Wendella Boat Ride

I called in to work and took a personal day off so I could take my Mom and Dad and the boys on the Wendella Boat Ride up the Chicago River and onto Lake Michigan. It was a combined birthday present for my Mom and Dad. Their birthdays are two weeks apart. My boys have never been on the Wendella. I can remember going quite a few years ago. It was a beautiful clear day, no clouds in the sky. We left Villa Park about 9:30 a.m. and got downtown about 10:30 am. I purchased our tickets and had some time to kill. We walked over by the NBC Building and went inside to see if they had tours. They don't. We saw where they do the news broadcasts from and walked over by the Tribune Building and saw where they broadcast the Kathy and Judy Show on WGN Talk Radio. Papa had a cigar in Pioneer Court by the fountain. We got back and got in line for the boat ride. Boarding for the boat is down the stairs in front of the Wrigley Building. We sat on the top deck of the boat. The boat is brand new and was less than a month old and the tour guide was excellent. We saw the new Trump Tower that's being built where the old Sun-Times Building use to be. It's been a while since I've been downtown and there are a lot of new buildings. We went through the locks onto Lake Michigan and had an excellent view of Navy Pier and the Chicago skyline. The lake was really calm and the sky was so clear we could see the skyline in Indiana. After the boat ride we walked down Michigan Avenue to Ontario Street and then west to the Hard Rock Cafe. The plan was to have lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe but it was closed for a private event. We ended up going around the corner and having lunch at The Rainforest Cafe. We all shared a "Volcano" for dessert. After lunch I went back to the parking garage to retrieve the car. We left Chicago about 4:00 p.m. We hit some rush hour traffic but made it to Villa Park around 5:00 p.m. It was a great day.

Water

"We never know the worth of water ‘til the well is dry." — Thomas Fuller

Liquid Assets

1.6 Million - children under age 5 who die each year in the world because of unsafe water or lack or basic sanitation.

1.1 Billion - people without access to safe drinking water.

84 - percent of people without access to safe drinking water who live in rural areas.

0.3 - percent or the earth's water that is usable by humans.

6 quadrillion - gallons of fresh water in the Great Lakes - one fifth of the world's fresh surface water.

97.5 - percent of the earth's water that is saltwater.

90 - percent of the cost of a bottle of water that is in the lid, label and bottle.

40 - estimated percent of bottled water that comes from a municipal water system.

70 - percent of the human body made up of water.

2 - liters of water needed by the human body every day.

www.chicagotribune.com

The Highest Wisdom

"The highest wisdom is loving kindness." - The Talmud

Little Fish

We watched the DVD "Little Fish."

Synopsis

How do you learn to love again when the pain of the past won't let you go? When you're 32 with a troubled history and a doubtful future, it's a question that isn't so easy to answer. And for Tracy Heart (Cate Blanchett) it's a question she can no longer ignore. After four years of treading water and redeeming herself in the eyes of her family, she has set herself the humble dream of owning her own business. A story about families. About lies. And about learning to love again.

Live Flesh

I watched the DVD "Live Flesh." directed by Pedro Almodovar.

Synopsis

Adapting the novel Live Flesh by British mystery author Ruth Rendell, Almodóvar has given the material a Spanish makeover with added political thrust. Beginning in 1970 in Franco's Madrid, when a prostitute (Penelope Cruz) gives birth to a son, Victor, the story leaps forward to contemporary Madrid. Wealthy diplomat's daughter Elena (Francesca Neri) is watching Luis Buñuel's The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de La Cruz (1955) while waiting for the arrival of her heroin dealer, and she accidentally buzzes pizza delivery man Victor (Liberto Rabal) into the building. In the confusion that follows, two cops, David (Javier Bardem) and Sancho (Jose Sancho) arrive, and a gun goes off. The story then makes another leap to four years later: Victor is in prison, while Elena, no longer on drugs, runs a disadvantaged children's shelter and is married to wheelchair-bound David. After his release, Victor visits his mother's grave and spots David and Elena at the cemetery where David meets philandering wife Clara (Angela Molina). Fate interweaves the tangled interrelationships of all into a complex tapestry of destiny and guilt.

Be Lovable

"To be loved, be lovable." - Ovid

The Watchman

I finished reading "The Watchman" by Robert Crais.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Larkin Conner Barkley lives like the City of Angels is hers for the taking. Young and staggeringly rich, she speeds through the city during its loneliest hours, blowing through red after red in her Aston Martin as if running for her life. Until out of nowhere a car appears, and with it the metal-on-metal explosion of a terrible accident. Dazed, Larkin attempts to help the other victims. And finds herself the sole witness in a secret federal investigation. For maybe the first time in her life, Larkin wants to do the right thing. But by agreeing to cooperate with the authorities, she becomes the target for a relentless team of killers. And when the U.S. Marshals and the finest security money can buy can't protect her, Larkin's wealthy family turns to the one man money can't buy - Joe Pike. Pike lives a world away from the palaces of Beverly Hills. He's an ex-cop, ex-Marine, ex-mercenary who owes a bad man a favor, and that favor is to keep Larkin alive. The one upside of the job is reuniting with Bud Flynn, Pike's LAPD training officer, and a man Pike reveres as a father. The downside is Larkin Barkley, who is the uncontrollable cover girl for self-destruction and as deeply alone as Pike. Pike commits himself to protecting the girl, but when they immediately come under fire, he realizes someone is selling them out. In defiance of Bud and the authorities, Pike drops off the grid with the girl and follows his own rules of survival: strike fast, hit hard, hunt down the hunters. With the help of private investigator Elvis Cole, Pike uncovers a web of lies and betrayals, and the stunning revelation that even the cops are not who they seem. As the body count rises, Pike's biggest threat might come from the girl herself, a lost soul in the City of Angels, determined to destroy herself unless Joe Pike can teach her the value of life and love.

Security

"Security is not the absence of danger, but the presence of God, no matter what the danger." - Anonymous

Happiness

"Happiness is a direction, not a place." — Sydney J. Harris

If You Want Happiness

"If you want happiness for an hour—take a nap.
If you want happiness for a day—go fishing.
If you want happiness for a month—get married.
If you want happiness for a year—inherit a fortune.
If you want happiness for a lifetime—help others."

-Chinese Proverb

L4yer Cake

I watched the DVD "L4yer Cake."

Synopsis

Sleek, well dressed and polite, our unnamed hero (Daniel Craig) is a consummate professional. Treating cocaine and ecstasy like any other commodity, he has made a fortune for himself by keeping his hands clean and staying under the radar. Having made the decision to retire, his aim is to break free from the world of crime, drugs and violence and live a simple, quiet life with the money he has amassed. But before this can happen, crime boss Jimmy Price (Kenneth Cranham) wants two last favors from him. First, he must track down the missing drug addict daughter of powerful criminal Eddie Temple (Michael Gambon). Second, he must negotiate the sale of a huge shipment of ecstacy with The Duke (Jamie Foreman), a loose cannon petty crook playing well out of his league. What should be routine transaction is anything but and nothing goes according to plan. Instead, duplicity and hidden alliances become the order of the day, in a struggle for power that reaches from the crack dens of London to the highest ranks of British society. Quickly he learns he is part of a machine much greater than he imagined, and getting out won't be quite as easy as getting in.

Wasted Time

"One thing you can't recycle is wasted time" - Unknown

Little Miss Sunshine

We watched the DVD "Little Miss Sunshine."

Synopsis

The motley six-member Hoover family treks from Albuquerque to the Little Miss Sunshine pageant in Redondo Beach, California, to fulfill the deepest wish of 7-year-old Olive, an ordinary little girl with big dreams. Along the way the family must deal with crushed dreams, heartbreaks, and a broken-down VW bus, leading up to the surreal Little Miss Sunshine competition itself. On their travels through this bizarrely funny landscape, the Hoovers learn to trust and support each other along the path of life, no matter what the challenge.

Always Bring Your Own Sunshine

"Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine." — Anthony J. D'Angelo

As We Are

"We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." - anonymous

Jumpin Jack Bash

We went to the first ever Jumpin' Jack Bash at Toyota Park sponsored by 104.3 Jack FM. I left work early and we left home about 3:00 p.m. We got to Toyota Park in Bridgeview just after 3:30 p.m. The gates opened at 4:00 p.m. The first performer was Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. She's gonna be back in town later this year to back-up Aerosmith. After they finished we moved closer to the stage and watched The Stray Cats. It was the first time they performed in Chicago in 15 years. I have an old cassette of theirs that I use to play all the time. Then Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders came on stage. She was upset about the big yellow McDonald's "M" behind the stage. It had to be taped over. Next up was REO Speedwagon. They were big when I was in college in Champaign. They got the biggest response from the audience. Last up was ZZ Top. They played a dead-on version of Jimmy Hendrix' "Foxy Lady" The first ever concert my wife and I attended together was ZZ Top at the old Rosemont Horizon now the Allstate Arena. The concerts lasted from 4:30 p.m. until 11:00 p.m. We had prime viewing for all of the drunk and disorderly people that got kicked out. It was a beautiful, clear, cool, night. It was the first rock concert for my Dad - Papa and for my nephew - Hans. We were home before midnight.

Unique

"You are unique. Just like everyone else." - Anonymous

Waiting For Something To Turn Up

"The person who is waiting for something to turn up might start with their shirt sleeves." — Garth Henrichs

Knowledge

"A love affair with knowledge will never end in heartbreak." — Michael Garrett Marino

Second Best

I watched the DVD "Second Best."

Synopsis

Set in a New Jersey neighborhood, a group of regular guys launch into a tirade of introspection when their longtime friend and successful Hollywood producer has a homecoming. No one feels the gap more acutely than his best friend, a failed publishing exec, working on a screenplay, living in Jersey, wallowing in denial. Things are definitely not looking up. He dreams that his friend will be his ticket out, but his own ego may be both his downfall and salvation.

Aim For Achievement

"Always aim for achievement, and forget about success." - Helen Hayes

Traveler

I finished reading "Traveler" by Ron McLarty

ABOUT THE BOOK

For Jono Riley, East Providence in the 1960s was filled with hockey games, Marlboros, scout camp, beautiful young girls, and best friends. Growing up in blue-collar families, Jono and his three friends—Cubby, Billy, and Bobby—were inseparable and formed a bond that each of them thought would last a lifetime. But inevitably things changed as time moved on. When he receives a letter from Cubby thirty years later, Jono is living in Manhattan, working as a part-time actor and bartender, and he has not been back to East Providence in decades. In the letter, Cubby informs Jono that Marie D’Agostino, Cubby’s sister and the first girl that Jono ever loved, has died suddenly. This news inspires a range of emotions and memories in Jono’s mind, and he decides that it is time he journeyed back to the town of his youth. As Jono revisits East Providence, he is also struggling with a question in his present life: he has fallen in love with Renée Levesque, a New York City firefighter who wants to move in with him, but Jono harbors fears and reservations about making such a commitment. When he arrives in East Providence, Jono discovers that Marie’s death was actually linked to a childhood event that he recalls with clarity: one winter afternoon, when Jono was eleven years old and Marie twelve, she was mysteriously shot by an unseen gunman while they were walking home. The doctors were unable to remove the bullet, but Marie recovered—until, at age fifty-two, the bullet “traveled” from the place it was originally lodged, pinching an artery and causing her death. As Jono revisits old friends and neighbors, he comes across Officer Kenny Snowden, who investigated Marie’s shooting at the time, and who tells Jono that there have been other unexplained shootings over the years. As Jono, who is joined by the determined and beautiful Renée, helps Snowden look deeper into these shootings and tries to figure out how these incidents relate to his own life, he comes to terms with his memories and realizes that nothing will ever be the same again. Interwoven into his search for the truth are scenes from his childhood, as Jono finds himself caught up in girl trouble, suffers the death of his father, tries to avoid fights with neighborhood bullies, and emerges victorious as a star hockey player.

Leisure Time

"The real problem of leisure time is how to keep others from using yours." — Arthur Lacey

A Smile

"A smile is a curve that sets everything straight." — Phyllis Diller

Looking Ridiculous

"It is a curious thought, but it is only when you see people looking ridiculous that you realize just how much you love them." - Agatha Christie

Start On Time

"The only things that start on time are those that you’re late for." — Anonymous

Scary Movie 4

I watched "Scary Movie 4" on DVD. I still need to see "Scary Movie" and "Scary Movie 2."

Synopsis

Seeking a career in home healthcare, loveable, dim-witted Cindy Campbell (Anna Faris) finds work with a creepy old lady (Cloris Leachman) in an even creepier old house haunted by a ghostly presence. Throw in a good-looking guy next door (Craig Bierko) and the threat of aliens intent on global domination and Cindy's instantly up to the top of her extremely blonde head in danger. Our fearless heroine catapults into action once again struggling to decipher ominous messages from beyond, looking for love in some very weird places and trying to save the world from mass destruction along with her savvy, outrageously promiscuous pal Brenda (Regina Hall).

Being Good

"It isn't hard to be good from time to time. What's tough is being good every day." - Willie Mays

I have Willie Mays autobiography "Say Hey" autographed by him.

Laughter

"Laughter is the shortest distance between two people." - Victor Borge

Accepted

I watched the DVD "Accepted."

Synopsis

High school senior Bartleby "B" Gaines (Justin Long) is on his way to scoring eight out of eight rejection letters from colleges which isn't going to go over big with Mom and Dad. At least he's not alone in the exclusion. Several of his crew of outcast friends are in the same, college-less boat. So how does a guy facing a bleak career please his parents and get noticed by dream girl Monica (Blake Lively)? Simple, open his own university. Bartleby and his band of misfit freshmen take "liberal" arts literally when they fool their parents and peers and create the esteemed South Harmon Institute of Technology (S.H.I.T.) They clean up an abandoned psychiatric facility, employ a buddy's brilliant but subversive uncle (Lewis Black) as the dean and create a fake web site as their campus calling card. Bam! South Harmon, the alternative school of higher learning, is born. Just as they are settling in, Bartleby and company realize they've done their jobs too well. Dozens of other college rejects show up for classes at this less-than-lofty institute. Under the scornful eyes of privileged students from the neighboring college, Bartleby and his friends forge ahead with maintaining a fake, functioning university. Their efforts to explore alternative education result in a battle between the South Harmon co-eds and the "sister" school snobs. With his future in the balance, it's going to take more than just sleight of hand to keep B out of jail as he strives to get the girl, impress his parents and become -accepted.

Yesterday

"There is no distance on this earth as far away as yesterday." — Robert Nathan

Doors

"The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live." — Flora Whittemore

Life In Your Years

"It’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years."
— Abraham Lincoln

Fireworks

We had a backyard barbecue. We watched the fireworks on T.V. from Washington D.C. and New York and then walked over to the neighborhood park around the corner to watch the local fireworks. We found a good spot on the hill and we were able to see them all around Lemont, Bolingbrook and Woodridge. One of the houses near the park had their own spectacular fireworks display that was almost better than the ones sponsored by the towns because we were so close. The only drawback was the mosquitoes. It was a great 4th of July.

Back From Vacation

After our last day at Oval Beach we stopped at Crane's Pie Pantry for dinner and had multiple glasses of apple cider, dinner and pie. We made it home from Michigan in record time - about two hours and ten minutes a nd got home about 8:00 p.m. We unpacked and then I drove my oldest son to his friends and stopped at the library to return some overdue books I brought on vacation. It was a good vacation, I finished 4 books.

A Man Without A Country

I finished reading the book "A Man Without A Country" by Kurt Vonnegut. I bought it Saturday morning at the used book sale sponsored by the Douglas-Saugatuck Public Library.

ABOUT THE BOOK

A dozen short essays, a poem, and an author's note make up this brief work of non-fiction. Most were written during the past five years for the Chicago-based magazine "In These Times." These articles were the most visited ones on the magazine's website. Each essay is illustrated with Vonnegut's personal, epigrammatic art work. ("To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it.") I cannot judge whether Vonnegut's soul has grown, but A Man Without A Country clearly shows that his ability to confront and sometimes confound our thoughts on a variety of subjects has not diminished. Interestingly, the art work is produced through his partnership with the artist Joe Petro III in a company called Origami. Just as origami is created through folds, twists, and turns which seem to head into an unknown direction, so it goes with Vonnegut's writing. The way may be convoluted, but the direction is clear at the end. These subjects are wide-ranging: "Here is a lesson in creative writing;" "I have been called a Luddite;" "A sappy woman from Ypsilanti;" "I used to be the owner and manager of an automobile dealership." Each topic, and its accompanying artwork, provides a platform from which to begin an excursion through other realms. The lesson on creative writing, for example, is illustrated with drawings and verbal descriptions of where stories begin and where they go. Only Vonnegut could bring together Cinderella, Kafka's cockroach, and Hamlet and make a cogent connection among the three. Elsewhere, he says, "I'm startled that I became a writer….Every other writer I know feels he is steering himself, and I don't have that feeling. I don't have that sort of control. I'm simply becoming." He just wanted to "give people the relief of laughing." We do laugh, but it is not always a comfortable laugh. A Man Without A Country is already having an effect on contemporary life beyond the literary world. Driving into work recently, I listened to a comic doing a riff on our fast-paced life. People around the world wait in line for hours for a cup of water, a bite of food. Americans are in line 9 seconds at Costco and we want to know what the problem is. The comic further emphasized his point by noting a passage "from a recent Vonnegut book" in which he writes about walking down to the corner kiosk in New York City to buy a mailing envelope. Why, his wife asks, don't you buy them in bulk? Because I see things and I meet interesting people, Vonnegut says.

Be Better

"If you are good, be better." - Anonymous

Lean Mean Thirteen

I finished reading "Lean Mean Thirteen" by Janet Evanovich.

ABOUT THE BOOK

New secrets, old flames, and hidden agendas are about to send bounty hunter Stephanie Plum on her most outrageous adventure yet.

MISTAKE #1 Dickie Orr — Stephanie was married to him for about fifteen minutes before she caught him cheating on her with her archnemesis, Joyce Barnhardt. Another fifteen minutes after that, Stephanie filed for divorce, hoping never to see either one of them again.

MISTAKE #2 Doing favors for super bounty hunter Carlos Manoso (aka Ranger). Ranger needs Stephanie to meet with Dickie and find out if he's doing something shady. Turns out, he is. Turns out, Dickie's also back to doing Joyce Barnhardt. And it turns out Ranger's favors always come with a price....

MISTAKE #3 Going completely nutso while doing the favor for Ranger, and trying to apply bodily injury to Dickie in front of the entire office. Now Dickie has disappeared, and Stephanie is the natural suspect in his disappearance. Is Dickie dead? Can he be found? And can Stephanie Plum stay one step ahead in this new, dangerous game? Joe Morelli, the hottest cop in Trenton, New Jersey, is also keeping Stephanie on her toes — and he may know more than he's saying about many things in Stephanie's life. It's a cat-and-mouse game for Stephanie Plum wherein the ultimate prize might be her life.

http://www.evanovich.com/

Hooked

I finished reading the book "Hooked" by Matt Richtel

ABOUT THE BOOK

Nat Idle, a medical student turned journalist, sits in a San Francisco cafe when a woman puts a folded note on his table. Nat picks up the note, walks to the door to follow her, opens the note and reads: Get out of the Cafe, NOW! The cafe explodes. Sitting in the rubble, he discovers the impossible: the handwriting on the note appears to belong to his deceased ex-girlfriend, a powerful venture capitalists who died four years earlier.Thus begins Hooked and Nat's frantic quest for answers. His search ultimately presents him with a series of surprises and twists and leads him to discover unnerving truths about himself, and the frenetically-paced digital world he inhabits.

http://www.mattrichtel.com/

Kindness

"The best portion of a good man's life: his little, nameless unremembered acts of kindness and love." - William Wordsworth