A Saturday Night for the Ages (NY Part 2) and a few other thoughts going into '08

The Manhattan Center is far more intimate than the Frontier Fieldhouse in Chicago Ridge. The ceiling is lower, the fans are on top of each other, creating better acoustics. The problem was we seemed very low to the ring. I couldn't even see the floor of the ring. So if I returned, I would go for the balcony. I like the concession stand. They sold NY pretzels by the half for one dollar! But there was one other thing NY had that Chicago doesn't have. A bar. I didn't drink there, but with the liquor readily available to these fans, I was a little caught off guard. I was just hoping they wouln't get too rowdy. Suffice to say, I was not spending 8 bucks for a beer. Then I ran into analyst Lenny Leonard before the show and we talked about New York City, New Year's, and our beloved Jets.

I would rate the show (called Rising Above) as good to very good. There were no bad matches, but no blow away matches. The world title match between Nigel McGuinness and Austin Aries was the best of the night. And Kevin Steen and El Generico got an amazing reaction. But we were disappointed in the Dragon-Morishima match, for which our hopes were so high. Dragon started bleeding one minute into the match and Morishima was disqualified after 7 minutes. We were pissed. That really put a damper on the whole night. I did buy Dad a Bryan Danielson t-shirt for a late Christmas gift.

The show ended at 11:30 and we headed down the stairs and over to Tir na nog. We were absolutely crammed in this tiny space, about 100 of us in all. They started passing out the appetizers before the wrestlers even showed. The steak skewers with the remoulade were excellent. The chicken drummettes were fresh and hot. The BBQ quesadillas were good too. Then they brought in 35 pizzas. I'll never forget it. We open the first box and it has spinach. One big guy (who looked like David Ortiz) gets it out of the way. We open the next one and it's plain cheese. Eight guys come in and all at once, we each rip a slice out of the box. It was so sudden and so aggressive, it was like an atom got split eight different ways. We wiped out those pizzas like we were at a Weight Watchers convention.

Then the guys showed up and I met a load of them. There were quite a few no-shows. Unfortunately, Danielson was not there. Nigel wasn't either (though I found out he later had a concussion, a broken nose, and 14 stitches that night), Davey Richards, Jack Evans, Ruckus, Steen, Generico, and Marufuji. I first met Bushwacker Luke who I loved as a kid. As much crap as I took for liking them, it was cool to meet him in person. Ring announcer Bobby Cruise gave me more crap about Chad Pennington and the Jets. I congratulated him on his f'n Pats going undefeated. He asked me why I was wearing the jersey and I said he was my favorite player. He just looks at me in awe/disgust and mutters, "You son of a bitch." It was hysterical.

A few guys deserve special mention. Matt Cross was great to talk to. First he was with a girl about 4 inches taller than him and he's shorter than me, which was cool. I want Julius Smokes' wardrobe. With his "pimp-esque" suit, I think Isiah Thomas his getting fashion tips from Julius. Jimmy Jacobs, who Dad cursed at all night, actually stopped and talked to me! I told him I wished he could do some more Karaoke with Nigel. Larry Sweeney is as smooth off the camera as he is on. He and Chris Hero were ribbing Bobby Dempsey in the restaurant, checking his diet, snatching away his Coke, and getting him "Diet water." And this was in front of Dad, me, and maybe two other fans. They didn't need everyone's attention, they just wanted to have fun. Dad and I thanked Adam Pearce for his amazing promo at the Driven show and for entertaining us.
But the best was Roderick Strong. He drank like crazy at the last show, but I guess I got him at a good time. I told him how his match with Danielson absolutely hooked me into Ring of Honor and he gave me a bit of a hug. Considering how much heat he gets from the fans, that was cool. I wished they respected him more, because he deserves it. I also shook hands with the Briscoes, Claudio, Chris Hero, and Brent Albright. And best of all, Dad had way more fun than he thought he would. He couldn't get over how friendly everyone was and what a cool place Tir na nog was.

And I have to credit Greg H for putting these parties together. He's just a fan in his 50's with another job and the party cost him several thousand dollars. His sacrifice is something I have to just stand back and applaud.

We left the party at 1:15 am and got back at 1:50. I was in bed by 2:30 am and woke up around 9:30 on Sunday. I was useless all day. We went to a local deli to pick some cold cuts and rolls, but I had no energy. So in the early part of the afternoon, we watched football and that lovely Knicks-Bulls game. A STELLAR effort by Isiah Thomas' joke of a team. Watching it in high def, the Knicks still don't move on defense. Then I watched the Jets beat the Chiefs in overtime. Great, the Jets won, now they drop four draft spots. Even when this team wins, they lose.

So Uncle Brian came over from Staten Island. We pigged out on Italian sandwiches, shrimp oreganata, pigs in a blanket, and cheesecake and watched the Rangers win an amazing overtime game 4-3 over Montreal. End to end action in the first period, the Rangers blow a lead, tie it 3-3 with 6 minutes left, and Brendan Shanahan scores the game-winner on a breakaway.

My flight home was brutal. Screaming kids around me and a few young couples all over each other right next to me. Throw in the snow that delayed us 30 minutes on the runway AFTER we landed and it was almost enough to make me vomit. It makes me wonder. What's the desire to do something crazy? Just to have a wild story to tell? I wonder about why some people prioritize certain things. But then I think about me. I read an analogy this weekend that we don't remember the speeched at graduation, we remember when we graduate. We don't necessarily remember our wedding vows, we remember the process of getting married. And I have been so worried about saying just the right words in just the right way to get a specific reaction. So I realized it's not really about the words I say, or even the thoughts I think, but what matters are my actions. It's about what I choose to do every day. Years down the road, people won't remember too many of my words, but they will remember my deeds. They will remember how I treated them.

Song pick: "I Should Have Never Started Loving You" Marshall Tucker Band. Feels right for New Year's Eve.

Chicago's thin crust pizza is a joke! (NY Part 1)

I am back on time from New York City and it is a snowy New Year's Eve in Chicago. Coming home on Rt 59, a car in front of us skidded and we had to swerve to our left onto the median to avoid a crash. But let's go back to Friday.

First of all, I am quickly becoming addicted to Painted Yahtzee. Over the 3 days I was at his house, I played 10 games against Dad and won 6, including 3 on my final roll of the game! He took it well. But I don't think there's anyone he'd rather lose to than me.

I actually got two Whose Line Season One DVD's as a late Christmas gift! I'm very pumped up about that. Hopefully, the next few seasons will be out soon, particularly the episode with Richard Simmons...I really wanted to save some money instead of eating out at pricey restaurants so we made a boneless prime rib and I added some roasted potatoes and asparagus. His oven was built around the time gas burners were invented so it took a while to cook. Nonetheless, everything came out great. And he got some mini-cheesecakes from Junior's. The pumpkin was my fave.

Saturday was the big day. We took a 2:30 train into New York and got in a little after 3. Before the Ring of Honor show, we stopped at Tir na nog, where the post-show party was going to happen. Dad doesn't drink much, but we decided to stop in and get a drink. Much to my dismay, there was no Bass or Brooklyn Lager available, so I opted for a Smithwick's. I didn't remember that beer getting me so woozy! And Dad got the spiciest Bloody Mary he'd ever drank! So we walked by the Manhattan Center. I saw Sara Del Rey going in and said hi. We walked another 10 seconds and Claudio Castagnoli walks right by us! I wished him luck and he said thanks. He walked in and about 20 fans outside all went "Heeeeeeeeeeey!" Classic stuff.

So Dad and I started up 8th Avenue for the 11 block walk. It was a comfortable, cool, busy night in Manhattan. No wind, not too cold, no precipitation. 5 blocks in, we pass a Gray's Papaya, a famous NY hot dog joint that also serves tropical fruit drinks. The dogs are only $1.25, compared to $2.25 at Portillo's in Chicago. We each had a dog and I also had a pina colada (No alcohol in this one) drink. There was a spice to the frank that I just don't get in Chicago. They were marvelous. I used to say between the two towns, Chicago had the edge for hot dogs. Now I'd say they have the edge in toppings. We continued uptown to John's, right in the middle of the theater district. Right around us were Les Mis and the Phantom of the Opera. So we go inside into an absolutely packed waiting area. It was like a NY subway on a Monday morning rush hour. I figured we had a 90 minute wait ahead, but they told me 25 minutes and they were right. So we sat in this dining room that used to be a church and his been remodeled. The stained glass windows do give the place a very charming and relaxing feel. This is a shot of the famed ceiling.

We had to wait 10 minutes for a waiter, but we ordered a pizza that not only came out in about 5 minutes, but the taste absolutely amazed us. My half had sausage and mushrooms and Dad's side had sausage and ground beef with no cheese. The crust was crispy and chewy. The sauce was rich and very Italian. The sausage was well seasoned and tasted very fresh. Finishing my three slices was an absolute breeze. I give John's an A and I'm only taking the plus away because they don't offer free refills on drinks.

So we headed back downtown towards the Manhattan Center. On the way, Dad though he felt something on his shoe. He bent down to flick it off and felt the glass cut his index finger open.
We stopped at the New Yorker hotel (where ROH used to run shows by the way) and the doorguy was nice enough to give us bandages and Neosporin. So then we waited outside for about an hour to go in and I chatted with some NYC ROH fans and gave them the Chicago perspective. But the whole hour, I was terrified because I heard the security staff was going to check us with actual metal detectors. I had my digital camera and was very worried it was going to be confiscated. So I figured out a place to hide it and hoped and prayed for the best. Thankfully, I got it through. Then we had to climb seven flights of stairs to get to the Grand Ballroom. And Dad has a bad right knee and he wound up feeling the pain around flight #4. Finally we we reached the apex. Floor #7. Time for Ring of Honor.

Right through the very heart of it...ROH preview!

Well, my plane leaves in 9 hours. I'm only spending one day in NYC, Saturday. As for food, I don't think steak is in the plans this time, which is fine. But I've convinced my dad to eat at John's Pizzeria, which is amazing considering he doesn't eat dairy. This is a place I've seen promoted on the Travel Channel a few times. Located near Times Square, it used to be a church for many years. On one hand, it is sad that a house of worship is now a restaurant. But it still has the stained glass windows and people say despite the craziness of the street right outside, this is a very homey place to visit. I'm really excited to try this pizza.

From there, it's off to the Manhattan Center for Ring of Honor's 5th PPV Taping. Yes, the Chad Pennington jersey is folded and inside the Lands End suitcase. I'm really excited for this card, this is as excited I've been for a show since last June when Driven blew my mind. But I hear the security at the Manhattan Center is ruthless there and I really want to bring my camera to the show. I'm trying to think of some place to hide it while they search me... Anyway, here's the lineup with my predictions.

ROH World Title Match: Nigel McGuinness vs. Austin Aries
A lot of interesting subplots here. Can Aries become the first two-time ROH world champ? How's McGuinness' left biceps, which has been torn off the bone? After all, that is the arm which he throws his tradmark lariats. And these two haven't wrestled in a singles match against each other in almost two years. Nigel won the World title in September, but has been injured since. He's on a mission to make his reign as World Champion, which he has worked so hard and so long to get, count. Though I would love to see Aries win, I pick Nigel to retain.

ROH World Tag Team Title Match- Best 2 Out Of 3 Falls
Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Roderick Strong & Rocky Romero
Time for the No Remorse Corpse to man up! The Briscoes have won eight straight falls in 2 of 3 matches; it is their specialty. Roderick is focused on his World title shot next January in Chicago and I just don't see Rocky as a champion again. The Briscoes win two straight falls again and establish themselves as the best tag team in the world.

Bryan Danielson vs. Takeshi Morishima
This match will tear the house down. The best wrestler in the world has a score to settle with the Japanese monster who held the ROH title for 8 months. Shima has beaten the American Dragon in all three of their matches, though one was by DQ. In their first match, he nearly terminated Dragon's vision in his left eye. He actually wound up detaching his retina. In their last match, Dragon was disqualified for repeatedly stomping Morishima in the...Shimas... So these two have a score to settle. Despite his recent losing streak, Danielson knows he needs to win this match to move on in his career and prove he should get a shot at the World title he held for almost two years. I say Dragon knocks Shima out with the repeated MMA elbows to the head.

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Chris Hero
Heyyy! As great as these two were as a tag team, their singles matches have simply not captured the attention of the fans. They've just been OK. Now the stipulation here is if Claudio loses, he leaves ROH forever. Claudio has usually gotten the best of Hero, despite constant interference from Hero's stable, Sweet and Sour Inc. Sad as it is, I think they make the difference and Claudio rides off into the sunset.

Tag Team Scramble
Jack Evans & Ruckus vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black vs. 2 of Brent Albright, BJ Whitmer & Adam Pearce
There are a lot of factions walking around ROH right now. Will it be the high flying of Evans and Ruckus, the sadistic and dark nature of Jacobs and Black, the big-match experience of Steenerico, or the power of the Hangman 3? With the Age of the Fall seemingly the next big thing, and the fact that they also have a World tag team title shot on Sunday's show, I pick Jacobs and Black to win.

Sara Del Rey vs. Daizee Haze vs. Lacey
A non-title Shimmer three-way match. I'd like Daizee to win, since she's been coming up short lately. But I have to pick Lacey to get the pin on Sara, the current women's champion.

Jigsaw vs. The Necro Butcher vs. Matt Cross
You've got speed vs. a hardcore guy vs. a guy with tremendous ariel ability. This could be a very intriguing match or it could be a total mess with such a blatant contrast of wrestling styles. I pick the Butcher to win and say the Age of the Fall wins the first three matches of the night.

Also, Erick Stevens, Delirious, Davey Richards, and Naomichi Marufuji still have matches to be determined!

And then afterwards, comes the party at a local Irish bar right across the street from Madison Square Garden. Oh baby...

Getting hosed by baseball

I'm amazed at some of these baseball teams as far as how they treat the average fan, like me. I mean the hardcore baseball fan who doesn't make a million dollars and can't afford to buy a luxury suite in a new ballpark. And also to the guy who makes $40,000 a year, whose family has had 4 season tickets in the nosebleeds for 25 years and now has to scrape by to still afford those tickets.

This is the final year of Yankee Stadium before the new one goes up in 2009. In Yankee Stadium, not only will the ticket prices increase by as much as 15 percent in some sections, but when you go back 10 years, prices from 1996 to 2007 have quadrupled. Literally quadrupled. This past month, the New York Yankees sent a letter to their season ticket holders. I'm paraphrasing, but here's what it basically said. But in the letter, it says for the All-Star Game, and all playoff games, the press, and select corporations (within "reasonable" limits) have access to tickets. In other words, if I've had Yankee season tickets for 30 years, I don't have the right to keep my seat for the playoff games or the All-Star Game. If Kevin Kennedy or Chip Caray want to bring their families to the games, they can basically just take my seats. So much for loyalty. I guess that's the phrase "Money talks and we know what walks."

And don't think I'm just taking a shot at the crosstown rivals. I'm going to jump on my team, the New York Mets. First of all, I'm going to repeat how angry I am that when they move to Citfield in 2009, the seating capacity will plummet from 56,000 at Shea Stadium people to 42,500 with room for 2,500 more in standing room. What a travesty. This is not a new stadium that's going up in Pittsburgh or Milwaukee or Kansas City or Sioux City or Cedar City or Dodge City. This is New York, the sports and entertainment mecca of the world. A drop to 50,000 would be fine. But this is now Fenway Park or Wrigley Field-esque seating capacity. And now, for the final year of Shea Stadium, Mets ticket prices have gone up an average of 20 percent in most sections. If they had reeled in Johan Santana, Dan Haren, Erik Bedard, or some other big pitcher, I'd be much more fine with that. Payrolls are higher nowadays, I understand ticket prices will be increased. But I'd like to hear David Howard, Omar Minaya, and Jay Horwitz in the Met front office justfy jacking up the prices 20 percent after acquiring the likes of Brian Schneider, Ryan Church, Matt Wise, and the immortal Steve Register.

One sidenote. The Cubs are likely to be sold by April. And there are rumors Wrigley Field's naming rights could be sold. I will be having a field day if that happens. I can hear the call on WGN Radio right now.

"Chicago Cubs baseball is on the air. Live from historic Careerbuilder.com Field in Chicago, Illinois..."

10 thoughts

Off day tomorrow. Nothing better to do. Here's 10 things on mind.

1) There may be nothing funnier than Whose Line.

2) Thank God for snow plows. Now if they could use them in my neighborhood...

3) After today's Jets loss, at least I can say I'm not embarrassed. It's just they had so many opportunities to catch New England and they wasted them. Clearly, they need help at WR, OG, OT, DL, DT, OLB, and CB.

4) The Rangers are reverting to 1998-2004 form and I'm not happy. 5-1 home loss to Phoenix, who'd played 2 of the last 3 days? Disgusting.

5) Mark my words. Livan Hernandez will be a Met by 2008. Oh joy...

6) I have my Ipod as of Wednesday and 1,000 songs in Itunes. And I am feeling hip.

7) Nine days until Christmas. It's snuck up on me this year.

8) If you buy a microwave, first make sure it can actually heat stuff up.

9) Madonna in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Good Lord, have mercy.

10) A man was found comatose after swallowing a stack of dollar bills. No change is expected.

Song pick: "Long Walk Home" Bruce Springsteen

When it goes too far

Go away from my world
It's become too much
Where there was smoothness
Purity, youth,
Red now runs.
The scar will be a symbol
Come back down when you know your path
And not a second sooner

How am I awake?

I should be all but passed out right now after the last three days. From start to finish this was one of the craziest weekends I can remember. I'm not feeling up to writing a 100 inch post, so I figured I'd do this one a new way: a timeline.

FRIDAY
5:00- Left work
6:00-After 2 Portillo's hot dogs, I went to my group in Glen Ellyn.
7:30- Left group, drove straight to Candy's house in Elgin for a little Come Thirsty party.
8:00-Arrived in Elgin
9:00-Won $245,000 with two of my "business partners". OK, it was in Deal or No Deal.
10:00- Left party, drove to work at the newspaper
10:20- A heavy Friday night of covering high school basketball
12:30-Quitting time
1:00 am-Hit the sack

SATURDAY
7:30-Woke up and started decorating the house for Christmas
9:00-Left for the gym, arrived home about 3 hours later.
12:00-On the way home the snow started falling. And there was barely a dusting on the ground as I came to the dreaded slippery corner of Dunham and Country Club in St. Charles. Skidded twice, but I was ok.
1:15-Lunch was pasta with chicken and sausage
2:00-Left for the Herald and the snow was really coming down hard now and the 25 mph wind was swirling. I stayed in the office for 2 hours
4:30-After watching the Rangers beat the Senators in Ottawa over the computer (since there was practically nothing to do), I left for Chicago Ridge and RING OF HONOR! And my driver's side door was frozen solid. Thankfully, I got in through the passenger side.
5:45-Arrived at the Frontier Fieldhouse. The roads were nowhere near as bad as I thought they'd be. They were wet, but not at all slippery or icy.
6:30-Doors open. Purchased 4 DVD's.
7:30-Preshow begins.
8:00-ROH starts. Not all the talent could get to the building on time so the Trios Tournament was scrapped. Poor Gabe Sapolsky. He had to rebook the whole show on the fly.
10:30-Damn! Bryan Danielson lost!
11:30 Show ends. Not the best show ever, but ROH live is always awesome. I met a lot of cool people too. I wouldn't pay for a second row ticket again though. It's not much better than a third.
11:45-For the first time, I checked out Rosa's for the after show party. I go into this tiny pizzeria/lounge. Tables are set up and they bring out this buffet of thin and thick crust pizza, ziti, sausage and peppers, salad, chicken parmesan, and bread. Incredible. The wrestlers filed in and I was sitting right next to them as they were eating. It was surreal, I could not stop giggling. Then some of the guys did Karaoke! Between "I Got You Babe" "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" "Tiny Dancer" "Baby Got Back" I could barely stop laughing. BTW, how van some of these guys watch their diets, work out every day, barely drink, and still smoke cigarettes. What kind of mentality does that require?
2:00- Left the party, began the drive for home
2:45-In the door. The roads were a breeze.
3:15-In bed

SUNDAY
7:30- Out of bed because I'm nuts!
9:15- Left for church
9:30-Come Thirsty. That's the time I got there, but we really don't start until 10:00.
11:00-Church at FBCG
12:00-Stop in at Rookie's to watch the first half of the lovely Jets and whatever other football games were going on. Half asleep, I drank Rockstar for the first time. It wasn't the greatest taste, but hey, it kept me feeling awake.
1:15-Drove to Wheaton Academy for the volleyball playoffs.
2:00-Won our semifinal in two straight games.
2:40-Waited for the next two matches in another league to finish so we could get a court back to play the championship. Saw Kimberly for the first time in a while and we caught up on stuff. Even though we're teammates, we hadn't seen each other in about 6 weeks. Meanwhile, I heard about Matt going to the Casting Crowns show at NIU and there was an extra ticket. I volunteered to take it. And suddenly my Sunday night was booked!
3:00-Won the first game and it was tight. Kam had to leave midway through, so we were down one player. And their new guy (who's about 6'8 with a huge stache), complained a slapped his hand too hard after the handshakes following the first game. I didn't realize he had a back issue, but I didn't even swing that hard. He didn't need to yell though. And after we won the first game, the other team started complaining how we had an unfair advantage because we had 4 guys and 1 girl. So we had to play 4 on the court and rotate a guy in. No problem, we whipped them 25-13. And it felt great to beat them. I think I played my best match of the year. My spikes and net play were spot on and so was my defense. I need to get my serve in more though. It's just not falling for me.
4:00- Headed home, cleaned up, watched a little of the Giants-Bears.
5:30- Drove to Laura's house. Of course I was early. I'm early for everything.
6:00- Dec shows up and we drive to DeKalb. It was about 15 degrees, icy, and brutally windy. Listened to the final minutes of the GIANTS WIN!
7:00- Arrive in DeKalb
7:40- After fighting the line to get a parking spot, we get in the building, midway through the second act.
10:30-Show ends. I'm not into contemporary Christian music, but this was a very good show. I can see why Casting Crowns is so popular. Thankfully, they put the words on the screen so I had some idea what they were saying.
11:20-Arrive back at Laura's.
11:45-Get home
11:46-Plugged in ROH Driven DVD
2:00-Turned computer off and finally went to bed

So I've gotten 8 hours of sleep in the last 2 days. Hmm, it's 11 pm. I think I'd better quit while I'm ahead. Later.

Chi-town/A new job???

I suddenly have had loads of things to write about. And today was no exception. I guess creativity will be a little harder to come by when work resumes tomorrow. This was certainly a different Sunday than normal. No Come Thirsty, No suburban church, no food and football at Rookie's, no volleyball, and no Ecclesia. Although the latter hasn't be in my schedule in two months.

I hung out in downtown Chicago for most of the day. Mom and I started by attending Moody Church, a real old school city church. I'm not the biggest fan of the pastor, but he gave a great message on giving thanks. Most Christians have heard sermons on being thankful in all circumstances numerous times, but Pastor Lutzer gave specific examples on what to do and it made sense. Too often in the tough times, I could give thanks in my mind or try to convince myself that I was ok, but inside, I'd really still be upset. And I can't change my heart by just trying to change my thinking habits that way. Also, with the contemporary churches that I've gone to so much over the last decade, a good traditional service once in a while really refreshes my mind.

From there, we drove to the corner of Sheffield and North Ave to the NYC bagel deli and got a dozen kettle-boiled bagels. Thank God for this place. In the darkness of Einstein Brothers, Thomas', and the utter calamity that is Big Apple Bagel, shines a bright light of how a bagel is supposed to be. Throw in the Boars Head meat, and it's all good.

Then it was lunch time and we headed north toward the Magnificent mile. We parked and went to the original Pizzeria Uno. No the Chicago Grill national food chain, but the one right in the heart of downtown with practically no space to walk between tables. We had a table right by the window, and we were able to look out at the street. Just above our eye level, people were walking around town. It was a cool view of a main street in Chicago. The salad bowl was decent, but nothing too special. Then came the Numero Uno pizza, with pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, peppers, and onions. Very good quality. I still give Gino's East the edge, but this was a very well balanced pizza. The sauce was flavorful, the veggies were nicely cooked, not soggy or burned, and there was a nice proportion of meat to vegetable to cheese. My only real complaint was there was so much moisture from the sauce and cheese that the crust became soggy.

Finally, came one of the more bizarre experiences of my life. Mom really wanted to go the Museum of Contemporary Art. Now I'm not an overly artsy guy, but I've taken some design classes and I can certainly admire and appreciate it. We go in and the main exhibit is "Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll since 1967." Now I like classic rock and roll, but I wished they had named it after a different song! It took up two of the three floors. I barely saw anything I recognized from an artist or any song, although there was one cool visual of 15 different genres of rock and the artists associated with it and how they all flow in and out of one another. There were a lot of works with nudity and profanity to go around, which I sort of expected, but I didn't expect it to be so prevalent. With all the colors and wild designs, it was like stepping into San Francisco in 1967. On a side note, there was even a wrestling connection with the inclusion of legend George "The Animal" Steele in one mural!

My problems with the exhibit (and the museum in general) was that too often it was I felt the artists were trying to push this nihilistic worldview on the observers, since they talked about being autonomous and self-righteous in so many of the works. I felt I couldn't really interpret the art for myself because I had someone else's opinion constantly getting shoved in my face. The MCA is just a very postmodern place to go whether you are in the galleries or in the gift shop. In a bigger picture, I guess, it's a postmodern era in America right now. So if I had to describe the bulk of the art I saw, I would use words like complex and confusing. It was just hard to relate to and Mom agreed with me that she was disappointed with the place. Probably the best exhibit I saw was "Mapping the Self" which included a lot of geography and history and how they relate to their views on race, politics, economy, other people, etc.

There is one other "exhibit" I must highlight. It's from a guy named Tino Sehgal. According to the museum's website, Sehgal's art "reflects upon the cultural and political relevance of artistic modes of production while actively engaging the viewer in its reception." I don't know what the first part of that means, but I'm focusing on the second part.

So I'm walking on the top floor of the museum and feeling a little weird about all the crazy stuff I've been seeing for the last 45 minutes. I'm about to enter a room that had a lot of sunlight shining in and I as I look into the room, I see a crowd of about 15 people gathered around in a circle all looking toward the window. I walk through the passageway and look to my right. I see a guy and a girl completely staring at each other, and they started to embrace in slow motion. Then they start kissing. And I mean kissing. My mouth just drops, I can't believe this is going on right in front of me. I feel a little weird watching this, so I start to walk out. Eventually. I may have been a little curious, so I came back two minutes later and now he's starting to lay down on top of her on the floor! (They were still clothed). I was amazed, amused, surprised, a little disturbed; not knowing what to do, I just started walking away again. As I got into the next room, I just said out loud to nobody in particular, "How much does this job pay an hour?"

OK, I'm convinced...

that being a parent is basically the equal of working two full time jobs. I spent one day in Madison with Karen and Nef, my friends who have two kids, 4 and 2 years old. 24 hours with those guys and I have a whole new appreciation for parents or anyone who raises kids.

I got there around 1 and about an hour after I arrived, Nef and I were sent by Karen to do some Christmas tree shopping. And we took Emma and Sophia with us. So we had to get them in the car seats, then fight the traffic to all the stores. Once we pulled in the parking lot, we got out this double stroller from the trunk. So here we are in a very liberal city. Two guys in their mid-20's, pushing a stroller with two baby girls. Yeah, let's leave it there. We tried Bed, Bath, and Beyond and didn't find anything. But I was intrigued to see the "Code Adam sign" on the door. I guess they knew I was coming to town. I walked through the door and announced out loud "I'm here!" We went to Target and got a good tree. Then we stopped in the snack bar. So we had to handle this huge tree box, the food, and the stroller (which is meant for pavement and not linoleum floors. It's very difficult to control). Then fight the 30 degree weather and the wind chill. No wonder Nef was so tired!

After dinner at Karen's parents' house, we came back and Nef set up the projection DVD player in the basement. We were going to watch Scary Movie 4, but I combed through his DVD's and found the 1986 New York Mets DVD collection! My eyes bulged, that was all I needed to see. We watched the 16 inning classic from the NLCS Game 6 against Houston. And it was really interesting watching a game from just 20 years ago. No ballpark music, no advertisements in the park, no ridiculous graphics on the tv broadcast, no focus on the players' wives, thank God. It was so pastoral and I honestly would not mind seeing baseball return to a simpler presentation.

Boy, Emma is full of energy. Full of energy as in waking me up at 6:45 Saturday morning! She's sweet, but she just doesn't settle down. From what I know, a kid's personality is basically formed at a very young age. If this is any indication, Emma will not exactly be an introvert.

In the morning, Nef had a work meeting to go to so Karen and I took the girls to a show at the downtown Overture Center. It was a folk music show for little kids. We sang "Oh Susannah", "Turkey and the Straw", and all those types of songs. A little fiddle at 10 am is just a good start to a day. It was fun and I have to admit I was a little surprised I remembered so many of those songs. I told Karen I hope no one recognizes her because they might get suspicious!

And mini golf was great. Nef and I played at this indoor place where each hole is a landmark of Madison. Government buildings, breweries, lakes, stadiums, it was really cool. He got two holes-in-one to my zero, but I definitely played more consistently.

I definitely see how having a family changes a person's priorities and what they consider important. Free time goes away, but the things you do with them every day make those days seem more meaningful. Well, now it's back to work at the paper. I guess some old habits die hard.

Song pick: "Lover's Cross" Jim Croce. This seems to illustrate how I'm feeling.

PS: Thing #51 to be thankful for: Pumpkin cheesecake at the Weber Grille. So good it was sinful.

50 things I'm thankful for

Thanksgiving begins in 33 minutes. And for the most part, I live a pretty fast-paced life. So I just got home from work (I worked 14 hours today if you include commuting times) and now I'm in the basement with some Ranchero chips, Frontera salsa, coke and lime, and watching an old Knicks-Pistons game from 1984. I know, and sometimes I even raise an eyebrow at myself. But I thought I would take some time to reflect and list 50 random things I appreciate. Fifty just seemed like a good number.

1) 15 years with Hogan
2) A small, but loving family
3) Traveled to over 40 states
4) Heat in the house
5) The house I live in
6) Electric blanket for a freezing cold bedroom
7) Board games with friends
8) Mike and Judy are my neighbors
9) Two jobs
10) Free gym membership
11) Full use of my body
12) Chipotle, just not the one in St. Charles, it's bad
13) A clothes closet where the racks didn't collapse this year
14) Second, third, and fourth chances
15) The daily opportunities to make part of the world better
16) Finally discovering Mike and Mike in the morning
17) The Get Smart box set
18) "Long Road Out of Eden"
19) That I'm not in New England to deal with the Red Sox and Patriots fans
20) Seeing a Jets game live for the first time in 15 years
21) My Friday night small group in Winfield, 18 good months
22) The book of James
23) Rob Rienow's messages
24) Earl Thomas Conley music
25) Mindy Smith music
26) Marshall Tucker Band music
27) Chad Pennington's heart and toughness
28) The Mets' ninth inning comeback over the Cubs
29) Mom
30) My paternal grandparents, both of whom passed this year
31) The sliced BBQ pork and sub-zero banana cream pie at Bobby Q's
32) Watching the Nathan's hot dog eating contest and getting a little bit too much into it
33) Bison burgers
34) The high octane burger at the Filling Station
35) The 2 pound burger at the Urban Grill and Sam Houston's. I will finish one of them!
36) Carole's oatmeal raisin pecan cookies (After the last 3, I felt I should put a dessert here)
37) I can still laugh at Urkel
38) That I'm still managing to survive without anMP3 player or Ipod.
39) Ring of Honor, for fun, exhilaration, and entertainment
40) Bryan Danielson, for being the best wrestler in the world
41) Geds, for a good long friendship, that hopefully will continue
42) The two "professional Christians" of CT for their support, understanding, and patience
43) CT, for a place to belong
44) That I don't have to determine my self-worth by comparing myself to other people
45) Hearing Donald Miller speak at Willow Creek
46) John Ortberg's books
47) Meeting John Ortberg
48) Learning what I want is not always what's best for me
49) A very Brave friend...
50) The reality of Christ

Good swap

Let's get this out of the way before I get to the good stuff. The Knicks suck. Not stink. They suck. Seven losses in a row. First game back at home tonight after four losses on the road. And they lose to the not-so-powerful Golden State Warriors 108-82. And they committed 29 turnovers and got booed right off the court. Isiah Thomas cannot get his sexually harrassing carcass out of here fast enough.

Well, the Mets have their catcher. They traded Guillermo Mota to Milwaukee today for Johnny Estrada. I'm feeling good about this move. First of all, Mota was a tremendous headache. It bothered all of us that Mr. Full Autonomy gave this guy, a caught steroid user, a 2 year guaranteed contract. And he rewarded us with a 5.76 ERA and plenty of ageda. I'm amazed anyone took this guy.

As for Estrada, this could work well. In 120 games with the Brewers last season, he hit .278 with 10 homers and 54 RBI. And he's hit .300 three different seasons and he's 31 years old. That's the good. Two bad points. He threw out just 7.6 percent of runners attempting to steal, the worst among NL catchers. He also underwent arthroscopic surgery on October 4 to repair a torn medical meniscus in his left knee. He also had a bone spur removed from his right elbow.

I have a rather personal memory of the man. I went to the Mets-Brewers game in August. In that game, a 12-4 Mets laugher, Estrada got into a huge fight with Brewers manager Ned Yost in the dugout. And to think he's joining his fifth team in eight years. Not a great sign. But if he's healthy and splitting time with Ramon Castro, I think this will be a solid trade.

But I'm going to jump on the Mets fans who continue to complain that getting Johnny Estrada was about Omar Minaya wanting more Latin players. The bottom line is winning. Omar knows his reputation depends on winning, not making himself comfortable by acquiring more people of his race. And more than half of all major league players are Latin. I understand a lot of people are disappointed about losing Paul LoDuca. But to say this change was a race move is utterly stupid.

And here's a song pick. This is for Mr. Tom Glavine, now officially on his way back to Atlanta after his pathetic finish as a Met. "Midnight Train To Georgia" Gladys Knight and the Pips...

"He's leaving! Leaving!" The only difference is we as Met fans were the ones who found out the hard way that dreams don't always come true. Uh uh. No. Uh uh.

Twisted in the wind

Well, there goes Mr. Torrealba. As I wrote yesterday, he was all set to sign with the Mets, all he had to do was pass a physical. Then word gets out today that negotiations have ceased and they will not resume. Apparently Torrealba agreed to a 3 year deal, but changed his mind and backed out at the last minute. My guess is he was not happy about splitting time with Ramon Castro.

I can hear Paul LoDuca laughing right now. After two years, the Mets did not even offer him a contract, they went straight for Posada and Torrealba. Not even a one year deal! Now the Mets have no choice but to go back to LoDuca and offer him a contract. And if I was LoDuca, after being treated that way, I would tell Omar Minaya (in no certain terms) to go take a hike.

So if the Mets are not going to trade for a catcher (which I don't want them to, considering they should be using their prospects to acquire pitching), either re-sign LoDuca or get Michael Barrett in here. Please for the love, do not get Jason Kendall.

And David Eckstein would be a good player to get at second base. The Mets are wining and dining him this week. But for 36 million over 4 years? I don't know. I would not go past 3 years and 21 million for him. But we know how you acquire free agents in baseball. You overpay them.

And a few things on the Knicks. First of all, Stephon Marbury is the poorest excuse for a teammate I have ever seen. Walking out on his team because the coach tells him he won't be starting that night's game. And he came back for the next game, against the Clippers. Before the game, the Knicks took a poll on whether they wanted Marbury to play. They voted no, they didn't want him to play. Coach/GM/President Isiah Thomas played him off then bench anyway, for 34 of 48 minutes in the Knicks' 84-81 loss. And I was thrilled to get Eddy Curry from the Bulls. The guy doesn't rebound or play defense. He should bully other centers. He can do it against bad players. But against Dwight Howard or Shaq, he turns into Spud Webb, 5 feet tall. I wish Ron Artest was on this team to give them some toughness. The Knicks need a dog, like what Larry Johnson, Latrell Sprewell, or Charles Oakley, or Anthony Mason used to give them. Toughness and some New York freakin' attitude.

I'm not one to call for wholesale changes. But we have suffered enough. No playoff games won since 2001. One playoff appearance in eight years. No championship since 1973. Draft choice bust after draft choice bust for years, although the last three years have been better. Isiah needs to go. Steve Mills needs to get out of the front office. Marbury especially needs to go. And Jim Dolan cannot sell MSG fast enough.

Mets offseason

Well, we are now in the baseball free agency season and so far I'm not thrilled, but I'm trying to be realistic.

We have resigned a lot of our bench in Damion Easley, Ramon Castro, and best of all, Marlon Anderson. I'm very happy with that. I had no problem not getting Alex Rodriguez. I like our lineup and I didn't want to deal with the baggage he would have brought to an already turbulent clubhouse. Unfortunately, the Mets couldn't pry Jorge Posada away from the Yankees to be their catcher. He would have been a great leader on that team on the field and in the clubhouse. But I understand, he's a lifelong Yankee.

I really liked Paul LoDuca when he was here. He was a gamer, he was tough, and played with New York attitude. And too many players on last year's team were way too passive. There was not enough attitude and that's one of the reasons they choked the division away so dramatically. But Omar Minaya lets LoDuca go and immediately goes out and signs Yorvit Torrealba to start at catcher for three years and 15 million. Torrealba is barely better than our backup, Ramon Castro. I compared them in 14 offensive and defensive categories and the only one where Torrealba had the decided edge was batting average, and he's only batting about .255 for his career. I'm okay not bringing LoDuca back, he is getting older. But I would have preferred Michael Barrett or even Rod Barajas over Torrealba.

This team needs pitching more than anything. But our minor league prospects are simply not good enough to net that top-flight starter. The big free agent starter I hear out there is Carlos Silva! Well that's great... if he's your fifth starter and you pay him 3-4 million a year. But he wants 40 million over 4 years! The market for these pitchers has become ungodly. I guess I would trade outfield prospect Lastings Milledge for Joe Blanton from Oakland or Matt Garza from Minnesota, as I hear those guys are available.

So the Mets' big holes in my eyes now are the bullpen and second base. If they can't resign Luis Castillo, I want Tadahito Iguchi, who just became a free agent. He's a very good number two hitter and puts the ball in play. David Eckstein would also be okay. Marcus Giles is completely washed up.

As for the pen, Aaron Sele and Brian Lawrence will be gone, by the grace of God. If Duaner Sanchez can rebound from his injuries and pitch like he did in 2006 as our 8th inning guy, that would be ideal. I would like to see them bring back Octavio Dotel. Of course, if Mariano Rivera would be willing to come to Flushing...

And a few other things. I love this. Guess who the Cubs really want to sign. Kaz Matsui! They've reportedly offered this stiff 3 years and 15 million dollars. Why are the Cubs stockpiling all these middle infielders. How many is that now? DeRosa, Theriot, Fontenot, Cedeno, Infante, they had Izturis. I guess they just like second basemen who can also play short. I can't wait to hear Ron Santo whine over the failure this guy will be in Chicago. I don't dislike Matsui as a man, but he was amazingly brittle and disappointing in his three plus years in New York. Then he goes to Colorado (in exchange for the immortal Eli Marrerro, who lasted about one month on the Mets) and becomes All-World. It just drives me crazy.

And Tom Glavine seems well on his way back to Atlanta. As I've said before, he can go, I don't ever want to see this guy near a Met uniform again. And when he goes into the Hall of Fame, there will be no Met fans cheering for him.

Omar, please make an impact.

I should be at work

I almost went into the office tonight, but I guess I'm giving myself a longer vacation until I need to go back next week. I'll go back at some point this week. So tonight, it's watching a DVD, blogging, and listening to the Knicks get dismantled by Phoenix. Can Isiah Thomas get fired already? Seriously, who do I want to see lose their job more? Jim Dolan, Isiah Thomas, or Bill Belichick?

I try not to spend too much money, but I'm leaning toward getting Sirius or XM radio for my car. Regular radio is almost unlistenable nowadays, at least in Chicago. It's tough for me to even listen to the country stations. Think about this, 20 years from now, I'll turn on a oldie station. Back to back, I'll hear the Beatles song, Prince, Chuck Berry, Michael Jackson and James Taylor. And people try to get me into Christian radio. It's not that I have a gripe with contemporary praise music. But the same songs get played over and over and they sound so similar to secular pop music.

I have a lot of cell numbers in my phone. But there's one number in there with a certain name attached to it. And I have absolutely no clue who that person is. Am I the only one who has a number in their phone they don't know where it came from? Does this happen to anyone else?

On Sunday, I will finally fulfill a dream of mine. Eating fried turkey. I'm not joking.

I'm ready for some more live Ring of Honor. 18 days away! It's just pure fun and entertainment.

Song pick: "Fire and Smoke" by Earl Thomas Conley (This song may be 25 years old, but I just rediscovered it and it is so catchy.)

Cabo: Days 3-5

What a background. It's 9:18 pm. I'm sitting on a little ledge. Right behind me is the hotel. To my right is Pitahayas, the most romantic restaurant in Cabo. A jazz quartet is playing a cool flowing rhythm, Just makes you chill out. To my left and in front of me is the stream of pools that stretches out for what seems like miles. And beyond the pool, even in the near black night, I can just recognize the sand that leads to the Sea of Cortez. I can't see the waves, but I certainly hear them collapse on the sand. I heard one that kept coming down for a good 15 seconds. There's a definite undertoe out there. Stars fill the sky, palm trees sway, there's a hint of a warm breeze.

1) I'm happy because I got to swim, tan, and hear the new Eagles record.
2) I'm sad because I won't get to play pool volleyball and that circumstances are leaving me feeling alone right now.
3) I hate chopsticks! I'm more competent at playing them on the piano than eating with them. And have you ever tried to eat rice with them? It's not possible.
4) The Rangers win twice and the Knicks win once when I'm out of the US. Figures give me no access to live coverage and my teams do great. If the Mets are in contention next September I may move to Sweden for the next two months. Then again the Jets lost again, so maybe it doesn't always apply.
5) Sake tastes strong!
6) How could our room not have a DVD player?
7) I've seen oceans, mountains, and deserts in one day.
8) The shirts you can buy down here are amazing, if you don't mind spending 100 bucks on each.
9) Vacations like this are cool. They're fun. You can relax, get re-energized, replenished, re-focused, revitalized, revamped, etc. But I think it's a once in a while thing. It's amazing how service and doing something meaningful with people that matter to you can really impact you in the long run.
10) How does any parent allow their 8-9 year old kid to get a permanent tattoo?

8 hours later...I have sworn off sushi for the rest of my life as has mom...

Add that pain to the beds which are rock hard. I wake up each day with back and ankle pain. I think the floor would be softer on me. I don't want to complain, but with a hotel this nice, I shouldn't be waking up with soreness in three places. It's Tuesday now and I didn't get out of bed until 11 am. I just hung out by the pool for a few hours. Unfortunately, I didn't get to go snorkeling since we were both feeling so lousy. So I lost my 20 dollar deposit. But I made up for it. I played Mexican bingo, won 2 out of 3 games again 50- or 60 people and won three free drinks. That basically covered the 20 bucks right there!

Finally, I got what I wanted. I played volleyball on the beach. But I just couldn't play as aggressively as I wanted to. I think at that point my stomach was actually trapped somewhere around my knees. After the third and fourth games, I was ready to stop but the other players kept waving me back in. Finally, after 90 minutes in the sand, I grabbed a Gatorade and collapsed into a lounge chair by the pool for an hour. And I was listening to American tourists try to sing traditional Mexican songs accompanied by a live band. Not exactly what I would call smooth. And there was no last night out or anything like that. I was asleep at 7:15. Didn't even eat dinner.

Wednesday night. As of 9 pm, I'm home now. I certainly had a good time, but I was ready to come home. Then I felt that first cold blow of Chicago wind...

Cabo: Days 1-2

Well I've been out of the loop for 5 days soaking up sun in Cabo. Now I'm back and happy to be freezing in Chicago! A lot of things to talk about. Let's start with the Dallas airport, which Mom and I connected to. They have renovated this place so well. 20 restaurants, amazing art murals, just a beautiful terminal. I did not realize how dingy O'Hare was until this week. Now Jessica Simpson is from that area and she endorses Proactiv Solution. Well, we're walking to the Sky Link, the train that connects people throughout the AA terminal. I'm getting on the stairs, I look to my right, and I see a vending machine. They had Proactiv in a vending machine in the airport. Nobody there selling, it was just there. We're so conscious of our looks, we're getting acne treatments out of a vending machine while we're traveling! Anybody else find that a little strange? Also, this was the best American Way magazine I've ever read (American's in-flight magazine. For five reasons: (1) I completed all three Sudoku's, (2) Dwight Yoakam/Buck Owens article, (3) funny article about a video- gamer wannabe, (4) article on energy bars, (5) and Sue Bird is on the cover. What a knockout.

So we get to Cabo and the airline lost Mom's luggage. And you get out of the terminal and these timeshare people are there to bombard you with deals and offers. Meanwhile, we just want to get our car, get to the hotel, and rest. Well it took 30 minutes to get to Avis and 30 minutes more waiting there to get the car. And if you rent a car, just get insurance. The way drive down there on those bumpy roads, you need it. Even if they hit you head on, you're responsible for your own car. But driving down the road with that warm breeze whipping in your face feels so good. We drove to Zipper's, a bar and grill type place by the Sea of Cortez. The burger was good, not as good as I remember. It was around 3 pm and we drove the last 10-15 miles to our hotel. Except we encountered a bit of traffic. They're reconstructing all the highways and it took one hour to go 10 miles.

We got to the room and didn't really want to leave once we got there. But the restaurants at the hotel are kind of overpriced so we decided to head to downtown Cabo San Lucas to our favorite restaurant down there, Pancho's. We loved the Huachinengo (red snapper), and the live mariachi band. Mom wasn't quite as into it, because she was so preoccupied with her luggage. But we got back to the hotel around 7:00 and thankfully, her suitcase had arrived. And I think I slept nine hours that night.

Woke up Sunday and hit the gym. Of course, I was especially happy when I saw the Rangers won! Then we headed just up the street from Pancho's to Cabo English Church. I wasn't sure what to expect in an area that's very Spanish and very Catholic. But I certainly came away impressed. There were about 75-85 people there and the service lasted around 1.5 hours. It was very small area, but it was nice. Carpeted floors, projection screens, a live webcast. They also have small groups during the week. The pastor, Mike, talked about how people react to offenses. Later this month, they're driving up to La Paz to go swimming with whale sharks. Uhh, I'll pass.

From there, we drove 50 miles north to Todos Santos. This was a two lane dirt road drive through the desert. We drove by an area that I have name Broccoli Hill. To me, as you're driving toward this one mountain, the green shrubbery forms into these little round shapes, looks like florets of broccoli. As for the town, it's grown just like Baja in general. Of course, we went straight to the Hotel California. Now they're constructing the appropriately named Tequila Sunrise bar across the street. But this hotel is apparently trying to distance themselves from the greatest rock song ever. You can't even buy a Hotel California shirt there right now. And I met a few people on the street who were pissed about this! We grabbed lunch at an outdoor restaurant at the hotel and it was really good. Mom had fish tacos and I had a steak sandwich that included Hotel California Tequila Mayo. I don't know. And they had a salsa that was almost orange in color and tasted more like a tomato sauce than Mexican salsa. Good stuff.

Then we went shopping and we had just gotten into a leather store when all of a sudden this kid (must have been 6 or 7) comes out of nowhere and starts doing this Bruce Lee karate stuff on me. This is where watching pro wrestling helps. He'd chop me in the arm, I'd grunt, I'd fall down on my knees, I'd be selling the chop. And we fooled around for a while. It was fun.

On our way back, we stopped at Costco, which has just opened in the area. In the last three years, they've added Costco, Home Depot, and Office Depot. I guarantee there will be a Starbuck's with in 1 year. To save a little dough, we got some groceries and hung out the rest of the night. I did hang by the pool in the later afternoon. Played a little music and enjoyed an $8 pina colada. I admit I liked Cancun because I could eat or drink anything I wanted and not have to think about price. Some observations through the beginning of the trip:

1) 91 during the day, 70 at night. Not bad.
2) Stores are developing on the Route 1 between the main towns. It's not just tiny business and big hotels anymore.
3) The older you get, the more meaningful these vacations get.
4) I don't like the hotel activities stop at 5 pm. It's like they expect us to go downtown which is a little wild for me sometimes.
5) If a restaurant advertises its whole menu in the phone book, I'm skeptical. If it is a good place, people will spread the word around.
6) This feels more and more like a place for couples. Most of the people around me now are middle aged couples with a sprinkling of seniors and families with young kids.
7) Life does not have a rewind button. But it can have a fast forward button.
8) We have three radio stations. They're all in Spanish. So if you move down here, just get XM.
9) Before traffic lights turn yellow here, they start flashing green for a few seconds. I think we should do that too.
10) This was a chorus we sang at church. It hit me pretty hard and I felt obliged to include it.

Jesus I am thirsty
Come and fill me up
Earthly things have left me dry
Only you can satisfy
Lord all I want is more of you.

NY invasion

Well the weekend in the big Apple can be narrowed down to three general topics: anticipation, ageda, and food. I may make that the title of my memoir.

I landed in Newark around 11 and Dad and I took the train into Penn Station. And in four or five years, that site will no longer be Penn Station. It will be moved two blocks away and house a new Penn Station and a new Madison Square Garden. We took the subway to the Avenue of the Americas and checked out the new NHL Store. I have to say I thought there would be more to it than there was. There was some really unique clothing and apparel; I just expected more space. I walked away with a Ranger hoodie and a gift for a friend of mine, which I will give out later.

It was 1 pm and our dinner reservation wasn't until 3:30. But all I'd eaten all day was two slices of toast and we decided to head east to 44th Street. And five minutes in, the rain started. And it came down hard. Now we weren't carrying umbrellas, I don't like them. But we had to stop under a few overpasses and let the rain pass. After nine blocks, we arrived at Ben and Jack's.

It was empty, not too surprising, considering it was 1:30. We sat down and we had one of those waiters who I think sported the fake German accent. Just a hunch of mine, I don't know.

We started with two appetizers: crabmeat cocktail and sizzling Canadian bacon. The crabmeat was served in a lettuce cup with lemon and and cocktail sauce. The crab was big, tender, and succulent. The cocktail sauce was the best I've ever had and I don't eat cocktail sauce. This was zesty and tangy. Basically, it didn't taste like ketchup. The bacon was where we got into trouble. It was three bucks a slice. Dad asked the waiter how large it was and the waiter held his hands in the shape of a regular piece of bacon. I wanted two, but he overruled me and got six. They arrived sizzling and they were indeed thick. After 1.5 slices, he realized he made a mistake. I ate three slices and the flavor was remarkable, but I wish we'd had three or four. We also got a tomato and onion salad, which was a little disappointing. Chopped tomatoes and chopped white onions without much flavor. Tasted good, but not really necessary. Of course, the onion and rye rolls were soft and very enjoyable.

Then, after about 5 minutes after we finished the first half, came the main event. First they brought out piping hot dishes, which they took right out of the oven. That helped the food stay hot, I just had to be careful not to touch it. For the vegetable, we got sauteed broccoli, with olive oil and roasted garlic. I have to find out how they pulled this off. I've tried cooking broccoli in a pan before and the florets always burn. This was bright green and crunchy when I bit into it. Excellent broccoli. We got German potatoes, which were boiled, sauteed, and browned in the oven with onion, olive oil, salt and pepper. We had to have a special batch made thanks to Dad's inability to eat butter. That was his favorite part of the meal, and they certainly delivered for me as well.

And there was the steak. Porterhouse steak for two mind you. I'd eaten at Peter Luger's, which has given birth to a number of similar places like Ben and Jack's, so I knew what to expect. On a huge sizzling plate, they brought out a slices of porterhouse still arranged in the shape of the steak along with the bone. It's best to watch the video on their website to understand what I mean. They had a tiny dish placed upside down on the table. The waiter laid one side of the sizzling plate holding the UDSA prime on the dish and the other side on the table. I was confused until I saw the juice start to gather in the lower side of the dish. So in addition to their great sauce, we could spoon the juice over the meat. We also has the choice to lay a slice of steak against the sizzling plate to help char the outside if we wanted it a little more well done. And the taste of the beef was tender and loaded with flavor. We couldn't finish everything, but that's okay.

After a stop at the Border's next to the Garden, it was a trip to Gerry Cosby's, the tiny sporting goods store at Madison Square Garden. I got a brand new Henrik Lundqvist jersey and I am thrilled with it. I wore it into the game against Toronto. We had a average first period without many highlights, a good first 8 minutes of the second period where Jagr scored a goal, and then an absolute non-effort the rest of the way. We lost 4-1.

The next day started off getting amazing Italian sandwiches from a deli in downtown Metuchen and we headed straight to the Meadowlands for the Jets-Bills game. We spent about three hours in the parking lot checking out the tailgaters and getting a feel for the festivities before the games. I threw footballs with a few guys, ate some sausage, and tried not to let the swirling winds get me too cold. And as bad as the Jets are right now, the fans still show up and they're loyal and for the most part, enthusiastic. Then the game starts, and they get miserable. The game was horrible start to finish, a Jet interception was the only thing really worth cheering about. We left midway through the third quarter, in part because of cold and in part because the game was embarrassing. I've had more fun getting cavities filled.

And it turns out I watched Chad Pennington's final game as starting QB of the Jets. After a suffering a torn rotator cuff on two occasions, breaking a wrist, and spraining an ankle, Kellen Clemens is starting against Washington on Sunday. The toughest SOB in professional sports has been relegated to the bench. And Tom Brady, you couldn't shine Chad Pennington's shoes. You are not even a pimple on his fanny!!!

I can feel it coming

Now a few more things on my mind.

Good news: My team at work won the Halloween decorating contest, we probably beat about 15 teams. We did a Statesville Hospital. I played a guy in solitary confinement. I wore a winter hat for the Jack Nicholson character in Cuckoo's Nest, and a 4XL sweatshirt with the arms tied up in front of me to make it look like I was wearing a straitjacket. We also put red tissue paper against the desk lights so red light filled our section. The other catch was we put a flattened cardboard box against the entrance to my cubicle and we cut a little peephole out so I looked like I was in jail. So people would walk by, gaze into the hole, and they'd see me sitting in my chair, staring at the red light, and rocking back and forth. A few times, I ran up to the window, and started trembling to anyone who was approaching. "Please, please let me out." A few people pointed out they were a little disturbed that I could cry so convincingly. And our grand prize for winning? 10 bucks of free gas at Shell. That's really not bad, that'll get me about a tenth of a tank.

The best thing about our neighborhood? No trick-or-treaters in 2 years!

Now I need an explanation on this. Kids, just stop reading. Chicago's Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation did studies on what scents arouse men and women. The top two scents that get men going? Donuts and pumpkin pie. I'm not sure what kind of distinctive smell a donut gives. It is interesting to point out I ate my first Krispy Kreme in about 2 years tonight, but that aside. The top two for women? Cucumber and black licorice. Now ladies, help me with this. I'm not going to even pretend I understand. Can someone describe the scent of a cucumber to me? The thing smells like water. Cucumbers are 90 percent water.

36 hours away...

Song pick: "What On Earth Will You Do For Heaven's Sake" Johnny Cash

Bite the apple

And in this case, I don't mean Honey Crisps. Seriously, if you live in the midwest and have never had a honey crisp apple, get off your computer (well, read the rest of this post), drive to the supermarket and get one. They are too good.

What's happening to my appetite? I haven't eaten in six hours, and tonight I get one salad at Portillo's, and I feel like I just got out of one of those competitive eating contests.

OK, now to the real apple. New York City tomorrow! Ben and Jack's for some steak and the Rangers-Maple Leafs at Madison Square Garden. And the Jets on Sunday. I may miss church this weekend, but watching the Jets live will be a like three-hour sermon on patience and suffering. But it is my first NFL game in 15 years. I can't wait!

I have 77 hours of vacation time left between now and December. So I'm taking half days on Wednesdays from Nov 14 on. I like a break in the middle of the week and I think this will be good.

Onto politics. And this can also be tied into taking the bite out of the apple. Is there a bigger disgrace right now than Rudy Giuliani? The former New York City mayor is maybe the biggest and most notable Yankees fan of this generation. Now he's running for President. This past week, he's speaking to a crowd in Boston and what does he say? Well, I'll give you the quotes. "I'm rooting for the Red Sox. I'm an American League fan, and I go with the American League team, maybe with the exception of the Mets."

It gets better. Check this out from his meeting in Lebanon, New Hampshire. "Somehow it makes me feel better if the team that was ahead of the Yankees wins the World Series because then I feel like, well, we're not that bad."

What a disgrace. I like Rudy, but he has taken a major dive in my eyes. Rooting for your team's biggest rival? Excuse me, but if you ever see me rooting for the Cubs, Patriots, or Devils, just have me committed. Because I would be selling out. Remember this. Rudy's been teasing Hillary Clinton about whether she's a Cubs fan or a Yankees fan and I agree, it is pathetic the way she wavers back and forth like a new seesaw. But the point is where does this leave Rudy now? Certainly without loyalty.

And I still miss Hogan.

TV notes

Wow, two posts in three days. I must be bored or suddenly full of material. First of all, I was really disappointed several months ago when I lost CMT from my cable package. Now I feel like I'm not missing anything. You know, Carrie Underwood's not on enough. Shame she doesn't get promoted. Poor girl. For the love, can country music start promoting someone with talent?

And the schedule of what they're showing now, it amazes me. Prime time shows on CMT this week include: Blazing Saddles, Hogan Knows Best (how does Hulk Hogan relate to country music?), Dallas Cowboy cheerleader tryouts, and I Want to Look Like a High School Cheerleader. Where's the music aside from videos in the morning? This network has become MTV for Southerners. It was bad enough when VH1 abandoned all the cool music shows and became MTV/E! with their horrible reality shows. CMT is on the exact same path. So CMT, get lost, goodbye.

Unfortunately, I have to miss Friday's Marshall Tucker Band concert in Palatine because I have to work. But on a good note, John Fogerty plays on Letterman tonight.

If anyone from CT reads this, please don't relate this to Egg Harbor from last month. I came across a clip of the Maury show today where this teenage girl was terrified of pickles. And I mean terrified. They brought one pickle out to this girl and she ran out of that studio like Marion Jones after receiving a "special delivery." The best part? She's a waitress in a diner that mainly serves sandwiches. And she won't bring out plates of food that have pickles to her customers. All I can say is I hope this was staged and she was an actor.

No song pick this time, but here's an alternative. Food pick: Godfather's pizza at Rookie's

Five days until the Big Apple...

Blogging after midnight

Seems like the only time I've been in the mood to write lately is after the clock strikes 12 a.m. I could have absolutely nothing to say, I still feel the need to at least log in. Maybe something will pop into mind.

So 24 hours later, I have a few things on my mind. First of all, can the New York Rangers score a goal? This team scores less than the 40 year old virgin. I had to listen to that whole disaster today against Boston, where they did everything right except score. They couldn't even get a goal in the shootout! 2-5 and last place in the Atlantic Division. What a joke.

I'm not on the Ecclesia retreat in Lake Geneva and have no regrets. I've done it twice and both times it ended with me getting frustrated. There were fun moments, sure, but the highlight last year was the marathon games of ping pong. We have about 8 hours of time to ourselves. And I hate to admit it but the extended solitude usually ends in me getting frustrated that I can't concentrate on God and I wound up sleeping. The people are cool enough, but I just really don't think I'm missing a lot by staying home this weekend. Actually, I may have one regret. I may not get a chance to get some broccoli cheddar soup from Popeye's.

My boss made a genius move today. He skips out of work today to go watch the Illinois-Michigan game. Real smart John, considering your team lost again. And thanks for not telling me you were going until late this afternoon. Nobody was in the office after I left at 6 p.m. I can't wait to see how the scoreboard turns out tomorrow.

Speaking of which, the high school playoffs football bracket is really exciting, especially in 7A. St. Charles East, St. Charles North, Geneva, and Batavia are all in the same bracket and two different sets of archrivals could meet in the state quarterfinals. I'm excited to see how this goes.

Let's see how bad the Jets get killed tomorrow in Cincinnati. I really have no optimism for this team anymore this year. And it is certainly way more than just a quarterback issue. This is shaping up to be one miserable sports fall/winter. And the Knicks haven't even started yet! Things are so bad I may have to start watching the World Series of Poker or some Texas bullriding on Versus!

On a more personal level, I know some things are just not meant to happen. And even though I try to fool myself, I know the truth in my soul. I just wish it wasn't true. But I guess life does what it's supposed to do one way or another.

After months of waiting, Genghis Grill finally opened in Wheaton. I'm a huge Mongolian BBQ fan and I'm glad I don't have to drive all the way to Naperville to get some. Hopefully, I'll be able to make it there in the next couple of weeks. The strange thing is I'm comparing this place to BD's, the joint in Naperville. I'm convinced they are the exact same place all the way down to the design of the website, only under different names.

Song pick: "No More Cloudy Days" The Eagles

Quick reaction

Well this was the weirdest day of work I've had in five years working at the Daily Herald. I arrived around 3 p.m. and I knew a lot of scores would be coming in around 3-5 pm, which is earlier than usual. Right now, there's a lot of playoffs going between tennis, soccer, cross country, and golf. I started typing scores in and rounding up games where we didn't have a reporter. After about 20 minutes, Nancy, who works in the Neighbor section, suddenly says she can't save her work on DeWarView (that's the database where the Herald saves and stores all the articles and files. Basically, it's our backbone). Now I was not about to lose the work I had done. So I saved everything I had done as a Word file and at least I knew it wasn't erased. The problem was MS Word was the only relevant computer program that was working. The added wrinkle was when I realized the Internet and e-mail never came up and were down as well. They didn't work for me or Nancy. I jumped to two different computers and nothing worked right either. So we had no Internet, e-mail, or databases to work from. This is like Starbucks running out of coffee and cups! And my boss wasn't even around. He was covering Northern Illinois football so I couldn't even consult him.

The only thing I could do was type the few faxed files we got into the word file. What I couldn't fax, I figured I would print out from the Word file and then go home and e-mail that to my boss' boss in Arlington Heights. Oh I forgot. We couldn't print anything either! After a little consulting with a few people with "power", we decided I would fax everything I had over to another Herald branch in Lisle. So I did that, and then wrote down all my game summaries and box scores (took about solid 30 minutes of speed writing) and drove home. I then typed them into my own computer and e-mailed them out. That was 45 minutes ago and hopefully that's the end of my work night.

I don't care how many budget cutbacks there have been lately. I want some OT pay for this!

A/C is out for eight months

Well we're probably not hitting 70 degrees anytime soon. So the jackets, sweatshirts, and boots are out and the short sleeves are buried deep in the closet. And I'm in the dungeon of the house and of course it's still 15 degrees colder down here than the rest of the house. And my room will be even colder once I head up there. A few thoughts on my mind as another week winds down.

1) This guy makes the best soup I've ever had. The only other one that comes close is the broccoli cheddar at Popeye's in Lake Geneva (not the fried chicken joint!) I got some Italian sausage soup they were selling at Costco and had it with some awesome roasted garlic bread. That is an ideal cold weather meal. I could have that two or three nights a week.

2) I understand when you have a large group, people change. And it's not always comfortable. But sometimes the change can be too much. Suffice to say, I think that's what is happening on the corner of Main and Franklin.

3) Next three restaurants I want to try: Boston Blackie's (burgers), Hunter's (downtown St. Charles), and Niko's Lodge in western St. Charles.

4) On Wednesday, I worked out, went to the dentist, and got a haircut. I feel like I lost ten pounds.

5) I'm glad Don Imus will be back on the radio again as of December. Disagree if you want.

6) More and more, I learn you can't sustain a great spiritual life by yourself. Community is vital.

7) I have about 75 total DVD's. Only one of them is a movie.

8) The Rangers are looking horrible through three games. Scott Gomez looks lost. Yet another Devil comes to the Rangers and forgets how to play hockey (ie Bruce Driver, Vladimir Malakhov, John MacLean, Bobby Holik). Marek Malik has more giveaways than the Salvation Army. Martin Straka is brutal. Coach Tom Renney does not know jack about organizing a power play. That said, Henrik Lundqvist is becoming one of the best goalies in the world. And I love Ryan Callahan! Here's the deal. They've played three games and I've been able to watch two. They lost those two and of course, won the game I couldn't see. Tomorrow, their game against Washington is being broadcasted through Yahoo. I don't like the odds...

9) I'm rooting for Cleveland to beat Colorado in the World Series.

10) This corn maze looks a tad freaky...

Song pick: "One In a Million" Johnny Lee