Duey's Brain

(W)horseshoe to the Head

2012-01-28T00:15:00.002-06:00

When Jim Irsay says that Peyton Manning should "keep it (his comments) in the family", he does remember that it's a family that moved a football team under darkness of night out of the City of Baltimore, right?

His comments specifically were, "The horseshoe always comes first, and I think one thing he's always known, because he's been around it so long, is that, you know, you keep it in the family. If you've got a problem you talk to each other, it's not about campaigning or anything like that."

Jim, look, I know it was your Father but it was YOUR family who screwed over loyal fans in one of the most fantastic cities of the world. Your family isn't as pristine and clean as you'd like it to be bub.

Peace, out!

Reason 532 why I love...

2012-01-19T22:37:00.000-06:00

...working on the same floor as all of IT support:

Hearing the rolling of the track wheel and pressing of keys on a Blackberry from INSIDE the stalls in the bathroom.

Added bonus when an alert tone goes off for a text message or a new email.

Dudes, drop your deuce and leave the crackberry at your desk.

Striking fear in the hearts of married men...

2012-01-09T11:42:00.000-06:00

are the words "Honey, I've lost my engagement/wedding ring".

And those are the words I heard on Saturday night around 6:20pm.

We had finished dinner at one of our favorite pizzerias and had walked down the street to one of those custom popcorn shops that are popping up now as quickly as cupcake joints. As MK was paying for our indulgences, she looked at her hand and noticed that the "rock" was gone.

I almost wish we were psych patients at the time and someone was monitoring our brain waves and activity. I imagine that it plays out something like this:

The woman thinks about all the sentimentality, the meaning, the love, flashes to the moment she was proposed to, about how she's let down her husband, how it is irreplaceable
The man thinks, "holy cr@p, that's a shedload of money down the drain, thank GOD I have it insured"

Now, that's the funny me making that up but I'm probably not far off. I can tell you with hand on heart that I thought the following:

First, I thought about what MK was feeling and how she was freaking out and THEN, I started retracing all the steps and where we've been for the last 2-4 hours. I think it's truly how men are programmed. We're functional beings and given a task we immediately put our brain into full-on process mode to "solve the problem".

To be honest, for the first 10-15 minutes I didn't think once about the emotional part, it was hunter-gatherer "must find ring, must re-track every step until found" caveman mentality. Sappy enough, but this is what "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" basically tells us.

Yes, I read that thing 12-13 years ago but at some point it's pretty accurate for most. But didn't anyone other than me think that there was no way John Gray was heterosexual? It's probably what gave him the insight into both genders, but I didn't see him trot out his own wife to give credibility. That said, it's still pretty accurate.

So that's what we did. Backtrack through the popcorn shop, then on the sidewalk all the way back to the pizzeria. I was amazed at the kindness that the two couples showed at the table we sat at in that they all jumped out of their chairs and were on the floor with me looking under our previous table. Along the way, my caveman instincts were mentally marking places we couldn't see/were tough to see so that at 7:00am when I was back in downtown Geneva on my hands and knees I would pay special attention to those "high risk areas"

All shop owners took our name and number in case they or their clean up crews were honest, found it and would call us and everyone was sympathetic and willing to help however they could, which is nice to see in this age of self-importance.

We spent probably twenty minutes looking around our car using a flashing light/glow wand (thank you large circus that was recently in town) to look around the car on the sidewalk and grass with no avail.

After resigning ourselves to move on to the next part of our search, the car and then Walgreen's and all other places my wife stopped during the day as well as ripping apart our house, my wife decided to look in what has affectionately been called "Momma Bag".

Momma Bag is the amalgamation of coloring books, sticker sheets, crayons, markers, pictures, paper, you name it to help occupy the little man's mind and hands when we're out at dinner or wherever. She had been in the bag several times during dinner. She decided to go through it all in the car before I pulled away. I was nervous because it was dark and emptying bags can create further problems.

and there, at the bottom of the bag, was the ring. Several thank God's were exchanged as well as a few Hallelujah's. My wife was relieved. My brain was still categorizing the places I still needed to search (yes, men are a bit slower). I was relieved as well and it made the drive home a lot more pleasant than it could have been. Even on the ride home, I was thinking about how that discussion goes with your Insurance guy.

Every year I curse that "special rider" on our home owners insurance that's covering that specific piece of jewelry as I don't always feel the premium justifies the item. Yep, color me part of the converted. Happy to pay that premium this coming June and for every year afterwards.

The upshot to all of this is that my wife has been shedding pounds like I eat chicken wings (uh, maybe that's not a good example of how we're exhibiting opposite behavior) and I'm so extremely proud of her and her dedication to getting to a healthier life.

With all that is good about that, one has to remember that things like rings and pants don't fit the way they used to. If the pants fall down around your ankles, you're just em-bare-assed, but when a ring falls off, it strikes fear into the hearts of men and women.

Missed Opportunity!!

2012-01-06T14:50:00.000-06:00

Now I wish I had paid for our Cubs 2011 Season Tix with a check last year. The autographed ball we would have gotten with Tyler Colvin, Andrew Cashner and Starlin Castro, the young superstars of the Jim Hendry era truly would now be a collector's piece.

In the 2010 year-end summary from Tom Ricketts an entire paragraph was this:

The 2010 highlights revolved around our home grown talent. Starlin Castro, Tyler Colvin and Andrew Cashner developed into budding stars, with Castro and Colvin in the NL Rookie of the Year discussion. That young group was enhanced by the August promotion of Casey Coleman, who went 3-1 with a 2.08 ERA in his last four starts. All need to take the next step in 2011, but we are very encouraged to have a group of young, home grown players emerge as regulars in 2010.

Colvin is now in Cincinnati (12/8/2011 trade), Cashner is off to San Diego (1/6/2012 trade), and Castro might lose his work visa if convicted of felony rape.

Oh well, lost money. Maybe next year.

Funny Work emails: Episode 1

2012-01-04T14:56:00.000-06:00

I think we all would love to reply-all to a company-wide email with smart ass remarks, but then, in this crappy economy we all need our jobs more than we need food.

Here's today's gem, which, we get every two weeks throughout the year:

     All,
     A reminder that Housekeeping will be cleaning out both the 4th and 6th floor refrigerators this coming Friday. Please see to it that all your personal items are removed before then.
     Thanks,

I would love to reply with:
     "Oh, thanks so much for the reminder. I need to get that severed woman's head and hands out of there before the authorities find them."

The genius of "Nana"

2012-01-02T22:36:00.000-06:00

From very early in my life, I always knew that my Mother was extremely creative. After all, since she was a teacher of 1st & 2nd graders, she needed to show mad skillz at getting them to pay attention and learn something so that they didn't end up being a bunch of tools later in life.

I've been amazed at how, even after 30+ years since early retirement, she continues to use those skills to help teach and open up a world of knowledge to her Little Prince, her grandson, my son, Aidan.

Two years ago, I laughed out loud at seeing the appearance of construction paper cut out into cars, airplanes and other creative shapes for Aidan to put stickers onto or to color or to do whatever he wanted with them. They were the exact same cut-outs that she used with my brother and I when we were little and with her students. The templates were originally cut out of manila folders and she STILL has them.

But she's also had some "new tricks" up her sleeves that update methods she used back in the day.

The newest one takes the cake though:

We've already instilled a strong sense of "saving" into Aidan. He has his own savings account at our local bank, he has a piggy bank that he puts spare change into weekly, and he participates in the "bank at school" program that our bank has with The Goddard School which he attends.

My parents are also headed back to Florida tomorrow and so their contact with Aidan will now be limited to phone calls and/or Internet video calls on the weekends. He has made it infinitely clear that he didn't want Nana & Papa to go back to Florida because he was going to miss them and all the fun that they have together. He said that he was going to be sad about it. It's always a teary time for my Mom when she says goodbye to Aidan when they won't see each other for more than a week. Waterworks flow.

It's with all of this in mind that she's created a nifty counting/savings/calendar technique to help ease the pain of the distance between she and Aidan. She gave him a roll of pennies last night. She told him that when he got home, to put 6 pennies into his "money bank" and then each morning thereafter, to put one more penny into the bank. Not only does he make some money but when he gets down to the last penny left and he puts it into his bank, THAT is the day we pack up the car and head off to Florida on vacation.

Today was the first morning and he ran right to the bank and reminded me to help him get one penny out of the roll. It's going to kill him to still wait 43 more days, but at least he'll know we're getting closer.

Well, this was a wasted year on Duey's Brain

2011-12-31T08:12:00.001-06:00

2011 has been one hell of a year. So many things as life whizzes by.

Unfortunately in August, things went a little haywire with life and in early September my Father-in-Law passed away suddenly.

Since then it's been even more hectic as this came totally out of the blue. I've tried to be supportive to my wife and her family and a lot of time has been spent helping out my Mother-in-Law adjust to all of these changes as well as some personal ones she's going through.

So I do love posting to the blog but I have to be honest, it will likely stay quiet for a little bit longer until we can get things finally under control.

I am very thankful for all the support, love, laughter and insight that my family, friends and co-workers have given to me in 2011 and I endeavor to give back to them, more than they give to me in 2012.

Happy New Year everyone. Be safe and enjoy life.

Ode to a Genius (one of a million going out tonight)

2011-10-05T23:11:00.000-05:00

Steve Jobs, you were intelligent enough to probably realize the impact you've had on so many lives. If you didn't, well, you're FB/Twitter feeds are blowing up to prove it.

I will never EVER forget the impact of the commercial your company made for the 1984 Superbowl. I was a Senior in High School and had about 2 years of BASIC programming skills under my belt which I unfortunately learned NOT on Apple products.

My first Mac was the Mac Plus (1988) with an external 45MB Seagate hard drive. Imagine my jaw dropping moment when I pulled the shroud off that Mac Plus to upgrade the RAM (anyone remember SIMM cards?) to see the signatures, engraved in the resin, of the Apple employees who created it, including YOURS.

The YEARS I spent arguing MacOS v Windows are years I'll never get back, but at the end of the day, you made a box full of capacitors, electronics and complexity accessible for ANYONE to use. The fact that your product opened an entire world to my Father at 55 years of age that now allows he and my Mother to have Skype calls with their Grandson every Saturday or Sunday during the winters is just pure magic.

These things, which to some may be small, shaped my life and made me into the early technology adopter that I became and continue to be. Although at times, well, many times, I cursed your business model, you stayed the visionary that you always were and when you went back to Apple, you saved it and made it even better. I still argue with the business model, but who the hell am I to argue with that level of success.... clearly I had no clue.

Time is fleeting...

2011-08-02T23:22:00.000-05:00

Wowzers.

We got a letter from Aidan's school that by the end of August he's going to move on to the next room, Pre-school II. Sort of came as a surprise because we though that he wouldn't move on until his 4th birthday but it's making sense that the changes now will happen in line with the normal school year schedule.

As much as we want him to stay this loveable little boy, which, he challenges us about every single night as of late with antics to avoid going to sleep, he's growing and it's going much faster than we ever thought it would. EVERYONE tells us this but you just want to believe that he'll stay this adorable little man forever.

And it has been challenging. One minute you can have almost an adult type conversation with him and the next he's making silly noises to try to drown you out as you talk to him about getting in his pj's to go to bed.

We continue to try to instill loving, thoughtful behavior into his life and he reflects that with things he says and does. But he definitely has the fighting spirit of his Mommy and Daddy. I know I can be tough on him but it's just me holding on to the last shreds of hope that I can protect him from everything bad in the world. Unrealistic as hell but yet, based on my own life experiences.

Don't get me wrong, we're not trying to change him, nor are we the worst stage-parents in the world, but we all know that these formative years will set him on his path and we just want him to have the best shot at it all.

You know when your Mother threatens you that she wishes you have a child "just like you"? Well, I'm glad he's just like us.

Has the banking industry learned?

2011-07-28T23:39:00.000-05:00

Likely not, but I was presently surprised at the outcome of two calls to credit card companies yesterday.

In one case we were closing out a card we've had for many years, with a high credit limit, but one that carried a $60/year service fee. We were prepared to be begged, beaten and fought the whole way but instead, the customer service rep gave us a solution to a problem we mentioned, gave it one try to keep us on and then listened to the customer and immediately closed the account.

In the other case, in a response to an email that offered 12 months interest free if making a purchase by May 31st, we made a large purchase. 2 months into the deal we received interest charges on the most recent statement. Customer service rep looked at, said it made sense and immediately filed an internal claim to get things fixed. Even when I offered to send the proof, she said that it likely wasn't needed and that this has happened before. The only issue was that it could take up to 10 business days for the solution but yet, there was no arguing or repeating the "obvious" problem that happened (which is that the vendor billed our card each time they shipped part of the order versus billing it all when we made the purchase).

Maybe I'm punchy tired, but for a moment I thought that the Financial Industry is actually being thankful to the public for bailing them out and treating people they've extended credit to as human beings.

Who knows, we can only hope.

Review: U2 360° Tour - Chicago, Soldier Field, 5th July 2011

2011-07-07T02:23:00.003-05:00

Well, it had been 24 years, 2 months and 6 days since I had seen U2 live in concert. They continue to amaze me and it was worth the wait. This was only the 3rd time I've seen them live. I saw them on the Unforgettable Fire tour in March '85 (UIC-Pavillion) and saw them on the Joshua Tree tour in April of '87 (Rosemont Horizon), both indoor venues. Seeing them with the gigantic, 7-story multi-media space ship set in a stadium is something that shouldn't be missed.

We had the fortune of being guests of Citicard for this show and that meant a 2-hour VIP party prior to the show with loads of excellent food in the United Club at Soldier Field and an open beer/wine bar. The garlic hummus was top notch as was the Apple & Chili rubbed pork loin. This definitely is not how I'm used to going to concerts. We got special VIP laminates, a program and a nifty U2 360° Tour blanket which isn't available in the regular merch stands. Cool swag.

Opening band was Interpol and to be honest, no matter how much I've been up on current music, I had no idea who they hell they were. I had seen on some of the U2 message boards people bitching about this choice but to U2's credit, they had Interpol booked last year when the tour was halted due to Bono's back injury and they stayed faithful to them and brought them back to honor their original offer. Okay, so prior to Chicago it was Florence and the Machine who is more 'known' at the moment but after listening to Interpol, I've become a fan. They are a very punk-influenced/indie type band and really put on a nice set. I'll spend the next couple of days checking out their discography. I'd say they were a nice mix of Green Day and Franz Ferdinand if I had to put them in a "group". Funny thing about them is that although they are supporting U2 on the next 8 cities (remainder of the North American tour), they are playing a place called Bogart's in Cincinnati tonight. Last night playing before 63,000, tonight 1,500. The life of a road musician!!

As for U2's performance, although I wasn't a fan of the Zooropa/Atomic Bomb albums, their full portfolio will always stand the test of time. Maybe it's just because it was part of the main soundtrack to my college years, but the 80's songs are still incredibly strong to this day.

I couldn't believe my ears to hear Out of Control performed live. For you youngsters out there, that's off their 1st album and is now a song over 31 years old!! I had never heard it performed live and it was amazing and early in the show.

Pride (In the Name of Love) is just, and always has been, amazing and belting out Sunday Bloody Sunday stirs emotions down deep knowing that it was written about the Irish/British struggle and bloody day but now is sung with images of Iran, Egypt and the Middle East in the hopes that Democracy can continue taking its foothold.

The Edge still remains one of the most amazing guitarists in the world and that sound is unique to his own. Larry still hits the drums as hard as anyone and Adam remains the heartbeat of the band on bass.

Of course, no U2 show would happen without a little political discourse and as they have done the entire 360° tour, they pay tribute to Aung San Suu Kyi, freed Burmese pro-Democracy leader which led into the final song of the main set, Walk On. Of course, she was released last fall and a video from her thanking all of the voices and of course all of the U2 fan voices that kept her going and helped to eventually free her. Quite an emotional moment which had people from Amnesty International walk out with giant luminary lights to surround the circular part of the stage.

The encore and show ended with a tribute by the band to the subject of the song One Tree Hill, Greg Carroll who had passed away almost 25 years to the day.

Amazing night overall. Click below to see my pictures from the show.

U2 360 Tour - Chicago 2011

The next time you tell someone it must be fun they travel for business....

2011-05-23T23:03:00.000-05:00

So, although I've had a bit of a hiatus on the business travel front, I had to head to North Carolina today for a quick, one-day meeting with one of our Kantar OpCos.

I always love how, when people find out you travel for work and they don't, they usually ponder out loud, and right to your face, how fun it must be to travel for business. Going all those fun places, having it paid for....

And so all of my friends who DO travel for business, and some of you put me to shame with the amount you do, have our war stories from the road and here's mine from today.

Day started out pretty normal although there was "weather" in Missouri and the thoughts were that it would head towards Chicago thus putting flight departures in jeopardy. But by the time I got to O'Hare, things were running fine and my flight still showed as leaving on time. But that's where it starts going a little funky.

I was able to go through Premium Security which usually means a shorter line and with people who normally fly for business, know the routine and don't take long to get through. But not today. It was backed up something fierce and well, given that we shot and killed the #1 leading terrorist in the world, I could forgive it. Until I got up to the conveyor belt and started pulling out the laptop, taking off the shoes, etc. There was this couple who was traveling with their cats (in those little pet carrier type duffel bags) and I guess one of the cats decided to share with everyone his nervousness by having some explosive, target-spraying liquid joy which went all over its owners and on the floor. THANK GOD the woman in front of me yelled back to me to look out because I damn near stepped in it in my stocking feet. I heard one TSA agent drop some nasty language and there was another unlucky TSA guy who had to come over with spray and paper towels to clean it all up.

I overheard the one owner saying "Well, she's a nervous flier". A TSA agent standing by her said "Well, some people just don't understand these things". Really? Look, I'm a pet owner and even _I_ realize that my dog is a schizophrenic traveler which is why we don't bring her to the airport. If your pet can't take it, don't you think you're doing a bit more damage to them? ughh. Drive a damn car already.

So the incoming flight (to my one leaving) pulled up at the gate about 15 minutes late and the gate agent was too busy schmoozing with some of the Executive Premier Platinum 500K World Rulers to go down the jet way and get those waiting, off the plane. Eventually our pilots and flight attendants show up and head down to turn around the aircraft and whilst the pilots were looking over the plane, they've found a "mechanical issue" that needed attention. At least they found this before we all boarded. Well, you likely won't be able to see this in the picture, but the "mechanical issue" was a huge gouge that was on the front nose fuselage. Yep, they must have hit a bird or space shuttle debris.

Here is a lovely mechanic plotting (with a black marker) the area that will eventually need to be replaced.

So thankfully since Chicago O'Hare is United Airlines global hub and headquarters, there was a spare plane sitting around and with only about a 35-40 minute delay, we pushed back from the gate.

The flight was uneventful thankfully and we landed in Raleigh-Durham about 20 minutes later than originally scheduled. My pre-arranged ride to the hotel was waiting and ready to go and off we went.

We arrive at the Courtyard Marriott, I wave goodbye to my ride and go to check in. Oh, Mr. LoCicero, we have this waiting for you. We unfortunately have overbooked and we've arranged for you to stay across the street. Now this can go one of two ways, either a worse location or a better location. Thankfully I've been here before and the suggested new place is a big step up. It's actually a conference center that's run by the UNC-Chapel Hill Business School. Good room, good digs, free pantry for all guests that has unlimited free soda and Dove Ice Cream bars....what's not to like?

However, my 0.4 mile trip between the two locations was an adventure from hell. After being given my "walk" papers, I was told that they had called a ride to take me over there and it was just 10 minutes away. 10 minutes became 15, became 20 and finally this broken down taxi-van showed up. The front desk clerk ran outside to ensure this was the right ride for me and it was. I got in and he looked at me and said, where are we going? That's my first warning sign. I told him the Rizzo Center across the street and he looked at me like I was speaking Hungarian. So off we go.

I asked him if we were in the wrong lane and he said know that he knew where he was going. About 2 minutes later we pull in, to the aLoft hotel? Um, this isn't the place dude. I told him once again, I'm supposed to go the Rizzo Center. Oh, he knows now and off we go. I don't think we turn the right direction and I make him stop. He says he DOES know where he's going and now he's getting mad at me for questioning him so much. I pull out the iPad and fire up the Google Maps GPS and see that he's totally going in the wrong direction. He promises me he knows how to get there.

We pull up at what looks like a regular apartment building and he jumps out getting ready to dump me off and I tell him that I'm not getting out until I call back to the Courtyard. I talk to the front desk guy and tell him we're not even close to the place. He asks me if the driver has taken me to the aLoft hotel and I laugh saying that we've already been there and this is the second place. He lets me know that he'll call back to the driver and tell him where to go.

We finally get here and from this point on, everything has been grand. I can only imagine what tomorrow will bring. Fingers, toes, eyeballs and hair crossed.

Indian updates

2011-03-30T10:51:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I have plenty in my journal that I need to transcribe to take you all on my Indian journey but I had to laugh heartily at getting THIS today from Groupon.

Fantastic! And for a restaurant we love to go to for lunch at work.

But someone let the owners get creative with writing their copy for the daily deal. Lost in translation? You decide. Here's the text that came with the offer today:

"Indian food is quickly becoming one of America's most popular ethnic cuisines, as evidenced by the upsurge in new restaurants and the nationwide fervor over chutney trading cards. Get a seat on the bandwagon with today’s Groupon: for $20, you get $40 worth of Indian cuisine at the Indian Harvest Restaurant, located in Naperville.

The restaurant's expansive menu takes taste buds on a tour of India’s famous, mouth-drenching dishes. Rev up jowl bones with appetizers, including dahi bhalla, soft lentil puffs soaked in spiced yogurt and topped with coriander leaves ($4.95), or vegetable samosas ($3.50). Lamb specials such as gosht chili masala, cooked with hot spices, herbs, and green chilies ($13.95), and tandoor -roasted items that include tandoori chicken ($14.95), let patrons use their canine teeth for more than snarling at mail carriers. Herbivores can dive into vegetarian dishes, such as the eggplant-rich baghara baingan ($10.95), and employ naan ($2) as a makeshift visor while catching scenic lake views from the dining room."

Now, I need to know what this nationwide fervor over chutney trading cards is!! Also, given my weight, I'm not a fan of the world jowl but hey, I get what you're groovin'. But when you start digging into my canine teeth, I need to stop you right there because I only snarl at the mail carrier when he delivers me bills. I'll leave the rest of the time for snarling by my beloved golden retriever.

Lastly, I've been to this restaurant several times and unless the scenic lake views are new paintings on the walls, there's only a retention pond across the street by the Wonder Bread outlet store.

I love it. So there is the arc in my blog. Two entries ago was about the Groupon craze and I've brought a little bit of India into the mix.

Therefore, "Look with your glazing eyes soon to the wondrous words of a babbling idiot who will beautifully summarize his daily, mysterious adventures in the homeland known as India. It will be material you can sink your molars into like a masticating big black bear in the open spaces of Montana" ;-p

The next Airline bailout

2011-03-20T22:37:00.004-05:00

The next time US-based Airlines ask for a bailout or for increased fees and tariffs, I think we need a little collective bargaining for the passengers.

So Congress passes the Passenger Bill of Rights, but ultimately that's window dressing on the core problems.

Running an airline supposedly means that you're expertise is logistics. Logistics, in this case, of moving human beings and cargo around America and the world. Supposedly.

Well, people, we're an ornery bunch and since we all have brains in our heads we can pretty much make sure that we're getting on the right flight and usually end up in the right place. But our luggage, well, those poor bastards don't even have a brain. They are helpless bug kill on the windshield of airline transportation.

As you can guess, my luggage has been lost on a relatively important trip to New York City. I have no idea how one bag, checked in at the AA Premium Status desk at the 2nd busiest airport in the world (ORD) on a direct flight to LGA doesn't make it there. In fact, all the bags made it except mine and another poor fella.

How can people who are supposedly masters of logistics be so poor at it? How, in a day where someone's blow-up doll being shipped by FedEx or UPS can be scanned and tracked multiple times across this fine land of ours with almost GPS-like precision, do the airlines who make infinitely more money have no clue where my bag is after it was put on the treadmill at O'Hare? They just don't give a rat's ass AND you have to pay for it (unless you have status, are flying business class or flying Southwest!)

I watched with amazement how, in almost Third Reich fashion, people were getting their carry-ons pulled out of line when boarding this afternoon. In fact, even I thought a few of them were questionable. But the airlines are forcing people to go this way. Since a carry-on bag stays with it's owner (see above where I mention that we have brains and make sure we get from one place to another in spite of the airline) it too makes it to its destination and there's no careless behavior going on behind the doors we're not allowed in.

It's truly a catch-22 of travel. Can't bring that huge carry-on that you know will make it there, so you have to check it where it'll get lost, so then you'll have to bring carry-on again.

What I can't fathom is that they put stickers on every piece of luggage that have bar codes and unique bag-tag numbers. When I check out in ANY retail store nowadays, they have hand-held scanners that are wireless and they can scan the UPC codes on larger, awkward items in my cart. There are numerous softwares that can be used to manage logistics. How, in the millions of dollars they charge for flying can an airline not afford to put these all together? If I had the wherewithal, I'd be banging on boardroom doors proposing a new system and charging a fair price for it.

Our government can detect whether or not I have 4 oz of shampoo in my carry-on but a big logistics company has no f*@&ing clue where a 38lb bag is??

Oh Wilbur and Orville, why have you cursed us so? Flight was BORN in this country and the current US entities are doing everything they can to kill it a very slow, painful death. Please note in the following graphic, there is not ONE instance of a bag going astray due to the customer/passenger. And they want to know why everyone is cramming on their carry-ons?????

This is likely where my bag is, although I highly doubt US-based airlines would even know how to get above the Earth's atmosphere.

Half-off overload - let's not kill a good thing please

2011-03-19T02:32:00.000-05:00

No one can say that Groupon hasn't been a wildly successful venture and as a Chicago-based company I'm super happy for them and it sheds more light on some of the great, creative thinking that comes out of our region.

Of course, where there's huge success follows all the copycats and knock-offs.

One could argue that Groupon already was a knock-off from restaurant.com or from a lot of local, extremely local radio stations who used to run the 50-70% off gift certificate programs on Saturday mornings and that would be fair. In fact, anyone who has bought an Entertainment book in the last 20+ years knows that deals can be found everywhere.

But nothing has taken a foothold more quickly than Groupon. Beyond the billions of dollars being thrown at them from Google and others, they probably get a VC offer once a week that could be enough money to feed Haiti for 5 years or longer.

They've definitely had their missteps and this past week at SXSW one of their clients (Uber) decided to air some of those grievances on a panel. Interestingly enough there were several Groupon staffers in the audience who took exception to this and addressed some of the issues, in fact, admitting that they've likely grown faster than their operations can handle.

However the latest issues I've noticed aren't with Groupon itself. It's with the hyper-aggressive sales forces that Groupon, Living Social, Yelp, OpenTable and soon to be Facebook, etc. have been hiring. They are out in huge numbers as commissioned sales folks tend to be. As admitted at the SXSW panel, in fact, the sales model and volumes are growing faster than they can grow the operations side which is causing major issues.

My biggest fear though is that there are businesses who really like this idea and are jumping on board left and right. Good for consumers, however, when these businesses sign deals with ALL of the services as a user/consumer/target I'm getting multiple deals, frequently within a two day period for the same store/restaurant/service. From a marketing plan stance, this isn't very smart and I'm realizing that the "sellers" aren't figuring this out and trying to control it. It's a runaway boulder running down the hill.

Not only are the deals coming in successive days, they frequently aren't the same, most likely driven by the revenue share/service fee model for each company. Again, as an end user this is sending a mixed message to me. So I can get $50 of food for $25 today, but tomorrow I can only get $30 for $15?? Sure, EITHER option is nice during this economy but it starts cheapening the offer and muddying the message that the "seller" likely wants to its patrons both existing and new.

So what set me off on this rant? Two specific events:

The fact that I got an offer for Botox treatments (same vendor) from Groupon and Living Social a day apart. I guess at almost 45, I'm becoming the target market but it irritated me enough and,
One of our favorite restaurants, Claddagh having multiple different deals across THREE of these sites within 4 days. Upon cashing one of these in the waiter humorously said "Well, I see we have a Groupon deal here". I can't imagine the glut of these that the staffs are seeing. Again, it's a good thing as it drives business but it could also be a bad thing for staff who might get screwed on tips by those cheap-asses out there.

So where does this leave us? I'm not sure but given that the various services will not work together like an online publisher to space out the offers across the various networks (they are in competition and won't play nice) I think it's really important for businesses drinking the Kool-Aid to manage their own marketing plans AS WELL AS trying out only ONE of the services first to see the revenue/operating profit impact on their business.

Deep discounts are great for foot traffic but with 2000 50% off coupons sold on Groupon and 1500 40% off on Living Social and so on, any decent level of conversion could hit a business hard in the pocketbook until the true level of repeat triers can be validated. Meaning, the Groupon got them in the door the first time, do they come back without a Groupon the next time OR were all the Groupons already bought by existing customers? If you cannabilize your existing revenue stream without a fairly decent uptick in NEW revenue it's ultimately a bad deal. See Navy Pier issue from December 2010.

Usually it's buyer beware, but this time around I truly feel it's seller beware!

I'm off on the road to India....

2011-02-25T21:37:00.000-06:00

Cue Hope and Crosby with the rest, well, substitute India for Morocco.

So now within 18 hours of take-off for an 18 hour set of flights to Hyderabad, India.

Lots of stuff running through my head, none more important than the instability in the Middle East and the fact that I'll be half a world away from my loved ones.

Freedom is a wacky thing, innit? To get it, you have to fight like hell and it's never easy, lives are lost and there is a lot of pain. Then when you have it, you fight like hell about what kind of version of freedom is best (see Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, etc. etc. etc.)

So I'm trying to pack lightly and think I won't have a problem with that. Most of my days are in business-type meetings and for the few days I have to my own I can pretty much wear the same pants, just change shirts. Although I'm gone for 8 calendar days, you basically spend 2 in the air, so it's not a difficult pack to do.

I also bought something on the advice of my friend Thomas who is also on this trip with me. It's called a SteriPen and it's a rather small device that uses Ultra-Violet light to sterilize quantities of drinking water. The link is the version I bought (Dick's Sporting Goods only had 2 choices) and it can take care of 0.5L and 1.0L quantities in something like 24 seconds.

I've started downing my malaria pills as well. One a day for two days before being in-country and then one each day there and then one a day for 7 days after returning home. I also have some Ciprofloxacin in case I get a case of Montezuma's revenge. Although since I'll be in India what would it be called? Ghandi's revenge? But he was a pacifist so that doesn't work.

I also had to quickly find some adapters for electronic devices. Because India was long-held a British territory their outlets are UK-like, however, it's not the modern-day UK plug, it's the "old world" kind which most places do not sell. Thank the Lord that we have a decent sized Indian population in Chicago as I was able to find no less than 20 electronic stores, most on Devon Ave. (Little India) but I did find one out near O'Hare airport. They couldn't have been nicer people and frankly at $1.79 a piece, I bought 3!

For my last "dinner", we took a somewhat cranky Aidan to Buffalo Wild Wings and they had a new limited time sauce called Thai Curry. I tried it and it was pretty good. Might as well get my body ready for the curry (yes, I know Thai is not Indian, that's not the point).

Just synchronizing up my laptop so that all my files are backed up on the corporate network and then I'll finish packing. Oh hey, and for all my metal-head friends, I'm downloading the Lemmy documentary which would be something only I would watch in my household so better to enjoy it on a long flight. Here's a 5-minute movie trailer for those who want to enjoy!! (and you know who you are!)

Until later.......Namaste!

CSI: Biebs goes down

2011-02-19T00:09:00.000-06:00

Kudos to CSI last night who closed out the story of the young Bieber and his bomb making family (last year was first arc I believe) with him going down Bonnie & Clyde style.

Funny take at Funny or Die here:

Justin Bieber Gets Shot "Baby" Remix - watch more funny videos

and a single screen shot of the end here:

Yay to Bruckheimer (even though he's likely not much involved anymore) and Zuicker who after 10+ years on the air crushed teen girls hearts!!

Always a fan of the CSI, you've won me forever, in spite of recent pictures suggesting otherwise, O-M-G!!!

When is a vacation, not a vacation?

2011-02-10T06:23:00.001-06:00

When you bring THREE laptops along.

Yes, sadly, we lugged three laptops on our vacation. Our normal/family one, my work one, my wife's work one (yes, working vacations, vacations working).

Add to this of course, an iPad, iPod, Blackberry, HTC Evo and two sets of Bose noise-reduction headphones. Further add in a 35mm digital camera, a pocket-sized digital camera and a Flip Video.

I needed a damn carry-on for just all the cords, wires and chargers!!

We're sad people........ but we're still having fun and by the time we get on the Disney Cruise ship on Sunday we'll be divorced from technology for at least a couple days.

Snowprah 2011 - an editorial

2011-02-03T17:05:00.000-06:00

The more I keep watching the City of Chicago come under fire (mostly from the press, not anyone else) the more irritated I get.

I think we can fault the City for many many things in history but what happened on Lake Shore Drive (LSD) seems to me to lie more with those who were driving on it than the city.

In no way possible does it compare with what happened in New Orleans and Katrina, but the human psyche is virtually the same

"It's not going to be as bad as they say it's going to be"
"This is the easiest way home, I don't care what they say"
"_I_ can make it, I know how to drive in the snow"
"Nothing is going to happen, people are panicking but I know what to do"

For at least 24 hours before it happened, all local major news outlets were warning that there were going to be 10-20 FOOT waves off of Lake Michigan that were definitely going to come up onto the Drive creating an icy nightmare as well as difficulty for the city to clear it. I saw two specific weather folks voice frustration via their Facebook or Twitter accounts about how people generally don't believe them. They both recognized that it's tough to always get it right but that it is a constantly moving and changing target. However, they said that because of the false claims in the past, they were running computer models for days and even several times an hour in the lead-up to the big storm. As I said in a previous post, Tom Skilling tends to be the most accurate because he truly is a weather geek. He rarely is so far off that it's ridiculous.

Anyway, the storm had been predicted to be epic enough as early as January 25th and for at least two days prior, the news, including The Weather Channel was gearing up for what was going to happen. Look, if Jim Cantore is showing up on your streets, you better get ready for one hell of a storm and hunker down. TWC don't just send him out to spring showers.

I don't know, I DOUBT I was brought up in a Chicago household that was the minority but when these things start getting predicted there's a simple list of a few things we're all taught to do.

Keep your car's gas tank at full/nearly full and don't wait until the night before to do it
Always dress for the worst, but if you don't want to then bring it along (see next bullet)
Make sure you have the following in your trunk - heavy blanket(s), extra hat/gloves, small rations (crackers, chips), a shovel, jumper cables, extra window washer fluid, de-icer for windows/door locks
Keep your cell phone full charged and if you have a car charger or extra battery, keep that along
Have both sets of your keys in case you have to leave your car
If you get stuck, make sure your tailpipe remains free from the snow and lift your wiper blades up so they don't freeze to the windshield

For the most part, the people they are interviewing on tv who are picking up their cars that were stranded on the LSD most are pretty easy going and are happy that there's no fees being levied on them but there have been a few who are claiming that they thought they were going to die in their cars and that they had run out of gas and were freezing to death.

First, nice dramatic effect for the news to run continuously as A-Roll but shame on you! A full tank of gas on a car, running while idle, can likely run for more than a day which means you wouldn't have frozen to death doofus.

I'm not sure the City could be blamed for not closing the LSD sooner but if they had I'm sure the people who were driving on it would have screamed bloody murder that they were going to get caught on Clark or wherever. Could they be blamed for running the buses down LSD still at that hour? Maybe, but again, people had been encouraged to take public transportation and so they were running them as quickly as they can. There's now talk that the City should have stationed emergency vehicles near every exit on the LSD, yes, and then if they couldn't mobilize to another area of the City if there had been an emergency they would have been crucified for that as well.

Let's call it what it was: 3 nasty vehicle accidents, relatively close to each other which ended up blocking the entire four lanes of the LSD. Even in DRY conditions people would have been stuck there for a few hours so not sure what else could have been done.

You want to blame the City, okay, DEFINITELY blame them for all my friends who STILL don't have their side streets cleared yet (2 days later!!!) THAT is something the City should be hung out to dry for.

Snowprah 2011

2011-02-01T22:26:00.000-06:00

Well, it HAS started and continues to amaze me.

The winds are unbelievable and I just took Wrigley, our 85 lb. golden out for a walk, if that's what you could call it. First, the wind just takes your breath away. The snow felt like needles slicing through my face.

We are also having what they are calling "thundersnow" which means we're also having lightening and thunder along with all the fun.

What I can't do is estimate how many inches are down. I'm watching the news and they have totals of anywhere from 8-12" right now. What the hell are they using to measure? The sidewalk leading to our front door has zero inches thanks to 50 mph wind gusts. The end of our driveway looks like it has 8" or so.

So I still don't know what to make of this. I can definitively say that any thoughts I had about making 3-4 attempts to snowblow the driveway to keep up with the accumulation are gone. It would be an epic waste of gasoline.

So it means I can rest easily tonight and just wake up in the morning to assess the situation. Don't get me wrong, it's potentially deadly out there. No visibility at all, brutal wind gusts, and really messy roads.

Snowprah has her own channel

2011-01-31T21:25:00.003-06:00

So this is supposedly one of the storms of all snow storms headed our way over the next two days.

Usually I make fun of the weather personalities in our town but when I want the real schizznit, I only follow ONE man, Tommy Skilling of WGN.

He's saying 14-18 inches for most of the area (2-4 tonight, 12-14 tomorrow night) with an additional 6 for SE side of Chicago and NW Indiana. He's not just a pretty make-up job waving a sexy body in front of the screen, NO, he's the real deal weatherman folks. Nevermind that his brother was one of the big guys taken down in the Enron scandal, this one has kept his nose clean and is truly dedicated to his craft!

Fear not, I'm prepared for this, just like I am for any mega snow storm. I saw that they've posted the top 5 snowfalls of all time in Chicago. I've been alive for 3 of them:

23.0" - Jan 26-27, 1967 (I have pix of me in a child carrier on top of a huge snowpile, I was almost 7 months old
21.6 - Jan 1-3, 1999 (yeah, after a hearty new year's day drunken debauchery, I remember running down the middle of Broadway in Chicago with no cars anywhere to be found and falling on my back and doing snow angels, I think in front of Ann Sather's)
19.2 - Mar 25-26, 1930 (hell, even before my Dad was born)
18.8 - Jan 13-14, 1979 (the one that cost Michael Bilandic the Mayoral race in Chicago, enter Jane Byrne)
16.2 - Mar 7-8, 1931 (wow March in the '30s was brutal, must have been global warming!!!)

So we'll have to see where this one falls, literally. Some weather personalities are claiming upwards of two feet, yerrright.

I think the thing that'll be worse about this one is the massive winds that are supposed to accompany it. As I arrived home this evening, they were howling at around 20-25 mph and they are only supposed to get worse. That could make the drifting as high as 2.5-3.0 feet, even with only 14-16 inches, so we'll see.

India continues to take shape

2011-01-28T03:27:00.000-06:00

Well, I go for round two of the shots today.

Not too thrilled about that, however I am encouraged that it took less than a week for the Indian Consulate here in Chicago to process my Visa and get it back to me.

I've also finally chosen a hotel for my 2.5 day side excursion to New Delhi as well as booked my train tickets to and from Agra so that I can go see the Taj Mahal and the Agra Fort.

I didn't skimp on the hotel and am staying at the InterContinental at Nehru Place (jackets not required ;-p)

I will truly get to experience the two extremes of India train travel. Going, I'm traveling in one of the top classes (AC Executive Chair Class) but my return is in Sleeper Class. The difference in class of travel is staggering considering the price for each; $18 versus $3.80 and it promises to be very interesting.

3 hours each way so that will give me plenty of time to take it all in. I had to book the lower class return (gets back at 5:20pm) otherwise I wouldn't get back to Delhi until 9:15pm only to have to head directly to the Airport for my flight home (Leaves at 1:20 am). God forbid there was any delay on the train, I'd be fighting for my way home and based on a few sources I've chatted with, Indian trains aren't necessarily known for their timeliness.

Exteriors

Interiors

They look the same from the outside, but ohhhh what a difference inside. Maybe it's good I'm getting the shots :-) But I will have my trusty backpack in tow, carrying the essentials. Sadly it's not the one I used for my extensive Europe trips as that one finally died a miserable death.

It's amazing that once I look at my agenda, I've realized how little time I truly have in India outside of the work schedule but I am going to squeeze every ounce/gram out of the free time I have.

Still have to figure out what I want to do on the Friday in New Delhi as well as the Monday in Hyderabad but I have time for that as there's no train travel or anything that I have to worry about.

A 3 year old's mind

2011-01-20T03:58:00.000-06:00

So last night when I was putting Aidan to bed, I had another interesting exchange with him.

Prior to bedtime he was particularly naughty. I won't go into details but let's just say that instead of staying up for another 45 minutes it was straight to bed time.

There were lots of tears and not wanting Daddy to put him to bed, but once we got settled down and I started to read it got interesting.

One of the books I was reading to him was based off of The Incredibles movie which is one that we have not seen. Bob, the Dad, at one point blew off someone named Buddy. Years later Buddy turned into an evil genius named Syndrome and tried to exact his revenge against Bob and his family.

Bob

Buddy

Syndrome

Aidan repeated to me that Buddy was a child when the initial incident happened and that now that he had "grown up" he turned into a "bad guy".

He asked me if "Buddy had been bad to his Mommy and Daddy".
I said "yes".
He then asked me if "Buddy had been bad to his doggie too".
I said "yes"
He immediately projected Buddy onto himself and his evening's actions.
He then told me that he didn't want to be like Buddy and that he wanted to grow up to be a good superhero. (remember, we're in this massive Batman/Spiderman phase right now)
I told him that "that is a great idea" and that "we want you to grow up and be a good superhero too"

He then let me finish the book.

It's good to see that he's recognizing his bad behaviors and then wants to make amends for what he's done.

Who knows, maybe someday WILL be a good superhero. We can only allow him to keep living his dreams.

India plans progressing

2011-01-20T03:32:00.001-06:00

So yesterday my process of getting all plans sorted for my trip to India continued.

Airlines are now booked. I'm flying business class Air India from O'Hare to Delhi to Hyderabad. We don't have to get off the plane in Delhi which makes this an 18 hour trip.

Hotel is the Taj Krishna Hyderabad and the only pictures I can really find of the place all are taken from the pool area so here you go.

It looks like a huge hotel and it's only about 4 miles from the airport which is good since we get in around 8:00pm and then will have to negotiate customs, etc.

On the way back though, I'm going to stop in Delhi and spend two days sightseeing based out of there. To get from Hyderabad to Delhi I'm flying on Kingfisher Airlines.

Now, I know they make a pretty decent beer as I've had it COUNTLESS times at all my favorite Indian restaurants, but I wonder what kind of airline they are? Well, based on the pictures of the owner who looks like a cross between Richard Branson and, well, the kinda guys you find in big-time dance clubs in NYC, I'm thinking it's gonna be a pretty rockin' two-hour flight.

Yeah baby, let's party!

I have my first trip to the doctor on Friday to determine which sets of shots I'm going to need and scheduling when I'm supposed to get them. I also have to book my hotel in Delhi at some point as well. Anyone have any suggestions?

Countdown has begun and it's now only 37 days until I leave. Stay tuned!

The Chicago Way

2011-01-18T00:53:00.000-06:00

Well, if you haven't heard there's gonna be a little football game that people won't pay much attention to on Sunday here in Chicago. Yerrrrrrrrright.

Of course, the rhetoric between the two fan bases is at an all-time high and frankly, for the NFL, and sorry to the folks in New York and Pittsburgh, this IS the match-up of the post-season that likely will overshadow the final game two weeks later.

The Chicago Staley Bears are a three point dog to the Green Bay ACME Packers. They've met 179 times in the regular season (91-83-5 Bears) but only ONCE in the playoffs (Bears 33-14). The last time that happened was December 14th, 1941, just seven days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

These two organizations represent 18% of the Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees (47 out of 260) and the names out of this rivalry are those that are the bedrock of Professional Football in America.

Halas, Lambeau, Lombardi, Grange, Hutson, Luckman, Ditka, Nitschke, Hornung, Butkus, Nagurski, Starr, Blanda, McGee, Sayers, Lofton, Payton, Singletary, Reggie White, McMahon, and that number 4 fella who has a problem with his mobile phone. Hell most of these guys have football awards that are given annually named after them especially Halas and Lombardi.

To be honest, it's been rare the number of years where both teams actually were really good. Normally, when one team is good the other stinks it up. In fact only 13 times over 90 years have they finished either tied or within 1 win of each other and with .500+ records. Only 4 of those times, both teams were in the playoffs (1941, 1994, 2001, 2010) and as mentioned, only once did they meet.

So yes, we should relish this upcoming battle for what it is, a very rare and special event that will allow one side bragging rights for a long, long time. The prize, a trip to Dallas to see Jerry Jones' small wiener compensating edifice. Death to any telemarketer who calls a home in Wisconsin or Illinois on Sunday afternoon.

I won't get into the east coast biases of the major sports networks but at least this game gets the proper coverage it should have, up against no other NFL game. Let the world stop and watch the greatest and oldest rivalry in American Football. I've already had messages from friends in England, Germany and Australia letting me know that they can't wait to see it.

In closing, just remember.... It's the Chicago Way!

You are your Father's Son

2011-01-13T23:32:00.000-06:00

I'm sure many men have heard this as a phrase that basically says "you've grown up to be just like your Dad", which, depending on the family dynamic and your own situations could be a good thing or a bad thing.

As objectively as I can be, I can say that when it comes to passion for work, passion for family and core values, I did grow up to be my "Father's Son".

Where I didn't was in the fact that I don't want to get out of bed on EVERY given morning, I'm a technology geek (which is mostly just generational), I'm relatively A-D-D, my music tastes are radically different, and our political views are quite divergent. Maybe those last two are related ;-p

But that's where the pay-it-forward generational fun happens.

Aidan has quickly adopted the "mornings suck" attitude that his Daddy has embraced since, well, as long as I can freaking remember.
He also has his candy addiction "jones" on very early in life, probably earlier than I did but then again, it's MY addiction he's carrying on so access to it is much easier than it was for me as a child.
He already loves his technology. Not only did he know how to swipe his finger on an iPod Touch just shy of two years old to flip through pictures, for Christmas he got his very own first digital camera. Below are two pictures that he took along with a picture of the camera. He can frame it well, but he's still moving his hands quite a bit so most of the pictures are Dali-esque.


Blurry Daddy or Daddy's normal look circa 1985	Extreme close-up of Wrigley

So I think we all know this happens but being more aware of it at this point keeps me on my toes. Some of his mannerisms are very much like mine and he cracks us up with his "overacting" at time when he's trying to make a point.

I love him to bits.

Here's a shot from December of the three generations of LoCicero men. Damn we're smokin' hot! ;-)

I put Hyderabad into my GPS...

2011-01-12T02:59:00.001-06:00

...and my cyber-bitch said "I can only take you to the airport, the rest is on your own".

So at the end of February/beginning of March I will be taking a business trip to Hyderabad, India. We have some fairly large operations there and our parent company is sponsoring an Operations Conference.

When I first heard, of course, my thoughts go to being away from my family and being really FAR from my family for about a week, especially since we're going to be on personal vacation for just about the two weeks just before this.

Then my thoughts went to the almost 18 hours in the air it's going to take to get there and I wondered if I would go stir crazy on either leg of the trip.

I've long been used to the eight hours to mainland Europe but on the last couple of trips I found myself getting very antsy about five hours in. What in the world will I do for 18 hours? You can only watch so many movies, listen to so much iPod, sleep so much. Truth be told, I'm a horrible worker on a plane. I can never get comfortable enough to work on my laptop plus I usually don't have an electrical outlet near me and for some reason the work laptop's batteries only last about two hours at max!

But eventually it has sunk in how fortunate I am to work for a company who wanted me at this conference and feel that my presence there is important to our longer term strategy and plans.

I'm also excited to take a day or two for personal excursions. I'm not sure what all is around Hyderabad or even how close some of the favorite tourist spots are yet. If you haven't taken a look at it in awhile, it's a massively huge country. It's the seventh largest country (land area) in the world and the second largest by population. On the Southern end it looks like there's some prime relaxation near a massive coastline and a short hop, skip and jump over to Sri Lanka. Of course, to the North, you're heading up near Nepal and Pakistan. What will NOT be lost on me is how close I'll be to Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq and as an American these are important spots in my lifetime.

Today we got a list of things we need to get done before we even THINK about heading to India. Need to get a visa (what? MasterCard isn't good enough? I keed!) and so I have to submit my passport, copy of my driver's license, money (of course), 2 more passport-type photos, letters from my employer, our operations in India as well as a legal firm who works with the Indian consulate to get all this stuff done, oh and a short power of attorney-type statement for that firm.

And if the paperwork don't kill ya', I gots to go and get me a whole bunch of shots (not the Jägermeister kind either!) to ward off whatever ails me or what CAN ail me.

So hey, if anything, there's gonna be some good blogging material over the next couple of months, plus loads of pictures!! Stay tuned!

Negotiations with a dog

2011-01-10T00:46:00.001-06:00

He did it again.

That son of ours had us cracking up right at dinner time last night.

He came over to the table and both of us were in the main part of the kitchen. He had left a whole bucket worth of toys on the floor in the family room.

We asked him to pick them up because if he left them on the floor, Wrigley, our 85 lb. Golden would go chew them up. We reminded him that recently she gnawed off the arm of the Little People™ Fireman when he left it out.

To which he responded by looking straight at Wrigley and saying, "Wrigley, you promise not to eat up my toys okay?". He then answered for her saying yes and then looked at us and said "Wrigley promised not to eat my toys".

How could you not laugh? Of course, other famous people have heard their dogs talk to them. The Son of Sam comes to mind. Okay, KIDDING!!

What a fantastic way to justify not having to pick up toys. My kid's a hell of a negotiator, but we knew this already the way he upsells each request for candy/cookies/gummies on a regular basis.

POW! BAM! @%&# ZONK!

2011-01-07T01:04:00.000-06:00

Well, the joys of Aidan turning three has involved his intense desire to live, breathe and act as Batman.

We really had no idea where this came from other than at school where the other little boys may have gotten into the superhero genre a bit earlier thanks to older brothers. In fact, Aidan's buddy/nemesis at school is almost always wearing Spiderman clothes and the amount of fake web shooting out of our wrists at home has been at an all-time high for the last 3-4 months. (This of course took me instantly back to 4th grade at Fairview School and playing with Kyle Bernsten and Stan-can't remember his last name on the playground doing the same exact thing....hmm, the Circle of Life)

But a Batman Cave was top of the list for Aidan when telling Santa what he wanted for this year and lo' and behold, he was just good enough for Ol' St. Nick to come through.

But this has really been a nice throwback for me as not only do we DVR The Batman cartoon on Boomerang (Cartoon Network) which is an updated flashy, but not as dark as Batman Beyond, but we also DVR the original Batman TV series from the 60's.

I remember always making time to catch Batman on either WGN or WFLD when I got home from school. Now I'm making time for when Aidan gets home from school. It still amazes me at the big named talent that they would get to play villains on that show given it's campy format. I usually take a look at what's going to play for the week and then choose which sets of 2 (remember, most of them were always 2 half-hour episodes with the cliff-hanger in between) we're going to record.

I happened to see that early next week they are going to run the ones with Chandell (Liberace) who plays a concert pianist who tries to woo Aunt Harriet to get her fortune.

This likely will not be one for Aidan, it'll move too slow and he won't get it but since there were only 2 episodes, it'll be a great one for me.

At this point, Aidan mostly likes the loud/obnoxious villains who are also more of the "major" ones like Joker, Penguin, Riddler and Catwoman. He also has recently become aware of Mr. Freeze but mostly because of the cartoon version we see. Somehow these capture his attention more than the cerebral villains like Bookworm, Mad Hatter, King Tut and Egghead.

In a weird way, I'm wondering how Aidan's countless Sheriff Woody characters are dealing with the arrival of several Batmans?

Lastly, Aidan does a bit of association with lists or items I think mostly for memory but also to prove to us he can remember things. For example, quite some time ago he got interested in what our favorite colors are and he was very proud that he could always remember each of our colors.

For Batman, he's assigned each of us one of the Batman characters for role play. He, of course, is Batman (there was even discussion tonight, 10 months in advance, that he'd be Batman for Halloween next year). I am the youthful ward/boy wonder Robin, Mary Kay is the Catwoman, my Dad is Joker and my Mom is Penguin. Quite the crew the lot of us.

Until my next post, stayed tuned, same bat-time, same bat-channel......

Manly tears of joy

2010-12-01T23:45:00.000-06:00

Aidan (my almost 3-year old son) and I have a typical Dad/Son relationship....as if we were 54 and 13 respectively.

There are times, even at this young age (his not mine), that we butt heads, HARD. Neither of us will give in until Mommy steps in and calls a truce. Sure, we both say "sorry" later and leave things on a high note, but we're already in this pattern that we have to break at some point soon. Maybe it's the Italian blood (my 50% and his 25%) but I doubt it.

And then there's a day like today.

He made a special effort (after being a holy terror/meltdown mode to both Mommy and Daddy last night) to come up to me this morning and say good morning and give me a hug. Sure he proceeded to run right back to Mommy for the rest of the morning routine but there's this maturity level in him, scarily, that he's recognizing that he was not good and he wants to make up for it.

But that was only the start of it. By a stroke of luck, I called Mary Kay and told her that I was leaving work and that, instead of her running to get him from school, that I'd do it. She was buried in work and it was going to be a help to her as well so it worked out for both of us.

I got to school and he ran to me full speed (I fear every time that he's going to trip and face-plant on the tile even though he doesn't). He was super excited to tell me that he took his nap today (this, after two days of NOT doing so, thus the meltdown last night) AND that he listened to his teachers.

Quick side-note: As his birthday is Saturday, he's going through a transition at school as he 'graduates' from the 2½-3 year old class to the much larger 3-4 year old class. Transitions usually run pretty smoothly but he's going from a class size of 8 to a class size of 16-20 and he's actually sort of a shy kid, but as an only child he loves to compete for the attention because he gets so much at home. So he spends ½ a day in his current room and ½ a day in the new room for 1-2 weeks and then makes the final move. These changes do mess with his discipline to take his naps and listen to his teachers, so the daily reminders each morning are very important for him to prove to us when we pick him up. He actually looked at his new teacher (Miss Kristy) and asked her to confirm that he did, in fact, listen to her today.

So then we went over to his cubby hole to get his coat, hat, gloves, and his daily report (tells us what he ate, what he learned, when he napped and did his bathroom duties) and he reached right in and grabbed out a drawing he did today. He gave it to me and proudly proclaimed "It's for you daddy!"

I was sort of surprised because he's never really drawn anything for me specifically, it's usually been for Mommy or his Nana or Grandma. So I asked him almost incredulously "Are you sure it's for me?".

His response had a tone that almost sounded like he was offended by my doubt "Yeah, for you, it's a doggy."

Well I'll be damned, it DID look like a doggy.

I was sort of dumbfounded. But I gave him a big hug and said thank you.

Later on, as he was getting ready to head upstairs for bed (we alternate nights and tonight was Mommy's turn) I thanked him again for the picture of the doggy and asked him if it was okay if I brought it into work to put up on my desk (he's been to my office a couple times and loves seeing all the pictures of him and all the cars I have on my desk)

"Sure Daddy" and everything in the world seemed to be perfect.

One Last NYC bit

2010-09-23T11:35:00.000-05:00

So after a day full of meetings on Tuesday a few of us headed out for a quick drink right by our offices.

The first place we tried to go to was called Live Bait, which, for many reasons rung a bell in this feeble old mind of mine but I couldn't place where. It's right on the south end of Madison Square Park and looking like it belonged on a pier in the ocean somewhere in Florida.

Very fitting that there's Coca-Cola logos on the sign by the way, but I digress.

It was literally heaving with people/youngsters/hipsters. It's part BBQ and part Raw Bar which would have been fun but alas, the three of us 40-somethings decided to go somewhere we could sit and talk and we went around the block to a place called Almond's which was very nice, but that's not important right now.

It bugged me as to why LiVE bAit stuck in my head and so the minute I got back to my hotel room (which was the one that cost $492.10 per night before taxes thanks to the U.N. being in session....damn diplomats) I cranked up the Internets and started Googling my backside off.

Found loads of reviews, fan pages, etc., but it was on about page 4 of the Google Search that I found it. Like the scene in cartoons where the skies part, the heavenly angels music plays and the lights shines down upon you there it was.

Yes, just upstairs from this jumpin' joint was where, in late 1972, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and Peter Criss had auditions for a lead guitarist for their band Wicked Lester which of course went on to become "You wanted the best, You GOT the best, KISS". This is where Ace Frehley showed up and three weeks later, was in the band.

Love this and had to take a picture.

Back in the New York Groove

2010-09-22T12:35:00.001-05:00

Empire State Bldg viewed from Madison Square Park

Well, it's NOT been "many years since I was here" since I was here in February, but definitely "to the left and to the right, buildings towering to the sky". (ht to KISS)

I'm in NYC on business and before I came my curiosity was piqued on why my hotel room was $500 a night. I even updated my FB status on the day I booked expressing my outrage but I knew when I booked that hotel rooms were very limited. Until I landed here, I had no reason why even joking that since I was a week late for Fashion Week (cuz I gots no sense in dose matters) it surely had nothing to do with that.

Ahhh, the UN is in session!! Yep, international diplomats with their Cadillac Escalades, NYPD escorts and loaded with knowledge that if they kill someone, they can leave our country without spending a minute in prison. This morning I awake to find out that President Obama will be coming into town tonight both for a UN session and for a fundraiser. So add to the Escalades, a few more fully-leaded limousines and a whole bunch of guys with their hands to their ears.

This IS what makes NYC the center of democracy and business!!

Last night while I was walking home from dinner with some of my co-workers I looked up between some buildings and saw that it was a full moon as well. Perfect. In spite of the wackiness going on in the city over near 44th and 1st things seem normal.

There are two really beautiful churches around the corner of 5th and 29th and I've walked by them for two consecutive nights, stopping to really take them in. I'm not a very religious person anymore but I do believe in some higher spirit and power.

First is Marble Collegiate Reformed Church, which is where Norman Vincent Peale was a minister for a very long time. In fact 29th there is called the Honorary Norman Vincent Peale Way. You're immediately struck by the very well lit stained glass above the main entrance and how bright it shines at night. It's intentional but it sure does make you stop, especially when it's butted up against a huge building right next door. Also, last night I finally went right up to the wrought-iron fence and looked at the yellow ribbons that were tied on. They commemorate all American victims of the Iraq War, which did give a moment of chill to the spine. Thanks to Google and Wikipedia I've learned that both Liza Minelli and Lucille Ball were married there (in one of their many marriages between them). Here's a nice shot of it thanks to Google Images.

The second church is literally right around the corner on 29th (b/w 5th and Madison) and is the Church of the Transfiguration, aka Little Church Around the Corner paying homage to the fact that, well, there's the one above which probably gets more visitors and famous people. It's quaint and set back off the street almost as if there's a small garden in front of it. I would imagine back in the mid 1800's, it fit right in, but now with all the massive steel and cement, it's like this little refuge of peace. Looks like it took favor with actors and artists back then too as other churches refused to allow them in. Heck, if Jack McCoy from TV's Law & Order can get married there in real life, then it's gotta be a nice place too. However, thanks to the Internets, I have now found out why its very garden-like. There is a small burial ground on site which has about 60 people there, a fair amount of them actors/artists. As recently as 2006 someone was entombed. Okay here's a few pix (again not taken by me as it's nighttime when I'm walking by and cellphones only do a fair job.

So that's about it for now from NYC. I really wanted to go to a restaurant called Hill Country because it looks like they literally move up here from Austin, Texas to do 'que right but I was over-ruled. So much for my pull between my co-workers. I bet if any of my Austin friends where here, it would have been a full-on fight to go there and see if they've captured the true Texas Hill Country flavor. They have live music from Tue-Sat so they got that part right!! There's always next time!

AC0265102

2010-09-15T09:27:00.001-05:00

Although the sign outside of Right Field doesn't get changed until the last day of the season, and frankly who knows if it will still be there next year as I heard the rooftop company who runs it is in bankruptcy, I will formally change the Anno Catuli on my blog to the next set of numbers since as of late Monday night with the Cincinnati win (ugh Dusty), the Cubs were eliminated from post season play.

Props to my buddy over at Aisle 424 who summed up the reaction to things around the ballpark by the fanbase this way. Yep it seems we've cared more about a Toyota sign, moving the Harry Caray statue to outside the bleachers to make way for the Billy Williams statue which appropriately is in right, and a promotional noodle. But this happens when, even before the year started, we knew the product on the field was going to be lacking.

I'm FREQUENTLY accused of being the "angry fan" but it's not anger people, it's reality. Most of my close friends know that even at the height of the most recent Bears/Packers venom years (80's) I was realistic enough to know when we didn't have a team and humble enough to appreciate the years where we did. ..and yeah, you friends of mine on the South Side know the same as well.

I know the Ricketts are solid "fans" and successful "businessmen" but putting the marriage of those two terms together is an extremely difficult challenge no matter how much money you have and how brilliant everyone thinks you are.

I think their lack of immediate baseball "corporate" knowledge has them clinging on to the Jim Hendry's of the world and unfortunately it's something the fanbase will have to tolerate for another year or so.

I just hope they don't drink the Kool-Aid so much so that they rely heavily on every single person around them right now. Most of them are clinging on for dear life for their jobs. They will 'yes' their way to the Ricketts on every decision and try to sell them their own version of what the future looks like.

If they are the shrewd business people they are, they WILL see through this and not sign anyone either in the corporation or on the field to very long term contracts right now INCLUDING the new Manager. They need the flexibility to move quickly and not be hampered by tied up financials (which is exactly what they've inherited). Time will tell, but I will keep the faith in them.

It's no secret I really wanted Mark Cuban to own the team and with that you get the fiery owner with all of its carnival show but he still hasn't delivered a championship in Dallas yet although he's been awfully close. But fiery owners get shut down by the majority of others and find trouble in league matters. Ditka (not an owners but fiery) found this out in New Orleans and over time Steinbrenner changed up his tactics to bring the Yankees back to success.

But if this is a eulogy of sorts on the 2010 season, I can't stand up there and say how bright and talented it was or how we will miss it so much it'll hurt our hearts or how it can never be replaced. It stunk, I hated it and I'll be glad in 20-something days when its finally over. Bury it, put it on a wood raft, set it on fire and send it out into the ocean.

"Year Two" already started (bet you forgot that 2010 was a new "Year One") when Lou stepped down. We need positive action and momentum and we'll all be watching.

We have some form of football (ugh) and an almost entirely new Blackhawks team to look forward to.

International Travel & Food Adventures, Part II

2010-09-09T19:46:00.001-05:00

Well, unfortunately my last evening in the UK had me going down the burger route again. The problem with staying at a hotel literally inside of Heathrow is that there's no where to go without spending a fortune on taxi fare, so alas, we ate here in the Sheraton Hotel.

I'm assuming that the custom-made burger craze (here), (here) and (here) is starting to gather some steam outside of the US, however the execution of that fails miserably amongst the business traveler hotels.

I didn't get any choices, the "create your own" was already done on the menu and there were about three options in total.
This concept fails when you have chuk-chuk the caveman burning the burger, the base of the creation, to it's miserable death back in the kitchen

That said it had the makings of a good idea especially if you are on the Atkins diet. Burger, topped with a chicken breast, topped with bacon (English bacon, so basically Canadian Bacon), topped with cheese all on one of those Bap buns (see yesterday's post or click on link). I took it upon myself to top it off with some brown sauce.

Sadly the burger was dense and medium well/dry as hell. Everything on top of it was stellar. How I was yearning for a Lamb Kofta burger again!

So anyway, I catch the shuttle bus into the Heathrow Terminal in three and a half hours and then it's breakfast inside the airport. I have high hopes for that and will report back later.

International Travel & Food Adventures

2010-09-08T19:05:00.000-05:00

Although I'm in the midst of a 4-week travel hell tour of the world (only being outdone by friend Tom Paul who will earn airline status in a period of 4 weeks!!) the one thing I always love about traveling internationally is the chance to experience "new foods" or rather foods that I normally wouldn't see on an American menu and that tickle my fancy.

The last two nights have seen some fun choices which I'm happy to share with you.

Last night I had a starter called "Duck Pancakes". I threw caution to the wind and didn't even ask what they were. One could envision big American style pancakes with duck embedded but what arrived was really a 'build your own' taco/wrap with pulled duck breast meat, small pastry type 'shells' and a wonderful Hoisin sauce to dip them in. The only knock was that the wrap was too doughy and broke up too easily once stuffed with the ducky goodness and dipped into the sauce. All in all though, a really nice surprise and a good contrast to the typical Fish & Chips and mushy peas that I ordered.

Tonight, I tried a Lamb Kofta burger which was the bomb!! It was a great re-purposing of what traditionally is a kabob. The seasonings were done just right. Normally a kofta has things like garlic, ginger and cardamom but I think I tasted some clove in there as well. One of the drawbacks of it was that the bun was a really dense Bap bread.

Stupid me now has a phone that can take pictures but did I take one (of EITHER food)?? No, so here are two images, one of a Bap bun and one of Lamb Kofta. You do the photoshopping in your head okay?

The frustrating thing about this is that when I get back stateside I end up having a craving for something like this and can't find it worth a lick. This happened in 2004 when I had pleasure of eating a combination of two of my most favorite foods, Indian and Italian with a Chicken Tikka Pizza in Edinburgh, Scotland. Call it a desperate cry for decent food when the local fare isn't that hot, but I've been talking about that pizza ever since!!

Can't wait to see what my final night brings for dinner! Tomorrow I'm heading back to London as my flight home is ridiculously early in the morning on Friday. London opens up many doors, unfortunately, I'm housed right next to Heathrow and so that'll limit anything of true quality, maybe...

What a week!!

2010-08-28T00:09:00.001-05:00

This was an incredibly tough week at work. So much so that I'm not even going to talk about it ;-p

I also was battling a sinus infection which was killer. Thanks to Doc Mercado (he's from Bolivia and is a great MD), I got some instant meds which took about 24 hours to kick in and I'm almost back to normal.

That was key for the week though as I'm traveling for the next four weeks solid for work. I've been told that flying with a sinus infection is one of the most dangerous things out there and that wouldn't have been fun.

Last Sunday we stopped for lunch at the re-born Tastee-Freez on Rte 31 in North Aurora. When I first moved out here in '98, it was on its last legs and ended up closing that summer. Since then it's had several attempts at quick drive-in food but mostly has been a closed, vacant building over the last 12 years.

Yummy-tummy as Aidan says. They have expanded their flavors of soft-serve and the types of treats you can get. Aidan had a small strawberry/vanilla twist in a cup, MK had strawberry, chocolate dipped and I had their version of the DQ Blizzard called a Freezee with Reese's Pieces.

I'm glad they are back. It adds some more character to that entrance to our fine Village. There's a lot of "scary" looking buildings over there but a healthy TIF district combined with some new businesses and a brand new Police Station set to open in September are good positive signs in a crappy economy that there's hope.

So the next four weeks see me in the lovely destinations of Atlanta, Warwick (England), back to Atlanta and then off to New York City. Between the first two is a quick Labor Day weekend at my in-laws cottage in Michigan where I hope we have great weather. There's also a looming trip to Fairfield, CT (yes, get excited all my FFD peeps, it's been TOO LONG since I've been there) either in the FIFTH week or the week after but that won't be confirmed for awhile.

I'm going to try to enjoy my weekend, but I'm also very conscious that I'm going to be away from my adorable son too too much over the next four weeks. Makes all the days I'm with him that much more special.

Louuuuuuuu! It continues to be a Way of Life

2010-08-23T16:25:00.000-05:00

It was only fitting on Sunday that I got news that Lou was going to manage his last game for the Cubs while in the bathroom, taking care of business, sitting down.

It was interesting to see how quickly Shite Sox fans started posting that "the Cubs were so bad, even their manager doesn't want to stay" without realizing that in fact, his Mom continues to be ill and isn't getting any better. Yep, that's right, continue to deflect the crumbling of your own hopes back to the North Side hoping people will just continue to ignore what's happening with the Mouth on the Southside, Ozzie.

I know everyone is always quick to crucify the manager of a club when they don't perform, and definitely there were times where Lou made bad decisions, but if the problem isn't any bigger than the old Torco sign to spot, the organization failed him.

I do truly believe he was the right man for the right job. But when he was saddled with having to play high-paid failures like Soriano, Bradley and Fukudome as well as the pressure to validate the "farm system" by having, (who my fave Cub Blogger Aisle 424 calls something similar to the midget circus of gnomes up the middle) Theriot and Fontenot TOOTBLAN their way through games, then it's obvious he was continually asked to make soufflé out of sawdust.

Warning! Rare compliment towards the NY Yankees forthcoming!

It says a lot about an organization that year after year they can produce high-quality individuals when it comes to running/managing ballclubs. I'm sure everyone can point to horrible examples from the Bronx Bombers, but there is a culture built around winning and not accepting mediocrity and that does transcend downward to the managers and players (who might eventually become managers). Every time Lou Pinella took the reigns of another club, it was likely related to the fact that he played, coached and was GM for a winner. After the Yankees, he took that success to Cincinnati and Seattle and then found out what it was like to try to manage a team that had no clue how to win in Tampa Bay. I really do think he saw the ability of ownership with deep pockets and a somewhat loose plan on how to build a winner with the Cubs. Hell, we did and that wasn't just by drinking the Kool-Aid.

The sadness here is that the Cubs have continued to look at the Yankees and say "Hey, they spend well above the salary caps and look at them!" but there has to be multiple layers of support beneath that for it to happen which includes quality talent evaluation, not being wimpy during Free Agent contact talks and strength 'down on the farm'. The Cubs seriously have done a relatively good job of the 3rd item, but the first two continue to bite them in the backside and when they are combined (Fuku/Bradley/Kevin Gregg) they are left with poor performers with monster contracts who they can't move OR when they move them, they have to still pay the salary.

Cub 'nation' is saddled with the 2nd highest payroll in MLB along with the 2nd highest ticket prices and we still have as many World Series trophies as we did in the 50's!!

This does keep coming back to Jim Hendry. Sure he was the GM during the 2003 year, but he had only been in the position for less than a year and it wasn't totally his doing. Yes, he worked in the organization since '95, but he was successful at the talent evaluation from colleges/high schools and had built a decent farm system which still exists today. No one is convinced STILL that he has the right talent to be a GM and make the big calls. The Ricketts' bold statements that he's still the man and will lead the search for a new Manager and will stay as GM makes every Cub fan nervous that the new owners are over their heads here and instead of understanding baseball, they are drooling at the revenue glut that is the Cubs and Wrigley Field, even if they went deep into debt to buy them.

We've yet to see a move by the Ricketts that shakes us to our core and says "Hey, here's some people fed up with these losing ways and are demanding excellence". It's just more of the same, very similar to the McCaskey's with the Bears or the days of Dollar Bill Wirt$ with the Hawks. See, the Ricketts have had to follow the comeuppance of Rocky Wirtz, someone who felt the pain of the fans (even as his own Father inflicted it upon us) and so the people of Chicago are watching.

Sadly, Lou was beaten down by the system and that combined with family matters has had him quite abruptly leave the organization. For a man who has lived baseball and excelled, this is bittersweet, I'm sure. Thanks to the guys on the field yesterday for totally hacking that up by the way. At least Lou could make 5 or 6 trips to the mound to get standing o's. Nice way to send him off boys.

Everyone's gettin' paid but US!!

2010-08-20T00:33:00.000-05:00

So I thought it a little odd that I got an email from ComEd the other day. Sure, they have my email address as a customer but frankly they don't send out much email.

Imagine my shock when I read it and they were actually offering up help!!

Hey, that's mighty white of them especially at a time in our economy when most people haven't had a raise in two years and HELL a lot of people don't even have jobs. I mean, some big corporation (Exelon) who has made profit over the last two years, looking to help us little folks out to ensure that instead of having to eat gruel, we can spend a little more to get those Fruit Loops we've wanted (well, new ones that weren't part of the recall, right?)

Here's a screenshot of their offer (click on it to make bigger):

The ComEd worker looks like a proctologist just waiting to ram that thing up your backside, eh?

Yep, we're seeing higher bills due to higher electricity usage to keep our homes cool.

Wait. What? We're also seeing higher bills thanks to an increase in rates back in July, right?

So on top of their nifty stat that customers are using 12% more electricity than last year due to the massive heat waves, we're doing so at an 11% increase in rate. To top that off, back at the end of June they also asked for an increase for 2011 of 7%

As my Junior High Spanish Teacher, Miss Asa used to say "Awww pobrecito". You're being so generous to us while having your way...

Yeah, thanks, but no thanks

{click, delete, delete forever}

The Encore, why the delay?

2010-08-19T01:24:00.001-05:00

Okay, so I've pretty much been out of the "concert circuit" for some time now. Maybe only attending one show a year.

Last year it was AC/DC, this it's Jimmy Buffett last Saturday night.

I'm struggling with the ego stroke that is saying goodnight, walking off the stage and then coming back on for an encore after letting all the drunks/crazies yell and clap and bang the seats to a deafening roar.

Yes I know this is more or less tradition but it's always hilarious to hear some sudsed-up knuckle head say "Do you think they are going to come back out?"

Yes, they are coming back out, the house lights aren't up yet or haven't you noticed
If people cheer or don't, they probably are STILL coming back out, although I've heard several tales from the Stone Temple Pilots where they couldn't come back on because of Weiland's bad drug problems and I personally saw Greg Kihn say "f*ck it" when a crowd of 100 just wouldn't stroke his ego. Well, he had played "Jeopardy" about 3 times during his set, so his material was thin and what the hell could he have played as an encore anyway?
It's also long been used so that they can wipe down and dry off, but do you really need to for 2 or 3 more songs that you're going to play?

I think it's funny that no matter how famous they are, their egos are just as fragile as when they were little kids learning how to play and they need the affirmation even if they've been playing for 20+ years on stage.

I don't expect anyone to change this but I just find it puzzling on why some people go batsh*t cheering on their faves *hoping* they are going to come out when, if they are true fans, they know the "key songs" that haven't been played during the night.

I've stopped any/all wild, celebratory demonstration of emotion since the thousands around me will continue and cover me. I guess my few years working in the music business (1990-1992) have just jaded me and it's only JUST catching up with me 18 years later.

Maybe the next time I'm presenting to a client, when I have 2 slides left, I'll say "thanks, goodnight, wave and blow kisses" and walk out of the room only to come back and finish with a bang. yeah, no.

signed,
bitter old rocker outside of Chicago

Holy Crap where have _I_ been??

2010-08-12T23:31:00.000-05:00

Wow, four whole months since I've posted. So what have I been up to?

Well, as part of my new position at work I've been around the world and back, but only via telephone. (If I would have had to fly everywhere it would have taken 5 months to get done what I did in 2). For one of our largest global clients I've been taking a look at how we can better perform operationally.

It's been one of the most enlightening experiences of my life. I've learned so much and probably have the most unique view of where our strengths and vulnerabilities lie across the portfolio of work.

I've conducted over 50+ personal interviews with end clients, client servicing folks and my fellow peeps in operations around the globe. It's meant calls at 7:00am and 8:00pm in order to accommodate the global time clock and it's meant asking some tough questions about when we've had some major screw-ups. But it's also meant celebrating our successes and learning from what we do best.

The hard work begins NOW though as we develop a strategic plan for this global work that'll cover the next three to five years. It also means a lot of high-level presentations of the findings and workshopping of potential solutions.

I'm pretty clear on what the final solutions need to have as key attributes, but it's going to be interesting to see how we can work around some of the totem poles/third rails that exist. It's critical for us to bring a new view to how we engage with clients and how we manage the work they entrust to us.

I'm super excited about this and will probably be pretty cranky right through to October when we present the final report to the client.

Other than work, I've just really been enjoying watching our little man grow into a little boy. At 2 years, 8 months he's got some real attitude and moxy. He knows how to play you to get what he wants and he's the ultimate up-seller. If you tell him he gets to choose 2 books, he immediately says "three", if you tell him he can have a small package of raisins, he wants two. Yeah, this kids is gonna be killer in negotiations. His major attitude though gets him into trouble and he's as pig-headed as his Daddy at times and that's not necessarily a good thing.

I've rarely gotten to any Cubs games this year. Not too broken up about that, figured that this was going to be a throw-away transition year for the new management and clearly knew that since they were saddled with paying massive salaries for a bunch of turds, we'd be lucky to end up at .500.

So that's what I've been doing with my summer, how about you?

I need to re-generate my postings to this blog. I really do enjoy spouting some nonsense most of the time and with how busy we've been, I've just neglected it like an old baseball glove. Speaking of which, we just bought Aidan his first glove (it's so tiny) but that also forced me to dig out my old first-baseman's glove. I'm surprised it still fits on my fat hand, but glad it does. I'm working it back in as the leather sort of seized up over the years of non-usage. I can't wait until he gets a little older as playing catch now is sort of rough but he's getting the hang of it.

Okay, STFU time, I've written enough. Gotta spread this cr*p out so that it looks like I post a lot (har har)

Is that a death rattle I hear?

2010-04-16T13:56:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I know, I go FIVE MONTHS without posting to the blog and the first thing I post is about Burger King.

As previously chatted about here, I've been observing the slow and painful demise of Burger King franchises all around the Midwest. Today, as a few of us went out to lunch in Wheaton I noticed that the BK, which oddly enough is RIGHT NEXT TO (even shares a parking lot with) McDonald's has closed.

So keep up the funny/weird/odd commercials guys, not sure if they're working or not. Clearly in the Western Suburbs of Chicago, it isn't as yet another one bites the dust.

Vending Maching Marketing in a Bad Economy

2009-11-10T11:03:00.001-06:00

Had a very interesting experience yesterday and today.

Since we've moved into our new building at work (October 9th), I hadn't used the food vendo. It doesn't look as inviting as I think they thought it would and frankly, we had more stuff at the old building. But I needed something savory to fill the need and I chose a 50¢ bag of T.G.I.Friday's Potato Skins (crisps) - Cheddar and Bacon flavor.

Printed on the package was a teaser that said "Get 5 bucks off your next restaurant visit". I'm normally a skeptic to these tactics as you usually need to accumulate something like 200 bags worth to get that reward, but when I flipped over the bag, there was an actual coupon for $5 off next visit provided I spent $15. Good for dine-in only, not valid on alcoholic bevs.

Now, I haven't been to a T.G.I.Friday's in probably 5 years, but I'm sure that between two people, you can hit $15 without blinking an eye. To boot, the coupon is good for a YEAR (through October 31, 2010)

So that's quite a return on investment for a bag of chips. But the story doesn't end here.

Without really thinking about it, I passed by the vendo again this morning and just took out 50¢ more and bought another bag. Part of me quite liked them from yesterday and part of me wanted another $5 coupon to share with friends. But when the bag dropped and I pulled it out of the jaws of death machine, there was no coupon.

I stood bewildered wondering what the heck happened and felt a real sense of loss. I looked back into the machine and noticed that there was a bag with the teaser tag about three behind.

In the elevator back up to the sixth floor I started analyzing the whole scenario from a Market Researcher's point of view.

Does the vending company purposely put those bags every nth bag in the machine to drive multiple purchase? (or do they even notice it since usually these are just guys slapping product into machines)
Does T.G.I.Friday's distribution/logistics group only put x-number of bags in each carton that goes to vendo companies?
It seems that this promo might actually just drive someone to buy more product versus driving someone to dine-in, thus driving bigger sales. IS TGIF okay with that or would they consider that a failure.
Is the year expiration date just driven by the cycle of how long it takes the product to be consumed after production?
Does TGIF realize that they do not serve this product specifically in their stores?
Are they trying this strategy on their frozen products that you can buy and make at home or would the perceived value of $5 just be an off-set of the price paid for those products?
Since there is a coupon code on there, I assume they are tracking redemption. So how is it going?

Of course, I also realize that the ROI on my bag of chips from yesterday dropped a bit since I've now spent $1 but it has made me think about going back and trying them. If anything, they've raised my awareness level and almost have driven me to try them again and that, in my business, is a step in the right direction. If you have no relevance to me, then you have no chance of ever getting my brand loyalty, so kudos!!

to clarify: It's not that I don't like them, in fact, I do but we don't eat much at these kinds of places lately, it's just not part of the decision process right now.

Damn, Heroes Jumped the Shark

2009-10-17T13:10:00.011-05:00

Well, they did lose me last season, but Heroes on NBC jumped the shark.

Claire (hero who can immediately heal herself) has violated her Dad's ("HRG", Horn-rimmed glasses) wishes and taken on a friend AND divulged her "secret power".

The friend is enamored with Claire and is starting to show up every place Claire goes and OF COURSE they just had to kiss.

So the character that every nerd/geek/ComicCon attendee lusts after but would never have a chance with in a million years, kissed another girl (but did she like it? ...katy perry)

Most jumping the shark moments come with the addition of a dorky new family member or a move of the entire cast to a new city. But with Heroes, well, they exist globally to begin with so they really only had a few options here and with ratings falling off miserably, they went with the girl-on-girl action to whip everyone's pocket protector into a frenzy.

And NBC knows this was hack because they've even posted THIS on their website which gives you EVERY camera angle of the kiss!! Seriously.

It's a shame really because it was a good show and now, well, they're reaching to try to stay relevant. **click** that was me punching new channel buttons on my remote.

Germ-a-phobes

2009-10-17T01:47:00.000-05:00

Easing into our new office building is almost like dating a new girl. Every day is a new adventure, there's plenty of nooks & crannies to investigate and some days you just get slapped in the face because of something you say.

As I was leaving on Tuesday, I got into the elevator that goes to the underground parking structure and hit P2 (bottom floor). As I did, a woman told me that I should have hit it with my pinky finger or with my jacket as "that whole thing is just full of people's germs".

In the 20 seconds our trip took she continued to school me on how we all need to do our share, blah blah blah...

Since we're still in the early stages of this new building "relationship" I bit my tongue and just nicely told her to have a good evening, but what I really wanted to respond with (and I DID..in my head) would have gone something like this...

"Lady, I've touched a butt-load of elevator buttons in my 43 years on this Earth and I'm still standing here next to you. The days of the bubonic plague are over, there's this stuff called medicine that really does an amazing job of curing what ails you. If you want to go around living your life in fear, feel free, but don't bother trying to 'save' me, I'm doing pretty well."

Look, I totally understand that the H1N1 is out there and that this stuff is serious, but I think the entertainews that we are all fed on a daily basis really has been blowing this stuff up into a plague that is never going to come.

The rules for germs haven't changed in hundreds of years and we've gotten much smarter about them. Wash your hands WELL, take precautions around others who are sick, eat well, and if you're feeling horrible, call your doctor or seek other medical attention.

Phew, got that off my chest. Hey, what's that rash next to my belly button?

Why I'm against Chicago 2016

2009-10-01T17:05:00.000-05:00

I've been ripping on the Chicago 2016 efforts since they first started and although I've shared my views with some, why not post it for the world to see?

What you need to understand about my views on this are that if "we" win or lose, it really won't change my personal life one bit. I'm not actively campaigning against the bid, and won't be crestfallen if we win OR lose. But I believe this shows, once again, that the public can be goaded into supporting even the most idiotic ideas if they are packaged up in slick marketing and salesmanship.

What I can't stand is that everyone keeps talking about "we" with respect to these efforts and the bid. Who really are the "we" that benefit from winning the games?

As has been said thousands of times both from the group making the pitch as well as in the press, they are planning on not spending $1 of tax money on the Olympics. It's a private enterprise.

Now, it's interesting that in order to even stay in competition, the IOC forces host cities/countries to sign a pledge that has massive back-up plans for financing including dipping into public monies. This is because the IOC has to have a guarantee at profit for themselves in order for this to happen. This is why there was a huge uproar when Mayor Daley had to sign it when he was last in front of the IOC when Chicago made the final four. He signed it without getting the backing of the City Council or the Cook County Board FIRST which ultimately is against all of those taxing bodies rules. Checks & Balances be damned, we need this, right?

So let me get back to the elephant in the room. It's a private enterprise. Whether claiming to be a non-profit or not, this means that if awarded, the private company can hire/employee/contract with whomever it wants. Frankly, if I ran a business, I'd want the same and I do not fault the 2016 group one bit, as it's their money they are putting forward.

But as a private enterprise, who then gets the economic benefit? Won't all profits that come in from the Olympics go back into the private enterprise to cover expenses?

There's lots of talk when these bids take place about the economic benefit to the host city/nation. I've been to Barcelona and still see the buildings from 1992 standing, some being used, some not. I'm sure for a small country or one who needs infrastructure, being awarded the games because it's the government pitching for it DOES mean that there will be benefit to the hosts.

Supporters will claim that there will be construction and improvements but the physical changes are not many in the case of Chicago. We have current venues for most activities and the main venue that would be used for the opening and closing ceremonies has been said to be a temporary one and will be taken down after the games. I question whether the much needed improvements to transportation will truly happen and if they do, why did we need the games to justify them? Ridership is down, bus and train lines are being cut left and right and the El trains are horribly old and dangerous. If they haven't been important enough for the City to raise capital to repair for the 6 million plus natural inhabitants, why would they be for the games? The Olympic village for the athletes isn't really as big as people think and will be turned into housing which will be sold for a profit, it will be of no public use after that.

But lets get to the mythical huge influx of money that is always bandied about along with massive increases in tourism to the city both before and after the games. As Rick Bayless said the other day on Twitter, "I worked the LA games and it killed business. Locals left, visitors actually eat and spend money at event sites". He's seen it first hand and later predicts the same will happen here in Chicago.

So once again, even food and beverage spend go back into the private enterprise which hands out contracts to only the closely guarded few. The only benefit I can realistically see is the sales tax and luxury tax that is collected (or should be) on hotel rooms and whatever else is sold. Given we have the highest sales & luxury taxes in the nation this will be somewhat significant, but I challenge anyone to quantify or even be able to parse out this impact on a City or County budget sheet for 2016.

As for the increases in tourism, BAH! Chicago has been a destination city for YEARS thanks to the improvements and changes already made over the years. In spite of losing some conventions due to the high taxes and fees for McCormick Place, people still come to this city and have lots of fun. We don't need the Olympics to change this or stimulate it, it's already happening in the third largest city of the United States.

So for all the ham-and-eggers who on the streets tomorrow at Daley Plaza for the anticipated celebration, ask yourself what benefit you truly will get if we win this? The benefits are for the well-connected and few (as they tend to be in Chicago since the 1800's!!). Tickets to events are always difficult to get and will be scalped on StubHub like nobody's business but for the weak dollar, visitors will happily pay whatever it costs. T-shirts & trinkets will be marked up to a ridiculous level and you personally really won't benefit from this other than saying you live in the City that is hosting the games.

In the end, there is nothing different between this Olympic Bid and our professional sports teams. Sure, they love you wearing their merchandise, spending money on their team, eating and drinking in their venues, and painting your faces to show your support, but in the end, it's a business and one that has to make money for those who "own" it. They count on your passion and in fact have kept priming you for it to make you think you actually will benefit but you are merely a passenger. If you're super-excited to be that, then good on ya' and enjoy, but don't call me a hater if I don't join the crowd.

The Middle (on ABC)

2009-09-30T22:12:00.000-05:00

So the "remake fever" that has totally infected the Hollywood Big Screen (isn't almost everything a remake lately? Creativity has pretty much died) has now H1N1'd its way onto the small screen.

We watched The Middle tonight on ABC. Wow, what a piece of cr@p.

But it's only that bad because its a direct rip-off of Malcolm in THE MIDDLE ("MitM") that ran on Fox from 2000-2006. In almost a hat-tip to Malcolm, the writers have the Mom's name on The Middle is named FRANKIE (Malcolm was played by actor Frankie Muniz).

Is the American viewing public that stupid? Oh, yeah, we are. Feel free to click on the links of the actors names that follow and even see how their headshots look alike to a point.

The youngest child on MitM was Dewey (nice name, wrong spelling) but awkward kid with big ears. The Middle has Rick, who they call Brick and who is an awkward kid with big ears.

Mom Jane Kaczmarek is recreated by Patricia Heaton (almost to the hair style)
Dad Bryan Cranston is now played by Neil Flynn (they could almost be twins and are both clueless self-absorbed dads) Neil was the Janitor on Scrubs
Older brother Christopher Masterson who reigned terror on the younger boys is replaced by Charlie McDermott who is a clueless athlete who walks around in his underwear and is named Axl?

The new "twist" for The Middle is that there is a daughter who is a collosal failure at everything but the show doesn't focus on her, as it does for Malcolm. The show basically focuses (at least in the Pilot) on the Mother since frankly, she's making the most money out of this cast given her Everybody Loves Raymond success.

Appearances by SNL alums Chris Kattan and Brian Doyle-Murray don't help save this show. There WERE funny moments, but I can't get MitM out of my head when watching this, its just too close that's pretty weak from ABC.

While I'm at it, Modern Family (also on Wednesday Night ABC) is looking like it's going down the Arrested Development (also showed on Fox) route already.

If I'm Rupert Murdoch (and thank god I'm not) I'd make sure the viewing public knows that these are just a tad too similar. Although even Rupert can figure out that these shows should be showing up in Seattle Grace's ER with barely a sign of life in the next 5 weeks.

What bad economy?

2009-09-27T01:31:00.000-05:00

Gas prices dropped to $2.399 today near my house. To say it was a little "thick" with vehicles around the pumps today would be an understatement.

Because I participate in the Speedy Rewards program, I also had a coupon for $0.50 off per gallon PLUS, if you used your Speedy Rewards card, you got $0.05 off (only on weekends in September). So yes, I filled up for $1.849 today, and I was almost on fumes so 20 gallons to boot

Party like it's 2000, woo hoo!!!

The other week, the Federal Reserve was all but calling this "recession" to an end. Wow, I remember when economic swings lasted for years, not "months".

So I'm wondering if the economy is following some sort of reverse version of a Moore's Law trend. Do we continually recover from economic "dings" in double the amount of speed? (err, in half the time from the previous ding)

I'm still greatly concerned for our country. You can't just blame Obama. For the last 20 years we've slowly turned from a country that produced a huge portion of what we, and the world, consumed into one that mostly just consumes what other countries are providing.

No amount of bail-out, financial support, or printing of cash is going to change that tide. "Buy American" is a nice rally cry, but alas, what is there to buy anymore that IS American? Yes, I know there are some things (frankly big ticket items like cars, Real Estate, and US tourism), but the everyday consumption has slowly eroded.

No matter which political party you support (and wouldn't it be nice if there were more than two??), you cannot feel comfortable with the course we're on. Tax & Spend or Spend then Tax, they are both wrong.

Passing on Tradition

2009-09-13T23:00:00.001-05:00

I'm sure everyone has this sort of story, but I'll share mine.

There is something visceral when sharing certain experiences with your offspring. Usually the ones that hit you right in the gut are those that you probably shared with your parents or grandparents and involve deep emotional feelings.

On Saturday, we brought Aidan to his first Cubs game and although this is at an age MUCH younger than I attended MY first game (he's 21 mos, I was 6) the emotions I felt at times had me on the edge of tears. I'm sure that when we take him to more games as he gets older some of these feeling will resurface as he'll be talking more, understanding more, asking more and enjoying more.

We have the typical shot of us in front of the big Wrigley sign and something that no one could have shared back in the day, a picture of him on his official Wrigley brick!

Although many things have changed at Wrigley, the basics still remain. You don't walk through turnstiles anymore and your ticket doesn't get ripped, but with him in my arms walking through the main entrance at Clark and Addison, I did flash back to walking through that same gate with my Grandfather throughout the early 70's.

Getting there early enough to watch some part of batting practice never gets old. Once we settled in and found our seats (we weren't in our normal season tickets as we only have two seats and we needed more), I grabbed him and walked down, as close as we could get, to behind the Cubs dugout. The Reds were taking batting practice.

As we weaved our way down we did come upon a very elderly lady who was an usher (they were Andy Frain's back in the day) who saw Aidan and pulled a Cubs sticker out of her kit and gave it to us. Totally nice effort and since he loves stickers, well, made him all excited, and kudos to Mary Kay for getting the pictures of this from a distance!

We couldn't get all the way down to the wall, but we stood there for about 10 minutes and watched. I pointed out the ball coming off the bat and could see Aidan following it after he sort of figured out what was going on. One of the Fanfoto people came by and asked to take our picture. These people didn't exist back in the day and frankly, after looking at their prices, I'm amazed that they exist now. Talk about highway robbery, jeesh.

Holding him, I did flash back to about 1972 when I have a picture of me standing down on the wall, with Ernie Banks behind me. With the autograph hounds of today, those pictures are pretty difficult to arrange, plus, now that most all games are sellouts, well, you just fight a bigger number of people to get there. 1972 wasn't a bad year for the Cubs (finished 2nd in the East but 11 games back!!), however, after the disaster of '69, the average attendances were down overall and you could move pretty freely around the park.

It'll be fun at some point watching Aidan stand against the wall (or fight his way in) to get a look at whomever is in the Cubbie blue at that time.

Well, Aidan's experience had to be relatively typical so he had a little bit of hot dog, some cotton candy and some ice cream in a helmet-bowl. It was the first time he ever had cotton candy and the expressions on his face and his reactions were once in a lifetime types of things. He squealed with excitement as it liquefied on his tongue and he found out that everything sort of turns blue when eating it, from hands to mouth to drool.

We took a trip down to the gift shop where he got his first mini-bat and official ball. He really wanted to play with them however we knew it wouldn't be long before he threw the ball or hit someone with the bat, so we had to stifle that until later.

He did hit a wall though by about the 6th inning. He was very tired and as the Cubs mounted their comeback from five runs down, as the crowd yelled, he got a little scared. I just looked at him and told him that it was "happy happy" and he seemed to process that pretty well although he was scared a little bit.

We stood and sang the 7th inning stretch, which was performed that day by The Fray. It didn't matter who was singing, just holding Aidan and singing it while he sort of swayed back and forth in my arms was worth a million on its own. The singing must have worked a little bit as the Cubs got two more runs to tie it up in the bottom of the 7th.

Unfortunately, Aidan faded as fast as any of the arms in the bullpen and we were outta there in flash during the 8th inning. Thankfully too, as Carlos Marmol blew it with 2 outs in the top of the 9th letting in the deciding two runs from the Reds. Aidan probably would have heard bad words from Daddy at that point. But isn't that sort of the true Cubs experience? Of course only followed by the phrase "We'll get 'em tomorrow".

The whole day went by so fast and as he crashed in his carseat and fell fast asleep on the way home, my insides felt all warm and gooey. It was fun, but admittedly this first time was more for Mommy and Daddy to bring him.

Until he's a bit older and can truly understand it, it probably will continue to be for "us", but I firmly believe that you are shaped by the experiences you have in your life. For this not-yet two-year old, well, he's had a hell of a year of experiences and this just rounded out that list for now.

Unfortunate Lame-osity

2009-08-28T00:17:00.001-05:00

Once again I'm fascinated by someone who is driving in front of me on the way to work.

In Illinois, you can get a special plate by being an organ donor and because he worked until he died speaking about organ donation, the plates are in honor of Walter Payton, Hall of Fame Chicago Bear running back. They look like this:

So I'm driving behind this guy thinking how nice it is that he's an organ donor but I'm just mystified by the personalization of his plate.

It reads RX 8.

For about three minutes I'm sitting there thinking, "Why the hell would a guy get plates and salute Rex Grossman"? Rex wore #8 and thankfully is now with the Houston Texans.

Who in their right mind goes the distance and gets a plate with a hat tip to Sexy Rexie? Probably the same guy who bought a Cubs Garciaparra shirt (and that's a lot of idiots)

I just want to find a way to pull up next to this guy and ask him what the hell he was thinking and then as I get closer to his car, it hits me like a brick being dropped from an overpass. The dude is driving a Mazda RX-8!

Maybe I'm the only guy in the world who would make this mistake, but with Rex still fresh in all of our minds (quickly disappearing the more we see of Cutler), I bet I'm not the only Bear fan who has seen this and done the same thing.

So is this guy a victim of unfortunate lame-osity? (go ahead, I know you all want to say that I AM!)

My newest $1,000,000 idea

2009-08-25T23:46:00.003-05:00

Yep, once again, I post a meeeeeelion dollar idea on the public interwebby for anyone to steal.

4 simple letters: IGCS: The International Gelato Certification Society

I'm am SO sick and tired of stores, restaurants and every Tom, Dick & Harry (ooh err) calling the frozen messes that they are humping, GELATO. It's not, it's ice cream or some weak-ass attempt at it.

You can call me a "fancy man" because I've been to Italy twice. Yet, although my Yelp profile carries the moniker "Best Knife & Fork Man in the 630/331 Area Code", I'm pretty darn qualified to be an objective judge on foods that come from yonder as well, and gelato is definitely one of them.

There is just something so insanely rich, fatty and flavorful from ANY gelateria you visit in Italy that once you have it, you're ruined for life. It's SO good, that without writing them down, I remembered EACH shop which were our favorites in Rome and walked right into them on our second visit.

Of course, as most of you know how my brain works, it was the one at that one end of Piazza Navona, named after some brothers and that one right to the right side of the Pantheon (as you're looking at the entrance). Just stick with me and you'll be wolfing it down in no time. There's also that one on the one end of the Ponte Vecchio bridge in Florence as well.

So these are my qualifications. In fact, these branch out into incredible chocolate cannolis in Taormina (Sicily) and wickedly thick Chocolate de la taza in Barcelona so I sense "offshoot" Societies once the IGCS is up and established.

The Mission of the IGCS is simple. Enforce long-established quality control standards and recipes for gelato. Set the bar properly so that even when a mullet-wearing hillbilly tastes it, he knows that this ain't no 31 flavors stuff. If you fail, you will NOT be allowed to call it as such. If you succeed, you get our special certification seal which tells anyone in the world that your product is authentic and cuts the mustard. Of course, there's fees for someone to EARN this certification just as one would have for ISO9000 or Six Sigma, etc.

We'd be sort of the "Kosher" approval for gelato. Think of it... you've gotta admit, this is genius and I would HOPE that all Italian gelateria shoppe owners would appreciate this so that their products are upheld as the ones to shoot for.

Lead news story analysis

2009-08-25T12:21:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I happened to be near a television at 5:00 to see that CBS2Chicago lead with the Michael Jackson homicide story. What I found interesting, appalling, but yet, not surprising is that the local anchors threw the coverage over to their source at Entertainment Tonight.

One COULD theorize that local news people just aren't going to have the insight or time to cover such a huge story and that by going to CBS/Viacom's experts (albeit a tabloid entertainment show), they are providing the raw coverage that is needed. OR one could say that this stuff is making Walter Cronkite spin in his nice and shiny new grave.

I just had to see what NBC5 and ABC7 were leading with and so my fingers moved quickly across the remote.

NBC lead with the final remnants of Hurricane Bill up the Canadian coast and ABC led with the local story about an Alderman's son-in-law getting murdered. NBC used stringer footage from some Canadian news agency and ABC was, well, local.

I know we have no control other than to stop watching so their ratings drop, but this isn't an argument about liberal media bias either. It's just crap management of a newsroom. CBS Chicago has been struggling mightily over the last couple of years (how they've stayed ahead of NBC is really staggering). You'd think the network that was driven by Don Hewitt would respect those roots since he TOO is freshly planted, but no.

HOWEVER, we all sit here and scream that we want integrity in the media, but yet, if they even SHOW that they have even an OUNCE it, they just get beaten to death in the ratings by the 24 hour stations and then the next level of TMZ/ET/E!/AccessHollywood. It's a no-win and we as viewers are just as much to blame. I don't know the answer, for if I did, I certainly wouldn't be working my day gig.

Did you hear Brett Favre is back??

2009-08-24T01:14:00.004-05:00

I know I promised this over a week ago, but alas, it took a long time to go through all of the quality humor that this country puts out.

Here's a list of great Tweets about the Purple-helmeted warrior, Brett Favre with all credits, misspellings & horrible grammar. Enjoy:

@SteveDahlShow: I was kind of hoping that Brett Favre would just stay home and podcast.

@ttep: Which Twin Cities school will soon be named Brett Favre Elementary?

@dtmb: Brett Favre is like a sunburn--you're convinced in won't happen, then it does and it hurts to watch, then afterwards it flakes.

@MarkMoheInitzky: Brett Favre is like that turd that won't flush...

@nawlinsboy: I wish Sarah Palin would explain to Brett Favre what the word 'quit' is suppose to mean.

@audra_mae: Brett Favre can suck my (euphemism for male appendage). That is if i had one.

@cjbbush: is amused how angry all her friends in Wisconsin are over the Brett Favre news...

@dxna: Brett Favre is hellbent on changing his legacy from incredible NFL QB to over the hill athlete who can't walk away

@Africanlegn: Brett Favre loves to play football and y'all are haters. U shud call 1800 IMA HATER and register! Favre has returned more times that Christ!

@caitercat: Know when to say when...This means YOU, Brett Favre.

@BurnsEnt: Wow, Brett Favre is back. Next thing someone will say is that there is a crisis in the Middle East.....

@sportsguy33: BREAKING NEWS: John Madden hears Brett Favre is coming back and says "holy turducken I've gotta come back too!" (Jk but....)

@redwristband: Wishing I had 5 bucks for every Brett Favre post on twitter and facebook this week...I could retire rich...smile

@klarize: Wtf?! brett favre is like a zit that never goes away faaaaaack

@Scott217: On today's 'How can we miss you if you don't go away' page, Mr. Brett Favre (headed to MN) Sheesh.

@Marshall_Evans: Brett Favre, please retire! You're tainting my memory of you. Although I'm sure Michael Jordan appreciates it.

@joshuaduboff: This just in, he hasn't even played a down yet but Brett Favre has already been credited with an interception.

@pi8you: officially dubs Brett Favre as HE WHO CANNOT BE NAMED. Next up, Brett Favre: Cthulhu spawn?

@clairemdickman: pssh brett favre ...

@jamesebriggs: Brett Favre unretires again, returns to NFL. Related announcement coming soon from John Madden, who just rediscovered his reason for living.

@steveohville: i like my news consolidated, so i'm hoping Brett Favre goes on a dog killing spree while hopped up on steroids and debating healthcare.

@duckofalltrades: When I retire, I'm going out Brett Favre style. No I'm not. Yes I am. No I'm not. Yes I am. No I'm not. Yes I am. No I’m not.

@PinkishClaud: Can anyone tell Favre that the older you get the easier it is to break your bones? (maybe he forgot..you know..altzheimer and stuff!!)

@dstieber: November 1st...Brett Favre will know what it feels like to have an entire state hate him

@sportspickle: Reports: Brett Favre Considering a Return to His Wife's Vagina: (Duey Note: This, of course, would have been funnier to say his MOTHER’S vajayjay…)

@rachelmello: Okay football fans ... anyone else annoyed with Brett Favre ... go to your retirement community in Florida already and leave us alone!!!

@sportsguy33: New nickname for Brett Favre: "VD." We can't get rid of him.

@stevez33: Fact: Brett favre has now retired twice in 11 months and has not missed a single game lol

@tshirthell: Brett Favre is now a Viking. Well, he's not actually a Viking, but there's no team whose mascot is a giant douche.

@areofilm: Now I know why Brett Favre throws so many interceptions. The man has lost all sense of what to do. Good luck with that Vikings.

@omarg: Brett Favre lunch: Order sandwich. Send back sandwich. Order again. 2 bites. Send sandwich back. Leave. Return. Order sandwich

@Lizzs_lockeroom: Favre is meeting Prince tonight to purify himself in Lake Minnetonka

@wingoz: Brett favre changes his mind..again. In similar news...the sun rose in the east..and humans need oxygen to breathe

@passepartout: Oh, happy day! MORE Brett Favre stories will smother the local media again. What ninnies newspeople are. C'mon. Enough!

@thenflchick: Dear Brett Favre, thank you for un retiring. I can practice in peace. Signed, Michael Vick

@bpabich: Never thought I'd be so looking forward to seeing Brett Favre sacked. Repeatedly. Seriously - what a petulant child.

It's gonna be an interesting season in the NFC Norris!!

50 Bands I've Seen In My Lifetime

2009-08-09T23:47:00.002-05:00

50 Concerts

OK, here are the rules. Test your memory and your love of live music by listing 50 artists or bands (or as many as you can remember) you've seen in concert. List the first 50 acts that come into your head. An act you saw at a festival and opening acts count, but only if you can't think of 50 other artists. Oh, and list the first concert you ever saw (you can remember that, can’t you)?

These aren't in order although the first two ARE the first two I ever attended (same night).

1. Bo Donaldson & the Heywoods (1974, Walt Disney World, and they opened for #2)
2. K.C. & the Sunshine Band
3. Jimmy Cliff (very special show at Summerfest in 1987!)
4. John Mellencamp (about 28 times now, at least)
5. Maroon 5
6. Tom Jones
7. Winger (3 times)
8. Faster Pussycat
9. Cinderella
10. Poison (3 times)
11. The Rolling Stones (at least 4 times)
12. U2 (did see them back in the Aragon Ballroom days & also at Allstate Arena)
13. AC/DC (first time was JUST this past December 2008)
14. KISS (always with make-up ON, and about 5 times)
15. Sly & Robbie (hardcore Reggae guys)
16. Van Halen (Monsters of Rock Tour, 1988 @ Alpine Valley, first Sammy Hagar tour)
17. BoDeans (have seen about 25 times, but saw them as a $300 band playing at Marquette)
18. Violent Femmes (same as BoDeans, and actually worked Security for them once)
19. Tracey Chapman
20. 10,000 Maniacs
21. Spyro Gyra
22. Pat Metheny Group
23. Joan Jett
24. Smokey Robinson
25. Billy Squier
26. Ratt
27. The Kinks
28. Ted Nugent
29. Skid Row (but without Sebastian Bach)
30. Greg Kihn Band (Jeopardy song)
31. Eddie Money
32. Tommy Shaw (solo, after he left Styx in the 80's)
33. Pink Floyd (their last ever show on US Soil in 1994 at the Meadowlands, NJ)
34. Steve Winwood
35. Level 42
36. Andy Williams (Christmas special show in 1987)
37. John Hiatt (he actually OPENED for BoDeans at Summerfest)
38. Buddy Guy (Susan Tedeschi opened)
39. Bruce Hornsby & the Range
40. Savoy Brown
41. Koko Taylor (probably 10 times)
42. Head East
43. Scorpions
44. Dokken (2 times)
45. Metallica (3 times)
46. Sister Hazel
47. Buckwheat Zydeco
48. Blue Oyster Cult (spent 4 days on the road with them when I was working in the Entertainment biz. My job was to give them their check before they went on each night, kinda cool)
49. Foghat
50. Thin Lizzy
51. Blues Traveler
52. Those X-Cleavers (had one national hit but mostly played the Delta Chi parties & basement)

I can keep going actually because from 1985-1999 I'd live at least 5-9 days a summer at Milwaukee's Summerfest, but most of my brain cells are likely deadened from those days. If only I had saved all of the ticket stubs from these shows.

UPDATED: Response from Wrigley about previous post

2009-07-30T23:10:00.002-05:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I contacted Levy Restaurant Group about what I heard at the last Cubs game we went to.

Today, I received a very nice call from a young lady in Wrigley's HR department who told me that Levy had forwarded it on, that she read my blog post, that certainly they were not happy with hearing about it and not what they wanted at Wrigley.

I let her know that although I wasn't of that religion, I didn't know about the folks who he said it to, but that it just wasn't something we needed to be hearing at Wrigley.

She said that they'd be taking care of it.

Now, I don't know what that means and given that I believe the beer guys are members of the SEIU, not sure if anything other than a reprimand or mandated days off will come of it. But I hope Richard appreciates that we will NOT "all get along" until everyone stops with racist or anti-semitic comments and behaviors.

Harvard Professor vs Beer Vendor

2009-07-26T21:17:00.003-05:00

So, for the last week or so we've heard quite a lot about Professor Henry Louis Gates and everything that happened with his arrest.

Most of the news has centered around the African-American outrage at continual issues with police forces around the country. I've continued to keep an open mind at hearing both sides' account of the incident and frankly, as with anything, there's two sides and then there's the truth. No one, but those present in Gates' house (I think a total of 3 people) knows what EXACTLY went down. Every other pundit is just that, a pundit who, within hours of the story are retelling it as if there were standing in Cambridge for the actual event.

Racism is alive and well in this country. Electing Barack Obama as President has not changed that and likely won't change it since it's behavior that is rooted in people's experiences either positive or negative with those who are different to themselves.

What I say next is not meant to open a debate on the issue (please don't), but just share what I heard in the row behind me at this past Saturday's Chicago Cubs v Cincinnati Reds game. The fans behind us were great. None of them were from Chicago or Cincinnati but found themselves new to Chicago with jobs after college. They were there just to enjoy a game in historic Wrigley Field. In fact, they wanted to do everything that was patently Wrigley while there were there.

One of those experiences is having an Old Style beer (if you're of legal drinking age). I don't believe you can buy Old Style in any other ballpark in Major League Baseball. I remember Old Style logos on the scorecards bought for me by my Grandfather in the early 1970's and still today, it's available for the incredible price of $6.50 per 16 oz. cup. But Old Style IS the Cubs.

We noticed all day that it seemed like there weren't enough beer vendors in the upper deck. Frankly it's been like that all year long. I guess Aisle 424 isn't known as a "big money" aisle for the beer vendors so they just don't seem to come around frequently enough. The group behind me patiently waited and finally, they were able to flag down an Old Style guy. He only had two left and they needed four. They still bought them and he promised to be "right back" to complete their order. He was a really charismatic fellow and made quite an impression on the group. They tipped him and reminded him to come back and he promised he would. He talked about how with the Cubs back on a winning streak, and the beautiful weather, that Chicagoans had been waiting for, for months, that they were as busy as they had ever been.

But he didn't show up again for over two innings. Still charismatic, the group engaged him in a little bit of ribbing for not coming back so soon. It was at this point that Richard, vendor 2613, selling Old Style beer and who happened to be an African-American leaned in, right behind my head and tried to whisper (poorly),

"Let me tell you, and I'm just being honest here, we only have four guys to sell beer up here today. It's the Jewish guys. They all gotta have off Friday and Saturday and it just kills us. Don't get me wrong, I make more money on those days but it sure makes it tough since they have to take off for being Jewish."

I nearly spit out my Diet Pepsi all over the guy in front of me's head. I just couldn't believe that a guy whose income depends on getting tips and selling product would make that comment KNOWING that others would hear it. No, take that back, I couldn't believe that a guy who works for Levy Restaurants, contracted by the Chicago Cubs, would even think about uttering an anti-semitic remark in the stands to fans.

Cub fans are accused of many things. Some of them well-earned, some not, but vendors, no matter their life's experiences, need to shut their mouths of their personal beliefs and do their jobs. The group behind me just wanted to buy beers, not be treated to one person's issues with a given group.

So yes, we have a long way to go with racism and antisemitism in this country, and it's not just one or two races who suffer, it's religions, beliefs and economics. I doubt it will ever go away 100%, but I'm just shocked at hearing things from people who are themselves, subject to these same crimes against our senses.

I have written a letter to the Levy group and do not know if it will be acted upon. But I hope I never hear this again at Wrigley. I'll be watching for Richard and hoping that he doesn't share these thoughts of his at every Friday and Saturday home Cubs games. Full house or not, seats will slowly empty with attitudes like that and frankly, I hope he never finds himself a victim of hatred because I'd be hard-pressed to feel for him.

Healthy Choices? yeah, um, not!

2009-07-20T12:03:00.003-05:00

Too funny.

First of all, back in the 90's I worked on the market research project that tracked the launch of Lunchables by Oscar Mayer (now Kraft-Oscar Mayer) and I remember even then, the concerns by survey respondents over the health quality of processed lunch meats and cheeses being given to the "kids". Of course, these things exploded and a successful, long-term line of products was born.

So today I found myself confronted with choosing either the Basics Ham & Swiss w/Ritz regular crackers OR the Basics Turkey & Cheddar w/Ritz wheat crackers.

Given my culinary debauchery over the last four days (see my Facebook or Yelp! reviews for the artery clogging folly that yours truly endulged in), I chose the Turkey, Cheddar and Wheat. The person standing next to me choose the Ham, Swiss & regular.

Just for my own edification, I asked to see the Nutrition Facts and oh gee, there's virtually no difference. In fact, as a Market Researcher, there's no statistically significant difference at probably a 99% confidence level!!!

But hey, the package is 100% recyclable, so I got THAT going for me, which is nice.

At least I didn't drive the Wienermobile into a house last week!!

Geez, Blog often?

2009-07-14T23:44:00.003-05:00

I know I've been absent from the blogosphere but that's because there's a lot going on at work lately. Although I've become somewhat of a Master Tweeter (yeah, insert joke here), taking time to write down some fun thoughts, share my opinions or attempt to start a fight have had to take a back seat.

Between work stuff and personal stuff, well, you gotta take care of the stuff that pays the bills and makes you happiest. Most people who know me know that my A-D-D usually kicks in and I'm scattered quite a bit, so going almost a month without a post really shouldn't be a surprise to anyone now, is it?

If you could see behind the blog walls of Duey's Brain you'd see several (six) unfinished "draft" posts, some of which would probably create big issues, and I think that's why Twitter has become so attractive to me. 140 characters of my A-D-D brain spilt out quickly and painlessly. Twitter was almost MADE for my twisted skull. Of course, if you know me, you know I can be well, a bit too verbose and again, I think that's why I love Twitter. It's getting me to think in fractions and to be "me" faster and quicker than I've ever been.

I guess my longer term goal of becoming an Internet celebrity will continue to be way-laid by "life", which honestly, is fine. Who the hell wants a 43-year old Internet Celebrity anyway? Not me!

I'm sure as more work stuff sorts itself out over the next months, I'll get back to frequently posts. Honestly, I've felt guilty as I have a kernel of a thought but just lose it in the moment and can't get somewhere to blog it.

Anyway, enough about me justifying what happens to 95% of the blogs on the Internet. You'll hear more eventually, but for now rest at mind that:

Still hoping the Cubs close the deal and that the new owners clean the OF house.
Still hoping the Cubs close the deal and that the new owners clean out the bullpen.
Still hoping that the Economy jump starts itself so that we can all breathe a little easier around the Advertising/Market Research world (and well every industry).
Still hoping that my 25th High School Reunion runs smoothly as I'm on the committee.

Up, up, and away!

John & Kate + 8 + 2 attorneys + child support + psychiatrists

2009-06-23T12:36:00.004-05:00

I don't even watch this program, but unfortunately no one can escape the endless fascination by "news" channels covering the "big announcement" last night.

Look, these people will have to live in the hell that they created on their own, so who am I to add in my 2 cents? I'm Duey's Brain, that's the hell who!

But Kate, if it truly IS all about the kids, then you should realize that the real problem isn't your spineless husband, it's your obsession with being on TV and being a "celebrity" (in only the true fashion that Patty Blagojevich is finding herself in). Tell TLC to go piss up a rope and leave you house/life immediately and work on your marriage. That simple act would show more about how much you truly care for your kids than anything else you can do.

The problems between you and John likely would have existed if the cameras WEREN'T there, but they've only increased the attention and pressure on them and made them more difficult. THAT'S the real problem here. Why don't YOU grow a set and give up the "fame" to keep your family together?

And John, you grow a set and act like a man!

Thin the herd - Digital Transition of TV

2009-06-13T00:09:00.000-05:00

When last blogging about this issue, I had THOUGHT the move by the current administration to move the date had failed but of course, it didn't.

So, about 12 hours ago, the analog signals were cut and those who have done nothing are not getting their "programs" and probably are screaming bloody murder, banging on the sides of their sets, blaming Obama and calling the TV stations to complain.

I just read this article and only have this to say to Patricia Bruchalski who, by her own words "When you're alone like me, that's my partner." If you depend on this SO much and you supposedly call it your "partner", are you THAT dense that you've ignored the PSAs that have been running for oh, TWO YEARS?!! Almost once a week for the last 5 months, the NEWS has been running tests so that you know whether or not you'll be affected.

It's nice that someone, once again, probably bailed you out, but seriously, how much money was spent on the last 2.5-5.0% (according to Nielsen) of the public? Unfortunately our government runs on the same mentality when it comes to social programs most of the time.

I realize that Patricia is 82 and that we should treat our elders nice, but at some point, there's a point of diminishing returns and money needs to stop being spent to support the group that's left.

We make these judgments all the time in my line of work. If it's going to cost 200x the amount of a normal interview to get the last 2 people then we just stop hemorrhaging the money and call it a day.

Thin the herd and move on!

An all-out Meatgasm

2009-06-10T23:00:00.005-05:00

As part of my weekend birthday-fest, we met up with my Brother-in-Law and Sister-in-Law at Fogo de Chão. My S-i-L has a birthday at the end of the month so it was more of a co-celebration which made it all the better.

If you're unfamiliar with the Brazilian Churrascaria method of dining, it's best described as the return of Roman gluttony without the presence of an official vomitorium.

After being seated and a drink order taken, you're informed that you can head to the salad bar at any time and that it, as with the main part of the meal is "unlimited". Let me tell you, this isn't any typical Wisconsin supper club sort of salad bar, this one is probably one of the finest in the nation. From hearts of palm to smoked salmon to bufala mozzarella, all of the ingredients presented are of the finest quality, straight from the farmer's market. If I were a vegetarian, I'd be happy with this choice, and as you'll see, it'd be the only part of the night you'd probably need. But if you're there for the meat, do NOT fill up on salad bar stuff. Enjoy one trip and then settle in.

Before you head up to the salad bar, the waiter also lets you know that when you're ready to start the main course/meat course, that you flip over the little coaster shown above to green which means you're ready for men in traditional Brazilian gaucho dress to show up at your table with skewers of 15 different types of meat. When you want to take a break, you just flip it back over to red.

I think, after a few visits to these types of restaurants, I've learned that you just keep it green. Although they do their best to ensure that each type of meat makes it to your table, it's much easier to just turn away the types you don't want (or don't want MORE of) and they don't get offended versus missing out on some of the better cuts of meat that come around.

Top cuts are the top sirloin and the filet. There are various types including some lamb, pork, chicken and beef, but beef is the predominant choice. The gaucho stops at your table and then either slices and servers or, for the larger cuts, slices and then you grab with some mini-tongs while he finishes cutting the meat for your plate.

I believe I set a new record for myself when it comes to consumption and I was indulgently keeping up with every cut that hit my plate. I purposely didn't eat a huge breakfast and had no lunch so that I prepared the passage to the stomach appropriately.

What I always find amusing is that they DO serve some side dishes at the table (also unlimited if you desire) which consist of some fried polenta sticks, sauteéd bananas (like bananas foster w/o the ice cream) and some garlicky mashed potatoes. Frankly, I call them "space fillers" and they have no place at my plate although I do like the polenta.

It's a prix fixe meal except for your drinks and dessert and it's definitely not cheap, but to spin back my roots to the days of the early Romans, it's totally worth it. I know for John and Marie, they left with their stomachs in pain. I felt fine and can't wait to do it again.

There are various chains and a few independents, but having been to several, Fogo puts out the best salad bar and has the tastiest meats. They ALL do a good job, but for me, Fogo is the top of the line.

And with that, it's time to....

Gettin' old can be funny

2009-06-09T11:05:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was my 43rd Birthday. I'm almost in a new demographic but not quite yet.

However, I do tend to exhibit the "old man" sort of behaviors every so often. I can be forgetful, I can talk about ailments with the best of them, I definitely can be crotchety with those darned neighborhood kids and well, my ass can dial my BlackBerry.

So after I get into work, I'm talking to cube-neighbor Bob and I hear my phone ring. It was on my desk so I didn't get to it in time to answer, but I picked it up. It almost immediately rang again. I'm thinking maybe it's someone calling to wish me happy birthday, but I get this.

"Naperville 911, what is the emergency?"
"Uh, I don't know, there is no emergency"
"Are you sure no one there needs any assistance?"
"Uh, yeah, pretty sure"
"Okay we just want to make sure that no one is in need of medical assistance"
"Yeah, i must have accidentally dialed, sorry"
"thank you"

I know my ass is, well, not petite, but seriously? I had the phone locked, how did it do it? Well, there's an emergency call button on BlackBerries even if they are locked. But that means my ass would have had to have hit that button and then hit it again (since it confirms you want to do that before calling)

I'm sure this has happened to many people but it really played with my mind since it was on my birthday. Welcome to the 43rd year of my life, rang in by my ass dialing 911.

Maybe my ass knows something about me that I don't. I'm sure it sees a different side of my life every day.

So what can your ass do?

See, I'm fitting in to this old man lifestyle by inappropriately talking about body parts, functions and ailments just fine!!

Psycho "Jon & Kate" driver on the road

2009-06-04T06:10:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, on my way home from work one of those custom 10-passenger van in a blazing red color whipped onto Westbound I-88 from Farnsworth and prematurely merged right in front of me.

I mean, there was no possible way she couldn't have seen me and of course, no way I could miss her. Big ugly red van, license plates Mag 7, with those stick figure family appliques on the back window. Daddy, Mommy, Child 1, Child 2, Child 3 and then Children 4-7 who were Quadruplets.

I didn't honk but I was a little pissed that someone who has such a massive family would be driving so carelessly, so I changed lanes and moved up along side. I SWEAR, I'm not making this up but the woman driving had the exact same haircut that Kate from that ridiculous show has.

I'm sure in some way this mom of 7 relates, but seriously, maybe she relates too much based on recent news reports and tabloid tales?

The crazy driving didn't stop there, as we approached the backed up toll area, she whipped into the manual lanes and went speeding off. She happened to merge back about 5 cars in front of me and we both got off at the Rte 31 exit.

So let me get this right, she got ON the tollway to go basically 5 miles, pay $0.40 and then get right back off?

As we got to the end of the ramp she changed lanes to the right (to make a right turn) and then whipped back to the left almost undecided, and then finally committed to the right and turned right very quickly. Our experience was over.

There were no kids or adults in the van with her and clearly she must have been running late if she didn't care about spending $0.40 to go 5 miles but you're not going to endear yourself to me and your massive family by doing what you've done. The fact that your plates were Organ Donor plates let me know that you actually CARE about others too, but you just weren't showing it today.

Yep, just me ranting again, but I hope I don't see this van in a wreck someday.

R.I.P. Koko Taylor

2009-06-03T23:00:00.001-05:00

One of the pleasures of my life was that for a brief time, I worked in the music business in Chicago. Several times my path crossed that of many Blues artists, but always an enjoyable one was Koko Taylor.

She always had a nice word for EVERYONE, and I was the recipient of those words no less than 20 times in my life. When she called you "baby" you knew it was because she wanted you to get her something but it was always said in a motherly sort of tone that made you feel loved and wanted. Hanging out with her before her shows was just a privilege and she'd share stories about the "old days" and give her opinions about current music as well.

Although I'm hardly a rap music fan, she likened it immediately to the Blues. She lamented that it had it's "gangsta/thug-life" reputation but said that ultimately "it was people singin' about the difficulties in their lives and how they dealt with them on a daily basis and that's what the Blues was all about."

She used to tour every so often with Big Twist and the "tales" she'd tell about Twist were priceless. Out of respect for the dead (Twist passed in 1990) I won't re-tell those in writing, but if you want to know them, just ask me.

She was the Queen of the Blues and Chicago's Very Own (sorry WGN for ripping that off) and that is evident if you go to the Chicago Blues Fest website. She's the damn banner! Blues Fest is June 12th-14th this year and although I don't believe she was scheduled, I'm sure not an artist will leave the stage without paying some sort of tribute.

She was born to share-croppers in Tennessee and came to Chicago in the 50's, was spotted by Willie Dixon and the rest is history.

Today, one year and one day after Bo Diddley passes, Koko passes on from complications from surgery she was having.

Unfortunately this is a constant reminder of an art form that slowly is dying as well. Although there is a burgeoning Blues community coming up, none of the artists will ever share what the Dixons, Taylors, Diddleys went through in their lives. So it's a NEW Blues artform but one that will always pay tribute to the past. The new artists can PLAY the blues, but there's something in these old timers voices when they sing. It's almost as if you can hear the pain they suffered and that's something that younger artists just will struggle to sell as time goes on.

R.I.P. sweet lady and Queen. I'm glad our lives intersected even if for the briefest of moments. I have got to believe there's one hell of a band being put together up in Heaven with you and Willie and Bo together.

Oh, to be a child again

2009-06-02T22:07:00.002-05:00

Note sent home today with Aidan:

Summer camp starts next week... This year's theme is "Amazing Animals".

What I wouldn't give to be 18 months old again ;-p

Along with NINE splash days (days where they'll play with water and get drenched) which can be increased by the individual room's teacher, a petting zoo comes to their school next Tuesday.

What I'd really be looking forward to is August 11th and the "Monkeys and More" presentation. Having seen hundreds of Market Research presentations and done quite a few myself, what I would give to just sit back, relax and soak in some knowledge about prehensile tails!

Not only do they get this cool course load, but they get their own water bottle, t-shirt and backpacks with the themes.

It's nice to see that in a time when the economy stinks, the world is in a bit of upheaval, and people are freaking out that our children can still enjoy what summer is about. Carefree world where the biggest concern is whether or not it's a splash day.

I'm jealous of my child but very happy that we can offer this to him at such a young age.

May's Ted Simmons Run

2009-05-28T00:29:00.004-05:00

Well, as promised, even in Indianapolis, we hit the Castle on the 23rd. After a night out at The Speedrome for some 1/5 mile short-track, there was a store on the way back to the hotel.

A couple of double cheese w/o pickles and a Large Orange Drink!! Kudos to Ted!

The Story of "23" - Part II, Happy Ted Simmons Day

2009-05-23T04:00:00.005-05:00

When last we left our fearless travelers, they were embracing the oncoming hangover and wondering "what IS that smell from the back of the car?"

We arrived back in Milwaukee around 2:30am to a mostly quiet house except for one or two guys watching television in the Chapter Room. We plopped the bag of grease onto the table and said, "Enjoy" and my three compatriots all went to their bedrooms. I hiked it back to the "beer can" (McCormick Hall) and tumbled into bed.

The next day, the story was already growing into one of travels of massive proportions. We had a lot of fun and people wanted to be part of it "the next time" we did it. Hell we didn't even want to think about the FIRST time we did it and people wanted a NEXT time already?

SEGUE to a couple weeks later. Rumors are swirling around the Brewers front office that they were done with Simmons and looking to either cut him free OR get something for him in a trade. Dink is pissed off. He's talking about Simmons and telling stories:

In October of 1982, the Brewers LOST the World Series to 'those who shall not be named' (but it was the same club Ted used to play for). Even though they lost, they still had a parade that went down Wisconsin Avenue in Milwaukee all the way to County Stadium to celebrate, I guess, being a bridesmaid. Dink remembered that the ONLY player in the parade who "rode alone" on the back of a convertible was Simmons and he was wearing dark sunglasses and just sat there. Dink said that he reached out to touch Simmons' hand and did, and then he ran down another block and did it again and again. Gee Dink, a little obsessed with the man?

About a week after the parade, Dink heard that Simmons was going to be signing autographs at a car dealer (probably Gordie Boucher's place) and so he showed up to get one. Simmons was sitting at a table alone, sunglasses on and just signing. As Dink got closer, he witnessed a frustrated Ted trying to sign, but the pen was running out of ink. Ted took the pen, looked at it, said outloud "This pen is really pissing me off" and then whipped it across the showroom asking for another.

Flash-forward to 1985 and the Delta Chi International Convention is being held in Chicago in July at the Chicago Hilton & Towers. The Brewers are in town playing the White Sox (see, they were in the American League then) and who does Dink see walking through the lobby with his wife and kids and of course, wearing sunglasses? Yep, Ted Simmons.

In what can only be described as some sort of cosmic idiocy, someone asked us when we were going to make another White Castle run and it dawns on Dink that the last one was on the 23rd of the month. Without bothering to look at a calendar, he proclaims that the next "run" would be on the 23rd and he christens it "Ted Simmons Day".

A tradition, and a drunken one at THAT, was started. It wasn't good enough to just go to White Castle, you had to "run the bases" around Wrigley as well (of course, to get rid of the empties).

This stupid, and frankly dangerous, tradition grew and grew fast. Before we knew it, we had two or three carloads of idiots driving to Chicago each month. Have you ever seen twelve guys trying to cram themselves into a White Castle bathroom? Not pretty.

The tradition expanded as well. It became a monthly contest to determine which one could eat the most Slyders and if, for some reason, you weren't in Milwaukee, it was okay to hit ANY Castle wherever you were. But without fail, it would ONLY happen on the 23rd of the month.

So, if you find yourself hungry and without a plan for today, why not head over and get a few Slyders in honor of Ted Simmons Day? I'm in Indianapolis and there are 16 stores here!

A few remnants stick with me out of this experience:

23 became my NEW lucky number. Until that time, my only lucky number was 14 which conveniently ALSO was for an 'against the grain' baseball player named Peter Edward Rose.
I started collecting Ted Simmons baseball cards. I believe I have all but his '67 Rookie card and I followed his career closely
Although I always loved the Castle, I am actually a member of their Market Research Cravers Panel (they didn't disqualify me for being in the industry) and most of the surveys I take are concept tests. Go try the new Pulled Pork Sammiches!!
Out of the times I drove, there's the infamous 'tail pipe' incident that I'll share with you if you ask me and,
If you work with me, you saw that I wore my White Castle shirt on Thursday to the office.

So that's a very long, two-day post involving crazy tales of drunken behavior all to explain why 23 is such a dear number to my heart. Thanks for letting me indulge.

PS: There are now White Castle's in Wisconsin (Racine and Kenosha) but I'm sure we would have still driven right by them to get to Chicago.
PPS: Simmons WAS traded the next spring to the Atlanta Braves for basically a pick-up truck full of bats and jock straps AND Rick Cerone (Hi Yankee fans!!) Rick only played one year behind the plate for the Brewers and the Catching legends died out in Brew Town.

The Story of "23" - Part I

2009-05-22T01:00:00.016-05:00

Most people I meet who know me as Duey23 or who have seen the same on my license plates usually ask about the nickname and then make a comment assuming that 23 is either in honor of Michael Jordan or Ryne Sandberg.

The look of bewilderment on their faces when I tell them who it's REALLY in honor of is usually worth the price of a 20 oz Diet Coke out of the company vendo.

Since tomorrow is the 23rd, I thought it would be a good time to share this story and officially document it, because, as you will see, "23" not only is special to me, it started a tradition that, for a short while, was an obsession amongst a small group of friends and Marquette Delta Chi Fraternity Brothers.

I've tried to figure out how to tell the story without revealing who "23" is before the end, and frankly, it's just impossible, so here we go...

23 honors of Ted Lyle Simmons, and as a Cub fan, it's only Ted from his Milwaukee Brewer & Atlanta Brave playing days, not any time before 1981!!!
But Ted did NOT drive the tradition. He was the upshot and/or outgrowth from, what else, drunken behavior by a bunch of college students.

It was the Fall of 1985, sometime after Halloween and the infamous Miami (Ohio) walk-out. It was a Thursday night just after 10:00pm and the phone in McCormick Hall 1225 rang.

"Duey, it's Dink. Me, Greff & JY are hungry, wanna go get some Slyders?"
"Where the hell's the nearest White Castle? I didn't think there were any in Wisconsin."
"We're going across the border"
"Where, Gurnee?"
"No, corner of Addison and Elston in Chicago."
"I'm there"

View Larger Map
We piled into JY's '73 Chrysler Newport, which, if you don't know the car, it's similar to a US Navy battleship in size and it handles about as smoothly. But before we hit Eastbound I-94, we stopped off at Marquette Liquors. Richie and Paulie asked us what we were up to and Greff said something like "If we have to tell, we'll probably have to kill you" which cracked Richie up. He was the only one that had a sense of humor anyway. After the purchase of a case of ale, off we went.

Now, for all you youngsters out there, I, in no way condone drinking and driving either by the driver OR the passengers. Most people do them in the order mentioned, but for some reason, on this night, we did both simultaneously.

The ride was somewhat uneventful and when we pulled up to the Castle, the excitement welled up in us like, well, like when you've had about five beers in an hour and you're about to pee your pants. All four of us crammed into the bathroom which only had two places to "take a comfort break". Two places, that is, to normal human beings. There was, thankfully, a sink. No swords or streams were crossed.

We stumbled out of the bathroom and up to the counter. The woman taking our order reminded us of Blondie. Could it be her bizarro twin? We ordered up a ton of Slyders and sat our butts down. We finished and since we "took orders" prior to leaving Milwaukee, one of us went back up to the counter and ordered a load for the road.

Upon getting back into JY's boat, we realized that we had a ton of empties and we needed to get rid of them. What to do? Well, what's a midnight trip to Chicago's Northside without going to see Wrigley Field? So we head East out of the parking lot until we arrive at 1060 W. Addison. We still have the empties.

JY decides to "round the bases" turning Left on Sheffield. An unnamed occupant of the vehicle cracks open his back door and starts dumping the empties out on the street as we are moving.

Hey, there's Murphy's! clank. Rounding second on Waveland it never dawns on us that the Firehouse is up on the right-hand side. clank. Better get rid of all of them as dropping them onto Clark is going to draw attention.

Ahh, one lap completed, let's take another!!

After three (or so) laps we decide it's best to "head home" and off we go. It's gotta be something like 1:00 and this means we'll be probably getting back around 2:30. Now, most people just KNOW that smell of Slyders. It's really a smell best handled when you're out of your gourd. It's NOT a smell that you want for 90 minutes sitting in the back of a car that's as big as a bus.

Note to self: No more "taking orders" in the future. If they want them, they have to come with.

End of Part I

Oprah & KFC & DWTS

2009-05-06T03:56:00.005-05:00

Okay, need to get back on the blogwagon and start writing again. (and sorry Romy, I know you love Oprah, but seriously...this begs to be beaten up)

So as I was watching the Twitter trends yesterday, KFC kept popping up to the top. I thought for sure that they had some tainted food or, god-forbid some study was going to say KFC was really bad for you (which would suck since I'm a life-long Original Recipe boy) only to be reversed by some OTHER study tomorrow which says that there's benefits in eating the blend of eleven secret herbs and spices.

Nope, all is see are middle-aged women tweeting that "Oprah is giving us free chicken" and getting THO's. Seriously people, Oprah ain't giving you squat. KFC had a promotion and they paid enough for Oprah to mention it on her show. If Oprah was giving you anything, I guarantee you that the Sista would be only giving you the Original Recipe yardbird, not some "grilled chicken" AND it would truly need to come straight from her pocketbook.

Just like she "gave" those people a few years ago the Pontiac G6, she didn't write a big check and drop it off at her local dealer.

This begs a further question though. Where are these "grills" that KFC is installing at all their restaurants and would ANYONE really trust the crews working at KFC's that they'd even grill the chicken to the proper temperature?

I haven't been to a KFC for sometime but this almost BEGS me to go through drive-through and when they ask me if I'd "like to try our new KFC Grilled Chicken today?" just yell out "are you f'ing serious" and then just drive straight through.

PS: OMG, Lil' Kim got kicked off last night, I'm so upset. Okay, just kidding but since ABC loves screwing up DVR schedulers and things, caught the last 3 minutes of Dancing with the Stars.

...and so it begins

2009-04-18T00:02:00.000-05:00

Today is the best and worst day of vacation.

Excitement fills our hearts as we ready for heading to the airport, having Aidan just wave at the TSA gang and then off to Barcelona, but at the same time, 11 total hours on planes, 3 to JFK and then 8 to BCN.

We are loaded for bear with closed, sealed packs of snacks for Aidan and I'm burning some Handy Manny's and Mickey Mouse Clubs to DVD as back-up.

I've made the decision to bring my computer (not the work one) for a few reasons. Mostly to frequently dump and save our pictures (3 cameras, 2 video cams going) and although _I_ have more GB than I need, my two strong women may not and I couldn't bear having them run out while shooting something they want to savor.

It's going to be an absolute blast watching my own parents on their very first ever steps on European soil as well as how many things Aidan wants to touch since he's a very tactile child.

Man, this is so damn cool. We're very fortunate and blessed.

Preparing for a Cruise

2009-04-15T08:18:00.000-05:00

So several people I know, go on drastic diets prior to going on a cruise. The plentiful amount of food and drink and the debaucherous behaviors that one can get away with cannot be avoided.

My parents have been trying to lose weight knowing that the quantity of quality of food will be tempting and it becomes fruitless to refuse.

Here's what I've done prior to the cruise:

I bought a bunch of shirts that are a size larger. Not only have I received several compliments over the last week asking if I've lost weight, but I'm prepared for when I do gain weight on the cruise so that my belly doesn't hang out from the shirts when I return.

Sure, it's not the healthiest of behaviors, but I'm not torturing myself prior to vacation AND I'm getting wonderful compliments. Nothing like an ego boost, eh?

I can't wait for the midnight buffet and the pizza bar. (nods to Neil Sutherland)

Happy Birthday Peter Edward Rose!

2009-04-14T16:27:00.003-05:00

Today is Pete Rose's 68th Birthday. Pete was one of my childhood heroes.

He and Hank Aaron were the only visiting players I ever cheered for (who hadn't previously played for the Cubs) at Wrigley when everyone else was booing (Well, no one booed Hank in the 70's). I wore number 14 as a child playing Little League, played 3rd and 1st bases and had a similar crouched, chubby-like hitting stance.

I've been listening again, to the writhing and wailing about whether or not Pettite, Clemens, Sosa, McGwire, Bonds, Conseco, etc should ever be considered for the Hall of Fame and I really just puke at it all.

As has been said countless times before, but will continue to be ignored by the Commissioner's office, using "not in the best interest of baseball" as an argument to keep someone out of the Hall of Fame loses all credibility when:

Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth and others were notorious womanizers, alcohol abusers and gamblers
The magic list from 2003 is not going to be made public which means that all baseball stats from that season (and likely those before and after) will be put into question
Baseball itself refused to address the steroids issue until being called before Congress and
the number of times drug users have been allowed back in the league is more than words in this post

What Pete did is wrong according to the rules, but I'm amazed at how the league subjectively hands out "forgiveness" for legal and illegal transgressions but will stand firm on the whole Pete Rose issue.

He's clearly paid his dues with jail time for tax evasion, the fact that he basically can't enter any baseball stadiums continues to hinder his ability to make money and yet, his record, without steroids still stands.

So Happy Birthday Pete. I hope that before you die, you get what you deserve by being inducted into the Hall of Fame. But then again, the Veterans committee continues to prolong the agony of Ron Santo in spite of all of the information they've been provided that shows his stats are as strong as anyone elses for the time including Brooks Robinson.

Maybe you're better off NOT being there. Seems like they are a bunch of arrogant assholes.

No matter how simple & easy, it's still scary

2009-03-29T22:16:00.002-05:00

About 10 hours from now, Aidan will be going into outpatient surgery to get tubes put into his ears.

No matter how many times people have told us that this is an easy procedure, only takes 10 minutes, is manna from heaven, there's just something unsettling about having your almost 16 month old go into a medical procedure where there's anesthesia.

We know he's a fighter and a happy kid, but it's going to be very weird to see him all knocked out like that. It's not like sleeping, it's more like a passed out and in someone else's hands helpless feel.

I'm sure everything will go well. Everyone says this doctor has literally done thousands of them and that he's one of the best in our area. We felt very comfortable with he and his staff on our initial visit and then with Aidan's hearing test.

His pre-op physical went without incident and we've kept him out of the line of fire of daycare sickness for the last week.

Sure, I don't post on Duey's Brain for three weeks and then I lay this heavy load on you, but work has been a bit frenetic for the last month or so and it's kept me extremely busy.

I'll have plenty to say in the coming weeks especially as we head off on two weeks of vacation in Europe with the little guy.

So here's a little cyber-prayer for Aidan for tomorrow. This is the best thing for him and will make a world of difference.

U2 new release(s) and Letterman

2009-03-06T00:01:00.007-06:00

I saw U2 for the first time at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, Illinois in 1984. It was the 2nd time they had played there and was after MTV had the videos from Red Rocks playing in heavy rotation. Looking back, I feel blessed to have seen them in such an intimate setting at that time in their career.

Over the years I saw them again as their venues needed to be bigger and bigger and I do remain a fan although not as crazed as I had been in the past.

With their last couple albums I didn't even download them on the release day, but I did for their latest effort "No Line On the Horizon". Had a full listen the other day and although it's solid, I couldn't help but sit there and think with each song that I could see it on a soundtrack of a Hollywood flick. Several of the songs have over 60 second intros which had me scratching my head. Talk about any of the remaining deejays in the world having to "hit the post", well, you better have a lot to say to hit it.

Then I saw this article and it sort of confirmed my thoughts about what's going on with the group and their efforts. They are at that point of their life where they're getting almost orchestral or operatic. The albums are about painting a much broader picture and feeling which at the core of creativity makes perfect sense but as a consumer, starts losing it's appeal for me. So an almost ready 2nd album is going to be released AND it basically follows on from the themes of the newest one.

And the music industry gets angry at iTunes because they feel it has turned the industry back into a world of "singles only".... So hit me up for TWICE the cost in a month or so.....

I'm not going to sit here and say that they need to be hammering out full albums of anthems like they used to, that's just foolish. Artists must create and change and evolve, but since they detoured a bit in the 90's and didn't really hit it out of the park, I just hope that after the successes of the last two albums, they aren't reverting back.

Still a fan, still supporting the boys. Edge's slam at Sting at last night was fun as that's following up from Bono's slam at Chris Martin recently.

C'mon Matt Lauer....wha' happened??

2009-03-04T00:03:00.003-06:00

On the way out the door Tuesday morning, I stopped by the tv just long enough to see Matt Lauer butcher an interview with the stunningly beautiful Gabrielle Anwar, who plays Fiona ("Fee") on Burn Notice (Thursday nights, USA Network).

He flat out admitted he didn't watch the show and then spent most of the interview talking about her tango with Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman and talking to her about how she can do an American accent (which she DOESN'T HAVE on show)!!

The producers didn't help by playing clips of Scent (TWICE) and Burn Notice while the interview was going on.

Look, I realize that she was only on there to promo the season finale this Thursday, but it IS the second season and they moved it from just running in the summer to battle against the big boys and it's holding it's own (and will continue to).

Fiona wouldn't have taken that crap from anyone on the show. Matt should be lucky she wasn't packing heat.

Here's the Today Show Butcher in action.

[[nbc deleted the video]]

If you haven't seen Burn Notice, I think most episodes are on iTunes, Netflix, or somewhere and they will run "marathons" on USA Network too (I think they are this Thursday leading up to the finale)

The huge following of the show comes from a hot Gabrielle Anwar (for the boys), a hot Jeffrey Donovan (for the girls) and for anyone who has ever loved cult-classics and Sam Raimi vehicles, Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead, Xena, Hercules, Brisco County, Jr., etc.). Oh yeah and throw in a chain-smoking, guilt-tripping Sharon Gless, Cagney of &Lacey fame to round out the cast who are set in Miami/South Beach.

Check it out as it's one of MK's & my favorite shows.

Business Traveler Haiku

2009-03-02T22:44:00.007-06:00

Metal tube fly me
across the land, air and sea
Big snow screws the pooch

I was supposed to fly into NYC late Sunday night for a very early Monday a.m. meeting and then fly back mid-afternoon on Monday.

On Saturday evening, my cellphone started buzzing with alert updates from United. It ran as follows (all times central):
Sat. 8:56pm: 5:04pm Sunday flight canceled.
Sat. 9:05pm: re-booked on 8:55pm Sunday flight
Sun. 11:24am: 8:55pm Sunday flight canceled
Sun. 11:35am: re-booked on 9:58am Monday flight
(meeting Monday was to start at 7:30am, so I'd be landing about 20 minutes before the end)
Sun. 4:30pm: notification that I could check-in online for my return flight for Monday afternoon
Mon. 7:01am: notification that 9:58am flight is still on time
Mon. 10:00am: notification that 9:58am flight is now 10:31am (landing me 1 hour after meeting would end)
Mon 11:14am: notification that my 4:04pm return flight is canceled
Mon 11:29am: re-booked on 3:50pm return flight (oh good, I would have landed in NYC 80 minutes before that)
Mon 11:58am: 3:50pm return flight is now delayed to 5:00pm
Mon 1:53pm: now delayed to 6:23pm
Mon 6:10pm: now leaving at 6:08pm (uh, what am I, a time traveler?? Alert comes after I supposedly would have pushed back from the gate)

FYI: Monday 6:10pm, I was actually feeding Aidan some dinner and waiting for MK to get home so we could eat.

Good thing I just stayed home and went into work normally!!

I realize the weather was pretty severe out East, but can the airlines understand why people get so frustrated with them? They claim that they are usually just working with the most up-to-date information that they are getting but within 3 hours today my return flight was canceled and then my re-booking changed departure times THREE times. The snow had ended so what was the deal??

I'm so glad I don't travel for business as much as I used to. Sure I miss the "status" benefits from when I was cranking out 25K+/year but I'll show up a little earlier and board last just to avoid so many headaches.

Sniff...Our little man is growing up!!

2009-02-27T01:00:00.000-06:00

Today's a big day in Aidan's young life. He graduates from the Special Delivery classroom to the Happy Hippos room.

It actually is getting me a little emotional and picking him up this afternoon is going to be pretty special in itself.

Developmentally, this is perfect timing as the make-up of the infants classroom is pretty young right now, so he doesn't really have any friends in there and his buddies Norah, James and especially Tyler are already in the Hippos room. He's the only walker in his current room.

I don't know what other schools/daycares do, but Goddard has had him on a two-week transition from the infants room to the Hippos room where he spends a little time each day, increasingly each day until today when he's basically in for the full day. He's so funny because as they get ready to take him BACK to the infants room, he throws a little fit and cries. Hey, who likes getting bounced from the cool kid's party, right??

He's such an eager learner that he understands that he's stepping backwards in his environment and he doesn't want to go. The Director said that his acceptance of the transition was far better than they normally see but I'm sure kids of different levels take change differently.

I do think that how we work with him, getting him out to restaurants and events and broadening his experiential world helps him adjust to change a lot quicker than most kids. You can imagine what his little brain is going to do in 7 weeks when we load him up on a 767 and wing on off to Barcelona for a couple days and a 10-day Mediterranean cruise!! At 17 months he's going to see monkeys and birds on Las Ramblas, Sagrada Familia, the Greek Theater in Taormina and probably the Vatican in Rome. It took me 39 years to get to Rome and 18 to get to Spain so he trumps me on BOTH!

Yesterday was the first time we "walked" into school together. I'm usually the one dropping him off in the mornings and I thought it was time he held my hand and we walked in. Other than his stopping every 5 steps to turn around and look at the car, it went very well. It's not that he's getting too heavy (although he's crankin' out 22 lbs right now), but it's this sense of change and maturation. They decided to keep him in the Hippos class all day and it was his first time sleeping on the cots. He also had his first official lunch of Sloppy Joes, tater tots and apple sauce. Yeah, he wore a fair amount of the Sloppy Joe's. He seemed so happy when I picked him up. He definitely didn't want to leave and frankly how cool is THAT that he doesn't want to leave school? Let's see how long that lasts in life (eh, 3rd grade??)

But today is the final day and then he starts his move "down the hallway". Thanks to Leah, Anahi, Roxayn, Kim, Simone, Danielle and all of the others who have watched our little man from 3 months to 15 months. I will always admire you for the work you do with these kids and can never thank you enough for how you've taken care of our son! It has clearly impacted how he views the world and makes him want to come to school every day.

Fan comes from Fanatic

2009-02-25T05:21:00.004-06:00

Probably once or twice a week while driving East on I-88, I find myself behind/next to a Hyundai Sonata, license plates CLAYM 8.

On the commute you see tons of vanity plates and usually, as long as eyes are on the road and hands at 10 & 2, you play the game of trying to figure out what they mean.

This one wasn't tough as there was a license plate holder around them that says "I'd Rather Be at a Clay Aiken concert". yeeeeeeesh. What is classic about this is that once I pulled up next to the car, it was a woman roughly in her late 40's/early 50's who had red hair in a Pete Rose hair cut.
So I started thinking on whether or not I ever adopted a look that honored someone I admired or looked up to or even idolized. I did!!! Sorry faithful readers, I do not immediately have a picture of it, but I know they exist, I just have to keep digging through the thousands of pictures but while in college I was a huge John Mellencamp fan (still am and still am a member of the fan club!!).

John had American Fool as an early 80's hit album and Uh-Huh hit it big in 1983 and his look stayed consistent with the Scarecrow album in '85. My Midwestern-born, cornfield-loving self embraced his cause and his music without fail.

John's look at the time was black penny-loafers, white sox, faded blue jeans with cuffs folded up (not sewn), black belt with silver buckle and usually a t-shirt under a jean jacket or black leather jacket. Yep, that was me in 1985.

I'll eventually find a picture but here's a screencap from Pink Houses that'll give you some sort of idea. Just find ANY Mellencamp video from Uh-Huh or Scarecrow and you'll see.

Bailouts from the Government and the Individual

2009-02-24T02:50:00.005-06:00

So I got my first sign that the bailout will not be televised*.

From J.P. Morgan Chase I received an Amendment to my credit card agreement. It looks like this:
My current FIXED rate on this card is 13.99% and it now jumps 4.25% to a VARIABLE rate. Thank the almighty lord that I don't carry a balance on this card. I only use it for the rewards I get from buying gas at Speedway (midwestern chain) and the fact that there's no annual fee.

So not only is JPMC getting an influx of cash from my tax dollars, but they are also getting an influx of cash on the back of the people who carry balances. Money grubbing suits!!

Tomay-toh, Tomah-toh

2009-02-18T22:45:00.000-06:00

Look, I know a bit about politics, but I couldn't stand toe to toe with people who obsess about it, so if you're looking for a deep, point v point argument, you're not going to find it here.

But explain to me how huge boat loads of money being spent on America is any better OR worse than huge boat loads of money being spent in Iraq, Afghanistan and hundred of other places around the world. They BOTH screw the taxpayer. Quit screaming that Obama is burdening our kids with massive debt we'll not get out from under, eh, Bush did the exact same thing via the war machine.

Equally, and almost exactly the same is label that of "Tax & Spend" versus "Spend & then not give a crap out about how to pay for it, oh maybe it'll trickle down" They BOTH screw the taxpayer.

I'm not saying Obama is right or wrong but can we all just be honest with each other that neither party has it right and no matter which policy gets pushed we, the citizens of this country get screwed?

Each side of the aisle needs to get off their high horses.

6 points clear, 13 matches to play

2009-02-14T13:49:00.005-06:00

Well, it wasn't a St. Valentine's Day massacre, but a well-played victory over Bath City keeps us six clear at the top of the table. It would be fantastic to just have the automatic promotion versus, yet again, another playoff run.

Read the table Dons haters!!

High School Reunions

2009-02-12T08:15:00.000-06:00

Although no date, time or location have been set yet, this year is my 25th High School Reunion year for Benet Academy which I mentioned in a previous post.

Although our school launched their own "alumni social network" website a few years ago, it only has some basic functionality and so although a lot of people signed up, not many are using it because it doesn't have the broader appeal of a MySpace or Facebook.

Over the last few weeks I've actually touched base with a few folks via Facebook. It's sort of odd because what Facebook has done (and started out doing for kids who were IN college originally) is truly call you on the carpet for all the "We'll keep in touch, no, REALLY, we WILL" comments you've ever made in your life as you walk out of graduation.

For some people, we pick up like we were just standing in the hallways by the lockers, except we're all 42 or 43ish. For others, it's probably surreal to see and hear from people you may truly have forgotten about or just haven't thought about in 25 years. I wonder how the various cliques or groups that hung together would develop via a Facebook sort of utility?

I've noticed that there's a few "groups" based on class years and there's also a few "I played football at Benet Academy" sort of groups which capture a wider audience than just your class at times. So as we get closer to the end of the school year we should see some notes/mail that has info on our reunion.

I went to the 5-year one, but that was pretty much like a Fraternity party and then, although I didn't go to the 20th, I was able to be in town for the night before party in downtown Naperville. That was a ton of fun and I remember it because I was in the process of buying the engagement ring I gave my wife.

Looking forward to this year. Here's a picture of me in my football glory days.

Through the eyes of a child??

2009-02-06T05:26:00.003-06:00

I received one of the most interesting emails from my Dad yesterday.

To set it up: My folks received a $20 Starbucks gift card from one of their friends. My parents have pretty much NEVER drank coffee in their lives. The don't drink soda/pop either. They stick to tea and water mostly. My parents are also not big followers of trends or what's popular. They aren't shut-ins (most of you who've met them know that), but they live moderately and are very happy with what they have and do on a daily basis.

So they finally decided to go use the gift certificate. They had NEVER been in a Starbucks in their lives. Here's what my Dad sent me.

I guess when (America) is hooked on something it's difficult to break away even in this economy. After mom's blood test this A.M. we stopped at Starbucks and used part of the gift card we got. Mom & I each got a hot chocolate Grande, she got a piece of pound cake and I got a Blueberry muffin all for the mere price of $10.00. The line was constant with at least 4 people at all times. I guess we just live in another world. The best part is we still have $10.00 on the card and we can do it again.

His observations are almost child-like, but very in tune with what's going on in the world as they bring 65 years of experience to what he's seeing. It's sort of been how he observes the Internet as well. He's had a computer for 10 years now (almost 11 and had never even used one before) and probably every 2-3 months he finds something new on the Internet, and its almost like a kid on Christmas morning.

25 Random Things About Me.....ugh

2009-01-31T22:17:00.000-06:00

I'm not big on the chain letter sorts of things, so I'll spare my group of friends the tagging, but since I've been thinking about this, it's been very difficult to come up with 25 things most people do NOT know about me so I've really had to reach deep here but there's a few that aren't so deep.

The 23 on my license plates, email addresses and blogs is in honor of Ted Simmons, NOT Ryne Sandberg or Michael Jordan as most people think. The Ted Simmons story is an entirely different blog post that I'll do on February 23rd, 2009 (see, I'll get you to return if you care)
I threw shot-put in High School (poorly), but I had some delusional thought that I could run 200-meter hurdles and was allowed to, ONCE! Thanks Ernie Stark for that humbling moment, you handled it perfectly and taught me a valuable lesson.
New Year's Eve, 1999, I spent alone, at home. It was a down time in my life and sort of sad. Hell of a way to come into the new millennium.
I honestly am really really shy. Amongst totally new crowds of people I stay quiet for a long time until I can figure out who is who and how I will fit in.
I was a state-ranked wrestler in the 155 lb. weight class in 8th grade. If it weren't for chicken pox, I would have probably placed in the top 5 at the state championships.
Yes, from the age of 24-26 I had a pony tail. A LONG one down to the middle of my back. It was when I worked as a music agent and it carried over for the first three months at Millward Brown.
I got deeply involved in a pyramid/MLM scheme in 1989. Lost a BOAT LOAD of money ($30K+). It set the foundation of how I manage my finances very tightly to this very day. It wasn't fun getting sued for all the bad debt I incurred.
There IS photographic evidence of me, at the age of 8, wearing Green Bay Packers pajamas. eeeechhhhhhhhhhh. We can blame my MOTHER for that one.
I was thrown out of a 6th Grade football game (versus Lace School) for a flagrant personal foul. After their center snapped the ball, I pounded him on the back of the helmet 'cuz he kept his head down.
First teacher crush: Miss Coradetti, 5th grade. Smokin' hot.
I always have and always will admire Pete Rose for how he played the game of baseball. I modeled my playing style after his in Little League (even wore #14). Unfortunately I also had his HAIRCUT for awhile. Say no to bowl!
I first learned how to program in BASIC in 1982 on a Radio Shack TRS-80. I've stayed close to computers ever since. Shout out to all my peeps down in I.T. as it's why I "get" you guys.
I, as most Marquette alums pre-'94, will NEVER refer to us as the G*ld*n E*gl*s. We are Marquette and we're the Warriors, at least that's what it says on the 1977 NCAA Championship Trophy!
I played Sancho Panza in a grade school performance of Don Quixote de La Mancha (Kyle Berndtsen was Don). From that I got to go back stage and meet Richard Kiley who was playing Don at the time!
My list of nicknames is endless: HighCicero, Sissy, Buffy, Duey, Dinky, Bruno, The Brain, etc. but Duey just stuck. Given to me Freshman year at MU by Scott Wagner (next door neighbor in McCormick Hall)
I met my wife online (most of you knew that) but once we met, the parts of our lives that crossed over at times was ridiculous. My parents live in a subdivision her Uncle developed, we BOTH knew Vince Ligouri and had the same opinion, we both attended Catholic High Schools and Universities (not the same ones) and were amazed that there were people we knew in common. There WAS some sort of fate working at that point and I couldn't be happier in my life that it was.
I was so convinced we were having a girl that when the Ultrasound tech said we were having a boy, I cried like nobody's business.
I inherited two fun traits from my Grandpa LoCicero, but didn't KNOW I did until after he passed when I was 22: LOVING hot, spicy food and an unbelievably accurate eye/hand when shooting a weapon. I'm careful not to mix the two but there was a time when I had a Lamb Vindaloo in Banbury, and the next morning it felt like I shot my head off.
Yes, I did go out on the road with Blue Oyster Cult in 1991. It was their first tour (very small venues) back after their long absence. It was a ton of fun for the five dates I was there. My job: make sure they were happy with the diet sodas, vegetarian meals, and bottled water backstage and hand their manager the payment for the night before they hit the stage.
I'm a chronic insomniac. It started in my mid 20's and has continued ever since.
If I could live anywhere else in the world, it would be in Southwest London down towards the end of the Northern Line. Lovely, hard-working folks and my beloved AFC Wimbledon.
I pay very close attention to the subtle changes that happen on a weekly basis with our son, Aidan. I've had too many people say that "it goes very fast" and they are VERY correct. Each new change in his life just warms my heart and makes me appreciate his presence in my life just that much more.
If tomorrow, someone told me that my job was over and to pack up my stuff, I'd would to set up a company to help "older" folks learn how to use technology be it computers, mobile phones, web cameras, digital cameras/picture frames. The joy with which I've seen my parents use these various things lets me know that there's an entire world we can open up for folks like them. My parents just did their first web cam call with us on Saturday and the fact that they can see their grandson when they miss him so much, just is the BEST.
I will still hold out hope for the rest of my life that the Chicago Cubs will finally win another World Series. You can make fun of me until you're red in the face, but I'll never be forced to give up that hope.
I know I probably don't say it enough to her, but I thank the Lord everyday that my wife and I met and that I love her more than anything. She challenges me and strengthens my belief in myself and what I can get accomplished. Although I know I drive her crazy more times that I should, I would move mountains and seas to ensure that she was happy in life and I am so blessed for our family and our lives.

The NE corner of Addison & Sheffield

2009-01-30T07:05:00.000-06:00

I'm gutted really. Readers of this blog know I share Cubs season tickets and for my whole life I've spent more than my share of wasted days and nights in Wrigleyville.

But, as I don't live in the neighborhood, I only end up there between April and October (hopefully) so it's with great dismay that I found out that on December 24th, the day before Christmas, they took the wrecking ball to The Sports Corner.

When it comes to having to pay $4.00 for a can of Miller, well, I'd most want to spend it at The Sports Corner than anywhere else in Wrigley. Bartenders were always friendly, beer tub girls too. It was always jammed before, during and after games but they had a nice outdoor holding pen (beer garden) and you could always just use the walk-up window to get some dogs if you didn't want to go inside. I've met too many of my friends there (at least to start out the day) and have had more than my fair share of laughs, and so this does leave a temporary hole in my heart.

But as the Cubs continue to gobble up land and move forward with some expansion and continued improvements, I guess they feel the need to truly force out the smaller businesses that surround the shrine known as Wrigley. I really wish they wouldn't as it's what makes it special, but I do understand. Clearly the owners got an offer they couldn't refuse and moved on. I understand that too.

No idea what is going to replace it at the moment, but R.I.P. SC!! Thanks to "I Hate Clark Street" for the pic below. It's not like there's not plenty of other locations to go to this upcoming season, but SC was just a place that was comfortable.

A convergence of yesterday's post and today's mail

2009-01-29T20:59:00.003-06:00

So yesterday, I wanted to know who DOESN'T have cable/satellite, etc.

Today, I got something in the mail which demonstrates further reasons on why businesses are failing in 2009. Unfortunately I think this organization is targeting the same people I mentioned in yesterday's post.

So that I don't bash the organization by name, I will call them Charity A.

Charity A sent a request for money via US Mail. They included a nickel which had an arrow pointing to it that said "This nickel can make a real difference in the search for a cure." REALLY? Than you should have kept it, shouldn't have you???
Charity A also sent about 50 mailing labels that had my name and address on them. Haven't they heard the news? The US Postal Service is hemorrhaging money left and right and are playing with the idea of only going to a 5-day delivery schedule. You've sent me something that's NOT RELEVANT in my day-to-day life anymore and frankly, something that's not relevant to a LOT of people. I rarely send out mail anymore and in fact, the biggest amount of mail we send is Christmas Cards and we use special labels for those.
HOWEVER, kudos to you, Charity A, as although it took me awhile to get to it in the mass of paper you sent, you now have an e-newsletter and website!!! Hooray!! You actually are starting to get the whole "Internets" thing, eh?

I have volunteered for non-profits to help raise money in the past so trust me, I DO know that it's a bitch of a thing to be asking for donations in this crappy economy. I understand how you are fighting tooth and nail for a share of the little pie that's left out there. But as I tighten my belt for our 2009 spending, I need to make sure the charities we donate to are relevant, are progressively thinking about what the next 5-10 years is going to bring, and have a very high donation/management cost ratio.

Boo on the direct marketer that convinced Charity A that sending a nickel and address labels will resonate with potential donors. I realize there's not many tricks left in your DM bag, but if the USPS goes down to 5 days, it likely is going to finally force you to rethink how you reach people.

The Digital Transition

2009-01-28T23:49:00.004-06:00

So a move by Obama was defeated today to move the "digital transition" for local television stations from Feb 17th to June 12th. By some estimates, when the move from analog to digital happens in Feb, it will leave some 6.5 Million households without tv.

Who the hell ARE these people and where in god's name do they live? If you believe the Dems/Obama, they are poor, rural and low-income Americans. I'm sorry if that's true, but I'm amazed that these folks don't have at least basic cable or satellite.

I'm not blind enough to know that there ARE going to be people who on Feb 17th, can't watch their "stories", but for the past 18 months, if they didn't pay attention to any of the 200,000,000 PSA's that have been running, surely buying them another 4 months isn't going to matter one lick.

Admittedly these are the same people who can't access the website http://www.dtvanswers.com that is shown in those same PSA's. Some people take a chance an embrace advancements in society and technology, some are brought along kicking and screaming and some, just will NEVER adopt it.

As someone who occasionally works with data, I'd love to see a cross-tab of who this might impact the most by # of cellphones, # of computers, # of rotary dial phones, # of betamax machines, # of Activision games, etc.

I'm not cold-hearted though. It potentially DOES create a public security risk in that, if someone cannot get the local channels, they can't be forewarned about potential weather approaching, Amber alerts, or other local issues that need to be broadcast however it seems foolish to think that these folks truly will change and get the equipment needed.

When your kid scares the cr*p out of you...

2009-01-19T22:15:00.002-06:00

I had a scary moment today. One of those times when there's an immediate sinking in your gut and literally 2,000,000 synapses fire through your brain in less than 10 seconds.

The morning was a normal morning. Aidan woke up at around 6:30 and he took his milk very well. MK got him dressed and ready to go to school and we left the house around 7:00. It's only 2 miles from door to door and today it took about 5 minutes.

When we got to school, I jumped out and opened the back door and he was just sitting in his car seat and didn't look over to me. Normally once I open the door he shoots me a look and starts trying to wriggle his way out of the car seat.

So I leaned in to start unbuckling him and he was motionless. His eyes were wide open and he was staring through the front windshield of the car. I said "Hey bud, are you ready for school?" and he just didn't move. I waved my hand in front of his face and he didn't move. I swear to God almighty that he looked like a dead body with its eyes open.

I yelled his name and grabbed the sides of his head and he jerked into reality with some tears in his eyes. It was like I woke him from the deepest of sleeps but yet, his eyes were wide open.

I got him out of the car and headed into the school, the entire way telling him "Don't do that to me ever again, you scared the hell out of me. Are you okay?" Of course, he doesn't speak yet so there was no answer, but he was looking at me.

I got him into his classroom and took off his jacket and he was just as normal as ever. He has a new teacher today as Miss Leah and Miss Roxayn have left the school and he ran to Miss Kim just fine and started playing. I didn't think to say anything as I didn't want to worry her and I got in the car. Looked at myself in the mirror and just started freaking out.

What the hell happened? Had he stopped breathing? He was so bundled in winter clothes that I couldn't tell and in fact, I was so freaked I really didn't look. It was one of the most unsettling rides to work (14 miles) that I think I ever had.

I got to work and unfortunately had about 2 1/2 hours of conference calls but when I was done I called home to tell MK. We both were kinda freaked and decided we'd call his doctor, if anything to get this on his medical record/charts and to get advice.

While I waited for a call back from them, I searched online. Autism, Apnea, Arithmea, anything I could think of that would make a kid just freeze and nothing really matched. After speaking with one of the CRN's from the office, she said it didn't sound like anything at this point and that she'd consult with one of the MD's and that if they think there's something there, they'd call us back. She asked if he had turned blue (he hadn't) and said that at this point, just observing him and looking to see if it happens again is all we can do and that we need to notify school so in case it happens there, they know to call us as well.

When MK picked him up from school, he had just another normal day there. Well-adjusted and active and his appetite was actually increased from normal. We got him home and it was another normal night of dinner and playing before going to bed. He ate a ton of food (his appetite is really up which means he's probably physically growing right now) and he was a happy, active, engaged child. I tried out a few of the autism tests for infants that I saw online and he didn't "fail" any of them.

In summary, today wasn't the first time, but it was another reminder that in this world, I live not for myself but for someone else who depends greatly on me and MK and now I know what it's like to have your kid scare the living hell of you. As I joked right to him when he was in my arms tonight, "I'm sure it's not going to be the LAST time either".

That guy must have a set on him...

2009-01-16T13:17:00.007-06:00

As someone who used to log 25,000+ miles a year on airplanes can I just say how un-f'in-believable that US Airways crash landing was yesterday?

I mean, it was on my most recent trip to Atlanta where I laughed off the whole part of the safety instructions where they talked about landing on water. When the hell EVER has a plane "landed" on the water and stayed in tact? I mean, ultimately they are telling you about flotation devices because your ass better be hanging on to one when that plane takes the dump.

I was pretty damn good at Physics when I was in school. When a body in motion, experiences a significant halt in its motion either from friction or another body, the energy has to dissipate SOMEWHERE. Usually it does in the form of 2,000,000 pieces of an airplane when we're talking about plane v water.

So, to bring that craft in, belly up and to have the wings hit the water at the exact same time is something only LEGENDS can probably do. Of course there were other factors at play here.

It was daylight. If it was dark, the pilot would have had a hell of a time seeing where the water was and at what point he could put it down
Gotta hand it to the French. For once they are worth their weight in crepes as the Airbus A320 is French-built and as we found out yesterday has a series of air tubes throughout the cabin which inflate enough to keep the plane floating. So somewhere in Frog-land there was an engineer that had HOPE and didn't say "it doesn't matter"
The weather was calm for once. For all of us who've spent far too much time sitting at LGA we know that this was probably a very rare day and there's 155 peeps who are thanking a weatherman somewhere who likely was WRONG!

Which brings us to Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger, III. a 40 year flying veteran, US Air Force fighter pilot trained (damn straight!!!) and whose resume is stellar. This guy has TWO Masters degrees (Industrial Psychology and Public Administration) and has been a Visiting Scholar at UCal-Berkeley at the Center for Catastrophic Risk Management. Here's the kicker though which ultimately, IMHO, allowed this man to do what hadn't been done in FIFTY years of aviation, he is a Certified Flight Instructor for (amongst other things) GLIDERS!!

Talk about the fabled "Right Place - Right Time" metaphor in life. If this isn't a perfect example of that happening, nothing is. I'd bet that almost any other pilot would have made a trainwreck of that situation. So here's a toast to "Sully"! Just absolutely amazing. Total calm under pressure.

It was 15 years ago today....

2009-01-13T23:18:00.001-06:00

Duey L learned how to play.

15 years ago today, I installed and logged on to AOL for the first time. Now, it wasn't the first time I was on the Internet, as I had CompuServe and Prodigy accounts for 18 months prior to that, but it was the first time I truly figured out that the Internet was going to be something big in life.

Looking back, I probably missed the boat on making a career and some money out of it all. I learned how to program in BASIC and COBOL in the mid-80's and while in college, I used a Leading Edge (knock-off IBM) to produce my Fraternity's Alumni Newsletter.

I also wish I still had one of my computers that I bought in 1989, the MacPlus (saw tonight on NCIS a MacSE!!) but I foolishly sold it off in moment of wanting some cash. I do however, have my PowerBook 150. The entire hard drive was something like 4MB!!
Anyway, it's these sorts of moments that make me take stock in how the rise of computers and the Internet just hit me at the right point in our generation.

I see how difficult it is at times for my Dad to use his computer (and don't get me wrong he does a great job most of the time, but when issues happen, he's just totally lost and calls me), and how simple it is at times for me to fix them.

So looking back, sure, I probably missed the boat on being an IT geek, but I've put a lot of that knowledge to good use at my current company. I can move pretty easily between speaking "tech talk" and "putting it in English" and it seems that anytime people have computer issues, they call me, so that's a credit to my knowlege as well.

Finally, for the record, I never had issues with AOL, still don't. During the early 90's when people were constantly getting bumped offline, I never had those issues. I enjoyed it, learned from it and have a wealth of knowledge about how it all works. The sounds of "Welcome, You Have Mail" are sweet tones to my ears and "Goodbye" was a form of finality that said, "You really need to go to bed now, it's 3:00am!!". Of course, I don't pay for AOL anymore. I switched to the totally free version, so I still do have my old email address (not that I've used it anytime in the last 5 years!), but it's almost like wearing a badge of honor. Keeping that email address and having it handy.

Oh well, in the crazy world of Web 2.0/3.0/x.x, you sometimes need to give props to the "old skool web".

Hooray! Flying Cars are HERE!!

2009-01-12T22:35:00.003-06:00

As I've complained about so many times, science spends so much money on useless crap but yet, I have been waiting for my flying car that they promised back in the early 80's.

So like Steve Martin in The Jerk when the new phone books arrive, "the flying cars are here, the flying cars are here!!!"

Now I just have to find a spare $200K somewhere....

Here's a link to the story and then the video of how it converts from plane to car in just 15 seconds.

Wow, it's been 25 years!!

2009-01-11T22:57:00.002-06:00

Happy New Year (DK if I said that to anyone yet).

2009 brings many new and fun things, but also will bring some old things. This will be my 25th High School Reunion year. Thanks to my introduction and now, massive use of Facebook, this should be a bit more fun than I had thought. Additionally my High School has an alumni website and a very scaled back sort of "social network" which should also help.

We did have a 20th, but I could only attend the night before event at a bar in downtown Naperville. That night was fun. We caught up with old friends, but the thing that struck me as well, funny, was how quickly everyone got back into their old cliques. Whether it was who you normally hung out with, or if you played sports, or even what grade schools you went to, you just were more comfortable hanging back with the people you hung with most. I can't imagine the 25th will be any different although these "significant" ones tend to get bigger turnouts so who knows.

That night, I remember telling a few of my friends that I was in the process of buying an engagement ring for my now wife and at some point, I wished the night didn't have to end, but alas, there just came a point to go home.

But five years on, and life is well, life. I'll be looking for the invite and hope we have a large attendance. To those of you who will read this on Facebook, I look forward to seeing you in person again.

Mechanical Porn

2009-01-10T20:30:00.005-06:00

Yes, it's very cliche that men love our toys, especially mechanical ones, but let's face it, when we DO get it right (and I know it's debatable how often) we can look pure genius.

Over the last week it's snowed, but last night/today it SNOWED. We probably ended up just shy of eight inches in the far western suburbs of Chicago and like an almost full rocks glass of near frozen Lemoncello, I have the cure for what ails ya'.

After ensuring that the gas tank was full, I set out to forcefully remove that white stuff from my driveway and sidewalks. Who do I call on buy my trusty Yard Machine. Now, what the engine sits on is inconsequential as we know that the Tecumseh engine that propels both drive shaft and auger shafts is really what matters when it comes to moving large quantities of snow. So let me whet your appetite, boys, with a side shot of my blessed machine.
It handles quite nicely and has up to 8 speeds. Now, I consider myself an "expert user" and even _I_ have never had it above the 3rd gear. That's even too fast for normal snow conditions, but I guess if you needed some extra push, you could whip that badboy all the way up to the 8th gear and let her fly. As you can see it has two engagement handles which have a built in safety feature. The left handle engages the auger and the right, the drive train. If, for some reason, you slipped or fell, the minute your hands let go of them, they immediately stop.

Okay, so here's a front shot showing the blades (careful)
This is a post-use shot so some of the carnage left on the blades and shoot is fresh kill.

So why do I get so jazzed about this beauty? Well, we have a slightly extra-long driveway since we're on the corner and our house is set back just a little bit further than our neighbors AND we have over 300 feet of sidewalk to clear as well. Yes, that's a football field worth of cement "public" sidewalk.

So here's the result. Nice clean lines and excellent adherence to the ground. Notice that large hump at the end of the driveway on the right? Well, that's left over from an earlier snow but it turned into rock-solid ice thanks to the Village plows as they kept coming by. One thing I've learned is NOT to take this baby through large chunks of ice. No matter how sharp those blades are, if you get choked up on ice, you could blow the auger's drive shaft and then you'd be up the creek without a snowblower.
So there you have it. Playboy for gearheads. Always remember to keep a good maintenance log and change the oil on it at the end of every season. Take care of your machinery and it'll take care of you.

He's walkin', everyday, he's walkin'...

2009-01-05T13:29:00.002-06:00

In the last 10 days, Mr. Aidan has found his wheels and is now freely walking around the house. It started out as just 2 feet and a leap (or fall) and has finally reached to the points of 10-12 foot romps across the floor.

It truly is amazing to see this happen, not that we didn't think he would, just the simple accomplishment that he CAN. He laughs and giggles the whole way as usually he's rumbling towards someone or something he wants desperately.

Of course, most of this has happened just at home with MK and I and maybe Papa and Nana around. So imagine my glee this morning as I drop him off at daycare and leaned him up against the changing station and then walked 6 feet away and held my arms open. He just ran laughing the whole way at the cheering of one of the teacher's aides. Unfortunately his real teachers are out today and so they have to wait until tomorrow to enjoy the newest development benchmark (gettin' all daycare speak, I am).

Now it's going to almost be a contest to see how far he can go before falling down. Of course, we need to keep making sure we have a clear path for him. The smallest of toys will trip him up even just visually so clear the runway and let him go.

I do have some video of this, just be patient until I can post, but this obviously opens up an entire new world for him. Of course one which has the disappointment of being a Cubs fan for the rest of his life ;-p

They are who we thought they were...

2008-12-29T12:53:00.002-06:00

So after a long drawn out season, the Bears finished miserably while holding their own destiny firmly in their hands.

I am so tired of hearing every single Bear player saying that they are better than what they put on the field. If that was true than they should have performed better, period.

I was sort of amazed at how many reporters and fans said that they finished "much better" than everyone had expected. When it comes to expectations with sport I usually defer to Las Vegas who has a bit more riding on their predictions. Before the season started they had the Bears pegged as 8-8 finishers. So 1 game better than that isn't "much better" in my opinion. In fact, it proves that they are exactly who we thought they were going to be going into a season with questionable QB and WR positions.

But the big surprise for the year truly was how horrible the Defense performed. Peanut Tillman continues to be a shining example of how someone acts like they are much better than they are and continues to get burned. Mike Brown AGAIN finishes the season on the IR although give him credit, he played in 15 of the 16 games this year. The secondary is weak and wasn't a big surprise but we were going to forgive that because the Defensive line was going to be brutal on the opposing teams. Unfortunately Alex Brown led the team in sacks with 6 and he wasn't even supposed to be the guy who did that. Kudos to him though.

A sad finish to a sad year. Somehow I think someone is still believing that they are just "that" close to the 2006 team that went to the Superbowl. Those someones are likely part of the coaching staff and ownership. For once, please listen to the fans....you're not.

Can you hear ants screaming?

2008-12-17T16:46:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, the Arena Football League announced that they've canceled their 2009 season with hopes of having a better economic turnaround to come back in 2010.

So?? Football on a hockey rink, where the scores goes into the 70's. How can any true football fan care about this horrible bastardization of America's Game.

People screamed like hell when Vince McMahon started up the XFL, but at least it was played on a real football field. In fact, many things Vince tried are now common place for CBS/NBC/ESPN/FOX for football and other sports (the almost in-action cameras, the yellow line for first downs and the escalation of individual players on teams as celebrities over the team). But it was Vince freakin' McMahon and he did a lot of things wrong and rubbed people the wrong way.

The AFL would not be the AFL if it didn't have a major tv contract and the backing of the NFL and several alumni. The only people I know who go to these games are people who get FREE tickets (including me, once) and people dumb enough to buy season tickets (sorry Sami, my friend). To be honest, I'm amazed that the sport has been around for over 25 years. But since it has, isn't it amazing that most people don't even know it exists? In fact, if not for Mike Ditka, John Elway and Jon Bon Jovi only RECENTLY buying in to existing franchises, it would have even LESS awareness.

So at the annoucement that they've shut the doors for 2009, I view it as the old "if a tree falls...". It would be the same reaction if the Lacrosse league or the WNBA or an A-League soccer league were to close. It's the same reaction I had to when the WFL, USFL, and NFL Europe shut down. They are there mostly to serve the minor markets in America, people who just won't trek 200 miles each way to see a professional team. I'm not saying that minor league sports don't have a place in society but let's not make them out to be gigantic market-makers and revenue-drivers.

I'm sure it'll be back in 2010 because the NFL needs to spend the money and without NFL Europe, well, they have to find a way to dump profits. But let's not herald the return as some massive arising from the dead or Phoenix from the ashes. It's a marketing tool for a major corporation and that's really it.

Bad Hair Day

2008-12-10T18:40:00.001-06:00

I had yesterday off from work. We needed to take Aidan to the Doctor for his one year check up and a load of shots. It really sucked to see him screaming from the shots.

I also took the opportunity to finish baby-proofing the house. It was the cabinet latches which are a pain in the royal arse.

But it was early in the morning when a smile came across my face. The FBI had shown up at Rod Blogo's house and took him into custody. This, just a day after he basically taunted whomever was recording him in a "Nixon/Watergate" style.

As a life long Democrat, I can honestly say that I didn't vote for this ass EITHER time he ran. Look, if you pay any attention to politics in Illinois, you can spot these guys a mile away. They are really slick, quickly garner the union vote and promise lots of jobs and prosperity for the State when campaigning.

He did a great job of staying out of the camera's eye on Tuesday and that's a shame as I'd love to see him squirming through this. I've now read all 76 pages of the complaint and frankly, it's shocking but not surprising. He clearly never was a fan of The Sopranos cuz even when he KNEW he was being recorded, he didn't remember to go to the basement and turn on the fan.

What sucks is that this is now the third Governor that I remember being criminally charged. Everytime the State of Illinois has something to celebrate, these idiots screw it up. But look, most people will agree that this sort of behavior has just become part of the fabric of the State. I know of several stories from my own family during the original Mayor Daley's administration and have heard a hundred others.

In fact, during the last campaign for US House, Debbie Halvorson was running against Ozinga (yeah, we've all been almost ran over by a few of those cement trucks in our lives) and blasted him in every commercial that he was involved in pay-to-play with Blogo for state road works contracts.

All of this doesn't forgive these heinous crimes that cost us all money in taxes, both sales and Real Estate. String them all up if you ask me. The problem is, as soon as you cut the head off the snake, another grows in its place. The corruption is deep-seeded. It was reported that in the last 30 years, there's been over 1000 government employees/reps who've been convicted of some sort of corruption in the State including Alderman and others. So if we really want change on this, we need legislation that also makes it a crime to NOT report it when you're being fleeced and to have all of those cases to be followed up and prosecuted.

To close, here's a foretelling picture from 2002. I wonder who's going to be the bitch when they are in prison together (unless Bush commuted Ryan's sentence)

Big Three Bailout

2008-12-05T04:18:00.004-06:00

How much more rediculous can this get?

So after taking a beating about each of the CEO's took their own private, corporate jets the LAST time to beg for money, now, I'm sure at the wet dream of the PR/clueless/out-of-touch advisors to them, these three bozos show up in hybrids and experimental electronic cars to beg again.

Are you serious? It's akin to the most heinous murderer being caught, looking disheveled, slightly bruised and with insanity in their eyes, to showing up in court, clean shaven, new haircut and in the finest suit his attorney could buy him.

a) I highly doubt they personally drove those vehicles from Detroit (or the one guy from Seattle) to Washington D.C.
b) If the electric concept car could DO the entire trip, well, what better sales pitch than THAT? But I highly doubt we're going to see that/be given the opportunity to buy it.

Hey idiots! We're not THAT stupid and we smell the PR stunt from a mile away. It would have been just a bit more believeable if you had all just bought coach tickets and flown TOGETHER from Detroit-Metro to Washington-Reagan.

I'm not without some compassion though. If I were the automotive industry, I'd be angry as hell.

The banking industry pulls the same crap and at TWENTY times the amount being sought, but Congress doesn't bat an eye. Why? Well, because plenty of Congress is to BLAME for the issues around de/regulation of the industry and they surely wouldn't want to have the fingers pointed back at them.

So Congress does the quick bait-and-switch and now beats up on the Big Three. The same Big Three who turned their production lines into war machines during WWI and WWII cranking out tanks and other vehicles needed for the cause. Why not take a moment to remember THAT eh?

This said, if the Automotive executives would just get out of their private jets every so often and mingle with the "great unwashed" Americans, maybe they'd get a better understanding why more of us now drive something made by a Japanese manufacturer instead of home-grown.

Maybe it's time for Joe the Plumber to talk to these guys? ;-p

It's official, I'm a genuine public speaker

2008-12-02T23:32:00.003-06:00

A couple months back, I was asked by the Great Lakes Chapter of the MRA to present at a joint conference in January. Bonus in that the conference at the Sundial Resort on Sanibel Island, Florida. Bummer that my wife and child cannot join me.

I've been kicking around the outline for the presentation for awhile and know that I have sufficient material to pull it together, but it really hit me today when I saw on the conference website my name and that I'm actually presenting.

I do a lot of self analysis when it comes to my presentation style and it's changed quite a bit over the last 8-10 years which is how long I've been presenting both internally and externally around MB/Kantar.

It's amazing really because in High School, I totally sucked at this and was a frightened little kitty. In college, things really changed. I "toughened up" if you will, when it comes to facing people and presenting information. Some of this can be attributed to a required speech class, but most of it is due to being in a Fraternity and being part of the Student Government at Marquette.

College really is a time that you "find" yourself and where reality hits you that if you don't seize the opportunities, there's plenty of other hungry mouths to gobble them up.

So, back to the analysis of presentation style. I used to move around a lot and sometimes walk to the side of the audience. This made it entertaining and demonstrated my passion for the subject, but one review I read said that they were getting dizzy watching me move back and forth.

So I moved to a more formal upfront speaking style but I still moved a bit as frankly I feel more comfortable doing it. I just don't run up the sides of the room. I usually inject humorous anecdotes, life experiences and real life work applications of the materials I'm covering. In fact, I use humor quite a bit as frankly, it makes people comfortable and it hopefully makes the presentation tolerable.

But for a conference, you are pretty limited to just speaking behind a podium. As you can see from the schedule (link above) I'm the meat of the day's presentation sandwich and that means I probably need to be pretty engaging. I will have a short video as part of my presentation which will be different and I believe it'll be decent material which dovetails nicely with the presentation right before me.

I guess the only question I have left is what to wear? I realize it's a professional conference and so jacket and tie are the norm, but seriously, it's on Sanibel Island. How can a hawaiian shirt NOT deliver some impact? At the same time, I represent our family of companies and that's just as important. I'll take the safe route and ask the conference sponsors, but it's going to be a fun event either way.

Miscellaneous end of the month post...

2008-11-30T22:41:00.002-06:00

It's that time of the month, err, well, that time where I just sort of blurt out random crap that's driving me nuts in some weird form of Internet therapy (who the hell would do that anyway??)

Nice game tonight Bears. Vegas had you finishing 8-8 and you're just dying to make them right. Charles "Peanut" Tillman, you're STILL horrible. All of the people who tell me different need to have their heads checked
We spent some $$ this week. Who says the economy is in a recession? They're quoting that Black Friday sales were up 7% this year on last. Is this just all of us trying to find a deal and then pinching back or are we all shop-a-holics who are trying to drown our misery in material things? New in our house is a Blu-Ray DVD player and a Wii. All nicely installed into our "man-cave" in the basement which isn't really a man-cave as it's a "MK-Duey Cave" We both love all the gadgets and games and of course, alcohol.
Another Thanksgiving has come and gone and I still love my turkey. Every year we vow to have more of it during the year and now that I brine them, I think that's an easy thing to do. Whipped up a batch of Turkey A La King tonight. Yumm-o (sorry Rachel Ray)
Another tree is cut, transported, "mounted" and decorated in the LoCicero household. Despite the rampant flu running through our house we still pulled out the ladders and decorated that 10 foot bad-boy today. I've come to accept that there's no perfect trees in the forest (or the nursery) and in some small sort of way they'll always be Charlie Brown trees that are just counting on us to make them beautiful. This is the biggest one yet and it's definitely coming down the day after Xmas this year. Last year I waited and it was a holy-hell mess.
This coming week is the boy's 1st Birthday. I can't believe how fast a year has gone. I'm sure I won't believe how fast the next 17 go either.
Watched a lot of High School Football this weekend. There's nothing like the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving in Illinois. I think the IHSA has done the right thing by going to an 8-class system. The games are more exciting and you can truly see the differences in talent, the bigger the schools are. Congrats to Immaculate Conception and St. Francis, two old "West Suburban Catholic Conference" foes who we (Benet Academy) usually beat easily 'back in the day'.
Today was the first snow in the area that "stuck" to the grass/ground. I guess it's finally here. So much for being able to wear nice shoes and shorts. Also makes walking the dog a pain in the arse.

That's it for November. Only 142 days to our Mediterranean Cruise leaving from Barcelona, Spain. Something warm to think of during these cold, dark months.

Macy's Parade gets "Rick-Rolled"

2008-11-28T13:23:00.002-06:00

This is classic. Laughed my arse off. For those of you who don't know what "rick-rolling" is, here's a link.