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Sunday, January 30, 2005

So Long Sammy


It was quite a (home) run Sosa may be a goner, but there's no question he left his mark on Chicago and the Cubs

By Paul Sullivan, Tribune staff reporter.
Tribune staff reporters Ed Sherman, Fred Mitchell and Hal Dardick contributed
Published January 30, 2005

A patch of snow covered a hallowed spot on the street outside 3705 N. Kenmore Ave., Saturday, obscuring the spray-painted mark of a prodigious Sammy Sosa home run from the summer of 2003. By the time the snow melts and the mark becomes visible, the emotional Cubs slugger will be long gone. After agreeing in principle to trade Sosa to the Baltimore Orioles for Naperville's Jerry Hairston Jr. and two minor-leaguers, the Cubs effectively ended an era filled with bunny hops, heart taps and quite a few headaches. Beloved for years for his long-distance home runs and his effervescent personality, Sosa leaves with a questionable legacy. Will he be remembered as the smiling star who dueled with Mark McGwire for the home run title, or as a self-absorbed sulker who walked out on his team during the first inning of the final game of the 2004 season? The only certainty is everyone has an opinion about Sosa, and for some fans in Wrigleyville, news of his imminent departure was worth shouting about." They finally got rid of him," said Estelle Sugar, a self-described "30-year Cubs fan," as she glanced at Sosa's front-page photo at a North Side convenience store. "Good riddance. They should have done it a long time ago. He was just not a good teammate, and you knew he was never going to change." Gov. Rod Blagojevich even weighed in, debating Sosa's career on sports radio while calling it a "sad" end to an era." Sammy Sosa gave us many great seasons and a lot of historic moments," Blagojevich said. "Because of that, he will one day be in the Hall of Fame. This is a sad way for the Sosa era to end in Chicago, but it's probably time for the Cubs and Sammy to go in different directions. Now maybe we've found our leadoff man in Jerry Hairston." At Wrigleyville Sports, a souvenir shop on the corner of Addison Street and Sheffield Avenue, marked-down Sosa items sat on the shelves with few takers in sight. Near the entrance of the store, a life-sized cardboard cutout of Sosa was stuck in a corner behind some other merchandise, drawing no interest at $35. Overpriced at any price? Say it ain't Sosa. It was Sosa's dramatic home run binge in the late 1990s that led to the Godzilla-sized contract that turned into an albatross for the Cubs. With few suitors available, the Cubs opted to pay about $12.5 million of the $25 million Sosa is guaranteed in salary, buyout and severance for 2005-06 to grease the skids for his exit. Former Cubs broadcaster Steve Stone said the parting was inevitable." It's in the best interest of both parties," Stone said. " It was best for Sammy to move on. Judging by the money the Cubs spent (to drop Sosa), it shows you the Cubs were motivated sellers." Stone believes Sosa's departure, along with that of Moises Alou and others, will change the complexion of the clubhouse, making it "a much calmer scenario." In what amounts to addition by subtraction, the Cubs decided to remove a potential clubhouse distraction before it had a chance to ruin the feel-good vibes that greet a new season. The fact Sosa also happens to be the seventh-leading home run hitter in major-league history became a moot point." Sammy has been great for baseball and really great for the city of Chicago, and I'm sorry to see it end this way," Cubs manager Dusty Baker said. "It's really not what his legacy should be." Sosa's well-known tale of growing up poor in the Dominican Republic, selling oranges and shining shoes on the streets of San Pedro de Macoris is part of his legend. After his first professional contract was voided because he was only 15, Texas signed Sosa at 16 for a $3,500 bonus and $700 per week in salary. Four years later, in 1989, he made it to the majors." The only reason I made it so quick is because I want to help my family so bad," Sosa told the Tribune in 1990. "Everywhere I go, they are with me." After a brief stint with the Rangers and a couple of up-and-down years with the White Sox, Sosa was traded to the Cubs in spring training of 1992, evolving into one of the most talked-about stars in Chicago. He became the 10th player in National League history to join the 30-30 club of stolen bases and home runs in 1993, providing the Cubs with the rare combination of speed and power. During the summer of 1997, when Sosa was still a relatively skinny 28-year-old with fewer than 200 home runs, the Cubs gambled by giving him a four-year, $42.5 million deal. It was during that season that Sosa's teammate, Brian McRae, remarked Cubs fans didn't care if the team lost 10-1 as long as they got to see Sosa hit a home run. That scenario ultimately would serve as Sosa's Cubs epitaph. Sosa's popularity soared during his remarkable 66-home run season in '98, which featured the historic race with McGwire for Roger Maris' single-season home run record. While Sosa lost the race, he led the Cubs to the postseason, won the National League's Most Valuable Player Award and quickly became one of the game's most marketed stars, signing many endorsement deals.Sosa had Chicago in the palm of his hand. There was even a proposed deal to open a Sammy Sosa restaurant on the site of Michael Jordan's former place on LaSalle Street, until the idea fell apart in 2000. Things began to unravel for Sosa when he became involved in a contract dispute and then was nearly traded to the Yankees in 2000. He eventually signed a four-year deal worth $72 million in March 2001. Things took a marked turn for the worse in June 2003 when he was caught using a corked bat. That led to a suspension and his first experience of widespread criticism. Sosa subsequently withdrew from some of his teammates and soon began limiting his media availability. When he suffered a sneeze-induced back injury in 2004 and saw his production numbers drop, Sosa was booed and baited in his own "home" at Wrigley. The walkout during the last game of 2004 sealed his fate, along with his criticism of Baker for "blaming" him for the disappointing Cubs season." He is going to be missed," Cubs legend Ernie Banks said. "I know things turned out a little sour. It is just one of the unfortunate things that happen."

Victory!

My youngest son's basketball team won their first game today against St. Joan of Arc 20 to 11.
He scored 6 points. They played the whole game with only five players. He was pretty worn out. Afterwards we went right over to school for the open house. His project was the "moais" of Easter Island and his older brother's project was on Walter Payton. Grandma and Papa came to see their exhibits. The school was packed. It was a pretty hectic day, morning mass then the basketball game and then the open house.

Friday, January 28, 2005

100 Years In The Making


By Lindsey Willhite Daily Herald Sports Writer

Following a recent practice, three Illinois regulars got hit with a pop quiz that didn't seem too difficult: Name the starting lineup for the 1988-89 "Flyin' Illini."All three knew Stephen Bardo, Kendall Gill and Nick Anderson. Only one remembered Kenny Battle. None recalled Lowell Hamilton. To be expected? Perhaps, since the oldest current Illini was just 6 years old when Battle and Co. soared to the Final Four. Besides, the nation's top-ranked squad probably deserves a pass. The players have been too busy making history to memorize it. All that should change this weekend when Illinois celebrates its first 100 seasons with the biggest basketball party in school history. The Flyin' Illini - as well as so many other former greats who have turned into names in the media guide - will transform back into living, breathing athletes who still remember their games as if they played in Huff Gym or the Assembly Hall yesterday. Nearly 400 former Illinois players, coaches, managers and support personnel have been lured back to Champaign for the three-day Centennial Celebration that revolves around Saturday's game against Minnesota (1:30 p.m., Channel 26). Among the former Illini expected to be in the same room at the sametime for the first time? All-Century team members Gene Vance, Johnny "Red" Kerr, Dave Downey, Duane "Skip" Thoren, Don Freeman, Nick Weatherspoon, Eddie Johnson, Derek Harper, Bruce Douglas, Ken Norman, Battle, Anderson and Gill. This wealth of talent will be introduced to the sellout crowd at the Assembly Hall following the Minnesota game. So will every former Illini who shows up for the reunion, starting with 1940 graduate Colin Handlon and finishing with the current Illini who might place a player or three on the next All-Century team. "I'm hoping that the fans are geared up to stick with us," said former Illinois trainer Rod Cardinal, the backbone of the Centennial Celebration committee, "because I think it's going to be such a memorable event." Cardinal and Chris Tuttle, the director of the school's Varsity I alumni association, teamed up to speak with more than 500 formerIllini as part of this year long project. The Illinois basketball program had never attempted to organize anything so grandiose. As it turns out, nothing has turned out to be so rewarding, either. "We have found some different people that we have not been able to identify over the years," Cardinal said. "I know that we have some people coming back who have not been back on campus for 20, 25, 30 years." I think teammates who have not talked with each other or communicated with each other in many years have rekindled their friendship. "I hear from alumni who say, 'I can't believe so-and-so called me and asked if I was going back. And I called so-and-so and I haven't spoken to him in 12 years - and he's coming back.' The reaching out to former teammates has been really, really interesting." Illinois coach Bruce Weber has reached out to the flood of former Illini, too. He thinks they can help deliver a victory Saturday when his players might otherwise be flat after Tuesday's emotional win at Wisconsin. "I'm hopefully going to use the weekend to say, 'Hey, you have a chance to perform in front of a lot of people who meant a lot to thisprogram,'" Weber said. "I'm hoping they can raise their level." Privately, Weber has encouraged his players to mix heartily with their predecessors - after the Minnesota game at a private reception. He said, 'You know, you guys may not know a whole lot about the previous players through the different generations, but I guarantee all of them know about you,'" Cardinal recalled. " 'So be very respectful and full of pride when you meet these people. They all had 'Illinois' across their chest just like you.'" A lot of them, particularly guys like Dee (Brown), Deron (Williams) and Roger (Powell Jr.) are intrigued by the historical aspect of Illinois basketball. They're curious about what guys were like. For example, they know Eddie Johnson because he played in the NBA for so long. They'll ask me, 'What was Eddie like?' "I think they're going to be overwhelmed to come here Saturday, when they see all these people lined up to be introduced and they realize they're just an extension of them when it comes right down to it."

Sunday, January 23, 2005

Eucharistic Miracles

My youngest son was an altar server at today's mass and today's homily was on the Eucharistic Miracle. The priest Father Christopher Myers experienced one before he became a priest and shared his experience. It was very interesting.

I found a whole website on it: http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/a3.html

"So Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.'" (John 6:53-55)

Throughout Christian history, our Lord has shown us that he is really present as the Blessed Sacrament. Interestingly, many Eucharistic miracles have occurred during times of weakened Faith. For instance, many Eucharist miracles have taken place as a result of someone doubting the Real Presence. Included on the website are descriptions of just a few of these miracles. All of them have received full approval by the Church.

Most Eucharistic miracles involve incidences in which the Host has "turned into human flesh and blood". Of course we as Catholics believe that the consecrated Host is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Lord, only under the appearances of bread and wine. Therefore, Jesus, through these miracles, merely manifests His Presence in a more tangible way.

"Then he said to Thomas, 'Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing.' Thomas answered him, 'My Lord and my God!' Jesus said to him, 'Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.'" (Jn 20:27-29)




Mousepad


The mousepad was invented in 1974 by James Spencer, a former carpet salesman.

Johnny Carson Dies At Age 79

By Sid Smith Chicago Tribune arts critic
Published January 23, 2005, 4:33 PM CST

His generation produced edgier, more outlandish and more innovative comedians. But for nearly three decades, none of them got the nightly welcome bestowed on Johnny Carson, the amiable, boyish funnyman whose hosting of NBC's "The Tonight Show" came to be synonymous with bedtime for countless Americans. An icon, a living institution and familiar friend to so many he never met, Mr. Carson, who died early Sunday at age 79 at his home in Malibu, was that rare figure in show business, an industry so given to hyperbole: He was one star for whom just about every conceivable superlative fails.

"My reaction is with the rest of the country, in that I'm stunned," said Oprah Winfrey, who was told of Carson's death moments before addressing a gathering of television critics in Los Angeles on Sunday. "He has been one of the greats of our time." Carson's longtime sidekick, Ed McMahon, said Sunday that Carson was "like a brother to me." "Our 34 years of working together, plus the 12 years since then, created a friendship which was professional, family-like and one of respect and great admiration," McMahon said in a statement. "When we ended our run on 'The Tonight Show' and my professional life continued, whenever a big career decision needed to be made, I always got the OK from 'the boss.' " "All of us who came after are pretenders. We will not see the likes of him again," said David Letterman, host of "The Late Show with David Letterman." "Thank God for videotapes and DVDs. In this regard, he will always be around."

The comedian died peacefully, according to family members, who declined to give other details, except to add there will be no memorial service. NBC revealed that Mr. Carson, a longtime smoker, died from emphysema. Earlier this week, Mr. Carson's former producer Peter Lassally, now an executive at Letterman's production company, told reporters that Mr. Carson was still at it, occasionally writing monologue jokes for Letterman, in direct competition to Jay Leno, Mr. Carson's "Tonight Show" successor. "He's still interested in all of television," Lassally said of Mr. Carson on Tuesday. "When he reads the paper in the morning, he can think of five jokes right off the bat that he wishes he had an outlet for. He does once in a while send the jokes to Letterman. And Letterman has used Johnny's jokes in the monologue, and Johnny gets a big kick out of that."

"Clearly his voice had gotten quite thin," recalled Chicago writer Bill Zehme, whose 2002 Esquire story on Mr. Carson was one of the comedian's last interviews. "It was almost alarming. He didn't sound like Johnny, he sounded like Johnny's old uncle. That voice put so many billions of us to sleep. He was our great nocturnal comfort quilt. "There was something that only Johnny and Sinatra seemed to have - this inner power," Zehme added. "But, unlike Sinatra, Johnny immediately put you at ease. A gentleness and a kindness just radiated from him."

The man so often introduced by announcer Ed McMahon's bravura "Heeeeeeeere's Johnny" first took over the reins of the latenight NBC talkfest in October of 1962 and delivered his tearful fairwell May 22, 1992, a record in the annals of latenight network TV unlikely to be broken. Along the way, as his final guest, Bette Midler, sang, "We watched your hair turn slowly from gray to white."

We also followed the ups and downs of four marriages, some of them ending in costly breakups; grieved after the death of his son, Richard, in a 1991 car crash; and gaped at the endless procession of wanna-bes (Dick Cavett, Joey Bishop, Merv Griffin and Mr. Carson's prodégé-turned-rival Joan Rivers among them) who failed to unseat him. In his span, Mr. Carson slowly evolved from spunky arriviste, emceeing a 105-minute, often gutsy New York City live broadcast, into an avuncular fixture confidently helming a packaged, pared down, one-hour taping from Hollywood, where the show re-located in 1972. But for all the vicissitudes naturally occurring in his long reign, a reassuring constancy, not change, became Mr. Carson's most noteworthy trait, his graceful, imaginary golf swing at the end of each monologue just one of the comforting emblems of his unflappable steadiness. Through '60s assassinations and street revolution, '70s Watergate and gas lines and '80s recession and recovery, Mr. Carson endured as reliable, resilient and safe, as wholesome as the Midwestern background he alluded to so often.

Born John William Carson on Oct. 23, 1925, in Corning, Iowa, he was raised in Norfolk, Neb., where, at age 14, he performed his first professional act, a magic show at the Rotary Club, billing himself as "The Great Carsoni." (Magicians and their lore would often come up later on the broadcasts.) He appeared in plays in high school and wrote a humor column for the newspaper. He ushered at a movie theater before joining the Navy to serve in World War II. He started out in broadcasting as an announcer in radio in Lincoln, Neb., in 1948 and moved to television, writing for Red Skelton's show in the early '50s and then performing on camera as an impishly funny panelist on such daytime games shows as "To Tell the Truth." In 1958, he began hosting his own daytime entry, a half-hour called "Who Do You Trust?" But abiding viewer trust came only after Mr. Carson took over a job held previously by Steve Allen and Jack Paar, whose personal on-air melodramas Carson eschewed. Introduced on his first show by an earlier legend, Groucho Marx, Carson met with instant success, his reserved manner in sharp contrast to predecessor Paar's emotionalism, a restraint that encouraged hitherto hesitant political guests, including John F. Kennedy and Nelson Rockefeller, to visit.

In 1967, Time magazine proclaimed, "Carson is a master of the cozy pace and mood that he believes are appropriate for the muzzy midnight hours." The famed critic Kenneth Tynan put it, "He prevents us from being bored by making his own boredom funny - a daring feat of comic one-upmanship." He was canonized early on by the media as "The Prince of Latenight," a youthful sobriquet that faded only as he eased into midlife. But by then, the 1970s, Mr. Carson was established as a given, routinely thrashing all competition in the ratings and amusing Americans nightly with a remarkably unchanging catalogue of schtick, zookeeper stunts and buffoonish characters including "Carnac the Magnificent," a slapstick prognosticator.

Entertainment went through revolutions all around Carson, including on prime-time television - he lived through and outlasted such shifting tastes as "The Ed Sullivan Show," "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour," "The Gong Show," "All in the Family," and "The Bill Cosby Show." But the basics of his own show remained the same, from his often self-deprecating monologue - "Is this on?" he'd ask as he tapped the mike after a joke bombed - to perennial sidekick McMahon (who first teamed with Mr. Carson in 1958) and the short list of bandleaders: Skitch Henderson, Milton Delugg and, most of the time, Doc Severinsen. Mr. Carson's success helped them become famous, too, just as he used the variety and talk formats of the show to support the work of an entire generation of new comedians, including Leno and Letterman. Tom Dreesen, 62, a veteran comedian and Harvey native, got his first "Tonight Show" appearance seven years after he first took the stage in 1969. "In the eyes of America," he said, "if you weren't on 'The Tonight Show,' you weren't a stand-up comedian."

Other staples of "The Tonight Show" included "Stump the Band," a mock quiz bit; the Mighty Carson Art Players, who spoofed movies and TV; and a send-up of afternoon movies, complete with sexy Carol Wayne as "the matinee lady." Mr. Carson seemed to have a genius for how to keep his wide audience happy by staying in the middle. His comedy invariably avoided the mean. In 1987, hosting a guest from Fort Wayne, Ind., who brought her prized collection of oddly shaped potato chips, Mr. Carson, out of camera while she is distracted by McMahon, can be heard munching on a chip. She turns in horror, afraid he has downed one of her objet d'arts, only to see him reveal a bowl of ordinary chips he had hidden under his desk before airtime for the stunt. Johnny Carson par excellence: Momentarily biting and then, for a finish, cuddly and benign.

Year after year, Mr. Carson offered up laughs that, even when they walked the line, slyly never crossed it, maintaining an unshakeable love affair with the public as a likable, all-American innocent adept at harmless practical jokes. Mr. Carson also never waivered in his direct, uncomplicated approach, a master of the one-liner in a style he credited to vaudville and such idols as Jack Benny. Of his own latenight TV profession, he observed, "We're more effective than birth control pills." Or, "I was so naïve as a kid I used to sneak behind the barn and do nothing."

The mighty and the mediocre came courting on his well-known couch, while he looked on from a desk that hid a carpet dotted with cigarette burns from his unfiltered Pall Malls. His vices - jokes about his and McMahon's drinking and his and their divorces were ongoing routines - now recall a rat pack era when men were men and boys simultaneously. Comic and onetime competitor Dick Cavett recalled Sunday, "I often called him for advice when awful things happened, like when Bobby Kennedy was shot, asking, 'How do you go on with a show?' He just said, people are there to be entertained. He often had really good advice, like jumping up and down right before you go on to make you appear more energetic."

For all its jollity (Mr. Carson mostly avoided political heat), "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson," as it was officially called, made the occasional headline, most notably in 1969, when, in an early, eerie preview of reality TV, the program aired the actual wedding of falsetto-voiced singer, Tiny Tim, and his bride, "Miss Vickie." Truman Capote's on-air dissing of novelist Jacqueline Susann brought threats of lawsuits eventually avoided.

Mr. Carson's own marriages sometimes made headlines, too. Capote, a frequent guest on the show, died while visiting Mr. Carson's ex-wife, Joanne, and Mr. Carson's break-up from his third wife, Joanna Holland, made news because of the fortune involved. (She settled for $20 million in 1985.) There were other stories, including Mr. Carson's 1979 announcement he planned to leave NBC before the 1981 termination of his contract. (Instead, he stayed and re-signed.) His well-publicized, multi-million-dollar contracts came as a result of the fact that Mr. Carson made "Tonight" one of NBC's top moneymakers throughout his tenure. He also won four Emmy Awards, hosted the Academy Awards telecast from 1979-81 and, in 1992, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1993, he was a recipient of one of the Kennedy Center's lifetime achievement honors. By the '90s, the program itself was finally showing its age, victim of the canned interviews prepared by backstage writers, the substitute hosts thanks to Mr. Carson's increasing vacations and the promotional use of the show by stars touting their latest projects. Though still in first place, the ratings began to slip. Even so, his announcement that he planned to retire, uttered at NBC's affiliates convention in New York City in May of 1991, shocked network executives and the nation at large and set off a frenzied competition for the succession. The following spring, the show soared again, his final programs an ongoing swan song, jammed with great guests in as elegant an exit as any in TV history. As the clocked ticked toward the finish, Dianne Schuur summed up the nation's sentiments when she sang, "Every time we say goodbye, I die a little."

Though he promised in the final show to return, he didn't, except for a cameo here and there, declining invitations for prime time appearances while increasingly plagued by emphysema and other health woes. When he began as talk show host, in a television landscape made up of only three networks, few others were engaged in the practice. Now, thanks to cable and an explosion in the art itself, talk show hosts, even the comic variety alone, are innumerable. But Mr. Carson's achievement, his gentle intrusion into routine American life and consciousness, is unlikely to be duplicated. As Paar once graciously said to him, as a latter-day guest on the show, "No one will ever do what you've done again." Or, as Mr. Carson himself once joked of another celebrity who spawned a sea of imitators: "If life was fair, Elvis would be alive, and all the impersonators would be dead."

I had the chance to see a tonight show taping on one of my trips to California. You had to get to the studio early in the morning, wait in line for standy tickets and then come back about 4:00 - 4:30 p.m. and get in line again with no guarantee of getting in. The studio was so small in real life compared to what it looked like on T.V. It was a great experience. I remember one of the guests was a bubblegum chewing champion with the last name 'Montgomery' and she quipped she had "gum" in her name. It was also probably one of the first national appearances of Dwight Yoakam. At that time I had never heard of him. I distinctly remember the potato chip incident and Tiny Tim's Wedding. I hope they show reruns on his shows.

If Life Was Fair

"If life was fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead." - Johnny Carson

Turn Your Brain On

"We think basically you watch television to turn your brain off, and you work on your computer when you want to turn your brain on." - Steve Jobs

Feast of St. Vincent

Saint Vincent of Saragossa, born at Huesca and martyred under Diocletian, traditionally January 22, 304, is the patron saint of Portugal. He was originally from Zaragoza in Spain (Saragossa in English) and is also known as Saint Vincent the Deacon. The title "deacon" (diakonos) means only minister or servant. Vincent served as the deacon of Saint Valerius, bishop of Saragossa. Imprisoned in Valencia for his faith, and tortured on a gridiron — a story perhaps adapted from the martyrdom of Saint Lawrence— Vincent, like many early martyrs in the early hagiographic literature, succeeded in converting his jailer. Though he was finally offered release if he would consign Scripture to the fire, Vincent refused. The earliest account of Vincent's martyrdom is in a carmina (lyric poem) written by the poet Prudentius, (348 – after 405), who wrote a series of lyric poems, Peristephanon ("Crowns of Martyrdom"), on Spanish and Roman martyrs. Prudentius describes how Vincent was brought to trial along with his bishop Valerius, and that since Valerius had a speech impediment, Vincent spoke for both, but that his outspoken fearless manner so angered the governor that Vincent was tortured and martyred, though his aged bishop was only exiled. Three elaborated hagiographies, all based ultimately on a lost 5th century Passion, circulated in the Middle Ages. Though Vincent's tomb in Valencia became the earliest center of his cult (it has been the subject of recent archeological research), he was also honored at his birthplace and his reputation spread from Saragossa. The city of Oviedo in Asturias grew about the church dedicated to Saint Vincent. Beyond the Pyrenees, he was venerated first at Régimond near Béziers, and at Narbonne. Castres became an important stop on the international pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela when the relics of Vincent were transferred to its new abbey-church dedicated to Saint Benoit from Saragosse in 863, under the patronage of Salomon, count of Cerdagne. When the Catholic bishops of Visigothic Spain succeeded in converting King Reccared (586 - 601) and his nobles to Trinitarian Christianity they built the cathedral of Cordoba in honor of St Vincent the Deacon. When the Moors came, in 711, the church was razed and its materials incorporated in the Mezquita, the "Great Mosque" of Cordoba. The Cape Verde island of Sao Vicente was named to honor him.
St Vincent the Deacon is also the patron of vintners and vinegar-makers. His feast day is January 22nd.

Vincent was my confirmation name when I became a Catholic in 1990.

Apple Macintosh

On This Day in 1984

1984 - The Apple Macintosh was the first consumer computer to popularize the computer mouse and the graphical user interface, is introduced during Super Bowl XVIII with the famous television commercial "1984".

Hard to believe that was over 20 years ago. Look at computers now, I can't imagine operating a computer without a mouse.

Saturday, January 22, 2005

Bulls Soar to .500

4th-quarter run clinches second straight at Palace

The Associated Press Published January 22, 2005, 9:14 PM CST AUBURN HILLS, Mich.

Kirk Hinrich had 24 points and nine assists, leading the Chicago Bulls over the Detroit Pistons 100-89 Saturday night. It was Chicago's second victory at the Palace in less than a month after not having won there in three years. Chicago hadn't won twice in Detroit in one season since 1995-96. Eddy Curry added 15 for the Bulls before fouling out and Antonio Davis had 14. Richard Hamilton led all scorers with 32, including 16 in the first quarter, but only scored seven in the second half. Hamilton was a game-time decision with a bruised right thigh. The Pistons led 47-44 at the half thanks to Hamilton, who shot 8-for-10 from the field and made eight of nine free throws, but Chicago quickly went ahead after the intermission. The Bulls attacked the basket, including a spectacular dunk by Antonio Davis over Ben Wallace, and built a 68-60 lead. Chicago led 72-68 at the end of the third quarter, but Carlos Arroyo scored the first four points of the fourth to tie the game. Arroyo, acquired Friday from Utah for Elden Campbell, was making his Pistons debut. The Pistons took a brief lead, but the Bulls scored the next nine points, five by Hinrich, to go up 81-74. Detroit got to 83-80, but Billups, Rasheed Wallace and Ben Wallace were called for technical fouls in a span of 20 seconds for arguing calls, and Hinrich made all three free throws. The Pistons never seriously threatened again. Notes: Arroyo entered the game late in the first quarter and finished with five points and five assists in 17 minutes. ... Ben Wallace, who only had three rebounds in Friday's loss in Milwaukee, had four in the first quarter against Chicago. He finished with 13. Tayshaun Prince needed attention from the trainers after being accidentally elbowed in the head by Tyson Chandler in the last 90 seconds, but stayed in the game.

Four Points

My youngest son scored four points in his game this morning against St. Raphael. They lost 30 to 11. My oldest son's team won their game last night 20 - 9 against St. Pius. I had to make an emergency run to Radio Shack for a cable so the scoreboard would work. I made it back just in time before their game started at 6:00 p.m. We celebrated the victory and their great report cards at Bennigan's. The past three years we've celebrated St. Patrick's Day at Bennigan's. I think that's the only time we ever go there. We prefer T.G.I. Fridays. We went to Bennigan's last night because of the snowstorm at it was closer to home. Last night we watched "Hero." It's a movie from 1992 with Dustin Hoffman, Geena Davis, Andy Garcia & Joan Cusack. I enjoyed it. I started reading "The Rule Of Four" by Ian Caldwell & Dustin Thomason. Parts of it remind me of my college days at University of Illinois. There's about ten inches of snow on the ground. When I looked out the window this morning it was really white before they plowed and we shoveled.

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

No Names

Cubs plan an unstitch in time

Fred Mitchell Chicago Tribune Published January 18, 2005

You may not be able to recognize all of the Cubs players at Wrigley Field without a scorecard this season. The organization has decided to remove the names from the backs of the Cubs' home jerseys in an effort to revisit early baseball tradition. Either that, or equipment managers were becoming increasingly frustrated in their attempts to fit "Garciaparra" on the back of Nomar's uniform. "We thought we were in the clear when Mark Grudzielanek left [to sign with the Cardinals]," quipped John McDonough, the Cubs' marketing and broadcasting vice president. The organization, which hosts its 20th annual Cubs Convention this weekend at the Chicago Hilton & Towers, plans to continue stitching the last names on the back of the road uniforms. The 1960 White Sox were the first major-league team to place players' names on the back of their jerseys.

Monday, January 17, 2005

Too Much Stuff

There's too much stuff I want to save. I spent most of the day surfing the internet and blogs. I posted and saved four articles of interest to my blog. The Illini are on fire 18-0. There was an excellent article on Johnny "Red" Kerr in today's Chicago Tribune that I had to save since I'm such a big fan.

My youngest son lost his basketball game against St. Michael's 24 - 6. Only five players showed up and they got worn out. Grandma, Papa, Aunt Nancy and Kelly came and watched. They had dinner at Hi-View afterwards and then went and visited the other Grandma. She leaves for California next week. The boys have no school tomorrow for Martin Luther King's Birthday. Since it's so cold outside they should get a lot of Playstation in. Unfortunately I have to work, just another Monday. Tuesday afternoon we have our big meeting to find out how vacations will be handled.

Sunday, January 16, 2005

Johnny "Red" Kerr


Johnny 'Red' Kerr once played in a record 844 straight NBA games and as the Bulls' TV analyst, the lifelong Chicagoan is STILL AN IRONMAN

By K.C. Johnson Tribune staff reporter Published January 16, 2005

Johnny "Red" Kerr turned 72 last July, one month after an operation on his artificial left hip, five months after having a toe amputated and one year and some change after having a stent placed in his heart to correct an irregularity.

Kerr is confident his health will be better in 2005, which marks 55 years since he starred at Tilden Tech and his 37th year of association with the Bulls, for whom he served as their first coach. Given his age and what he has endured, which includes the death of his wife of 46 years, Betsy, in October 2000, will Kerr ever retire from his 31-season run as television analyst?

Perhaps a better question is: Will Kerr ever stop singing karaoke? "I karaoke up at the Village Pub in North Riverside," Kerr says, with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. "One of my granddaughters recently said she admires me not for basketball, but because I can karaoke and moonwalk." Let's see Michael Jackson try that with an artificial hip.

Love him, hate him or tolerate him, Kerr has become part of the Chicago broadcasting landscape. As a player-turned-broadcaster, he doesn't have the play-by-play chops of Harry Caray, Jack Brickhouse or Lloyd Pettit. But his longevity as a color analyst has left him as identifiable as any of those broadcasting giants and one of the undisputed faces on the Bulls' Mt. Rushmore.

"He's one of the youngest old people I know," says Jim Angio, a director for Comcast SportsNet who has worked with Kerr for 22 years. "We'll both have our iPods out and he'll say, `Hey, Ange, I got Blink 182!' What 72-year-old listens to Blink 182?" Like most age-defying aspects of Kerr, the answer is not many. Kerr is as unique and energetic as Dennis Rodman, which is why his health problems bothered him more than he let on, say those who know him best.

This is, after all, one of the main ringleaders for social activities on the road and a busy man at home, where he burns CDs, surfs the Internet and takes visits from his five children, 10 grandchildren and girlfriend. Colleagues say it's not uncommon for Kerr to take over the loudspeaker on the team bus and start crooning. Or close down a bar after a road game and then send e-mails six hours later, perhaps with a to-do list for that off day. "I have to keep the concierge busy," Kerr says. That's why his long stays inside his hotel rooms on this season's annual extended November "circus" trip were so noticeable. Colleagues finally coaxed him out for an expensive dinner at a Salt Lake City steakhouse. "The check came, Johnny looked at me and he said, `Now I know why you jerks wanted me to go out with you,'" says Tom Dore, his television partner of 14 years.

That's Kerr, quick with a quip and typically the life of the party. "If he didn't have this job, I don't know if we'd be lucky to have Johnny Kerr on this Earth," Angio says. "He lives for this job. It doesn't define him, but he lives for it. The anticipation of seeing another game keeps him going." Adds Dore: "What this guy has done as far as being true to his job and to his passion has been unbelievable. If people knew how tough it was for him just to get to the arena, much less do everything he had to do when he got there, they'd be shocked."

Kerr began this season using a cane to offset the limp he still had after his hip surgery, in which maintenance was needed to clean out his artificial hip. His closest colleagues--Angio, Dore, Wayne Larrivee, Neil Funk, Bill Wennington, producer Bob Albrecht - would help carry his bags and walk slowly with him as the frantic pace inherent in heavy travel continued. Kerr even fell off a chair before the Nov. 21 Lakers game in Los Angeles, which, of course, is good fodder for his cohorts in a sports world where nothing is sacred. "We call it the controlled fall," Angio says, laughing. When the Bulls returned home at 2:30 a.m. Thanksgiving Day after the 10-day circus trip, a solid sheet of ice greeted those departing the charter jet. Kerr had to be helped to a nearby van. Six hours later, he was sending e-mails. One week later, Kerr ditched the cane. "That speaks to his independence," Albrecht says. Kerr says he is still a bit gimpy, but he is feeling better and coping with the pain. "Getting old isn't for sissies," he says.

Kerr isn't in that category. A 6-foot-9-inch center, he once had the record for most consecutive NBA games played at 844, still the third-longest streak in league history.

"I don't know if him feeling better coincides with the Bulls playing better," Funk says. "But given his love for them, I wouldn't be surprised." That love hasn't wavered as the dynasty days moved to the rebuilding woes. "I still really enjoy doing the games," Kerr says. "Hanging around with these young kids makes you younger. I'm not hanging with 72-year-olds all the time. I think you stay sharper."

Kerr remains the Bulls' biggest cheerleader, which has drawn him some fire. Just like Caray, Kerr has his share of detractors, who say he has slipped as a broadcaster and is retained merely for his familiarity with viewers. A recent caller to a local sports radio show said he keeps a tally of how many times per game Kerr says something wrong. Others say he is too much of a "homer." His colleagues, obviously, defend him. Angio and Albrecht point to how his pregame "keys to the game" are typically prescient. "If he gets a guy's name wrong or mispronounces something, I don't care because what he's giving you is a coach's perspective on the floor," Dore says. "He knows the game plan. Even [Scott] Skiles calls him `Coach.'" Kerr says he once had a three-year contract and now just gets a note from Steve Schanwald, the Bulls' executive vice president of business operations, matter-of-factly stating that his one-year option is being renewed.

"I hope that's the way it stays," Kerr says. "[Bulls Chairman] Jerry Reinsdorf has been a great boss, as has Steve. If you have a problem, they take care of it and want you back as soon as possible." Kerr has peers around the league. In Boston, Tommy Heinsohn is still providing color commentary. Indiana has Bob "Slick" Leonard, an opponent from college all-star games when Kerr starred for the University of Illinois. Utah considers Rodney "Hot Rod" Hundley part of the local landscape.

Funk theorizes that their longevity is possibly part of the motivation for Kerr to keep broadcasting. But Funk knows the main reason. "Having been their first coach, I've never seen a guy who has hung in through the bad times as much as Red," Funk says. "He loves being around the game and the young players. I've been here 14 years. I don't ever remember Johnny Kerr saying, `I have a cold or a sore throat or I don't feel well.' You can see why he played 844 straight games, which is unbelievable. His constitution has allowed him to be around the game for this long."

Funk teamed with current general manager John Paxson for seven seasons on radio broadcasts and now has Wennington as a partner. He is close to both men. "But if I lost Red, I'd be in my hotel room all day," Funk says. "He's the one who has always got an activity planned."

So how much longer will Kerr be planning activities and analyzing games? The mischievous twinkle returns to Kerr's eye when he is asked this question directly. "Last year, my hip was bothering me and I was thinking to myself, `Do I really want to do this again?'" Kerr says. "But then after I got the hip done, I said, `Why not?' So I'm here. And I love it again. I don't know if this is the last hurrah or not." If it is, bus rides and local watering holes around the country won't be the same. With the games and the travel and the close camaraderie, there is a unique rhythm to any basketball season. Kerr has savored singing every note.

(Sidenote - Johnny "Red" Kerr was a member of my fraternity at University of Illinois and his son's family attends our old parish St. Alexander's in Villa Park - He is one of the reason's I enjoy watching the Bulls.)

Illini 18-0

Low-key Head scores 26; Illini's 18-0 start a record

ILLINOIS 78, NORTHWESTERN 66

By Marlen Garcia Tribune staff reporter Published January 16, 2005

About a year ago, Luther Head came to Welsh-Ryan Arena with controversy glued to him. Coming off a two-game suspension because of an arrest for driving on a suspended license, Head barely could find his way on the basketball court."I had no confidence at all," he said. Saturday, Head was glad all that is behind him. And he left no doubt. Head continued his spectacular play for No. 1 Illinois, leading the Illini into the record books with a season-high 26 points in a 78-66 victory at Northwestern in front of a packed house of 8,117. Illinois is 18-0, the best start in 100 seasons of Illini basketball. The Illini broke the record of 17-0 the Flyin' Illini set in their Final Four season of 1988-89. "We have something to talk about and we're going to feel great about it," Head said. "But we still have things to do and more to accomplish." Illinois, 4-0 in the Big Ten, is on pace to break the Flyin' Illini's record of 31 victories in a season, but none of these Illini want to look that far ahead. "We just talk about continuing to stay No. 1, winning a Big Ten championship, getting a high [NCAA tournament] seed," Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. The Illini are headed for a seventh straight week at No. 1, and Weber took a shot at those in the media who have wondered if No. 3 North Carolina might be the better team. Wake Forest snapped the Tar Heels' 14-game winning streak Saturday. "There has been so much talk that maybe they're better than us," Weber said. "They went down, so I'm not sure what the networks will talk about this week. We just have to keep taking care of ourselves and worry about winning." Motivation to beat Northwestern was not lacking. In the teams' first meeting last season, the Illini blew a nine-point halftime lead to the Wildcats (8-8, 1-3) in an eventual 10-point loss. Head scored three points in that game. This time he scored Illinois' first eight points and helped offset Deron Williams' foul trouble that limited the point guard to 25 minutes. Williams scored just six points but had nine assists. "I just let the game come to me," Head said. He made 9 of 14 field-goal attempts, including 4 of 8 on three-pointers. In a 4 1/2-minute stretch late in the game, Head scored 10 points. "We never stopped them," Northwestern coach Bill Carmody said. Head's stretch was vital to holding off Northwestern forward Vedran Vukusic, who scored 18 of his team-high 20 points in the second half. Northwestern had the better shooting day. The Wildcats converted 56 percent of their attempts to Illinois' 47.1 percent. "He has been so important," Weber said of Head. "He's the guy no one talks about." Head may not be the fan favorite, especially with dynamic guard Dee Brown around, but experts in college basketball are starting to mention Head as a possibility for some All-America teams. If he has his way, though, Head will continue taking a back seat to Brown and Williams. He prefers a low profile. "It's their third year and they have been doing the same thing for the last three years," Head said of the tandem's consistent all-around play. "This is my first year doing anything good," he added. "I'm just pleased to be playing well."

Gateway to the best The Illini's road to the Final Four in St. Louis Hero: Luther Head, who had a season-high 26 points on 9-of-14 shooting. He hit 4 of 8 three-pointers.

Tournament tutorial: Learning to flourish despite foul trouble. Deron Williams played just 25 minutes because of fouls, but Head and Dee Brown stayed in control. Up next: No. 24 Iowa (13-3, 1-2) visits the Assembly Hall at 6 p.m. Thursday.

Martin Luther King & Gandhi's Disappointment

by Harris Wofford - www.beliefnet.com

Both Martin Luther King and Gandhi were frustrated that they could get people to protest but not to serve.

Martin Luther King might turn over in his grave if he knew the holiday in his name was becoming just another day of shopping, TV, and relaxation, in 1994 I went to one of Martin's comrade-in-arms, Congressman John Lewis. "How do we make it a day on, not a day off?" I asked.

As legislators (I was a senator from Pennsylvania at the time), our solution was a bill. Congress passed the law charging the new Corporation for National Service and the Federal King Holiday Commission with organizing it as a national day of service.

It seemed so obvious. After all, it was King who had said, "Everybody can be great because everybody can serve." And he said, "Life's most persistent and urgent question is 'What are you doing for others?'" King and "service" are virtually synonymous, we thought.

Yet I have a confession. The holiday we created emphasizes something for which King was not known.

Rather, he was most closely associated with civil disobedience, struggle, a season of suffering, marching through unfriendly streets, facing snarling dogs, and going to jail. And, of course, as one whom Martin used to describe as the only lawyer in his camp who would help him go to jail instead of using all the tricks of the trade to keep him out of jail, I know that his insistence on nonviolent action changed the course of history. Yet I believe that Martin would be deeply disappointed that his name were connected only with the fight for racial justice and nonviolent protest.

Time and again, Martin talked with me about a side of Mahatma Gandhi that deeply appealed to him. Not just the Gandhi of the salt march, and the years in prison, but Gandhi the servant leader.

Gandhi said that satyagraha--the name he gave to his way of action, "firmness in truth"--had two sides: civil disobedience and, the other side of the coin, constructive service.

Gandhi often said that his purpose in life was to live the sermon on the mount. He asked the Indian independence movement to carry out a 13-point plan of constructive service that included personal action to end untouchability by working, eating, and serving side by side with untouchables, by adopting them as members of one's family. It included teaching all Indians to read and bringing health care to every village.

When high-caste Indians refused to do the work of untouchables and join in cleaning the stinking latrines at a Great Indian Congress assembly, Gandhi organized a volunteer service corps to clean the latrines. "Why wait for independence for the necessary drain-cleaning?" he asked.

Martin took the same approach. In launching the Montgomery Improvement Association to run the bus boycott, Martin involved this Gandhian theme of service, saying they were organizing not just to fight segregation but to keep on working to improve all of Montgomery and create the "Beloved Community."

But King and Gandhi were both regularly disappointed when they tried to turn their followers to the hard work and occasional drudgery of constructive service. To the militants' 1960s cry of "Burn, baby, burn," King said, No, the watchword should be "Learn, baby, learn." In the long lulls between great protest campaigns, Martin struggled to engage people in constructive service and create the institutions for justice in America. At the end of his life, Gandhi called himself a failure because he could not persuade Hindus and Muslims to come together as one India, and because that other side of the coin, constructive service, had never taken hold of the Indian mind.

Gandhi said he could get a million people to go into the streets, to march in protest, and nonviolently to turn the other cheek when they were beaten with clubs; he could get a hundred thousand to go to jail--but he couldn't get 10 thousand, not even one thousand, to carry through, every day, the 13-fold constructive program.

So there is a time for everything, as Martin used to say, citing Ecclesiastes: "a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to break down, and a time to build up."

For America, and for the legacy of Martin Luther King, it is morally and strategically right now to focus on service, and to turn that service into the kind of force that Gandhi and King believed it could become.

In today's world, we can ask, "Why wait for the government to act in order to tutor and mentor millions of young people who seem to be heading for disaster in life?" The most urgent and persistent question for us now is not how to overturn evil laws but how to point kids in the right direction, how to build the community institutions needed to fulfill the American dream--Martin's dream. I believe that Martin Luther King would see this beginning of the 21st century not as a time to go to jail to protest evil laws but as a time to build.

So Coretta Scott King is profoundly right when she says: "The greatest birthday gift my husband could receive is if people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds celebrated the holiday by performing individual acts of kindness through service to others."

"The time is always right to do what is right"- Martin Luther King Jr.



Happy Birthday Martin Luther King!

Ben Stein's Last Column

How Can Someone Who Lives in Insane Luxury Be a Star in Today's World?

As I begin to write this, I "slug" it, as we writers say, which means I put a heading on top of the document to identify it. This heading is "eonline FINAL," and it gives me a shiver to write it. I have been doing this column for so long that I cannot even recall when I started. I loved writing this column so much for so long I came to believe it would never end. It worked well for a long time, but gradually, my changing as a person and the world's change have overtaken it. On a small scale, Morton's, while better than ever, no longer attracts as many stars as it used to. It still brings in the rich people in droves and definitely some stars. I saw Samuel L. Jackson there a few days ago, and we had a nice visit, and right before that, I saw and had a splendid talk with Warren Beatty in an elevator, in which we agreed that "Splendor in the Grass" was a super movie. But Morton's is not the star galaxy it once was, though it probably will be again. Beyond that, a bigger change has happened. I no longer think Hollywood stars are terribly important. They are uniformly pleasant, friendly people, and they treat me better than I deserve to be treated. But a man or woman who makes a huge wage for memorizing lines and reciting them in front of a camera is no longer my idea of a shining star we should all look up to. How can a man or woman who makes an eight-figure wage and lives in insane luxury really be a star in today's world, if by a "star" we mean someone bright and powerful and attractive as a role model? Real stars are not riding around in the backs of limousines or in Porsches or getting trained in yoga or Pilates and eating only raw fruit while they have Vietnamese girls do their nails. They can be interesting, nice people, but they are not heroes to me any longer.

A real star is the soldier of the 4th Infantry Division who poked his head into a hole on a farm near Tikrit, Iraq. He could have been met by a bomb or a hail of AK-47 bullets. Instead, he faced an abject Saddam Hussein and the gratitude of all of the decent people of the world. A real star is the U.S. soldier who was sent to disarm a bomb next to a road north of Baghdad. He approached it, and the bomb went off and killed him. A real star, the kind who haunts my memory night and day, is the U.S. soldier in Baghdad who saw a little girl playing with a piece of unexploded ordnance on a street near where he was guarding a station. He pushed her aside and threw himself on it just as it exploded. He left a family desolate in California and a little girl alive in Baghdad. The stars who deserve media attention are not the ones who have lavish weddings on TV but the ones who patrol the streets of Mosul even after two of their buddies were murdered and their bodies battered and stripped for the sin of trying to protect Iraqis from terrorists. We put couples with incomes of $100 million a year on the covers of our magazines. The noncoms and officers who barely scrape by on military pay but stand on guard in Afghanistan and Iraq and on ships and in submarines and near the Arctic Circle are anonymous as they live and die I am no longer comfortable being a part of the system that has such poor values, and I do not want to perpetuate those values by pretending that who is eating at Morton's is a big subject. There are plenty of other stars in the American firmament....the policemen and women who go off on patrol in South Central and have no idea if they will return alive; the orderlies and paramedics who bring in people who have been in terrible accidents and prepare them for surgery; the teachers and nurses who throw their whole spirits into caring for autistic children; the kind men and women who work in hospices and in cancer wards. Think of each and every fireman who was running up the stairs at the World Trade Center as the towers began to collapse. Now you have my idea of a real hero. We are not responsible for the operation of the universe, and what happens to us is not terribly important. God is real, not a fiction; and when we turn over our lives to Him, He takes far better care of us than we could ever do for ourselves. In a word, we make ourselves sane when we fire ourselves as the directors of the movie of our lives and turn the power over to Him. I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that matters. This is my highest and best use as a human. I can put it another way. Years ago, I realized I could never be as great an actor as Olivier or as good a comic as Steve Martin...or Martin Mull or Fred Willard--or as good an economist as Samuelson or Friedman or as good a writer as Fitzgerald. Or even remotely close to any of them. But I could be a devoted father to my son, husband to my wife and, above all, a good son to the parents who had done so much for me. This came to be my main task in life. I did it moderately well with my son, pretty well with my wife and well indeed with my parents (with my sister's help). I cared for and paid attention to them in their declining years. I stayed with my father as he got sick, went into extremis and then into a coma and then entered immortality with my sister and me reading him the Psalms. This was the only point at which my life touched the lives of the soldiers in Iraq or the firefighters in New York. I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that matters and that it is my duty, in return for the lavish life God has devolved upon me, to help others He has placed in my path This is my highest and best use as a human.

Faith is not believing that God can. It is knowing that God will.

By Ben Stein

Saturday, January 15, 2005

Ask Yourself

17 Questions You Should Ask Yourself - 17 Questions that could change your life.

This year instead of making resolutions, take a moment to reflect on your life.
1.) If I had to wear my philosophy of life as a motto on a t-shirt, what would it be?
2.) When was the last time I experienced joy? Not just pleasure, JOY.
3.) Is there anything unfinished in my life that I'm willing to walk away from?
4.) Am I inhibited by fear or failing?
5.) If I were able to take my 10-year-old self out to lunch, what would he/she think of me?
6.) Do I believe in God and do I have spiritual beliefs that are truly my own, not someone elses?
7.) Have I made a home for myself or am I still waiting for my Real Life to begin? What's keeping me from saying this is my Real Life right now?
8.) If I could take a 6 month sabbatical from my current job, what would I do?
9.) What do I like most about my appearance and what are my secret vanities?
10.) How do I envision myself at age 60 and what would I like to look like?
11.) Am I living my life for an audience?
12.) What can I do about the people I have disappointed and been disappointed by in my life?
13.) How much money will I need for retirement?
14.) Am I as healthy as I want to be and what steps should I be taking to make that a reality if it isn't already?
15.) Am I capable of being alone?
16.) Do I see success as a lavish banquet or a scarce commodity? When a good friend triumphs, do I feel depleted... as if there's a limited amount of goodness to go around?
17.) How do I want to be loved and have I found that?.
I found this on a blog and wanted to save it to reflect on.

Omelettes


Made the boys ham & cheese omelettes this morning for breakfast. Somebody mentioned them at work yesterday and put the idea into my head. I picked up some eggs and ham since we didn't have any. My oldest son had a basketball game at 11 a.m. versus St. Peter & Paul. The other team had to forfeit because they only had 4 players. They still played a full game. The practice never hurts. Grandma and Papa came and watched. The final was 9 to 9. I couldn't think of anything to write today. I finished reading "Bluebeard" by Kurt Vonnegut. I really enjoy his books and wish he wrote more or there were other authors like him. I started reading "Fraternity" by Bob Greene. He had the wonderful opportunity to interview five living presidents. How cool is that? Reading the first couple of chapters about Nixon I'm kicking myself because I had a chance to buy an autographed copy of his autobiography for $60.00 and I passed it up. I've shook hands with one president - George Bush Sr. and have seen three other presidents in person - Gerald Ford at a Phil Donahue Show in Park West. Jimmy Carter at a booksigning and George W. Bush at a parade in Naperville. I've shook hands with two vice-presidents - Dan Quayle and Al Gore. Dan Quayle at a booksigning and Al Gore near the Palmer House in Chicago. One of these days I'll try and chronicle all my brushes with fame. If only some would rub off.

Stupid Questions

"If there are no stupid questions, then what kind of questions do stupid people ask? Do they get smart just in time to ask questions?" - Scott Adams

Careful What You Pretend

"We are what we pretend to be, but we better be very careful what we pretend." - Kurt Vonnegut

Sunday, January 09, 2005

Winter Storm Watch

I just read this while surfing the web and I thought all the snow on the ground was gonna melt.
What do I know.

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHICAGO IL HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORMWATCH.

THE WINTER STORM WATCH IS FOR THAT PART OF NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST ILLINOIS AND NORTHWEST INDIANA ALONG AND NORTH OF THE KANKAKEE AND ILLINOIS RIVERS. SIGNIFICANT ACCUMULATIONS OF ICE FROM FREEZING RAIN ARE LIKELY OVERNIGHT MONDAY AND THROUGH THE DAY TUESDAY. A MIX OF WINTER WEATHER IS EXPECTED TO OVERSPREAD THE WATCH AREA MONDAY EVENING. IT WILL START AS SOME LIGHTER SNOW AND SLEET THEN CHANGE TO FREEZING RAIN OVERNIGHT MONDAY NIGHT AND EARLY TUESDAY MORNING. THE FREEZING RAIN MIXED WITH SOME SLEET ACROSS FAR NORTHERN ILLINOIS IS LIKELY TO CONTINUE THROUGH THE DAY TUESDAY. THERE IS THE POTENTIAL FOR A QUARTER TO A HALF INCH OF ICE ACCUMULATION IN THE WATCH AREA FROM THE FREEZING RAIN. THERE MAY ALSO BE SIGNIFICANT SLEET ACCUMULATIONS NORTH OF AN EVANSTON TO ELGIN TO MOUNT MORRIS LINE. CHECK SUPPLIES OF FOOD AND FUEL AS TRAVEL MAY BECOME VERY DIFFICULT. ELECTRIC POWER MAY BE INTERRUPTED DUE TO HEAVY ICE GLAZING DOWNING POWER LINES. CHECK THE LATEST FORECAST BEFORE MAKING TRAVEL PLANS.

Carpe Diem


Carpe Diem translation:
Carpe diem is Latin for (approximately) "seize the day" or "enjoy the moment".
This rule of life is found in the "Odes" (I, 11.8) of Roman poet Horace (65 - 8 BC), it reads:
Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero ("seize this day, and never trust the next")
It is quoted accordingly either as a demand not to waste somebody's time with useless things, or as a justification for pleasure and joy of life with little fear for the future.

National Weather Service Site

NOAA

The National Weather Service is the primary source of weather data, forecasts and warnings for the United States. Television weathercasters and private meteorology companies prepare their forecasts using this information. The NWS is the sole United States official voice for issuing warnings during life-threatening weather situations.

Cross Country Skiing


"Cross country skiing is great if you live in a small country." - Steven Wright

Weather Forecast

"Weather forecast for tonight: dark." - George Carlin

Sorry Brad & Jennifer

"Love is grand; divorce is a hundred grand." - unknown

Cut & Paste

I've started cutting and pasting stories, articles, quotes and jokes to my blog. Stuff I want to save of remember. The Bulls and the Illini both won today. (see below) My oldest son's team lost their game this morning against St. Raphael 12 to 2. They scored the first basket and that was it for the game. My youngest son's team lost their game last night to St. Joan of Arc 27 to 12. He scored his second basket of the season. After his game we had a late dinner at the Darien http://www.tgifridays.com/main_flash.html The boys went sledding today at O'Brien Park. They had to take advantage of the snow before it all melts. It's suppose to all melt next week.

Breaking News Flash
Brad and Jen: A Couple No More January 8, 2005
ET has confirmed that Hollywood super couple BRAD PITT and JENNIFER ANISTON have announced that they are separating. "We would like to announce that after seven years together we have decided to formally separate," Brad and Jen said in a statement posted on www.People.com. "For those who follow these sorts of things, we would like to explain that our separation is not the result of any of the speculation reported by the tabloid media. This decision is the result of much thoughtful consideration. We happily remain committed and caring friends with great love and admiration for one another. We ask in advance for your kindness and sensitivity in the coming months." Just recently Jen was photographed without her wedding ring and the tabloids ran rampant that the couple was having marital troubles. However, just this New Year's, Brad and Jen were spotted vacationing on the beautiful Caribbean island of Anguilla with "Friends" pal COURTENEY COX and her hubby DAVID ARQUETTE. The former couple were married on July 29, 2000 in a lavish Malibu, CA, ceremony in front of family, friends and many of Hollywood's elite. The two actors have been extremely busy working on individual projects and have spent a lot of time apart recently as Jen worked on such films as 'Along Came Polly' and the upcoming 'Rumor Has It' with KEVIN COSTNER and Brad worked on such films as 'Troy,' 'Ocean's Twelve' and the upcoming 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith' with ANGELINA JOLIE.

Bulls Win

CHICAGO (AP) -- Kirk Hinrich scored 22 points and tied a career high with 14 assists Saturday night as the Chicago Bulls beat the Boston Celtics 102-91 for their ninth win in 12 games.
Othella Harrington, in a rare start, matched a season high with 19 points on 9-for-12 shooting and grabbed a season-high 10 rebounds for the Bulls, who surged ahead with a 13-0 third-quarter run. Chicago rookie Luol Deng also had 19 points. Paul Pierce scored 20 for Boston and Tony Allen added 14. Hinrich sparked Chicago's 25-17 third-quarter advantage with 12 points and three assists. He hit a jumper and a pair of 3-pointers and then on a break made a nifty alley-oop pass to Eddy Curry for a slam, capping the 13-0 run that put the Bulls ahead 73-58 with 6 minutes left in the third. Boston rallied to within seven with 4 minutes left before Harrington hit another soft jumper and Hinrich drove for a basket, was fouled and converted the three-point play. Hinrich followed in his own miss just before the first-half buzzer to cap a 19-5 run over the final 4 minutes as the Bulls took a 58-52 lead.

Saturday, January 08, 2005

Illini Win

Dee Brown made sure that all Purdue gave No. 1 Illinois was a scare. Brown scored all 14 of his points in the second half to lead the Illini to a 68-59 victory over Purdue on Saturday.
AP Photo
Trailing at halftime for the first time this season, the Illini opened the second half with a 23-6 run to take control. Brown hit three 3-pointers during the surge, the last giving Illinois a 56-45 lead with just over nine minutes to play. He also turned up the heat defensively, creating turnovers and opportunities in transition for the quicker, more talented Illini. Luther Head scored 15 points for Illinois (16-0, 2-0 Big Ten), which came into the game outscoring opponents by 20.5 points a game, but this one was no gimme. Matt Kiefer had 17 points and six rebounds to lead Purdue (4-8, 0-2), which gave Illinois all it could handle for a little more than a half.
Illinois was uncharacteristically sluggish in the first half, missing open layups and 3-pointers, getting into foul trouble and lacking the crisp ball movement on offense that has made the Illini unbeatable so far this season. The Illini trailed for most of the half and were down 39-33 at halftime to the inspired Boilermakers, who quieted the thousands of Illinois fans who made the trip to West Lafayette. Purdue was aggressive from the opening tip after receiving a tongue-lashing from coach Gene Keady following another lackluster effort in a loss to Wisconsin on Wednesday. After that game, Keady openly wondered if he has waited too long to step aside as coach, suggesting that the team needs new blood and a new face to take over a team he may have lost. The Boilermakers showed on Saturday that they are still behind their beloved coach, who is in his 25th and final season on the Purdue bench. Kiefer scored 13 points in the first 10 minutes, including an eye-opening drive and dunk that gave the Boilermakers a 25-19 lead. He injected some much-needed life into a Purdue fan base that has grown weary of the team's failures so far this season. On their next possession, Kiefer drove the lane and dished to Carl Landry for a dunk that whipped the crowd into a frenzy. Landry had 10 points and five rebounds in the first half and finished with 15 points and six boards. The Illini, who came into the game shooting 51 percent from the field, shot just 38 percent in the first half while Purdue shot 57 percent. It was just about the reverse in the second half as the undermanned Boilermakers were overwhelmed by Illinois' depth and Brown's tenaciousness. Roger Powell had two huge dunks in the second half, including one off an inbounds play underneath the basket that swung the momentum back to Illinois. After a layup by Kiefer brought Purdue within 59-50, Powell converted a three-point play to extend the lead. Illinois is off to its best start since the 1988-89 team began the season 17-0. That team won the Big Ten championship and advanced to the Final Four. The only other Illinois team to start the season with 16 straight wins was 1914-15, when the Illini won the national championship.

ZERO TO HERO: Brown Delivers responds to challenges from Weber, Boilermakers
ILLINOIS 68, PURDUE 59
By Marlen Garcia, Chicago Tribune staff reporter
Published January 9, 2005
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- For the first time this season, Purdue looked brilliant. The Boilermakers had a magical shooting touch against Illinois, the No. 1 team in the country, and stymied possibly the best guard team in the country. "For 20 minutes," Purdue coach Gene Keady said. The remaining 20 minutes Saturday belonged to Dee Brown and his Illinois teammates, who quickly made up a six-point halftime deficit en route to a 68-59 Big Ten victory over the Boilermakers (4-8, 0-2 in Big Ten) before an announced crowd of 14,123 at Mackey Arena. About midway through the first half, the Boilermakers were 12 of 17 from the field, shooting a remarkable 70.6 percent. Purdue forward Matt Kiefer scored 13 of his 17 points in that span."They came out and took us by storm a little bit," Illinois guard Deron Williams said. Williams, who came in averaging 14.5 points a game, finished with a season-low six. Backcourt partners Brown and Luther Head had similar struggles, but only in the first half. With 4 minutes 59 seconds remaining in the opening half, Illinois (16-0, 2-0) trailed by nine, its biggest deficit this season. "We were a step behind ," said Illinois coach Bruce Weber, whose team also lost several tussles for rebounds. More than once in that half, Weber pounded his clipboard during timeouts and screamed at his players, directing most of his frustration at Head. Head had a few defensive lapses and missed an ill-timed shot with eight seconds left in the first half, leaving Purdue time to set up a final play. Jack Ingram ended up fouling the Boilermakers' Bryant Dillon, who sank two free throws for Purdue's 39-33 halftime lead."It was a crusher," Weber said. "At the time, emotionally, we thought it could be a big difference-maker."Illinois had not trailed at the half of a regular-season game since Feb. 8, 2004, when Minnesota had a one-point lead in a game the Illini won by 10. Head caught an earful for his miscues. "I won't tell you all the words he used," Head said of Weber's outburst. Brown and Head made all the right moves in the second half. Brown, who did not take a shot in the first half, scored 14 points in the final 20 minutes. His first three-pointer, with 16:27 left, tied the game 41-41. "I'm not going to force a shot," Brown said of his zero attempts early. About a minute later, a dunk by Roger Powell put Illinois ahead for good. Later, Brown sank three three-pointers in a 75-second span, the third of which gave the Illini an 11-point lead. "I just told them to play like you're No. 1," Weber said. "Somebody step up and make plays and play with some heart.' [Dee] took it to heart, and Luther did [too]." Head scored 15 points to lead the Illini. Illinois players said they expected Purdue to come out firing and had not underestimated the Boilermakers as they had before the teams' first meeting last season, when Purdue upset the Illini at the Assembly Hall. "We knew they were going to play their hearts out," Williams said. Ultimately, Purdue didn't have the depth--or the shooting touch--to keep up with the Illini in the second half. The Boilermakers shot 33.3 percent in the second half while Illinois made 54.5 percent of its shots. The Boilermakers' Kiefer also had foul trouble, playing just 26 minutes. Charles Davis, Kiefer's replacement, just joined the team Jan. 1 and doesn't have his timing down when shooting, even on simple shots. Davis had been playing tight end for Purdue's football team, which lost to Arizona State on Dec. 31 in the Sun Bowl. "We knew we had to play the last 20 minutes great to win the game," Keady said."At halftime we were shooting 57 percent and they were shooting 37 percent, and they were only down six. They had to feel good about that."

Thursday, January 06, 2005

Gosh

Quote of the Week: "It is much easier to suggest solutions when you don't know too much about the problem." - Malcolm Forbes (1919-1990)
Definition of the Week: Heck: the place you go to you don't believe in Gosh.

Snow Day

Today was a "snow day" or a day with a lot of snow. We have about six inches of snow on the ground with more to come. Thank goodness I work so close to home and don't have to deal with the winter traffic. It's great pulling into the garage and walking right into the house without getting snowed on and not having to clean off all the snow in the morning before I leave for work. I did have to brush off the snow when I came home for lunch and when I left work for the day. Am I lazy or what? I was able to get the boys to shovel the driveway. The wind has caused the snow to drift by the garage door. I stayed in tonight and watched all the shows on Fox 32 - The Simpsons, Malcolm In The Middle, The Simpsons, The 70's Show and Quintuplets. Television is very addictive sometimes I can't move off the couch. It's mind numbing and an excellent pastime for a snowy cold winter night like tonight. After all those shows we watched "The Garfield Movie." The movie wasn't as funny as I expected but I was entertained especially looking at Jennifer Love-Hewitt's smile. Bill Murray was Garfield's voice an excellent choice. After the movie we watched the end of the Illini basketball game and they dominated Ohio State winning by over 20 points. Makes me proud to be an alumni. The stands at Assembly Hall were almost completely orange. I spent a lot of time at Assembly Hall in college as an usher and saw some excellent events and got paid to do it. I couldn't get motivated to blog last night. I guess it won't be an everyday thing this year. So much for New Year's resolutions. There was some great news yesterday. Cub's player Ryne Sandberg made it into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was/is one of my baseball heroes. I have a baseball and picture autographed by him in my office. I think he made an appearance at Carson's a long time ago when he was still playing with the Cubs. One of these days I hope to visit Cooperstown and check out the Baseball Hall Of Fame. That's on my list with the Football Hall Of Fame and the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. Some many places to go, things to do, people to see, books to read, movies to see. The days are just packed. Every day is an adventure.

Tuesday, January 04, 2005

Hall of Fame

Longtime Chicago Cubs second baseman RYNE SANDBERG was elected to the Baseball of Fame today in balloting conducted by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Hall of Fame induction ceremonies will take place on July 31, 2005 in Cooperstown, New York. Sandberg won nine Gold Gloves, seven Silver Slugger awards and was the National League MVP in 1984. In 1990, he led the NL with 40 home runs and 116 runs. He went a Major League record 123 games without an error, and compiled 12 errorless streaks of at least 40 games.

Ryne Sandberg
Born: Sept. 18, 1959, in Spokane, Washington Batted right, threw right Stats All-Star Appearances (10): 1984-1993 (consecutive) Most Valuable Player (1): 1984 Gold Glove Awards (9): 1983-1991 (consecutive) Ryne Dee Sandberg joined the roster of Chicago Cubs' greats by combining a dazzling defensive flair at second base with a tremendous knack for power. Etching his name among fan favorites Ernie Banks, Billy Williams and Ron Santo, Sandberg endeared himself to the Cubs' national fan base by doing something his predecessors could not: leading the club in 1984 to its first postseason appearance since 1945, and returning the club there five seasons later, as the Cubs again captured the National League East Division title in 1989.
"He was a dominating player. He could beat you with his glove, his bat and his arm," Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda told J.G. Taylor Spink Award honoree Jerome Holtzman during Hall of Fame Weekend in Cooperstown in 1997. Sandberg was a two-sport high school star, named an All-America starting quarterback by Parade Magazine after his senior year, while being heavily recruited by major college football programs. But after being selected in the 20th round by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1978 draft, Sandberg retired his shoulder pads for the baseball diamond and quickly earned the label of "can't-miss" major league prospect.
Sandberg would spend three seasons in Philadelphia's minor league system, primarily as a shortstop before earning his major league debut at the end of the 1981 season. On January 27, 1982, as teams finalized rosters for spring training, Sandberg was dealt to the Chicago Cubs, along with veteran shortstop Larry Bowa, for shortstop Ivan DeJesus. The trade to Chicago gave Sandberg the chance to play every day, an opportunity the Phillies just couldn't grant with infield prospects Julio Franco and Juan Samuel beating him to the major leagues. Second base was not immediately in Sandberg's future, however, as he found his two infield positions - shortstop and second base - occupied with Bowa and Bump Wills, who was a spring training acquisition from Texas. Sandberg started the season at third base, appearing in 133 games at the hot corner in his rookie season. At the plate, Sandberg displayed the offensive potential that scouts spotted early as a minor leaguer, batting .271 in 156 games, with 103 runs scored, 54 runs batted in and 33 steals. He also began to work out at second base, logging 24 games at the position that he would take over fulltime in 1983, when the Cubs acquired Ron Cey from the Los Angeles Dodgers to play third base during the 1982 off-season. The 1983 season would be a harbinger of great things to come for Sandberg. As the Cubs' starting second baseman for the first time, "Ryno" appeared in 158 games, winning his first of nine consecutive Gold Gloves with a .986 fielding percentage. At the plate, Sandberg built on what he began as a full-time regular in 1982, ranking among the top five in runs scored in the National League for the second consecutive season. What Sandberg and the Cubs were setting the stage for in 1984 was nothing short of earth-shattering. With just eight winning seasons from 1945 through 1983, the Cubs' chances of winning the National League East Division seemed slight to their fans, at best. Sandberg, though steady in his first two seasons, was not yet expected to carry the club. He and his Cubs won 96 games, winning the division by 6.5 games over the New York Mets.
Arguably producing his best offensive season, Sandberg captured the National League Most Valuable Player Award in 1984, the first Cubs' MVP since Banks in 1959, batting a career-best .314, fourth-highest in the National League, totaling a career-best 200 hits, while leading the league in runs (114) and triples (19). Sandberg highlighted his 1984 season with a 5-for-6, seven RBI performance against St. Louis on June 23, belting consecutive home runs off Cardinals' closer Bruce Sutter in the 9th and 10th innings. "to He has the most consistent approach the game I've ever seen," his manager Jim Frey said of Sandberg in 1984. "He's similar to (Al) Kaline. You could watch Kaline play for five years and look back and say 'I've never seen him mess up a play or make a mistake.' I know we use the word consistent a lot, but in Sandberg's case it applies." The 1984 season offered a testament to Sandberg's all-around excellence, as he captured his second consecutive Gold Glove Award by committing just six errors in 156 games, a .993 fielding percentage. Even though the Cubs would lose to San Diego in the 1984 National League Championship Series, Sandberg appeared in his first of 10 straight All-Star Game appearances. The season marked his third consecutive with at least 30 stolen bases, a facet of Sandberg's game that would reach its pinnacle in 1985, when he finished fourth in the NL with a career-best 54 steals. As Sandberg matured, so too did his ability to hit for power. He totaled at least 14 home runs in nine consecutive seasons from 1984-1992 and it wasn't until 1989 that he hit 30 home runs for the first time, the fifth-highest total in the National League. That season, Sandberg helped returned Chicago to the postseason, leading the league in runs scored for a second time in his career, while finishing in the top five in MVP voting for the second time in his career. In 1990, Sandberg would reach 40 clouts, pacing the National League, becoming the first second baseman since Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby in 1922 to hit 40 in a single-season. His 116 RBI were also a career-best. Despite Sandberg's rise in power, his ability to swipe an extra base remained, stealing 25 in 1990, his seventh season with at least 25 steals. Defensively, Sandberg turned in his best season in 1991, committing just four errors in 786 total chances, a league-best .995 fielding percentage. His mastery of the field from 1989-'94 resulted in just 37 errors over six seasons, including a major league record errorless streak of 123 games and 584 chances that ended in May of the 1990 season. In June 1994, Sandberg stepped away from the game, taking what would be a brief retirement before returning to the Cubs for the 1996 season. He would appear in 285 games over the 1996 and 1997 seasons before retiring permanently. His 277 career home runs as a second baseman established a record for most ever by the position, until surpassed at the conclusion of the 2004 season by Jeff Kent. Among Sandberg's numerous career accolades: Ranks 1st all-time for highest fielding percentage by a 2B (.989); shares ML record for most years with 500 or more assists by a 2B (6); totaled five .300-plus batting average campaigns and one 200-hit season; hit five career grand slams; led NL 2B in fielding percentage four times (1983, '84, '86, '91); led NL 2B in assists seven times (1983, '84, '86, '88, '90-'92); and led NL 2B in total chances four times in 1983 (914), '84 (870), '88 (824), and '92 (830). In 2,164 career games, Sandberg totaled a career .285 batting average, a .344 on base percentage, 282 home runs, 1318 runs scored and 1061 RBI.
Congratulations Ryno!

3 In A Row

Just Like Tic-Tac-Toe. This will be my third day in a row blogging. I don't know how I'm gonna do it. I'm bushed. After going back to work to today and trying to catch up I came home and my youngest son had basketball practice from 4:45 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. We had a quick dinner of Taco Bell and then I had to take my oldest son to his basketball practice from 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. While he was at practice I went to the library to return the DVD movie we watched Friday - "Possession" with Gwyneth Paltrow. It was about a couple of 'scholars' researching a dead poet. I'm sure there are people out there whose whole life is devoted to one subject. I'd rather be more well rounded. It was okay.
I spent a lot of time this weekend on the Internet Movie Database building my list of movies (over 400) I also made a list of movies to see (about 50) I printed it and brought it with me to the library to see if any were available. I only saw one. I'll have to check again later in the week. You can't beat the rental price - $1.00. I did get two new books - "Metro Girl" by Janet Evanovich and the new Maeve Binchy book for my wife. I finished reading "Once Upon A Town"
by Bob Greene. I pulled "D-Day June 6, 1944 The Climatic Battle of World War II" off my bookshelves. I have a first edition autographed by Stephen Ambrose. It's over 580 pages. I don't think I'll be able to start reading it until after my test. I procrastinated again tonight. I only read about 6 pages. I'm setting a deadline for the test January 31, 2005. My youngest son had to memorize a poem over Christmas break. Well he did and today when he went to class he found out someone else picked the same poem so he had to pick another one and memorize it tonight after basketball. He picked " The Good Hours" by Robert Frost below:

I had for my winter evening walk-
No one at all with whom to talk,
But I had the cottages in a row
Up to their shining eyes in snow.

And I thought I had the folk within:
I had the sound of a violin;
I had a glimpse through curtain laces
Of youthful forms and youthful faces.

I had such company outward bound.
I went till there were no cottages found.
I turned and repented, but coming back
I saw no window but that was black.

Over the snow my creaking feet
Disturbed the slumbering village street
Like profanation, by your leave,
At ten o’clock of a winter eve.

He did it. It's after ten o'clock of a winter eve. It is suppose to snow tonight and we're supposed to get a lot on Wednesday. The CD I have on is just about over. Time to sleep.

Monday, January 03, 2005

Life Goes On

"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: It goes on." - Robert Frost

Sunday, January 02, 2005

Blog Joke

Blogsurfing I found this joke:

A man walks into a psychiatrist's office wearing only underwear made of Saran Wrap. The psychiatrist says, "Well...I can clearly see your nuts.

The Greatest Oak


"The greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground." - Unknown

Net Not-Worth-It?

I just finished reading an interesting article in the Sunday Chicago Tribune titled "Fraud, hassles may put Net in not-worth-it mode." http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0501020309jan02,1,5202344.story?coll=chi-news-hed It made a lot of good points. The amount of spam is unbelievable. I work at two technology related companies and still get an inordinate amount of spam that gets through and I don't give my work e-mails out to anyone. I use my Yahoo www.yahoo.com e-mail for all my incoming e-mail. It's really ashame that people are abusing this wonderful technology. Another thing I noticed in today's Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0501020313jan02,1,3367557.story?coll=chi-news-hed was the amount of assistance to the tsunami victims from the "free" world. Where's the contributions from Al Qaeda, the other communist and the anti-American countries? Just wondering. I got my calendars ready for January and February basketball practices and games. I'll keep one at work to make sure I don't forget. I still have to pick up a "Week-At-Glance" calendar from OfficeMax www.officemax.com . This is the weekend I normally start filling it up. The Bears finished their season with a loss to the Packers 31 to 14.

Dave Barry's Last Column


One of my favorite columnists and writers:

The last word, for now; humorist gives jokes a rest By DAVE BARRY
There comes a time in the life of every writer when he asks himself -- as Shakespeare, Tolstoy and Hemingway all surely asked themselves -- if he has any booger jokes left in him.
For me, that time has come. I've been trying to entertain newspaper readers since the '60s, when I wrote ''humor'' columns for the Haverford College News. I put ''humor'' in quotation marks because when I go back and read those columns today, I don't get any of the jokes. But at the time, they were a big hit with my readership, which consisted pretty much of my roommates. After college, I got a job as a reporter at the West Chester, Pa., Daily Local News, where I was also allowed to write humor columns. I thought they were pretty good, but after my third one, an editor took me aside and told me -- this is an absolutely true quote -- ''you used to be funnier.'' That was more than 30 years ago, and since then, hardly a week has gone by during which somebody has not told me that I used to be funnier. I sometimes got discouraged, but I kept at it, year after year, the past 22 of them at The Miami Herald. Why didn't I give up? I'll tell you why: I have no useful skills. Also, this job has been a lot of fun. Here are just a few of the things that, as a professional humor columnist, I have actually been paid to do:
• I picked up my son, Rob, at his junior high school in the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile. (Rob, now 24, claims he has forgiven me. Although, to be safe, I'm still in the federal witness protection program.)
• After I wrote a column suggesting that opera might be fatal to humans, I was invited to Eugene, Ore., to participate in the Eugene Opera's performance of the Puccini opera Gianni Schicchi. I played the part of a corpse.
• An Air Force pilot took me for an F-16 fighter-jet ride, during which -- while hurtling through the brilliant-blue sky high above the Straits of Florida at faster than the speed of sound -- I threw up.
• After I made fun of North Dakota, the city of Grand Forks, N.D., invited me up there one January, and, in a deeply moving (also deeply cold) ceremony attended by a crowd of dozens, the mayor of Grand Forks, Mike Brown, dedicated a new sewage-lifting station in my honor. (Mayor Brown's official proclamation very eloquently compared my work to the production of human excrement.)
• I went on the David Letterman show and demonstrated to a nationwide television audience that it was possible to set fire to a pair of hair spray-soaked men's underpants using a Rollerblade Barbie doll. (To my knowledge, Rollerblade Barbie is the only Barbie ever recalled as a fire hazard, although I am not taking credit.)
These were all fun things to write about. But many of my favorite columns were suggested by you readers, an amazingly alert group. If an important news event occurs -- a toilet exploding, for example; or a boat being sunk by a falling cow; or a cow exploding -- I can count on my readers to let me know about it. On the other hand, if I write something that turns out -- despite my relentless fact-checking -- to be inaccurate, such as that Thomas Jefferson invented the atomic bomb, I will receive dozens of letters, often very irate, correcting me. I cherish those letters most of all. So this is a great job. And yet I'm quitting it, at least for now. I want to stop before I join the horde of people who think I used to be funnier. And I want to work on some other stuff. So for the next year, I won't be writing regular columns, though I hope to weigh in from time to time if something really important happens, such as a cow exploding in a boat toilet.
At some point in the next year, I hope to figure out whether I want to resume the column. Right now, I truly don't know. So in case I don't get to say this later: Thanks to all you editors for printing my column, and thanks especially to all you readers for reading it. You've given me the most wonderful career an English major could hope to have. I am very grateful.
And I'm not making that up.

Thank you Dave!

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