My car needs a Gatorade

I planned to write 5 days ago. I just haven't had the interest lately.

1) This isn't the most I've ever driven in one weekend. But I must have set a personal record for hour long drives with 8 in a 48 hour span. Airport and back twice, Chicago Ridge and back, then to Wheaton to Geneva to then home, and finally, West Chicago to Wheaton to home. I swear by Sunday morning, I heard my car say "Man, I'm out."

2) ROH was awesome again last Saturday. One word: TEAMWORK!!!!

3) I'm halfway through reading Bret Hart's book. Top notch. This is a must read.

4) I painted my bedroom. I like the sea-esque blue. It feels very different and it's cool.

5) Volleyball did not get off to a good start. When Eli comes back, things will be better. But I seriously hope Andy never comes back. The man is 6'2'', and cannot jump. To quote someone else, he couldn't spike a drink.

6) The St. Charles Daily Herald office is closing this spring. I do think my time here is over. I'm not willing to drive 30 minutes ewach night. Even with a proposed raise, it will barely cover my gasoline expenses. So the question is what can I do with that extra time.

7) A 92 year-old blind amateur golfer just hit his first hole-in-one. If I hadn't hit one before, I would hate this guy.

8) Took 90 minutes to drive home last night from work.

9) JOHAN! JOHAN! JOHAN! But with what's going on right now, I can't bring myself to celebrate.

10) When do Mets tickets go on sale? It can't come soon enough.

Song pick: "Last of the Singing Cowboys" Marshall Tucker Band. I really identify with the character in this song, except I can't sing a lick.

3 brat night

Well, I learned one thing today. Three bratwursts will fill you up! Let's Go Giants!


Next weekend will be awesome! Ring of Honor on Saturday and Come Thirsty, volleyball, and Ghengis Grill on Sunday. Doesn't get much better than that.

Amazing

Congratulations to the Giants for winning one of the greatest football games I have ever seen. I watched the first half at home and the second half at Tara's house with Come Thirsty. I have not seen a Giants team play together like this since their Super Bowl year of 1990. Man, when Lawrence Tynes missed those two field goals, all I could think was Doug Freakin' Brien! But he made the 47-yarder two minutes into overtime and that was it. 23-20. Now it's on to the Super Bowl against those scumbags from Foxboro.

Now, in contrast to that, we have the Rangers. No heart, no desire, no unity. Another loss to Boston, something needs to be done. A trade, a firing, something dramatic to wake these Pinocchios up from the lull that they play in.

Off Facebook post

As I've become aware of a few things this week, I've come to a couple of conclusions.

1) I'm already sick of cold weather.
2) Swimming in a pool when you're on vacation is easy. Doing it competitively takes a lot of work. And after the way my eyes were burning after 5 minutes on Monday, I have to buy some goggles.
3) It amazes me how many single couples live together. I know at least 6 right now at work. About 5 million couples do that in the US right now. And I heard today that 90 percent of those couples never get married. And of the ones who do, they're twice as likely to divorce. Coincidence? Could be.
4) This NFL season has been boring, almost as boring as the typical college football bowl season.
5) That said, Brandon Jacobs' TD celebration of slamming the ball into the play clock and the resulting bang was one of the greatest I've ever seen.
6) Frontera makes the best jarred salsas.
7) I really wish I had the NHL Network.
8) Now I know what really went down. And here's the deal. If you're going to string me along and then deceive me, do it to my face. Don't do it over the phone. And definitely don't do it through a mass e-mail at 10:00 at night on a Wednesday. That is a tramp with a capital T.

What am I thinking?!

I am the only human being in the world who would in the same day:

1) Commit to doing his first mini-triathalon
2) Eating a slice of leftover Paula Deen's bacon cheeseburger meat loaf and lyonnaise potatoes and drink a pair of beers at 11 pm.

I'm not proud of it, but I haven't eaten in 8 hours and it was either that meat loaf (which I will never eat again BTW) or plain tortilla chips. Besides, I'm starting my training tomorrow morning, it's still technically Friday night. A few other things.

1) I cannot dance, at least not when a video game is involved.
2) Cherry Coke is back in the vending machines at work! No more zero calorie diet Cokes! Yes!
3) The only thing more annoying than someone promising to call you and not doing it? A person promising they'll facebook you and not doing it.
4) Is there a board game out there that doesn't take over an hour to figure out how to play?
5) Can the Rangers beat anyone in the Western Conference?
6) How has fantasy golf already begun again?


NFL playoff predictions:
First Round
Giants over Bucs
Seahawks over Redskins
Chargers over Titans
Jaguars over Steelers

Second Round
Cowboys over Giants
Packers over Seahawks
Patriots over Jaguars
Colts over Chargers

Conference Championships
Packers over Cowboys
Colts over Patriots (thank you God!)

Super Bowl
Colts over Packers

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