Aaron

Over the weekend, we made a couple of discoveries about the kids: the 4-year-old has learned to skip, and the 8-month-old has learned to clap, and they're both pretty darned excited about their new skills. Aaron, the baby, showed off his clapping a little bit at a time on Saturday and Sunday -- at first I thought it was a fluke, but then it became clear that he was doing it on purpose. Clapping is the best -- it has a built-in celebration of the new skill. ("Yay!" *baby clapping* *YAYYYYYYYYYY!

A Queenstown man who spent three years in prison for killing a Maryland Transportation Authority officer when his pickup truck rammed into the officer's cruiser was ordered Tuesday to return to prison for another two years. When charged last fall with drug violations, Albert Gene Antonelli, 40, was in the midst of his five years of probation after the end of his prison stay for causing the 2004 crash that killed Duke G. Aaron III of Pasadena near the Bay Bridge. Antonelli had been sentenced in 2005 to serve three years of a five-year prison term for manslaughter in Aaron's death, followed by probation.

I knew that having kids would change my relationship with our pets, no matter how much I tried to avoid it. But based on the amount of time the cats have spent glaring at me lately, I think I underestimated how much it would change. Our three cats -- Billy, Spencer and Lucy -- dealt OK when our first son was born four years ago. Billy tried to sleep in the baby's crib, until there was a baby in it. Then he was over that idea. Mostly, they watched him, and otherwise, they left him alone.

I recently chatted with Aaron Schatz, the editor-in-chief of Football Outsiders , for an upcoming story that has little, if anything, to do with Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco. But after we were done chatting about whatever it was that we were talking about -- you'll find out in a few days -- Schatz wanted to get a point in about Flacco. Earlier in the conversation, I had casually mentioned that most people believe that Flacco is above average . “I don't think it's accepted as conventional wisdom that he is above average,” Schatz later said, circling back to my comment.

My 6-month-old son Aaron is a little grabby right now. Blankets, the edges of his clothes, the neckline of my clothes, toys, faces. You name it, he'll try to grab it. Last week, I was taking some pictures of him and his 4-year-old brother together, and what happened? He grabbed Isaac by the face. That ended well. (Actually, Isaac took it well, and we got a funny picture and a story out of it, so it could have been worse.) It's not quite Awkward Family Photos material, but it's still pretty funny -- and will definitely serve as a reminder of this little juncture in our lives.

HBO Monday announced that it is picking up Aaron Sorkin's"The Newsroom" for a second season, along with "True Blood" for a sixth. I love the way "The Newsroom"  calls out the press for losing its sense of purpose. Some members of the press didn't like being called out that way. (See my other blog posts about "The Newsroom" to the left of this post.) A couple of pieces of very good news from HBO.  

As I have said earlier, I believe the pilot for Aaron Sorkin's "The Newsroom"  is one of the decade's best productions. I love this series for the way it calls out the press for having lost its sense of purpose. But the press doesn't like be called out that way, and you can see that in some of the reviews attacking Sunday's pilot for being sanctimonious and self-righteous. I love the righteousness of this series -- self or not. Here's video from CNN's  "Reliable Sources" Sunday of a discussion I had with some of my colleagues who don't like "The Newsroom" very much at all. I respect their views.

UPDATE: I am going to be on CNN's "Reliable Sources" at 11 a.m. (ET) Sunday discussing "The Newsroom" with Maureen Ryan, from the Huffington Post, and Adam Buckman, of Xfinity TV. The Aaron Sorkin series premieres Sunday night at 10 on HBO. This is one of the 20 best pilots of the last 20 years. Don't miss it. I have been thinking about the pilot for Aaron Sorkin's new HBO drama, "The Newsroom," for more than a week now. I screened it last week for a radio piece on WYPR-FM (88.1)

Maryland signee Jake Layman will represent the United States in Brazil starting this weekend. Layman, a 6-foot-8 small forward, made the final cut for USA Basketball's 12-man U18 team . The future Terp will continue training with the U.S. team in Colorado Springs, Colo., before departing Tuesday for Sao Sebastiáo do Paraiso, Brazil -- home of the 2012 FIBA Americas U18 Championship. Team USA opens FIBA play against the U.S. Virgin Islands on Saturday at 1 p.m., followed by a game against Mexico on Sunday at 1 p.m., and Brazil next Monday at 5 p.m. Semifinals are set for June 19, with the gold-medal game scheduled for June 20. Check out video of Layman, who averaged 26.5 points, 15 rebounds and 5.8 blocks as a senior at King Philip High in Wrentham, Mass., from Colorado Springs below.

Larry and Bella Clamage, of Laurel, and Herbert and Baerble Guentner, of Woerthsee, Germany, announce the engagement of their children, Aaron and Bettina. A 2001 graduate of the University of Maryland, the future groom is a professional photographer. The bride-to-be is a graduate of Berufschule of Starnberg, Germany, and Montgomery County Nursing School. She is a registered rehabilitation nurse. A September wedding is planned.