Christmas Tunes - BTC

I was in college when I heard this arrangement for the first time. To this day, I've never heard it performed live. I don't know if I'd be able to stand it if I ever did.

Christmas Tunes - BOH

Doesn't need many words from me....

Christmas Tunes - Car Songs

Love this song....the girls and I rock out in the car to this one....




we like to sing this one in the car, too; but we sing the appropriate parts....

Christmas Tunes

I didn't listen to much of the introduction, but the performance was fun. It starts arouns 2:30.

Getting it Together for Christmas

This has nothing to do with Christmas preparations, other to say that Grace had her Christmas thingy at school, and I took this picture of the girls. I'm not sure when Nora turned 16; but evidently, she has.

I've been working midnights at work for about 5 weeks now, and it's going OK. My main responsibility is to get the executive summary ready by 5 AM. You'd figure I'd be able to accomplish that during the 10 hours that I'm there, but alot of the info I need doesn't come out until about 3:30. Sometimes it goes really well, other timed, not so much. Some days I walk out of there at 6 AM feeling pretty good, other times I've left at 8:30 (tieing up loose ends) and felt like crap. When all's said and done, it's still a job; a new job with new challenges that make my night the fastest 10 hours in the world.

I tried my hand, albeit unsuccessfully, at some home computer repair. It did not work out, and I've got a new laptop from work. I figured I'd just get the new laptop, but I had a big ole box with a dock, keyboard, mouse, and a couple of power cords. Since I share a desktop at the office, I don't need the dock there, so I brought it home. I happen to have a monitor available, so I've setup the dock at home. It's nice to be able to work with a monitor and a full-size keyboard.

Finally, the schedule. Some of you have asked how I'm adjusting to the schedule. It goes OK. I probably sleep about 6 hours each day. That's enough to get me through the night and safely home. As I said earlier, the night goes by fast, so I'm never tired there. I came home this morning, watched 'The Office' and highlights from the Bears game before turning at 9:30. Somehow, I slept until 4:30 this afternoon. My friend called and said I should stop by the house after 7. By 6:30, I was ready to go back to bed, but I went out anyway. I got home at 11:30 and was wide awake, so I'm still up. I knocked out a little bit of work and watched 'A Few Good Men'. Life's good. I've got Friday and Saturday nights off, so I've still got a weekend. I figured the other 2 guys I'm working with would want to switch some so they could get weekends off, but they didn't want to work nights. So, I'm off on the weekends while they have to cover. I guess it's all about what we need for our unique situations.

Anyway, that's that. There's your update and a new pic of the girls. Happy Ho-Ho!!

Nora is a Sponge

My kids, and yours too, absorb way more than we think. Some of it from us, some from others. Some of what they get is from people; and sometimes, they retain a morsel or two from the television.

Today, I had the girls in the car with me, and we were making a stop at our local Wal-Mart. We were pulling into the parking lot when this little conversation took place:

Grace: Dad, why do you buy so much stuff at Wal-Mart?

Me: I don't know, Grace. I guess I just like the prices.

Nora: Dad, at Wal-Mart, you can save money and live better.

Me: Nora, did you get that from the TV?

Nora: At Wal-Mart, they're opening more lanes than ever to make Christmas shopping easier.

Those are my babies.

As always, thanks for stopping in my little corner of the blogosphere.

WWN - Fall is Here

Nothing says 'Fall is Here!' like morning temps in the 40's, pumpkin pie, whipped cream, and a crying littls sister. In this particular picture, Nora is crying because she wanted to hold the whipped cream for the picture. Later, she told me she didn't want her piece because it was covered in whipped cream and she just wanted a little bit by the crust.....and scraping it off wouldn't work. She was very upset at that point exclaiming, "This is the worst day of my life!". Obviously, she's had a good life if it hasn't gotten any worse than that. I took one for the team, disposed of her piece, and got her a new one. All was well once again.
Nora's new thing is playing with my fun, new tripod. She took it, made a couple of bends and said, "This tripod is praising the Lord."

Rations

It's been awhile (like 2 weeks) since I've taken a picture of my food and posted it here. I've been a regular passenger on the diet and exercise wagon for some time now. This weekend, however, the wagon hit a bump in the road; and we got separated. Never fear, though; it's circling around to pick me up. Here it comes now, what can I eat before it gets here? I think a Combo sandwich combo will do the trick. It's called a combo sandwich because it's got a grilled Italian sausage on a hard bun, covered with mozzarella cheese and Italian beef. It hits the spot. Back to salad tomorrow.

Wednesdays With Nora - Pentecostal Power Edition

This Wednesday With Nora started out like many others. I got up around 5:15, moved over to the couch to get my bearings. Now, I usually watch a little TV, get my railroad work together, pick up the girls and take them to school, bring Nora home with me, do my work while she hangs out watching TV or drawing. This morning was different. I watched last night's Chelsea Lately, David Letterman, and Law & Order SVU before logging into my computer and taking a look around. It was about 6:45 by the time I got around to my work, and I knocked it out in record time. When I got back with Nora, she didn't have to hang out by herself because I was already done with my work. We watched some TV together, cuddled a little, then went to the YMCA. After the Y, we had lunch with some friends, went to the store, then picked up the sissies. On the way to pick up the other 2, Nora asked me about why I always had railroad work to do. She even told me that she prayed last night that I would get it done fast so we could watch TV together....remember, record time this morning. Nora's been on a roll lately. My friend Jarrod just welcomed his first daughter into the world. She was originally expected last Friday but didn't show up until Monday morning. On Sunday night, when we learned that there was no baby yet, I asked Nora to pray for Miss Angie and the baby. Nora loves Miss Angie and was happy to oblige. She was thankful that Miss Angie was having a little girl and wouldn't be alone with all the boys anymore, prayed that the baby would come out easy, and that she would be cute. If you could see pictures of that kid, you'd know her prayers were answered. Tonight, at supper, Nora wanted to pray again. Se prayed that Miss Angie would come home soon, that the baby would be happy, and (notice the quote marks "that the Stocks would get the basement finished so we could come spend the night." I'm not lying, that's exactly what she said. I guess the lesson of "You don't get what you don't ask for" is not lost on her. I did fill her in and let her know that Angie was home, and the baby was fine.

Nora's been on a roll lately, and I may have figured it out. Her childcare center is in the same facility as Maggie and Grace's school, which is all located at my church....a Pentecostal Church. While they don't teach any Pentecostal "doctrine", per se, they do teach the Bible. I'm proud to say that we've all grown and continue to grow from the experience. So how does this relate to Nora and her roll she's been on? Look at the outfit she's wearing. She changed shoes when I got her home. When I picked her up, she had on tennis shoes and white socks with that long denim skirt. I thought she looked very Pentecostal. If you put a bun in her hair, a volleyball jersey on, and threw her on a volleyball court, she'd fit right in. Boy, it took a long time to get to that. Sorry, I'll try to do better next time.

Ain't Nobody Humpin' Around

I took a picture of myself with the river in the background, but I didn't like it. You get this one instead. It's the river, it's got alot of water in it, and it's muddy. No newsflash there. I hit the ground running this morning, only to find out that the hump, of which I'm supposed to be studying, had been taken out of service to re-align the track leading up to the crest of the hump. I had some time to kill, so I went to lunch with a co-worker from Memphis. I wanted to go to Gus's, but he didn't have enough time to wait for chicken, so we went to a Mexican place called 'Happy Mexican'. At first, I thought it sounded like a Mexican place owned by a Chinese guy, then I thought it might be a gay place. After looking at the waitstaff, it might've been the latter. I had the shrimp chimichanga, and it was quite good. I checked into my hotel, more on that later, and tried to get some sleep. It was 1 PM by the time I got situated, and I had a wake-up call scheduled for 5PM. My thought was I could take a nap, get ready, and see some of the Cubs game before I had to be back. That didn't happen as I got a phone call at 4:30 and was awakened from my slumber. I stumbled around, got in the shower, and made my way back toward the yard. I did find some time to stop at Gus's (look at the picture; it's such a dive!!) and pick up some rations for the evening's events. The chicken strips made a nice supper, and I'm figuring the 8 pieces of chicken in a paper sack will hit the spot as a midnight snack. Afterall, you can't perform this kind of grueling service to the company on an empty stomach. I'm not sure what's on tomorrow's menu, possibly some kind of smoked pork product. Neely's is right around the corner from the yard. Don't worry Jarrod, I'm thinking Rendez-vous on Friday. I've got a couple of hours to kill before catching the train home.

Well, the hump got back up and running around 1930, and it's been white knuckle excitement ever since. I setup my laptop in front of a window next to the tracks. I've got a clipboard, and I'm recording the start and stop time for each cut of cars being humped. I'm also keeping up with any delays occur. The folks in Canada have a fancy formula for determining how many cars we should be able to hump. We're not humping that many cars, so we're trying to blow a hole in their formula....more or less. I'm including a little video clip so you can share in the fun. I recorded this outside. The dinging sound you hear is the wheels rolling over the retarders which are used to slow the cars so they don't get moving too fast. I'm inside, so the dinging isn't that loud, but you can still hear it. Oh well, more tomorrow. I get a free breakfast buffet with my room, so I'm sure there will be plenty to talk about and take pictures about. For now, enjoy the hump.

Fastest Post Ever!!!!!

I was on my way home from work today when my boss called me on my cell phone. I answered, and he said he wanted to tell me about a project that I probably wouldn't like. He said he needed someone to do a 72-hour study of the new hump at Memphis. It would involve timing how long it took to hump a cut of cars, how many pins were pulled for each cut, how long until the cars were pulled out the other end, etc. I told him it sounded like he needed someone to go to Memphis. He agreed and informed me that he needed someone to leave tonight or early tomorrow. Well, tomorrow is Wednesday with Nora, and I didn't think I could go. He reiterated that this would be a really good opportunity for me to get some more experience and exposure. The past couple of times he's had these opportunities for me, they've turned out pretty well. However, I'm the only childcare for Nora on Wednesdays, and the other 2 usually spend the night with me and I take them all to school in the morning. I told him I would make some calls and let him know. I was so sick to my stomach that I didn't even call anybody. I called him back and told him I couldn't go. After I hung up, I thought about it some more and realized that I might've just lost all the flexibility he has given me in my job. I called my ex and explained that my boss has never asked me where I was going or why. He only asked that I get my work done on time, and be available to go places when needed. This was a time when I was needed. Long story short, she called back and said she had it covered. I found some other people to cover my stuff at the Y, and I'm headed to Memphis. Right now, we're at Gilman, IL, and gas is $3.69 at the K&H Truck stop. Stop on down and fill'er up if you're in the neighborhood.

The Cubs open up their 2008 World Series run tomorrow, and I'll be watching cars roll down a hill. The Vice-Presidential debate is on Thursday, and I'll be watching cars roll down a hill. But, let's not forget, everyone else was at work on Wednesday, and I was out with Nora, going to lunch and playing in the park. Everyone else was at work on Friday, and I was at Wrigley Field, like 5 times, so it kinda evens out. The best part.....I'm going to get some of Gus's Fried Chicken tomorrow, and maybe the next day, and quite possibly the day after that. The last time I took the train back to Chicago, I got a bag of ten pieces (they were in a greasy paper bag which was awesome!!) to eat on the train. It was all gone by Carbondale. Don't worry though, I did bring workout clothes, my YMCA card, and my iPod. I should be good to go.

So here I sit, ripping through the heartland at 79 mph, watching the lights of the countryside go by, thinking about how much I love my job. Life's good.

New Camera

I also got one of those little grypton tripod thingies. I figured out how to use the timer on my camera and decided to take a little family picture. After seeing it on the computer, it's not as good as I thought, but it's still decent for a first effort. The tripod was on the table shooting up with the sky in the background. I don't know if that threw the sensors off or what. It looks kinda hazy. If anyone's got any tips for overcoming that, I'll hear them at this time. Otherwise, take a gander at me and my darlings. I've got another where Nora is looking at the camera, and Maggie and Grace don't appear to be seeing one for the first time; it's taken with a higher resolution and is 2.25MB. I didn't feel like waiting for it to upload via the old air card.

PS - My eyes seem to disappear when I smile....I'm surprised I'm not better at math.

PPS - Those last 2 statements are totally un-related, any connection you make is yours and yours only.

Oh yeah, almost forgot. We had a little drama in the neighborhood Friday night. Someone missed the curb and took out not one, but two dumpsters.

Wednesdays With Nora - My Login Still Works Edition

I took a little break for the rest of July, all of August, and the first half of September. Anyone who knows the demanding schedule I undertake knows I needed the time off. To answer the most received question, Maggie has indeed returned from camp. She had a great time and can't wait go go back with Grace next year. She had an ear infection from being in the lake 3 times/day, but is otherwise no worse for wear. What else?

Maggie and Grace are in their 3rd year at Calvary Christian School and still doing well. Nora missed the kindergarten cutoff by 15 days, so she's having another go at Pre-K. I'm really disappointed that we couldn't get her in kindergarten this year. Being the baby sister, this would've been her 3rd time through all of this material. She can write her name and spell it in sign language. Today, we were adding 2 and 3 to single digit numbers, and she was getting all of them right. She's got skills of a first grader and the attitude of a teen-ager. She's as sassy as ever.

The Cubs are going back to the playoffs. I made it out to a few more games and have a secret weapon for the post-season. The last 2 games I went to, I ended up needing to use the restroom in the 7th inning. Wrigley is ok for number 1, but you'd rather wait for home if you need to do more. I did not have that luxury and had to bite the bullet 2 games in a row. As luck would have it, I visited the restroom in the top of the 7th, and the Cubs homered in the bottom of the 7th each time. That, combined with Zambrano's no-hitter, the dramatic comebacks, and I must say this is out year.

Nora's dance teacher is still around. I don't have the high hopes that I once did, but keeping my hopes in check makes her more fun to hang out with, if that makes sense. We made it to the Bears game on Sunday to see the home team blow a 10-point lead with less than 3 minutes to go. My record at Bears home games is less than stellar. I am 1-0 on the road, though. Dancin' girl and I have some other stuff tentatively planned, but I've got some other lines in the water. The good side to this is that if nothing gets going with anyone and I just focus on my children, church, and work, that's not the end of the world either.

Finally, I lost my digital camera a couple of months ago. I just got around to getting a new one. I got a nice deal on EBay, and I like it alot. It's a 7.2MP, about double what my old one was. The picture above was taken today with the new camera. Look at the detail on those chicken strips!!!! ...and Nora brushed her own hair today. For whatever reason, I can't post anything without having a picture, mine or someone else's, to go along with it. Look for a little more out of this blog in the near future. I'll probably get hot for a few weeks, then take another month off. I'm hit or miss like that.

My Big Girl is at Camp!!!

All of this weekend's running around was to get Maggie all set for camp. She's at Camp Tecumseh in Brookston, IN, near Lafayette. They have a Photos Page for each week where they add photos all the time. I've been checking today and finally found one of Maggie with her cabin. She looks pretty happy. I don't know what I expected her to look like, but it could've gone either way. For all I know, letting her hold the sign was the only way to get her in the photo. Her sisters, who spent last night with me, are surviving without her. Grace learned last night that she will doing Maggie's chores while she is gone. She can't wait until she and Maggie go to camp next summer and Nora has to do all the chores by herself. Nora is hoping Maggie doesn't have so much fun that she forgets about her sisters at home. She is also worried that Maggie will put a hole in her hand during riflery clinic.

Camp is pretty special to her mom and me. We both spent 2 summers at YMCA Camp Lakewood in Potosi, MO, where we were camp counselors and saw many of the benefits a child can get from a week at camp.

The Day I Outsmugged Wal-Mart

I don't know who that is in the picture, I stole it from Flickr. It sorta relates to my story.

I had been running errands with the girls yesterday, and we were at Wal-Mart entering the checkout line. I was buying one of those little lunchbox/cooler thingies. Being a veteran of Wal- Mart service, I knew the cashiers were supposed to look inside luggage, purses, coolers, and anything else that could hide another item. They've got a couple of little cool code words. LISA should remind them to 'Look InSide Always', and BOB should remind them to check the 'Bottom Of the Basket' Being the good customer that I am, I unzipped the cooler to save the cashier some time. She was scanning my items just fine, scanned my cooler and kept on going. A few more items went by, and the CSM, the one in the red vest came over to talk to my cashier, Marilyn. Here's how that went....

CSM: (Smugly) Marilyn, I wanted to remind you to use LISA.
Marilyn: (Stops scanning to discuss with CSM) Huh? What's that?
CSM: I know you didn't just say that.
Marilyn: I don't know what you're talking about.
Me: (Probably more smugly) Look inside always. She wants you to look inside my cooler to make sure I'm not stealing anything. But don't worry, I already unzipped it before I put it on the belt.
CSM, now irritated, walks away
Marilyn: Thanks, I didn't know to do that.

I guess I showed them. It's not every day, that you spend $110 on items that aren't over $8 and get to walk away with a little bit of pride.

Gibbs Girls

I said I'd try to get a recent picture of the giirls up here, and here it is. They're with me tonight, and they got their shirts from the race. They're all fairly pleased, and I'm happy that everything fits. Maggie would've liked something that said FedEx, but I was trying to keep it somewhat girly. The other 2 are ok with lots of graphics. Grace also wanted me to take a picture of the back of her shirt. This is how it came out....we'll probably use it when she's trying to get that job at the Skoal or Crown Royal tent.

Sweep Home Chicago

See what I did there? There's a song called "Sweet Home Chicago", and I changed it to 'Sweep'. Pretty clever, I know. Kyle Busch won on Friday.....and again on Saturday.

I've been gone all day working at both Y's, then went to my gym to do a little sweatin' of my own. Today was leg day, which gets more rewarding each time. I did my warmup and went to the weights with about 160 laps to go. A few squats, leg presses, and some abductions and adductions later, I was on the stair climber. For whatever reason, I sweat like a stuck hog tonight. I've never been an overly sweaty person when it comes to workin' out, but I had a nice little puddle on the machine when it was all said and done. Like a good boy, I clean up after myself. There was still a good bit of the race to go when I got off the climber, so I knocked out 25 minutes of walking on the treadmill. Kyle got passed with about 20 to go and took the lead back on a restart with 2 to go. It was a nice win except he got a little cutesy driving his car into the infield for donuts. He must've forgotten about all the rain we go today as his crew had to come push his car out of the mud. Anyway; long day, good day, productive day, good end.

If you're hear hoping to catch a glimpse of my young-uns, I haven't done a very good job of photographing them this summer. I'll do better and get something up soon.

Is This (Redneck) Heaven?

Here's the rundown from the Nationwide race. After stopping at the gas station for an unsuccessful attempt at finding a ticket (evidently I didn't tap my feet enough times in the bathroom stall), I pulled into the parking lot about 4 PM. Keep in mind, when you're parking the cars of 80,000 people on a 500 acre field, a parking lot becomes a parking spree rather quickly, but more on that later.

I got out and headed for the souvenir trailers and other trackside displays. It wasn't long before I ran into a guy trying to sell tickets. He had one he could sell, and he wanted $60 for it. I told him I'd find one later and ended up getting it for $40. I probably could've gotten it for $30, but didn't have a 20 and 10 and didn't want to ask for change. This is my second time being at one of these events, and it's always a great place for people watching. I did see some middle-eastern folks who looked strangely out of place. Anyway, there's a huge paddock area with all kinds of sponsor displays and free giveaways. It's nice to go through the trailers because they're air conditioned. Who knew the travelling Abraham Lincoln library would've been such a hit among the NASCAR faithful? I got to the US Border Patrol, they sponsor a car in the Nationwide Series, display and found Kenny Wallace signing autographs. I didn't really know too much about Kenny until I started watching him this year on Speed with Jimmy Spencer. The line was short, so I got in line for an autograph. He seems to be a nice guy, as I'm sure they all do. I found the souvenir trailers and did some shopping for the girls...and me. Tony hasn't had too much success this year, and we've taken to cheering for his teammates as well. Nora has demanded that she have a Tony Stewart shirt, while Maggie volunteered for Denny Hamlin's FedEx and Grace took Kyle Busch and the M&M's car. I was pleased to see people at Kyle's trailer despite all the boos he's heard lately. I made a couple of loops and picked out what I would get for them. $100 later, we all had new t-shirts.

A friend of mine recommended I rent a scanner, so for another $30, I got a scanner and some nice noise-cancelling headphones. The thing was pre-programmed with all the drivers' channels. You could listen to your favorite driver, the radio or TV broadcasts, or let it scan all the channels. I went back to the car, dropped off the shirts, grabbed another bottle of water. By this point, I could feel my face starting to burn, so I put on my Cubs hat and headed back toward the gate. I ran into several other Cubs fans along the way, so we had to stop and talk about that day's Cubs victory, the Rich Harden trade, and anything else that popped up.

I stopped by the Miller Lite pit stop on the way back. They had a live band and refreshments. That's where I saw this guy. I call this little video "Hope for the Rest of Us". Take a look, and you'll see why. Another thing I noticed while in that paddock. The sexy companies like Jack Daniels, Crown Royal, Skoal, Best Buy, etc, have the best looking "Marketing Assistants". The ladies handing out free samples of Tums just didn't quite measure up in terms of physical beauty. As marketing prowess goes, I'm sure they were every bit as, if not more than, capable than the others.

I got in the gate, located my section, and began the trek to my seat. You see, at these things, higher up is better because you can see more. My seat was in row 55. It was a 55 step climb to the second level, then another 30 or 40 steps up to row 55. There was a good crowd, and we settled in for a nice evening. Our section was already in the shade; and after the sun went down, it got even more comfortable. To my left, there was a mother at the race with her young daughter. To my right, there were 2 couples who, from their expressionless faces and sunburned bodies had been enjoying the festivities all day. The race got started, and it was quite impressive. The cars really did make quite a commotion on their way to get the green. The race itself wasn't that exciting. Reutimann drove out to a big lead, but his car went away when the sun went down. Tony was on the front row but missed a shift on the start. He had the fastest car in the field at one point but never did much with it. Kyle Busch took the lead on lap 94 and didn't give it back except during the round of green flag pit stops around 50 to go. On lap 177, I heard Busch's spotter tell him that his lead was seven seconds, and the second place car's last lap was 3 tenths of a second slower than Busch's. It was pretty much a blow out. Bush did his burnout, took his bow, and went to victory lane. I filed out with the other 80,000 people, turned in my scanner, and went out to the parking spree with everyone else. You can read more about that below.

All in all, I had a pretty good time. I saw some stuff I'd never seen before as well as some stuff I hope I never see again. I'm sure I'll go back for more.

Nothing But Taillights

One weekend each year, NASCAR brings its travelling soap opera to Chicagoland. Last year, I came out on a Saturday afternoon, went to the souvenir trailers and displays, then went back home. This year, the races are at night, so I left work a little early, OK alot early, and came out to the Friday night Nationwide Series race. It's been over for about 90 minutes, and I've been back at my car for about an hour. I just don't see the point in getting in and starting it up right now. I just happened to have my camera, laptop, and air card, so I thought I'd blog a little. There's a group off to my left with one of those big conversion vans. They've gotten their lawn chairs back out, and I think they've got their grill going again. The group over my left shoulder is tossing bean bags while listening to Garth Brooks and George Strait. I've heard both "Rodeo" and "Amarillo by Mornin'". There's a group off to my right drinking beer and talking to the people waiting in line to get out. I've heard "I Wanna Be Sedated" and Kid Rock's "All Summer Long". It's a takeoff on Skynyrd's Sweet Home Alabama, but it's catchy. I've got more pics and a little video to post, but that will have to wait for some more bandwidth.

I've never done something so geeky as post live from the middle of a 500 acre field, but there's a first time for everything. Here's a little pic of my laptop, tilted b/c it's on the hood of my car, with the track behind it. BTW, a couple, like a man and woman, just got out of a Dodge Durango whose rear bumper is all of 5 feet from my elbow. The windows are steamy, and I had no idea they were in there. Man, I really love this computer.

July 4th Weekend Commentaries

If that doesn't make you feel all patriotic on the inside, I don't know what will. That's a clip of my friend Byron and me playing before the Graves County Democrats' Breakfast in August of 1992. My dad sent me home with a bunch of videos from high school, and I've been having a hoot watching them. Some have suggested I buy a DVD recorder and transfer them over. I took the redneck way out and just recorded the television with my digital camera. It's not fancy, but it suits my purpose. I thought we did OK for some high school kids. Having gotten out and heard more people since then, I have only one suggestion for us.....more air (and that's primarily for me). Having not tooted a horn for some 14+ years now, I can honestly say that I miss it. I miss the camaraderie. I miss practicing a piece of music and then performing it with people you enjoy being around. There's a line in the 2002 Charles Stone III classic, Drumline, that always resonates with me. It's near the end, they're getting ready to take the field, and Dr. Lee tells them to enjoy playing with their bandmates. I may be a little sissified, but that always gives me a little chill.

On the topic of music....I did hear a little over the holiday weekend. The Naperville Municipal Band had their patriotic concert on Thursday night. Before they played, there was a ladies' trio from the USO who sang "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree", "Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy", and "Chattanooga Choo-Choo" before the concert. The instrumental portion of the concert was the usual stuff. The service medley always give me chills. The Marines who stand for the "Marine Hymn" are always so stoic and look like they could "...pick up a weapon and stand a post." while the Navy guys appear to be in for more of a swash-buckling good time as they stand and clap along with Anchors Aweigh. Unlike years past, there was even a Coastie there to represent for the Coast Guard song/hymn/anthem/diddy. The band played a piece called "The Blue and Gray". It featured all the popular music from the Civil War era. I had no idea that "Aura Lee" and "Yellow Rose of Texas" were big in the 1860's, but you learn something new every day. The piece closed with Battle Hymn, and the climax was when a blue guy walked across the stage to meet a gray guy walking from the other side. They saluted, shook hands, and hugged before retreating to their origins. As cheesy, and historically inaccurate, as it sounds, I kinda liked it. Everyone else did too as there was great applause. The Civil War soldiers also brought along their mounted cannons to play along with the 1812 Overture. That piece is forever long, and I'm glad I had my Readers' Digest (what am I, like 65?) to get me through to the good stuff. The band closed with "Stars and Stripes Forever". It's quite possibly my favorite march that I never got the chance (read not good enough) to play. The piccolos took it up a notch and really played well during the obbligato. That reminds me, what's the difference between a piccolo and a chainsaw? You can tune a chainsaw.

Other musical events include watching Pops Goes the Fourth on CBS. I liked it alot better when PBS showed the whole concert. CBS had too much Rascal Flatts for my liking, but they did manage to get in the patriotic sing along and S&S4E. The piccolos are quite solid. I also caught a replay of a Capitol Fourth. While we're on the subject, they didn't have a piccolo player on S&S4E, they used a marimba, and I thought it was way cool. Finally, there was a bari-sax player with the band at church on Sunday. I thought he was too loud.

That's all for me.

In a Funk

That's George Clinton, and he performs a little funk. Get it?

I've been in a funk here lately. It's been 6 weeks since I've posted anything. I've had a few things here and there along the way, but how do I post a random little nugget without acknowledging my absence? So, that's what's kept me away. I may post a little more often, I may not. Anyway, who cares, it's my game, and I can take my ball and go home anytime.

Summer is here. Nora has camp on Wednesday afternoons. I still work from home on those days and drop her off and pick her up at camp. Now that my afternoons are free, I've kinda been hanging out with the dance teacher I mentioned earlier. We have nice times together, but the getting together and all the other BS that goes with it has about turned me off to the whole thing. Trying to date sucks.

The Cubs are still hot and have the best record in baseball despite their fair share of injuries. I hadn't recorded any games until last Friday. I recorded the Cubs-Sox game in which the Cubs hit 2 homers in the 7th to tie it up at 3, and Aramis hit his second of the game to win it 4-3 in the ninth. Maybe the DVR jinx is over. I haven't been to any Cubs games in awhile. The $20 tickets we were getting before school was out and summer was here are now $60. That's a little more than I'm willing/able to pay on any kind of regular basis. My co-worker won some tickets in a raffle held after the blood drive. She hates baseball and let me make her a list of good dates. She wound up with 4 tickets for the Cubs-Cardinals on 8/8. She hasn't decided what to do with them yet, but I think I'm going to end up with at least 2 of them in some kind of deal we're going to make.

Kyle Busch is still hot, and he's leading the Chase standings. He's been kinda entertaining to watch.

The girls are at some kind of camp most every day. It always amazes me to see the transformation they undergo during the summer. Their hair gets lighter, skin darker, and they get skinnier. It's amazing what running around outside all day can do. It's too bad no one will pay me to do that....I'd probably find a way to sluff it off if they did. As far as weight goes, I've got a buddy at the Y that made me up a little program that I've been following. I've dropped about 6 pounds in the last 10 days on top of the other 20 I'd already lost. Don't worry, I'm not wasting away to nothing. I'm right where I was last year about this time.

I'm going to the un-Commonwealth of Kentucky for a whirlwind visit tomorrow. I'm headed down in the morning, having some work done on my car (reliable shadetree mechanic who works for cash), seeing friends, visiting my grandma, and whatever else comes up. I'm at home again today, so I'll be doing some cleaning as it's always nice to come home to a clean place. I'm also gonna throw out a bunch of stuff, and put some more on eBay......either that or sit on the couch and watch TV.....I haven't decided yet. Life is full of difficult decisions.

Decent Weekend

It was a decent sports weekend. Joe Gibbs Racing swept both races this weekend with Tony Stewart, I guess we still like him, and Kyle Busch wining on Friday and Saturday respectively. I really like what they've got going over there. Moving to Toyota worked out for them. They say a rising tide lifts all vessels. That must be true as even the CAT car finished in the top 10!! If you hadn't figured it out, that's an M&M dressed as Indiana Jones on the hood of the car. One of their neater paint schemes since M&M's did a Pirates of the Caribbean car.

The Cubs seem to be pulling out of their little slump with a sweep of the D-Backs. They trailed on Saturday and Sunday and came back to win both games. Sweet Lou pushed all the right buttons on Sunday bringing in Darryle Ward who hit a go-ahead double. I think it was the pink bat for Mother's Day that did it.

George finished his bike ride this morning. I'd stopped in there every night to see him ride, so I figured I'd show up for the record breaking portion as well. There was a good crowd on hand, and it was quite the festive atmosphere. I left right after the record was broken and headed to work. I was here by 6:45 and am so far ahead of where I am on a regular day it's pathetic. I should get here at a decent time more often. I'll check into that.

The weather is beautiful today; it's cool and sunny. I've got nothing going on tonight, the girls' play at school tomorrow, a hot date for lunch on Wednesday, and going to the Cubs game on Friday. Life feels pretty good right now.

George Update: He's Going to Have to Stretch

This is a picture from the first time George broke the record.....2007 I think. He does this for a few minutes before he takes a nap and gets back on the bike.

Yesterday, I was on my way to work at the Field House, and I got a call from Nora. She asked me where I was going, and I said the Field House. She asked me why I wasn't going to watch the man ride the bike. They're really into this thing.

I picked them up from school, and was already planning to go see George when they asked if we could go see him. We were headed in the front door when the director stopped me and said she had some news. I thought she was going to tell me something happened and he had to get off the bike. Instead, she told me that they had talked to the Guinness, the records, not the beer, folks and found out the record had just been broken. Someone had set the new record at 175 hours. Instead of breaking the record tomorrow morning, George will probably have to ride until around 1 AM on Monday morning. We went on in to see how things were going, and he was on the bike, pedaling like a champ. The whole thing is pretty amazing, and I think I might have a little man-crush.

In other happenings, I took the clan to Wal-Mart to buy our goodies for the weekend. I swear, for as sweet as they can be, sometimes I want to strangle that older one. The little one can't keep her mouth closed for more than 5 seconds at a time, and the one in the middle can join either one and be just as much trouble.

UPDATE: Nora is in front of the TV cheering on Tony Stewart in the Nationwide race. I'm hearing cheers of "You can do it" and "You're the best!"

WWN....and George

My Wednesday with Nora started out with George Hood. You can follow that link and see what he's all about. I manned the front desk at the Y from 10PM to 5AM on Tuesday night. It was really neat to see the people come in to say hi to George, or get on a bike and ride along for a few hours. In the photo above, the guy in the camo shorts is kinda like the coach; he monitors the stats and helps keep George on pace. The guy in the white polo shirt is some kind of medical professional. The green and red shirted guys are friends who are riding along. I've stopped in every night to see what's going on. I took this video last night. He's got to maintain 12 mph to qualify for the record, and I think he was behind at this point. He does not always ride this fast.

The lady in front is a chaplain from a police survivors organization, and she's there at 10 each night for prayer. The blonde with the short hair is his girlfriend, Marcia; she's the taskmaster. I was actually there for one of his breaks. He stops pedaling, 2 people unclip his feet, and some more help him get off the bike and onto a massage table. From there, 3 people stretched him out for a couple minutes before they covered him with blankets and let him sleep. I've never seen such peaceful sleep in all my life. The man was dead to the world. Marcia watched the clock and had him back on the bike in 15 minutes. A couple minutes later, he was riding the bike and doing an interview for the local TV station. The whole thing is quite amazing. He's scheduled to break the record Saturday morning, but plans to ride until Sunday morning.....just showing off I guess.

As for WWN, I was pretty zonked myself on Wednesday morning. I got up and picked her up from dance, did lunch, and came home. I was able to get my railroad work done while I was at the Y, so it was nice to have it out of the way. We laid around, watched American Idol, and I might've dozed once or twice :) I had been telling Nora about George, and she was excited to see him after we picked up the other 2. We went over, the girls got to go on stage, say hi, and they even got his autograph. They were so proud of their personalized notes from George. Then is was, supper, baths, and study time for Maggie. They went home, and I headed back to the Y for more of the festivities. I went to bed around 11:30 last night and was wiped out. I set the alarm, but don't think I heard it if/when it went off. All in all, it wasn't a bad birthday.

WWN

No precious quotes from Eleanor Mae today. We did our usual thing: hang out, dance class, Noodles, pick up the sissies, and so on. I took that pic on the way to lunch. The fact that I took only one and didn't look at it before turning off my camera makes me a failure as a photographer. If you know why this pic means I'm a failure as a father, that's not funny.

This afternoon, while we were waiting to go pickup Maggie and Grace, Nora and I watched the replay of last night's American Idol. In case you missed it, Neil Diamond was the featured artist. I think my dad had the soundtrack to the Jazz Singer, and I knew that 'coming to America' song. Several years ago, I became more familiar with his stuff through a box set that my ex-wife owned (I think I still have it....score one for me!!). I don't go all out for Neil Diamond, but Sweet Caroline, Forever in Blue Jeans, and September Morn are some of my favorites. Little Miss Nora, after watching one hour of AI including 10 performance of Neil Diamons songs, has become an expert. She knew all the songs, that they were by Neil Diamond, and who sang them on the show. We cranked up the iPod in the car on the way to get the sissies, and I turned on some Diamond. Forever in Blue Jeans was first, and she picked it up right off the bat, and told me that it was Jason Castro's first song last night. It took her longer to get the second one, but when I told her it was Brooke's second song, she knew it was I Am, I Said. What can I say, she's a fountain of useless knowledge, and I have no idea where she gets it.

Here's a little feel good music.....

This is the day.....

...that McDonald's has made. Let us rejoice, drink sweet tea, and eat chicken biscuits.

I don't know what's going on at your McDonald's today, but at mine (all of'em) you get a free chicken biscuit when you buy a large sweet tea. During lunch and dinner hours, you can get a chicken sandwich with the same purchase. Ain't life grand!?!?

Ba-da, bop, ba, baaaa..I'm lovin' it!!

Smells Like Team Spirit

My NASCAR fan-dom started out with a fondness for the #20 car and driver. The more I watch, the more I respect team owner Joe Gibbs and team concept. Back at the shop during the week, you won't find any employees wearing Home Depot, or M&M's, or FedEx colors. Everyone wears the Joe Gibbs Racing logo. With the addition of Kyle Busch in the 18 car and Denny Hamlin getting over the somphomore slump in the 11, they've become a much more competitive team. Also, with this being Toyota's second year in Sprint Cup racing, they are starting get it figured out as well. With all the Gibbs drivers in the chase, they're poised for greatness. And then Wednesday rolled around.

ESPN reported that Tony Stewart, who's under contract through the 2009 season, wants to be released from the last year of his contract. He's been with Gibbs, and Home Depot, and the same crew chief for all of his 10 years in cup racing. I thought he was tasting some sour grapes as he's the only Gibbs driver to not take a checkered flag this year, and I was quite disappointed. Thursday came, and Tony spoke publicly about the matter. He said that nothing was broken at JGR, and he was just exploring his options. It made me feel a little better, but it still sounds fishy to me.

Tony captured the checkered flag in Saturday's race, a race that I watched the last 30 or so laps of, but I just couldn't be excited. He was in contention for the victory on Sunday, but a wreck near the end put him on the trailer early. Tony's new teammate came home the winner, and completed the sweep for Gibbs, and all was right again with the world.

Urban Adventurers

We've been quite fortunate to have highs in the 70's in the last few days. We got a big thunderstorm last night, and were quite surprised to wake up to 40's with highs in the 50's today. Grace didn't have any pants, and Nora didn't have any shoes and socks. We soldiered on with shorts and sandals.

The day started out by fueling up at my favorite breakfast joint, Grandma Sally's. Who ever knew that Italian sausage, onions, hash browns, and eggs over easy could taste so good together? We did a little shopping at Target, then hit the city. My new thing is driving to Forest Park and taking the blue line into the city. Maggie is the only one to be on the "trains in the air", so the other 2 were looking forward to it. The plan was to take the train down to Jackson, transfer to the red line, and head to Wrigley. Those plans didn't exactly pan out as there was a little oops in Chinatown yesterday, and the red line was being detoured. We made our connection at an alternate station and headed north for the Friendly Confines. Grace and Nora haven't been to a game yet, but they like to go up there and walk around the park. It's right in the middle of a residential neighborhood, and there's always something neat to see. I think they just like seeing something that they've seen on TV in person. The 10,000 wins flag was atop the scoreboard today, so I had to take a picture. We made the block around the park, went in a couple of souvenir shops and only managed to spend $15 on some little Cubs pins. They like'em, so I'm happy. We also checked out the new statue of Mr. Cub.


We got back on the train and headed back toward the loop, changed trains, and got off at Chicago Ave. From there, we walked about 3 blocks to Ed DeBevic's. It's average food as above average prices, but the foot long chili dog is to die for.....or from depending on your point of view. After that, we walked over a couple of blocks to Dearborn. The blue line that would take us back to the car runs under Dearborn. Little did I realize that, we were still quite a way from where the blue line comes back under Dearborn. We walked and walked, well Nora rode on my shoulders, but the other 2 were quite the troopers. After the big gust of wind blew sand from a construction site into everyone's eyes, I threw in the towel and hailed a cab. On a side note, our cabbie was of some kind of Asian descent. Usually, they're more middle eastern. His cab was very clean, no funny smells, and not overly accessorized as some of the others are. We were at the Clark St. station and headed to our train in about 5 minutes. It was the best $5 I've ever spent. As indicated by the picture to the left, the girls were no worse for the wear and still enjoyed their train ride.


I'm a fan of public transportation. I enjoy learning my way around, and I usually learn something new each time I go to Chicago. I'm glad that my girls are getting to see some of it at a young age. Maybe they won't be scared of it when they get older. As much as we all enjoy our little trips, it's always nice to be back in our car and back in control. Grace and I were the only ones to stay awake, and I know if I lived a few miles farther away, she would've passed out as well. I can't wait until Maggie is old enough to drive us home from this stuff.

Wednesdays With Nora

That's right, the same title, twice in a row.....consecutively. Sue me. I was a slug all weekend, more about that at a later date.

Nora came over early today as mama had the day off and had some medical stuff to tend to. No bigs as I was almost finished with my railroad stuff when she got here. She watched a little TV while I finished up, then we were headed off to the Y for dance class. I hadn't had a shower yet and was packing up my gym bag to do a little sweatin' and strainin' whilst she was dancing. She notice I was packing up, and this is the conversation that ensued.

NORA: Dad, are you going to work out while I dance?

Me: Yes, honey, I'm trying to get big and strong.

NORA: You're going to get big muscles?

Me: (Jokingly) Big muscles for big spankings.

NORA: No daddy, big muscles so you can hold us when we cry.

Me: (No response as I was looking for someplace to write that down)

WARNING: I should stop writing here. There's nothing else I could say to build on this, but I like to type.

I swear I don't make this up, my little 4 year old says this stuff. You should've heard her 2 weeks ago talking about the problems in Haiti. The price of fuel and food has doubled there recently. She told me: "The people want the government (her word, not mine) to take control of the prices so the people won't have to pay so much."

Anyway, today. She did her dancing, and we went to Noodles again for lunch. She had the M&C, and I had the whole wheat linguine pasta in a Tuscany white wine sauce. It was yummy if I do say so myself. On a side note, I just noticed the chicky behind Nora in the picture above. That's what the young ones are wearing today...and it was a school day here. Crazy.

We picked up the sisters from school at 3:15 and headed to the Field House. We get there early, and they have all 5 basketball courts to themselves. What do they do? Get jump ropes and jump in the lobby for Miss Barb at the front desk. I asked Maggie if she could jump really high and twirl the rope twice for each jump. She said she couldn't, so I had to show her how it was done. I tried a couple of simple jumps to get the blood going. 2 hops, and my shorts were almost down to my knees. I hiked'em up and tried again. Oh yeah, I shed my sandals and was doing this barefoot. I managed to get my 2 twirls and one jump, but when I hit the ground, my legs were still bent. I was terribly off balance and stumbled backwards about three times before taking a big tumble. Maggie was ultra impressed. To add insult to injury, I lost the button from my shorts in this fiasco.

We had supper at church tonight and split out before service. Maggie has spelling and science tests tomorrow. We studied for those while the other 2 did Heaven-only-knows-what. We got everybody studied up, cleaned up, and ready for bed. We tried to watch American Idol to see who was getting eliminated, but Grace and Nora couldn't make it. They fell asleep on the couch, and I carried them to bed when the show was over. Nora woke up, asked who was voted off, then cried when I told her. She didn't mind Carly being eliminated, but she wanted to stay up and find out for herself, but she was just too tired. Poor thing, she gets worked up over her TV shows. I have no idea where she gets it.

10,000

The kids are in bed, lunches packed, clothes laid out, and I've got nothing left to do but go to bed. The Cubs are losing, so it shouldn't be much longer before I can turn in. I popped over to the couch to catch the final outs.....and the Cubs hit a 2-run homer to go ahead in the 9th. Kerry Wood's been lights out, and he came in to close out the game. Wouldn't you know, he blew the save. It only went one more inning before the Cubs won in ten. It's the 10,000th win in their history. I took that pic on Monday night after the Cubs beat the Mets. It's from the corner of Waveland and Sheffield. With the 'W' flag atop the scoreboard and the stadium lights in the background, I don't think it turned out too bad.

Now I can go to bed....wait a minute, the Rock of Love reunion show just came on. It looks like it's going to be a long night.

Wednesdays With Nora

So, I totally ripped off Mitch Albom's Tuesdays With Morrie, but it works. Since I haven't had a weekend with no railroad work since before Thanksgiving, I'm such a martyr, my boss lets me work from home on Wednesdays (other times as well, but Wednesday is a regularly scheduled time). Nora goes to the Y with her mom, and I pick her up around noon, after her dance class. She stays with me until it's time to go get her sisters from school. We all come home, do homework, eat supper, and they take a baths before heading back to their house. I thought it might be nice to document these times together. Most times, it's nothing much, but other times are kinda neat. Today, I picked her up at 11:45, and we walked through downtown Naperville to get some lunch. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and the high today was 72. We went to a place called Noodles. She's a big mac & cheese fan, and I'm a big food fan, so it was a good choice. We were sitting at the table waiting for our food, and she's telling me about her dance class. Her teacher, Miss Jenna, picks up Nora from the babysitting area, gets her changed, then teaches her class. Miss Jenna has a little girl, Kara, that Nora plays with as well. Nora is telling me that she's glad that I'm her dad, which is always good to hear. She goes on to tell me that Kara's dad doesn't want to be much of a dad and doesn't see her much. Then she suggests that maybe I could be Kara's dad, too. My 4 year old is trying to set me up with her teacher. Lunch was good, and we shared a huge rice krispie treat for dessert. I tidied up a few work items at home while Nora watched a little Hannah Montana. She was watching the one where Billy Ray realizes that he's going to have to let go of Hannah one day. It's also the one where he writes the "Ready, Set, Don't Go". I like the tune, and having little girls of my own, it gives me alot to think about. Nora always wants me to watch that show with her so I can see Miley's baby pictures. Anyway, we're putting our shoes on to leave, and I'm still singing the song. Nora says, "You want me to always be your baby". I said that I do, but she has to grow up. "I want you to grow up and be a beautiful woman....on the inside". Nora replied, "Dad, did you know that God can clean your inside if you ask him to." I think she's on her way.

I'm checking the post to make sure the video works, Nora hears the song and comes running over. She's sitting beside me, watching Miley sing about going on her own, clapping and yelling at the screen. "Go Hannah, you can do it! You can make it!

Weekend Wrap

I'm starting to cheer for this guy. As much as I hate to say it, Kyle Busch is exciting.....big sunglasses and all. He won the race on Saturday, led a few laps on Sunday, but didn't really have anything for the 99.
I think the incestuous storylines found in NASCAR attract me the most. For instance, Kyle Busch replaced JJ Yeley in the 18 at Joe Gibbs Racing. Yeley never ran really well in the 18 car. It only took Busch 4 races to win in Yeley's old car. This weekend, Yeley's current sponsor, DLP, sponsored Busch's car in the Nationwaide Series. Busch won in that race as well. If you're scoring at home, and you're probably not, Busch has won with Yeley's old car and his current sponsor. That can't do too much for his self esteem.


Finally, the Cubs won yesterday because I didn't DVR the game. That makes them perfect for the year in games I haven't recorded, and a big 0-fer in games I have recorded. I'm taking Kevin's suggestion and will be keeping track of which games they lose with respect to whether I recorded the game or not. This morning, I flipped a coin, got heads, and set the DVR. We'll see what happens.

Other than that, not much going on this weekend. The girls were with their mom, so I just hung out and enjoyed the nice spring weather.

It's not you, it's me. (updated)

CUBS WIN!! CUBS WIN!! So, today is the first day that I didn't set the DVR to record the game...and the Cubs won 6-3. Grace is currently wearing her Easter dress, jumping up and down on the couch, and singing Go Cubs, Go! There's a line in the song that says "Chicago Cubs have the greatest fans" to which Grace agreeingly replied "Yes, they do."
So, I don't watch and the Cubs win. If this it what it's going to take, I'll think about the obliging. The hopes of the City of Broad Shoulders are on my shoulders. We'll see how it goes.

UPDATE: The Cubs have played twice since this was originally posted. On Friday, I set the DVR, actually went to the game, and the Cubs lost 5-4. Today, I did not set the DVR. watched the game with friends, and the Men in Blue came from behind to win 9-7.

Here are a couple of pics from the game. Not bad for the oldest park in the NL.


The Miller Lite billboard on the other side of Sheffield is updated each time a new opponent comes into town...you know, to make the visitors feel at home. Here's their offering for the Houston Astros. Evidently, I was there for an Astros game last year as well.

This is why I go....

I think the sun did indeed rise today because it is light outside. I found this little snippet on the YouTube today. It's the only real highlight from yesterday's opening day defeat. It's the chance of being a part of something like this that keeps me coming back. I remember being at Wrigley on a Sunday night in 2001 when the Yankees were in town. Cubs lefty Mike remlinger struck out Jason Giambi with the go-ahead run on base for the second game in a row. I was in Milwaukee in 2003 with a partisan Cubs crowd to see Sammy Sosa hit the first or second pitch he saw off the scoreboard in centerfield. Finally, I had the great pleasure of being in St. Louis with my dad and brother to see the Bears Devin Hester return 2 kickoffs for touchdowns in the same game. Anyway, that's why I go.

The weather in Chicago is pretty crummy right now, and tickets are priced right. I've got a 1:20 appointment Friday afternoon at the corner of Clark and Addison.

I don't know how much more of this I can take...

Today is opening day. Hope springs eternal (again) for Cubs fans everywhere. I mean, the Cubs' season preview show is called "Next Year is Here". This year is going to be different, though. Experts from all over the country have picked the Cubs to at least win their division, and other have been so bold to pick our lovable losers to win the World Series. Should the Cubs pull of that feat, it would be the first one since 1908.

I woke up all excited today. I wore my blue dress shirt and Cubs tie to work today. I even called a fellow Cubs fan at 6:30 this AM to remind him that the road to the World Series started today. I got to work, finished up my work, and cut out a little early to get home to catch some of the game. I had a few errands to run on the way home. I stopped at the Colonel on the way home and picked up some rations as watching Cubs baseball is demanding work. I had planned to watch my recording from the beginning without seeing any updates. I got all the way home without hearing anything about the game. I crashed on the couch with remote in one hand and 11 herbs and spices in the other. The game got started late and was further delayed by rain. I set an alternate recording to catch what would be aired after the regularly scheduled programming. I got all the way to the sixth inning on my first recording. I looked for my alternate recording and couldn't find it. I did, however, find out that I had lovely recordings of Law & Order and King of the Hill, both fine entertainment choices, but this is opening day!!!! I quickly change over to the game and what do I see???? The Cubs new addition, Kosuke Fukudome (KOES-kay FOOK-uh-DOE-may) has just tied the game in the bottom of the ninth with a 3-run homer. I was all set to watch the whole game, let the tension build, and experience everything it had to offer, but I blew it for Detective Benson and Hank Hill. Then the Cubs blew it in the tenth and ended up losing 4-3. There's no game tomorrow, so I've got a day off from this unbearable stress. If the sun comes up tomorrow, it will be a minor miracle.

In other news, Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks, was honored with a statue outside of Wrigley Field today. In addition to the governor, baseball greats Billy Williams, Ron Santo, Minnie Minoso, and even Hank Aaron were there. Who else belongs in that group? Don't know? Why, Rev. Jesse Jackson, of course. Evidently, he heard Banks was pretty good and knew there might be a camera there for a photo op. Cub Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins joined the group on the field for the ceremonial first pitch, and Jesse was right in the middle. I think I threw up in my mouth a little.

Anyway, Wednesday is a new day.....I'll be sure to leave my bad luck Cubs tie at home.