230- deadspin

it's sunday and the day is slow. spent most of the day just surfing the 'net. i was reading through some old 'daily quickies' (link on the right) and they referenced a site called deadspin. the goal: sports new without favor, access or discretion.

how have i not seen this before? a bunch of guys searching blogs and news looking for interesting sport stories and gossip. simply great. i just hope they don't get too full of themselves and become what they don't want to be (espn). we'll know that happened when we start seeing "premium" content.

231-partying with the ellis'

the ellis' (brian and jenny) were nice enough to have people over for the fourth of july (even though it's only the 1st). what better excuse to have a party?

this is right up jenny's alley. ever since all our friends started hanging out, she's always been the organizer. now, it's perfect for her since her and ellis just moved into their new condo. i see many future cookouts to come on the ellis patio.

if you ever get a chance to go over there, make sure to try the punch. be careful, though, because if metz is around you may get a little more that you bargained for...

232-whitey

i can't believe it's the end of june and i have not been to the beach once. i mean, the summer is so short you have to live it up. therefore i have scheduled a beach date with my beloved for tomorrow. i am so romantic, i invited her using google calendar. if you haven't used it...check it out (you will need a google account to access it).

233-you can't win'em all

karl hungus suffered it's first loss of the night. i guess you can't win them all. however, yesterday's rain helped softened the field which turned me into a gold glove shortstop. i almost quit softball for good and after backhanding one in the hole at short jumping, turning in mid air and throwing to first on a fly to get the runner by half a step. even the other team was calling me ozzie guillen. i considered walking off the field at that point and retiring b/c i will never make a play like that again.

234-'snorts rained out

i'm sure everyone is wondering how the 'snorts did tonight, but it was a rainout. so i had to watch a re-run of myth busters. man! it really screws me up when softball doesn't go off as planned.

235-vote for joe

c'mon people--vote for joe mauer. usually, i could care less who starts the all-star game (especially for the AL) but when you got a guy hitting around .390 and the fans are voting in all boston and ny players it is just insane. please get out the vote. he plays in minnesota for crying out loud, he needs help.

btw, it couldn't hurt to vote for hafner either (but he ain't gonna win being at the same position as ortiz and thome)

236-chicago is chance's kind of town

chance stayed at grandma's while we were away this weekend. i'm sure he likes it there with all the grass and stuff, but from the looks of this photo i think he prefers it with us here in chicago.

237-another day in the car

238-tony and natalies big day

why does everyone want to get married in the summer. it's so freaking hot. no one likes to sweat in a suit.

i like that the reception was at a holidome. it really brought back memories of when we used to go on get-away weekends with the church. mini-golf, ping-pong, video games, hot tub and pool. i wish they could've rented out that area as well as the reception hall. of course, if that were the case people's heads probably would've exploded. i know missy's would have as her favorite college band 'dave and rae' were on hand.

239- a night in bloomington

tony peters is getting married this weekend in seymour, indiana. yep, good ol' sourthern indiana. so missy and i decided to make a stop at our old stomping grounds.

my, have things changed. granted, it was the summer and not a lot of kids were down there, but i couldn't believe that nobody went to sports--they all went to kilroy's. apparently, in the winter sports is the place to be and no one goes to kilroy's. when i was there it was the opposite. i'm so confused (are you?).

it felt weird staying at the union.

thanks to missy's lil bro for showing us around.

240-the dark side for chance?

is this an imposter or the real deal? i know my puppy wouldn't do this to me!

241-another one bites the dust

mark down another win for the snorts. apparently, this team has been the champ on this night for several years. in fact, it was marked on the chicago sport and social page as a loss for us. guess they thought a bunch of rag-tags couldn't 'dime' a team like that. think again!

will this be the 'snorts year?

242-world cup

important world cup doings, courtesy of conlu

243-and the photos are ready (censored)

snapfish

244-the beginning of the end of tony's last days

another five hours driving after a successful 3 days on the mississippi.

time for a rest.

245 - party cove

after the steamboat festival we headed back down river to a place which is deemed "party cove." however, we hit a couple of snags along the way.

you may know that you need to go through locks on the river. well, one thing you do not want to do is get behind a barge as they take hours to go through and you have to wait for them. well, as bad luck would have it, a chair flew off our deck and we had to go back and get it. in the meantime, a barge had called into the lock before us. therefore, we had to watch them cruise by and delay us a couple hours.

i guess our luck had completely run out, b/c by the time we made it down to "party cove" the clouds started to roll in. most people were taking off, but we were too far away from home base, so we docked in on shore and waited out the rain. the rain came hard and fast and was gone before you knew it, only nobody was left in "party cove."

we decided to make a day of it and head back get showered up and hit the "historic" city of lacrosse. is it just me, or is every city "historic" or at least have a "historic" district.

well, their "historic" district consisted mainly of bars, so it led to some good times. i let the pictures speak for themselves, but not before mentioning the peters tried to ditch his own bachelor party to go home and sleep. wimp.

246-winona, mn

bachelor party: day 2

first order of business was to get some hard liquor. i like beer and all (not really), but i can't drink it straight for a whole weekend. i like my drinks stiff. luckily conlu was there, if anybody knows how much liquor to buy for a party, it's him.

today we headed up north (up river). that's typically the plan since you want to make sure you can cruise back down river to get the boat back on time.

up and up we went, all the to winona wisconsin! you wouldn't think much would be going on up there, but we lucked out as it was steamboat days. so we just pulled right up and docked our oversized boat and went to the party right on the river. apparently, this is the weekend where all the college kids come back and party. st. mary's, winona state and a junior college are all located there.

let's just say the influx of college girls boded well for a bachelor party...on to day 3...

however, i would be remissed if i didn't mention the most exciting thing of the whole day:

247-leaving for the mississippi

day 1 of peter's bachelor party

i had never been on the mississippi river in my life and now i will be on it for the second time in less than a month.

about ten of us got together and chipped in to get a boat to cruise up and down the river. we left thursday night to make sure to get a good start on the long weekend. i cruised the 5+hour trip with warth and conlu and it immediately felt like the spring break trip of 2000...all we needed was some spearhead playing. luckily, we weren't doing what we did on that trip we got pulled over for speeding and a broken headlight. luckily we weren't really speeding and the cop just let us go (he obviously was just bored on his shift).

i didn't know what to expect when we got there, but this boat was no joke. it was bigger than most people's three flat apartments with 6 sleeping areas, a full kitchen and two bathrooms - not to mention the hot tub, bar and two gas grills!

we got in late and the first night was kegs and poker (what else?!?). tomorrow we get up and learn how to control this beast.

248 - duck snorts romp 16-5

the best thing about playing for the snorts is the weekly recap from the skip:

Snorts,

I was asked last night before the game to say a few words to pump the boys
up... I declined. I declined because we have a special group here, guys
that are really motivated to win and play well for their teammates. For
example, I received a text message from Dave Anderson last night, who is out
of town on business, asking how the Snorts did. There's a guy who lives for
this stuff.

Now, down to the recap. What a sweet performance all the way around last
night in a 16-5 victory. Let me start by saying that we just defeated the
undefeated first place team. It feels good. And we did it with only 9 guys
for 3 innings. At one point I heard their bench say, "dude, they've only
got three guys in the outfield, come on!" There was plenty of offense
again, which was quite an accomplishment considering that guy was probably
the best pitcher we've faced. Tommy 29 hit what was probably the first
legitimate no doubter HR of the year with a towering bomb to left. Earlier
Tyler had his stick going with a line shot that got through the outfield for
a homerun. Tyler and Phil were big difference makers last night with 4 RBIs
apiece. I just have to also mention that our leadoff hitter, Glow, went 1-1
last night with 3 walks... talk about a table setter.

What can you say about the D? There were no glaring mistakes and again I
heard the opposing bench talking about the arms in the outfield. No one
wants to take an extra base from the Snorts patrolling the grass. Plays of
the game would definitely have to include a beautiful backhanded, leaping
stab by Glowacki at short to rob the opposition of a sure double... sweet
grab! There was also a textbook relay home on a jack to left. The relay
came in perfectly with Justin blocking the plate like and All Star and
applying a sweeping tag to deny Chicago Trading a 3 run homer.

Thanks again to Justin for helping out and being a rock behind the dish last
night as well as adding some offense. Great work team, the stats look sick
they're so good. Check them out and let me know if there are any mistakes.
Game next week is at 7:30pm so let me know if you can't make it.

-Skipper

wait, where's my name...i guess 3-for-5 on this team doesn't cut it

249-cubs vs. astros

i can barely stand to watch the cubs and more, but when you buy the tickets in february...

plus, it's a good chance to reinitiate spivey to the wrigley culture. no more dodger dogs for you my friend, just losing baseball.

and sean marshall did not disappoint. good inning, bad inning, good inning, bad inning. and of course the cubs' bats were dormant in a 9-2 loss.

at least we got a kick out of the guys behind us who told us about all the things 'that didn't suck' like hanging out with ex-nebraska football players on rooftops. sweet. they also are apparently attracted to overweight bleach blond women with big boobs making one man comment "bulldog's about to break his chain!" classic.

250-youtube

i like to use google products for most things. after all, gmail was one of the coolest things to happen to the internet if you ask me. i mean, you can chat within your email. pretty cool, especially since most companies filter out instant messaging programs. also, the ability to search your email quickly had yahoo and hotmail scrambling to come out with competitive products. and, above all they were the first to offer 1gb of storage and it's still growing.

however, i think they wimped out when it came to video. first it takes a couple of days to review. and if it is anything that may be copyrighted, it is not allowed. what ever happened to the free internet. i guess copyright infringement is sort of a big deal, but all i wanted to do was show clips of how bad the cubs were. (you have to see it to believe it, trust me.) good thing for youtube. they claim to check for copyright stuff, but they pretty much leave it up to you to decide and the copyright holder to complain. go youtube.

my username is bernok, if you ever want to see any of my clips.

251-old town/wells street art fair

i didn't make it down to the wells street or old town art fairs this year. i don't know why. most people love it along with all the other chicago street fairs. this fair just seems to be one where people go to be seen, and some days that just ain't my style. of course, the watching part can be fun.

some people go for the art, some people go to be seen, missy likes to go for the corn on the cob:

252-christy's big 3-0

ellis and i did make it to golf this morning, but joe did not. he must've over-did it at the party last night. i hate golf, but i need to learn it. after all, you can't play softball forever, right. it's just so embarassing to go out there. at least i had two bogies (shut up! that's good for me).


tonight jeff jones's wife turned thirty. so i had to go see what it will be like for me in 7 months. apparently, you still act like you are 21 even when you are thirty, so that's a good thing.

at least i got put in charge of the music. which was good, but never got played. oh well. i just hope christy liked it.

253-joe's engagement party

lindsey and joe had their engagement party tonight at their friends nadia & john's place. it would have been nice if i had remembered my camera b/c it was the first time in three years i had seen any of lindsey's friends. strange how things like that happen.

drunk event of the night: ellis made a tee time for me, him and joe. yeah, that'll happen!

254-softball returns

i didn't get to play last night, but i was back out on the softball fields last night. karl hungus had an easy win. the best part though is that we played on a sandy field. actually, the sand sucked, but it helped me out. rather than have a big stride in the batter's box, i decided to just dig in...and it worked! i hadn't hit the ball this hard all year. hopefully, this will carry on for the rest of the summer.

255-memphis recap

today, my brother and i just kind of hung out until my flight left. we had had a pretty long 4 days and it was nice to just relax. of course, stress soon set in when i got to the airport and found that my flight was delayed...and then delayed again b/c of mechanical problems. not exactly what you want to hear before gettting on a plane. i don't mind waiting it out, but the worst part was missing my softball. i had it timed so perfectly. looks like the snorts pulled through, winning 20-16.

gus's fried chicken
"if you haven't eaten gus's, then you haven't had fried chicken"

256-graceland

how can you go to memphis and not go to graceland?

the one thing i took from this was not only does shag carpeting look so good that you should put it on your walls and ceilings as well as the floor, it also it great for acoustics when recording music with your friends.

joel and elvis (his childhood hero...really.)

plush shag


serenity now


i gotta get one of these, and i will call it "the chance"

257-mississippi

i'm not one to be all touristy and all, but i have never been to the mississippi before and i wanted to get out there somehow. lucky for me they have the ducks. so we took the tour. it was definitely cheesy but definitely worth it.

the site of the assasination of martin luther king, jr. now a civil rights museum.

the memphis pyramid. not sure of the association of memphis, tn and memphis, egypt, but there is something going on there or they would not have built this thing. they used to have events here, but it is vacant now. apparently bass fishing supplies bought it and is going to turn it into some sort of fishing expo. interesting.


tonight we hit the famous beale street where rock and roll/the blues were born....take your pick. it was kind of dead being that it was monday, but it's kind of cool that they let you carry your drinks around in the street. how sweet is that?

258-redbirds

being the baseball geek that i am, the first thing i want to do when i go anywhere is check out a baseball game. memphis just built a new stadium for their triple-a team the redbirds (st. louis cards).

we had a rough night last night and it was hard to fully enjoy the game, but the nachos helped. i was hoping to see anthony reyes, but the only guy i recognized was brendon harris. he was part of the trade that sent nomar to the cubs and now he plays for the nationals triple a team. i guess no one got anything good out of that trade--oh wait the red sox won the world series--go cubs!

259-headed to memphis

this is the first day of my first trip to memphis to see my brother who moved there last may. the flight was easy, only 1.5 hours and as soon as you land all you see are fed ex planes. apparently, this is there hub.

first thing we did was head to the batting cages:

we wowed the kids with our hitting prowess.

apparently in the south old guy just can't get enough of the frat life so they form secret societies and hide them under the guise of philanthropy. then they throw a big ten-day long festival patting themselves on the back and culminating with the crowning of a queen and king. of course jester's were there to make people laugh by hiding behing masks and groping women. i was lucky enough to witness all the shenanigans since joel's band was playing the party. too bad joel didn't tell to bring dress clothes, so i had to go to the mall and buy some stuff before we went. hey, at least we got to use the "we're with the band" line and got in for free. anyway, for making fun of these guys it sure was a fun party (especially the band).

260 - hookey

i kinda played hookey today, but why not? i was scheduled to be at the warehouse today, but finished by 11. so why head back downtown. no reason, so i went home and started to pack for my getaway to memphis!

it was the last night before i left, so of course i took missy to las pinatas so she doesn't miss me so much. i'm so lucky to have a girl that can be made happy with food.

it took 14 innings, but the cubs own the cards.

261 - ava lyn komp

i started my second league today in hamlin park. maybe if i play a couple nights a week, my swing will come back quicker. it wasn't bad tonight since i figured out i needed to stay back a little more instead of lunging forward. surprisingly, i didn't make an out tonight, but didn't really hit the ball hard either. my athletic ability seems to be leaving me. the other team barely showed up and it looked bad losing to 8 guys, but we eventually kicked and in to gear and won easily.

i also want to say congratulations to a good friend on the team kelly komp. we have been playing ball together since we were in little league and he just had his first baby in may. a girl named ava lyn. i've known kelly since little league and one of the best things about summer is playing softball with him. he is a superb human being who surely will be a superb father.

262 - blowout

a juggernaut offense last week turned into a kitten of an offense this week. somehow, we managed to only score two runs against a team that lost to the team we beat last week 29-24. i guess that is softball. you are either finding the holes or you aren't personally, i can't be happy with a ground out to the pitcher and a 6-3 double play. ouch. i gotta get my swing back together. either that or lose the extra ten pounds around my waist so i can swing a bat the way i used to. i got a good start on that, though, by heading for $1 dogs and $2 beers at northstar after the game.

263 - beat the heat

the first heat wave of the summer has arrived and we are without air conditioning in the bedroom. the landlord put new windows in the bedroom right before winter, but never replaced the air conditioner (we only have window units). of course, we don't think of this ahead and only get out butts in gear when they are sticking to each other in the middle of the night. so, today we had to run out to home depot and find an a/c unit.

i don't know if it was because of the rush of people buy a/c units or that home depot planned it this way, but they only had two models available, both by LG. if this was by design, this is a sweet deal for LG. i'm not sure, but i thought the whole idea of these big superstores was to give you a wider selection. i guess not. next time i'm headed to the local hardware store (like i usually do).

i really like to do things myself, it gives you a little bit more satisfaction. of course, you always run into a little bit of trouble. i got the a/c unit all the way home just to find out that it wouldn't fit because of the storm window. so back to home depot it was to find some wood to retro fit the window frame. of course, i can't find a piece that matches my measurements (well, not technically), but i do remember from middle school shop class that the dimensions are always smaller than what is listed. can someone please tell me why that is? it makes no sense. ironically (or not), the piece fit perfect in the window and something that should have take 15 minutes took all night. so was that little piece of satisfaction worth it? definitely.

264 - memorial day

the parents came up to chicago to have a cookout for memorial day. i can tell they really want some grandkids, but in the meantime they'll have to settle for chance, who had an adventurous day getting to know his 80-pound 'cousin' atticus. atticus could take chance out with one swipe, but don't tell chance that. he doesn't care how big you are, if he doesn't like how you're sniffing, he'll let you know about it!

265 - returning the favor

two days in a row to wrigley field. this time with the ellis' who probably had the hottest wedding ever in st. louis last year. they just bought a condo in wrigleyville and i had a couple extra tickets so we did a 'couples' thing by going to the game. that's when you really know you're getting old. when all your friends start wanting to go out in groups of couples. missy and i are in total denial. we don't want to grow up. so we keep these things to a minimum. but today was fun. sunshine, cubs, beer and hotdogs. not to mention the nachos. it was like a flash back to the days on belden when ellis and i lived of the 7-11 nachos across the street. if it wasn't for the cheese and chili machine who knows if ellis and i would even be friends.

266- online friends

does anyone besides me find myspace a little creepy? i do. this was originally for bands to get there music out and be heard. now it's place where people do anything and everything; from teens trying to hook up, to pedophiles trying to hook up teens (scary). but most people just use it to find new friends or reconnect with old ones. everybody thinks it so great and i just don't get. myspace is so fake! c'mon do you really want all those people to be your friends? or do you just feel cool about having hundreds of myspace friends? it's like online high school cliques for the internet generation. ok, you can be my friend, but not you, you're a loser, i don't let losers be my friend...sucka!

go out and get friends the old-fashioned way - fantasy sports! then you can meet good guys, like mario, who let you have their extra cubs ticket for free! in the meantime, enjoy your myspace.

267-sampson slapped

the indiana basketball coach was sanctioned by the ncaa today.

is this really the direction indiana basketball wants to go? IU has gone like 50 years without any violations and now they are bringing in a guy who starts his career off this way (making 600 illegal phone calls?

i guess it isn't that bad as andy katz says, since as long as he doesn't dial the phone he ok and that there are a lot of good recruits close to bloomington that can come into visits.

i happen to think, though, that parents have a lot to say in where their child goes to school and who coaches their kid. do you think parents will want an ncaa violator teaching them about basketball and life? ??? and, on top of that, how is he supposed to meet these parents if he can't leave the campus.

IU hasn't said anything about what they are going to do , but dickie v says this story ain't over, and sampson could still be fired.

thank god the cubs had the day off, saving me from having to write two depressing posts.

268-opening night

after 3 weeks of trying the duck snorts finally got their first game in of the season, and it typical ducksnort fashion it was a 'W'.

it wasn't pretty, but since it was the first game in abour 8 months for most of us we'll take it. the final score 29-21. although, it looked like a offensive slugfest, the high score was also due to some sloppy defense. personally, i made a throwing error and a fielding error, but it was nice to get the rust off and i expect a much more polished defense on the field soon.

the other team had some problems on defense too, but 29 runs is 29 runs and with only 2 walks in the game you know we had to be banging the ball around pretty good. my swing is definitely not there yet, but i think a lot had to do with just being nervous. (i know i shouldn't be nervous for a softball game, but i was) i barely got a piece of the ball on a couple swings, but i was able to go 4-for-5 (or 3-for-4, i can't remember). so, at least i got lucky in the average department. i was so far ahead on everything and only hit one ball solid. the other ones were bloops that were perfectly place over the 3rd baseman in between the shortstop and left fielder.

the league looks interesting this year. i watched the game before us and they looked about the same skill level as us (although we should definitely be able to take them). but, the guys that played after us looked like they were professionals. i'm not scared, though, as the snorts always find a way to win against teams like that.

look for a duck snorts webpage in the future. i thought i had a photgrapher to take pictures, but she (missy) forgot the camera!

we are now one game over .500 which is about 11 games better than the cubs.

269-business opportunity

i don't know how many people have figured this out (even though you should have--the links are everywhere), but i also do a cubs blog at http://go-cubs.blogger.com. i don't know how many of you have seen it, but it caught the attention of TicketsSport.com who sent me an email wanting to post their site on my blog. why not?

so, as soon as i get the code, i will be placing their advertisement on my blog. it's not like i'm expecting any money out of this, but it will be interesting to see what you get for a click here and there.

now, it's up to you all to make me some bucks. i'm not asking you to buy from them, but just check them out next time you want to buy some tickets, or just out of pure curiosity.

270- grillin' out

it's almost summer in chicago and that means only one thing--cookouts!

this is the first summer i will actually have a place to cook out. the residents in the coach house behind our place moved out in may ,and although it is a community back yard, they pretty much ran the show. but, since no one has moved in yet, missy and i decided to make it ours. we quickly cleaned up the place and went out this weekend and bought a grill as a placekeeper. now, that we had staked our claim, we had our first cookout.

no wonder people love cookouts. even though it was just me missy and chance, it was a lot of fun. there must just be something about preparing meat and cooking it over an open fire. i guess our primitive urges are sometimes the most fun to indulge. we'd love to have anyone over, so bring your meat and let's enjoy chicago's summer!

i know who i'd love to throw over an open fire, dusty baker. c'mon, he can't even beat the marlins.

271-good news sunday

hey, hey, the cubs actually won a game! maybe that punch woke them up! missy likes it when they win b/c i am unpleasant to be around when they lose.

the cubs win was good, but small potatoes. the big potato is lindsey and joe are engaged! i figured he would like to tell you all, but hey, he knows i have a blog and he knows i need something to write about.

after 8 years, joe was finally ready to pop the question. congratulations to them both!

seems like just yesterday (not really) that joe couldn't stop talking about her on our 20-hour spring break ski trip drive to utah.

272-cycling frustration

i always stress out when the cub and white sox play. mostly because if the white sox win, i have to deal with white sox fans. they are so annoying--just like their team--and just like their catcher, a.j. piersienski (yeah, i know i probably spelled that wrong, but i'm not going to put the energy into finding out). he is about as annoying as they come and i just couldn't take it anymore, and obviously neither could barrett. so, barret got out his frustration by punching him and i got out my frustration by working on my bike.

of course, that just ended up frustrating me even more. i thought i would just do a quick cleaning, degrease the chain and adjust the brakes. sounds easy enough until i actually popped the pin all the way of of the bike chain. do you know how hard it is to get on of those things back in? nearly impossible. it took me what seemed like a couple of hours just to get the chain back in working order. so what was meant to be a stress reliever turned into a stressful situation and with the cubs getting pounded again it was just not a good day.

on the other hand there was some good news, but i'll leave that for tomorrow...when i'm feeling a little better.

273-computer tv

confession: missy and i don't pay for cable.

i know you all must be shocked. i feel guilty too (not really). it's not my fault the cable company forgot to shut it off from the last owner. i thought it was a fluke at first since the same thing happened at my last apartment only to have it shut off about two months into my lease, but we have been going for eight months strong now so there is little chance we will lose it (except that i just jinxed it).

anyway, the only draw back is that we don't have a vcr (so 1980's) and that you can't get tivo without a subscription. good thing i got that new computer! so, i went out and bought a TV card. if all goes as planned we will be able to turn the computer into a dvr to record all our shows (cubs & pti for me; grey's anatomy for missy).

just as long as i don't have to record cubs losses all the time, like today.

274-bleachers

spent a day out in the bleachers. it got a little scary since i said i was going to leave early then all of a sudden i was needed for a 1:30 meeting. i left anyways. if they needed me, they could call. sure enough, they did. luckily it wasn't who i thought it was and they were just calling me to say the mail people screwed up and gave my package to the wrong person. phew, that was close. what was i going to do , have a conference call at the concession stand?

it was good to see kerry wood back, but this is most likely a case of too little, too late. even with the loss, it's nearly impossible to not have a good time. they people out there are all characters. we had three homeruns hit withing a couple rows of us. unfortunately, they were all hit by nationals.

soriano's came the closet. in fact, if you were watching espn that night, you could have saw me if you looked close. the guy two rows in front of me caught it after it bounced off the guy in front of him. it's pretty funny since you see me behind him waiting for him to drop the ball...he didn't and before i could realize what happened he had already thrown it back out onto the field. now, there's a true cubs fan.

the only thing i didn't get was the harrassing of alfonso soriano. i guess it is tradition to hassle the opponents left fielder, but this guy could be playing second base for us. actually, maybe he should be! who couldn't use a guy on their team who is on pace for 55 homeruns?

afterwards, there was a poker game. i had some good cards, played great, yet lost quickly...go figure.

275-rain out

i was so excited about today, i really was. today was supposed to be the duck snorts first game of the year. too bad they called the game at 2:30 this afternoon. this really sucks. last week we had a bye, now this week rain? what a bummer. i guess there is always next week.

check my homepage as i will put a duck snort webpage up there soon. i'm really looking forward to seeing how this season will shape up.

somehow the cubs managed to get their game in. if they could only play all their games at night and at home, they might be decent.

276-foosball

messed around today and changed the backgrounds on my countdown and cubs blog as well as messing with font colors. i guess i thought i would just dress it up a little.
was checking out google video today also. this one brings me back to my winaukee days.

277-grey's anatomy finale

as i was walking chance tonight, i noticed every house that had a tv on was watching grey's anatomy. i know there is some good tv out there, but i thought this was a little obsessive, especially when you could be watching lebron james!

to me, sports are just so much more fun to watch. they are the original reality tv shows. why would you watch a scripted show where you know what is going to happen (c'mon, someone dies on grey's every week) when you can watch something that has never happened before (lebron tying up the unbeatable pistons - not even jordan could do that!)

278-mother's day

happy mother's day!

went to my aunt's house in indiana today to visit my mom and grandma. almost didn't make it in time since missy thinks being somewhere at 1 means leaving at 1.

anyways, it's always nice to see the family and it was especially nice to see my grandma who is feeling much better.

this side of the family is all sox fans, so it was especially embarrassing watching the cubs today.

279 - i'm boring!

i got two phone calls all day. one from jones, one from spivey. both tell me how bad the cubs are and that the padres own them.

but i digress. jones told me to come meet them out since saad was in town from columbus. when i got there, they sat me down to let me know that my blog was getting boring. i was somewhat crushed, but i will do my best to make things more interesting. tonight was a good start.

we started at lion's head pub but quickly move downtown to mc fadden's (don't ask me why, b/c i don't know). we found a table (no chairs) close to the bathrooms. jones and saad came up with a fun little game of backing up into every girl that walked by and start dancing like they didn't know they were there. the funny thing is, i think the girls actually liked it.

then we met some girls that were trying to be 21 again. i think they were trying to meet guys, but we were all taken, so we tried to help them out. i suggested they just start grabbing guys butts on the dance floor and i think it worked! fyi, their names were robin and dawn (obviously made up names from people who enjoy the morning).

the dj kinda sucked tonight and tried to have a dance contest. just to piss him off, i danced to his music and all challengers quickly left the floor. even after that, he still wouldn't play my song. maybe he knew of my boring reputation.

in an ironic twist to the night, my sister text messaged me and let me know that my mom was worried that i was drinking too much in san diego. i can't figure it our, wild by one standard, boring by another....just another reason to move to the beat of your own drummer.

280 - conan in chicago

i hope you all caught conan in chicago this week. it was fun to watch him tour the city with mr.t and going to his old apartment in wrigley. i tried to get tickets (to no avail) and wasn't willing to wait in the 2-block long line, so i'll just be watching it from home tonight. let's hope he comes back soon.

also, got my first manicure today. i think the whole metrosexual trend has passed, but missy insisted that once i got a manicure and pedicure i would want to get them all the time. i'm not so sure. i like the whole rubbing of your feet and hands and stuff, but it was as rejuvenating as i had hoped. however, i will be going back again. maybe the more i go, the more i'll like it. we'll see.

i can't understand why we can't beat the padres.

281-flying vacuum

i've been pretty tired this week since i just got back from san diego, been going to bed late after watching conan and having to get up early to do some work at the warehouse. so, today when i was headed back to the downtown office from the warehouse, it was raining, and i just said "screw this" i am going home. i got home and immediately fell asleep on the couch with the dog. so where am i going with this? just to the fact that since i fell asleep so quickly i didn't notice what the dog had been up to all day!

apparently, he got bored and decided to tear up the garbage can in the bathroom. that's funny enough itself, but it got even better when missy got home and discovered it. i think she kinda lost it for a moment there. first, she started screaming at the dog...but, come on, you leave an overflowing garbage can lying around and a dog is going to have a field day. then she started to vacuum stuff up and it just got worse from there. something got stuck in the vacuum and the belt broke. all you could smell was burnt rubber and the next thing you know she swearing like a sailor and a vacuum comes flying out of the bedroom. i guess you had to be there to get the full effect.

i'm having thoughts of buying some kevlar to wear under my clothes just in case she's near any sharp object next time she loses her cool. anybody know where i can get some of that?

cubs are back to their losing ways.

updated: all is well now. chance got missy a new vacuum cleaner for mother's day. this one is a lot lighter so even if she strikes someone with it, we should be able to survive the blow.

282-duck snorts BP

um yeah, i skipped out on this one, but i was supposed to be there. actually, i needed to be there. the softball season starts a week from today and i haven't touched a bat or a ball in six months. i'm sure to be a little rusty once the season starts, especially since i am approaching 30 and my knee isn't getting any more cartilage in it. not to mention i will be counted on to secure the left side of our infield now that our best player has left the team. i guess i should look on the bright side and see that others feel i am good enough to play the most important position on the team, but i gotta say i'd much rather be running down fly balls and rifling them back in than having balls rifled across rock hard infields at 100 mph at my balls. one bad hop and it's all over!

just look what one bad break did to the cubs...at least they finally won one today.

283-sigur ros

tonight missy to see one of my favorite bands sigur ros at the chicago civic opera house.

this was a band i discovered back in 2002 when they came out with an untitled record. all the songs were untitled as well which i guess really intrigued me. it is described as a dark and raw album. read the allmusic review

this year they came out with a album call 'takk' which means 'thanks' in icelandic.

make sure to check out their website as you can download mp3s and videos or their work. it also has much nicer photos of their shows than the ones i have shown here.

after the show i watched the cubs put the finishing touches on yet another loss.

284-joel's birthday

i made it back from san diego safe and sound last night and i was smart enough to take the day off. good thing, as i needed the rest, and slept til 2pm.

today is my little brother, joel's birthday. we usually head to the cubs game, but they are in san diego still and are busy losing their 6th straight.

joel is living in memphis these days, playing music and living with his girlfriend. i'm planning a trip down there for the first weekend of june, so if anybody wants to join me, let me know. looking forward to seeing you lil bro! have you talked to three-six mafia yet? happy 27th! i need to find a good picture to post here and embarrass you.

285-chance's birthday

day 4 in san diego - my last (and of course the only real sunny day). the last day sucks b/c you are basically just waiting around to leave even though you don't want to. it's also the best b/c you get to sit around and recount all the stories. of course there are too many to tell here, but here are a couple of my favorites.

haber told spivey and i to go get some mixers for drinks. i'm carrying 2 2-liters in one arm and fishing for the keys with my other hand when my flip-flop catches on the stair (i'm not used to flip-flops yet this summer) and i swing my other leg around to catch myself and slam it into the next step...(ouch!). spivey laughs, i laugh, some kids in the street laugh. no problem, i can understand why they are laughing, heck, i'm laughing. but, then one of the kids laughing says, 'hey man, got any dollars?'. what?!?! are you kidding you're gonna laugh at me then ask for money. luckily spivey was there to tell them 'f*ck off'. thanks spivey, you're a good friend. btw, can you believe kids these days? they don't even ask for change anymore, they want dollars!

on saturday night, we were out at the bar and we were all out on the dance floor. some guy gets on spivey's nerves so spivey pushes him out of the way. now the guy wants to fight. luckily, ian was there to rescue him. ian jumps in and starts dancing with the guy as if that somehow will help the situation. now the guy just wanted to punch ian's lights out (go figure!). LUCKILY, haber was there and talked the guy down. not sure what he did, but good job haber.

themes of the weekend: spivey thinks everything is lame, haber will argue anything (including the number of people contracting various diseases in the greater san diego area), and that it's never sunny in san diego when the cubs are in town. speaking of, i couldn't bring myself to watch another game, they usually kill woody williams, but not today.

also, today is my puppy chance's 11th b-day. happy b-day little buddy.

286-pool party

day 3 in san diego. today is the pool party at haber's place so he wakes us all up at 8am to go to costco for food, etc. nothing like 5 smelly hungover guys making a costco run. as usual, the cubs were in town which always brings cloudy weather. so, no one actually got in the pool, but the hot tub came in handy.

can someone please tell me why crumley's law school friends crashed the party. did he come for us or them? i guess we'll never figure out what goes on in that mind of his.

after drinking for 6 or so hours at the pool it was time to head to the cubs game. of course, they lost again, 1-2. it is becoming embarrassing to be a cubs fan. freddy almost broke his hand trying to catch a foul ball which haber may have had a better shot at had he not ducked out of the way. too bad i was busy sitting in haber's work seats getting yelled at by loser padre fan (since when did mullets come back in style for women?) or else i would have made sure i caught that ball. btw, padres fans are some of the quietest fans i have ever heard. why is it that they don't serve beer in the stands?

let's head out to the bars... there was a bet on how many of haber's out of town guests would get kicked out of the bars and i'm not sure what the over/under was, but only 1 got kicked out (way to keep the tradition alive day!). although, any three of these guys look like they were drunk enough to get kicked out: