An hour left in the work day and nothing much to do

Let's go sports-free on this post. I need a break from it.

1) New food find: Benchmark bar in Old Town, Chicago. Their Korean steak tacos are amazing. Red pepper sauce, a great Asian BBQ sauce, a little bit of heat, some fresh cilantro. Wonderful grub.

2) I got to attend the Act Like Men conference at Moody Church for free and that opportunity came out of nowhere. 4500 guys filled that church up over two days to hear some great speakers and worship God. I have to say there were some very challenging messages and some things that would tick certain folks off. But I'm so glad that it was honest and direct. I now have Pastor MacDonald's book, which shares the same name as the conference. It's a 40 day study and I hopefully will be better for reading it. I know I'll get some good info, but I hope I'll be a better man for having read it.

3) Exactly one week till I finish grad school. One mere week!

4) Little did I expect that my car would need synthetic oil for oil changes. But it does and I guess that's an extra $50 to spend every five or six months.

5) The same day as that oil change, I attended Alison and Rob's wedding in Wheaton. I did not expect to enjoy it as much as I did. I didn't know the groom at all, for starters. But they asked me to videotape the ceremony and reception. Now, I had zero professional videotaping experience, but I agreed. I got to the church an hour early and they gave me this little black case. I opened it and I didn't know if I was looking at the camera or the battery. I spent about ten minutes figuring out how to use it and nine of those minutes were probably spent on just turning the camera on! But it went well. the ceremony was short and sweet. The reception was at a local golf club, which makes sense, since Rob is a golf teacher. I drank my share of peach-flavored Jeremiah Weed sweet tea vodka and lemonade. I did a little dancing for sure, but I was content to do the taping. I did meet a cougar and quickly realized that it's just not my thing anymore.

6) "Aloha" may be the worst movie I have seen in a theater since "Albert Nobbs."

7) Water keeps slowly seeping in through my basement wall. I have to vacuum the floor every time it rains. This cannot keep up.

8) I cannot find my car keys..I'm almost out of ideas with where they could be.

9) I cannot wait to get back to New York City in July. And with the freedom to go anywhere I want.

10) Now Donald Trump is running for President. How about Clint Eastwood, since he's actually willing to speak some truth?

Taking this hockey thing in

So the NHL season is mercifully over. After experienceing one of the worst defeats I ever have in the Eastern Conference Finals, I had to endure Chicago and Tampa Bay in the finals. This series felt like the latest Giants vs. Patriots Super Bowl. No matter who would win, I was going to lose. Either it woudl be the team that eliminated my team or all the people around me get their latest title. Of course, Chicago won its third cup in six years. I did not watch one second of the six games, nor did I watch one moment of the celebration.

I actually had to block two "friends" on Facebook who tried rubbing Chicago's title in my face. I don't have time in my life for bullies or rude jackasses. And there was even one clown who said I should be congratulating everyone. This guy clearly ignored me during their last two championships. And why would anyone need my approval, my support, or my congratulations?

I'm sure some people think I'm just angry. Those people don't get it. There are a lot of reasons why I'm just disassociating myself from all hockey talk. One, my team should have been in the Finals and finally winning the Cup that they deserved to win. Two, I don't need to see some second-rate organization (see Tampa Bay's home ticket policy) with a pompous smug prick of a coach playing in the Finals. Three, Chicago has won enough titles already, it's old hat. Four, I have no desire to see people celebrate a title, when they never watch one regular season game, couldn't tell you what an icing is, and could not name one Blackhawk player from before 2008. The frauds make me want to vomit.

Going forward, I am now convinced I'll never see this this era of Rangers team win a Stanley Cup. They had their chances. They've been to three conference finals in four years and failed to close the deal each time. You can't keep going back to the well like this. And for Corey Crawford to have two titles and Henrik Lundqvist to have none is a travesty.