Fear and Loving in Northern California

I am not the world's biggest world traveler...

?

Apparently it interferes with my dream of being the next Yogi Berra.

But anytime I get the opportunity to travel it reminds me of all the things I don't know. Thing the first...there is more than one Ontario in this gone-mad world of ours.

Crashed on the South Side late Wed to catch an early flight to Ontario (the one East of L.A. - presumably even further east than the mythical birthplace of Cheech, or the guy he played from Born in East LA)

It is always good to crash before the flight

Alex is the best flier and I love traveling with that kid. Me, I read Kim's Magnificat and The Beautiful and Damned to keep me even or something in flight. I am an idiot.

Made good time to Ontario and then to San Jose. I now know the way.

Got to the hotel with enough time to get our gear in place, go down to the pool with the boy and then go to Kerry's for rescheduled rehearsal dinner fun. Jenny and Jerry were such great sports and enjoyed every party and all the hoopla with all the grace and dignity that are no part of my constitution. Happy for those two.

Then what?

Crashed back at the hotel, up for an early walk to check out what was available near us and just look at the hills around me. It is a nice change of pace to walk up and down smaller hills as I look at bigger hills. Hills are a big deal to us Illinois types. Those who live in them or around them should count themselves lucky...except when commeth the mud I guess.

Friday Kim and I took Alex and Christopher to San Francisco. We checked out a WWII sub. Unlike the one our family visited in WI (which was built into a dock on a lake) this one was tethered in the Bay so when we went below the sucker listed...and man, we bounced around a ton. Very cool. Bunks above the torpedoes and thank God for these men, what they did and what they subjected themselves to for our country.

Went back to Pleasanton for an Oklahoma style BBQ and oh my...

Jerry's brother Neal was the artist. When I found out he was a pharmacist I told him, "Dude, you are wasting your life." Met some of Jerry's people from Oklahoma and they were tres cool...especially his mom. What a sweetie. And somewhere, Leet smiled down as Kim dug the pulled pork and ribs.

NOT THAT YOU SICK BASTARDS!

Pulled pork, the world's dirtiest sounding food? You decide.

Saturday, early walk. Headed out and watched a sun of gold rising over the gentle, bronzed hills and thanked God for life and this amazing world placed before me.

Wedding was in Berkley in the shadow of the Clairmont Hotel. Magical. Even more magical, I am pretty sure we were rolling in the only Grand Marquis in Berkley.

ever

Explained to Jenny's friends the benefits of bitters.

Yeah, I'm old like that.

Only drank one because I had to drive us home through these great humps around Berkley and Lafayette. I didn't want to dump my beloved family in a ravine somewhere.

Sunday saw my sister and her crew. She gave Alex a bunch of Hardy Boys books. We brought Riles and M & Riles were fast friends. Alex had a blast with the young ladies. Thanks and much love to my mom for bankrolling the operation. Great to see my sister and her hubby doing so well. Those kids seem to be in a good place and I couldn't be happier for them.

Back to Jan and Jeb's for more hanging out and more good news was broken by the happy couple.

NOT THAT YOU GOSSIPIN' BASTARDS!

Up at 4am Monday for 6:50 flight out of Oakland.

Home.

Great time. Thanks to the Bings, my sis and her family and everyone that made our family trip great.

Just in Case

Last night I got a haircut...BEFORE going to SanFrancisco which proves that I am an idiot and can't get anything right. Erika did a fantastic job - which ain't easy when you're dealing with a head like mine...but I'm supposed to put some flowers in my hair or some shit like that before going to San Francisco, not get it cut.

Scott MacKenzie would be very disappointed in me.

While I am excited to go to Jenny's wedding, see my sister and her crew and do a bunch of other weird shit on the West Coast - I always get nervous before flying. I think 'When the plane goes down and my grizzly remains (trust me, my remains will be grizzlier than anyone else on that plane) are scattered across some mountains being eaten and later shat out by goats and feral mountain pigs, I won't have an ending for my journal'

So, THE END

...just in case.

Young Hawks

As a Johnny Come Lately Hawk fan I say "Huzzzzah! You go you crazy kids."

I am happy for all the die-hard hockey fans who suffered through the lean years of 3,000 people at the UC, no home games on tv and a guy who was maybe the wirtz owner in all of sports. And good for Rocky Wirtz and John McD (who still may be one of my favorite Chicago sports executives of all time).

Since Alex and I have been going to games over the last two years we've had nothing but fun on the west side and I haven't even gotten to the terrific young talent the Hawks possess.

That is because I don't really understand why these kids are so great. They just are. I am hockey stupid. I just turn my brain off and enjoy the doings that are transpiring.

Huh?

See, I did it again.

I wanted the Eastern series to go longer and have Montreal and Philly beat each other up a little more. It's the Flyers and that's fine. Philly is always easier to hate, with the exception of the Phillies who have the mightiest NL lineup I've seen in a long ass time. Long may those Phils run. But f the Flyers.

Now let's see the Young Hawks go out there and make those puck fucks from the City of Brotherly Love now smothered in Hate, cheese, peppers and mushrooms...

uh, here's hoping the Hawks make those Flyers say, "Don't taze me bro!"

...or is it, "Don't Toews me bro!"?

?

Shut up ed

Lost Weekend

THIS POST CONTAINS SOME LOST SPOILSPORT SHIT, AND MAGGIE SHOT MR. BURNS

Alex's stomach was really bothering him on Friday. He said he had butterflies and he thought it was because he had a tough day in gym and the new teacher yelled at him. We walked Cookie and had a nice talk. I told him he needed to put behind any of the bad things that happen in school the previous day, or week or whatever. Learn from mistakes if you can, but try to leave hard feelings behind and treat each day as a new one. I gave him the old NFL cornerback analogy. Yeah, this coming from someone who held a lot of grudges as a stupid young man.

I need to do my best for this kid. Even if I am not a great example for anything in the behavior department...I need to impart whatever I have and hope that passes for wisdom. Love that kid and he deserves whatever I have to give him and that sure as shit ain't money.

Saturday, no baseball practice for the boy. Let's just say in the line there were no hits and there were no errors, but there were runs. Poor little guy.

No golf this weekend, but I got in some long walks and good exercise working around the yard while KJ tended to the needs of our good soldier. Kim and I watched Up in the Air late Saturday. It was definitely not what I expected and I think that's a good thing.

On the "not what I expected" front, if someone traveled back six years ago, found me and told me that I would've found a Blackhawks game more thrilling than the last episode of Lost I would've thought they were nuts. Funny how things go that way.

I was one of those who praised the way the end of the Sopranos was executed and I won't rehash all the ways I thought they got it right. It's not that the ending of Lost doesn't make sense, it did. It was not a colossal letdown, but they promised so much more with the electromagnetism and the numbers. I mean maybe that's part of the message of the show that you can spend your life studying math and physics but in the end that doesn't matter as much as the fundamental fact of life that we are all finite beings.

I thought it was sweet that father embraced son as Jack realized his fate, but they could have done this story without the other devices that came and now seemingly are gone without explanation. It's not a big deal. It's only tv. It entertained the hell out of me going through it, and maybe that's the point.

I suspected that the promise of the show was greater than the substance when Edmund Burke was hit by a bus. But I stayed, and am glad I did. If Lost missed its mark a bit in the end, it is still better than 99% of the cumswillery that is on network tv and, for that reason, I'm glad I caught every episode. But I am also glad that, even though I saw (for awhile) a "realistic" depiction of the mysterious nature of existence in certain elements of the show, I'm glad I never bought into it to the degree that some did, spending endless hours debating online, or delving too deeply into the mythology of the show. In the end, the fundamental fact of the show is connected with reality, the execution was above average, for tv anyway. It's tv and I learned long ago to separate most of what happens on tv from reality.

Now if I can only get the Dharma Initiative to come to DeKalb to study the mysterious South-to-North properties of the Kishwaukee River, then I can finally shut off the light from beyond the bamboo forest in Byron and maybe we can all get the Hell out of here if we're not already dead already!

GDJ Another Pass

In between this spike, the Devil and me
Is our little town like a sign of gravity
I threw that useless jewel into the sea
And much to my surprise it came right back to me
Yesterday I had another useless dream
Of you and me and a snake rolling down the street
It turned its head to smile and show its teeth
And it had that famous benzene ring for me
Was it for you or me or Kekule
A faceless tale that gently fades away
And just between the snake and you and me
The joke is on our town and gravity

Texass

I know some folks (especially teachy types) are concerned about the Texas State Board of Education voting on new history and social studies guidelines. Rumor has it they plan on a set Biblical guidelines as well as historical ones. Here at ajusted we (ok it's just me but let me pretend that I am a we, maybe I've got a squirrel in my pants)...WE have just confirmed that a Texas governing body is planning to rewrite the Bible so they can really believe it as they thump it. Here's an excerpt:

"In the beginning there was Texas. Then Texas created God and God said that Texas was good. Then He gave unto Texas Guts and Guns and bumperstickers that read 'God, Guts and Guns Made Texas Strong - Let's Keep All Three' Then God and Texas drank beer and shot a bunch of stuff and hung some nuts on their trucks. Amen."

Sorry Texas.

Who Shot What in the What Now?

American cyclist Floyd Landis (who?) admitted his "systematic use of drugs" to the Wall Street Journal.

At least he had a system.

Look I don't know much about these fake sports like international bike riding, derivative trading, the Olympics or any of that shit, but if the Tour De France wants my hard earned dollars (while they're still worth something) they should give the already doped-up creeps on bikes acid. Then maybe I'll flip over to watch those douches ride through the Pyrenees.

I'll have to get some acid too if they want me to care.

Wed Checklist

1. Schedule day off, check
2. Balance checkbook, check
3. Write check and pay property tax, check on writing the check and check on paying first installment of tax bill
4. e-mail Larry about Zephyr & Boreas session, check
5. Golf, check
6. Work on new writing project, check
7. Pet Cookie, check
8. Cut grass, check
9. Have a great day off - check and oh yeah!

A Brushed Sack Reminds You to Look Alive

Monday, crazy fun day at work. Ok, not really as much fun as a person can have but it was busy til the end and that made it go by quickly.

Picked up the boy right after school and got him a grilled cheese. We did decodable reader, found his flashcards, played catch and then headed off to baseball practice.

The kids are finally old enough and organizable enough to have full, energetic practice with multiple balls going back and forth in infield practice, live bp, the works. The Brothers Swaff are great with the kids and it is fun to see them working hard on this great game. Ya gotta keep your head on a swivel with these kids tho, they're nine and ten and every once in a while someone is going to miss their target and the new (hopefully unintended) target might just be you.

I caught the bp. No coach pitch, and our pitchers needed a target. The good news is Alex was actually the first batter to make contact tonight. The pitchers always start out ahead of the hitters, even in the Mustang league. The bad news is, Alex made contact after the ball made contact with him. On his fourth pitch he took one right off the elbow. He crumpled. Now this is the first year we're playing real baseball out there so I resisted the urge to scoop him in my arms and run with him, screaming "My poor sweet angel!" get in the car and drive the hell out of there.

He kept his face down for a minute. Then got up, shook himself off and moved the elbow. Then he wiggled his fingers and walked around. I said gently, "Alex the kids all get five pitches. You've got one more here. Why don't you step back into the box and take one more cut? You ok? You think you wanna do that pal?"

He picked up his helmet, grabbed his bat and swung with some bad intent. He knocked that last pitch hard down the first base line. It went foul but I was so proud of him. He hit it and ran down to first. Later, we iced the arm down with an ice cream sandwich. Then he ate the ice cream sandwich.

Even dad was not immune to the mild hazards of hardball. While I was catching, I missed one in the dirt. It skidded under me, brushed me in the AJ's (not hard but sometimes getting grazed is worse than getting hit there because you think, "Man that coulda been really, really bad"

I also had an ice cream sandwich.

God Bless this great game of baseball.

The Bucket Kicked the Rabbit

WARNING! THIS BLOG POST DISCUSSES THE DEATH OF AN ANIMAL (not Cookie) PLEASE DO NOT READ IF YOU FIND THIS MATERIAL DISTURBING. Thank you.


Backtracking a bit, Alex and his young friends saved a rabbit with a broken neck last Monday (5/10)...and by "saved" I mean they put the morally wounded lepis in a bucket - one of MY BUCKETS, hence it became my sad duty to take the animal to Tails Wildlife Center for "treatment" (more like humane end of life arrangements)....rather than let the thing die most painfully, half-folded up in a bucket, put there by children who wanted to help.

MY BUCKET!

I said that already, I know. There are some who don't like rabbits, but me? I never gave a shit for flowers so rabbits don't bother me. I even had one as a pet when I was a kid. I told Alex not to touch the rabbit and I was pissed when I found out his friends took the initiative even after he warned them that his dad said to leave the animal alone.

By the end of the trip, the Alex and Michael got a special thanks from the workers at Tails...

NOT THAT YOU SICK BASTARDS!!!

Tails is not what you think it is, unless you think it is our local animal shelter. Then it is exactly what you think it is.

Oooooh, I just think I came up with a great fund raising idea for Tails.

Uh, forget I said that.

Anyway, the boys were praised by the crew at Tails. Meanwhile I wrote them a small donation. I also donated my bucket. The poor bunny bled and pissed and shit in there. I want to forget most of this experience and the bucket would always stand as a sad reminder.


Now, catch up from the weekend

Friday - Iron Man 2. We took Family Movie Night on the road to see an actual movie in an actual movie theater. Alex was sick on Wed and Thurs (he even missed baseball practice Thurs) and it was 50/50 he'd even go to school on Friday. So happy he was doing better and wanted to see the flick. Great time. Fun movie. I think Favreau and RD Jr had a blast making this thing. What do I know? Could've been like making a puppet movie. You think it's a good idea until it turns all fuck-shit-dog. Just ask Matt and Tre or whoever they are...the South Park/Let's Make a Movie With Simulated Puppet Sex guys.

I still need to see that movie.


Sat - bills, did not drive a single bill to the post office. Rather, I walked while listening to Zappa's Waka/Jawaka. Pretty neat idea if I don't say so myself, and I do. Is that how that expression goes? Confession, Holy Mass and Family Monopoly later Saturday. More railroad drama. (See last Saturday's post if you don't know and for some reason give a crap about this and want to know what I am talking about) I bought the first railroad. Kim bought the next two. I bought the third one. Alex really wanted one railroad and I wanted both utilities. He had the Electric Company and I had Water Works. I said I would trade him the railroad I had for the Electric Company, but I told him (because last week he was always cheating to help his mom) I told him he had to agree that he could not turn around and sell the railroad to his mom. He agreed and we shook. We made the deal and he GAVE the fucking railroad to Kim.

Oh well. Mom is the shit. I won't deny it. And, they caught me in a loophole. I've got a feeling this is a lot like what goes on around Goldman Sacks. Stupid Sacks!

Yes I meant to spell it like that.

Sunday, more walking and Zappa listening in the morning. The boy and I had our Sunday feast while we watched A. Nieme stand on his head to beat the damned Sharks. I went for twilight golf in Sycamore and did ok.

Finally Kim and I were able to watch two movies together this weekend. Late Saturday we watched the Informant. Man Matt Damon is a fucking liar. Sunday we checked out this Kubrick documentary.

I think the time has come to have Spartacus as Family Movie Night. I hope Alex isn't disappointed that there is no seal for comic relief in this K. Douglas picture.

Z and B and Me

Whiskey and water and this lonely road

They can only take you so far
And as far as I know

And as far as I know
Someone’s done this before
And as far as I know
They died drunk and bored
And as far as I know
Zephyr and Boreas were bored

Zephyr and Boreas were bored
So they blew themselves apart
Zephyr and Boreas were bored
So they blew themselves apart
Zephyr and Boreas were bored

And that’s why I’m heading north
Just to live a little more

Cut My Finger to Spite My Voice

Cut the fuck out of my finger yesterday. Picked up a sandwich from Schnucks and went home to eat the sandwich and get stuff ready for the studio. No scissors, so I used a knife to open the plastic. Yep. Typical "oh fuck" moment and it got a little squirty after that.

Blood all over the bathroom. The good news is I somehow managed to keep it off my work shirt. Got pressure on my finger, put like 8 bandages on it, ate my sandwich cuz dammit I was hungry...and a little dizzy by this point.

Made it back to work, took care of a few things in the afternoon and boogied out to Elgin. In keeping with the general theme of today, I spliced Four to Blow into two different songs (Puncture and TKRB)...also added a new vocal to part of the end of what is now TKRB.

Like a lot of things in this life, it made more sense last night.

Also cut the beginning of the original Three to Get Money, added a vocal, did a little judicious editing and turned it into a track called Anyone Left Standing.

Got home in time to watch a little of the Cavs/Celts with the boy. As of this blog posting, I still don't know who won.

Glad I didn't have to play guitar last night. There is no way I could've done anything useful. My finger's official game status is, day-to-day.

The Devil Hates Tampa Bay

Saturday - Kim, the boy and I started our day with family reading time. He finished 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The only thing he didn't like about the book (as opposed to the K Douglas pic from the 50's or thereabouts) was the lack of a seal as comic relief in the book. Ned, in the movie, does a lot of f'in round with this crazy seal. Alex is an animal lover an it doesn't get better than having a seal in a submarine.

We did yard work, I shot off a few bills, Alex and I worked on his pitching, then off to Hopkins for baseball practice. I cut out early so I could get ready for Stenner's graduation party. Kim was at home already getting ready so she could pick Alex up and get to the wing ding slightly before me.

Great time. Congrats and much love to Christine. She and Joe went through a lot together to get to that point. They deserve all the advantages this thing can bring (except for that pointless rhyme). No one deserves that. I'm so glad my buddy found someone like this to love. They are very happy and I am happy fer 'em

My little crew had to cut out early because of our schedule, the only day we had for Mass this weekend was Sat (M Day stuff on Sunday makes meeting our obligation impossible and I actually missed Mass last weekend...it was the first time for me in over a year and, for me, it is a lousy feeling)

The line for confession was too long and Kim and I did not make it before Mass. I told A it was ok for him to take communion because it is my responsibility to get him to a mass, this is not something he did it is something Daddy didn't do. I think he understood. I don't want to confuse the boy. Religion is confusing enough w/ou me gummin' up the works.

After church we stopped at the Barnes 'n N to get gifts for the grandmas. We also picked up a copy of Paul Simon's Graceland. Alex loves Bridge Over Troubled Water (esp the Boxer)...and my boss burned him some later Paul Simon records which the boy also devoured. He loves Graceland.

We also picked up a copy of Monopoly for Family Game Night. Alex kept making deals with one goal in mind...to help his mother. She wanted all the railroads. Twice I landed on the one railroad Kim needed (the Reading, I think) and Alex gave me $100 each time, not to buy it. Sweet as hell, even tho rent sucked ass when Kim got all four choo choo stations. Cookie was the dog.

Sunday, the boy and I let mom chill and watch HGTV which is what she wanted to do. Just get some couchtime. She knew the next week was gonna be crazy. Alex and I did a bunch of yardwork and ran some errands for mom. Then we drove out and met my p's and Kim's p's in Oak Brook for a nice, late lunch/early supper, whatever you want to call it.

Checking out some of the highlights from the perfecto thrown by Oakland's left-handed hurler. 18 perfect games in the history of MLB. Two thrown by southpaws in consecutive seasons...against the same team. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Ooops, pardon me, some Satan-hatin' Floridian panhandlers decided that the club from Tampa should (in order to not offer support to dark powers) drop the "Devil" and be known only as the "Rays". Since then they've been completely blanked in back to back years. There is only one reasonable conclusion here...

The Devil hates Tampa Bay.

God only knows what he thinks of Ybor City

Walk You Bastard, Walk

It was a simple plan.

Needed to get an oil change on one of the vehicles and I needed to get out of the office earlier on Friday. Donut Day Friday. I love the people I work with but on these ubersugar, end of week days, in my room we can turn into a bunch of Great Cornholios.

Don't get me wrong, I am by far the most obnoxious piece of crap that has ever worked there or anywhere (and I don't even have the excuse of being whacked out on the sugar) but on days like these it is probably a good thing if I leave when I can before I start agitating those who just want to ride the sugar train and have a good time. I'm an old fuddy duddy.

Took two hours of vacation time, left at 1:30pm, dropped off my car at City Auto and walked home to do some writing and play the Xbox. I was downstairs and had left my cellie upstairs. Headed upstairs to go to the can and saw there were a few messages on my phone from a number I didn't know.

Then the phone rang again. It was Kim. I said, "Where are you calling from?" She said, "I don't have my phone." I saw it sitting on the table so I said, "I can see that." She said, "I don't have my keys, I lost them." I asked, "What do you have?" She said, "A husband who loves me, and would love to pick me up?" I said, "You have that but I don't have a car. I have to walk back to City Auto and hope they left the keys in the car like I asked them to." She thought that was a good plan.

I walked back to City Auto. The car was there and unlocked, but no keys were inside. I looked everywhere, and I mean everywhere. Nope. Now before I left, my phone was running out of juice so I told Kim, "I have no way of reaching you since you do not have your phone and after 4pm on Friday's there is no direct line to any of the classroom phones, all calls go right to the central answering machine or whatever it is (I should've mentioned that Kim called me from school) so you need to call me on your phone every fifteen minutes."

She thought that was dumb because she was convinced that the keys would be in the Grand Prix at City Auto and I would simply drive to school...rescue complete. But I saw how this day was shaping up and nothing would be easy.

I walked from the garage back to my neighborhood. Now it is not a long walk and I like walking, but I was making this trek a lot more than originally planned. It was a simple plan. I think I said that.

Kim called me as I walked home and I said, "Baby you better take a ride while someone is there. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to get keys for the other car until I get a hold of Christy or someone who works at the garage."

Fortunately, my neighbor Chuck works at City Auto. I stopped by his place and he said he'd be glad to let me in to get the keys. The only thing is we'd have to walk because his girlfriend had his car. So we headed back together. Hey, I knew the way.

He opened the office and got my keys. By that time Kim was back at our house. One of her coworkers gave her a ride home. We laughed at our own foibles then heard wonderful news about two of Kim's good girlfriends.

Family movie night...Next Generation, Season 3, Episode 1 with the Shelliac (not Shellac) and the return of Dr. Crusher.

Yes...Dr. Crusher.

Finishing Touches

Larry and I did some edits and minor overdubs tonight for some additional (but necessary, at least according to me) noise/stuff for the Kish record.

The version that came out at the food drive gig had these tracks....


The Irrelevant in the Room
Virginia
Night of the Walkers
Imported Wine and Soul Food
We Can Always Get Away
Harvest Here
Two for the Stoned
Or, Three to Get Some
Francesca
Electrons...and where they go



The new, improved and definitely final version of the record adds stuff between Harvest Here and Two for the Stoned and it works better

The Irrelevant in the Room
Virginia
Night of the Walkers
Imported Wine and Soul Food
We Can Always Get Away
Harvest Here
Clean Needles
Shitty Little Guy
Two for the Stoned
Or, Three to Get Some
Francesca
Electrons...and where they go
Me and Her? We Were Two Ships Sinking in the Night

Great drive home listening to Moose Skowron do some of the middle innings with Farmer and DJ. Those who know me know that I've been down...WAY FUCKING DOWN...on the SOX radio booth since John Rooney left. But when they bring in the former Yankee and WhiteSOX great who grew up on the northside and lives in Schaumburg now...I could listen all night.

Victory meal when I got home. Pork chops, sweet baked beans, mustard potato salad, some whiskey and beer. Hawks win and caught the end of Crazy Heart.

I am so ready for what is next that I can't stand it.

That's not true. I can stand it. Those around me may be pretty fucking tired of hearing about it.

And this is the sound of me not giving a shit.

Little Prairie on the Pines

No guitar students this week. The end of the school year is always a busy time for the kids. Reallocated some of that extra time right after work by going to Prairie Pines to walk, swinging some silly sticks along the way. Gorgeous out there.

My golf game resembles the WhiteSOX in the early part of their 2010 campaign. What do I mean? Freddie G pitches a good game and they can't hit a lick. They get an offensive outburst early in a game, the starting pitcher gives up four the next inning. Jake Peavy has his first really good start of the year, Gavin Floyd stinks up the joint the next night. Me, when I'm crushing the ball out of the tee box either my middle game or putting sucks, or both. Usually both. It's almost never all three...

...which is sort of a blessing I'm guessing

Also in the realm of taking advantage of free time that is given to me, rock is not possible until Thursday of this week (and that may still depend on what's going on @ Chris & Jenny's, for wonderful reasons our friends may want to get all the rest or time together that they can)....anyway, I'm taking advantage of some time on Wed to recut a few things to put between Harvest Here and Two for the Stoned on the Kish record. I think it'll move things along a hare better that way.

We will see.

Fondues and Don'ts of My Weekend

Fondue couples party began my Friday. Meats to be placed in boiling oil and dipped in one or more of a variety of sauces...why have people made fun of this activity since the 70's ended? I escaped a good scalding at one point, but on any given night out, I face a scalding be it from angry castle or keep dwellers, or careless fonduin'

Met DC Liar and the gang at the Annex apres fondue. We deserved to be scalded there but in this economy, who can afford to carry around vats of boiling oil?...besides the military. I hope somewhere there is a secret memo on scalding protocols from Alberto Gonzalez. Even if it turned out Gonzo and the last administration was against such interrogation techniques, it would be nice to know they were considered.

What the hell is my problem?

Intense weirdness at the Annex on Friday and my unwarranted reaction is completely warranted.

No more on this later.

Saturday, up early and took Alex to Al and Judi's. F-i-L drove us to Resurrection Cemetery where we met up with Kim's cousin Jenny and her fiance, Jerry. They are perfect together. I'm just gonna throw that out there now.

It was sweet. The girls wanted to visit Leet before heading to the cubs game. Respects were paid, then we sped off, following Al's advice to the best way of getting to the cubs game from this point on the southside. We drove to Chinatown, paid for parking there, I peed next to a porta potty under the Chinatown El stop and we took the Red Line right to the cub game. It was a brilliant plan and all went smoothly, except for the porta potty being locked behind a fence and me having already consumed a substantial portion of Spicy Hot V8 and two bottles of water.

Great game, and even tho I pound Sorriano it is fun seeing him (and hearing him) swing that huge bat. By the way, the cubs are 3-0 in my recent trips to see them at home and on the road. Fans of the blue team might want to take up a fund and send me to more games.

After the win it was back to the southside for pizza setups and boozin'. Thanks and much love to Al & Judi for the fantastic spread. Delicious. Kim played the grown up and led the caravan back to DK. Found out that Jenny's finance was even cooler than originally thought as we learned he once lived in a dojo.

Brunch at the Hillside Sunday morning. Sweet farewell to our house guests. Then Alex and I dug the big pile of wood chips in the driveway. Had enough strength left to watch the SOX get creamed by the Yankees, then head out and play nine in Sycamore...got there in time for the twilight special to begin.

I'm a little sore, but great weekend.