Bruce Weber: Scoops or Restaurant Style

Okay so about 45 minutes ago I was doing a little shopping at County Market. I am not overly alert at the grocery store at 9:30 at night but I did very much notice that two of the four other shoppers in the store were Illini men's basketball coach, Bruce Weber and his wife, Megan. Somehow seeing Bruce and his wife out shopping for groceries made my day. After I noticed them I went about my shopping, but later noticed Bruce squatting to check out the various kinds of Tostitos on the lower shelves... do you think Bruce is a Scoops or Restaurant Style kind of guy. I didn't see his ultimate selection, I didn't want to stare... but I am going with Scoops... they are quite a practical tortilla chip and Bruce strikes me as a practical guy.

Okay, so that was supposed to be the end of my quick little post but when you type in Bruce Weber on google images (I was needing a pic for this post) you get some very interesting pics. Evidently there is a relatively famous photographer named Bruce Weber and much of his work is borderline erotic.... "very sexy" at the least. That just made me laugh more than the image of Bruce debating tortilla chips. I won't post any of the pictures here... this is a family sight, but go to Google images, type in "Bruce Weber" and see if you don't go "Whoa!"

Ask Me Again, I Will Put You in the Corner

So after touring the ballpark on Friday morning we left the Murbargers in STL and headed southeast towards Carbondale to see my niece, Ashley, at Southern Illinois University. Ashley gave us a tour of her apartment, and it is really nice. Her bedroom and closet are larger than mine, and she has her own bathroom. She leads a charmed life. We met her roommates Jamie and LeAnne, sisters from Riverton, Illinois. Jamie is one of Ashley's architecture buddies, and her sister LeAnne is a freshman in pre-med.

After relaxing at the apartment for awhile we hopped in the van and Ashley gave us a tour of the campus. Her apartment is just a few blocks from her architecture studio and and a relatively easy walk to the track stadium, weight room etc. as well. She gave us a tour of the stadium, the weight room/athletic complex, as well as the basketball arena. We saw the football team practicing and met a few of the members of the men's track team. The men's team had already started practice, but Ashley's women's team doesn't start until next week.

After the tour we headed to Garfield's for dinner. We had a great time, primarily teasing my Dad. He said we were always giving him grief, until it was time for him to pay, then and only then did we shut up and leave him alone. I don't disagree with his assessment at all.

We got caught up on the latest Gibson City gossip. At one point we were discussing the party lifestyle of the Gibson City youngins, and a would be marijuana bust. To which my Dad says "Well I guess that pot really isn't nearly as addictive as that crystal meth. I hear that stuff will just mess you up!" This was all while he was wearing his "gangsta style" STL trucker cap. Needless to say Ashley and I were cracking up.

Ashley said that when she was up late in her studio earlier in the week she and her classmates were getting slap happy and silly and remembering "old times". Ashley said that for some reason she was telling them about how when she was little and she asked Grandpa George (my Dad) what his middle name was and he replied "My name is George Warner, ask me again and I will put you in the corner!" Evidently to this day that is still the only way Ashley remembers my Dad's middle name. Anyway I guess that when he was telling her this he told her that if anyone ever asks her middle name she could reply in a similar fashion... "My name is Ashley Ann, ask me again and I will toss you in the trash can!" My middle name is Elizabeth... I can't play this game.

After dinner we headed back to Gibson City. The drive took just under 4 hours and went relatively quickly despite some heavy rain hear and there along the way.

It was a whirlwind couple of days, and I did a lot of driving, but it was a lot of fun.

Rollin' with my Homey

On Friday we hooked up with the Murbargers again, enjoyed the very tasty, free hot breakfast at the Drury Plaza and then headed back to the ballpark for a tour. My Dad actually agreed to use a wheelchair because his back has been bothering him and he just can't walk or stand for any great length of time. I was his driver, and I must admit I think I did a pretty good job. Kudos to Judy and Bill for letting us borrow the wheelchair. As soon as Dad sat down in the chair he actually said, "Oh my, I think I could get used to this!". We ditch the wheelchair to walk out on the field and check out the dugout, but he pretty much rode for the rest of the tour.

The tour was great. Nikki and I have toured our fair share of ballparks and a good tour always the product of a good/well informed guide and a fun and knowledgeable group. Jay, was our guide and he was great... not quite as awesome as Linda from AT & T Park in San Fran, but pretty good. Besides the Tjardes/Murbarger 6 our group included a family from Milwaukee, and two couples from Fisher and Peoria, respectively, that Nik and I recognized as Illini basketball season ticket holders. They were great.

The tour included the radio broadcast booth, the FSN Midwest Helitech studio, a party room, the Cardinal Club, the field and dugout. The dugout was lots of fun... Nikki and I did our best Tony LaRussa imitations leaning on the steps.

Everyone had a great time on the tour. And you can kind so see it in a couple of pictures that my Dad's cap has a tendency to kind of turn to the side. It think it looks a little gangsta... it cracks me up. Between the wheelchair and the sideways cap... I really was rollin' with my homey.

Me in the KTRS radio booth, doing my best "Shanny" (aka Mike Shannon impression)

Mom & Dad in the dugout

Nik & I doint our best Tony LaRussa impression... leaning on the dugout steps.

Pork Fritters, Rally Caps & Lemon Chills

So Thursday was the beginning of a whirlwind couple of days with my parents. I got to their house at about 10:30 in the morning and we loaded up the van and headed south. For the most part I rather like my Mom's van... it is a nice ride with the exception of way too schoochy driver's floor mat. Our first stop was Carlinville, home of the Pfeiffers (my sister, Jan, and her family). We met Jan and Larry for lunch at "Angus Bailey's", located on the square, where we opted for a table in the bar vs. the dining room. I asked Jan what was good, and she said "It's Thursday, the special is pork fritters. I always get pork fritters on Thursdays!" Evidently Jan frequents Angus Bailey's quite often on Thursdays. Well it was pork fritters all around, and damn they were good. I had never had a pork fritter before. They are chunks of pork that are lightly breaded then fried... basically the pork version of chicken fingers, or little mini pork chops. They are served with either bbq or butter dipping sauce, applesauce and a side. All in all a tasty lunch, and Jan and Larry filled us in on the latest with Lane and Eric and their dogs, Coco, Molly and Gunner, chocolate, yellow and black labs, respectively. Eric is busy with his golf team and driving his car (he turned 16 in June) he has named "The Grocery Getter". Lane is back at CHS and evidently not really into the getting up early for school thing... Jan wants all the Cardinal games to start at 6:00 so they will be over at a decent hour and Lane will go to bed.

After the fine dining in Carlinville we headed south to St. Louis. Dad questioned me as to whether I was going the right way... he never drives, he doesn't pay attention, so I just told him to sit back and trust me. After we settled into the hotel (which involved me parking the van in a "concrete pillars everywhere" parking garage) we joined the Murbargers (Nikki and her parents) for free cocktails and snacks in the lobby... gotta love the Drury Plaza... we loaded up on free beer and nachos before heading off to the game.

We had some sweet seats for the Cardinals game vs. the Florida Marlins... about 20 rows behind the Cardinal dugout. It was a bit on the toasty side, but when is it not hot in STL? The Cards pretty much "bit it" big time. They lost 11 to 3, and committed 4 errors, it wasn't pretty. One highlight was pitcher turned outfielder and total hottie, Rick Ankiel. He made two awesome throws from right field. One throw kept the runner on third, and the other was a bullet to 2nd nailing a runner who thought he had a routine double. In the 9th inning Nikki and I busted out the rally caps which my "Debbie Downer Dad" totally scoffed at, but they were good for two runs and 11 to 3 is still pretty bad but it is better than 11 to 1.

Despite the outcome it was a good time at the ballpark. A lot of my favs... Brendan Ryan, Albert, Jimmy, Rolen & Ankiel played, and my Flo pitched as well.

After the game we ordered a pizza and chowed down in the Drury Plaza lobby. It was way too hot to each much of anything at the game, and by 11 p.m. our happy hour nachos had worn off.

Oh, during the game there was some minor drama because my Dad did not get a "lemon chill". My Mom had brought back a frozen lemonade from the stand I told her to go to... this frozen lemonade is more of a slushy vs. the solid, eat it with a spoon frozen lemonade that my Dad was looking for... guess I am not up to speed on the "lemon chill". Needless to say Dad went on and on about not getting a lemon chill and Nikki just started to laugh at me. She was laughing because at the Decatur Celebration this year they did not have the deep fried candy bar stand and I was denied that simple pleasure. Then, at the State Fair I looked unsuccefully for a deep friend candy bar and was yet again denied. Evidently my disappointment with the deep fried candy bar was pretty much a dead on imitation of my Dad's disppointment with the lemon chill. Nikki was just cracking up at the similarities.

Grrs & Kudos

Kudos to Steve who fixed our jacked up printer on Wednesday. He had printer parts everywhere at one point, but now it is whisper quiet! I am still a bit Grrr that it took a $4 billion institution 3 days to get a printer fixed, but thats the way it goes.

Grr

The printer at work is still making the horrific clanking noise. We did make progress today though, a repairman has been called. He has yet to show up and complete said repair, but he has been called. I will keep you posted if we make any more progress tomorrow.

He's awful purty and he smells good!

Sunday night I went to the Illinois in Springfield to the state fair to see Sugarland in concert with one of my favs, Joe Nichols. It was a great concert. I went with Nikki, her sister Angie, and their Dad, Jerry. Jerry drove, I kind of felt like I was in junior high again having my friend's Dad drive my to a concert. It was a very late night, so I was glad to have somebody else drive most of the way. We had meet and greet passes to meet Joe Nichols, well at least us girls did because well we are total dorks and members of the Joe Nichols Fan Club. Joe is a Cardinal fan so we always manage to talk about the team. A lady ahead of us in line for some reason felt compelled to give Joe a very large Chicago Cubs bra... Joe was actually speechless. Because one of his hit songs is "Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off" he is used to receiving female articles of clothing on stage and such... but the Cubs bra was over the top. When Nik got to the front of the line she said something about "Cub fans, they get in first place and they just go crazy" to which Joe responded "Yeah, I know, you would think they had never been in first place before... oh, wait they haven't." Very amusing. The title of this post refers to the very entertaining Miss Angie. She had never met Joe before and said "Wow he is kind of pretty" and then afterwards as we were leaving the meet & greet she said "He smelled so good, did you smell him, he smelled really good". Joe's show was great, however I much prefer him in a smaller venue when he can do his entire set... he just works better in that setting.

Sugarland was amazing. I just love them. They don't have a single song I don't really love and feel that somehow it was written just for me. Jennifer and Christian just have great chemistry on stage and their "choreography" is just very enjoyable. They actually covered both Beyonce and U2, and it worked. Great show! There were empty seats in the row above us for most of the Sugarland show so we moved up there so we could stand and dance without blocking the view of the folks behind us. I still have a nasty sore throat so I must have been singing along with much gusto. For the last song, a woman we didn't know from several rows in front of us came up to sing and dance with us because she didn't want to obstruct the view of the folks behind her and well as she said everyone else as the concert were "Total Duds!" . I love that we have the "nice and inviting" look and don't look like total duds... leave it to us to make friends wherever we go!

It was a very musical weekend. I finished up with Joe and Sugarland, but got it off to agood start by going a High School Musical/High School Musical 2 watch party at my friend Anne's house. It was the bomb diggity. I was new the HSM scene but what is not to love... cheesy teen Disney musical. #1 has a bit of a Grease! theme, while #2 has a bit of "Dirty Dancing" flavor. There was a song called "Fabulous" and one that was performed during a baseball game! This was so me. My 6-year old friend, Sidney, attended a similar watch party. Sid and I have an awful lot in common... not sure if this a positive or negative for each of us. It just kind of cracks me up.

So that was pretty much my weekend. Oh, and I hung out with Richard too. I discovered he does not like "pink fluffy stuff" (aka salad with cherry pie filling, pineapple, nuts, marshmallows and cool whip) He's not a salad guy, nothing wrong with that I guess. I just feel a little bit sad for him though... I just love pink fluffy stuff and even more fun than eating pink fluffy stuff is referring to it as pink fluffy stuff... he's been denied this joy and well that is just unfortunate.

So I don't like to complain, but some stuff is just is blog-worthy. So today I am starting a bit of an anti-kudos thing aptly titled "Today's Grrr". Today I happened to have two Grrr's. The first, I nearly ran over a U of I student today at lunch. Yep they are back, and I God love 'em this town would be way sucky without the university, and I count many current students among my friends, but why must they be completely oblivious of traffic! The second Grrr for the day is our printer at work. It continued to print today, but made the most horrific clanking with every page. Kudos to Allison whose desk is closest to the printer for not throwing herself, the printer or anyone else out the window. Please let it be fixed tomorrow, it sounded like someone was beating with a baseball bat. If they don't fix it soon I may dump it in a bowl of chicken noodle soup and put it out of its misery.

Editors Note: Nik's picture with Joe was taken approximately 1 minute before mine. Notice that Joe's hair is much flatter in my pic than hers? What is that about? He does have a tendency to constantly run his hands over his hair to fix/flatten I guess I never realized how well it worked. I am amused that Joe has a kind of pouty/growl thing going on in my photo as well. Please also note that Reba McEntire signed the wall of fame directly above our heads.

Remembering Biggity B!

I am not really sure why, but I have been thinking about my late cousin Bruce a lot lately. He passed away just over year ago, after battling cancer of the esophagus. Since he has been on my heart lately I thought I would blog about him. Here goes...

Technically Bruce is my second cousin, his dad (my Uncle Jim) and my grandmother (his Aunt Doris) were brother and sister. Bruce was about 11 or 12 years older than me so it wasn't like we were close growing up, but I do remember he was always really nice to me when I was little. Bruce and I became good friends as adults. He lived in St. Louis and had become a big Cardinal fan, and we just seemed to have a similar sense of humor, so we just kind of clicked. I always saw Bruce at church on Christmas Eve in Gibson City. We always had a funny story to share with each other and always looked forward to our visits every year.

Bruce was amazingly talented and had an incredible artistic eye. He originally moved to St. Louis to be a costume and set designer for the STL Repertory Theater, and later opened a photography studio. He specialized in commercial photography, often focusing on portfolio work for actors and models. One of my favorite Bruce stories is when he told me that he was actually doing some photography work for rap artist and STL native Nelly and the St. Lunatics for the "Pimp Juice" product campaign. He knew I loved Nelly, and was probably the only member of our family who knew who Nelly was. One of the St. Lunatics gave Bruce the "Biggity B" tag as his rap/hip-hop name. FYI my rap/hip-hop nickname is J-Fab... I came up with it myself, but I think it would definitely be "St. Lunatic Approved".

This blog was partly Bruce inspired, although I didn't realize it at the time. Several years ago Nikki and I met Bruce and his partner, Dana for dinner in STL when we were at Winter Warm Up. It was a great evening. Bruce was laughing at the stories Nikki and I had to tell about our day at Winter Warm Up, along with other random adventures. He said "You know, I would love to have a film crew follow you around, you guys just crack me up, and I think the world should see your random adventures." I never thought of it, but Nikki said that this blog, especially when we where blogging from San Fran, was kind of like the written equivalent of "Bruce's Documentary". I am sure he is leaving comments all the time on the blog in heaven... I wish I could read them. I think it would have been fun to follow Bruce around too. Besides hanging out with Nelly, he just always had a good story to tell. Bruce and I both grew up in Gibson City and as we got older we shared the same fond memories and fascination with the "church ladies" of our younger years, our mothers and grandmother/aunt being three of them. Bruce liked to refer to Gibson City as "The 9 x 13 Capital of the World" referring to the 9 x 13 pans that contained casseroles, cakes and goodness that defined our formative years. Okay, so the world wasn't going to be saved by a casserole or dessert in a 9 x 13 pan... but it sure was a good place to start.

As I mentioned before Bruce was my Cardinal buddy. He went to opening day at Busch Stadium in 2006. Although he was dealing with chemo at the time he managed to take some incredible pictures of the stadium, and I treasure them. I know Bruce is my angel, and he often makes his presence known when I am in baseball mode. Right after Bruce passed away last August Nikki and I went to Cincy and Pittsburgh on our 7 games is 7 days "Redbird Riverbank Roadtrip". I went to Bruce's visitation on Sunday evening, and we actually left the day of Bruce's funeral. At first I thought about postponing our departure so I could attend the funeral, but I knew Bruce wouldn't want us to miss the game. I knew I made the right decision when we were at the game that night in Cincy and the "Reds Minor League Player of the Week" who was highlighted on the jumbotron was "Jay Bruce". Bruce's full name was James Bruce Summers, and his photo studio was known as J. Bruce Summers Photography. Bruce didn't make it to see the Cardinals World Series win in the fall of 2006 but he was definitely with us in spirit when we celebrated in my living room and later at Tumble Inn.

I will close this blog with two things. The first, is a prayer that was on a prayer card Bruce made and handed out when he was battling cancer. The second is a list of "Bruce'isms" that were provided on a similar card at his memorial service. I carry both cards in my wallet, and have copies of them at my desk at work. I look at them often, and I am better for it when I do.

This is another day, O Lord. I know not what it will bring forth, but make me ready, Lord, for whatever it may be. If I am to stand up, help me to do it bravely. If I am to sit still, help me to sit quietly. If I am to lie low, help me to do it patiently. And if I am to do nothing, help me to do it gallantly. Make these words more than words, and give me the Spirit of Jesus. Amen.

Bruce'isms

"Never give in- never, never, in nothing great or small, except to convictions of honor and good sense:"

"remember your roots, family and friends"

"always remember to tell someone you love them"

"celebrate together, being together"

"be tall, smart, strong & handsome"

"put on a clown nose and make someone smile- send in the clowns"

I miss you Bruce and think of you often.

Please Bring Back My Bonnie to Me!

So today is another birthday blog. Happy Birthday Bonnie Chung!

Bonnie is one of my former Busey Bank co-workers and a dear friend. She was my Kendra and Allison, before Lindsey. The boys have always outnumbered the girls in Busey's Credit Analysis Department, so the "Ladies of Credit Analysis" (as fomer co-worker Don Dahl used to call us) typically have a tendency to bond. Bonnie was my first female co-worker at Busey and she set the bar high as far as "work girlfriends" go. I have been truly blessed that the bar continues to be high... I work/have worked with some incredible women.

Bonnie is a native of Hong Kong, and recently moved back there with her husband, Conrad, and their 2-year old son, Ian. Bonnie lived primarily in the U.S. for about 18 years, attending college at Illinois State University, and then returning to the U.S. to work at Busey while Conrad completed his PhD at UIUC. They later moved to Boston and both worked out there for a number of years before recently moving to Hong Kong. Bonnie also worked with me at the Hall, I hooked her up with an ushering job. I have had some awesome co-workers over the years but Bonnie is one of the few that I actually enjoyed working with for potentially 12-16 hours a day, following each other from one job to the next.

Bonnie was just lots of fun to hang out with at work. She was an early luncher, I was a later luncher, so often when she retured from lunch we would have "girl talk" when most of the rest of the office was at lunch. I do remember that both Eric, and then later, Don were also early lunchers to they were privy to these conversations. Eric just buried his head in his work and ignored us. Don actually would sometimes participate, or just quietly glean info knowing this "woman's insight" could one day come in handy. He later told me that he was able to bond with his dad's girlfriend/now step-mom because he actually new what Longenberger baskets were, and when he ended up at a church-function where he was the only guy, he could intelligently contribute to the conversation on "Clinique Bonus Time".

While she was here in C-U and especially while working at the Hall I am proud to say that I mangaged to turn Bonnie into one of the most rabid Illini basketball fans. She held a particular fondness for Robert Arhibald. So much so that when she and Conrad relocated to Boston she dragged him to a Celtics game so that she would watch Robert sit on the bench when he played for the Memphis Grizzlies.

Bonnie and I had absolutely nothing in common when it came to our backgrounds, but we truly learned to appreciate our differences. I really enjoyed learning about that Chinese culture from her, and she was my Chinese buffet lunch buddy for four years. I loved that two of her favorite Chines dishes were crab rangoon and General chicken, as she told me they were not readily available on Hong Kong as they were essentially created by Chinese-Americans here in the States and were not traditional Chinese cooking. I was amazed at how much American culture Bonnie was exposed to in Hong Kong. I vividly remember bonding one day at work over our love of the 70's tv show "Six Million Dollar Man"... both doing the "na, na, na bionic run at our desk". I also loved that Bonnies loved C-U... it was nothing like Hong Kong but she completely embraced this community. We always laughed because the greater C-U area has approximately the same 15 square mile area as Hong Kong... but Hong Kong had over 6 million people living there compared ot C-U's 100,000+. She said that she just loved having so much space here.

I miss Bonnie. She just always managed to make me laugh. Some day I may try to get to Hong Kong to visit her. Anyway, Happy Birthday Bonnie Chung!

Editor's Note: This pic is one of my favs. Nikki, Bonnie, Karen and I are all sporting our Big 10 champs t-shirts, same as Robert Archibald and Lucas Johnson, pictured with us holding the trophy.

Do Chickens Fly?

I went to STL again this past weekend... you guessed it, another Cards game. Nik and I didn't do the best job spacing out our games this season, but some things were beyond our control and well I am not turning down a chance to see my boys who wear the birds on the bat. Sunday the boys decided to bring the bats... that is for sure. The Cards won 12-2, and our boys from Memphis done did good... Ludwick, Ankiel, Ryan and Reyes. We saw A-Rey get his second win of the season. Our friends Jane and April were there when he got his first, evidently he just likes to show off for us ladies. Anywho... Brendan Ryan, who I have mentioned in previous posts was called back up from Memphis... I heart him. He not only rocked the socks (that means wore the short pants with the socks showing, a look that Nik and I love), but he went yard and belted a home run for his #1 fan. In all of the HR excitement I knocked Nikki's arm and she still had her chicken fingers basket in her hand and well to answer the post title question... yes, chicken does fly. Luckily Nik was finished with them, but a couple of them definitely hit the woman and her daughter in the row in front of us. I am fairly certain one chicken finger bounced right off the little girls forehead. We apoligized profusely and they were good sports and didn't seem to mind, and luckily the bbq sauce was almost gone and stayed relatively contained.

Speaking of good sports, I took my squeeze, Richard, to the game with us. He managed to survive the 100+ degree heat (thankfully we were in the shade), and the equally difficult task of listening to me gush about how much I love this player and why for 3+ hours, all while dealing with a cold/sinus thing that had him either drugged up or feeling less than great most of the day. I am sure listening to me say "Hey, that's Brendan Ryan... I heart him" got old by the second inning, but as far as I know we are still dating, I guess he doesn't scare to easy. Richard liked the ballpark, and was loving the fact that the out of town scoreboard kept him apprised of the Boston score (that is until they lost)... yep you read it here folks, I am dating a Red Sox fan. The Cardinals' 2006 World Series win went a long way to rid me of the residual Red Sox bitterness I felt after the 2004 Series sweep so I am dealing. He is a native New Englander so really I have to give him props for standing by his team, plus it could be so much worse... he could be a Cub fan... Yikes!

Oh Kudos for this post go to the Sisters Murbarger... Nikki for somehow managing the grace not to get bbq sauce on the folks in front of us even though I nearly knocked her over celebrating the B-Ry homer. Also to Angie for giving us the laugh of the day and getting all tongue tied and actually referring to Brendan Ryan as "Bryan Rendan" when talking to their Dad... priceless.

Editors Note: I gave Richard the STL t-shirt to wear to the game, but the hat was all him. He forgot his Red Sox hat at home, and picked up the STL hat at Wal-Mart before the game.

It's Getting HOT In Here

Wednesday night I went to STL for the Cards game with Nik and our Dads. I believe Nelly said it best with the words "It's getting hot in here"... it was a steamy 106 degrees when we pulled into the parking garage at about 6:30 p.m. It was pretty much a sweat fest for the first hour of the game, but then either it got cooler or we just got used to it. We avoided the sun, so we all survived and the Cards won, so all was well.

I think the heat must fry people's brains because this is what we saw. A woman wearing a crocheted tank top, with a "questionable" choice of undergarment... but at least it was somewhat appropriate for the weather as it was a tank top. Another woman was wearing a long sleeved black crocheted sweater over a white t-shirt..., now I am always cold and wearing a sweater, but even I will leave the sweater at home when it is ONE HUNDRED AND SIX DEGREES OUTSIDE!!!! We later discovered this woman was the mother of the little 6-month old baby we saw at the game. When my Dad saw the baby (he was really cute) he was dumbfounded and just kept asking me "Why is it here?" "Why would you bring it here in this heat?". It was funny he just kept calling it "IT"... my Dad doesn't really get dumb people. It is kind of fun to watch.

Oh, and here is something I just don't get... how are there women/ladies out there that don't appear to sweat or have a single hair out of place in weather like that. I was gross, completely wringing wet and just nasty lookin' before the 1st out in the 1st inning and in the 8th inning this woman returned to her seat looking fresh as a daisy, not a drop of sweat, with her hair looking perfect... every curl in place. How do they do this? Is there a pill you can take for that, because if so, I want it.

Oh, today's kudos go to one Mr. Rick Ankiel for going yard for the Cards in his first MLB game as a position player. Back in the day Rick was a young pitching phenom for the Cards, but injury and later "mind games" led him to leave the mound, but he has worked hard to come back as a position player/center fielder. He has been the HR king in Memphis with the AAA team, and finally is back "In the Show" as they say in "Bull Durham". Kudos Rick! He is a total hottie, so it only seems appropriate he get the kudos in the "... Hot in Here" post :)

The Best of Times

So this has been a busy week here at Chez Jano (that would be the name of the Bed & Breakfast I am currently running out of my home) A day after Sarah and Daisy left to return to Mississippi, I did a quick load of sheets and towels and ran through the house with a vacuum before I welcomed Liv and Andrea for the weekend. They were in town for the wedding of my dear friends Allison and Abe.

Allison has been in my church small group for the past three years, and she is a fellow crazy Cards fan. She has such great faith and has been such a great influence on me in that regard, and well anyone who can carry on an intelligent conversation about God and Jim Edmonds pretty much rocks in my world. Allison married Abe on Saturday and their wedding was just wonderful... they are just a perfect example of (as Allison's Dad, Chuck said in his toast) "Love Conquers All". Abe is a Cubs fan who lives in Evanston, Allison is a Cards fan that lived in Champaign. Abe is Chinese, and until very recently Allison never much cared for Asian cuisine. I don't know how or why but Abe and Allison just work... they fit together amazingly well. I just love when things work out that well.

My house guests included Allison's bridesmaid, Andrea, from St. Louis, and Liv, the girlfriend of Allison's brother, Bart. Andrea, Liv and I had a great time... none of us had met until they showed up on my doorstep Friday evening (although Allison did some nice introductions via email), and I just had a blast. We stayed up until 12:30 on Friday night, after getting sucked into an episode of "What Not to Wear". We sat talking in my living room over breakfast on Saturday morning so long the girls were almost late getting to hair appointments. Seriously, I think I may just start having total strangers stay at Chez Jano every weekend... it was just a lot of fun.

As if that wasn't enough excitement for one weekend, Sunday afternoon/evening I went to the Decatur Celebration with Nikki. Like every year it was a highlight of my summer... the people watching is like no other... it rivals San Fran, which is saying a lot. And the free entertainment is amazingly diverse. Today we saw "The Black Diamond", a black man that sings Neil Diamond hits and sounds exactly like him. nwe heard a few songs from "War", including "Low Rider" and "Why Can't We Be Friends". I am saving the best for last which was Dennis DeYoung and Songs of Styx. He rocked and sang some of my favs including "Lady", "You Babe", "Show Me the Way", "Best of Times" (hence the title of this post), "Mr. Roboto", and the ever popular "Sail Away". This concert in particular provided some prime people watching opportunities. The best was this lady in her late 50's, upper/middle class, very nicely dressed in pressed white capris and cute black sandals and top, who was so rocking out and actually playing air guitar and singing into her fist like it was a microphone. The concert was great. The only bad thing about the Decatur Celebration was that I was denied a deep fried candy bay... they weren't there this year. Very sad, very, very sad.

But despite that setback, it was just a really great weekend. I'd say more, but I am beat and need to hit the hay.

Oh, and kudos today to Nik's Mom & Dad for giving me some tomatoes out of their garden... Yummy!

Editor's Note: The pics include one of Allison and Abe the lovely couple, and me with my houseguests Andrea & Liv.

Give me a dollop o' Daisy

So this week I have had some special house guests. My friend Sarah J, and her dog Daisy have been visiting Monday through Wednesday. Sarah J is an Assembly Hall alum who now works for the Army Corps of Engineers in Vicksburg, Mississippi, but she has been in C-U this past year completing her coursework at UIUC for her PhD in Civil Engineering. Sarah moved her stuff out of her apartment to the house she just bought in V-burg last week, then flew back to get her car, her dog, and wrap up some school stuff with her professor. Since she was already moved out of her apartment, she and Miss Daisy have been bunking with me this week.

Crazy Daisy has been a hoot to live with for a few days. As I type this she has just been banished to her crate for an early bedtime because she managed to get a charred bratwurst out of the garbage and start chowing down. On Monday she didn't really want to have anything to do with me, but by Tuesday I was Daisy's new best friend, she followed me around like, well... a puppy dog.

I can't believe Sarah J's year in C-U is already up... it seems like just yesterday I was helping her move in. I didn't get in near the Sarah J time I wanted to, so it has been fun hanging out with her these past few days. I have a link to Sarah's blog to the right, and you need to check it out just to see how truly complicated buying a house from nine hours away and moving back is. Plus there are also pics of Sarah's house which is just way cute and Sarah-like. I will really miss having Sarah around, she is just so fun and easy to be with. Plus she has totally gotten me into the habit of saying "y'all" one of the Southern habits she has managed to adopt as a damn Yankee living in the South. I am not fixin' to pick up the "fixin" vernacular just yet, but maybe I will just as a salute to Sarah J.

So Sarah J and Daisy, have a safe trip back to Mississippi, and I will try to visit y'all soon.