8.31.2007

Ugly and funny

... So Business Week published a story this week that became a hot topic in our office this morning: "The top 10 ugliest cars ever made."

Or as one of my cohorts called them: Good paying jobs.

I was laughing so hard as I read this story and looked at the descriptions with the slideshow -- I was crying and having trouble breathing!!

Though, I think the Aztec should be at No. 1 ...

8.30.2007

My President Will Be ...

This was going around our office today ...

Pretty good stuff ...

8.29.2007

Tearin' up my heart

... Watching the Brewers-Cubs game. No other place I want to be tonight. This is the series ...

Unfortunately, I only caught the ninth inning of last night's game because I was playing a Cubs game of my own. Too bad, I'd like to think if I had been watching I might have been able to cheer the Brewers on to a win last night ...

I've drawn a lot of questions this week about the series, what I think of it and who I'm rooting for ...

My answer: Any other year I'd be cheering my heart out for the Cubs -- they're playing so well, and I can't help but think this might finally be their year ... but the fact that it's coming at the expense of the Brewers -- who've treated us to such a magical and promising season -- is making it really hard to enjoy. It kind of breaks my heart actually ...

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So call me a fair weather fan all you want, but I have my reasons ...

You see I've been cheering for both these teams about as long as I've known how to throw a baseball. I grew up cheering for those Brewers teams of Molitor and Yount and Gantner (not to mention Greg Brock, B.J. Surhoff, Teddy Higuera, Greg Vaughn, and Dale Sveum) and those Cubs teams of Sandberg, Dawson, Dunston, Grace, Sutcliffe, Luis Salazar and Les Lancaster. The Brewers were the American League team; the Cubs were in the National League ...

Ok, so I lost touch with the Brewers when I moved to Kansas City and the Royals took some of my American League spirit. Yount and Gantner retired, Molitor moved to Toronto, the Brewers changed to those ugly green and navy blue uniforms and I suddenly had no idea who any of the guys were on the field ...

Thanks to Harry Caray and WGN, though, my Cubs love only grew stronger ...

But a few years ago, I returned to Brewers country, where Milwaukee had returned to the National League and joined the Cubs in the NL Central. Slowly I started watching again, but they were years away from contending ...

Now here we are. The last couple seasons, Kates and I have gone to about twice as many Cubs games, and we've gotten to know and enjoy watching this new crop of players -- J.J. Hardy, Prince Fielder, Billy Hall, Rickie Weeks and this year, Ryan Braun ...

Sigh.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The Cubs haven't earned any points this year with me for buying their pennant team. And they've been to the postseason four times in the last 25 years ...

The Brewers have grown their own crop of players. They haven't had a winning season since 1992. They haven't even tasted the playoffs since 1982 ...

If the Cubs are the only team standing come October, I'll be rooting my heart out for them again ...

But until then ...

Why the Little League World Series is a sham

... I've stumbled across this story about the Little League World Series on Slate today ...

Kind of funny. Kind of true.

My cohort Brian was telling me the other day about how much he was getting into watching the Little League World Series ... I just shrugged.

Growing up, as a little leaguer myself, watching the Little League World Series on ABC's Wide World of Sports was a rite of passage. Whether it was at our house, Grandma & Grandpa's house or at my cousins' house, I have several memories of watching the Little League World Series, with the year of Chris Drury and Trumbull, Conn., remaining one the most enduring for me ...

Now, each August I come across the Little League World Series on ESPN and I can barely stand to watch more than a few minutes of it ...

The players seem bigger. There's more politics involved. Kids who have no business throwing anything but straight strikes are throwing curveballs. The coaches are tougher on their players. The game has been ESPN-ified ...

8.28.2007

Game #16 ... A final

... So we ended our baseball season tonight. First round of the playoffs. A game we had expected to win ended in an 8-4 loss. Done. Season over.

... Sure, we could play a few fall ball games. But it’s fall ball. Unless I’m in the pros and my team is in the hunt for a World Series championship, I’m that interested in playing fall ball ...

Besides, the way my play has slumped the last few games, I’m ready for a break ...

The story of our game tonight is short and not-so-sweet. We played decent ball, but they hit and we didn’t. We had good pitching going for us, but they pecked away at it all night long. They posted a series of one-run innings that we couldn’t match. We left a ton of runners standing on the bases ...

And I didn’t help our cause. Batting in the seventh spot, I struck out my first two times at the plate — both times with runners on. The first time, looking, on a nasty, spinning curve that came in outside and then tailed in over the plate. And the second time, I struck out swinging at a chest-high fastball — after driving the first pitch I saw down the third base line, just (just!) foul!

In my third at-bat, I worked the count again. And again I fell behind with two strikes. Then the pitcher jammed me with a fastball, but I got just enough of it to poke the ball down the third base line. I advanced the runner on first base to second and got an infield single. The lead runner scored and I advanced to third on the next batter’s single, but the inning ended on the following batter’s flyout ...

And when I got up one last time in the eighth — with a runner on — I was anxious. I took a swing at the second pitch I saw and popped it out right field for the inning’s third out.

At least I played well in the field. I played left field for most of the game, gloving all the balls hit to me there, and then moved to shortstop for the final inning.

Sucks that another season is over ... But a wise man once told me it’s not how you play the game, it’s that you have fun doing it. And, dang, we had a fun team and a fun time playing this year ...


My line for the regular season …
.361 average, 13 hits, 6 walks, 7 strikeouts, .488 OB%, 8 stolen bases, 13 runs, 7 RBI

As for our other games …
Game one: We lost, 16-4
Game two: We lost, 13-2
Game three: We lost, I was off for the weekend
Game four: We lost, 5-4
Game five: We lost, 20-9
Game six: We lost, 5-4 (with pictures!)
Game seven: We won, 7-5
Game eight: We lost, 12-4
Game nine: We lost, 14-9
Game 10: We lost, 5-3
Game 11: We won, 14-1
Game 12: We won, 12-5, but I was heading home from KC.
Game 13: We won, 16-5
Game 14: We won by forfeit.
Game 15: We lost, 17-3

Staying up late

... So I was all excited to watch The Daily Show last night to see how Jon Stewart was going to lampoon Alberto Gonzalez ... The embattled Attorney General was only one of the Show's most interesting and funniest storylines this summer ("I do not recall ...") ...

And last night's episode was a rerun! Grrrrrrrrr.

You owe us Stewart.

Good Gonzalez-related reads ...
a Lonely at The Top: For the President, Confidants Are Lacking
a Analysis: Gonzales a Lesson in Cronyism

But hey, how about the Feist performance on Letterman last night. Very cool!

I was so impressed I downloaded the album this morning ... and I'm loving it.

Check it out ... (The studio music video is even cooler ...)

8.27.2007

Balloon art

... A relative just forwarded me a set of pictures of some balloon art. Amazing stuff!

For more of the pictures, check out this link.

8.26.2007

Sunday reading

... Talk about a crazy week ...

... On the heels of my dream week of baseball last week, last Saturday started a string of eight straight days of rain. Not a sprinkle -- long, hard, pouring rain. Luckily Kates and I escaped with only a trickl of water in our basement ... The rest of our area wasn't so lucky, and much of the land to the west of us remained flooded with numerous roads closed and the rivers at record heights ...

... All of that made for a somewhat chaotic and sometimes tense work week ... To ease the tension a littke bit, one of my cohorts delivered this radio snippet ... I'd already heard it a few times before, but it'll have you laughing every time!

Here's some of the headlines and stories that caught my eye during the last week ...

Baseball ...
a Froemming has called 'em like he's seen 'em
a Bouton gives fans a real 'old-timer's day'
a Bonds' uncharted universe: 755 and beyond
a Home run record may bring Bonds neither respect nor adulation
a Angels' Anderson bombs Yankees with 10 RBI
a Gloveless hitters buck the trend
a Happy returns: Cleveland Indians acquire well-traveled Lofton in trade with Texas Rangers ... apparently this happened a month ago, but I just caught it this week. Poor Kenny ... though if he's anywhere, it's good to see him in Cleveland.
a A half-century ago, a baseball era ended in New York and another started in California

Internet & Media ...
a In Month Before Labor Day, Pointless 'Filler' Columns Abound ... so HA-larious. So true.
a Playboy courts college students with online site ... now this is a new one ...
a It came from outer space

Politics ...
a Bill Clinton in '08!
a It's all about priorities for Michelle Obama
a Obama: Presidential Bid at Times Insane ... Kates and I caught this Daily Show. Awesome.
a Huckabee: a Republican who can lead us back home

Entertainment ...
a Her book is Hollywood, according to Courtney
a MTV’s ‘Sweet 16’ show drives fad for lavish birthday parties ... this is just insane ...
a La-La Land lets Lindsay Lohan off easy ... this is insane too ...
a Put the Kids in Bed and Close the Door, the Real Bob Saget Is in the House

Music ...
a This Furniture Rocks
a Music-Selling Rivals Take Aim at iTunes

Other stuff ...
a Cellphone Contracts: Hard to Get off the Hook
a One in Four Read No Books Last Year
a Certified Guaranty Co. puts comics on a slab

Game #15

So we played our last regular season baseball game today. And there’s no getting around it, it wasn’t good …

One of the few bright spots of the day was that it couldn’t have been a more beautiful day for baseball. 80 degrees, sunny, not a cloud in the sky …

Still, with all the rain soaking our fields, we hadn’t played in two weeks (… although we did get a win by forfeit on Thursday night … long story that’s not worth telling …). And even today, the outfield grass was like a football field in the fourth quarter. It was a swamp …

Our opponent today was hitting the ball all over the field; they were hitting all the gaps. They had me and our outfielders working as hard as we’ve had to work all season long … But when we did have chances to make outs, it wasn’t any prettier. Everything that was hit to me on the ground in left field, I fielded cleanly, but I lost two balls -- that should have been routine outs -- in the mid-morning sun. My mates in the outfield didn’t fare any better …

We had little to brag about at the plate today, too …

I was batting in the fifth spot today and came up in the first inning with the bases loaded and one out. I took the first pitch high and outside for ball one. But the second pitch was at my eyes, I took it, and the umpire called it strike one. Unbelievable! I took the third pitch too, thinking it was outside -- and the umpire called that strike two! So now, with a 1-2 count, I have no choice but to protect the plate. I know what’s coming, but the way the umpire’s calling the pitches, I’m thinking I have to swing at anything that’s remotely close … Sure enough, the pitcher throws a curve that dives right in front of me, but I’ve already started my swing. The ball gets by me for strike three, and it gets past the catcher, so I take off toward first. All of the other runners advance too, we get one run on the board and I’m standing safely at first …

Then the next batter flies out to center on what we think is a run-scoring sacrifice. Nope, all of a sudden the umpire rules that it’s the third out of the inning, and that I should have been the second out because a batter cannot take first base on a passed-ball-strike-three when first base is already occupied. It’s the right call, but the fact the umpires waited a whole batter to call it completely frustrated our team and propelled us into a mental tailspin from which we never recovered … The way we saw it -- with my first at-bat as a prime example -- a lot of the pitches that were being called strikes for us, were being called balls for the opposing team …

I got another chance in the third inning, and, still messed up mentally from my first at-bat, popped up the first pitch I saw to the shortstop (…It was a pitch that I should’ve put in the left-center field gap…). Then in the sixth inning I grounded out to the second baseman.

Finally, in the eighth, I got up with two outs and a runner on third. I worked the count to 1-2 and then shot a flare over the shortstop’s head and into the outfield for an RBI single … The next batter shot a grounder past the second baseman as I was breaking to steal second and I wheeled around into third base to give us runners on the corners with two outs …

But that would be it. The next batter flied out and we lost 17-3 … Our worst loss of the season.

So we finished the regular season 5-10 … and if there was any good news to come out of today’s games, it was that we’ll face the team we wanted, the Javelins, in the first round of the playoffs on Tuesday night …

Going into the day, it looked as though we would be facing PT in the first round, but a Javelins win combined with PT knocking off the league’s only undefeated team this afternoon broke a third place tie in the standings, and that means we get the Javelins in the first round -- good for us because we’ve had success against them this season, and a win against them on Tuesday night will get us a second playoff game on Thursday night …

My line for the season …
.361 average, 13 hits, 6 walks, 7 strikeouts, .488 OB%, 8 stolen bases, 13 runs, 7 RBI

As for our other games …
Game one: We lost, 16-4
Game two: We lost, 13-2
Game three: We lost, I was off for the weekend
Game four: We lost, 5-4
Game five: We lost, 20-9
Game six: We lost, 5-4 (with pictures!)
Game seven: We won, 7-5
Game eight: We lost, 12-4
Game nine: We lost, 14-9
Game 10: We lost, 5-3
Game 11: We won, 14-1
Game 12: We won, 12-5, but I was heading home from KC.
Game 13: We won, 16-5
Game 14: We won by forfeit.

8.25.2007

The Power of the Sister Act

... There's a question that's been tossed around the corner of my office this summer about the movie you'd drop everything to watch if you found it on TV ...

For me, there's about a half dozen, I could name off the top of my head -- Field of Dreams, Ocean's 11, That Thing You Do!. Independence Day got me to drop everything a few weeks ago. And today, Sister Act 2 did it ...

Ah, Sister Act 2. Having seen and loved the first Sister Act, my parents took my brother and I to the movie theater on New Year's Eve 1993 to see Sister Act 2. Good, funny, uplifting story. Amazing music. And it's stacked -- Whoopi Goldberg and all the classic characters from original film, not to mention the legendary James Coburn, and the kids choir that includes Lauryn Hill and Jennifer Love Hewitt.

I've loved the movie since the night I saw it ... and it never fails to capture me again and again ...

So Kates and I had come home from doing some errands today and she began flipping through the TV channels while I made some lunch ... She stopped on Sister Act 2, just as the St. Francis choir was loading the bus to go off to the state music competition. It's at a point in the movie where the choir is finally coming together and tensions are rising between Rita (Lauryn Hill's character) and her mother, who doesn't agree with Rita's desire to sing and study music ...

The rest of the movie takes you through the competition as several choirs perform well. And as the St. Francis kids watch, they begin to believe they can't beat any of the other choirs; they want to quit. But Sister Mary (Whoopi Goldberg) tells them "to wake up and pay attention" and the choir heads to the stage ...

The choir sings the most dazzling, electrifying performance of "Joyful, Joyful," you've ever heard or seen, and the crowd responds with a thunderous applause ... Then some dramatic music plays as the emcee of the competition begins to name the winners. As choir after choir streams onto the stage to receive their trophies, you see the St. Francis kids waiting in the wings, hands folded, heads buried ...

Then, the winner is announced ... and it's St. Francis Academy. The choir members run on to the stage leaping and screaming ...

The moment gets my heart-pumping every time! And today, like every other time, the tears were streaming down my cheeks ...

When the moment was over, Kates peeked over at me as I was wiping the tears away. Her eyes had welled up too ...

"EVERY-time!" I said.

"I know," she answered. "I just thought it was my hormones ... "

Here's that Joyful, Joyful performance, sans the awards presentation that comes in the minutes afterward ... (... And if you want more, the "Oh Happy Day" scene and the end credits are great too ... Am I a dork or what!?)

8.22.2007

Streaming ...

So the story of the week is the rain. And the flooding ...

The rain started early Saturday afternoon -- just after I finished mowing our lawn and doing some work in our yard -- and literally did not stop until mid-day Sunday ... And we have several major downpours in the days that have followed ...

Last night, at about 3 a.m. actually, I was woken by another storm with lightning so bright and thunder so loud I swore it was topping the trees in our front yard. And man was the rain beating against the windows ...

So far, our house has been spared from any major water damage ... many in our area can't say that ...

And the ball field where I've played a lot of games this summer? There's about three feet of water standing on it ...

* * *

... So, in my continuing fascination with the Internet and my work responsibilities to be as knowledgeable about the culture and trends as I can be, I joined Facebook this week ...

It's something I've been meaning to do for months, ever since the powers-that-be opened up the site to more than just college students ...

Yeah. First impressions? I enjoy MySpace much more ... but I'll keep logging in ...

* * *

... How 'bout those Brewers!?! ... Monday night they roll into Arizona and jumped all over former Brewer Doug Davis for a 9-0 win. Prince Fielder absolutely pasted that ball he hit in the second inning. Yovani Gallardo hit a homerun. And it was so bad that Jeff Cirillo -- another former Brewer, but an infielder! -- even got some action on the mound ...

Last night's game wasn't as exciting -- well, Gabe Gross's grand slam was pretty exciting -- but it was a win, and we'll take it ...

Now tonight's game is a little closer ... But I'm tellin' ya -- they're gonna get hot ...

In the meantime, I'm keeping my watch on the Cubs this week too while they're in San Francisco. Wanna talk about exciting games? How 'bout Cliff Floyd and last night's Cubs finish in the ninth ...

Yep, it's exciting ... but the downside of it all, they're late, west coast games this week that I refuse to miss -- and they're kicking my butt when it comes to getting up the next mornings ...

* * *

This guy was on Monday night's Letterman show ...

This is awesome ...



* * *

... So I had a dream last night that I was reporting in the Giants lockerroom and I confronted Barry Bonds, looked him straight in the eyes and convinced him to give it up and admit his steroid use. My dream ended with a forlorn Bonds sitting front of a mic and beginning a press conference to admit his steroid use ...

Oh, if only the world were so perfect ...

There's some good Bonds cartoons on Cagle's ...

And this isn't a football score ...

Woooooooooooooooooooow!

... So I'm surfing the net, watching the Brewers game, and I see this ...

You've GOT to be kidding me ...

Here's the lowdown ...
a Rangers become first team in 110 years to score 30 runs
a Just another embarrassment for the O's

8.19.2007

Sunday reading

... Some of the stories and headlines that have caught my eyes the last couple weeks ...

Music, pop culture, entertainment ...
a Britney to kids: You’re both mistakes!
a Bigger audience would suit Fey better
a Pop looks to the past for a forward-feeling sound
a Weird Al's Imitation: A Funky Form of Flattery
a Movie Endings We Love Forty pitch-perfect film finales
a Jim Killeen: The Man Who Found Himself: "Google Me'' might have begun as a gee-whiz exercise in egotism for Jim Killeen, who found numerous other Jim Killeens via Google, but it quickly became much more.
a
Colbie Caillat: A MySpace Star on the Rise

Newspapering ...
a The graying lady: Cuts in newspapers' foreign reporting will leave the world worse off
a For Some in Oakland, Editor's Death Shows Subversion of Black Activism

Politics ...
a Obama Says He Can Unite U.S. 'More Effectively' Than Clinton
a Eating Right: In Frederick, a Bushel Of Crabs and a Back Slap For President Bush

Baseball ...
a Keep the Brewers in perspective
a Giambi escapes punishment from baseball
a Ruthian or Faustian? Barry Bonds' sins -- the questionable use of science, the raging drive to be No. 1 -- are, we should remember, distinctly sins of our time.
a Vincent says Bonds' record tainted
a Connor was baseball's first home run king
a Costas: HR record is 'inauthentic'
a Aaron, Bonds faced hatred on the way to historic homer marks
a Will A-Rod be the next HR king?
a Rizzuto’s Secret of Youth Lasted for Years
a Goodbye, Scooter: Insults didn't stop Rizzuto from living a wonderful life
a Dubious distinction: Cox passes McGraw for most ejections with No. 132
a My All-Time Team: Cobb, Hornsby, Ruth are among the best of the best
a My All-Current Team: Jeter, A-Rod, Manny lead the crop of today's stars
a My All-Future Team: Which stars of today will still be great in five years?

The Internet ...
a Bloggers consider forming labor union
a Facebook Grows Up
a Class War: MySpace vs. Facebook

Other stuff ...
a Gruesome mystery of eight skeletons in a forest
a Old Age Cause Gives Pause

There's no breaks in baseball

I’m about baseball’d out …

Let’s review: Royals-Blue Jays game last Friday. Brewers-Cardinals game on Tuesday. The Cubs-Cardinals game Friday afternoon and the Brewers-Reds game that night, not to mention playing my game on Thursday night …

For the record, that's four Major League games in eight days. Three different cities and ballparks. Six different teams. One division pennant race.

Yesterday, on a lazy and so perfect rainy Saturday, I listened to the entire Cubs game on the radio (God, I love Ron Santo and Pat Hughes. They make it all worth it… rain delays and all. And I erupted with the Wrigley faithful when Daryle Ward popped that grand slam to put the Cubs solidly ahead).

Then, I had the Brewers game on the TV in the background last night while I did some work, though the Brewers -- for the first time this week, about time -- had the game well enough in hand, that I didn’t pay too close attention …

This morning, I was supposed to play again, but with the rain falling pretty much non-stop from about 6 o’clock last night to about 3 o’clock this morning, I knew there was no way we’d be playing. Sure enough, I got woken up at 8:45 this morning with that phone call telling me all games had been canceled …Now the sun is shining.

And with that I flipped on the DVR, to watch the broadcast of Tuesday night’s Brewers game and the whole 1982 anniversary bash. Pretty cool. Did I mention we were there?

At about 11 o’clock, Kates, was calling me. I’d dropped her off at her parent's house after the game on Friday night, and she’s spent the weekend there cleaning/moving her stuff out of her old room …And guess where she is this afternoon with her parents and some relatives? The Brewers game … The only reason I wasn’t there with her was because, as I said, I was scheduled to play today … And that brings me to the reason Kates was calling -- they had scrounged another ticket to the game this afternoon and she was calling to invite me up …

Sigh. I couldn’t do it. I actually groaned -- me, groaned! -- at the thought of making the drive to Miller Park for another baseball game …

So here I sit, watching it on TV inside my nice, comfy home …

Then tonight, the Cubs-Cardinals game is on Sunday night baseball. Guaranteed I’ll be watching that one too …

Then, maybe I’ll take a break for a few days …

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

We’ve got a pennant race to watch, folks

8.17.2007

The Perfect Day

And I feel so alive
I can't help myself
Don't you realize

I just wanna scream and lose control
Throw my hands up and let it go
Forget about everything and run away, yeah

That was the first song to come on after I plugged in my iPod this morning. Appropriate.

You know how in elementary school when you had to write a journal entry describing your perfect day? Mine always went something along the lines of sleeping in, watching Sportscenter and then going to a bunch of baseball games …

Today I lived it.

… For the last few summers, I’ve made it a point to pick a day to go off to a Cubs game by myself. I get a single ticket, go down to Wrigleyworld and take it all in. No stress. No worries. It’s one of my favorite days of the year …

So back in February, I bought my tickets for the season, and picked today as my “Me” day. A Friday afternoon. Cubs-Cardinals. August pennant race. Perfect.

Then, yesterday, a friend offers me box seats to tonight’s Brewers-Reds game. At first I hesitated to accept them, thinking there’s no way I could pull that off! But the adventurous, carpe diem, no day but today! me took over and I seized the opportunity …

This can work, I thought. The Cubs game is a 1:20 start. I take the train down, as usual. Maybe it’s a fast-paced game, and I catch the Davis Street train to go back home by 5 p.m. Or, at the worst, I leave the Cubs game an inning early. I meet Kates back at home, and we drive to the Brewers game, which starts at 7:05. And if we’re an inning or two late getting there, no big deal …

* * *

So … this morning I slept an hour later than normal. Donned my Cubs paraphernalia, watched a little Sportscenter, and then drove to the Waukegan station, catching a McDonald’s breakfast on the way. I caught all my train stops and transfers, and arrived at Wrigley’s doorstep at about noon …
Everything was perfect. It was a gorgeous day. A vendor selling Budweiser was walking up and down the aisles advertising it as a "LaRussa Breakfast!" And a couple with a young boy dressed in Cubs gear were holding a sign that read "Draft me in 2025!" ... referring to the boy, of course. Said the boy's mom, "We couldn't hold a My-First-Game sign. We've seen too many of those."

... And it was bucket hat day at Wrigley ( … a joyous replacement for yet another one of the cherished items I lost in our burglary). AND! with the Air & Water Show happening this weekend, jets were flying over and around Wrigley throughout the game, giving us fans our own little air show. Some of those things were flying so low when they rocketed past the stadium, it looked as though they were setting to land on the streets outside. And at one point during the game a trio of jets flew over the field in a circular motion, leaving a perfect “C,” for the Cubs fans in their paths …

After having no luck catching a ball in the left field corner during the Cardinals batting practice, I went for my souvenir Mountain Dew and set out to find my seat …

Yeah. In my 13 seasons of attending games at Wrigley Field, I’ve never had a view this good. Section 222. Seat 105. Row 1 … I could see the entire field. I was sitting right in line with home plate. I had almost as good a view as the home plate umpire. And I had a bar in front of me to put up my feet …

Bears and Kansas University (rock chalk Jayhawk, baby!) great Gayle Sayers threw out the first pitch, and then we were off ...

It was a pitcher's duel. Braden Looper for the Cards, Rich Hill for the Cubs. Hill didn't allow a hit until the third, Looper didn't allow a hit until the fourth. Neither gave up a run until the sixth inning ... In the top of the sixth, Hill struck out David Eckstein and Ryan Ludwick and then gave up a homerun to Albert Pujols. The way the game was going, it could've put the Cubs away ... But! Ryan Theriot singled in the bottom of the sixth and then Jacque Jones stepped to the plate and launched a homerun of his own. I don't need to tell you that the crowd erupted ...

From there, Cubs fans everywhere held their breaths in hopes the Cubs could close out the Cardinals and cool them down. At the same time, I was also starting to watch the clock and check my train schedule to time my departure ... Lucky for me, the Cubs did hold on and retired Jim Edmonds for the last out. Final: 2-1.

Go Cubs Go burst over the loud speakers and the crowd sang it loud as ever. I couldn't keep from smiling ...

* * *

It was 3:50 p.m. I jumped into the aisle and beat it down the third base line toward the exit at Sheffield and Addison, on my way to board the El. I must've made it in record time too because the crowd inside the station wasn't half as thick as I'm used to. I got my pass punched, raced up the escalator and hopped on the waiting train ... So far so good. If I kept my pace, I thought, I could make the 4:33 train at Davis and Kates and I had a chance of making it to Miller Park before the first pitch ...

Then tragedy struck. Ok, it wasn't a tragedy, but it was a setback. I had to wait several minutes for a train at the Linden station, and that was enough to put me at Davis no more than two minutes after the 4:33 had passed through. Doh!

So, I waited. Caught the 4:59 train at Davis. Got back to my car at the Waukegan station at about 6 p.m., and I was pulling back in our driveway and picking up Kates at about 6:30. She had a Subway sandwich and a soda waiting for me, along with my Brewers gear so I could make a quick change in the car. She took the keys so she could drive, and off we went for the nightcap ... Gotta love it!

... We arrived at Miller Park at about 7:30, parked and were walking into the stadium for the bottom of the second inning. And! we got our Harvey Kuehn bobbleheads! (I had conceded to Kates on the ride up that I didn't think we would get the bobbleheads because we were going to be so late ...) After the usher handed the box to me, I turned to Kates coming behind me and held it over my head like a World Series trophy ...

On to our seats. Gorgeous! Box seats. First base side, about midway into the outfield. So close you could see the whiskers on Ken Griffey's chin.

The Brewers playing? Not so gorgeous tonight ... I had been saying throughout today that priority No. 1 was a Cardinals loss -- they came into the day in third place, two and half games behind the Brewers; they must be cooled off and put away for good. But the Cubs came into the day in second place, a half game back, which meant that with a Cubs win, it was paramount the Brewers won too to keep their lead in the NL Central ...

Didn't happen. The Reds were already up 1-0 when we found our seats, and they added another run in the third on an RBI double by Griffey. J.J. Hardy cut the deficit with a solo homerun in the bottom of the third, but Scott Hatteberg hit a homerun of his own in the sixth to put the Reds up 3-1 ...

And, oh, then wheels fell off in the seventh. Quite possibly the most mediocre play I've seen in a major league ball game: Jeff Keppinger singled for the Reds to lead off the inning, then Griffey grounded to Ryan Braun at third base. Off the bat, it looked like an easy double play ball, but Braun threw wide of second base and the ball bounced into right field. Keppinger headed for third and scored. Meanwhile, as Griffey's pulling into second, the Brewers right fielder, Gabe Gross, picks up the ball and flings it over to second base (... Watching Gross throw the ball so awkwardly was kind of like the equivelant of nails scratching a chalkboard, I have no idea what he was thinking ...). Gross's throw sailed wide of second base and rolled over to left field, and Griffey went all the way around to score on a two-error, inside-the-park homerun that looked like a play you'd expect to see in a 6-year-old Little League game ... I've never heard boos so loud, or seen fans so upset at Miller Park. I actually heard a guy behind us moan, "I want to go home and take a bath in my toaster ..." I burst out laughing.

In the eighth, Gross and Hardy, who'd committed an error earlier in the game too, tried to redeem themselves with a solo homerun each. But the Reds tacked on two final runs in the top of the ninth on an Adam Dunn moonshot to the upper deck in right field ... Final score: Reds 8, Brewers 3.

And so ended The Perfect Day.

I plan to sleep in tomorrow morning.

8.16.2007

Game #13

Now I can finally say I told you so

The boys won another one on Sunday while I was on a plane, coming back from Kansas City, and tonight we were going for three in a row …

It didn’t start out pretty, but we put up 16 unanswered runs and stamped a 16-5 win. We’re finally coming together and playing the way a lot of us had envisioned when we recruited these players and put our team together over the winter ..

We’re not out of the woods yet though. We’ve got three games left against a couple tough opponents. And if we do well, believe it or not, we could have a decent seed when the playoffs start in two weeks…

I started in left field tonight and batted sixth in the order … I stepped to the plate for the first time in the bottom of the second with two outs and our team already down 5-0. The pitcher was hittable and I battled, fouling pitch after pitch after pitch. And then he got me; the bottom just dropped out of it. Dang curve … I got a huge break, though, when the ball rolled past the catcher and I took off to first base, making it easily. I was on … The pitcher was a lefty, but I had his motion picked and was getting excellent jumps off him. The only problem: my teammate at the plate kept fouling the pitches. Finally, I did swipe second base, and by the time Tommy knocked a pitch into the outfield and I rounded third to score, I was wasted. I crossed the plate safely and we were on the board, 5-1.

The next batter went down and we were back in the field. While I was still trying to catch my breath, the first batter hit a deep fly ball my way. The hit caught me flat-footed and I misjudged it. Before I could regroup, the ball was sailing over my head to the fence. I picked it up, threw it in and the batter was pulling into second base. He wouldn’t score, though … That was my only fielding blemish of the night. During my six inning in left, I caught a fly, and held runners on a few other balls …

Then we started pouring it on. We had been through the order once, and we were starting to get around on their pitcher … I stepped to the plate again in the fourth inning with two runners on and slapped a shot up the middle for a single and two RBIs. Then I stole second again. Got moved to third on a base hit, and scored on the next batter’s hit. When the inning ended, we had tied the game at 5-5.

In the fifth, we laid it on again. I stepped to the plate for my third at-bat with one out and a runner standing on third base. I watched strike one and drove the next pitch to center field, only to watch it be caught. The runner tagged and scored, and I had my third RBI of the night. And when that inning ended, we had scored seven runs and gone comfortably ahead, 12-5.

We would get one more inning in before the two-and-a-half hour time limit ended our game. I stepped to the plate for my last at-bat in the bottom of the sixth inning with a runner on second base. I battled again, fouling off pitches and then hit a chopper down the third base line. Whether I had beaten the throw is debatable, but I’m taking the hit. The ball got past the first baseman and without breaking my stride I turned the corner for second base, and then took third too, when the first baseman got lazy on retrieving the ball. A few pitches later, I hustled home on another chopper down the third base line …

I moved over to second for the top of the seventh and made the second out there after a batter launched a ball to left field. The left fielder threw the ball in, and I heard the shortstop yelling “He’s coming! Tag him!” I fielded the throw, turned around and there he was. I applied the tag. Out No. 2 … A couple more singles after that and suddenly they had runners on first and third. But we got out of the jam and the game when the runner on third base tried to score on a passed ball. Our catcher recovered well and tossed the ball to the pitcher who was coming in to cover the plate. Pitcher put down the tag. Out No. 3. We win …

My line for the season …
.375 average, 12 hits, 6 walks, 6 strikeouts, .513 OB%, 8 stolen bases, 13 runs, 6 RBI

As for our other games …
Game one: We lost, 16-4
Game two: We lost, 13-2
Game three: We lost, I was off for the weekend
Game four: We lost, 5-4
Game five: We lost, 20-9
Game six: We lost, 5-4 (with pictures!)
Game seven: We won, 7-5
Game eight: We lost, 12-4
Game nine: We lost, 14-9
Game 10: We lost, 5-3
Game 11: We won, 14-1
Game 12: We won, 12-5, but I was heading home from KC.

Dang Yankees!

Fucking Yankees, Reports Nation

The Onion

Fucking Yankees, Reports Nation

BOSTON—Moments after the New York Yankees continued a month-long stretch that has seen them climb from the bottom of the AL East to pull within a once unfathomable four games of the first-place Red Sox by defeating the Baltimore Orioles...


The Onion

Newly Appointed Ambassador Ripken Accidentally Causes Nuclear War

TEHRAN—Mere days after being named a U.S. State Department Goodwill Ambassador and Special Sports Envoy by Condoleezza  Rice, baseball...

8.15.2007

New game!

... So I found a new Internet game

Pretty sweet ... and very addicting! So far my highest score is 17 ...

The Brewers: Then & Now

... Kates and I went to the Brewers game last night. It was the second in my stretch of three games in seven days. Three different ballparks. Five different teams. But this was the one I had been looking forward to all summer long...

The game to mark the silver anniversary of the Brewers 1982 American League Championship and only World Series appearance ...

I beat it out of the office as soon as I could. We picked up our friend Tiffany and off we went, on a mission get our spot in the lines at the gate ...

See, I had learned yesterday morning that members of the 1982 team would be signing autographs in the stadium concourses for the first 45 minutes that gates were open. And one of the items I've yet to replace from our little burglarization is a 1988 Score card that Robin Yount had signed for me on top of the photo of his picture-perfect swing. I had re-purchased the card, now I just need the signature. So I grabbed it over my launch break, along with an extra Don Sutton card and an official baseball that I had lying around, just waiting for someone to sign ...

We made excellent time getting up to the park. Got parked. And speed-walked to the front of the ballpark. It was then that my heart sunk and I realized deep down: there would be no autographs for me today. The lines were so long -- at every entrance -- they twisted and turned around the statues and into the car lots. And we arrived about a half-hour before gates opened. The people at the front of the lines had to have been staked out since early afternoon ... But I held out hope.

The gates opened at 5:30, and of course our line was moving the slowest. It took Kates and I another five or 10 minutes before we actually passed through the doors. Kates went to get our seats, and I searched for the tail of the line to get Yount's autograph. It became obvious at this point that you'd have to pick one player and go for him, because you were likely going to spend all your time in that line. And even if you did manage to get that one autograph, the lines were so long for every player -- Simmons, Caldwell, Augustine, Moore, Money, you name 'em, they were at the front of long lines -- that you'd never get through another one.

I caught a glimpse of Robin as I passed by the front of his line ... and then the long, long walk to find the end of the line. And there it was, extending all the way down the first base side toward the outfield, up the ramp to the second level, and around the corner. In about 40 minutes of standing in the line -- surrounded by sweaty, smelly, large bodied men and women, under a low ceiling with very little ventilation -- I managed to get to the bottom of the ramp. And the security man came through, announcing that the autograph session had ended.

I should have gone for Don Sutton.

* * *

... I got my customary brat and Mountain Dew in the 1982 World Series souvenir cup, and then found Kates in our customary seats in section 217 ...

On the field, rows of chairs were being set up behind home plate, and people we assumed were family members and dignitiaries from the 1982 Brewers were starting to filter on the field. There also was a awkward, gray-haired man in a beige suit milling around the area, and it took us awhile, but after watching his mannerisms closely for several minutes, we confirmed it was indeed the commissioner himself, Bud Selig ...

Soon enough, the stadium was packed and the on-field ceremony was beginning. Brewers owner Mark Attanasio stepped to the podium and reminisced about being a New York resident watching the Brewers beat up on the Yankees in 1982. Bob Uecker spoke eloquently, as usual, in his description of the odd collection of the guys that made up the 1982 team. And Selig reflected on the joy the team brought to Milwaukee ...

Then Uecker retook the podium and it was time for the moment we'd all been waiting for: The introduction of the 1982 team ... Four of the players, including Cecil Cooper, could not attend the game because of responsibilities with other teams, Uecker told us. But once the introductions got rolling, the crowd didn't seem to mind ...

First, the coaching staff. Then the pitching rotation. Each of them took stands on the infield grass, forming an arch inside the base paths ...

With each player the cheers grew louder and louder. Jim Gantner. Moose Haas. Don Money. Ted Simmons. Ned Yost. Charlie Moore. Larry Hisle. By the time they announced Gorman Thomas, I was having so much fun my eyes were welling up. And then came the real rush, the final three. Rollie Fingers. Paul Molitor. Robin Yount.
As the ceremony came to a close, each of the players took the positions they played during that 1982 season. And Audrey Kuehn, the widow of the great manager Harvey, threw the ceremonial first pitch to Ted Simmons. Then they came off the field, throwing baseballs into the stands ...

And like that, it was all over. But it was worth every second.

* * *
If only the excitement could've lasted beyond the first inning ...

The stadium was packed. The crowd was electric. The original 1982 pennant flag was hanging by the scoreboard. The Brewers and the Cardinals were in their 1982 jerseys (The Brewers have been wearing them for much of the season, but can you imagine the Cardinals players going to their lockers in the afternoon, seeing that light blue V-neck and saying "We gotta wear this!?"). And with the Brewers trying to hold down first in front of the charging Cardinals, it was a playoff atmosphere. And, oh there were a lot of Cardinals fans in the seats last night ...
Chris Capuano hit Albert Pujols with a pitch in the first, but the Brewers got out of it without a run. Then in the bottom of the inning, Prince Fielder launched a solo homerun to the deepest part of the park (no doubt about it!) to put the Brew Crew on the board. Ryan Braun followed that with a single and then Geoff Jenkins smacked a homerun to nearly the exact same spot Fielder hit his (no doubt about that one either!).

But that was all we'd get ... from the Brewers ... for awhile.

Kip Wells retired 12 consectutive Brewers between the second and sixth innings, while the Cards put up two runs in the third and six runs in an ugly fifth inning, during which they sent 10 batters to the plate. Pujols beat out an infield single (though J.J. Hardy did makee a heckuva diving play just to get to the ball). Ryan Ludwick got hit by a pitch. Then two runs scored when Scott Rolen's chopper got past Ryan Braun at third base and bounced into left field ...

Now I love Ryan Braun. He's a pure hitter. And he's been a grrrrrreat addition to the Brewers lineup this season. I've got a pretty good feeling he has a, dare I say, Hall of Fame career ahead of him. But let me go on the record saying: I think he needs a little more work on his defense ... In the two or three games I've seen him play live and in person this year, I've been less than impressed with his abilities at third base. He's been lackadaisical at times, letting several balls that I thought he could have fielded roll into the outfield. And that ground ball he botched last night didn't appear to be hit that hard. But to his credit last night, he did make a couple plays that raised some eyebrows, including his snare of a lightening line drive down the third base line ...

The Cardinals added two more in the eighth and Braun, (better late than never, I guess) delighted the crowd with a homerun of his own in the bottom of the inning. Aaaaaaaaand the Cardinals added two more in the ninth.

Final score: Cardinals 12, Brewers 4.

I've been saying it all season long: Don't count out the Cardinals ... Now the Brewers are faltering, the Cubs are losing, and lo and behold, the Cardinals are 4 1/2 games out ...

Ay yay yay.

U.S. To Re-Hang Saddam Hussein

HA-larious ...

U.S. To Re-Hang Saddam Hussein

The Onion

U.S. To Re-Hang Saddam Hussein

WASHINGTON, DC—The re-hanging, which will be aired on all major networks, will be "brighter, cheerier, and more upbeat" than the first anticlimactic attempt.

Welcome to the Manor

... So I started watching this Meerkat Manor on Animal Planet ...

EW gave it someprops in an e-mailed newsletter over the weekend and its getting some good buzz. It struck me and I tuned it ...

Turns out, it's pretty good stuff. From the LA Times:

The result is strangely hypnotic, family-friendly viewing. It is fascinating to
watch the behavior of such a socially complicated group of animals up close and
personal in the wild, to be reminded of not just the brutality but the
selflessness that can be found in nature -- when Sophy is left to guard the pups
in an early episode, she is as brave and stalwart as a movie heroine.
... It's kind of like the meerkat version of March of the Penguins. I've always enjoyed watching the little meerkats at zoos ... but who knew they had such dramatic lives ...

8.14.2007

Pipe Cleaners, Googly Eyes Cut From Elementary School Arts Budget

Pipe Cleaners, Googly Eyes Cut From Elementary School Arts Budget

The Onion

Pipe Cleaners, Googly Eyes Cut From Elementary School Arts Budget

PARAMUS, NJ—"I'd love for students to make Santas with big, bushy beards, but times are tough, and cotton balls don't grow on trees," said Superintendent Jim Eckford.

8.13.2007

Summer Vacation in Time: Part II ... The Reunion

… Kates and I are back home. We touched down safely at O’Hare yesterday afternoon. Made the drive back here. And when I pulled in the garage, I leaned back in my seat and said, The time machine has landed.

Yep. We’re back to reality. Though I’ll be riding the familiar faces, smiles, memorable sites and conversations for awhile. The last time I felt this way, this nostaglic, was the days after Kates and I got married. And all of those images and good memories from our wedding day played on a loop in my head …

Not wanting to let go just yet, after Kates and I got home last night, I was quick to pull out my senior yearbook and old photo albums, pouring over all of the images from those days and pointing out the faces we’d spent time with on Saturday. We even pulled out a couple of the video tapes from my senior year, watching the senior recognition ceremony and hearing the choir sing and laughing with the speeches once more sent chills down my spine at the memories of how joyous and special of a time that was ...

Back to Saturday morning … Kates and I had skipped out on the first of my 10-year reunion gatherings Friday night to hit the Royals game. I’d heard later, on Saturday, that the crowd was good and it was a fun time, but I just wasn’t hip to the idea of cramming into a small bar with a hundred or so people …

So my first reunion experience was Saturday morning. On the docket was a picnic gathering at the infamous Heritage Park -- the scenic park/golf course/lake where I’d spent several evenings as a teenager hanging out with friends. It also was where we had our senior picnic 10 years ago …

On the way to the park, Kates and I stopped at Panera for bagels and drinks. I got the Mocha Almond ( and I got it again on my way out this morning. Kates and I had our Friday afternoon lunch, our Saturday morning breakfast and our Sunday morning breakfast all at the Panera across from our hotel. And with that Mocha, I think I’ve found a new favorite drink.).

Driving into Olathe was yet another mind-boggling experience. The two-lane country roads that I once drove for shortcuts to the mall or to movie theaters or to friends’ houses were now six-lane parkways with stoplights and blooming landscapes and fountains and ritzy subdivisions and shopping centers …

The McDonald’s that used to sit by itself on a corner some blocks from our house is now surrounded by a couple gas stations and a couple neighborhoods. And the 7-Eleven across the street where me, Joel and our neighborhood friends would ride our bikes to get Slurpees and baseball cards, and where I bought my first tanks of gas (it was $10 to fill a whole tank back then …) has been bulldozed. A Walgreens stands in its place now.

Once at the park, we found our designated shelter and parked our shiny Malibu. But my heart sank a little when I looked into the shelter area and saw a smattering of people who seemed less than enthusiastic to be there. And I recognized almost none of them …

Then, in a corner, sitting on a blanket with a blond woman and a small child, surrounded by a bounty of plastic toys and stuff animals, was a classmate I did recognize. He recognized me too, stood up from his blanket and reached out to shake my hand. We exchanged introductions with our wives, and dove into some adult conversation. My reunion was underway ...

The crazy part about it was that in high school, I idolized this guy. He was a star point guard on our powerhouse basketball team, which made an appearance in the state tournament every year, went undefeated our junior year before losing the championship game to a Wichita team, and then finally won a championship our senior year. The last time I saw him was our freshman year of college after he went off to play basketball at Wyoming and a contingent of our senior class traveled up to Omaha to watch him play at Creighton. I’d barely talked to him in high school, other than the occasional interview for the school newspaper ...

And that's how the weekend would go. We were adults now. We'd let our guards down and the stereotypes and clicks had been washed away ... Crazy how that happens ...

As more of my old friends and classmates arrived, with small children in tow, I marveled at how much things had changed, and yet it seemed as though nothing had changed at all. Generally people looked the same and we connected in much of the same ways that brought us together as friends years ago. Above all, it hardly seems like it's been 10 years ...

And now instead of the latest relationship gossip or the test on Monday, our conversations were about pay scales and homes and babies, their sleeping patterns, hospital visits and breast feeding …

By 12:30 in the afternoon, people were starting to clear from the park. And Kates and I had stayed more than an hour longer than we’d planned, but that was a good thing. The conversation had been far more interesting than I’d expected. We said our good-byes to the group and left feeling eager for the evening gathering …

* * *

From the park, with the afternoon open and free, I took Kates on a reunion tour through Olathe and my old neighborhood. Down Blackbob Road and through the winding subdivision roads where I once out-drove a cop pursuing me because I accidentally forgot to turn on my headlights ( … I realized they were off and flipped them on the moment I saw the police car turning around to come after me, which is perhaps why he didn’t pursue me more aggressively -- because I turned on my lights and was heading straight home. He followed me all the way to my driveway and then passed by as I got out of the car and walked in the house. That was on the eve of my departure to college. It was a stupid, stupid thing to do. And I'll never forget it …)

We drove past Green Springs, the elementary school that Joel attended at the end of our street. And then made the turn onto Shannan Street. My old street. Another mind-blower. Ours was one of the first houses to be built in the neighborhood. I literally watched all of the surrounding houses go up. Now, they all seemed old somehow. Now, the trees seemed to tower over the street …

Slowly, I drove past my old house; I just gazed out the window. There, too, the trees were tall. The current owners have added onto the back side of the garage and a giant white trellis stands off the other side of the house. The beautiful landscape remained and the owners appear to be taking care of the yard my parents put such time and effort into cultivating. That was nice to see …

From there, we headed to 143rd, past the Wheatland subdivision and the firehouse. We drove past Frontier Trail, where I attended junior high school. The red brick and royal blue trim remains as polished as it did when I was a seventh-grader there. But gone was the large brick sign that sat in the middle of the front lawn, and with it my Eagle Scout project where I planted landscaping around the sign during my freshman year … Sigh. Thirteen years was a good run, I guess. The landscaping and benches my brother installed in front of Green Springs for his Eagle project barely survived a year before it was replaced with a new addition to that building …

We drove down the hill past Prince of Peace, and back up toward Mur-Len Road. I marveled at the growth on the Nazarene University campus, and again, the tall trees, which now blocked any view inside the football stadium … We turned on Mur-Len and headed past Tom’s neighborhood, and Tad’s neighborhood, up to 151st Street. The Dillon’s grocery store was still there. So was the Capitol Federal bank. But a new shopping center had replaced the Hardee’s and other stores at that corner …

Further down 151st Street we came to my old high school, which has remained largely unchanged, aside from a small addition to the wrestling room and locker rooms on the back of the building. We drove around the entire campus, and again I couldn’t help but be amazed that 10 years had passed since we walked those halls … I badly wanted to go inside, but was afraid of causing trouble for some office worker who’s duty it was to scrutinize every unfamiliar face that passed through the door. We are living in an age of tighter school security, after all ..

We continued. Past Indian Trail Junior High (which still had its sign on the front lawn … sigh.) And past the Garmin campus, which was just being built a decade ago, and now it’s a gazillion-dollar corporation. Crazy …

We drove past the Great Mall of the Great Plains (watched that thing go up too ...). And past my old church, which has been turned into a mission center. Past the old Central Elementary School. Through downtown and the courthouse square, and then we “Cruised the Fe” on our way back to our hotel. Past the Perkins where we spent many, many, many (many!) late nights. Past the old movie theater. And past Price Chopper, the grocery store where I had my first-paying job, sacking groceries …

Yep. So much had changed. And yet nothing had changed at all ...

* * *

After killing the afternoon with lunch from the KenTacoHut, a nap and some TV, Kates and I headed off to the KC Wine Bar for the big reunion gathering ...

Kates had straightened her hair for the occasion, and she looked beautiful as ever, wearing a black dress with white pok-a-dots. I had chosen to wear a pair of brown slacks with a blue, button-down dress shirt. We looked gooood …

As I parked the car outside the wine bar, grabbed Kates’ hand and we started toward the building, my heart started to speed up … For years, I had been anticipated this night and tried to imagine what it might be like. John Mayer’s lyric from “No Such Thing” -- I just can’t wait 'til my 10-year reunion / I’m gonna bust down the double-doors -- was playing over and over in my head …

But rather than bust down the double doors, Kates and I just sort of passed through them slow and curiously ... There to greet me with a hug was my good friend Sara, aka our senior class president/the head party planner. We accepted our nametags and were directed toward the back of the long, narrow, but elegant bar and banquet hall …

Around the corner, the faces were far more recognizable then they had been earlier that morning at the picnic gathering. Greetings were exchanged, and conversations picked up where they'd left off 10 years ago. I felt like a high school senior all over again ...

Almost all the people I was eager to see and watnted to catchup with were there, including some of my closest high school friends, who I've managed to keep contact with but hadn't seen in several years ...

… As the night went on, we indulged in a buffet of cheese, crackers, veggies, cake and varied finger food. And unlimited beer and wine. Sara and the planning committee also pulled out the old senior slide show. And they raided the school store to give away T-shirts and other door prizes …

But, oh, the beer. I’ve never considered myself much of a drinker, but when I do imbibe, I can gauge how relaxed I’m feeling by the amount of alcohol I can drink. I discovered that in college when friends and I would walk down to The Pub, and on nights when I was under a lot of stress or even the slightest thing was misaligned, I could barely down one beer. On the nights I was feeling at ease with things in my life and the people around me, I could drink ‘em like water. Though I usually stopped at about three … On Saturday night, I lost count at five. I can’t illustrate how relaxed and how much fun I was having any more than that …

By 11:30, the crowd was thinning and we began to say our good-byes. There were tight hugs all around … But it was good to know it wouldn’t be 10 years before most of us saw each other again. Stacy lives in the Chicago area too. And I’ll be seeing Jocelyn and Tad again September when Tad finally settles down and ties the knot ...

As we walked out of the bar, I handed Kates the keys and I was all smiles. I had come in with low expectations and I had been nervous. I was leaving knowing it had been everything I had hoped and wanted it to be …