Friday, December 31, 2004

The Rundown...

Stuff I Read That Stuck Out:

The 9/11 Commission Report

I Am Charlotte Simmons

Dutch

The Sun Also Rises

The Corrections

Portnoy's Complaint

Deception Point

Positively Fifth Street

Mason and Dixon

Michael Moore Is A Big Fat Stupid White Man

Stuff I Listened To That Stuck Out:

Franz Ferdinand
(yeah, me and everybody else)

The Killers
"Hot Fuss" (see above)

The Darkness
"Permission To Land"

Elvis Costello

Green Day
"American Idiot"

Stuff I Watched That Stuck Out:

Sopranos

The West Wing

Desperate Housewives
Developing...

U2 Dates Leaked


31 December 2004

Dates for U2's 2005 World Tour appear to have been leaked and
published.
Although U2 management has already announced the start of the US tour
in
Miami and confirmed the March 1 date, the dates for the rest of the
world
are yet to be confirmed.

Jan
1 - 21: band rehearsals in South of France
Sat 22 - NRJ awards, Cannes
23-31: band rehearsals in South of France

Feb
1-7: band rehearsals in South of France
Tue 8: Rehearse Brit Awards
Wed 9: Brit Awards
10-11: Band rehearsals in South of France
Sun 13: Grammy Awards
15-18: Band rehearsals - TBA
19-25: Band/Production rehearsals Miami
26: Load in Miami AAA - after NBA
27-28: Production rehearsals Miami AAA

March
1, 3: Miami - American Airlines Arena
5: Tampa - St Pete Times Arena
7, 8: Atlanta - Philips Arena
10: Hartford - Civic Center
12: Buffalo - HSBC Arena
14 NYC - Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Dinner
16: Philadelphia - Wachovia Center
17, 19, 20: NYC - MSG
23, 24: Montreal - Bell Centre
26, 27: Toronto - Air Canada Centre
29, 31: Boston - Fleet Center

April
1: Boston - Fleet Center
4, 5: East Rutherford - Continental Arena
7, 8, 12, 13: Chicago - United Center
16,17: Denver - Pepsi Center
20, 21: Phoenix - America West
24, 25: Seattle - Key Arena
28, 29: Vancouver - GM Place

May:
2, 3: Oakland - Oakland Arena
6,7: San Diego - Sports Arena
10, 11, 14,15: L.A. - Staples Center
16-31: break

June:
1, 4, 5: Amsterdam - Amsterdam Arena
8: Zurich - Letzigrund Stadium
10: Gelsenkirchen - Schalke Stadium
12: Brussels - Roi Boudoin
14: Manchester - Stadium of Light
18,19: London - Twickenham
21: Glasgow - Hampden Park
25, 26: Dublin - Croke Park
29: Cardiff - Millenium Stadium

July
2: Vienna - Ernest Happel Stadium
5: Budapest - NEP Stadium
7: Berlin - Olympic Stadium
9: Paris - Stade de France
10-18: break
19, 21: Milan San Siro or Florence Stadium
23: Rome - Olympic Stadium
27: Oslo - Vallehovin
29: Gothenburg -Ullevi
31: Copenhagen - Parken

August:
3: Munich - Olympic Stadium
5: Nice - Parc de Sports Charles Ehrman
7: Barcelona - Olympic or FC Barc
9: San Sebastian - Anoeta Stadium
11: Madrid - Calderon
14: Lisbon - Alvalade
15-31: break

September
1-12: break
13: break, load in Toronto
14: break, load in Toronto
15: break, load in Toronto
16, 17: Toronto - Air Canada Centre
20, 21: Chicago - United Center
23: Minneapolis - Xcel or Target
25: Milwaukee - Bradley Center
27: Cleveland - Gund Arena
30: Boston - Fleet Center

October
1, 3, 4 Boston - Fleet Center
7, 8, 10,11: New York - MSG
14: New York MSG / Albany-Pepsi
15: off / New York - MSG
16,17: Philadelphia - Wachovia
19, 20: Washington - MCI Center
21: off pre rig Pittsburgh
22: Pittsburgh - Mellon Arena
25: Detroit - Palace of Auburn Hills
28: Houston - Toyota Center
29: Dallas - American Airlines

November
1,2: Anaheim - Pond
4: off/ Las Vegas MGM
5: Las Vegas MGM
6: Las Vegas MGM - off
7: Off - Sacramento - Arco / LA Staples
9,10: San Jose
18,19, 22, 23: Tokyo - Budokan or Yokohama

December:
2, 3: Brisbane - Entertainment Center
6, 7, 9,10: Melbourne - Rod Laver
13,14,17,18: Sydney - Superdome





---------------------------------

Happy New Year to all!

Here's to a safe, healthy and prosperous 2005. Let's get things started on the right foot with a Bills win Sunday!


Thursday, December 30, 2004

Eve Of The Eve...

It's the penultimate day of 2004! "Penultimate" has always been one of my favorite words, and it turns out I was misusing it for about 26 years. I remember leaving a Cubs-Sox game a few years ago where Carlos Lee jacked a grand slam to win it for the Good Guys, and walking out telling my old pal Bob that it was the "penultimate" Sox game that I have ever been to. He looked right at me and asked me why, and I was like "duh, because of the unbelievable comeback." Bob, in his typical dry and slightly snarky (a word I learned in 2004, thank you Renee) way just shook his head and told me to look the damned word up when I got home before I ever dared use it again.

I thought it meant "greatest." Turns out it means "second to last." 720 Verbal on the SAT my ass.
Why nobody else told me this, I have no idea.

I've been a big fan of Gap khakis ever since the Gap opened up at Marketplace Mall when I was in junior high. For some reason, their material seemed softer and easier to "break in" than anything from Brooks Brothers, Banana Republic, Abercrombie and Beeatch, etc. I usually buy 2 or 3 pairs every after-Christmas to keep my closet full.

But apparently, the Gap has gone the way of Dockers, and decided to make all their khakis "Stress-free"...in other words, resistant to red wine stains and wrinkles from when one passes out on the couch after guzzling too much red wine. The problem with that? Not so soft anymore. Ugh.

Wow, this might be my most mundane entry ever.

Wednesday, December 29, 2004

Mild shakeup in Chicago radio over the past 24.

First of all, Mr. Fatass Liverlips Moronotti got his walking papers from WMVP yesterday. Make sure you check out the bold prediction from the ol'Hawkeroo in the last paragraph. Actually, I don't mind his vitriolic bullshit columns so much. At least they get people talking..even if it's just about what a dipshit he truly is.

Jay Marvin got his walking papers from the Big 89 yesterday. He was probably the most vocal liberal on the Chicago airwaves (although nowhere near as good looking as Nancy Skinner), and I guess he lost out on his contract battle, which seems to be a recurring theme at WLS these days. So this means Eileen Byrne is currently solo. If they decide to do some kind of reality show spectacular extravaganza to find a partner for her, sign me the hell up!

Also a mild shakeup in the Chicago weather. It's like 45 today and is supposed to be warm through the weekend. Only problem is Sunday's Bears-Packers game is probably going to be played in a blinding rainstorm.

Finally decided what to do with the free tickets we won from Northwest...looks like we're going to Tahoe for President's Day. We're meeting Rob and Renee out there, after pulling Rob's metaphorical teeth to get him to go there instead of Sonoma Valley.

Tuesday, December 28, 2004

Plays Well With Others?

Forgot to mention that we fetched Carson from the kennel yesterday. The place we send him is a top-notch outfit..hell, he even gets treats at bedtime for an extra 1.50 a night, and it's more expensive than some of the fleabag motels I've stayed in over the years.

Anywhoooo...they give a little report card on how he behaved while there. Under the section for Interaction, they wrote "Carson prefers to sit and watch the other dogs."

Translation: Much like his master, Carson is a fat lazyass.



I guess today I'll present my "Technological Innovation Everyone Talks About That I Was Way Late To The Party On, But Still Rules" award. The winner for 2004? Mozilla Firefox.

I haven't seen a pop-up ad in months (except for when I click on links in my damned POS RSS reader which I use very sporadically), the tabbed browsing is superb, and the fact that I can open stuff that I download without navigating to it is an extra bonus considering how cluttered my desktop is.

But the best part? The search engine plug-ins box. It comes "standard" with Google, but I've added a bunch:

Amazon.com
eBay
Allmusic.com
Baseball Reference
OLGA (On Line Guitar Archive)
Wikipedia
AP Photowire

So we salute you Mozilla Devs. Real men of genius, indeed.

Monday, December 27, 2004

Come On Rams! Let's Go Colts!

Playoff picture for the Bills

Along with a win over Pittsburgh in the regular-season finale, the Buffalo Bills need one of two things to happen next week in order to make the playoffs:

• A loss by Denver at home against Indianapolis OR

• A loss by the New York Jets at St. Louis.


Did you know that the first scheduled passenger flight took off from St. Petersburg airport in 1914?

I didn't either, but sure enough, there's a marker commemorating it right by the baggage claim. We flew in and out of there for Christmas, and I never thought I'd see an airport smaller than Greater Rochester International (which is "international" because it has flights to Toronto), but this place is downright tiny. 14 gates total. No place to get your drink on and watch football on a Sunday afternoon while waiting for your flight.

Christmas was great...even though it was 50 and rainy in Florida, it was a heatwave compared to here. Scored a nice poker set, bunch of clothes, tennis backpack, mini shortwave radio...not a bad haul at all. Furthermore, it was the first time I was with my old man on Christmas since 1998.

This week's star of "Ballplayers Behaving Badly": Sidney Ponson.

Friday, December 24, 2004

In The Spirit Of The Holiday....

I have 6 GMail invites I want to get rid of, and fast. It's supposedly a beta program, but it seems to me like everyone and their mom (well, I know my Mom does) has one.

If for some reason you don't, email me (ilk417@gmail.com) and i'll hook you up.

Merry Christmas to all...I'm off to Florida, catch you Monday.

Thursday, December 23, 2004

Happy Festivus!

I wonder what more people celebrate, Festivus or Sweetest Day.

And now, the airing of grievances:

The Democratic Party: P. Diddy, Michael Moore, Barbra Streisand, John Kerry...you all tried, you all failed, you all whined. Off to Canada with you!

Donald Rumsfeld: You're pretty bad at your job. Stop being so proud, admit you went about this all wrong and step aside. Off to the retirement home with you!

Sammy Sosa: You're a has-been. If it weren't for steroids you'd be a never was skinny 4th outfielder. Off to Baltimore with you!

Feats of strength:

I guess I'll see how much I can drink this weekend, and maybe just maybe I'll outdrive my old man on the golf course.

Festivus miracle:

The Sox with 5 decent starters? Wow. El Duque stays healthy and this team's gonna keep runs off the board. Now putting them on the board sans Ordonez and Lee, that's a different story.




Wednesday, December 22, 2004

Decisions, Decisions...

There's 3 questions that I dread being asked more than anything else:

1) "When are you going to get married?"

2) "Is it OK if we have spaghetti for dinner?"

3) "What are you doing for New Year's?"

Today is December 22nd, which leaves me just 9 days to figure out what the hell we're going to do to ring in 2005. Next to the day after the end of the World Series, it might be my least favorite day of the year. I don't want to go to the bars...I did that for 4 years, and every year it's the same thing...greased up suburban guys chasing city chicks. Even at the local watering hole that I worked at in 1997 and 1998, the place was overrun with Abercrombie-and-Drakkar-coated meatheads every 12/31.

For the Millenium (yes, I know it wasn't the "real" millenium by scientific definition), I went to Amsterdam and partied my balls off for 5 straight days. Absolute insanity. Since then, it's been all downhill...see the following list of things I've done, all of which register pretty high on the lame-o-meter:

2000-2001: Went to a really bad party in Michigan. The girl I was dating at the time was a senior at U of Go Blue, and one of her friends had a party. Nothing like trying to explain how not all traders get rich their first year out of college to a bunch of 22 year olds.

2001-2002: Went and saw Barenaked Ladies at the Allstate Arena and spent the night at the Sofitel. NOT MY IDEA. I repeat: NOT MY IDEA. I liked BNL back in the "Born On A Pirate Ship" days...hell, they even played a fraternity party of ours in 1994, but talk about jumping the shark...

2002-2003: Went to dinner at a really good Italian place in Bucktown with K's cousin Devin and his buddy Ryan. Ryan played HS ball with Paul Konerko. That's about all I remember, 'twas so boring.

2003-2004: Went party hopping with Rob and Holly. First party was bad, chock full of starving disaffected hipsters. Conversations were limited to the following topics:

1) Bush sucks.
2) The White Stripes rule.

We were in a cab on the way to the second party when the ball dropped. Doh!

So who knows what'll happen this year. We have tickets to see Spam-A-Lot on New Year's Day, so hopefully I'll get rid of the shakes by nightfall.




Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Best. Present. Ever.

Rob and Renee sent us 6 packages of hot dogs, Zweigle's hot dogs for Christmas. Seeing as that K hates them...they're mine! All mine! Now I gotta run to Ohio and get some Genny beer...

On a side note, K has a nasty ass cold. As a result of that, last night was like sleeping (well, more like counting sheep) next to a buzzsaw. And wouldn't you know it, as soon as I dozed off, the little brat next door woke up screaming. Grrrr.

Here's some ducky news from the world of medicine. Aleve me alone!

Ringing bells with the Salvation Army tonight...other than that, not much exciting to report.




Monday, December 20, 2004

A Tale Of Two Parties...

Hit the holiday party circuit Saturday night. Well, I went to 2 parties in the same night, which I guess is the circuit for schmoes like me.

The first party was hosted by our friends Greg and Ron, who I used to do a lot of work with through Chicago Cares. Greg and Ron are that most unique of creatures... they're a gay Republican couple. Their condo up north was decorated to the nines, complete with 14' tree. The bar was fully stocked, and champagne from gold-rimmed flutes was the drink of choice. Ron is a caterer, and threw together a better spread for this home party than most company parties I've been to...he even had a couple of the waitresses that work for him circulating the house with appetizers.

At about 10:30, we headed through the white and drifting snow down to the Sout'Side for Jimbo's annual holiday bash. Jimbo's is our bar of choice before and after Sox games...it's your classic Chicago corner tavern...small, dimly lit, covered with pictures of the owner and various local celebrities, video poker machines in the corner, you get the idea. The place was jammed with mostly Bridgeport locals in their union coats knockin back Miller Lites and guzzling shots of Jaeger. One nice touch Jimbo adds for the holidays is that he serves bottled beer during the winter, instead of cans like he does during the season. Ahhhh...it's the little things that make a difference. Our Christmas present from Jimbo? A bottle of Asti Spumanti!

On a side note, some local yokel came up to me at the bar and said he'd heard that the Sox had just traded Marte, Garland and Konerko for Randy Johnson. Thankfully, it was just the booze talkin.

As most of you have noticed, I love to toot my own horn. Below is what I think might be the best joke I've made all year:

aaron: lol they playin li'l jon on fresh air
ilk: lil jon?
aaron: yayaah
ilk: who dat?
aaron: oh my god
aaron: /me smacks ilk
ilk: is he like lil bow wow?
aaron: the guy who produced usher's "yeah"
ilk: or KRIS KROSS?
aaron: and who chappelle mocked on his show
ilk: ahhhhhhh
ilk: i often confuse "yeah" with "freek a leek"
aaron: the very synthy, handclappy beats
ilk: which apparently is a song about having sex with a green onion
aaron: haha


Friday, December 17, 2004

Ouch! Woof!

Scene: Ilk's pitch-black bedroom, 4:19 AM. As is his custom, flannel-pants-clad Ilk rolls out of bed to take his early morning trip to the bathroom. On way to bathroom, Ilk kicks the open door to metal crate containing Carson, Ilk's faithful and trusty beagle mutt. Carson, awoken by this sudden disturbance, begins to bark. LOUD. Bark awakens Ilk's sleeping night-terror-prone girlfriend, who sits bolt upright and screams. Ilk, oblivious to all this due to the pain in his foot, unleashes a loud string of obscentities as he hobbles to the bathroom.

Meanwhile, the starveling 18 month old brat who lives on the other side of Ilk's unit hears the ruckus and starts caterwauling, as she is often prone to do. Brat's overweight mother and pasty IT geek father get up, and one can hear father (who has quite the temper as is usually the case with pasty geek types) swearing his head off about the damned dog next door.

Ilk manages to relieve himself, and fishes for BandAids in pitch black darkness. Ilk applies BandAid to gash on foot, but misses the cut by about 2 inches due to aforementioned darkness. Ilk hobbles back to bed and clims in, but can't fall asleep for 20 minutes because of the brat next door.

FADE OUT.

Scarlett Johannsson is now dating Derek Jeter...

Wonder if her next movie will feature her sitting around the Yankees spring training complex in a camisole, looking pensive as she sulks and broods?

Thursday, December 16, 2004

My latest crusade--getting a Wegmans in Chicagoland, failed miserably:

Subject: case #277915 MMR
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2004 15:22:38 -0500
From:"Comments@Wegmans.com" Add to Address BookAdd to Address Book




We received your e-mail asking us to consider building a store in the
mid West. Thank you for the compliment. We are very pleased that you
have
enjoyed shopping in our stores enough to want to see a Wegmans in your
community. At this time we have no plans to build in your area. We
have
made our long range planning committee aware of your suggestion.

What follows is a list of planned stores and potential sites:

Fairfax, VA, February 2005
Baltimore County (Hunt Valley), Maryland, August 2005
Mt. Laurel, NJ, Fall 2005
Cherry Hill, NJ, To Be Determined
Warrington, PA, To Be Determined
Turnersville (Washington Township), NJ, To Be Determined
East Hanover Township (near Morristown), NJ To Be Determined

Thank you again.

Martha/Wegmans Consumer Affairs





Yet another slow news day...

Todd "Hang Time" Sauerbrun gets nailed for DUI in North Carolina. Why "Hang Time" you ask? That was his license plate when he played for the Bears. Not quite Sebastian Janikowski-type antics, but still funny.

It looks like for once, MLB is the one getting screwed instead of doing the screwing when it comes to the DC baseball mess. As someone who has welshed on my share of agreements in my younger and dumber days, I can tell you that I hope Linda Cropp gets a good swift kick in the ass. Yeah, maybe she's right in that publicly financing the stadium is wrong, but why the hell did she agree to it in the first place? Waffle waffle waffle...maybe Johnny Ketchup is lurking in the background?

Is this guy Mexico's Jeffrey Dahmer?




Wednesday, December 15, 2004

New iPods!
Apparently The Sporting News, which I didn't even think existed anymore, feels that da Bears very own Number 54 is the most overrated player in football?

I'm telling you what, this is a complete and utter crock. Urlacher is gritty (witness the fact that he worked on oil pipelines in New Mexico in HIGH SCHOOL or that he played a hell of a game agiainst the Vikes 10 days ago with an open surgical wound on his leg), Urlacher is fast (I've seen him make picks that normally would be reserved for safeties), and Urlacher's a leader. Not to mention that he boned Paris Hilton before it became fashionable to do so.

If you ask me, the most overrated players in the NFL are (no particular order):

Michael Vick. He's a poor man's McNabb at best. Someone on an NFL board described him as an excellent running back with a mediocre arm, and that pretty much sums it up.
Randy Moss. Yeah, the 100% Randy Moss is one hell of a player. Problem is that it's been the 65% Randy Moss who's been showing up most of the season.
Drew Bledsoe. Yeah, he's the QB for my favorite team, and he's having a resurgence the past 7 weeks. But he's still terribly slow.
Jeremy Shockey. Three or four good games does not a career make. Plus, he's a dick.


Tuesday, December 14, 2004

If one cares to look back at my June and July entries, they'll probably find a lot of me bitching about how it's so damned hot and I can't wait for winter. Well, winter's here, and lemme tell ya, it sucks. I just can't win when it comes to weather.

Today's what I like to call "jacket crackling" cold...it's so cold that as soon as I walk out the door, my super-high-tech ski jacket goes from being soft and loose to "crackly." Kinda hard to describe, but I'm sure that anyone who lives in Chicago probably has an idea of what I'm talking about.

The tree finally got trimmed last night and looks great. Truly about the only thing I enjoy about Christmas is decorating the tree...especially when it's a real one. To commemorate that, and since today's a really slow news day, here are 5 random TMI facts about me and the holiday I love to hate:

-I love egg nog. As a kid, there was always spiked egg nog at our annual Christmas Eve Dago Bash. One year I grabbed someone's cup and guzzled it, and my Mom went apeshit...so every year going forward there was always non-spiked egg nog on hand for me.

-Most of my Christmas ornaments are trains. I had a huge fascination with them as a kid.

-When my parents split up, my dad and stepmom ended up with my stocking that my Mom made for me when I was an infant. It was cool as hell, even though it had a pineapple on it. I have no clue what happened to it, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Gerry tossed it.

-My parents had a weird habit in the early 1980s for a while of buying my sister and I at least one identical present. One year we both got clock radios, one year we both got joysticks for our computer.

-I found out the truth about Santa when I was like 7. He wrote in ALL CAPS just like Dad.

Lindsay Blowhan
? Can anyone confirm/deny this story?

Monday, December 13, 2004

The Panamanian Stallion is gone!

Podsednik stole more bases than the entire Sox team last year, and Vizcaino has closer's potential, but I still see this as a "one more in the pipeline" type deal. Hopefully we won't end up being the lucky Pierre in a Yankees-DBacks deal for Randy Johnson though.

Sign Odalis Perez and be done with it!
Back from the Emerald City, and the trip was great. Got along swimmingly with Mom, ate a ton of good food (Shelley made a killer coq au vin on Friday night), and didn't have any fights about politics..what a shock. Amazed by how many people in Seattle still have their K-E sings up.

Went hiking at a place called Discovery Park on Saturday. It's located right off one of the main drags in West Seattle, but you walk for about 10 minutes and end up deep in the woods, having no idea that you're still in the middle of a big ass metropolitan area. One of the trails takes you past a naval base, down a cliff and right onto Puget Sound with an incredible view of the Olympic Mountains...and guess what dumbass left the memory stick for his digital camera on his desk at home? I took some pics with a disposable, I hope they end up turning out.

Also got some quality guitar time in with Shelley. Every time we play together I feel like I'm really progessing...something I don't feel as much during lessons for some odd reason.

I'll be back with more later. Much to do today...little annoying crap!

Thursday, December 09, 2004

Important Safety Tips

Here at the IlkBlog, we're all about maximizing consumption..so be sure and follow these handy-dandy tips. Thanks to Joe Carper for this:

HOLIDAY EATING TIPS!

1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet
table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see
carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum
balls.

2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. Like fine single-malt
scotch, it's rare. In fact, it's even rarer than single-malt scotch.
You can't find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who
cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're
going to turn into an eggnog-aholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy
it. Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's
Christmas!

3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of
gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of
your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.

4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk
or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a
sports car with an automatic transmission.

5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to
control> your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is
to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?

6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New
Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do.
This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the
buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of
eggnog.

7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like
frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position
yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before
becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful pair of
shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again.

8. Same for pies. Apple. Pumpkin. Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or,
if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always
have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor
Day?

9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the
mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have
some standards.

10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party
or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention.

Reread tips; start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner.

Remember this motto to live by:

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of
arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather
to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, " martini " in the other,
body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what
a ride!"
Finally, some Sox news!

Sox go out and raid both Bay Area teams, signing Dustin Hermanson and Jermaine Dye to fair, and fairly cheap deals.

Given my complete ignorance of the NL aside from the occasional Brewers game, I thought Hermanson was still with St. Louis, and that he'd spent most of his career in St. Louis. Wrong-o! The team he had the longest stint is actually Les Expos. Bullpen help is what we needed, and I guess we got it. In theory, this now leaves the Ozzman with 3 guys with closer experience in the pen in Hermanson, Marte and Shingo. Is he backing his way into closer by committee?

I remember going to batting practice at the Cell in April of 2001 and watching the Royals shag flies. Some character named Dye was standing out in CF and having fungoes hit at him right to the top of the wall, where he'd proceed to make a Randy Moss-like grab and pluck the ball out of the air just before some grubby little kid (or grubbly 26 year old) tried to snatch it as a souvenir. This Dye fella went on that night to go 2 for 4 with a homer, a double, a stolen base and I was impressed.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure that's the Jermaine Dye we got. He's has a couple leg injuries over the past 4 seasons which have affected his hang time and his baseswiping speed, I'm sure. But still, 9 million over the course of 2 years for a guy who hits above .270 and has at least some pop in his stick is nothing to bitch about I guess.

The tree is up and lit, but not trimmed. Hopefully that gets done tonight. Off to Seattle first thing tomorrow, I may be back with more later.



Wednesday, December 08, 2004

Southside Mike, who is actually a lifelong Hoosier, just started a weblog here. Michael provided numerous insights for me during the course of the election, and his thoughts are always well crafted and much better punctuated than mine. Enjoy!

Got the Christmas tree just a little bit ago. It's actually the only part of Christmas I enjoy, even with sap covered hands.

Tuesday, December 07, 2004

Big fire in the Loop last night. In K's building, as a matter of fact, started a few floors above where she works, but she was off to the gym by then and got home about 5 minutes after it started. If not for Hoosier Heather calling us to say that there were a ton of fire trucks out in front of 135 South LaSalle, we would have had no idea why were heard non-stop sirens and helicopters right about 7 pm last night until the news finally picked it up about 7:25. We walked over there around 9, and you could see the smoke but not the flames, and it was eerily quiet. Took some pictures, but I think they came out way too dark, unless you like pictures of dark windows and flashing lights. I need one of those Paris-Hilton-Sex-Tape low light cameras I guess.

Politics aside, Barack Obama's a funny guy.




Monday, December 06, 2004

I've done more than my share of tailgating over the years, especially at White Sox games. Normally someone brings a grill and some meat, someone else brings a cooler full of beer, and everyone hangs out for like an hour, plays the bean bag toss game and then heads into the game.

So when I showed up for my first Bears tailgate ever, I was thinking it would be a fun time, but nothing too notable. Oh was I wrong. The parking lot south of Soldier Field was transformed into one giant outdoor kitchen, with smoke rising up from innumerable grills, and flags flying everywhere. The unnaturally warm weather sure did put me in a drinkin' mood, and by 9:45 I'd cracked my first beer of the day. The spread that these people put on was quite impressive--italian sausage, brats, the best brisket I've ever had, shrimp cocktail, the usual assortment of chips and veggie trays and a fully stocked bar. Wow. We managed to stumble into the game just before kickoff, and what started as a good day only got better as the Bears just destroyed the Vikings, spurred on by the return of Brian Urlacher and the studliness of Chad "Spiccoli" Hutchsinson.

As fate would have it, my sister was at the game, twice as drunk as me, and sitting in far better seats, so we went down and said hello to her and got to watch the Bears stuff the Vikes at the goal line from about 30 feet away. Very cool--I've been to a lot of football games, but have never seemed to have very good seats for them.

Other than that, nothing too exciting in spite of a pretty packed schedule this weekend. Maggie's getting big and we still don't have a Christmas tree. If the rain holds off, that might be tonight's project--I'm determined to get a real one if it kills me.

Talked to Mom last night and asked her what she wants for Christmas since we're seeing them this coming weekend--of course, she wants this super-rare Pearl Jam CD(she's got this odd fixation with Eddie Vedder all of a sudden) and something by Neil Young that I don't think exists. Oh yeah, and a cheese slicer.


Friday, December 03, 2004

Counterpoint...


From MSNBC, how Bonds did nothing wrong.
Juice!

I'm really not sure what to make of all the dirty little BALCO secrets that are finally being unleashed. My first reaction when I heard about Bonds and Giambi could hardly be described as surprised. I mean come on, the whole mystery ailment thing with Giambi last year was a clear sign he was popping something that wasn't quite natural, and then the discovery of the tumor on the pituitary gland pretty much sealed the deal. With the Yankees already threatening to void his deal, it looks like he's pretty much cooked.

As for Bonds, I've never liked the guy, and I hope he ends up with an asterisk next to every entry in the record book. What's pissing me off even more is the whole "I took steroids without knowing what they are" excuse, which just reeks of Bill Clinton not knowing the definition of what "is" is. For him to put that much blind faith in his trainer and just swallow or apply anything that he hands him is ludicrous.

I'm curious to see what other names get named, most notably a certain right fielder prone to "sneezing fits" and "infected toes" that land him on the DL.

So just when I thought it was safe for the casual fan to get back into baseball again, another freakin setback comes along. Joy joy. At least this will finally get Selig to strap one on and impose a good, harsh testing policy.

Busy weekend ahead...tomorrow morning, we have to drive out to Huntley (West Bumblefoo) to meet K's sister, who has our Christmas presents. This is the last chance we get to pick the stuff up from her, since we're in Seattle next weekend and then her sis leaves for Florida the following Thursday. Now why K's mom just didn't mail us the stuff is beyond me, but it's just about par for the course with that bunch. Gonna swing by Elmhurst on the way back in to see how big Maggie is getting, and then we're meeting Rob and Holly for dinner and "Alexander" that night. Bears game Sunday...hopefully it's as warm as the one 2 weeks ago.

Crocks of the Week:

Dallas +7 Seattle
Tampa Bay -1 Atlanta

Oh, and Agent Scully ain't so hot anymore. Eeeek!

Thursday, December 02, 2004

What a glorious day to live in the state of Illinois. For once, a sports team representing this state doesn't choke on the national stage, and instead gives the number one team in the country a bitchslapping they'll never forget. It even prompted Mariotti to put down the beef and sausage combo long enough to cream his shorts in a journalistic fashion over something other than Sammy Sosa.

The Illini were pumped, and came out firing. One of the best displays of true "lights-out" shooting I've seen in a long time. Both offenses moved so fast for the first 5 or 6 minutes that it looked like they were on skates.

Aaron and I watched the game at Kendall's up on Lincoln Avenue, which used to be called Tailgators (with a little alligator mascot, ha ha ha) when I lived up that way. Kendall's is not to be confused with Kelsey's or Kincaide's, all of which are owned by the same group and located within stumbling distance from one another. The $5 pizza wasn't bad at all, the crust was really thin, but crispy, so I coped.

Feeling nostalgic and with a belly full of beer, I decided to go wander around Lincoln Park for a bit to see what's new and what's not since I left the area back in 1999.

For starters, DePaul now has a big and mean fence running the whole length of the campus along Fullerton. Big sharp posts and everything. Branko's, which was my favorite spot to grab a gyro on hangover Saturdays (Fullerton and Seminary), is thankfully still there...ditto the Chicago Costume Company next door.

The "Baby Factory Store" at Fullerton and Racine sign is missing a couple more letters now...it's like the "B Y F T R Y S O R E" now. Gallagher's and their ostrich burgers are gone, replaced by yet another Irish looking place. The Monkey Bar (which had open mic comedy nights for neighborhood denizens) is now a Starbucks, and the Blue Parrot (where I got supremely shitfaced with some German clients once) is now an Italian place, but no way it's as good as Rose Angelis up the street.

Pour House is still there, and so is my old dry cleaners. My cleaners annoyed the hell out of me because it was one of those "pre-pay and save" places. I'd invariably forget my wallet when I went over there with an armload of shirts, and then pay when I picked up and have to pay more.

Wednesday, December 01, 2004

Got some snow here in the big 'hicag last night. From about 3:00 on, the expressways were jammed, the plows were on red alert, the local stations had their crawls going across the bottom of the screen about snow advisories...and what did we get? A dusting. Not even enough to merit having to brush a car off (although the rain that preceeded it made scraping the windshield necessary from what I saw my fellow citizens doing this morning) There's no place else on earth that's as scared of the white flaky stuff as Chicago, it's almost funny.

Mark Morford
...always wrong, always raunchy, but always funny.