Wk-d unos goodbyes.3/sunday -The Plays the thing

Was only able to watch 2/3ds of Bears game. Walked Mom to mass, lied to her by saying that I'd catch up w/ God @ the Loyola student mass (which I love, and I woulda gone, but we ran out of time), and jetted to collect Gf by 5.30. My fault that we didn't have time to eat.

Play was ok. Not great. Not even good. Minor. Nothing.

It was long ride up there, filled with questions and no answers, resolve and no resolve, and strenght and weaknesses. And no answers.

"ITHICA LEAKED !!!!!!!"

And now, for the first time ever, I am posting part of my wonderful epic "Ithica". Just a touch; hopefully it feels rite:

"...the major parts of the conversation."

There will be more.......sometime.......but wasn't that exciting?

go rita go

If the world were perfect, I'd be going to this game to-nite. Really I wanted to go.

I must admidt that most of my readers didn't go to their hs's football games when in hs, but our school was different. Football was a big big big deal. Still is. We got to go to St. Rita games when we were in grammer school still= to brand us to the school, they said that if we wear our grammetr schol jersey's we'd be able to get into SR stadium foor free. Plus, hey, could you get a cooler outfit ever than a St. Rita grammer school jersey?

Chemical Man's Birthday Bash

Written by Lazers

names edited by Hilts

addendum by Hilts

There were some large groups at TC Pub last night, one that had the gall to occupy the usual J&B table. That scenario would be akin to the Yankees showing up at Yankee Stadium only to find it being used for an MTV celebrity softball game. Nonetheless, J&B was able to celebrate Bill’s birthday with some of Sue’s baking (but they weren’t brownies, as they lacked the brownie thing across the top). Despite the festivities, it was a quick and overall quiet trivia night.

J&B represented by: Chemical Man, Hilts, Stix, Dragon, Gf and Lazers

J&B talisman: the J&B desktop holder, plus Hilts was carting a small, empty wooden box

Competition: Bar, Nells, and Partridge Family

TC Pub: no waitress tonight, even though the crowd likely required one, and even though Glasses and Earth Mother were hanging around.

First Half: In the News/US Stuff/The Other Guy in Sports

1980 NL batting champ = Bill Buckner, AL batting champ = ?
1972 NL batting champ = Billy Williams, AL batting champ = ?
1993 AL Cy Young award = Jack McDowell, NL Cy Young = ?
1993 AL MVP = Frank Thomas, NL MVP = ?
1984 NL Cy Young award = Rick Sutcliffe, AL Cy Young = ?
1972 AL homer champ = Dick Allen, NL homer champ = ?
1983 AL Cy Young award = Lamar Hoyt, NL Cy Young = ?
1994 AL MVP = Frank Thomas, NL MVP = ?
1998 NL MVP = Sammy Sosa, AL MVP = ?
1943 AL batting champ = Luke Appling, NL batting champ = ?

2000 census: in US population, Chicago is followed by which city?

Scores at the half: Bar 1310 J&B 1000 Partridge Family 940 Nells 800

Second Half: Sports/Measurements/Celebrity Birth Years & Facts

Bulls’ top two scorers for 2006-2007 season?
Last year the Cleveland Browns won NFL championship?
Move action star whose real name is Carlos Ray (last name remained the same)?

Scores into final question: Bar 2660 Partridge Family 1880 J&B 1640 Nells 1420

Choice of final category: Languages of the world, or Cities of the world

All teams select “cities of the world”

Need 4 of 7 to win wager. All 7 correct wins 3000 bonus points.

J&B wagers 241 (enough to pass Partridge Family should they bet 0, and enough to beat the Bar if they bet to protect against Partridge Family and lose).

From 2000: 7 World Cities had 9,000,000 or more people (5 in Asia, 1 in South America).

Gentlemen?

Part II

J&B guesses Seoul, Shanghai, Tokyo, Bombay, New Delhi, Mexico City and Sao Paulo

First half answers:
’80 AL batting champ = George Brett
’72 AL batting champ = Rod Carew
’93 NL Cy Young = Greg Maddux
’93 NL MVP = Barry Bonds
’84 AL Cy Young = Willie Hernandez
’72 NL homer champ = Johnny Bench
’83 NL Cy Young = John Denny
’94 NL MVP = Jeff Bagwell
’98 AL MVP = Juan Gonzalez
’43 NL batting champ = Stan Musial

Census city behind Chicago: Houston

Second half answers:
Ben Gordon and Luol Deng
1964
Chuck Norris

Final Question:

Nells- 1420- guess Tokyo (no), Mexico City (yes), Beijing (no), New Delhi (yes), Buenos Aires (no), Calcutta (no), New York (no), Kuala Lumpur (no)- only 2 correct even though they made 8 guesses instead of 7- wagered it all- thanks for playing.

J&B- 1640- guesses Seoul (yes), Shanghai (yes), Tokyo (no), Bombay (no), New Delhi (yes), Mexico City (yes), Sao Paulo (yes)- 5 correct- wagered 241- up to 1881.

Partridge Family- 1880- guesses Tokyo (no), Rio (no), New Delhi (yes), Moscow (no), Bombay (no)- at least one other “no” guess that I missed- only 1 correct- wagered 1878- down to 2.

Bar- 2660- guesses Manila (no), Shanghai (yes), Sao Paulo (yes), Tokyo (no), New Delhi (yes), Beijing (no), New York (no)- only 3 correct- wagered 1111- down to 1549.

J&B’s stellar wager leads to a second victory in a row!

The answers (and narrator comments):
Seoul
Shanghai
New Delhi
Sao Paulo
Mexico City (note: when researching this morning, lists I saw do not have Mexico City with over 9 million in population while Moscow does have more than that).
Mumbai (note: formerly known as Bombay- I do not know if credit was not given for Bombay answers because of the name change, or because Benkowski isn’t aware that they are one and the same).
Karachi

A handful of potential errors, but they don’t change the final result.

Next trivia night in two weeks (September 27th). Gf has promised tollhouse cookies….

Hilts addendum

Very strange that there were no waitresses, especially that Glasses was there. Lots of people, but only four teams. It was also the day of the advent of Dragon making throws instead of me. He went up on a 'drink faster' challenge, and they called it a tie. He had to "throw the ball" in the tie breaker, and I was gonna take the throw. However, Dragon was saying "I beat the guy" , so I figured he had the confidence to beat the guy in the tiebreaker. He did. next time there was a throw, we tried to get Dragen up, but instead it was Hilts- both were winners. I has also brought a box to trivia this week. I'd found it the day before on the sidewalk and immed. took its best use to be a hat. So, I walked around the Belmont area with a wooden box on my head- and yes, they all loved it. Honk honk "HEY NICE HAT" , "dude, kool!!", "Hey, the best hat EVER", etc..... Gf was embarresed, but I loved it. This box/hat needed to be brought to trivia, so I did: I christened it "The J & B " box. I'd forgotten that Stix had brought up a similar themed box the last week, and felt like a fool for duplicating the effort. lately a lot of historical J & B items have been brought to games: the F-16, the Spiderman -v- the Mindworm comic book, etc...

Deux Jours dans Paris

An exciting thing is Gf's lately liking of la cinema de France lately. Nous sommes voir duex films dans le ultimate deux mois, et elle les amis tres bein.

Despite that fact that Shipley (using her secret film name julie delpy, and sometimes looking like a cross betwixt Shipley and the Brunette Bobsey Twin of Rogers Park- those huge black glasses she sometimes wears) starred in the film, it was just ok. Well, I'm 1/2 heartedly recommending it. However, there was a deeply powerful minute near the end- incredible in catching/displaying true human feelings. I can't say 'cause I hate to ruin it fer ya. So, well, go ahead and see it. The complaining costar (___________) was also good- he's usually the whining complaining type (not always), and it played it to the Hilts. ok, so see it. Not too bad.

Just love that Gf is getting into foreign films. Remember when I said I love it when she gets really happy wit something? We'll ride this foreign film like for a while.

Courtesy Gallo

Now, I'm not sayin'...

Sadness

So, as one can tell, I have A LOT OF TIME TODAY.

went bloghopping

Poor girl I found

poor girl writer

writing on her hound

One of my favourite rememberances of my Dad. Longtime ago someone cut a fart around him, and he angrily responded by saying:

"WHO DID THAT CRACK?"

"STAY!!"

Of the trillions of things I just loved about Band of Brothers (one of my favourite cinematic experiences) was all of the signals. This picture shows Winters, well, signalling. It was such a rush watching the soldiers sneak up to an enemy position in silence, then run through a series of hand signals so they could all be on the same page as to what to do next. Same as in "Saving Private Ryan"- remember the guy in the steeple signaling that he sees the enemy coming, and this is what they got? After the 10h experience of BoB, I embraced hand signals. Lots were done just fer snix and to keep me close to my 'frenz' in the series. Joker and I would run through signals, and Vito told me that when he and Vampdom also gorged out on hand signals for a bit after their viewing. Non verbal communication.

For me, the hand signals really came 'handy' in training the dog. Winters, for example, is doing the classic "STAY, BOLO!" There is also the sit down (Snap, finger pointed down), the lie down (snap, finger down, hand down), roll over (pointing finger circled), stay with me (slap my hand on the side of my leg), and "PAW". It really helps, and doing the "stay" signal is a great way to reinforce "STAY" in ther dogs mind.

tAKING AND RECIEVING FIRE

CHEW CHEW CHEW !!!

PEWO PEWO PEOW !!!

CHEW !

CHEW CHEW CHEW !!!

don't bother unless ya really wanna

Again, I'm on a Magnetic Fields superfans mailing list, so the supermagheads send any and all things to the list. Here's a Volvo ad that seems to have them in it. It's been the rage of the mailing list the last few days.

Billy's Budds

This also brings to mind my Dad. Ad naseum I've gone on about him, but here is my interesting thought. Gallo and I longtemps ago had discussions about or fathers and the impact they have left on us. I always complain about myself never having watched my Dad in the garden when he was alive. All that knowledge lost. Gallo lost his father real early (7yo), and we talked about even though we didn't have them for long, simply being around them hopefully has rubbed stuff off.

So why posted here? Red tomato memories of time reeled out:

Ah, and tomato time had to end. The cold weather* of late has reminded me of the grand effort from last Fall to save all of my tomato plants from the freeze. I had planted my tomato's real late last year, and so there were tonnes on the vine when the freeze came. This year my diligence in getting them into the soil quick in June plus the perfect hot and rainy weather means the supercrop I have. However, all things must pass (all things must pass away), and my vines have basically been exhausted producing what they have. However, they still have time to change those green fruit into red before the real freeze happens.

Which brings up my Dad and learning.

Lat years effort to save the grand majority of the crop involved putting up giant old sheets and plastic wraps (for insulation) all over the tomato's in an effort to keep'm warm 'till morning. I pulled back some of the fruit, but most died. This was what Dad did all the time this season of the year. The first frost nite would always be a big deal 'cause Dad have to cover the plants after he got home from work and before nite fell.

But that Dude would go much further. He grew roses, and the end of the growing season would mean that he would totally wrap them up in old rags to stave off the worst of our Continental winters. He would have those old oil drums that Chicago Street and San had us using as garbage cans in the 70's filled with dirt in the basement. In these he had 'canon bulbs' -I'm not sure of the real name for these plants- in the dirt again protecting them from the winter.

So, I paid enough attention to do the "first frost" thing. I also know the value of weeding- probably more than anything, a single summoned image of father is him on three/fours pulling dandelions out of the lawn. D'accord, I wish I'd paid more attention.

But, we move on.

..........................................................................

*= context is everything

Yr the one for me fatty

Word is out that no longer will I be the Temp special ed teacher for the classes I have been doing. I was the out and out teacher of social studies for 2 classes, and that has been fun. All classes in this program have been fun. It will mean that I do not need to prepare for these two classes anymore, but I'm also losing the 'day after day purpose' that comes when you have the same kids day after day. I'll do whatever they like.

Lenny

"Are you gonna go my way?" was a song that was on the Superhitz list when I lived @ the Lunt House in the early to mid 90's. It seemed that all four of my Rogers Park Roomies (as opposed to my Homan Roomies and my Walcott Roomies @ the time- yes, I lived fully in three addresses then.) had the LP and rocked it constantly. We were always rockin'. My superspecfic favourite memory of that song is when Jackson, Vito, Grimm* and I were out @ some nice club that Grimm had gottten us into for free. "Are you gonna go my way?" came on the system, and Grimm asked some girls nearby to danse, and just for this song. He wasn't hitting on them, just wanted to danse and didn't feel ok about dansing by hisself. Now, these were days where many of us would go out dansing twice or three times a week, and usually we dansed alone. Hell, we even went regularly into the easier gay bars** and danse (and, yes, we'd go to gay bars to ...... pick up woman (true). So it's kinda funny that Grimm, who, uh, dansed in gay bars by himself for a living during one stint of his life.

"Lovely Lady" Yes, a commercial- the one w/ Sarah Jesse Parker in the Gap ad shilling- bad song, not interesting, but it caught me and it's still in my head. I like it........uh yeah yeah, im a punk rocker and im kool because ......shit, went to the well too many times with that sthicht........I like it ok.

"American Woman" Yes a Lenny song, but my favourite memory of this song is when The Guess Who played out high school in 1982 or so and rocked the nite w/ this cut. Why I post this up is because rite when the band hit into that "American Woman" riff- y know, THE RIFF- the singer and another group member got their instrument cables mixed up. Until they got it all undone, the band kept to that riff for 10m- and, it's a good riff.

"Mr. Cab Driver" The best of the four songs here- nah, "Go my way" is- I've heard a couple times. It's a catchy song and have found myself playing it on the Jukebox @ T.C.'s

So, Lenny's ok. All artists have something in them, usually, that is good. Some make my feet tap, some remind me of youth, and some.............well, one never knows why really.

.....................................................

*=What? Can't I call a spade a spade sometimes??

**=the more straight friendly ones that had chix

BlameBlax

Do you ever think aboutwhat a lovely place the world would bewithout all the peoplethat make life so unpleasant?All the small, petty peopleAll the ugly, annoying peopleIt's hard not to think about itI like to think aboutwhat could bedone to these peopleSomething cruelSomething meanSomething justBut the meaner the betterGoodness knows they deserve itHave you ever dreamed ofkilling all the stupid people?Not just the unintelligent peoplebut the sort that don't know anything about anythingbut seem to have opinions about everythingThey're only too ready to offer their advice abouthow to run your lifeAnd yet look at how they run their own livesFor the most part they've accomplished nothingThey've contributed nothingTheir lives are miserableBut they talk, talk, talkAt the very least their tongues should be cut outAt the very leastDo you ever wannakill all the people who tell lies?Some certainly deserve itNot necessarily the big liarsor even those who teach lies as truthI'm talking about peoplewho say one thing and do anotheror who tell you they sent something express mailwhen you know they haven'tDid you ever want tokill all the slow people in the world?The people who are in front of youwhen they should be behind youA crime that the swift should be help back by the slowAnd it's criminal that nothing is going to rectify itAnd what about all the really ugly people?Add them to the list as wellSome people try not to think about life's uglinessI've thought about itI've thought about it quite a lotSomething should be done to these peopleSomething to make them sufferthe way they've made us sufferI say, bring back the circus maximusfor startersUnless these weeds are dealt withthey'll poison everythingThey are poisoning everythingWe need a gardenerA brutal gardenerA thorough, thoughtful gardenerAn iron gardenerWhatever happened to Vlad the Impaler?Where's Genghis Kahn when you need him?Or Roi d'Ys?Ayatollah KhomeiniAdolf HitlerBenito MussoliniNeroDiocletianKitchenerCome back!

"people"- B. Rice