Merry Christmas

The girls had their Christmas program at school this week. They did a great job and looked beautiful.

The 4 Year Old Gets It

The girls are staying with me this weekend; and as is custom, I was up early trying to complete my little railroad tasks before they woke up. At 6:20, Maggie was the first one out of bed with Nora not far behind. I went in my room to check on Grace and try to sneak in some snuggle time. Nora came back in and a big group hug ensued. I asked Nora what she wanted for Christmas. She was quick to respond, “You!”. That’s a sweet sentiment, but I think it may be more from the Mariah Carey song than actual Christmas wishes….maybe I’m wrong. After a few more minutes of snugglin’ and discussion about the day’s plans, I told Grace and Nora that I had to get back to work. There was the usual disappointment and questions that followed. I told them that I had to do this work because I get paid to do it, and that while we shouldn’t care too much about money, we realize that work is something we have to do to get money for the things we need like food and clothes. I told them that one day they would get jobs and make money, too. Grace said “We’ll make LOTS of money!”, to which Nora responded “And we’ll give it away.” Well, this development got Grace’s attention, and I explained that after you had taken care of your family and church, you should look to help others that need it. Nora went on to explain that there are people who are out of money and need our help.

To recap: Nora wants me for Christmas, and she realizes there are people less fortunate than she who need our help.

Thankful

So, today was Thanksgiving, the day we gather to stuff ourselves full of food in recognition of the things for which we are thankful. Lately, I've been talking via email with a bunch of friends from high school. We really enjoy talking about old times, and every once in awhile, someone will produce a picture that will jog someone's memory or start down another pathway of reflection. This morning, I woke up in my old room at my dad's house and stumbled onto some old photo albums from the exact times we've been reminiscing about.

I started flipping through them, and as the memories came rushing back, I was reminded of how much I hated it when my mom (that's her in the top pic from 1993) was always around taking pictures. Now that I've got these photos to look back on, it doesn't seem like such a bad idea to have taken all of them. The older I get, the wiser my parents become. I've scanned in about 150 photos today and am very much looking forward to sharing them with everyone and enjoying the stories that will no doubt come from that.

I had Thanksgiving lunch at my cousin's house. My Grandma, in the second pic, who had a stroke over a year ago and has been in the nursing home since, was there for the meal. My uncle picked her up and brought her out. She sat in her wheelchair and fed herself most of the time. She's still got quite a bit of brain power up there but has trouble getting the words to come out. After the meal and subsequent grazing, I sat with grandma, asked her questions, and tried to make the most I could out of her gestures and sounds. She got tired and said she wanted to go back. I rode along with my uncle and cousin to spend some more time with grandma. We got her to the nursing home and took her inside. My uncle had to go back out to the car to bring in some things he had forgotten. That gave my cousin and me more time to push grandma around; she loves to go for a stroll in the halls and knows everybody. After my uncle got back, we all sat in her room for awhile and just kinda hung out and joked around with grandma. She still likes a good joke even though she can't tell any of her own. I'm thankful she's around and for the time I got to spend with her today.

It was my friends who started this whole trip down memory lane and subsequent introspection. I'm thankful for them, the times we had together, the times we had apart and lessons we learned in those times. Here's a pic I found of us after our last high school band banquet. We turned out to be a pretty decent group.

Breakfast with Friends

I'm in Mayfield for Thanksgiving. I came into Carbondale on Amtrak last night, and dad brought me the rest of the way to Mayfield. As has been my personal Thanksgiving tradition for about 3 years now, I went to the Dinner Bell for breakfast. They've got a $4.95 buffet that opens at 7 AM. Byron and I rode together and met Andy, Lori, and Clay for breakfast. It wasn't anything out of this world, but it's always nice to see friends, bat the breeze, and eat some deep fried bacon. We were there for a little over an hour, eating, swapping stories, and just catching up. The line of the morning came from Lori's husband, Clay, who is a chef by trade. He was sitting where he could see the door to the kitchen and at one point commented "It's not every day you see someone walk in the kitchen with a lit cigarette." ...or something like that.

I'm back at dad's now, have completed my railroad work for the day, and am ready to rest up for Thanksgiving lunch at my cousin's at noon. Byron said he wanted to see a picture from breakfast, so here it is. Happy Thanksgiving!!!

58:04 means The Stairs are Climbed

I climbed the Sears Tower steps last Sunday. All 103 floors, all 2109 steps.

Larry and I left his house around 5:30 in the morning. Our climbing time was 7:10, and we were supposed to be there 30 minutes before. We got there around 6:30, parked and went inside. The building was just opening and people were still rushing around getting things ready. We checked our bags and found a place to stretch. He’s a big stretcher, I might do a calf or a hurdler’s stretch if I’m lucky. I just listened to my iPod and watched all the other people getting ready. There were all kinds of folks. Some were casual climbers in cotton pants and a golf shirt (older folks mostly), but most were pretty serious about the task before them. Just watching their warm-up exercises was making me tired.

The first wave started at 7:00. They had all started by 7:04, so they let us get started. Everyone lines up, and one-by-one, the starter gives you the ok to proceed. He’s doing that in seven second intervals to provide adequate spacing. Larry wished me luck, and off he went, seven seconds later, it was my turn. The starter gave me the go-ahead, I walked across the timing mat and into the stairwell. I had forgotten how steep those damn steps are. I liken the starting experience to shoving off of a dock and swimming across the ocean. I was just over the starting line, and it seemed there was forever in front of me.

This was my second stairclimb. Much like the first one, it didn’t take long for me to question whether I really wanted to do this or nor. About 3 floors into it, I was looking for the exit. I got to the 5th floor and remember saying to myself “OK, 20 more, just like that one!!” Easier said than done, right? The first water station was at the 10th floor. Last time, I regretted not making the first water stop. I have this thing against drinking while trying to climb steps, so I stopped at the 10th floor and took a few sips. I greeted the other climbers as they passed, thanked the folks manning the water table and went on my way. I climbed another 5 floors and took another breather. I knew the next water station was at the 23rd floor, only 8 more to go. Maybe I could do 8 floors and stop at the next station. At the 19th floor, I said to myself “This is halfway between 15 and 23, why don’t you stop here?” My stomach was feeling a little wobbly as well. From that point on, I never did more than 4 floors at a time without stopping. It was OK, though. I enjoyed taking my time and not over-doing it.

I got to the 59th floor and reasoned that there were only 11 more sets of 4 until I would be finished. From there on, I just counted them down. I don’t know if it was fatigue or what, but around 8 sets of 4 to go, I couldn’t do the math to figure out how many floors were left. Anyhow, I made it to the 99th floor. I could hear the noise on the 103rd and feel the fresh air coming into the stairwell. Did that inspire me to keep going? Absolutely not; why mess with a good thing?!? I took another break then pressed on to the top. They announced my name when I got to the top; at least I’m told they did. I went over to the window, looked out on the city and chest heaving, lungs burning, sweat dripping, thought to myself “I got up this b%t(h all by myself”

After that, we took the elevator down to the lobby. The organizers had set out bananas, apple, water, muffins, water, and juice. I had a banana while we waited for our team photo. Then I ate an apple while we waited for the photo to print. I had a bagel while Larry was in line to pick up the photo. Obviously, my stomach was feeling much better. The ham and cheese omelet, hash browns, and pancakes we later had for breakfast didn’t hurt things either.

All in all, I’d have to say it was definitely a great experience. My time wasn’t as good as I would’ve liked, but for my size, I’d say it wasn’t too bad either. The winner did the thing in 13:42. I saw him before the race, and he’s maybe half my size. The top lady was a 38 y/o woman from Indy who made the climb in 15:01. Larry finished in 26:16.

The next climb is on 1/27/08 at the Aon Center in Chicago. It’s only 80 floors, and I don’t even know if I’m going to train for it ;-)

Change of Scenery

I followed the link to my own blog from Andy's blog and was quite startled to see the picture of that shower. It's a real attention-getter. As striking as it might be, it's time has come and gone. To answer a few questions about it: it's not mine, I found it on flickr, and I did not crap in it.

Five weeks ago, I mentioned training for a little stair climb thingy I'm doing next week. The training was slow going at first, but it has come along. Highlights include: not going to McDonald's in the last 5 weeks, having a Diet Coke a week ago, but no other carbonated beverages, and maybe one or 2 pieces of red meat during the whole time. I got on the scale yesterday, and I'm down 15 pounds. The usual stuff has happened, pants fit better, face is a little thinner, etc.

The climb is next Sunday. My start time is 7:10-7:20 AM. My friend Larry and I are on a team, so we'll be climbing together. He's a stair climbing machine, so my goal is just finishing. He should be finished and have the car out of the parking garage by the time I'm done. There was talk of going to Chinatown for Dim Sum, but we may be finished climbing too early for that.

Anyone see this? That's pretty scary.

Last but not least, I've included a little piece of my training motivation.

Picture Post

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For those who have commented about my having a picture for everything, I gave you that last post off. As penence, you get two pics in this relatively short post. I've been getting up early to go workout before work. I'm going to see what it does to my metabolism. It also forces me to be more organized as I have to pack all my crap the night before. The alarm goes off around 3:45, I fix myself some wheat toast, get dressed, and roll out. I would have to get up earlier to get done everything I want to get done, but I don't see it happening. I've been showering at the gym instead of home. I got in my own shower today, and everything was bone dry. It was kinda weird. Some of you have heard tales of my housekeeping, others have actually darkened my door. You can decide for yourself if that's my shower.

Finally, it's a small world. I was driving home this afternoon, and I got behind this van with some awfully familiar decals on the rear. I've always seen UK stuff up here, and even more since their recent football success, but I never see Murray State stuff.....so, go Racers!!!

All Grown Up ???

I’ve read that the lengthening adolescent period in our country is becoming a problem. Americans are taking a lot longer to grow up. Yesterday, it was made clear to me again that people my age can indeed be grown-ups, even though I don’t feel like one myself.

The first eye opener came a couple of years ago at a marching band contest I was attending. I was looking through the program and found that I recognized the names of most all of the band directors. It’s not because they were directors when I was in high school. I knew these people because I had gone to college with most of them. There were people my age running high school marching band programs. I thought only grown-ups did that kind of stuff.

Yesterday, I got some news about a former college roommate of mine, Dake (rhymes with rake). He was my roommate during my sophomore year. I was in his wedding and he in mine. I was even at the hospital when his first daughter was born. After college, he and his wife took teaching jobs at Meade County HS. They were there a few years before they accepted assignments as missionaries to Indonesia. In addition to what we would consider normal missionary work, they also worked at a school teaching the children of other missionaries. They came back to the US about 3 years ago. His wife started teaching again, and Dake enrolled in seminary at Louisville. They had another daughter along the way, and I just learned yesterday that they’re going back overseas. They’re in Virginia right now training before they leave at the end of December. I talked to Dake’s mom yesterday, and the only thing she can tell me is that they’re going to Central Asia. For safety reasons, they can’t divulge the name of the country as Christianity is not accepted there. Please pray for Dake and his family. Here’s a grown man and woman, sensing God’s call on their lives, packing up their family and moving to a country on the other side of the globe where they could become martyrs for their faith. I thought only grown-ups did that kind of stuff.

I am 33, have completed college, have a grown-up job, found and joined a church all by myself, been married, divorced, and am helping to raise three little girls, the oldest of which is already 9, but for whatever reason I still feel like I haven’t grown up. If I can ever stop laughing at farts, that will be a step in the right direction.

UPDATE: Another friend of mine from college, Jim Bob (that's what everyone called him) Outland had a saying that I've always found to be true. He said "Butt gas is always funny." I've been around some that was pretty close to not being funny, but it's still good for a laugh.

My Friend Jarrod is a Bad Influence

I played one year of organized baseball when I was growing up. My team was the Charles Todd Pirates. Because of that affiliation, my favorite MLB team was the Pittsburgh Pirates. 1984 rolled around. The Cubs won their division. My family was made up of Cubs fans, so I decided it was easier to join them than try to beat them. That was about the time I started hanging out with Jarrod. We went to our first baseball game together about that time, so I’m going to blame my Cubs habit and subsequent related heartbreaks on him.

It was the fall of 1988, and we were both freshmen in high school. It was at one of those drug free dances at GCHS where I saw him kissing a girl (on the lips no less) for the first time. At that point, I knew life as we knew it would no longer be the same. It was later that same year I kissed a girl (also on the lips) for the first time. I hope that would’ve happened on its own, but I’m going to blame, or credit depending on your viewpoint, that on Jarrod, too.

Fast forward several, several years to 2007. He and I are discussing our changing figures and the topic of diet soda comes up. He fills me in on a new little drink called Coke Zero. We all know how I feel about that.

Finally, I’ve never had a favorite college football team. I guess I liked Florida State when they were so successful back in high school. The Racers gave us one good year under Houston Nutt. I developed a fondness for Auburn after seeing them smoke Samford at Jordan Hare Stadium. I started getting familiar with the Big 10 in 1998 after moving to Milwaukee. All the fans seem to be very loyal, but no team really jumped out.

I was at Jarrod’s house for the Morton Pumpkin Festival four weeks ago. That Saturday night, UK beat Louisville. It was quite a game capped off by a UK comeback in the final minute. I was glued to the tube for their win at Arkansas. I was working when they got beat by SC, so I didn’t get to see too much of that. Today, they welcomed the top ranked LSU Tigers into Commonwealth Stadium. Our railroad line passes right behind LSU’s stadium. I always wanted to go to a game there but never got the chance to. Working with all those coon-asses made me a quasi-LSU fan by association (Their recent success didn’t hurt either). Back to today…..

I’ve got the girls this weekend, so I planned our day around being back home in time for the game at 2:30. We were home for kickoff. It was a back and forth game until the UK defense got tired. LSU took a 10 point lead that UK cut to 3 at halftime. LSU opened their lead back up in the 3rd quarter, and it looked like the Cats might be in for another heartbreaker. UK tied it up and needed to stop LSU on the final possession to force overtime. I hate OT, and was hoping LSU would win so it would be over. I would have no such luck as the game went to overtime anyway.

It was typical back and forth OT stuff. Woodson threw a touchdown on third down in the 3rd overtime to take the lead. They missed the 2 point conversion but shut out the Bayou Bengals on their next possession to take the lead. The game was over just after 7 PM. 4 and a half hours of my day……gone. Yeah, I played with the girls, helped them with their homework, and fixed supper while the game was on. However, I was otherwise useless for that time.

They welcome Tim Tebow and the Gators next week, and it’s going to be the CBS SEC game, so I’ll be right back on the couch taking it all in. Thanks Jarrod….it's all your fault.

Hearts on Fire

On 9/30/07, I started my own little Commitment to Excellence to try to drop a few pounds in the final six weeks leading up to my stair climb in November. (BTW, if I lost 20 lbs, that would be 42,180 lbs I wouldn’t have to lift) Like most diets, it was slow going at first and hard to stay focused. I’ve been at it 12 days and would like to share a few bullets from the experience so far…

• I’ve been to the gym 9 out of the 12 days. I’ve had some really good workouts and some not so good.
• Other than the small steak I had on Sunday, I haven’t had any red meat. That just kinda’ happened, but I guess it’s a good thing.
• I’m taking an ELMO approach to dieting and Eating Less More Often. Here lately, it’s been a boiled egg for breakfast, a salad around 10:30, some ground chicken or pork around 2, and another salad and some meat for supper. I got hungry Tuesday night while watching TV, and I ate an apple. I surprised myself with that one.
• I haven’t been to McDonald’s since I started the C2E. If anyone is wondering, their stock is up about $3/share over the same period.
• Finally, I weighed myself before I started. I won’t tell you what I started at, but it’s definitely in the 3 digit range. I actually gained weight after I started. If you net it all out, I’m down 5 lbs. The initial weight loss is usually the easiest. We’ll see what happens after I hit the wall.

Rocky IV was on TV the other night. It always gets me fired up. Here’s a little clip so you can share the inflammation. When I do my training, I look just like this.

Brett who???

Not alot to say here...just that the Bears might have salvaged their season last night after travelling behind the Cheddar Curtain to squash the Pack......actually, I thought we, ('cause I'm part of the team) were going to get trounced. If the Packers could hang onto the ball, it would've been a different story. Although, if I'm #89 (right) and someone has their fist where Peanut Tillman does, I might be hard pressed to hang onto the ball, too.



In other Illinois over Wisconsin news: the Illini hung on to beat the Badgers in Champaign on Saturday. It's been a bad sports year for Wisconsin. Cubs over Brewers, Illini over Badgers, and now Bears over Packers.....proving once again, that the FIBs are superior to the Cheeseheads.

Totally Gay

Forgive me, I’m catching up from the weekend.

Friday night, I went straight to the gym after work. I’ve got that whole stair-climbing thing fast approaching, you know. I had a nice long workout and got home around 9. Being as how it was early, I decided to take in a movie at the dollar show. It actually costs $3 to see a movie there, but everybody around here knows exactly what I’m talking about when I say dollar show.

I decided I would take in a showing of “Hairspray”. I’ve seen plenty of musicals performed live and been to a Grease sing-along. I’ve got no problems showing up at these types of events. I did feel a little bad when I was waiting in line to buy my ticket. The guy in front of me was going to see Bourne Ultimatum. His choice was probably a little more manly, but what are you gonna do?

Even though you can get bottomless coke and popcorn for like $5, I decided to skip the concession stand. I was still full from the salad I had after the gym….you believe that, right?

I took my seat and got ready for the show. There were probably 50 people in the theater. It’s an older theater with the aisle down the middle instead of on the sides. There’s no stadium seating either. It reminded me of the Twin Cinema in Mayfield. If you aren’t familiar with the story, it’s about a pudgy girl who loves to dance and wants to get on one of those teeny-bopper dance shows. She gets on the show and a whole host of other stuff happens to her to fill out the story. Even though I dozed a couple of times (I don’t think I snored) I enjoyed the movie.

Now, the part that stuck with me…. the lead character, Tracy Turnblad, made me think of my mom. In one of the opening scenes, she and her friend Penny rush home to watch the Corky Collins show. They’re in front of the TV learning all the dances that are being done on the show. When she gets her chance to dance, she does so with such energy, excitement, and pure joy. The joy on Tracy’s face reminded me of the same joy my mom had when she danced. I only saw her cut loose a few times, but it’s pretty hard to forget. I called dad the next day to tell him about the movie. By the end of the conversation, we were in such agreement that we were finishing each other’s sentences while comparing mom to Tracy. Dad even commented that she made him look good on the dance floor several times. Something about talking about your parents on the 'dance floor' just doesn't sit well, but I digress.

I’m glad to know that her memory has stuck with me enough to recognize her traits when I see them in others.

It's so good......once it hits your lips!!!!

I had a good food day today. I had some chicken with creole seasoning and broccoli with soy sauce for lunch. The soy sauce on the creole made for a delightful combination.

I was doing some thinking about Shane's comments on diet drinks and caffeine. He's not the first person to share that with me, so I gave it some more consideration. When I was doing so well in April, I was drinking water and Crystal Light. Jarrod turned me on to the magical potion that is Coke Zero. Man, I LOVE that stuff!!! It goes down so smooth, and I can drink one right after the other if I'm so inclined. It's like liquid crack. Given Shane's earlier thoughts, I've decided to take a little break and see how that goes. I don't think anyone really cares about what I'm drinking. I just shared all of that as a segue to one of my favorite scenes from a great movie. This is how I feel when I'm holding that mystical black can and enjoying its carbonated goodness.....

6 Weeks to Go!!!

Last year, at about this time, my dad was preparing to tie the knot. I was in the middle of a weight loss campaign in an effort to not look like a total blimp in any of the photos. I shed a few pounds and ended up needing to have about 3-4 inches taken out of my suit coat.

Around February of this year, encouraged by the good results, I did the half climb at the Hustle Up the Hancock. That picture is me at the top of the climb. I have no idea who the guy behind me is, but he must like the view because he's smiling. BTW, special thanks to Photogenic for letting me use the photo ;) The climb was tough, but it was a good time. I didn't do as well as I had wanted, but committed to shed a few more pounds and do the full climb at the Sears Tower.

I was down about 40 pounds between October and April, and the success went to my head. I thought I could turn it off and on as needed. I found out that turning it off was easy, but turning it on was not. I gained about 20 of those pounds back.

Here I sit, 6 weeks before the thing, ready to make one last push to lighten my load for the next climb. I did quite a bit of cardio at the gym today and even got back on the stair climber. I've been eating lean meats (after we finished the Cubs cookie) and more veggies. I think I may try to stay away from the Arches for awhile, too. The sale on McMuffins is over, anyway. Six weeks of this, and I should be in good shape....well, at least better than today.

Keeping Up With the Chinese

In an effort to stem the recent Chinese dominance in just about everything, Naperville Central High School has really stepped it up. A few months ago, I saw this nugget. Today, I give you this:

Dr. Maggie Knowitall

At school on Thursday, Maggie had the opportunity to experience something I hope I never have to. How do I say this politely? Maggie was in the restroom with a classmate who was receiving the first of many visitors.

She went home and told her mom all about it. Evidently, Maggie was so excited by the experience that she was rocking from side to side while recounting the day's events. She didn't say anything to me about it, but her mom told me what had happened so I would know where any questions might be coming from. I told her I was cool with the training bra and leg shaving, but if I'm around for the next developmental milestone, she's going straight home for some mommy/daughter time. Is that wrong? Maggie's got lots of questions, and they've already carved out some time tomorrow to hash all this out.

Last night at dinner, and I don't recall how the conversation started, Grace said something about starting out in Momma's tummy as a baby. Dr. Knowitall immediately informed her that she started out as an egg. Grace was quite perplexed and didn't remember anything about hatching from an egg. I tried to get Maggie to knock it off but was having no luck. However, Maggie didn't know much more than she started out as an egg. After tomorrow, there's no telling what kind of knowledge she'll have. Did I mention she has an A+ in science? This stuff is right up her alley. ....and that's where we are on that.

In other news, Maggie has some math homework where she's solving some equations for a missing variable. I'm so excited because algebra wasn't my thing in school. Sometime after that, it clicked and became fairly simple. It's fun walking her through this stuff and keeping both sides of the equation equal and working down to the missing number. Last week, she was doing those commutative and transitive property stuff. I even busted out a Mr. Thomas "Commutative, t-t, t-t." on her. I heard someone on TV rattling off the "Out, out brief candle" lines from Macbeth. I think we were all surprised when I joined in with the people on TV. I thought about hitting them with some Thanatopsis, but didn't think they were ready for it. When we were memorizing that stuff, I had no idea how long it would stick with me. I'm not sure I'm any better for it, but I guess so.

Finally, the Cubs clinched a spot in the playoffs last night. The girls were long asleep when it happened, but we celebrated today with a cookie from Jewel. That's it at the top of the post.

Go Cubs, Go! Go Cubs, Go! Hey Chicago, what do you say? The Cubs are gonna win today.

Checkout one of the cheesiest team songs ever. Be sure you stick around for the guy at the end of the clip. Stay classy, Chicago!!!

TRASH-X

In addition to the little trash can in my bathroom, I've got a modest 53 quart trash receptacle in my kitchen. When it gets full, I take the bag out of the can and place it into one of the 33 gallon bags from the box I have standing by. It makes no sense to throw out the partially filled larger bag, so I keep it around until it gets full. Sometimes I let it get more nearly full than others....usually because I'm running too late to take it out with me in the morning.

Have you seen those episodes of Oprah or Maury Povich where the person literally traps himself inside his house because of all the food he's eaten? They eventually have to cut a hole in the side of his house to extricate him. Sometime mys trash bags get like that.

CN has a program called Intermodal Excellence, or IMX for short. What it seeks to do is smooth out the demand of our intermodal services so the train sizes can be balanced. That way we're running full trains every day of the week instead of half-empty trains Sunday through Tuesday and leaving freight behind Wednesday through Saturday. I've decided to do the same thing with my trash.

Rather than wait a while to fill up a large bag, I've decided that I can fill up a standard Wal Mart bag every day. In the morning, it's no problem to pick it up and toss it in the dumpster as I drive by. From now on, I'll be going through the self checkout and double-bagging everything to ensure I've got the bags required to execute my plan.

I just thought I'd share.

Bears Down....

My blogger login still works, so I decided I'd post again. Last night, JP came up, and we went to the Bears game. He got up here in the early afternoon, and we ate some chicken wings and one of those giant chocolate chip cookies with icing on it.....you know, so we wouldn't get hungry and have to pay ballpark prices.....or something like that. Jarrod did not have any Bears wear, and his Cubs t-shirt looked more like Cowboys wear, so I loaned him one of my shirts. He looked resplendent in this little item I obtained on ebay. We got in the car and drove to Forest Park to catch the El to Soldier Field. After getting off the train at the Roosevelt Road stop, we joined several other fans and made the final trek to the stadium. The people behind us were quite surprised several times along the way. We were frisked by security and given US Cellular car flags on our way in the gates. We had to test out the facilities, and they passed. After a quick look around, it was time for some stadium fare. We each had a polish sausage. Jarrod was a good boy and had Diet Coke while I had regular Coke. Before that night, I'd never seen anyone eat a polish with kraut, mustard, and ketchup, but hey, whatever. We found our seats and settled in for the opening festivities. Gloria Estefan sang the anthem, complete with onfield pyrotechnics and fighter jet flyover. Our seats were in the end zone, about 20 rows from the top. It was dark, so we couldn't see the planes coming. There was a quick flash over our heads followed by the loud roar of the engines. That was by far the coolest part of the night, as it went downhill from there. The Bears looked good in the beginning, and the crowd was into it, but they just couldn't score. Rex didn't help. Final score: Cowboys 112, Bears -3. Byron offered a little bright spot when he called after Archuleta's INT to check on us. He was home doing laundry and watching the game, so we didn't feel so bad for being at the game. Thanks for the encouragement, -B.

We left the game, got back on the train, went home to watch the recording of the UK-Arkansas game. We warmed up some bean dip and had a little post-game nourishment. I have no idea what time JP turned in, but I was asleep by 1 AM.

I got up at 8 and caught up on my TV watching while Jarrod pretended to do some Caterpillar-type work. He needed to use my computer to "send an email". I don't know if he did or not, but I had all the UK football sites in my history when he was done, so I'm not sure what went on.

We parted ways after breakfast at Grandma Sally's. He was headed to Morton, and I was headed to the couch. I watched TV until, literally, 4:30, went to the gym, and here I sit. Tonight is the premiere of DWTS and the Bachelor, and I'm excited about the new seasons.

I love going into Chicago, and the Bears games are always a good time. It was nice to have Jarrod around, and he even paid for breakfast. If he ever decides to leave Cat, he's got a future in the aerial application of herbicides and pesticides for agricultural purposes.

Random Educational Post

We had a little oops at Geismar, LA, today. The internal liner on this tank car ruptured, and the hydrochloric acid it contained ate through the bottom of the car. Usually when this happens, the crew is not exposed to the leak. They can see the cloud around the car long before they get close to it.

I thought someone with really bad sinus issues sneezed under the car. Actually, it's the reaction that happened between the HCL and the limestone ballast, CACO3. I've included a link because I'm a geek like that.

The authorities came out and stopped the leak with a magnetic patch so the remainder of the contents can be off-loaded.

There Is A God.

He is good, and Shane is not Him. I just saw a McDonald's commercial. Sausage-Egg McMuffins are 2 for $3 again. This is good news for a couple of reasons. Recently, any biscuit has been 2/$3. That's all fair and good, but the biscuits crumble too much and make a mess in your vehicle. Also, there's a 30-cent charge for the cheese on the biscuits, and the eggs are more of a scrambled variety. The Sausage-Egg McMuffin comes with cheese, is made with a fried type egg, and the doesn't crumble so much as the biscuit. It's a win-win-win situation. As info, this is the tenth post overall, and the second one involving McDonald's.

Weekend Wrapup

I've been advised against posting on the weekends. Evidently it's bad blogging etiquette because you're supposed to be doing this during the week while you're being paid to do something else. That being said, here are some shameless pics of my kids woven into the text of a post that's supposed to be about my weekend. I am pretending that people care about my weekend.

Grace had her first sleepover last weekend. While she was at Alexis' house, the other 2 and I ran errands. While I was waiting in line at the post office, Maggie took some pics of Nora. She calls them Diva. It was cute, but made me a little queasy at the same time. We went and played at the park and saw a guy with a snazzy haircut.

Sunday came and went. On Monday, the girls participated in the Labor Day Parade. Gracy is about the happiest kid I know. America's Favorite Mom was the big surprise of the parade. She was there hawking some kind of water she endorses.

That's it. Pretty boring, huh?

At Least the Cubs Won

The Cubs extended their division lead to 2.5 games with a win over the Beermakers last night. The game was the only bright spot in an otherwise disappointing sports night.

The Bears wrapped up their preseason with a home loss to the Browns. Who cares, it's just the preseason.

Finally, the University of Louisville made a statement last night with their 73-10 victory over the Racers. The statement: "We're way better at football than the I-AA schools in our state." It was pretty much a beat down from the beginning. The Racers were definitely over-matched. I was a little disappointed that the reverse on the opening kickoff didn't work out better. I'm sure the Racers will enjoy the new weight room. On a more positive note, the last time these two titans met (1990), UL was 68 points better than the Racers. This time, not so much. If the Racers close the gap 5 points every 17 years, by the year 2228, the Racers should win by a safety. I don't know who Louisville plays next, but there's a rumor that Wyotech has an intramural team with an open date on their calendar. I'm sure they could use the extra cash.

Random Thought #1

I warned you about these.... so I'm at the McDonald's drive thru this morning. I'm at the window picking up my low carb sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit with hash browns and a coke. I'm sitting in my car, and I notice the backside of someone sticking out from just beyond the pickup window. About the time I'm ready to pull away, he backs out of the bushes right in front of me. I knew he was there and was probably going to back out in front of me, so I wasn't even close to hitting him. As I drove past, I could tell that he was an employee trying to connect the water hose from the pressure washer to the water spigot.

Here's the random thought....when you almost run into another car, you might say I almost bought a (whatever that car was). In this case, would it be appropriate to say I almost bought a Mexican, or is that something we're not ready to talk about yet?

School Daze

The girls have had 2 days of school and are doing quite well. I picked them up from school today, and it was very nice for them to all be in one place. Here's a little pic of them in their uniforms. I don't know what happened to the quality of this one, but it's the only one I took. They like their teachers, are excited about their subjects and to see their classmates again. Maggie has already memorized her verse for this week. I had forgotten how much her memorization skills improved last year. In other news, they're all quite proud of their new shoes.

Nora was really excited to be at the same school as her sisters. She went in her classroom right away, but was kinda clingy when we left. It was really no surprise to hear that she had an accident on her first day. She said she was shy and didn't know where the potty was. Hey, it happens to the best of us. Day 2 was much better. There were no accidents, and she even got invited to a birthday party.

Bear Down!!!

The Bears have a pre-season game at home tonight. It' sonly pre-season; but evidently, the starters are supposed to play into the 3rd quarter. They're supposed to be practicing making half-time adjustments. I wasn't aware that you needed to practice such things; but if I were, I might be making Brian Urlacher money instead of working for the railroad.

I've got a buddy who just took a job with the AAR in DC. Being a longtime Chicago resident and Bears season ticket holder, he didn't want to give up his tickets. I formed a consortium with another person in my office, and we purchased his tickets at face value. They're still in his name, but we get to go to all the games. I'm getting to go to 4 games for face value, which is a pretty good deal in the current market. They're end zone seats, but the stadium is new and all the sight lines are pretty good. It will be a great time if the Bears do as well this year as they did last year.

Baseball is still in full swing, the Cubs are still in the race, but I'm getting excited about the NFL season starting. Seeing this gets me pumped up.

Open House

Friday was open house at the girls' school. They're going back for a second year at Calvary Christian School in Naperville. The big change this year is they'll be bringing their little sister along for the ride. Nora will have one year of pre-school before we try to sneak her into Kindergarten. She was born 15 days too late to get in next year. For the first time since she was born, they will all be at the same place during the day.

Today, they got to go in and meet their new teachers, check out their new classrooms, and see some of their classmates from last year. Grace and Maggie both played their customary shy roles and didn't say too much to their new teachers. Their old teachers had spoken to their new teachers, and both had really good things to say about Maggie and Grace. If there were bad things to say, I'm sure they wouldn't have told us, but my children do no wrong, so I'll just keep on believin' there was nothing bad to say.

We're also signing them up for piano lessons through school. They can each get one lesson per week, after school, during the after-care program, for $50/month. For each one to get a weekly lesson without having to haul them over to someone's house was quite a bargain.

School starts on Monday. Their uniforms are laid out and their backpacks are loaded with new school supplies. They're at home with mama this weekend enjoying their last few days of summer vacation before starting another great year of school.

A Day of Beauty

Tuesday, after the dentist, I took Maggie and Gracy for their back-to-school haircuts. It was my first time at the particular salon, but the girls had been there before. They knew what to expect and love getting their hair washed.

They're both trying to grow their hair out. We were going for nice long layers with no bangs. Sounds like a nice plan, huh? I only had to have mama repeat it 3 times before I felt confident enough to relay it to the stylist. Maggie's hair is naturally curly. She doesn't like to do too much to it in the morning. She'll wash it, brush it, then call it complete. An hour later, it looks like a rat's nest. That day, she asked the stylist to dry and straighten it.

Grace, on the other hand, wanted her straight hair to be a little curly. She got her wish. I don't know if the stylist was going for a Farrah Fawcett look, but it was definitely cute when she finished.

It's a full service salon, and they took good care of the girls. We all got suckers when we left. I tried to talk Maggie into coming back with me for a pedicure, but she was having none of my tomfoolery.

The Tooth Fairy and Compound Interest

Yesterday, we went to the dentist. It was Nora's first visit to the chair. She enjoyed the sunglasses, and they did a great job keeping the light out of her eyes. She's lucky to have 2 great sisters to cheer her on in whatever she does.

Everyone got great reports. The dentist was a little concerned about Grace's small mouth. He encouraged to wiggle her teeth when they get loose so they wold come right out and not affect the permanent teeth coming in behind them. When we got home, Grace went right to work on her one loose tooth. She said she wouldn't eat until it came out. Throughout the day, I got updates on her progress. At one point, she said "Dad, I've got blood". I thought that would be the end of the tooth extraction process, but she kept going. Right before supper, I heard a joyful shriek from the other room, and Grace came in to show me the tooth she'd just removed.

Nighttime rolled around, and Grace was very concerned about whether the Tooth Fairy would be visiting her. We got all setup, and they went to bed. I went to bed early last night, too. In fact, they might have still been awake when I turned in for the night. Luckily, the tooth fairy got his butt out of bed in time to do the switch in the morning. When Grace woke up, she was very excited. After the newness of the dollar wore off, she got a little upset that the Tooth Fairy had taken the necklace that was holding the tooth. At that point, Nora reported that her bracelet was missing and immediately indicated the Tooth Fairy as the primary suspect. Nora has requested that I contact the Tooth Fairy and request he bring our stuff back. When I said that Grace would have to give back her dollar, it was suddenly OK to be without our stuff.

Some people have saved 95 cents of every dollar they've made. I, on the other hand, have spent $1.05 of every dollar I have made. I'm trying to instill a habit of saving in my girls. I didn't think about it in time when Maggie was losing teeth, so I'm starting with Grace and incorporating Maggie. Since momma is the tooth fairy most of the time, I told them that I would double whatever is in their piggy banks each time Grace lost a tooth. Luckily for me, I've never had to give Grace anything more than the tooth fairy did. I don't think Maggie knows what the opening on top of her piggy bank is for.

OK, Here Goes / Here's the plan / Disclaimer

OK, Here Goes: I've got some friends who have their own blogs, and I've thoroughly enjoyed reading their work in a non-creepy voyeuristic kinda way. Some have had theirs several years, another since yesterday. I've been told on more than one occasion that I should start my own blog if for no ther reason than I'll stop filling up my friends' email boxes with my ramblings. To those of you who asked, thank you, and here goes.

Here's the Plan: I've been divorced for about 3 years. Since my 3 beautiful daughters live with their mom, I have lots of 'me time' when stuff pops into my head. Until now, there's been nowhere to share those thoughts. If it pops in my head and I'm near a computer, you just might read about it. If it sparks a thought of your own, feel free to share. If it sucks, feel free to share that, too.

Disclaimer: I have no idea who my target audience is or who would even read this....ok, I have some idea. So, I'll write like I'm talking to them. If I get some delusion of grandeur about who might be reading my blog (I said my blog), then I might change my style. Until then, it's all me.