Greetings and Happy Easter from Dover, Delaware! I hope all of you enjoying this day with friends and family.

Yesterday, the grandbabies went on an easter egg hunt we had set up in the house; it was too wet outside from the rain we experienced until late afternoon. Before the hunt, Sue made an awesome Easter dinner consisting of ham, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, deviled eggs, and a fruit tray. There was enough food to have fed The Experts, especially Ron “Yogi” Avidan. We cheated on the ham; Sue & I bought a precooked 7-pound boneless ham from the local Amish meat market for about $30. Doing this saved time and oven space; not to mention supporting the local economy in these hard times.

This morning I made everyone ham and eggs for breakfast. It was very enjoyable and relaxing making and eating breakfast with the whole family. It made my day.

For me, the Easter Bunny came a day earlier. I finally gathered all of my tax info and went to see my tax man. After spending about 20 minutes in his office, he uttered a word to me that I have not heard in about 10 years; “REFUND,” on both federal and state returns. I almost fell out of my chair. It had rained most of the day yesterday but I was seeing sunshine after hearing that.

Now about the attached picture. Some of you may wonder what IRON MAN photographers do between contests besides our daytime jobs. I know Merv Petralba photographs weddings in the Southern California area. I do whatever it takes or jump on any opportunity that comes my way. On April 4th, I helped my co-worker and photographer, Jason Minto, owner of Jason Minto Photography in Dover, Delaware. He asked me to help him with a job at a local college that required on-site printing; pictures with the Easter Bunny. The alumni association provided a free 4×6 print of children with the bunny. Actually, I think half of all photos we shot and printed, 50 percent were of young children and the remaining 50 percent were either parents or college students with the big bunny. Everybody loves the Easter Bunny!

Happy Easter to all!

Another year has come and gone for both of us.  It’s hard to believe that you are 67 today; I still see you as if you were still in your 30’s or 40’s.  I take it I’m safe repeating your age since Lonnie’s Teper’s blog was the first to go up today wishing you a happy birthday.  I also posted his blog, too.  Now that I have a few minutes, I can post my birthday wishes to you.  One of my favorite pictures of you was taken by Steve Downs.  That whole series of photos taken at Vince’s Gym is the way I still see you.  It’s amazing how a single photo can trigger so many wonderful memories.

I hope you have a great day and I wish you many more healthy years to come.

Love, Roland

Weeks prior to leaving for the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio, my assistant contract manager and photographer, Jason Minto, informed me his good friend Mike Scuillo of Miami, Florida was named Bodybuilding.com’s Amateur Bodybuilder of the Week, #431.  Jason also told me that Mike would be coming up from Florida for the Arnold and that he would try to catch up with me sometime over the weekend.  I never met Mike and I only have seen his picture on BB.com’s profile of him.

Now comes the weird part of this blog story.  On Saturday, March 7th, Merv Petralba and I planned to meet IRON MAN’s Senior Editor  Ruth Silverman and Nancy Di Nino, co-host of LivingBeautifulRadio.com, outside the Expo hall at 8:45 am to make three wrap-up videos of the women events from the previous day.  We met up with them at the coffee stand and found a table where we all could go over the plans for the videos.

After sitting down for a few minutes while reading some technical material, I heard my name being called.  It wasn’t Ruth, Nancy or Merv because they were doing other things.  I heard my name being called again and it was coming from behind me.  I turned around and to my amazement it was Mike.  There was no prior contact between Mike and myself; it was just one of those weird instances when people are at the same place at the same time.  I just happened to sit down at a table next to Mike’s table.

After talking a few minutes and getting Merv to take a photo of Mike and me with my iPhone, I sent Jason the picture of us.  I think that freaked him out and then Mike called Jason to freak him out a little more.  While Mike was talking to Jason, I came up with the idea to take a picture of Mike in front of the Bodybuilding.com booth in the Expo.  When Mike was done talking to Jason, I grabbed Mike and took him to the booth for a quick photo.

Bill Grant, a long-time friend of the family, was signing autographs at the booth, along with Bob Cicherillo and Sherry Goggin.  All three of them were kind enough to take a minute for me to grab a quick pic of them with Mike. The line for the Bodybuilding.com booth was off the hook; it was probably the most popular booth at the Expo.

For those who have never been to the Expo, it is wall-to-wall people on Friday & Saturday.  Total madness.  Trying to find someone in the Expo Hall is like trying to find a single BB in Yankee Stadium.  Without a cell phone and earpiece, you’re SOL.  I can’t wait to do it again next year.  See you there!

Today was a great day considering it snowed 10 inches in Dover, Delaware. The snow started to fall around 4 pm yesterday and ended around 4 pm today. I didn’t have to go in to work today so I used this 3-day weekend to catch up on some emails and prep for the trip out to Columbus, Ohio to cover the Arnold Sports Festival, March 5-8. Most of the roads should be in good shape by Thursday morning when I make my hour and a half trek to BWI. The weather in Columbus looks good for the time I’ll be at the Arnold; 40’s and 50’s according to the Weather Channel.

I remember last year a big snow storm hit Columbus a few days after the Arnold. Then a day or so later Dover got a little bit of that storm. By then all of the photos and videos were posted to the IRON MAN website and the 2008 Arnold was just a memory. I can’t believe a year has gone by; this will be my third Arnold.

One big event prior to the Arnold every year for the last 2 years is my grandson’s birthday; Gabriel Roland Farmer who turned 2 years old on Feb 28th. My birthday is on February 1st, so we bring in and take out February with a bang.

Before I started to dig out the cars and driveway, I had my wife Sue take a picture of Gabe and me sporting our Tony Nowak IRON MAN knit caps. The caps came in real handy today as the temperature was in the mid 20’s with the wind chill around 10 degrees. I spent about 2 hours brushing and shoveling and that was plenty of cardio for me. Luckily the snow was fluffy; that wet snow is a booger to shovel. Hopefully this was the one and only snow storm we get this year. Gabe didn’t stick around to help, he just wanted to play in the white stuff. I did explain to him not to eat any yellow snow; I don’t think he totally understood what I was trying to tell him. Anyway, it was great to witness Gabe’s first experience in the snow. I see the snow and cold in a different way, especially when Merv Petralba emailed me and said it was in the 80’s by him the last couple of days. Hey Merv, don’t forget your knit cap this year. That’s another blog entry about that story.

See you all in Columbus!!

Well kind of; actually it was a bunch of emails that were fired off in cyberspace.  In my previous blog entry about Muscular Development’s new interview team, Flex Wheeler and Sugar Shawn Ray, I had mentioned if there was a hidden message looming about.  Well there was and it didn’t manifest itself until Monday, February 2nd into my email inbox.  The word was out that Dave Palumbo and John Romano had been terminated at MD.

So now the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place.  I’m not one to go around spreading gossip or slinging dirt at the expense of someone, I just tell the facts.  On February 5th, I received an email from Dave inviting me to join his and John Romano’s new bodybuilding social network, MuscleSpace.  I was suprised to see that the two of them were back in business so soon; no not really because I know Dave has a big following and is saavy with the internet.  I have not joined because I just don’t have the time to.

The news of Dave and John’s termination from MD must have stirred up the pot pretty good. This shot must have ricocheted all over the place prompting MD’s Publisher/Editor-in_Chief, Steve Blechman to post a statement on the MD website on February 4th to set the record straight.  Taking the statement for face value, I commend Mr. Blechman for squelching all the rumours and gossip regarding this incident.  Click on and read the MD Forum No Bull post “Statement by Steve Blechman Regarding Dave and John’s Termination” to see for yourself.

What’s wrong with this picture?  Or is there something wrong or right that nobody picked up on at that particular moment?  Obviously, the two new interviewers for Muscular Development, Flex Wheeler and Sugar Shawn Ray who are very familiar faces in the bodybuilding community seem out of place compared to the usual face of MD interviewer Dave Palumbo.  Bill Comstock was the only member of the previous MD video crew; was this a hidden message?

I’m not questioning or criticizing the interviewing skills of Flex and Shawn because I thought they did a great job interviewing IRON MAN’s Lonnie “The Swami” Teper on Friday prior to the IRON MAN Pro XX.  In fact, they tried to throw The Swami a curveball during the interview by asking him to name all of the previous IRON MAN PRO winners in chronological order.  The Swami was flawless.  See the interview by clicking here.