Four minutes of game! Followed by seven minutes of car commercials!

I got the above picture in an email from my Dad today. My parents are pretty excited about the Bears going to the Superbowl. And damn! I am too. I think the last time I watched this much football was the last time the Bears went to the Superbowl (I was 11 then. In some drawer somewhere is a great picture of me, my sister, and several cousins all decked out in Bears gear on Superbowl Sunday in January 1986. My bangs were big, my earrings rectangular, my jelly bracelets navy and orange, and my collar upturned. Awesome!)

Anyway, we don't have teevee at my house. And I didn't want to go to a bar and be the asshole rooting for the Bears against the team from the city that is now a national symbol of 1) how much Mother Nature hates us, and 2) the federal government's supreme ineptitude and callousness.

So. Aa dug up a USB card for one of his laptops and dug out some old rabbit ears. And on a computer screen in the living room, we watched the Bears - Saints game. I made some blueberry pancakes and we settled in. And it was FUN! Around the 3rd quarter, Aa made a big freaking plate of nachos and we fretted as it looked like the Bears were gonna blow it. Then we pretty much sat there with our jaws agape as the Bears just danced all over the Saints' grave in the 4th. (I know, I know, Hurricane Katrina. If they'd won the levies would have been magically rebuilt, and people would have magically moved back to the city that is magically restored and magically not exploding with violent crime.) Even though the reality teevee show we're on is scheduled to air at 4:30 on February 3rd, that day is also Superbowl Sunday. I'm gonna miss the stupid reality show. And for the first time in 21 years, I will be watching the Superbowl.

MAY I PLEASE HAVE YOUR ATTENTION

I stopped drinking coffee several months ago, and started drinking tea. For a while now, my morning cup has been Earl Grey. Two days ago I had Irish Breakfast instead. Now I like Irish Breakfast better.

That is all.

Yes, okay

So I have this amazing friend. I frequently call her my superhero friend. She's got two kick-ass kids (one is going to be President and the other Chief Justice of the Supreme Court). She's getting her PhD in Linguistics. She and her kids are fluent in Spanish. So anyway, Superhero and I have been talking about traveling together for a couple of years now. We figured it would be in a Spanish-speaking country b/c of her fluency and my ability to understand most of what's said to me in Spanish (I SUCK at speaking it though, holy cow). So come with me, won't you, back to Christmas night. Superhero and I are sitting in a crappy crappy bar in Chicago's South Suburbs. Superhero has a friend from Lima who's visiting, and she's dragged him along to the crappy bar. Superhero and I start discussing how great it would be if we could finally, FINALLY, travel together. And then, SMACK! The stars align (or I fall out of my chair b/c I've been drinking Miller Lite for 4 hours). Superhero's Peruvian friend invites us to visit. Superhero remembers her ex is taking the kids over her spring break. Superhero looks at me and asks, "Can you come to Peru with me in March?" In this situation, what can you say but yes?

We leave March 9th. Aa joins us on the 11th. It's going to be exceedingly awesome.

More snow!

It's snowing again here. It snowed all night too. Most people I know are at home having a snow day. I am at work. And the show we're doing today at work? Snow days.

Uncle Tupelo, Diesel Audi's and Lowenbrau Dark.

some of you will know what i mean when i say that i am only listening to uncle tupleo today.

that is all.

New Years' resolutions, and things that destroy those resolutions

So one of the things I'm planning to do this year is run a marathon. It'll be my first. In fact, Aa signed us up for a half-marathon to force us to start training early (and also do a half-marathon). One thing that any trainer or coach or book tells you is, when you are training for a long race, you have to do long runs. Many books suggest planning your run for a Sunday - a weekend day when you are presumably off work, and after you've presumably gotten a lot of your other weekend errandy-stuff done.

This Sunday, I did the exact opposite of a long run. I went to a Pie Party.

The Pie Party is an annual event, on some Sunday right at the beginning of the new year (when most ppl have resolved to drop the holiday pounds - excellent timing!). The day of the Pie Party started when Aa and I woke up. He looked at me lovingly and said, "I'm going to make a macaroni and cheese pie". (I think my groggy response was, "Is that possible?") And, hoo boy, he did. It was a heart-stopper of a pie. BUT! I wasn't even *close* to the most insane pie there. No, that honor was easily taken by Josh, who made this. Although I didn't have any of Josh's creation, I think being that near it caused my jeans to fit a little bit tighter. (or maybe it was the three plates of dessert pie I had? Hmmm.) After the Pie Party, Aa and I went home and sat on our butts and moaned about how much we'd just eaten. Zack stared at us in disgust, huffed, and went into the bedroom and fell asleep. (I think he was looking forward to the run.)


Pictures of the weekend-long process of Josh making Timpano! It should be noted you are seeing pictures of, I guess, Timpano Jr. There's apparently a much larger version, which just thinking about gives me a tummy ache.

tentative air date...

Holy Crap.

Looks like it's going to air Feb 3rd.

Almost...

Last night was the first time I left the house since Friday afternoon, when I stumbled home from work with the most ass-kickingest cold ever. We had a dinner that I'm told was delicious (all I could taste in my food was salt, and the wine tasted like really good cough syrup). We danced a little bit, which was really sweet. Then I came home and passed out for 13 hours.

Today I am still having a tough time smelling and tasting, and my throat hurts like a sumbitch. But I feel way more normal than I did yesterday, and I'm not all medicated for the first time in four days. I hereby declare 2007 the year of not getting sick twice a month.

Cold, cold, cold, I have a yucky cold. Aa is sleeping on the couch to avoid contamination. And my eyes feel about the size of pebbles in my big, swollen, hurty face. whee!

pizza...twice a day, every day

I'm in the south suburbs of Chicago for the holiday...my mom's downstairs, starting to make stuffing for dinner tomorrow. I just finished another slice of (say it with me!) pizza. About to start wrapping presents and crack open another beer. Hell yeah.

Merry merry everybody.

You know what's more fun than cleaning the Minty?

1. Listening to people "talk" about politics by summarizing what they read on commondreams.org or heard on Democracy Now.
2. Posting.
3. Flossing.
4. Cutting Zack's toenails.
5. Cutting Aa's toenails.
6. Staring at the wall.
7. Making lists.
8. Paying bills.
9.Reading The Five People You Meet In Heaven.
10.Watching K-PAX.

Ho Ho Ho

Merry Christmas!

(For like 70 other pictures of kids freaking out on Santa's lap, click here! Bonus points to anyone who can tell me why the overwhelming majority of these pictures come from the burbs of Chicago.)

(thanks, John!)

windy city

it's 2:27 am. Seattle time. and this is the windiest wind storm, short of the "almost" tornadoes of my central Illinois youth, that i have ever seen.

holy craparoni!

Update on our impending reality teevee stardom

So our friend the teevee producer tells us the reality teevee show we're supposed to be on will air in February or March. So ripping Kristin Cavallari's hair out at Tao will have to wait until late Spring or so.

(Also, just wondering...Not that I was ever into Camille Paglia that much to begin with, but Jesus, really?)

Fussy Butt Posts About Her Weekend

My Uncle Jack had a couple of letters to read to my grandma at her big 100th birthday party this weekend. One was from the White House.

Uncle Jack (after repeatedly asking all of us to shut up already so he could read the letter): Dear Genevieve...

Uncle Tom: We regret to inform you that you'll be leaving for Iraq on Monday.

The party was AWESOME. It would appear that my family is increasing exponentially. We're good at reproducing, man. Holy crap, the babies. Babies babies babies.

Not awesome part of the party: I had some totally gross virus which made me unable to stay warm and caused me to lose my breakfast and perhaps the dinner I had the night before while at the party. Did I mention that much of the party entailed passing large "family-style" plates of food around our table? That was like a nightmare, but also really kind of funny. I took many walks during that time. Also I felt weird hugging people with this totally gross virus. But I hugged them anyway because I really miss a lot of them. And I am selfish.

Oh, the least awesome part was when the waitress called me a "fussy-butt" because I told her I didn't want my salad. It made me really mad for some reason. So then I followed her into the kitchen, kissed her, threw up on her, and yelled, "THAT'S why I didn't want my salad, you miserable bitch! Ha-haaaaa!" Then I passed out.1 Aa told me the waitress made some other remark about me while I was out having another get-away-from-the-food walk, and my sister threw hot coffee on her.2 I love my sister.

I spent Monday and Tuesday in my house, monitoring every weird thing my digestive system did. I'll type up a list of everything and post it later.3 This afternoon I finally feel normal again. It's very exciting. So I'll probably go back to eating fatty foods and putting on the pounds. 4



1 Ok, none of that happened except for the "fussy-butt" part.

2 That's a lie too. But I guess she did say something back to her.

3 No I won't.

4 Yes I will.

addicted to tv, but without the tv.

deadwood...

the HBO series...is kicking my ass. it is like crack.

i have been bittorrenting the 3rd season.

i was up until 3am last night watching it on my laptop while the J and the Z slept quietly and unsuspecting as I slipped into a tv coma.

someone help me.

someone stop me.

i just can't quit.

busy weekend...papa starkey is 60, grandma yandel is 100, and alex has a crazyman beard

When you're a 100 years old you should be this lucky:

meet her ten kids!! and their spouses...AMAZING!...


and her grandkids!!!


and her GREATGrandkids...


Needless to say, coming from a family of about 6 people...
a gathering of this order was amazing.

Jeannie though..suffered with the stomach flu all day. :(

moving on...
.
.
.
...to Papa Starkey's 60 birthday (40 more to go dad!!)
He didn't know we were coming. this is the true look of surprise:


blowing out a LOT of candles...

even though it was a lot of driving. it was 100% worth it to
see dad so surprised and happy.


And...as promised...Alex has a beard:

(hi! i play guitar!)


(hi! i orchestrated the cuban revolution, wrote
a number of french existentialist novels
and i watching you.)

more fun pics of the crazy beard are HERE.

chicago, my kinda town.

i'll do this in fast bullet points, as if i was giving a very important presentation:

• plane was delayed out of seattle due to high winds in chicago. that's funny. think about it. hopefully not for too long.


• it is very cold in chicago. like...really cold.


• not so cold that we couldn't go out and get a beer at one of J's oldtime irish bars in Beverly.


• it was fun. it was icy. it was dark. it was cold. perfect.


• btw, the bar had popcorn. i always like a bar with popcorn.


• i'd probably like a hospital room with popcorn for that matter.


• popcorn. popcorn. popcorn.


• we're headed south and west today because my pop is having a suprise 60th b-day party.


• i'm not afraid to post that because i'm pretty darn sure he hasn't figured out how to read this here blog. which is funny and kinda weird too.


• okay. time to put my socks on.

The Zacker

This weekend Aa and I leave for Chicago for my Grandma's 100th birthday! Yay Grandma!

Then we come back. Then ten days later I leave again for Chicago for Christmas. But this post is not about how December is the most expensive month ever. Oh, no. This is about my friends S, D, and R, who are (respectively) hosting the Zacker while we're at the party, and then staying with the Zacker in the Minty over Christmas. (I love the idea of R hanging out with Zack at the Minty, by the way - although she's going to get sick of me calling every hour and asking what they're doing and if they're having fun.)

Last night, as I was sitting on the couch in front of the fire (with Zack sprawled across my lap, dead asleep) thinking about how much I love the little guy. It's weird, he's a dog, but because of him I feel like the three of us - me, him, Aa - are a little family.* It makes me sad every time we leave town and leave him behind. But it's really reassuring to know that Zack is going to be with other people who really care about him and like spending time with him while we're gone. This weekend he'll also have a playmate - S & D's astounding dog Ellie, who can leap like 8 feet in the air. I'm feeling pretty warm and fuzzy about all this, as you can plainly tell.

But the thing I was thinking about last night, aside from how immensely grateful I am to my friends for taking care of Zack, is how having Zack has affected our lives. Yes, it's kind of a pain in the ass sometimes. Yes, it sucks when Zack destroys another one of Aa's socks. Yes, it drives me insane when it's 3 am and he decides he needs to walk across my neck so he can wedge himself between Aa and me. But still. Because of him I'm part of this little unit **. And because of him the community we have has grown and in a lot of ways reinforced and changed for the better...it's changed how I talk to people and how I interact with animals. I've had more nice conversations with people on the street who just want to know more about Zack than I would have ever guessed.

I didn't know how having this crazy little space alien of a dog was going to open up our lives and enrich them in so many ways. But it's so great. It's worth all the lousy stuff, including trailing him down the street as he sniffs while I beg him to poop already so I don't miss my bus.

*I know he's not a child. I know. If you have kids and you're reading this I'm sure you're thinking I have no idea what the whole family thing is like. You may be right but this feels pretty awesome right now.


**Seriously, I know he's not a child! I do.

car park

things i did this weekend:
1. moved the stereo speakers 1/2 inch closer to the wall.
2. moved the stereo speakers 1/2 inch away from the wall.
3. moved the stereo speakers 3/8 of inch closer to the wall.
4. moved the stereo speakers 3/4 of an inch away from the wall.
5. stopped to think: hmmm. maybe i need new speakers? maybe i need to move the speakers 1" closer to each other?

6. emptied garage by placing 498 boxes on the lawn to be recycled. our front yard looked sad.
7. big news:
parked my car in the garage for the very 1st time.
i am now a full grown man. way past 21.
whoo hoo.