Day 386 - 387: Sister, Mothers & Gas

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend and especially their Mothers Day celebrations. My wife & I got away on Saturday to continue the celebration of her birthday and start the Mothers Day festivities. We took off to our backyard play ground, Wisconsin. The Wollersheim Winery was the destination (pictured above). There we picked up a case of wine as we do each trip. We also picked up the gifts for our mothers there, ceramic wine chillers. Of course we couldn't give the moms just wine chillers without a bottle of wine in each.

On the way up there we gassed up in Milwaukee, here is the price of gas (cheap stuff) there...

 Cheapest we've seen around home it in well over a month, so we gassed up there on the way up & back.

We stayed in Pweaukee (a burb of Milwaukee) Saturday night. There we dined at Thunder Bay Grille which has been a favorite of ours for a decade. All of us who are serious about making a better life for ourselves embrace change. Change is good, change is needed if we want to see a better result from our efforts. And a different result from the recent changes in menu and style is what I believe Thunder Bay Grille will see. And not for the better. Seriously, we were disappointed. This rustic northwoods centric restaurant went modern in a bad way. It used to stand apart from its competition, now it reflects at least a dozen other places in the Milwaukee area. Oh well, we had a good decade, best of luck to them.

After dinner we went out to Champps to watch the Nascar race and NBA playoff games while knocking back a couple of beers and just hanging out. Along the way we felt the need to fill in the corners left from our dinner experience. To do that we ordered a hot pretzel from the apps menu. I was expecting a pretzel like you'd get at the ball game, but to my surprise and horror this is what we got...

 Not healthy, not one bit. But it was good I must admit. And so was our time together eating this, drinking Leinenkugel's and Spotted Cow, excellent day with my wife!

Back home on Sunday we took in a soccer game for our sophomore, they lost 0-6; way to go winning one for Mom guys. And then off to meet our Mom's for dinner at Bonefish Grill which never disappoints; lets hope they don't embrace too much change.

Dinner was in Schaumburg, IL which is a Chicago suburb. On the way there I snapped this picture of the typical gas price there...

Ugly ugly ugly that gas marquee is. Way too ugly to just end this post on such a downer note. So let me move to a final bit of positive news to share.

This past Saturday my sister walked the stage at Olivet Nazarene University with her Masters of Arts in Teaching. How cool is that!

Congrats Kim & best of luck in that your search to secure a full time teaching position will be a short one.

OK, that is how I spent my weekend, how did you spend yours?

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 373 - Catching Up Bits N Pieces

Hope all had a fine Easter. We got together with my in laws up at my sister in laws house and enjoyed a cozy feast. They served boy a pig ham and a bear ham. Both were excellent, the bear ham was surprisingly sweet in comparison. Good time, easy relaxing day for the most part.

So how are gas prices treating you? Yeah, I know; dumb question. This weekend I heard some one say that gas prices are already well over $5 in Florida; not sure I believe that. This morning I heard on the radio that Chicagoland continues to have the highest gas prices in the country which is typically true due to a number of factors the leading of which is the insane taxes the city and Cook county levy on just about everything.

This past week/weekend we took our college tour into Indiana & Ohio. The 1,015 miles we drove consumed a good bit of gas, probably 35 gallons. The $4.27 you see there was the price last Thursday evening in Elmhurst, IL where we stopped for dinner before leaving the area. Had we actually ventured into Chicago many of the pumps there on average run 20 cents higher. Once we got out of Chicagoland and on our way we saw no prices over $4...

We spent Thursday night in Cleveland, OH where we saw $3.84 as their highest...
We spent Friday night in Ft. Wayne, IN it was $3.97 for a high...
It was in Ohio's western farming communities where we saw the lowest price of our trip at $3.77...

Enough gas talk, just no way to put a positive spin on it as I see it. Other than, nope, not going to try.

So back to our college tour, Cleveland was our first stop to visit Case Western Reserve University. Cleveland is a decent city, but as I tweeted on Friday, they really need to invest in some street sweepers. They also have some cool lake front scenery, not that we saw much of it, in fact here is the view from our hotel room...

Case Western Reserve U. was the only stop on our tour where there was an actual admissions event planned for prospective students. Apparently they've done this before because they know the most powerful recruiting approach is not to show off their modern campus, or their many accreditations, or the many offerings of Cleveland itself. Nope, they recruit with Rice Krispy treats... 

Hence, CWRU will remain on his short list for now. From there we ventured back west towards home and did a few campus drive thru's of other colleges on his long list...

The Ohio State University

Ohio Northern University

 University of Notre Dame

Of these Ohio Northern was promptly crossed off of his list simply because the community was too rural and the campus didn't feel much more than that of a community college. TOSU & UofND will remain on the list for now. My guess is we will get back to Notre Dame for a scheduled admissions event next summer. As for TOSU, he will first look harder at another Big Ten school close to home; Northwestern. If he likes what he sees there, I'd expect he will drop TOSU off his list. We're just scratching the surface of what will be his college selection experience. There a no safe bets as to where he will go yet. 

Some other pics to share from our trip...

Rain, rained all day on Friday. Miles & miles of rain from Cleveland, OH to Ft. Wayne, IN...

 A train, a llooonnngggg train, caught us in western Ohio. While we waited we watched this white cat (see red circle) walk in the rain; that should sum up the excitement that is western Ohio...

 Dinner in Ft. Wayne was very good. The restaurant next to the hotel was Naked Tchopstix.

There I enjoyed a Mafia roll and Sashimi Salad...

 And the view from our hotel room in Ft. Wayne was a bit better than the night before as well...

So that was the essence of my weekend. A new week is here, back to work, back to enjoying life and making it a better life.  Tonight I have physical therapy for the knee & hip. Tomorrow I have a follow up with my surgeon and have my fingers crossed I get the green light to resume weight training.

What are you doing today, tomorrow to make a better life for you?

 

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 358-360: Just Stuff U Wanna Read

Hope all had a fantastic weekend!. I did; highlights:
Wife bought me a new LaZBoy chair to replace the LaZBoy she bought some 11 years ago.
Dinner with my wife & mother at Bonefish Grill.
Watching (on TV) Matt Kenseth win the NASCAR race in Texas.
Watching the Blackhawks secure a playoff spot even though they lost their final game of the season.
Getting in an outdoor walk with my wife.
Going to the DMV on a Saturday morning, wait; that was NOT a highlight!

Yeah, I know it is Tuesday and that weekend well wish may be a day late. Took Sunday off from blogging and yesterday just too busy to get here. Almost made the time but just couldn't get the quality 10-15 minutes needed to write a post.

Question: How long does it take you to write your typical blog post? I know some can bust their typical post out in 5 minutes, others need an hour or more. Myself, 10-15 usually.

So the picture there to the top/left, what do you think that is? No, this is not a picture riddle. Has been a while since I've posted one of those, about time for another; soon I promise. But as I added in those two red circles to this cell phone photo of mine I wondered just what others might think I am highlighting...

A. That I started to draw a pair of googly-eyes and forget to finish?
B. My way of reminding myself that if I want to look so far away I need to remember to wear my glasses?
C. Using these circles meant to highlight something else?
D. Other?

My guess is more of you have D thoughts and if so please do share. While it is true both B & C apply here, C is what my intent is. As for A, I rarely draw googly-eyes but when I do, I am the Picasso or googly-eyes; just another of my many unknown talents now made public.

So the something else I am highlighting for you here is a pair of deer. The walk my gorgeous wife & I went on this past Sunday was at the Rollins Savanna, a place I have blogged about often. We just did the 2-mile segment versus the 3.6 mile full loop. Weather was amazing, it was this amazing...

Friday it was 50F'something, Monday 60F'something; great days sandwiching an awesome 84F Sunday. A freak temp spike for April for sure, not complaining for certain.

OK, back to the red circles, sorry had a momentary bout of bloggers ADD, aka as BADD. As I said there are deer in them circles, see them? No, of course you don't, neither do I. This photo was taken while my amazing wife & I were on that walk. I used my trusty Blackberry to snap that shot knowing full well it was futile. OK, it was an excuse to stop walking for a minute and look at lunch, I mean at the deer.

Trust me, there is a deer in each of those circles. I could see them clearly with my naked-eye, and not at all with the Blackberry camera; doesn't say much for Blackberry does it?

Gas prices continue to rise around here. Hard to find the cheap stuff under $4 now. Saw one yesterday that was $3.97, this however seems to be the norm north of Chicago & Cook County...

Last week John shared with me his horror of when he landed at Chicago's Midway airport and was shocked to see 4.29 for regular unleaded... ugh, soon that will make its way north to my pump I am afraid. Forgetting about gas, let me talk about John. Not that he has gas, not uncool correlation intended there. Rather let it be know John is way cool and you would be way cooler if you followed him. My opinion, for what it's worth. What is it worth by the way?

HAVE FUN!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 356 - Hurry Up & Wait

Happy Friday to one and all. Well not everyone. The person responsible for gas proces, no happy Friday wishes for you. Booo I say! Yep, that sign is legitamite. Here in Chicagoland the cheap stuff is above $4 a gallon in many places. Took that gas picture yesterday while driving to a doctors appointment.

The visit with the ortho re: my knee/hip led to a disgnosis of maybe this, or that, but whatever it is take these pills and go for physical therapy too. Let me tell you, if I wasn't preoccupied by the cancer stuff, I'd have left that appointment less than impressed. However, being the look at the positive chap I am, I took it as good news. If all I need to do is take a pill and work on my stretching with someone, fine by me!

The visit with the medical oncologist saw me give three vials of blood yesterday. Today we wait to hear the results of the gaggle of tests they are running on it. Hopefully today I'll get that news. Otherwise the doc & I had a long talk and he did well to paint out all of the likely outcomes considering the PET Scan with what we know now. So I feel well informed, not happy about some of what I'm am hearing, but I believe I'm doing this right at present and I know in the end victory will be mine.

Oh, yesterdays answers to the brain batters... you got them. Tish was first take a crack at them and nailed them...
Look before you leap
Grown up
Fast Food

Here's a different puzzle for your Friday fun...
You have a basket with five pears in it. Can you divide these pears amongst your five kids in order for each kids to get a pear and still have one pear left in your basket?


Mmmm, pears....

Enjoy!

 

 

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!