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.