Jane and Eric hanging after setting up the tree. 

Our christmas tree 2004. Thanks Eric for helping us set it up! 

These sixteen folks comprise my trumpet section with the Northshore Concert Band. I'm in the back, right. 

Stream-of-conscience hip.

It's not just for Ullysses anymore:

three more days of illness, bad respiratory cold, lost my voice, too much rest, yet I'm not better.
not enough time to read Adler, Dante, Shakespeare "Thy self thy foe, to thy sweet self to cruel", Cervantes, and King.
in pittsburgh with family, waiting for steve's big game tomorrow.

How would your life change if you were a FLY? Debate Kafka, now.

What's more beautiful, the english horn or viola? Talk amongst yourself.

A Metropolis Americano. Yum. 

Me, at the Metropolis Coffee shop in Chicago. 

E-mail blog

Since I can't publish my blog from school, I'm testing the email blog
option which allows you to email directly to your blog from your inbox.

Let me thus vent: It took me 1 hr to get school this morning. Traffic in
this city is poor at best. Perhaps its because it's been raining for the
last four days, perhaps its because my candidate barely lost, perhaps its
because I didn't go to the gym this morning, but I must admit, the traffic
has really peeved me today. Why do people drive so incredibly slow in
inclement weather. Slowing down a bit (say to 40 or 50 on the interstate)
is one thing, but for the majority of my commute this morning, I didn't
break 10 miles an hour. It took me nearly 40 minutes to go 10 miles. The
remaining 15 miles of my commute I clipped off in under 20 minutes,
stoplights and all.

Please, please, drivers of the world: Keep your eyes on the road, let
people in to your lane, and go as fast as you safely can drive.


Song of the day: Sanctus from Gabriel Faure's Requiem

Now What?

So, Kerry lost the election. Now what do we do? Both the Bush Administration and the Kerry campaign staff hope for us to unite and move forward for the sake of the country. I'm all for it, but there is significant division in this country and we can't just ignore it. So, we return to my original question: Now what?

What did we learn from this election loss? Did we learn how to rally the troops? Will these forces stay together and stay active or will they dissolve until the next campaign? We have serious issues in education, health care, foreign policy, and cultural issues.

Speak up, people!

Kerry Concession Speech

Reprinted from www.johnkerry.com:

Address to Supporters at Fanueil Hall

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. You just have no idea how warming and how generous that welcome is, your love is, your affection, and I'm gratified by it. I'm sorry that we got here a little bit late and a bit short.

Earlier today, I spoke to President Bush, and I offered him and Laura our congratulations on their victory. We had a good conversation and we talked about the danger of division in our country and the need – the desperate need – for unity, for finding the common ground, coming together. Today, I hope that we can begin the healing. In America it is vital that every vote count, and that every vote be counted. But the outcome should be decided by voters, not a protracted legal process.

I would not give up this fight if there was a chance that we would prevail. But it is now clear that even when all the provisional ballots are counted, which they will be, there won't be enough outstanding votes for us to be able to win Ohio. And therefore, we can not win this election.

My friends, it was here that we began our campaign for the presidency. And all we had was hope and a vision for a better America. It was a privilege and a gift to spend two years traveling this country, coming to know so many of you. I wish that I could just wrap you in my arms and embrace each and every one of you individually all across this nation. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Audience member: We still got your back!

Thank you, man. And I assure you – you watch – I'll still have yours.

I will always be particularly grateful to the colleague that you just heard from who became my partner, my very close friend, an extraordinary leader, John Edwards. And I thank him for everything he did. John and I would be the first to tell you that we owe so much to our families. They're here with us today. They were with us every single step of the way. They sustained us. They went out on their own and they multiplied our campaign, all across this country.

No one did this more with grace and with courage and candor. For that, I love than my wife, Teresa. And I thank her. Thank you. And our children were there every single step of the way. It was unbelievable. Vanessa, Alex, Chris, Andre and John, from my family, and Elizabeth Edwards who is so remarkable and so strong and so smart. And Johnny and Cate who went out there on her own just like my daughters did. And also Emma Claire and Jack who were up beyond their bedtime last night, like a lot of us.

I want to thank my crewmates and my friends from 35 years ago. That great ‘band of brothers’ who crisscrossed this country on my behalf through 2004. Thank you. They had the courage to speak the truth back then, and they spoke it again this year, and for that, I will forever be grateful.

And thanks also as I look around here to friends and family of a lifetime. Some from college, friends made all across the years, and then all across the miles of this campaign. You are so special. You brought the gift of your passion for our country and the possibilities of change, and that will stay with us, and with this country forever.

Thanks to Democrats and Republicans and independents who stood with us, and everyone who voted no matter who their candidate was.

And thanks to my absolutely unbelievable, dedicated staff, led by a wonderful campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill, who did an extraordinary job. There's so much written about campaigns, and there's so much that Americans never get to see. I wish they could all spend a day on a campaign and see how hard these folks work to make America better. It is its own unbelievable contribution to our democracy, and it's a gift to everybody. But especially to me. And I'm grateful to each and every one of you, and I thank your families, and I thank you for the sacrifices you've made.

And to all the volunteers, all across this country who gave so much of themselves. You know, thanks to William Field, a six-year-old who collected $680, a quarter and a dollar at a time selling bracelets during the summer to help change America. Thanks to Michael Benson from Florida who I spied in a rope line holding a container of money, and turned out he raided his piggy bank and wanted to contribute. And thanks to Alana Wexler who is 11 years old and started kids for Kerry all across our country. I think of the brigades of students and people, young and old, who took time to travel, time off from work, their own vacation time to work in states far and wide. They braved the hot days of summer and the cold days of the fall and the winter to knock on doors because they were determined to open the doors of opportunity to all Americans. They worked their hearts out, and I wish… you don't know how much they, could have brought this race home for you for them, and I say to them now, don't lose faith.

What you did made a difference, and building on itself -- building on itself, we go on to make a difference another day. I promise you, that time will come. The time will come, the election will come when your work and your ballots will change the world, and it's worth fighting for.

I want to especially say to the American people in this journey, you have given me honor and the gift of listening and learning from you. I have visited your homes. I have visited your churches. I've visited your union halls. I've heard your stories, I know your struggles, I know your hopes. They're part of me now, and I will never forget you, and I'll never stop fighting for you.

You may not understand completely in what ways, but it is true when I say to you that you have taught me and you've tested me and you've lifted me up, and you made me stronger, I did my best to express my vision and my hopes for America. We worked hard, and we fought hard, and I wish that things had turned out a little differently.

But in an American election, there are no losers, because whether or not our candidates are successful, the next morning we all wake up as Americans. And that -- that is the greatest privilege and the most remarkable good fortune that can come to us on earth.

With that gift also comes obligation. We are required now to work together for the good of our country. In the days ahead, we must find common cause. We must join in common effort without remorse or recrimination, without anger or rancor. America is in need of unity and longing for a larger measure of compassion.

I hope President Bush will advance those values in the coming years. I pledge to do my part to try to bridge the partisan divide. I know this is a difficult time for my supporters, but I ask them, all of you, to join me in doing that.

Now, more than ever, with our soldiers in harm's way, we must stand together and succeed in Iraq and win the war on terror. I will also do everything in my power to ensure that my party, a proud Democratic Party, stands true to our best hopes and ideals.

I believe that what we started in this campaign will not end here. And I know our fight goes on to put America back to work and make our economy a great engine of job growth. Our fight goes on to make affordable health care an accessible right for all Americans, not a privilege. Our fight goes on to protect the environment, to achieve equality, to push the frontiers of science and discovery, and to restore America's reputation in the world. I believe that all of this will happen -- and sooner than we may think -- because we're America. And America always moves forward.

I've been honored to represent the citizens of this commonwealth in the United States Senate now for 20 years. And I pledge to them that in the years ahead, I'm going to fight on for the people and for the principles that I've learned and lived with here in Massachusetts.

I'm proud of what we stood for in this campaign, and of what we accomplished. When we began, no one thought it was possible to even make this a close race. But we stood for real change, change that would make a real difference in the life of our nation, the lives of our families. And we defined that choice to America.

I'll never forget the wonderful people who came to our rallies, who stood in our rope lines, who put their hopes in our hands, who invested in each and every one of us. I saw in them the truth that America is not only great, but it is good.

So here -- so with a grateful heart -- I leave this campaign with a prayer that has even greater meaning to me now that I've come to know our vast country so much better. Thanks to all of you and what a privilege it has been. And that prayer is very simple: God bless America. Thank you.

Even.

It's 10:33 and the contest is still far too close to call. Watching the results, however, was really entertaining. Judy Baar Topinka, Republican Party Chair, swore on NBC news while discussing the results (many times, mind you!) and Tom Brokaw's already famous line about Margarita's to Vanessa Kerry will certainly be remember for quite some time. I'd have a margarita with any of them. Who wouldn't?

I grew a beard and got some funky new glasses. 

Hyundai Sonata

New: Hyundai Sonata - Jane and I finalized our car purchase this morning and we're driving a new 2004 Sonata with a few extras and most especially a moonroof. Cooll! And, it's in black so it looks like an secret service car.

Does anyone else think the headlights are Jaguar inspired?

Lip-synching.

So I heard that Ashlee Simpson was caught this past Saturday night lip-synching her big tune "Pieces of Me" on SNL. Saturday Night Live is a small venue, only a few hundred seats, and I'm amazed that any professional artist would try to pull something in such a small venue. You would never attend a classical musical or jazz concert where the artist would even consider lip-synching. Why does this stuff occur in pop music? What is the difference?

Contact

I started a rousing game of phone tag this evening. After school, I pre-called many of the parents of my behavior problem students for thursday. My six calls took nearly an hour to make and unfortunately, I didn't reach about three of the people I intended to call. Messages were left, and hopefully, I'll hear responses in the morning. Improving behavior and discipline in a school and/or classroom starts one child, one family at a time. There is no way to make the process move any faster.

On the home front, I tried to call Joe, but I think it was too late. Either that or he was too transfixed on the Series. Everything was downhill for me with baseball this year after the Sox/Yankees race. Who could beleive there would be better baseball after that?

Next, I tried to get ahold of Jane's brother Stephen, but his cell reception is pretty poor in State College. No luck. Then, Matthew out in San Fransisco, but also, no luck. Finally, I tried to reach Eric in Seattle, but he was MIA as well.

How did we all end up as such busy folks? When did that all happen? And think, none of us even have kids yet.

Graduate School, cont.

Joe, sent me a virtual congrats on my Grad School acceptance this morning. Unfortunately, it looks like I neglected to say where I was accepted. Effective immediately, I am a Master's of Arts in Educational Leadership at Northeastern Illinois University here in Chicago, IL. I'm completing this degree to help be gain background knowledge and experience to be used first towards my Type 75 Administrators Teaching License, then towards a job as an elementary school principals. The task of preparing to be a principal is a daunting one, and I'll need all the help I can get.

Thanks for helping me clarify the situation, Joe.

Car Choices

Honda Accord, Hyundai Sonata, and a Scion xB: Each of these cars is on my short list for the new vehicle. While I would love to have a new/used Audi A6, let's be honest folks, I'm just a lowly teacher trying to support a family of two. But we can dream, can't we?

My buddy Larry is checking out new cars now, too. He's pushing the Toyota Corolla over the Honda, but frankly, I'm not sold on the idea. Anyone know somethings about these cars?

Damn.

I just lost my last post. Here's the brief: I was accepted into my grad program. The car is still dead, and I graded another 200+ papers today. We're renting a car tomorrow to get through the rest of the week.

Best Wishes, Chris, on the new job! Looks like you had fun at the races this week Joe! Matthew, are you still hanging on at The Company?

Been busy, too?

Hey folks, have you all been incredibly busy lately, too? It seems like the first quarter of the school year, zoommed by really fast.

I'm up a bit late this evening grading papers and thankfully, I'm about 75% of the way there. As of now, I've graded 470 papers from students in grades K-5 and this represents only a small percentage of the total papers I could have needed to grade in the past few weeks. Unfortunately, this represents only 32% of the total assignments I need to grade. A small percentage of these papers are in my briefcase to finish up tomorrow, but the majority of the missing work comes from students not turning things in, or classes missing assignments due to scheduling changes, trips, and absences. I'll try to make up as much as possible over the next week.

Other news: The Mighty Taurus is dead. Jane and I will be car shopping this week for a new Civic or Hyundai Sonata. I'll keep you informed.

PS: When was the last time you read a short story, wrote a poem, drew a picture, or listened to a symphony? Do something creative today!

Trump

I read the first four chapters of Trump's New Book, "How to think like a billionaire" while waiting at the mall for my Williams Sonoma gift to be wrapped. I will it admit, it was a great rollicking read. He is an egotistical maniac, but once you've gotten past that, he's pretty darn funny.

The most disturbing comment I read in his book, however, was this: "Give up sleep and just work your entire life. You love to work anyway, because if you didn't, you'd get another job." Now, I'm paraphrasing, but there is some truth in this. First, if your job sucks, do something else. You spend to much time at work to do something that you find disagreeable. If your boss hasn't fired you, you might want to just jump ship. Better things may be out there for you.

But the other angle of his statement, that we should work all the time bothers me. We should relax, too. I'm beginning to discover that the people that are truly wealthy are those that have time to commit to the activities of their choosing. Maybe for some that's work. For me, I'd prefer to write, read, work with people, teach, travel, and design. Many of those things are work related, but the term work is so distasteful. If he just said, "give up sleep and live your entire life" I might be more open to the idea.

What do you think? What is the business/personal life compromise?

Oh, so I'm sleeping five hours a night for the next week, just to see if I'm more productive. So far I am, but it's only day one!

Columbus Day

Columbus Day, we have off school and jobs
to do about our leisure what we please.
But who has stopped to think about the man,
who ventured west with dreams of India's lands.
Instead, he stumbled on a foriegn shore;
Met distant tribes, vast colonies of men
who no more could judge him than he could guess
his voyage, change the world for Europe's gain.
But in his travels another story rests
covered, quiet, groggy, yet present still.
Disease, new pests, and culture would reign death
on native peoples lives they knew before.
    Fair history students, keep in mind both sides--
    Remember costly victories on this day.

2004 LaSalle Chicago Marathon

Yesterday was marathon day. Jane and I had a great time at the race. While she ran, I worked to fight the crowds and set myself up at different viewing points over the 26.2 mile course to pass on food and encouragement. Great Job, Jane.

- Nancy Lo met Jane and I following the marathon.

- Check out the marathon crowds.

War, Weddings, Influenza, and your Aesthetic Education...

There's a war on, and I'm waging it against the weeds in my yard before the winter season hits. Yep, today I spent the morning listing to WGN and weeding in the yard. What an awesome way to spend an october morning.

Congrats to Mr. McNamara, Sr. and his new fiance. (Consider It Blogged.: Weddings Galore.) Joe, good luck battling the flu. The flu sucks, but luckily, I had the dizzy flu instead of the stomach version that seems to be decimating my school right now. We're thinking about you, buddy!

When was the last time you listened with rap't attention to a whole Bach cantata? Sit down, and be inspired. Oh, and I recommend you read a Shakespeare play. I just finished Julius Caesar again and it was far better the second time than when I read it in high school. We feel for you Brutus.

O'er and out.

Heidy-ho, good neighbor.

Yep, its a happy day for me today. I've conquered my cold, and I'm back to good health. As matthew's blog noted some days back, don't underestimate the importance of your health.

I was at school promptly at 8:10 am this morning to start my morning rounds of music educating and music making with 3rd-5th graders and we're trying to tackle the sticky art of learning to read music. We're initially focusing on grade-appropriate rhythmic patterns, but we'll also be moving into reading pitch. That's a much harder skill to pick up, initially.

I've got Research this evening at NEIU and I'm woefully underprepared, but not for want of trying. I've been reading articles and pouring over my research paper for weeks and it's just not developing as I would like. Tonight we have to present our literature review and mine is wrong. I had a phone meeting with my professor this morning and we slightly changed my topic, and it threw my whole lit review off. Bummer. I guess I'll be able to tackle the changes this weekend.

Good luck adjusting back to the U.S. time, Matthew.

I got the flu!

I'm home today, sick with the flu for the second day in a row and I feel it's ironic that the US is faced with reduced flu vaccines this year. Now that half the supply is gone, I won't be able to get a flu shot because I'm not on the list of must-haves. But, since I've already had the flu now, I won't need it.

The cubs are out of the playoffs. Thank you 620 AM for helping me listen to my cubbies all season long. A new passion has been found.

Joe, great talking to you yesterday. Keep me filled in about the life and family, buddy. Speaking of life and family, congratulations to Stephen for landing his fat new gig with GE! Rock on. And Peter, think long and hard about committing to your IBM coop. It's a great opportunity that should be considered.

It was nice seeing so many old friends this weekend at Kate Snow's (Hable) wedding: Irena and Noah, Laura (Laurie), Tim, Paul, Ehren, Shawn and Meg, Darius and Margaret, Brad and Jeff, Jolene, and Bryce. Everyone, stay in touch.

Hangin' in Hahvahd Square

Who would have figured that I'd be sitting in the basement of the physics building on MIT campus, typing a blog on friday afternoon. Awesome. Yep, Jane and I are bumming around Boston today in preparation for Kate and Greg's wedding tomorrow.

If you love chocolates, we stopped at L.A. Burdick's this afternoon for mochas. We saw their beautiful new ghost and penguin chocolates. The dark chocolate mocha was very good, but I'm still looking forward to the authentic italian cappucinos from the North End on sunday.

Wisconsin 16 - Penn State 3

While the game on saturday looked like a solid defeat from the score, the numbers were surprising balanced (apart from Penn State's turnover numbers..) Jane, Beth, Julie, and I sat in the crowd of over 82,000 spectators to watch a great game on a beautiful Madison evening.

The most awesome thing was watching the Camp Randall wave spin around the stadium. First, it circles at normal speed, then it circles at half-speed, then double-time, then reverses direction (with all the students pointing "that way!"), and finally splits into two and cascades back to the student section and an eruption of enormous volume from the fans! It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen from a collection of people. It was worth the ticket alone.

Good Mascotting, Steve! Thanks for a great b-day shindig, Mom, Curt and Alex. It was nice to see the family for the golden birthday. Jane, keep studying for your big test. Oh, and we're only days away from my first girlfriend getting married...wow.

Poor Honda

My honda has been ill for the last three days and yesterday, I thought it was going to start ralphing on the road. It sounded awful. As the mechanic informed me this morning, my front left caliper had locked onto my wheel and was causing the painfully loud screeching sounds that was causing the bunnies that live in my backyard to move to Niles (and who would want that?). $550 later, my Honda is medicated and greatly improved. I'm keeping antacid in the car from now on to help it feel better when it gets sick.

Rise and Shine!

I have a half-day of school today due to a teacher's inservice this afternoon and I'm moving rather slowly. I went to the gym this morning after a dynamite night of sleep, but I've not quite woken yet.

News of note:
* Jane's got a new job with CDW as their techEd, stateEd, and govEd editor. Awesome!
* Happy Birthday, Grandma Pedretti! (9/14)
* Open house tonight at the school, and the election of the new PTA board.

Late, ugh...

It was another late night as I worked furiously to finish two to three weeks worth of lesson planning. Why stay up so late to be ahead? Quite simply, there are so many duties a teacher must perform. With all of my planning done until the end of september, I can focus on spending some time with Jane, continuing my graduate school research project, reading L.E.T., putting web design projects back on the front burner, and taking some good long practice sessions at the driving range.

Good luck Jolene, making your big decisions. Hey Katie, finalized all the plans for the big day? Bryce, you settled in your new Ann Arbor apartment? Matthew, rock out with the family for the high holidays. Joe, you going to be ok after that multiple day football session? Chris, are you officially unemployed? If so, good!

Research in Education

As part of my LEAD 429 class: Research in Education, I'm beginning to develop my master's thesis proposal. For the first time in my life, I have actually located a wealth of interesting articles towards a topic. I'm interested in studying large-scale arts assessment methodologies. While that's pretty vague, its also about the twentieth wording of my problem. In short, I still don't have a clear picture of my goal, but I know it will deal with large-scale arts assessment and I've found lots of articles about that.

On a side note, in my research I also located an article by Jean Sinor, former Music Education Professor and my mentor at Indiana University. Her article reminded me that she was years ahead of her time. In 1992, she was already predicting many of the changes in the profession that would occur years later. We're still here working hard for you, Dr. Sinor.

As I think and rethink more about my area of interest, I'll keep my blog readers filled in.

NAEP Arts -- Arts Background Questionnaires

NAEP Arts -- Arts Background Questionnaires - Stunned. That's the only way to describe my feelings when I read the following sentence:

"Because the results of the 1995 field tests in music and visual arts showed high percentages of missing data for the music and visual arts teachers' questionnaires, teacher questionnaires were not administered in the 1997 music and visual arts assessments."

So, laymens terms...the teachers didn't provide enough responses in 1995, so we didn't ask about the programs in 1997. Bull-larky! Just because people don't respond, doesn't mean we don't need the information.

Consider It Blogged.

Consider It Blogged. - And, need we forget our father of the online blog, Joe. His blog is the most active blog I read on a daily basis. Well written, funny and intelligent. Cheer for the brewers, just for Joe.

Random Ruminations of my Mind

Random Ruminations of my Mind - Welcome Matthew to the online blog community. His blog is topic driven. He picks his next topic the night before to make us wait in anticipation. Rock on, Mr. Stein!

Stream of consciousness

stream of consciousness - FYI to all blog readers, Chris Fridd has a new blog up on the blog spot. Happy 25th Birthday, Chris!

National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)

Did you know that the arts are assessed on the NAEP once every 9 years during 4th, 8, and 12 grade in dance, music, art, and theater? Did you also know that that over 80% of sample do not have dance or theater programs in their school?

Also, there is little difference between the test scores of students with arts in their schools and those without arts programs. So, my question then is, how do we judge the effectivness of the arts instruction? Right now, it looks like arts could be cut and there would be no impact on arts knowledge. Common sense tells us that this cannot be correct.

(rub your chin here as you ponder this dilemma)

Late Night with LEAD 429

Yeah, it's almost midnight and I'm still up working on my LEAD 428, Educational Research homework. Normally, I'd have this all done by now, but since I didn't get my book until tuesday of this weekend, and I've been very busy during my daytime hours, I haven't had a chance to finish the reading, yet.

I must say, though, this research material is facinating. Who knew there were so many different research designs, experiment designs, and methods for both qualitative and quantitative. It just makes you want to t-square something into a standard deviation (and I mean that as a good thing). As far as I currently know, that last sentence doesn't actually mean anything, BTW.

A Strengthened Resolve

Many of you know I've applied to the Northeastern Illinois University Educational Leadership program, but did you know, I've still not been officially accepted. All of my papers have been turned in, but about two weeks ago, I recieved a notice that my letters of recommendation were not from my supervisors, and therefore, needed to be resubmitted.

I resolved tonight, to not only finish this process, but use this opportunity to set myself up for greater success in the future. I will solicit a letter of recommendation from my principal at the same time, I look for a year of mentoring as well. I am going to need all of the help I can get to move from a classroom teacher to an administrator. These jobs are not similar, and it is time to be proactive in making this move.

The morning after...

Whoa, I'm tired today. I stayed up late last night pulling the house back together. Cleaning, practicing trumpet, laundry, getting ready for Northshore Band on Wednesday, etc.

Jane arrived home this morning, too, and I was glad to hear that she made it home (it took 2 hours for her to get from Midway back to the house, yuck!) Welcome back, my dear!

Is anyone else worried about the president set by the attack on the K-12 school? This is a new low and we need to prepare for a situation like this.

Empty House

All my friends have left for their respective homes and now, the house is quiet again. We had a great time exploring the city this weekend. Some quotes: "Blue!," "I'm all in!," "Cuba, Cuba, Cuba," "This weekend we're taking a trip to Home Depot to pick out flooring, and maybe, if we have time, we'll stop at Bed, Bath, and Beyond," "You sell copy machines door-to-door?," "You got cheese stuck in your braces?," "Those were darn good burgers," "You must have an invisibility cloak around you"

Hey, bonus points go out to Joe and Chris for whacking a golf ball like a real pro. They sure do sail pretty when you're loose and free with your swing.

The first annual boys weekend was a big hit. Can't wait to see you all next year. Hey guys, send me pictures.

Games at Home.

We all played a great evening of Poker, with a number of us going "all in" a number of different times. I took most of Matthew's money, then to make it move faster, we just put all of our money in the center and did a straight draw. Unfortunately, I was not the victor, but I conceeded a great game to Matthew.

Last night was the best game of Monopoly ever played by three guys. Chris and Matthew: you guys played a great game. My new monopoly strategy is to get into an auction with your opponent, ratchet up the price, then stop bidding so they lose all of their money.

Milwaukee 1, Cinnicati 9

After another active night of dreaming, I awoke with a new plan for the day: Skip Comisky, and head to milwaukee for a Brewers Game with the Boys. On the way up, we hit The Original Pancake House in Wilmette, eating ourselves nearly ill with dynamite omelettes and pancakes. Joe even ordered a side of sausage with his Continental Breakfast. Ugh!

At the stadium, we caught a nearly perfect day of baseball, if you ignored the slaugter occuring on the field. The reds were up by 8 after the first three innings. As always, the Brats were top-notch and the stadium one of the gems of the league.

Saturday with the Boys

We were up pretty late last night, but we all still woke up before 8 am. Nuts. Since it was a great morning, we sat outside, ate some Kauffman Bagels, and played some poker. After Matthew cleaned us out, we left for Kayaking down the Chicago river.

I wish I would have kayaked on the Chicago river before this weekend. It was so nice to cruise down through the Forest Preserve. Yes, the river was a bit smelly, but it was easy to overlook the aromas and instead, focus on the mixture of industrial/forest views to the east and west.

Lunch was awesome at Lucky Platter. Go pizza cooks. Excellent as always.

Joe and Chris wacked golf balls like pros at the Skokie Driving Range. The guys enjoyed it so much that we'll probably head back tomorrow.