:35 pm
The blinding sun made birding a challenge this morning here at the manor and at the Celery Bog, but there were some highlights mixed in there: Great blue heron Green heron Hairy woodpecker Red-headed woodpecker - Check out this elusive bird, brought to you in grainy yet breathtaking HD video: Cardi...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Aug 31, 2011, 9:33 pm
This was the view from my desk in my old office: Old officeSpectacular, right?  I know!  I was loathe to say goodbye to this slice of enchantment, until I got an eyeful of the view from my desk in the new office: New officeAs if I wasn't stimulated enough!  It's gonna be hard to get any work done...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Aug 28, 2011, 11:01 pm
This is a low quality, super high def video of a green heron jettisoning its payload and commencing a catlike hunt for aquatic delicacies. Note the stealthy approach, the cool poise, the utter stillness before the kill.  Not sure what scared the heron off in the end.  Some predatory threat?  Or ...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Aug 26, 2011, 11:26 pm
The Indians are not going to catch the Tigers.  They showed that last week by entering a critical three-game set with their division rivals and getting very neatly swept.  One week later and 6 games back in the standings, a hero of yore was summoned to save the day. Part of me, the sentimental gu...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Aug 23, 2011, 10:15 pm
As a slave to ritual, I tend to spend my summers in the grip of a prolonged malaise.  While others are running and playing and finding ways to soak up vitamin D, I shutter myself in with a steady diet of Donettes, strawberry milk and internet Scrabble.  With the pallor and gait of the walking dead...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Aug 22, 2011, 11:50 pm
How dedicated are we to Cleveland?  Just ask my brother, Stabbone, who etched the love right into his skin: Tattoo by Brett. nwb
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Aug 17, 2011, 9:32 pm
Strip steak, baked potato, tossed salad, corn on the cob.  That's a pretty well rounded, all-American (aside from the stridently socialist beverages) meal to christen our brand new (used) dining room table.  This may seem a tiny milestone hardly worth a blog post all its own, but the event marks, ...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Aug 13, 2011, 1:46 pm
Exhibit #46.  Indiana wants a piece of Lincoln.  nwb
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Aug 12, 2011, 12:05 am
En route home from work, this Dodge pickup pulled in front of me with an assertive, borderline hostile maneuver.  Enraged at first, my anger quickly turned to delight as I scrambled for my phone. Can you tell why I was so eager to snap a photo? See them?  No?  Well then take a closer look at the...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Aug 10, 2011, 10:38 pm
European starlings are the bird kingdom's equivalent of the Hell's Angels.  Traveling in large, noisy, packs of pure misanthropy, starlings invade a territory, bully the locals, glean every last morsel to be found and then swarm to another unsuspecting locale.  True to their antisocial leanings, s...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Aug 8, 2011, 11:29 pm
So, let me get this straight: a small pack of S&P dudes sitting around a table in a Manhattan office decides that the US government runs the risk of being insolvent at some indeterminate date in the future and thus lowers its credit rating for the first time in history, a move that figured prominent...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Aug 7, 2011, 11:15 pm
This is my father's moustache.  Note the confidence it imparts on its wearer, the way it frames his easy smile.  Calm, prepossessing, here is a man completely in tune with himself and his surroundings.  The picture was most certainly taken in the moments between a long, cool drag on a Pall Mall a...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Aug 6, 2011, 1:57 am
This afternoon a female ruby-throated hummingbird zipped in to carbo-load at our feeder.  What luck that the cameras were rolling!  While she supped on the sweet, sugary nectar, we were capturing the whole thing in beautiful HD: Clearly pleased with the concoction, the emerald lass flicks her ton...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Aug 4, 2011, 11:14 pm
For the uninitiated, McBone can be a strange, vast, almost dreamlike realm, a place where the principles of time and space have no meaning and nothing is quite what it seems.  Of those McBoning for the first time, even the savviest of blog aficionados have described a feeling akin to 'floating on w...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Jul 31, 2011, 10:33 pm
Rough weekend in the field, McBoners.  A reconnaissance mission in Indianapolis this Saturday uncovered a particularly unstable fridge: Flimsy plastic bottles and a mere refrigerator door against these levels of toxicity?  Laughable.  Indeed, the contamination appeared to have spilled into the o...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Jul 28, 2011, 11:00 pm
McBone's Poet Laureate.  The world knows him as the iconoclastic poet/recluse M. Patrick Foliglio. We prefer to call him Godfather.  As of yesterday afternoon, the irascible bard has consented to be godfather to our unborn child.  It wasn't easy.  Here's an excerpt of our conversation:  My som...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Jul 25, 2011, 9:05 pm
Who is Amazing Larry?  That question has baffled us for years.  All we know for sure is that he was once on the shortlist of candidates for vice president.  Before that he had a brief but memorable cameo in 1985's Pee-wee's Big Adventure: Since then?  Nothing.  Aside from his abbreviated fora...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Jul 15, 2011, 11:10 pm
This, easily the biggest bug I've ever seen, came bonking against our window with enough force for me to wonder what kind of bird was trying to get in.  Twice the size of a hummingbird and just as beautiful, the exhausted insect rested long enough on the front stoop for me to shoot a few photos wit...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Jul 12, 2011, 11:07 pm
Gentle McBoners, A couple of days ago McBone quietly surpassed the 50 billion hit mark, making us by far the most important cultural phenomenon since canned ravioli.  That's all thanks to you (and me obsessively refreshing every 30 seconds), and your continued allegiance to a blog that cut its teet...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Jul 9, 2011, 9:51 pm
This Japanese beetle doesn't know it, but the wrath of McBone is about to descend up on it.  That's a shame really, because Japanese beetles, with their green and bronze carapaces, are among the lovelier bugs in the insect kingdom.  If only they weren't so gluttonous. That's the leaf from my Con...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Jul 8, 2011, 8:31 pm
Take a look at this awesome clout and tell me what's wrong here: Nothing wrong at all with a game winning grand slam with one out in the bottom of the ninth.  That's just about the most exciting play in all of professional sports.  If only someone had been there to see it. Yes it's true that I ha...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Jul 5, 2011, 11:23 pm
Sorry, my creepy looking son.  It's timeout time for you.At a tequila-soaked social gathering this past weekend, I was informed by several of the guests that posting twice about a burgeoning child officially makes any blog, regardless of how many years of non-baby blogging it has in the bank, a cer...
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Nate B. posted an article on Stabbone and McGraw - Jun 30, 2011, 11:37 pm
Brandon Terzic is one of my oldest and best friends, a fellow veteran of the Akron Public School system with all the scars and residual trauma to prove it.  Like the great bluesmen of yore, he's managed to summon his anguish and frustration and turn it into a musical phenomenon for the ages.  How ...
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