Will I make it?

Bears game in ten minutes. Sports bar 15 minutes away. This is crunch time.

Christmas Fun, SHOOT THE PURPLE PEOPLE

Sacramento, California, Christmas Day

Well, I woke up at 4:15 in the morning to someone, who will remain nameless, saying (and I quote), "This is going to be a horrible day!" followed by a 4 year old asking "why is this day going to be horrible?"

That was the beginning of Chistmas.................. and no I am not making up.

Next gifts were exchanged without incident. That was a good thing.

After gifts, we started to play with all the toys Hunter received, including a shooting game called Toy Story 3 Space Shooter Target Game. My son started to play this game when, Jill (my sister in law) states, "shoot the purple people, they are bad - The white people are good." Now right off the bat without dissecting this statement, what do you think? Now think about the same words coming out of a 4 year old....priceless.

Beer......

Well, it has been over two months since I last posted. That is not to say that I haven't had anything to say, just that I was to lazy to log into my blog and post. So I return to talk about something I love, and no it is not my wife...it's my other love - beer.

Goose Island came out with a rare installment of their coveted Bourbon County line. I was visiting my local liquor store (Lincolnwood Wine and Spirits) when I asked my friendly beer guy if he had anything special. After some thought he said.....why you might like Bourbon County Stout Rare. Sure let me have a look-see.

This beer has been aged in 23 year old Pappy Van Winkle casks for 2 years. At 13% this is a serious beer. But do I drink it now, or let it age. That is the question.

You Necked Man....

How do your old balls feel after this?

My Hiatus is Over

Well after 2 months of not posting, I will finally humor the two people who read my blog by reliving these last 2 months in one post. Let us see. I was riding a bus that drove through a train gate, had a bachelor party that I survived...barely, tried to drink beer - but there was too much head (did I really say too much head?), got married, saw "the shocker" bumper sticker, walked into a bar that had block letters spelling out "BEARS SUCK", walked out of a bar that had block letters spelling out "BEARS SUCK", saw a tractor parade, saw a "pumpkin drop" (probably the biggest event that happens in Berlin, Wisconsin all year long), drank hot cocoa on a booze cruise, and I'm spent.

Not in any order:

Porn Happens?

Just when I thought this was the coolest license plate, I was told, to my disappointment, it actually meant 'Poor and Happy' - in a Mercedes none the less. If I was younger and actually figured out what it meant while I was walking by the car, the car might have been keyed. No, it wouldn't have, but I have to admit I was looking for porn stars in the area. But in the end Porn does Happen.

Only in Wisconsin

Only in Wisconsin you will find a Pharmacy and a place you can register for your wedding. Grab me some Cheetos and hey, register us for the double pack of beef jerky.

Oh. Aye. Ar.

While living in the Rugby House during college, we listened to many different genres of music. My room mate Jay was the techno junkie and Eric was classic rocker while I enjoyed long instrumental improvisation from jam bands. Our neighbors, on the other hand loved this group O.A.R. I never heard of them but during the summer while playing our daily games of horse shoes and drinking our Keystone Light, I got to know the music - and I liked it.

But then for the next 60 days straight, while playing horse shoes and drinking our beer, we listened to the same CD over and over and over again. Then I hated O.A.R.

After I relocated to a new apartment I enjoyed the decreased air time of O.A.R. Then after my mandatory No O.A.R. time, I decided to give them another chance and now I have seen them 5 times in concert including at Bonnaroo and for their latest live album Rain or Shine - a three disk set compiled during a two night stand in Chicago during the summer of 2009.

Last night was another great show on Chicago's lakefront culminating with "Crazy Game of Poker" while Navy Pier had their fireworks.

Oh, and these three dudes to the right - their ladies ditched them and they sat shoulder to shoulder like this most of the night. It was adorable. Just notice the slight tilt from the guy on the right. That is love.

Hey Bertha, the Jesse White Tumblers are coming

The Fourth of July brings out some weirdos - adults who try and bowl over kids at parades to get candy to be more precise. I have seen adults misbehave - hell, I misbehave every once in a while. But this woman (not pictured) took the cake.

And then there was the guy who was holding his dog like a child patting the dog's ass as though he was burping an infant. What are these people thinking?

Lightning never strikes......

My love of thunderstorms continues.

Lightning strikes three of the tallest buildings in Chicago at the same time! from Craig Shimala on Vimeo.

It's a Revolution....

Father's Day brought us to Revolution Brewery. Can't say anything bad about this place. Good food, good ambiance, and good beer. Plus they gave me one on the house for being a dad. Porter had a nice spice to it and the stout had a nice roast to it. Definitely will be back.

Spiderman Fishing Poles

Hunter and his Spiderman fishing pole didn't hook anything but fish this weekend. Teaching a three year old how to fish takes some patience and more importantly - cat like reflexes when the hook comes flying your way.

Salmon Stampede 2010

Another rainy day of fishing on Lake Michigan. Gus, Rich and I got out on the water about 0615 to relatively calm waters, but the winds and waves were coming out of the NNE which made for a bumpy ride out to the fishing grounds. The rest of the morning did us no favors as we had to repair a down rigger cable and a massive tangle of lines. We did not catch any thing until.....we were popping the lines out of the down rigger and we noticed we did have a fish on. We stowed the lines and rushed into the harbor before the storm hit.

We went back out after the storm and that is when things started picking up. Within 20 minutes we had 5 hits reeling in 3 of them but it was not enough to place us in the winner's circle. Our total weight for out 4 fish was 25lbs, while the winning team had 37. Also, the biggest fish of the tournament was a brown trout weighing in at 19lbs. For the weigh in and post tourney celebration we takeover Potato Creek Johnny's in Glenview - not the hippest place in the world but the outdoor beer garden does the trick.

Overall, I feel like a train wreck today after getting bounced around the boat for 10 hours - my back, my back and my neck....

Yosemite 2009

Well, last fall I took a trip with my friend Steve to Yosemite National Park to do a littlebackpacking/camping. As we get into the park, I take out my camera and the camera will not take a picture...broken. Thankfully, Steve is well prepared with extra camera batteries and memory. I finally got my hands on our pictures from this trip. Overall, it was a long drive from San Diego but a memorable one. We went out hard and had some tough hikes. We stayed in Tuolumne Meadows and hiked to Yosemite Valley over Cloud's Rest. Here is the view from the top of Cloud's Rest. When we got to the Valley, we ended up hitch hiking back to our car 30 some miles back through the Park. It took us two rides and about 3 hours to do it in 85 degree heat with no water, but as I stated, very memorable.....

Finally....a Championship

Well, it has been a while, but a Chicago sports team has actually won a championship. It was good to see the City embracing the win, especially the fire truck with it's lights on going South on Ashland from Division (to nowhere in particular) with someone on the mic singing Da da da da da da dada. Classic......

Grocery Store Tales

Just another Sunday afternoon in Evanston shopping at the local Dominick's when all of a sudden.........BAM!!! Garlic starts flying and fists start being thrown. In the blue corner, at 5'2 weighing in at 140 we have "Shorty" who has her 2 year old little girl as a cornerman. In the red corner, 5'7" 130, we have "I got Whooped", who leaves her kids in the car to follow "Shorty" into the grocery store, provokes Shorty and goes on to get her ass handed to her.

I hear loud voices while rounding the aisle heading to the checkout, when out of no where these two ladies just start wailing each other. I thought the tall one was going to whoop her, but out of no where the short one lands a couple, and the tall one ends up in bulk garlic. Then I step in and break it up.

I don't know why but this type of incident tends to occur where I am. I must be lucky. Got to love Evanston.

San Diego Part I

Well,I have been out in San Diego for 36 hours and have been busy eating, drinking and being merry. My buddy Rocco is getting married in a couple months and we are busy celebrating his last single days. 2x4 jenga, 5 gallon kegs of local brew, bocce ball, and surfing have filled up the hours today. Leaving in a bit for Basic. This is just a glimpse of the weekend to come:

School Buses and Blow-up Dolls

Well, wedding season is on it's way and that only means one thing - Bachelor Parties. We had a pretty motley crew. I think there were 12 of us total to celebrate Tim's single days which are coming to an end.

This party started out at Moonshine, a trendy establishment in Wicker Park serving their own brew but I would not go out to say that it is a brewery. After lining our stomachs with breakfast burritos, omletes, and booze we surprised Tim by showing him a yellow school bus we will be using for our adventures into the great state of Indiana.

We loaded up with beers and stepped back into jr high as we all took seats in the back of the bus. It probably would have been cooler if we were on a short bus, but then we probably wouldn't have room to pass the inflatable dolls around. Driving through the city in a school bus with blow up dolls should be on your list of fun things to do while drunk during a bachelor party. Surprisingly, we recieved more laughs from women than men. Maybe this should be a study for future alums of University of Chicago.

Anyways, our trip to Three Floyds Brewery in Munster, Indiana was a great time. Great food and beer at this place. A few of us went on the brewery tour and we were thoroughly impressed with the Three Floyds brewing process and facility.

Six Dead Queens and an Inflatable Henry

Last night, we went and saw Six Dead Queens and an Inflatable Henry at the Piccolo Theater, an old Metra train station remodeled into a 50 seat theater. The place is very intimate with the rumble of the passing trains and the chatter from the people on the platform adding to the character of the theater.

As we were walking into towards the theater entrance, we noticed two older women around 65-70 walking with canes in the same direction as us. Jennifer then let me know that she was afraid that the whole audience could be a geriatric ward (my words, not hers). After entering the theater, we walked upstairs, got our program, walked out onto the train platform, back into the station into a waiting room. I bought two cups of coffee and the doors opened to the theater.

Seating was on a first come first served basis and we seemed to be the odd people out as there were only two seats left in two different rows. After talking to the house manager she hooked us up with some reserved seats next to a woman sitting by herself in a row of three seats. Of course, the signs say move to the end of the row but she sits on the aisle. I ignore this fault as I say excuse me to move past her into our seats. Let me say, I am not a small individual by any means. This lady must have thought I was a toddler because that is all the room she gave me. She moved her knees about 30 degrees to the left and looked at me like she just parted the Red Sea and did me a favor. I almost laughed, but it would have been a WTF laugh so I continued to say I didn't think I was going to fit through there. Next she gave me a glare and said, "So I guess you want me to get up?" I almost lost it. This woman almost got the Amish Avenger, but instead got my WTF laugh and a yes, if you don't mind. Needless to say, she was there by herself for a reason - reasons I probably should not elaborate on.

Anyways, the show was very entertaining. The actresses complimented each other and fed off each others energy. There were sexual innuendos, girl fights, wind passing, singing and a cell phone interruption that the cast played off very well. I would recommend seeing a show at this theater - it is local, it is intimate, and the show was very entertaining.

NYC Weekend

Well, this was officially the longest, shortest weekend that I have ever participated in. My better half and I took a 0600 flight on Friday and came back at 0900 on Sunday, far too early after our late night.

I have to say thanks to our friend's friends, who I have never met and already forgot their names, but they were out of town and let us stay at their place. Now that we have that out of the way we can get into our weekend.

We did a lot during those forty some hours in NYC. We walked, ate, walked, drank, ate, walked,drank, slept. That was our first day. If you have never been to NYC, you need to go. So much to do, so little time. We ate lunch in Tribeca at Bouley Market Cafe which was very delightful. Beets were hot on the menu as we had them in our appetizer and I had in my entree (Halibut, beets, horseradish cream). After enjoying our lunch we continued our feast at Amy's Bread in the Village. This was Jennifer's favorite bakery when she lived here. She enjoyed the Pink Cake and I gobbled up the carrot cake. We left Amy's and headed no where in particular where I walked next to Harold Dieterle, Top Chef Season 1 Winner and Chef at Perilla. Smaller than the TV makes him out to be, but his restaurant looks mighty fine. Next time we are there we just might have to stop by.

So up to this point I think I have consumed somewhere in the vicinity of 3900 calories, but who is counting. Next, we visited the Morrell Wine Bar in Rockefeller Plaza where we enjoyed a clean bathroom and a refreshing glass of wine. After that, a little shopping, a little walking and we were back at the apartment we were staying at in the Financial District. In the evening, we had reservations at Bar Baloud which really had us excited, but after a long day of eating, drinking, and walking we decided not to venture all the way across the island and stayed local in the Financial District where we enjoyed Stone Street. This place makes you believe you are somewhere else. It gives you the feel of a European city, far away from the hustle of NYC. Buildings from the mid-19th century, cobblestone streets and many patrons sit at the hundreds of tables in the middle of the street. It was a great place to be on a warm spring night.

Saturday started off with coffee, shopping and a milestone in my life - I bought a pair of pants that were size 36. This has not happened in the past 10 years. Cheerio!! Anyways, ate at Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles in the Financial District for brunch. Very tasty! I had the smoked salmon and sour cream omelet and a Bloody Mary. The Bloody could have been better, but my food was perfect. After that we took the Staten Island Ferry, which had crashed earlier that day. Saturday night was filled with more drinking and eating - I am sensing a trend here. We had dinner with our friend's Matt and Denise at Morandi which was great. Ambiance, location, food, and staff were great and the company was even better. I had Pappardelle al cinghiale, flat ribbon pasta with braised wild boar. We finished off the evening with a party, the real reason we came to NYC. Our friends, Vikki and J.T. were married in New Zealand last month and we get to celebrate with them. And celebrate we did at a place called STOUT where I had some Mother's Milk. I wasn't overly impressed with their beer list but at that point in the night it didn't really matter.

Woke up, came home. Still too early.

Ode to Car

Yes, this is me in my fabulous shirt from 1997. I know it is cool. Hold your applause though because we need to talk about something more important - my car. I have done the unthinkable to my good friend - I have sold you. You were always good to me, taking me around the country without incident. Chauffeuring my drunken friends around the city. Absorbing the abuse of the Chicagoland potholes so I didn't have to. I will miss you.

This is my last picture with my car. So I hand my camera to the brother of the gentleman who bought my car. I asked if he could take a picture......Wait, let me preempt this with where these two brothers are from -Wisconsin, Kenosha County to be exact. They were scared to drive down my street because it had curbs and other cars. Anyways, back to the picture. I asked if he could take the last picture of me and my trusty automobile. He proceeds to take a picture of me and my passenger door, leaving out the toothless Wisconsite that bought my car sitting in the driver seat. Can't complain about the cash money though.

Rough Day at the Office

Today was an extremely tough day at the office....wait, I didn't go to the office today. I took the day off and took my son to the zoo. You couldn't have asked for a better April 30: 80 degrees, a nice strong wind from the south-southwest, and a bunch of school kids who don't know how to behave in public places(that does not include my son). Below is a photo time line of our day.

And the smiles start.

Just a little smaller than the bears.

No, it is not going to eat you.

His two new bestest friends

Action shot, notice what the static did to his hair.

Trying to coerce the kid, no pun intended, out of the pouch.

My cranky kid after 2 1/2 hours of the zoo.

Five minutes later.


Five minutes later.

I Heart Squirrels

Through my years, I am proud to say that I have never run over an animal in my car. To this day I still have never hit an animal in my car. This brings us to last week. I leave work early and start riding my bike to my dentist office. I should have known something was bound to happen due to the track record I have with my dentist which is another story in itself. Without incident, I made it to within 5 blocks of my dentist. And then it happens - Man vs Squirrel. I was within 50 feet of a squirrel in the middle of the street as I pedaled along. The squirrel just stared at me. I started to move towards the center of the residential street but that was not enough. It happened so fast I actually couldn't believe it, but it almost threw me over my handle bars. I have no other words that can describe the scene below.



It has been three days since the incident and I am still lost for words about the entire ordeal. I just wonder what people thought when they walked by my bike parked underneath the Purple Line bridge at Washington with a squirrel stuck in the fork.