Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas Greetings to Family & Friends!! We hope this letter finds you all well and in good health. 2008 was another eventful year for us. In March, we went to Minneapolis to our friend Rusty and Tina’s wedding reception at a Minnesota Wild game. In April, Aaron went to Kansas for a work trip. While there, he was able to see his Uncle Skipper, cousin-in-law Brad, and his parents, who happened to be in Kansas that weekend for some meetings.

In June, Aaron graduated with his Master’s degree in Computer Science from DePaul University. We are very happy that he has completed this great task. Aaron’s parents and nephew Jake were able to make it to the graduation. We had a backyard party to celebrate. That weekend we also took Jake to his first minor league baseball game in Schaumburg to see the Flyers. He even got a baseball bat as part of a giveaway promotion!

We went to Aaron’s cousin Nick’s wedding in Minnesota at the end of June. We spent time with Aaron’s family at the wedding and reception and we also went to a Minnesota Twins baseball game where they played the Brewers. Sheila wore her Cubs jersey and hat during the game! She is a loyal Cubs fan! We also were able to go to a Cubs - White Sox game at Wrigley Field this summer with our friends Ryan & Katie and Sheila’s brother Bob. We were excited to see the Cubs make the playoffs, and thought this was “the year”, but they are the Cubs, and were swept out in the first round of the playoffs. As the Cubs’ fan motto goes, “wait ‘til next year!”

In July, Rusty & Tina came to visit for Aaron’s birthday and we went downtown to shop and sight see. Aaron got to meet Mike Ditka at his restaurant! Also, in July, we spent six days in New York City. This was Aaron’s first trip to NYC. We stayed in Times Square. We saw many of the video signs that Aaron’s brother Brent’s company (Daktronics) put up in Times Square. We went to two Twins vs. Yankees baseball games at Yankee Stadium. Twins lost them both. L We went to the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, the World Trade Center Memorial, United Nations, Grand Central Station, Central Park, Empire State Building, and a tour of the Conan O’Brien show and Saturday Night Live studio! We got a lot of walking in those days. We saw the play Young Frankenstein and laughed all the way through it. We even took a trip to Connecticut to see some of Sheila’s friends. Sheila loved seeing them again and Aaron got to see some places where Sheila lived and worked.

Over Labor Day weekend, we went to South Dakota to see Aaron’s family and to take some family pictures. Bailey insisted on being in the photo!! While we were there, we went to the South Dakota State Fair and enjoyed the carnival rides and a couple of concerts! George Jones was old and .38 Special rocked!!

In September, Sheila’s Mom Dorothy passed away after a long bout with Alzheimer’s. She was 83 years old. Dorothy’s 10 children and many of her grandchildren and great grandchildren were at the wake and funeral. Sheila is very blessed that her Mom was able to make it to our wedding and to have lived as long as she did. Sheila loved her dearly and she will be greatly missed. The photos we have with Dot bring smiles to our faces.

We spent time with Sheila’s college girlfriend Cathy and her family from North Carolina in March & late September. Sheila also traveled to Nashville, TN to spend time with her friend Jeannine and her new daughter Alexandra Morgan.

In November, we went to Indiana to spend time with Sheila’s brother Bob and his family. It was first time Aaron had been to Bob’s house. Aaron loves the movie room at the house! Also that month, Aaron & Bailey made a surprise visit home for an awards ceremony for his Dad. We also spent Thanksgiving in South Dakota. It was Sheila’s first time there for Thanksgiving, and it had been several years since Aaron had been back for that holiday. We went to Aaron’s high school’s benefit auction and had fun seeing old friends again.

As for our daily lives, Aaron is still employed at Motorola as a software engineer working on Canopy Wireless Broadband products. Sheila was laid off from her job in late August but within two weeks she got a job as a Customer Service Representative at Mid American Group (insurance brokerage firm), She has be racking up the frequent flyer miles with her business travels this fall/winter. And Bailey is still our guard dog. She is great at picking up every food item that drops on the floor. She still loves her belly to be rubbed no matter who does it! We’re looking forward to the adventures in 2009! Have a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year! God Bless you all!

Bailey Christmas!

Every year we have a Christmas party with friends and coworkers. This year, that party is tonight. So, to get into the spirit, Bailey dressed up and posed for Christmas photos!

Merry Christmas from Bailey's Blog!!

Christmas Crunch!!

For nearly as long as I can remember, I have been somewhat of a sucker for good marketing and slick packaging. I'll buy things I don't even need as long as it looks cool or like it will be fun to play with or have. I think I have found the root of all of this.


Yep. Christmas Crunch. Bow down!!! For some reason, this was my favorite cereal growing up. And only because it was Christmas Crunch. Back then, they didn't have "Holiday Shapes". All they had was red and green colored crunch berries. I don't remember ever eating regular Cap'n Crunch, or even Crunch Berries, but that's exactly what Christmas Crunch is -- Cap'n Crunch Crunch Berries cereal with slick packaging and cool holiday colored crunch berry marketing. I think it was the fact that Cap'n Crunch was dressed up as Santa. Here is the old school packaging I remember as a kid.

So last week, when Sheila went to the store, she asked if I wanted anything, and I asked for Christmas Crunch. Flat tire and 2 hour AAA wait later (see a previous post), and the grocery store (Dominick's) didn't have any. It had been several years since I had Christmas Crunch, but every season, I get my hopes up that maybe it will be back out again.

Well, tonight my luck has turned! I was walking through the Jewel grocery store, on my way to the checkout lane, and there, on the end of one of the aisles was my holy grail. Christmas Crunch!! 2 for $5!!! Well, what would you do? I bought two boxes! And now, I have just enjoyed a bowl of glorious, wonderful, awesomely grand Christmas Crunch. And, I'm well aware that if I had just bought Cap'n Crunch Crunch Berries cereal, I would have experienced the exact same taste sensation, but somehow, someway, Crunch Berries aren't even close to Christmas Crunch. Long Live Christmas Crunch!!

Rage Against The Machine

So there was some pretty huge news out of Illinois yesterday. Our sweet-Lego-haircut governor got caught in a good old fashioned bribery and pay-to-play scandal. It's kind of refreshing, in a way, to have a political scandal that doesn't involve prostitutes, airport restrooms, young male paiges, and the unbelievable supportive spouses crying crocodile tears standing by their man.

I just read a good article that sums up some of what Illinois Politics are all about. You can read it here. Interesting quotes from the article:

• “Government in Illinois isn’t about political ideology or helping people,” said Christopher Mooney, who teaches political science at the University of Illinois-Springfield. “It’s about which idiot brother-in-law are you going to get a job on a road crew because he helped you get into office.”
  
  
• “We have a culture of machine politics and it lends itself to corruption,” said Simpson. “We are the capital of corruption in the U.S.”

And, now, we have a President Elect who is a direct product of the "captial of corruption in the U.S.". Hopefully he was above all of these things, but I find that kind of hard to believe. In order to get anything done in Illinois you have to play ball and become tainted. Although, throughout the election, we never really did hear about anything accomplished by him in his time in Illinois legislature, so maybe thats proof that he isn't corrupt!

Here's to hoping.

Baby It's Cold Outside

This weekend Sheila and I ventured outside to put up lights and decorations outside and to get our Christmas Tree for inside. The past few years, I have always gone up north to a tree farm to cut down our tree. That was a day after Thanksgiving tradition. This year, since we were up in SD for Thanksgiving, we decided to go the easy route and drive 2 blocks to the pre-cut tree lot right at the entrance to our neighborhood. Well, it cost about twice as much as the cut-your-own tree farm tree, but it was alot easier to find a good tree without worrying about missing branches or squirrels.

So yesterday was the day to get the lights up outside and get the tree home. Today was the day to get the tree into the house and get lights and ornaments on it. We finally got it up and all decorated and were ready to sit down and relax when Sheila decided to go to the grocery store. She gave me a small list of items to do while she was gone and I swear, I was actually going to finish them! Well 10 minutes after she left, she called me from the store telling me that the front tire on the car was completely flat. So, I had to go be her knight in shining armor and change the tire for her while she was shopping.

I arrived at the grocery store to find the tire was beyond flat. I think it was inverted somehow up through the bottom of the rim. Not good. So I got out the spare tire and the other tools to start the job. I got the jack in place and was ready to loosen the lug bolts and not a single one of them would budge. I nearly gave myself a heart attack trying to loosen them. Some random guy tried to help and he couldn't move them either. It appeared that the bolts were literally frozen. I guess that happens when you have an alloy (lug bolt) connected to steel. They were locked up tighter than OJ Simpson!

I went in and found Sheila shopping and we had to call AAA. I spent the next hour and a half sitting in the car in the parking lot waiting for the roadside assistance to arrive. He finally arrived, thankfully 45 minutes ahead of schedule, and went to work. He had the same problem but was finally able to get them all loose. He had to use a t shaped tire iron and use his foot and his arm to get enough leverage on the bolts. Once that was done, 5 minutes later I was on my way home. Now, I get to take the tire/wheel into to the tire shop to see if they can be saved. I'm pretty sure the tire is toast, I just hope the rim isn't bent.

Anyways, its been a fun, extremely cold weekend. Tomorrow Sheila leaves again for a few days for work, this time to Nashville. At least Bailey is here to keep me company!

Dad rocks!

So my dad is getting this great award from the city of Huron, SD tonight, the Distinguished Civic Service Award. My brother Jon wrote a terrific tribute to him here. I couldn't agree with him more on this. We all are very proud of him. We have known for many many years what many others in Huron knew, and now the rest will know, that our dad is a very selfless man.

We all learned very early how important it is to give back to your community and your family, and not in that order. Being the youngest of 3 sons, I got to see how important it was to our parents to be supportive and involved in everything their kids were doing. I can't remember a single time where mom and/or dad were not at a function of ours. If one couldn't make it, the other was there. Most of the time, both were there. I still remember a Christmas Concert at school that dad was going to have trouble getting to because of meetings on one of his many boards. He made it just in time. It was just a Christmas concert, and I was the only one left in school at the time, but it was important for him to be there, and he made it.

Us three boys were involved in different things. Brent and Jon were involved in basketball, soccer, and track. I was involved in one-act plays, oral interp, and band. It didn't matter what it was, they made it to pretty much every event. Dad never ran into a function that was too far away. I remember going along to drop Jon off at hockey camps in northern Minnesota, basketball camps in Kentucky, taking me to a German language camp up in northern Minnesota, going up to Fargo to watch Jon run an indoor sprint when he was running track for the U (a race that lasted all of 3 seconds because Jon sprained his ankle pretty much out of the blocks). All of that didn't matter, what was important is that we went and supported each other. Have you ever known someone who thinks Chicago is on the way home from Branson, Missouri or Des Moines, Iowa? Since I've lived in Chicago, mom and dad have made those types of trips many times. If they are within 6 hours of us, then we're on the way. :)

That value has been greatly instilled in us kids. That is why I am back in South Dakota right now. I knew as soon as I saw that he was getting this award that I had to come and be a part of his big night. After all, nothing has kept him from coming to support us. Its been a long day, I left home at 5:30AM, but I wouldn't miss it for the world!

Thanks, Dad, for all you've done for us and the great example you and mom have set for us. You really deserve this recognition and I'm glad to be here for you this time.

Bailey needs a Chiropractor

Tonight, Bailey was just chillaxing and watching some hockey while laying on her back. Sheila noticed her acting strange by shaking her arms and legs. Sometimes, when she is asleep, she'll dream and start running and growling in her sleep, but her eyes were wide open. She couldn't straighten or move her arms. I watched her struggle for a bit and kinda rolled her over and felt the top of her back. It felt like her sholder blades (if dogs have them) were somehow tangled up. i only felt one, so the other one seemed like it was locked up somehow.

This went on for a few strange minutes. she couldn't walk or stand up or anything. I started to massage her upper back where her arms meet (the shoulder blade area) and finally got to the point that i could feel both of them. It finally corrected itself and she was back to normal running around and jumping all over the place.

Very strange, but I thought I'd post this one for my brother Jon the Chiropractor. He'd be proud of me. I maniuplated a dog's back. Is that something you learn in the second or third year? :)

Chicago In Da (white) House

Well, the election is over and it looks like Chicago politics is going to Washington. I was disappointed that McCain didn't win, but I liked his concession speech. I want to give Obama the benefit of the doubt. Since we really don't know much about him, we just have to wait and see. However, I am not very encouraged by his Chief of Staff pick. Rahm Emanuel is a hyper partisan Chicago politician. Not a good way to start off the reaching out to the other side.

I find it interesting how smoothly the election went and I wonder as I wander whether that is mainly because the media's guy won. If McCain had pulled it off, I think we'd still be hearing about how much voter fraud and intimidation and how he stole the election. But Obama wins? Not a peep. All on the up and up.

I think this election was nearly impossible for any republican to win. I think McCain had the best shot, but once the economy tanked in the September Surprise, it was pretty much over. I also think that if the Democrats had put up any other candidate, we'd be celebrating President McCain right now. It was the perfect mix of circumstances, and even then, it was still a 52-48 type of vote.

Oh well, this country finally has its first african american president and I think that can be a good thing in some ways. I will try my best to give him the benefit of the doubt because I'm sick of people hating people just becuase of their party affiliation. George Bush has gotten and continues to get the worst treatment of any President in history. Ever since shortly after 9/11, he hasn't gotten any support at all from the left. Their contempt for him is mostly clouded by their simple hatred of him. That needs to stop. I don't hate Barack Obama, and I don't think I agree with what he stands for. But even now after 2 years of campaigning, I'm not 100% sure what exactly it is that he stands for. Now that he is President, I'll give him support with a wary eye. Like I said, I'm not too encouraged so far with his chief of staff pick.

I just hope that all of those that voted for Change won't regret what they are going to get. I still can't quite understand how you can look at a place like Chicago, and think, "Hey, that place is being run so great. The schools are great, infrastructure is great, politics are clean and ethical, and they are doing a great job keeping the peace and enforcing the laws. Let's take some of that Chicago magic and put it in the White House." But, that is what has happened. Cook County (Chicago is the county seat) is in shambles with respect to all of those things. And, I think Chicago took back the honor of the highest murder rate in the country again. Take that New York!!

I also find it interesting how people think that Obama was actually telling the truth about the tax cuts and the $250k cutoff. Soak the rich. Well, those rich are the ones who employ the poor. Nevermind that $250k doesn't go as far as it used to, especially if you live in Chicago (highest taxes in the country) and have a family. Another good one is how we need to make companies pay more taxes. Do people not realize that "companies" don't pay taxes? People do. If you raise taxes on a company, they will simply raise prices, cut staff, or any number of things to make that up. All of those things have some affect on PEOPLE, not the company.

Anyways, this has gotten long enough. At least we should now have a much better shot at getting the 2016 Olympics! Change is Coming!

Baseball is over.

Well, the Rays lost the World Series 4-1. Did anyone else notice how it seemed that Joe Buck was giddy every time the Phillies did something good? He sure seemed happy with the outcome. I haven't liked Joe Buck as a commentator of any sporting event since he completely overreacted with the call on Randy Moss fake mooning the Green Bay Packers crowd several years ago.

If you missed that, here is what happened. Randy Moss caught a touchdown in a big game against a big rival on their field, the Green Bay Packers. For his touchdown dance, he acted like he was pulling his pants down and fake mooned the end zone crowd. It was kinda funny and you could tell he was having fun with it.

That self-righteous pompous blowhard Joe Buck immediately goes off and claims "That is disgusting!! I apologize to all of our viewers that had to witness such a despicable act." And on and on. Please. This was shortly after Randy's repeated run-ins with notoriety, such as gently moving along a traffic copy with his CAR, and other such shenanigans, so it was quite obvious that Joe Schmuck was looking for any small opportunity to blast the guy.

Anywho, my dislike for Blow Schmuck has been pretty consistent ever since that game. It isn't just that though. He seems to absolutely love overstating facts and scenarios and blowing everything out of proportion a la Brent Musburger. ugh. At least baseball is over now, and Schmoe Suck doesn't do commentary for the NHL.

Here is a video of Mo' Sucks call on Randy Moss' DISGUSTING act. My above quote was purely from memory and it was actually pretty close to what he actually said.

Oh well, time to move on. Go Stars!!!

Skunk Bailey!!!

Bailey absolutely loves skunks. We first found this out when we were dating. It was around March or April and Sheila and Bailey came over to my house in the evening. We let her run around for a bit while we shot a few hoops. After awhile it occurred to us that Bailey wasn't by us anymore. So we called for her and a few seconds later, she came from the side of the house and we could tell she was in pain. She was kinda snorting and coughing and trying to wipe off her face on anything and everything, including by rubbing it on the driveway. She settled in the front lawn rubbing her face repeatedly in the grass. At that point the smell hit me. Skunk. Direct face shot. She was not happy and neither were we. That was skunk interaction 1.

Then, a few months later, I was out walking her without a leash one time when all of a sudden a skunk waddled across the sidewalk several yards in front of us. Bailey took off after it and met up with it in the middle of the road. The skunk shot a small spray, this time it was just a glancing blow. From that point on, it is a rule that she always has to be leashed on a walk.

We got her a skunk costume for Halloween this year and here she is!

Hippodrome

For as long as I can remember, I have disliked the smell of the mulch that they put around the trees in the fall. I always assumed it was because it was mixed with manure. And, don't get me wrong, that's a really good reason to dislike the smell, but there was something else I couldn't really put my finger on.

This labor day, we went to the South Dakota State Fair and spent a bit of time in the Hippodrome watching my niece and nephew ride horses. I hadn't been in that barn for many many years - probably since watching my brother and cousin play hockey after I moved on from that career. It was fun to walk around it again and realize that we were playing hockey in a horse barn growing up, and not the other way around like I had thought as a kid. I remember thinking it was strange that there were horse stalls and a concession stand named "The Feed Box" in our hockey rink.

So all this brings us to Friday when I walked out of work early to get to a friend's wedding and the landscaping company had just put manure mulch out that day. Finally everything came together with my recent Hippodrome visit and I realized all this time that when I was smelling the manure enriched mulch my subconscious was actually bringing me back to my wonderful days playing hockey in the Hippodrome! I'm serious, that is exactly what went through my mind when that odor wafted through my nose!

So, without further ado, equal opportunity guest blogger Mom has sent some pictures that instigated me to write this post. From my old hockey days, and one of them even features the Feed Box!

Mom tells me that the reason I was sad here was becuase I had broken my stick in the game.

Really, I did have fun, I just hated all of the preparations and getting suited up.

Baileyween

Okay Okay I Love The Red Sox!

The Red Sox are the greatest team in baseball. No one can beat them. They will win it all!

There, now can the Rays just finish this series out and get to the World Series?

My pro sports team luck continues. Since my Tampa Bay post, the Red Sox came back from 7-0 and won game 5. Now, they are tied at 1 in Game 6. Since my Fabian Brunnstrom post, the Dallas Stars have lost 2 games in a row. And, tomorrow, the Vikings play the Bears, and I'm getting a bad feeling about how that is going to go.

Oh well, its just sports, its not life or death. Maybe I'm still paying the price for the Stars winning the Stanely Cup in 1999. And that probably would have never happened if the Vikings had won the Super Bowl in 1998 season like they were supposed to.

I was lucky enough to be at that NFC Championship game in Jan. 1999 when the Vikings played the Falcons. That year, Gary Anderson had been perfect in Field Goals - never missed a single one. Then the NFC Championship game came and as soon as they lined up in the second half for a field goal, I had that feeling, and sure enough, he missed his first field goal of the year. The game ended in a tie and the Falcons won in overtime by a field goal.

Ok, back to the game. The Rays just got out of the inning without giving up anymore runs.

Go Red Sox!! ;)


OK, that didn't work either, the Red Sox won tonight.

Fabian Brunnström!!!!

I am happy that the NHL has started. One of my many DirecTV sports subscriptions is for NHL Center Ice so that I can follow the Dallas Stars from Chicago. I've followed Dallas since they were the North Stars in Minnesota. We went to many games growing up in the old Met Stadium, even saw the 80's Oilers team play there with all of Cousin Tom's favorite players.

Tonight was the debut of Fabian Brunnstrom for the Stars and he scored a Hat Trick! Other Stars franchise players to do that in their NHL rookie season include Mike Modano and Dino Ciccarelli, but apparently only two other players have done it in their NHL debut.

You know, I played hockey once. Just ask my Grandma O. She'll tell you all about how much "I Hate Hockey!!" Well it's far more fun to watch than I must have been having when I played in the squirts. I think I really did hate it back then, but I watch alot of it now.

Tampa Bay 3 - Red Sox 1

Wow. Tampa Bay is one game away from the World Series!! Since the Twins didn't make the playoffs, I've kind of adopted the Rays as the team I'd like to see take it all. It helps that there are two ex-Twins on their team, Matt Garza (P) and Jason Bartlett (SS). Last year, we went to the final Twins home games, and being hip with the times, I bought a Bartlett shirt. Then, he was traded to Tampa Bay. This year, I bought a Cuddyer Twins shirt, and he spent most of the season on the DL. I'm not buying anymore specific sports shirts.

Anyways, back to Tampa Bay. Their manager, Joe Maddon, has had everyone buzzing about how he doesn't follow the rules. I tried to find examples, but most of the stories I found were too bloated and not specific enough until I finally found one that pointed to specifics. Here are some of things Joe Maddon does that bucks general Baseball trends.

1) intentionally walk dangerous batters with the bases loaded
2) have switch hitters hit from the same side as the pitcher (hitting right against right handed pitcher)
3) put in his ace closer very early in the game if the situation calls for it
4) put crazy defensive shifts on willing to give up the base hit to force the hitter to change their power approach
5) isn't afraid of his runners getting the first or third out at third stretching out hits
6) wears goofy glasses

All of these, with the exception of #6, are things little league managers have probably thought of doing, but he is actually doing this in the big leagues with great success. Very interesting to follow and its nice to see someone like him get ahead. Tonight, these things seemed to work perfectly as they lit up Tim Wakefield early and often and won 13-4.

Of course, if you are keeping track at home, now that I have written this and picked a side, the Red Sox will now go 3-0 and win the ALCS. Just my rotten luck. Oh, and it should go without saying I was cheering for the Cubs, too.

Who is Bailey?

Bailey is Sheila's dog. I inherited her through marriage and have grown to be quite fond of her. When I first met Sheila, I knew she had a dog, which was almost a deal breaker. Having never grown up with dogs - we had cats - I didn't want to start now. But, it turned out OK because Bailey is basically a cat with dog teeth. She is a Lhasa Apso-poodle mix lap dog that on average has slightly more energy than a cat. That usually only comes out when the doorbell rings or when Sheila gets home from work. Otherwise, she just lounges around and sleeps.

She likes to attack the vaccuum cleaner, growl at cars and people passing by outside, and growl and bark at me when I come to bed late after Sheila and her have already gone to sleep. She also really loves to chase skunks. She's been sprayed twice and we now make it a rule to always have her leashed on evening walks no matter how short they are. Most of the stories that we find funny about her are 'you had to be there' stories, so I'll try to keep them to a minimum.

This weekend, I bought a few giant bags of Halloween candy to take into work and put the grocery bag on the floor to take in Monday morning. Sheila warned that Bailey would get into it, but knowing better, I said not to worry about it. Well, Monday morning comes and since mornings aren't my thing, I got out of the house and halfway to work before remembering that I left the bags of candy on the floor. I couldn't turn around, I had a meeting, so I rushed home right afterwards. Bailey had opened the bag and gotten through a couple of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and attempted to get into a couple of milk duds, but those proved too tough to open.

This wasn't her first run in with chocolate and thank goodness we didn't have any dark chocolate in there (that is what is really really bad for dogs). She didn't get sick, but this morning she passed a reese's wrapper on her morning walk.

First Post!

Who would have thought I would be the last of my brothers to get into this world of blogging? Cuz Tom paved the way. All of their blogs will be far more interesting than ours. They have kids to liven things up. We just have a goofy dog (Bailey) that owns our living area. It's her world and we're just living in it.