A Perfect Duetto

So besides pandora.com, one of my favorites things is my Starbucks/Visa Duetto card. It is a Chase Visa card, but I earn Starbucks rewards that are loaded to the same card which essentially acts as a Starbucks gift card as well. I earn 1% of all of my Visa card purchases in Starbucks coffee. Unlike most credit card reward programs I can actually earn something I will use/enjoy in a relatively short period of time, as opposed to waiting 5 years to earn an airline ticket or something like that. Plus using the Starbucks rewards means I feel less guilty about my Starbucks addiction because I am not really using my disposable income for said habit.

Besides sharing the joy of the Duetto card with my blog reading public it is now my mission to share with all of the Starbucks employees out there about it as well so that when I want them to use my Starbucks card for my transaction they do it right and don't charge it to my Visa. Slowly I am explaining this to all of my Starbucks servers. This morning I had a lovely conversation with Ryan. I pulled up the window and said "Okay, please run this as a Starbucks card, I know it looks like a Visa card and it is, but it is a Starbucks card too... you have to trust me on this Ryan, it will work." Much to Ryan's amazement it did work, and I explained briefly about the joys and benefits of the Duetto card. We definitely shared a moment, he offered me a sample of their new coffee cake... my nonfat, sugarfree hazelnut latte taste extra special this morning. Kudos for trusting me Ryan!

Hit 'Em in the BallState

Okay so I am little tardy on the blogging... my bad.

Friday I went with Nikki to my first ever UI homecoming parade. The weather was a little drippy but not too bad. The parade theme was Orange Feve and one float featured a disco dancing Rashard Mendenhall... not the actual player but a Rashard-like mannequin sporting a #5 jersey and an 'fro. Good stuff. The through out some serious candy at this parade... I got a full size (2 cups) Reese's, several tootsie rolls, bubble gum and mini football. Okay so the football says TCF Bank, and I work at Busey, but still I love free stuff. I saw my friend Laurie from my church small group playing in the Marching Illini, and one of the floats had two orange and blue pool table balls, crashing into a red Ball State ball, and the frat boy riding shotgun in the truck pulling the float was yelling to the crowd "Go Illini, hit 'em in the ballState! Oh, I love a parade.

Saturday we tailgated a bit, and my brother Phil and my nephew Jeremy joined us, along with my former football player mentee, Jake. It was good to see all of my boys. Jake is a dear for dragging his college boy booty out of bed shortly after 9 a.m. on chilly Saturday morning to eat donuts and drink hot chocolate with me. He received a couple of phone calls while tailgating with us... his ringer... "A Country Boy Can Survive"... very fitting for my little Kansas buddy. Phil and Jeremy helped us kill a few more donuts, and Phil even had a beer with his donut... I would expect nothing less from my brother.

We had our "good seats" for the game, and I had forgotten just how sweet they are. I had a good view of my current football player mentee, Cole #61, on the sidelines. The last time I had those seats was the first game of the season and I hadn't been assigned a mentee yet. Cole is an excellent sideline cheerleader, encouraging the crowd to stand up and get loud.

Sunday I worked the Orange & Blue Scrimmage at the Hall. Former player and new assistant coach, Jerrance Howard was there. When he walked by with a group of recruits I told him "Welcome Back" and he stopped and chatted me up a bit. After the scrimmage he walked past again and told me "Thanks for helping out tonight". He is just so nice and charming... and his smile just lights up a room... welcome home J-How.

Afterwards a group from the Hall headed to Village Inn. We were sitting with Sue (my boss's boss for lack of a better term) and I was telling her about my sweetie. She was quizzing me about him and when I said his name was Richard... she just paused and gave me a funny look. I was like "Sue what's the big deal with his name being Richard". Her response... "OMG, you guys are 'Dick and Jane'!" I guess I have never thought of that before, probably because I never refer to Richard as "Dick". It is usually Richard, Sweetie, Hey You, or Big R which Nikki and Sarah J have taken a shine too. Evidently Nikki is kind of liking the Dick and Jane angle. Today at work were were discussing my lack of blog of late, and I said that I didn't get to it last night because I went to Danville to see Richard. Here response was as follows:

Jane went to visit Dick.

Jane did not blog.

Bad Jane!

To make up for it, I will probably be posting two blogs tonight. I hope all is forgiven :)

Editors Note: The picture is of my mentee, Cole Knuth #61, cheering on his teammates at kick off.

A Showtune of Gays

My college roommate Jeanne was in town for a quick visit on Tuesday/Wednesday. She lives near Ft. Lauderdale, Florida but was back in Illinois to help her Mom as she undergoes treatment for brain cancer. Jeanne said she was talking to her Mom's doctor and if you had to chose, this is evidently the brain cancer you want... it is treatable and the prognosis is good. That being said, I am sure Jeanne and her family would greatly appreciate any and all prayers you all would like to offer up on their behalf.

So, visiting with Jeanne is always a treat. First of all she showed up on my doorstep with a lovely bouquet of flowers. Her previous stop was her former employer, Rick Orr Florist, so Jeanne just whipped up the arrangement I have pictured at the top of this post to thank me for my hospitality. Jeanne has excellent taste, especially in flowers. She picks out all the flowers I never knew I liked.

We met our college buddy, Scott Larimer, for dinner at El Toro 2. Originally we planned to head to Boltini afterwards, but Jeanne was a bit tired so we just went back to my house to hang out and visit. I made chocolate chip cookies, then Rashid (Jeanne's ex-beau from college days) and his girlfriend, Isabelle joined us. You just can't beat great conversation, cookies and beer! (Abandoning plans for going out for drinks to stay in and bake cookies... yep that is pretty much my life now, and you know what, I kind of like it that way. )

Speaking of conversation, Larimer was telling Jeanne and I about something and said that a lot of his gay friends were there. Jeanne commented that we need a word for a group of gays. For instance you have a gaggle of geese, a pride of lions, a flock of sheep, and _______ of gays. At first Jeanne suggested a "condom of gays"... but she said that was perhaps to obvious or just unpalatable. We pondered a bit more before I came up with a "showtune of gays"... Jeanne and Larimer both declared me brilliant and said I would forever be given credit for that phrase. When Rashid and Isabelle joined us they readily agreed. It was a great night... kind of like college all over again but I have a bigger budget!

Hail to the Victors... Cesspool of the North

Just a quick update on my weekend. I went to East Bay camp near Lake Bloomington overnight Friday and for the first part of Saturday for Quest's small group leaders retreat. It was lots of fun, the camp was full of fall color and I did some of the God thing too. Saturday after lunch I headed home for a quick shower, laundry and minimal unpacking before Nik came over, along with our pal from the Hall, Allison Hocker and Allison's fiance, Bill. We had never met Bill before, he meets my approval. We all went to the Illini vs. Michigan game on Saturday night, after stopping at the Busey tailgate for some free food and drink.

What can I say about the Illini... ah the penalties and mistakes just killed us. It was so frustrating even the straight-laced grandmas types sitting near us were using "inappropriate language". There were a couple of middle-aged drunk fans sitting next to Nik. One would high-five Nikki all the time, even before high-fiving his buddies. The other seemed rather fond of giving Nik "knuckles". This guy was a little lit, when the Michigan fans behind us were singing "Hail to the Victors" he did change the last line of the song to "Hail, Hail, Michigan- cesspool of the North". It was kind of funny. Despite the loss the fly over at night was super cool, the jet fumes lit up the night sky. Also, the camera suspended on wires that comes in over the top of the quarter back was way cool too. For the first part of the game we could only see two of the four wires it was suspended on so we kept saying "how are they doing this" for the first quarter plus.

Richard came over for dinner tonight. My meatloaf was sub-par, as were the potatoes. Not bad, but not my best work. Richard didn't complain, I like that about him. I did totally rock the apple cake though... so it wasn't 3 strikes :)

How Much is that Doggie in the Dairy Aisle?

I went grocery shopping this evening. I went to Meijer. I don't particularly enjoy grocery shopping, I just wish things would magically appear in my cupboards and refrigerator.

Anywho, a rather odd siting at Meijer this evening, I turned the corner to head down the dairy aisle and I definitely saw a middle-aged woman carrying a small dog. What the...? Are dogs allowed in grocery stores? This one definitely was not an assistance dog, the lady was holding the dog in one hand and selecting yogurt with the other. I enjoy dogs, but I don't really want one sniffing the Yoplait I am about to buy. It is Meijer lady, not Petsmart, plus the temperature was pleasant, is isn't like you are harming your dog leaving it in the car. Pulease!

Hail to the Chief

Today was game day. The Illini got beat by Iowa 6-10... guess we didn't cheer loud enough. It was a pretty quick trip from our hotel in Cedar Rapids to Iowa City, and with the exception of stadium security not wanting to let Jenn in with her back pack/purse/kid supply tote, the Hawkeyes were rather welcoming. On the way to the game Abigail shared with us that "Trees can talk!" Ah, the things you learn from a 3-year old. Our seats were in the Illini section, in the east stands, even with the south end zone in row 79, aka the very top row of the stadium, in the corner. We were surrounded by J Leman's dad and various other members of the Leman extended family. Nik asked the approximately 10-year old girl in front of us if she knew J, and she replied that he was her cousin... Nik replied with "He is my favorite player, and I don't even know him!" The girl's mom and brother were very entertaining throughout the game high-fiving after each Leman tackle, keeping a tackle tally.

Nik and I gave Sidney a football tutorial. She is an excellent student and now knows the following: Offense is when you have the ball and are trying to score, you have 4 tries to go 10 yards, the little lines are one yard, the big lines are five yards, you have to cross two big lines to get 10 yards. Defense is when you don't have the ball and you try to keep the other team from scoring. The guys in black and white striped shirts make sure everyone follows the rules. They throw yellow flags if you are in trouble.

When Rashard didn't make it on 3rd and 2, Sidney said "Two little marks... that isn't very far, I could run that far!" When the band came out at half-time Nik told Sid that she used to play the trombone in the band. She asked Sid if she wanted to play in the band when she got older... no response... did she want to be a cheerleader instead?... shoulder shrug... or maybe you want to play football!... strange look followed by "I'm just not into that, I like to watch!"

The Illini just didn't have it today, they just didn't look sharp. We got all excited about the would be touchdown towards the end of the game, but it was called back because of an illegal receiver down field. Although we lost, this program is definitely making strides, after beating us the Iowa students stormed the field. Illinois football is definitely back on the map, defeating us hasn't caused the opponents to storm the field in a very long time.

On the way back to the hotel after the game Sid said "I know why they told on us!" Huh? When they didn't let us have our touchdown... the other team told on us because they didn't want us to win. Nik agreed with "Yep, if we had that touchdown, the Illini would have won the game". Sid then said "Yeah! Then I could have run on to the field!"

After the game White Mocha (or Dubby-short for "W" for "White Mocha") and the Lil Mochas went swimming at the pool. On the way to the pool the three of them serenaded us in the elevator with the following:

"Oh baby you, you got what I need, but you say he's just a friend, but you say he's just a friend, Oh baby you, you got what I need.'

Evidently the pool was not overly warm... according to Dubby, definitely some "shrinkage" :) After the swim we went to Leonardo's Lounge for dinner. The front desk clerk recommended it, and kudos to him. Besides some great pizza, the decor was completely fabulous and retro with red pleather circular booths, black padded pleather walls... very Vegas circa 1968. When we left we commented that it was getting crowded at Leonardo's and that it was a good thing we got there early. John's response (referring to spending just the right amount of time in the pool and hot tub) "Yeah, Dubby spent just the right amount of time in the Tubby."

Oh, our waitress at Leonardo's was wearing a rather low cut t-shirt. She was a great waitress, but John definitely referred to her cleavage as looking like she "had two bald guys in a headlock".

After dinner Sidney, Abby and then later Jenn came to hang out in our room. Sidney read to us from her 1st grade readers, and so Nikki and I got to "sign off" on her reading log. Also, Abby mentioned that her cough is gone, then pointed to her mouth and said "See?".

Okay, so it isn't even 9:00 and it is about time for this blogger to call it a night. Please see all the pictures posted below. It has been a great weekend, and fabulous to hang with the Thomas family. We hope to hit the road by 10 a.m. tomorrow, just after breakfast.

Editors Note: So the title of this blog "Hail to the Chief"... might not be what you think. John always refers to Jenn as "Chief". She asked John if she could wear one of his t-shirts for the game. He said yes, but only if she wore his "Chief" shirt. When we were explaining to Sidney that Chief Illiniwek isn't allowed to dance anymore, she later said... pointing to her mom, "See, we still have a chief, it's just that she doesn't dance much." Oh, speaking of Jenn, we decided she so needs her own set of yellow penalty flags for when Abby and Sidney "are in trouble and not playing by the rules"

Grrr

Thank you Mr. I Need Ice from the Ice Machine at 6:58 a.m. Our room is not that far from the ice machine, and the ice machine isn't very quiet... Grrrr!

You can be as loud as you want tomorrow

Greetings from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Nikki and I hit the road this afternoon to make the trip to Iowa for the Illinois vs. Iowa game Saturday in Iowa City. We are staying about 25 miles up the road in Cedar Rapids in an $80 room at the Hampton Inn vs. the $200+ rooms in Iowa City proper.

We are here with the Thomas clan, after a stop in Geneseo, Illinois to watch Jenn's nephew, Anthony, play JV football for the Green Machine... aka the Geneseo Maple Leafs. The Green Machine rolled to a convincing 42-8 victory.

Once at the hotel Nikki and I went across the hall to hang out with the Thomas fam, aka Jenn, White Mocha and the Lil' Mochas. Sidney and Abby were definitely "full steam ahead"... pun totally intended. Abby, being somewhat meat adverse was eating her McDonalds cheeseburger sans the burger... bun, cheese & ketchup... brings new meaning to veggie burger, huh. FYI, it was free because the folks at McDonalds needed several tries to actually figure out what they were ordering.

Jenn and John were trying to get them settled down so they didn't wake up the entire hotel, and Abby was not really down with that plan at which point Sidney said "Abby be quiet, you can be as loud as you want tomorrow at the football game, it is outside and you are supposed to yell." Our rooms are quite nice, newly remodeled in fact, but Sidney was (and I quote) "expecting a bigger room".

I will leave you with a song White Mocha and Lil' Mochas were singing just before decided to retire for the evening...

Iced White Mocha (rapped to the tune of Ice Ice Baby)

Cruisin' .... in my Silverado

With the windows down,

So my hair can blow...

Time for bed... need to get our rest so we can cheer Rashard, J, Juice and Co. on tomorrow.

I've Opened Pandora's Box!

So I have a brand new discovery to report. www.pandora.com

Pandora is a FREE online radio station. You type in a song or artist you want to hear, it plays it then starts playing other songs it thinks you will enjoy on the "station" you have created. You can give each song a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" and it continues selecting songs for you based on your choices.

I have been listening to it on my headphones at work, and it fantastic, kind of like someone gave you an ipod loaded with your favorite music. It often will play songs from artists you know, but that you haven't necessarily heard because there were not released as singles.

So I can't really take credit for this discovery. Kudos to Jake, my former football mentee, he mentioned Pandora on his latest blog post about studying at Grainger. Seriously Jake, Pandora is so the new favorite thing of all the credit analysts at Busey Bank... Kudos Jacob!

Happy Birthday Down Under

Thursday, October 11, 2007 (okay so it is still the 10th here but it is already the 11th in Brisbane, Austrailia)

Happy Birthday Lil’ Sis!

Today is my Lil’ Sis, Nathan’s, birthday! Please see the “G’Day Nate” blog from July for the Lil’ Sis story. Nathan is one of my buddies from the Hall. He started working there when he was just a 17-year old punk, and left about 6 ½ years later as 24-year old “almost gentleman”.

My Natey has been in Brisbane, Australia since July. Normally he does the civil engineering gig in Chicago, but is working on big project down under for about four months. You can read about all of his adventures on his blog, “Nate Down Under”, the link is to the right. Nathan lives in Chicago so it isn’t like I get to see him all that much, but I really have missed him while he has been gone. Cellular calls and texting overseas are a bit on the pricey side, so we have relied primarily on email. One of my favorite email conversations took place this last Friday when I was at work. It was 10 a.m. Friday morning for me, but with the time difference it was 1 a.m. Saturday morning in Brisbane… Nathan had gone out Friday after work and decided to drunk email me… it was a kind of slow day at work for me, so chatting with an intoxicated Nathan was by far the highlight of my day.

Okay, so Nathan’s adventure in Australia isn’t enough to be jealous about, on his way home in November he is stopping in Hawaii for five days. He officially sucks. When he is there the Fighting Illini basketball team will be there to play University of Hawaii, and to play in the Maui Invitational… Hawaiian paradise, and Bruce Weber and the fighting Illini… he now sucks in three major ways, really bad, really hard, and wicked hard. Okay, so he tells me he will just miss the basketball team in Hawaii… so I guess I suck for getting his hopes up… my bad must have had the dates wrong… oopps!

I have about a zillion stories of Nathan I could share, and recommend you reread the Down Under post from back in July to relive many of them. One that makes me laugh is this past Christmas Nathan stopped for a visit on his way back home to Fairfield. He and Nikki helped me decorate some Christmas cookies. Nathan is a respectable cookie decorator, but he still definitely has a slightly “in the gutter” mentality because he definitely made a Pimp snowman, complete with a ‘Ho’ snowgirl… he even used one of the broken cookies to make a “pimp stick”. Nathan also made a few Cubs cookies, but I guess that is only fair since Nik made a St. Louis Cardinals Snowman. (See Pimp snowman picture below... yes we took a picture of it)

Just this past week I have new Nathan story to share. I was telling Richard that Nikki was looking forward to him meeting Nathan so that Nathan would get all jealous, which Nik finds rather entertaining. Richard thought I meant jealous in the traditional sense as opposed to the Nathan version where when I pay attention to anyone (especially a boy) other than him and then he just completely ups the “cuteness” factor and starts fetching me drinks and being all gentlemanly and such, leading me to say things like “Aw Nathan” as opposed to the typical “Nathan, you are such a tool!”, so Richard then asked me “So why didn’t you and Nathan ever date?” I have never laughed so hard in all my life. Once I recovered I gave Richard the short list “#1 EW!, #2 Nathan is like my brother (see #1), #3 I have known Nathan since he was a 17-year old punk, and nobody recovers from that, and #4 I am old enough to have been Nathan’s babysitter. No offense to Nathan, I am sure he has a similar list as well. I told him this story and he found it amusing too. Ironically enough, not long before he said he sent an email to me and a group of other friends and his friend Dan responded, “So I know everyone in the email group with the exception of this “Jane person”, are you dating her? Nathan is a good sport though he said he would gladly step up the charm if I wanted him to when he meets Richard… maybe Richard would get “jealous” and start being extra cute and fetching me drinks and stuff and making me say “Aw Richard”, and opposed to “Richard, you are such a tool!”

Oh, Nathan and I have “a song” too, “Good Directions” by Billy Currington. I told this to Sarah J and she was like why in the world is that “yours and Nathan’s song”… if you know the lyrics it has absolutely nothing to do with our relationship, yet another reason most of the world doesn’t understand our unique relationship I guess. Anyway, when Nathan was here for my birthday party this spring (Kudos to Nathan for driving all the way from Chicago for my party of Sonic, mini golf, Custard Cup and Tumble Inn… it was one of my favorite birthday gifts) we were on our way to church and the song came on, we both commented that we really liked it… after church back in the car, the song came on again and I jokingly said “Hey Nate, it’s our song” as I turned up the radio.

Oh another slightly amusing and “Aw Nathan” story… I am one of the more frequent comment leavers on Nathan’s blog. But a few weeks went by where I hadn’t commented… not sure why, maybe nothing to say, or perhaps we had chatted via email or caught up a bit when he called me from Down Under on his internet phone, anyway when Nathan was talking to his Mom during this time (who I have never met by the way) she asked “So where has Jano Fabulous been lately, I have missed reading her comments!”. “Aw Nathan, your Mom is sweet!” (what happened to you?) Random side note, my blog is evidently rather popular among my friend’s moms… I find this ironic since my own mother has never read it… she doesn’t have a computer, not that she doesn’t care)

Nathan will be back stateside around in time for Thanksgiving. Nik and I already have a “date” with him in December to go to the Illini game at the United Center vs. Arizona. I am excited to hang out with my Lil’ Sis again… we make each other laugh, and I am excited for him to be stateside again so we can resume our random goofball text messages.

So, there you go… Happy Birthday Nathan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Editors Note: The first picture is of Nathan on top of the Harbour Bridge in Sydney.

Hey Baby I'm Your Telephone Man

I was talking to my college/post college roommate, Jeanne, the other day. Evidently her Dad, Len, is one of my loyal blog readers. He has been wondering why my blog does not feature pictures of me wearing my various Ameritch aka "phone guy" apparel. Back in the day when Len worked for Ameritech, he would score various "phone guy" apparel for Jeanne and I to wear. (FYI, I still have a jacket, and I break it out every fall for leaf raking for some reason). Anyway, to return the favor I had my Dad put together a collection of "farmer hats" (aka hats he acquires from various seed, chemical and tractor dealers) to give to Len. Jeanne said that he still sports the farmer hats. In fact he busted out a farmer hat awhile back to play baseball in the backyard with Jeanne's nephew (Len's grandson), Jack. Evidently Jack got to decide who wore what hat. Jack wore a farmer hat, Len wore Mighty Mouse.

I also used to sing the "Telephone Man" song for Jeanne and her Dad. I am not sure where this song came from, but I am fairly certain that I actually heard it somewhere, as opposed to making it up. So to thank Len for being a faithful blog reader... here is my web rendition of "Telephone Man"

(in high pitched feminine voice)... Wednesday at 3:00 I called the phone company, Thursday at 4:00 I got a knock on my door... (in a very deep manly voice) Hey baby I'm your telephone man, you can have it with a buzz, you can have it with a ring, and if you really want it you can have a Ding-A-Ling! Hey baby I'm your telephone man!

Rashard & Real Estate

Saturday I went to the Illini football game. It was awesome, the Illini came out fighting and beat #5 Wisconsin. Rashard Mendenhall (coincidentally also #5) ran for 160 yards and two touchdowns, and once again proved to me why he is one of my favorites. When I think of Rashard I can't help but think of my favorite Rashard story. Last season while at a game Rashard made a great play and they put up his picture on the jumbotron, along with the following "Rashard Mendenhall, So. Skokie, IL". My response to Nikki, "Hey look, I didn't know there was a South Skokie, who knew, but that is where Rashard is from." Nik gave me the strangest look, and replied "Um, Jane, I think that he is a SOPHMORE from Skokie, not from South Skokie!"... yep, perhaps one of my dumbest moments ever. To this day we laugh about "South" Skokie.

Nikki was at her class reunuion, so Richard when to the game with me. He loves football, but doesn't have a particular allegiance to the Illini. He didn't wear red, and didn't actively cheer for the Badgers so I can live with that :) Walking towards the stadium Richard and I came across a lovely house. I know Nikki has been thinking about buying a house in Champaign, and Richard being ever the smart azz thought she might want take a look at this one. Here is the picture.

If any of you want to take a closer look, it is across the street from Jillian's. I told Richard that it kind of looks like they took the wheels off of one of those "log cabin" looking trailers from which they sell hickory pit barbeque at local fairs and festivals. Nik, on the plus side... you would be conveniently located close to the stadium.

Blogs & Braces

Thursday night I went to Leroy to see my niece Taylor's volleyball match. They didn't play well the first game, but they stepped it up in the last two games and won the match. Miss Taylor made a couple of awesome plays at the end of game three to win the match. Kudos Taylor! She did this all while sporting new braces on her top teeth. The retainer never did the trick so she has some more permament hardware for the next 8 to 12 months. The cool thing, her braces are pink and green. Not obnoxiously pink and green, but the bands have a little bit of color in them that when you are up close... definitely some color. Anyway, if you have to wear braces they might as well be as fashionable as possible, right?

Okay the title of this post is "Blogs & Braces". We have discussed the braces, now time for some blogs. I have added a couple of blogs to my favorite links on the right hand side of this page. The additions include:

The Baby Blog- This blog is all about the happenings of my second boyfriend, Jeremiah. J-Man will be one year old in about a month, and is perhaps the cutest and most well-behaved baby I have ever known. He likes the Illini, the Cardinals, and Leinies... pretty much my dream date. A big thanks to Jeremiah's parents, John and Marla, for helping him with his posts.

Abe and Allie- This blog is posted by my recently married friends, Abe and Allison. Allison used to be in my small group and church, and they live in Evanston, Illinois where Abe cheers for the Cubs (boo!) and Allison cheers for the Cards (Yay!). OK, so Abe cheers for the Illini, so he's not half bad.

Matt and Anne- The blog belongs to Matt and Anne, a couple I know from church. Anne hearts Matt and Math, Matt hearts Anne and the Brewers and the Packers.

Jake's Blog- So Jake was my Illini football freshman mentee last season. This season he decided to leave the team and pursue life as a "normal" college student. Being normal must be nice because he is the only one getting paid for his blog. It is on the U of I admissions website, were various students in different majors are asked to blog about campus life, school, housing, the community etc. The link to his page takes you to a "About Jake" page, then at the bottom there is a list his various posts. I highly recommend reading about his search for an apartment for next year... it is hysterical.

Hey White Mocha... It's Your Birthday

Wednesday, October 3

Happy Birthday Major John Thomas!
Today is John’s birthday. He is married to my good friend Jenn, and they have two daughters, Sidney (6) and Abby (3). John and I attended the U of I at the same time, but never crossed paths until he started dating Jenn the summer after we had graduated and were no longer on campus.

Jenn picked a good guy to marry. I like John, and he makes me laugh. Not just a funny joke here or there, but gut-busting, fall down on the sidewalk, nearly pee my pants laugh. One of the first times I met John, he and Jenn visited for an Illini football game. I referred to this weekend in Jenn’s birthday post… she used the word “obliviated”. Well on the night when the boys drank and the girls drove, I saw John eat a LaBamba burrito with no hands… attractive…. after which he went outside and sat in a puddle of water. Obviously Jenn and I both over looked those two minor character flaws.

John is a Major in the U.S. Air Force. He used to sit underground with missiles next to the big red Bat Phone, waiting for the “Blow ’em up” call from the President. Later he monitored space, and maneuvered satellites around space debris. Now he works on military strategies that he can’t tell me about. Okay so that is a complete over-simplification of his job, but you get the jist. When he gets his 20 years in he plans to retire from the military. His next career ambition… to be a spiritual advisor to a rap artist… his new rap name will be “White Mocha”, which happens to be his favorite drink at Starbucks/Caribou Coffee. I like this about John… you can’t say he isn’t well rounded! When he tells you of said plans he sounds really serious. It drives Jenn nuts… I can’t stop laughing, pretty much the desired effect.

Okay, so one of my funny JT stories. When he was in college he had an old beater bike that he rode. He always illegally locked his bike to parking meters etc. The parking cops essentially “booted” his bike, until he registered the bike so that they could ticket him for illegally locking it. He filled out the registration papers while the parking cop waited… rather than John Thomas he used the name “Haywood Jablowmy” and a bogus address. The cop looked at the registration, and then said thank you and went on his way, and John continued to illegally park his bike the rest of the year, while “Haywood“ received all of his tickets. Another JT story… he and Jenn were visiting and we were out at Cowboy Monkey and one of the local transvestites (who really needs some style tips) “Debbie” walked by, when she got past us you could see her skirt tucked into her pantyhose… a very unfortunate look. John’s response… “Dude! That lady is a dude!”.

John is one of my favorite visitors. When he is back in C-U he loves to hit is favorite college eating spots. I don’t have to cook… I just get ready to eat LaBamba, Papa Dels and Zorbas.

Nik and I will be hitting the road next Friday to see John, Jenn and the girls. We are meeting them in Iowa City for the Illinois vs. Iowa football game. It is about half way between C-U and their home near Omaha. I am looking forward to the trip. I am sure I will pick up a few more funny JT stories to add to his birthday blog next year.

Happy Birthday White Mocha!!