Great day with the Cubs yesterday

Here's the second round of postings for today...wanted to follow up on yesterday's activities. The stunningly patient SML and I took some good friends, Jeff and Rebecca, into the city to Wrigley for an afternoon matchup between the Cubs and the Dodgers. We were divided in our support with the stunningly patient supporting the Dodgers and me, wearing my Cubs shirt, cheering for the Cubs. Our seats were amazing:
Four stinking rows behind the Cubs dugout!
During the 7th innning stretch

The weather was just this side of perfect. We had a great time and the game really took off at the 7th inning when the Cubs took back the lead and won the game in the 9th. After the game, we got out of Wrigleyville and made our way into downtown. We went to dinner at a great Thai place called Star of Siam. The spicy beef appetizers were really good and my mussuman curry was great. The stunningly patient SML liked her meal, so we've found a Thai place we can both enjoy. After dinner, on Rebecca's suggestion, we walked down to the Shedd Aquarium to see it post-renovation. Sadly, when we got there, it was closed but no matter. It was a beautiful walk. Looking back on the Chicago skyline was incredible. It's a unique skyline and one I never tire of. We walked back up Michigan Avenue, grabbed some dessert, and got home around 930PM. It was a great day.

Today's been no slouch either. Got up and ran 5.4 miles - managed to once again trip on my stinking shoelace about one mile in, coming down on my recently healed knee. I bounced right back up but it knocked the wind out of my sails for the rest of the run. Then home for the usual cadre of errands, etc., and then it was off to the Boy's final soccer game of the season. He scored a goal and then during the post-game awards was given the "It's Not Tackle Football" award. He could not have been more thrilled.

As I was coming back from my run today, I realized that I am really happy (not psycho Sally Field 'You like me, you really like me!' happy) but happy. I've been blessed beyond measure and life, well, Life.Is.Good.

You must see this

It's gonna be a double post kind of a day...I'll fill you in on yesterday's AWESOME day in the city later...but first you must see this. One of the most brilliant SNL sketches in a very long time:
Junine...you are the best.

What doesn't mix

Certainly you've had one of those times where nothing seems to go your way. I had about an hour of that tonight. I'd been in the office since 600AM - had a call with London and Hong Kong and I wouldn't be going home until late as I was meeting our Church youth group for an activity closer to my office. So I left the office a bit before 5PM in order to get something to eat before the activity.

I picked a harmless place, one of those chains specializing in fast casual. The northern burbs o'Chicagoland aren't exactly teeming in exotic food options, so I took what I could. I ordered some Wisconsin Mac N'Cheese and decided to spice it up with some sriracha sauce. Sriracha is awesome. It's popping up all over the place. Even the venerable New York Times just did a feature article on it. But I digress. So as I'm trying to shake a little sauce on my mac, it just wasn't coming out. So I gave it a little squeeze. And that's when it went horribly wrong. This is when I learned that these two things don't mix:


Somehow this sriracha had some kind of wicked backspin on it and I wound up looking like I had been shot. I'm not kidding. I had sriracha spatters all across my white shirt. Conundrum: I have to be to this Church gig in about an hour and I MUST be in an unspattered white shirt. So I finish my meal and I recall that there's a Jos. A. Banks store in the strip mall I'm in so I bolt over there. The sales guy didn't even have to ask what I needed when I walked in. Took me straight to the shirt section and within about 10 minutes I walked out of the store wearing a new shirt. That's when I discovered that my personal Blackberry was AWOL. Seriously. So I go back into the store and it's not there. I call it. No ring to be heard. I figure it must be back at the place I'd eaten. I go back and things look a little bleak. They must have had a shift change to the highly apathetic crowd. After several tense minutes, they managed to find the 'Berry.

All was well in the world again and I raced off to meet the youth for the evening. Made it. Wound up being a good night. Now let's see if the sriracha shirt can be salvaged. It's soaking in stain remover as we speak.

Memorial Day

It's Memorial Day today. As I write this, President Obama is honoring the war dead at Arlington National Cemetery. Parades are being held across the country, in cities both large and small, including our 'burb here in Chicagoland. Parades are my personal Kryptonite - they are my undoing and I can't watch them, attend them, whatever. So no parade-going here. Mercifully.

Instead, I got up and headed over to Blackwell Forest Preserve and got in a 4.35 mile run. Blackwell was far less crowded than Herrick was on Saturday so it gave me the opportunity to think about this day as I ran. As a victim of the US public educational system, if I depended on what I was taught in elementary and high school, I'd think that Memorial Day was a day for honoring all the animals that get slaughtered for the myriad BBQ's that go down on this day. Alas, I know differently - thanks to a good college education and a fairly insatiable desire to read and learn more about the sacrifice of so many who have fought for our collective freedom.

My interest in those who fought for us was sparked when I first read Tom Brokaw's "The Greatest Generation." Brokaw beautifully details the actions and sacrifices of those who fought in World War II. He captured their decency and their dedication to their country.

I was stunned by these men and women and was basically ashamed of my spoiled, self-centered generation. I cannot fathom my high school graduating class dropping everything and going off to war the way these people did. Good Pete, half my graudating class wouldn't have moved unless they knew there was coke around the corner (and by coke I am not referring to a lovely frosty beverage).

After reading Brokaw's book and the volumes that followed, I got caught up in HBO's production of Stephen Ambrose's "Band of Brothers." Ambrose can basically do no wrong as far as I'm concerned. He wrote extensively about World War II and did so in a way that took you straight into the battlefield as well as into the minds of those that were fighting. Incredible writer. The producers of "Band of Brothers" were no crowd of slouches either - Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. they produced a stunning look at the men of Easy Company and what they experienced. I got the whole production on DVD for Father's Day several years ago and it is one that I go back to time and again. Every time it's on the History Channel, I stop and watch.

My desire to learn more about those that for us does not stop with World War II. I've delved into the histories of Vietnam and have lost count of the number of books I've read about our current situation in Iraq. There's one book that could not be more appropriate for Memorial Day. I posted about it last year here. Final Salute is a searing and stunning look into the return of the dead from Iraq and Afghanistan to their families.

It's also an unflinching tribute to those that died. I can't recommend this book highly enough. Read it. It will make this day mean so much more. HBO produced a film called "Taking Chance" about the experience of returning one of the fallen soldiers home. I've not had an opportunity to see it. I hope it's impactful.

I'm thankful for those that have fought for the freedom that we enjoy and take for granted here. May they be rewarded for what they've done.