I had a great day!

It started out with me riding in with Sheri on her normal train. She went to work and I went to Crepe Cliché. (Stupid stupid stupid name, but good food and coffee.) I had their breakfast crepe which had a lot of scrambled egg, cheddar cheese, bacon, and a little onion, and of course, a small triple Americano. They roast their own coffee beans on location and the coffee was very good. The view was also excellent. My table was directly overlooking the Chicago River and the Jackson Street drawbridge. The crepe was a great bargain at $3.89, and the Americano was also priced right at $1.69 plus $0.50 for the extra shot for a total of $2.19. It was a very substantial breakfast that turned out to be my main meal for the day. I sat and ate my crepe, sipped my coffee, and read my beloved Chicago Tribune for about an hour.

I was ready to start walking around the loop so I thought I would walk north on Wacker and visit one of my favorite stores; the Rand McNally map store. Well, it closed. Poop.

When I was working downtown I got to see the very start of the construction of a skyscraper, and I wanted to see how it turned out. I walked north on Wacker and took a right on Monroe. The building is on the north-east corner of that intersection. It is beautiful. The entire length of the lobby, which is an entire city block, is filled with 20-foot tall live bamboo! The beds that the bamboo are growing in is covered in small black stream rocks with small (1 foot tall) fountains of water scattered around about every ten feet. A very neat affect.

I kept walking east on Monroe and discovered a little gem. There are hardly any benches in the Loop to sit down and take a breather. There is a little landscaped garden on the north-east corner of Monroe and Wells with at least six benches. I didn’t stop in, but made a mental note for future excursions downtown.

I then remembered about a year ago when I was looking for a place that roasted their coffee locally that there was a place roughly near DePaul's Loop campus near Jackson and State, so I started heading in that direction.

I stopped and watched some demolition work for about ten minutes.

I wasn't finding any coffee place, so I called Sheri and had her Google the terms I could remember. After a couple minutes of looking she found the place and gave me the address.

Before I went to find the coffee place I happened along a really cool bookstore. It is the largest architecture bookstore in the world, and is called The Prairie Avenue Bookshop. They have been in business for 44 years, and in its current location for 11 years. You can click the picture to see the full-sized image of the interior of the store. Very nice. I could spend several hours hanging out in there.

I then continued on my quest for the coffee shop. It is called Intelligentsia Coffee, and it is outstanding! I, of course, had my now standard small triple Americano and read the Wall Street Journal. By this time it was a little after 11 AM, so I called Sheri and told her to meet me there since it was in the direction she had to walk anyways to get to the L line we needed to ride.

The reason for my day off was that my boss had two tickets to today's Cub's game that he couldn't use and gave them to me. I had been thinking about taking a day off just because I felt like I needed to, so this worked out perfectly. Sheri got to the coffee shop at around 11:30 AM and we continued on to take the Red Line north to Addison Avenue which is where Wrigley Field is.

Once we got there we had a little over an hour to kill before the game started at 1:20 PM. We found a Mexican restaurant that my boss recommended. I was still full from my breakfast so we split two appetizers and I had a Diet Coke. We split a skirt steak quesadilla and a chicken mole. They also had excellent chips and salsa on the table.

Sheri was concerned about the sun being in her eyes so we stopped and bought her an official Cub's ball cap. It looks very cute on her.

We made our way to the park and our seats. They were excellent. Section 208 which is in the dark purple area in the upper left of the diagram. You can click on the diagram for the full-sized image.

The seats were in the shade the whole game, so even though it was around 70º for the game, with the lake breeze blowing steadily on us it was actually pretty chilly. I am glad I didn’t wear shorts like a lot of people did, and that I had my jacket.

Unfortunately we lost to Colorado, 5-2.

We made our way back to the Loop on the extremely-crowded-with-Cub's-fans L. We got off at the Jackson Street station, walked west on Jackson and stopped in Intelligentsia Coffee again for a couple of iced coffees for the walk back to Union Station. At Union Station we split a large order of fries from Gold Coast Hot Dog, and I also had a char dog. That will probably be my dinner.

I am going to finish up this post, take a shower, and then we are going to watch White Noise.

This was in the Mexican restaurant before the game.












I thought this self-portrait turned out pretty good!


The bleachers you see on top of those buildings are not owned by the Cub's. People built the bleachers and then charge people to watch the game from them.


Everyone standing during the 7th inning stretch singing Take Me Out To The Ball Game. They always have a celebrity lead everyone in the song. Today it was just a local radio host.


This is from the L platform while we were waiting for the train back to the Loop. The place was packed. I'm glad I wasn't driving.


This woman was so drunk I don't even think she knew she was missing her shirt and bra. Sheri said I was only allowed to post one picture of her.

Sheri and I will be here tomorrow (Thursday) at 1:20 PM!
(Click the "Map" button in the upper-right corner of the window if you don't know what this historic landmark is.)

This was a really nice moment today. The kid in the picture was very retarded and seemed overwhelmed with the whole petting zoo. Sheri picked up a chicken and moved it towards the kid just as I snapped the picture. The dad looked at Sheri just after I took the picture to see who it was and he had a really touched look in his eye. The kid seemed more into the animals after petting the chicken.

The weather was just gorgeous today. Low 80's and breezy. Plenty of sunshine.

We went to Civil War Days at our local historical society. Lots more pictures to follow.



Amputated limbs at the field hospital after the battlefield re-enactment.






Sheri paid $2 to go in the petting zoo.

Friday
I cut the grass Friday night after work because I was concerned about rain over the weekend, plus Sheri's Mom is visiting this weekend.

Saturday
While Sheri was walking dogs this morning I did some chores around the house. I took out the glass storm door and installed the screen on the front door. Emptied the dishwasher. Went through the mail and paid a bill. Made some iced tea. Did a little house straightening up. Researched vacuum cleaners.

When Sheri got home we went to Loco Burrito for some lunch. I got two tacos, one chili relleno taco and one pastor taco. Sheri got a giant quesadilla and I ate about half of that.

After that we walked next door to the Wonder Bread outlet store and got a loaf of light wheat bread. We split a Twinkie two-pack for dessert.

Then we drove to Wal-Mart and bought our new vacuum, a gallon of skim milk, and some gum.

We went to the post office to mail a package to a friend of Sheri's, but at 4:00 PM the post office was closed.

We went home and I immediately put the vacuum together. It works great! Lots of suction. It really pulled the carpet pile up and seemed to be sucking up stuff that the old vacuum left behind. We even pulled out our bed and vacuumed under there.

Sheri's Mom got in around 5:30 PM and brought lots of treats with her. Cinnamon coated almonds. Anderson's sour dough bread. Rosemary and olive oil Triscits. Triple ginger ginger snap cookies. I sampled a little of everything and it pretty much took care of my appetite.

We decided to go to Noodles & Co for dinner. I still wasn't hungry so I just tried three of their chicken pot stickers and a Diet Coke. Pretty good. We decided not to walk around downtown, but instead go home and watch Life Aquatic with Bill Murray. (We did not watch it with Bill Murray. He was in the movie.) On the way home we stopped at the supermarket for tea bags.

Sheri's Mom brought a bunch of Sheri's sister's old clothes that she can't wear anymore. She wanted to try them all on when we got home to see which ones she wanted and which ones would go to Goodwill. I decided to take advantage of the break and go for my first bike ride in nice weather. It was great! I think I was riding for about 20 minutes. I used the LED headlight that I got for my birthday. It was very bright. I could see street signs reflecting brightly when I was over 100 feet away.

The movie was good. Subtle humor. It was similar in humor to The Royal Tenenbaums. I think the same director directed both movies, which would explain that. While I was watching it I thought it also seemed like British humor.

I took a shower because I got a little hot from the bike ride, and now I am in bed wrapping up this post, watching Saturday Night Live, getting ready to turn out the lights.

We are off to purchase a new vacuum. We are going to get the Eureka Boss 4870GZ. It is Consumer Reports number 2 rated vacuum.

The number 1 vacuum is a $300 Hoover, and this Eureka is less than half the price at $140. The main difference is that this one is not self propelled. It says it cleans just as good.

On the repair history chart Eureka is ranked number 3 behind only Kirby and Kenmore. Surprisingly Hoover is ranked 8 out of the 11 manufactures listed on reliability. They are just ahead of Dirt Devil. Our current vacuum is a Eureka and it has worked great for almost 9 years. In case you are interested, this is the reliability chart:

1 Kirby
2 Kenmore
3 Eureka
4 Riccar
5 Bissell
6 Panasonic
7 Oreck
8 Hoover
9 Dirt Devil
10 Sharp
11 Simplicity

These are all of the movies currently in our Blockbuster.com DVD queue:

Birth R

Life Aquatic R

White Noise PG13

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (The original 6-part BBC mini-series)

Aviator PG13

In Good Company PG13

Kinsey R

Elektra PG13

City of God R

4 Little Girls NR

Long Way Home NR

Bend It Like Beckham PG13

Hero PG13

Irreversible NR

Mother R

Open Water R

Station Agent R

De-Lovely [Special Edition] PG13

Trekkies 2 PG

Coffee and Cigarettes R

THX 1138: The George Lucas Director's Cut R

Spartan R

Secret Window PG13

SLC Punk R

Capturing the Friedmans NR

The Score R

Pianist R

Salesman NR

Into the Arms of Strangers PG

Gods & Generals PG13

Barfly R

Trainspotting [Director's Cut] R

Taxi Driver [Collector's Edition] R

Old School [Unrated WS] R

Hedwig and the Angry Inch R

Suspiria NR

Harold and Maude PG

Dahmer R

Super Troopers R

Man with the Movie Camera NR

Wonder Boys R

Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary PG

Hard Eight R

Rundown PG13

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead R

Touching The Void R

Bob le Flambeur [Subtitled]

Edges of the Lord R

Mean Creek R

Shadow of Fear PG13

La Dolce Vita

Malena R

Fellini Satyricon R

8 1/2 [Criterion Collection]

Man on Fire R

Thirteen R

Evil Dead [Special Edition] NR

Incredibles PG

Radio Days PG

Being Julia R

Closer R

Darkness NR

National Treasure PG

Slasher NR

Big Lebowski R

Alone in the Dark R

Auschwitz: The Inside Nazi State - Disc 1

Auschwitz: The Inside Nazi State - Disc 2

Bad Education R

Boogeyman PG13

Nomi Song

Beyond the Sea PG13

Undertow R

Jacket R

Be Cool PG13

Hitch PG13

Dolls NR

Primer PG13

Seed of Chucky [Unrated] NR

Cursed NR

This is a big weekend for Chicago sports. The Cubs play the White Sox today, Saturday, and Sunday. Probably about half of the city has left work early to go to the game or to go watch it in a sports bar. I have it playing on my radio at work.

In case you didn't know, Cubs fans hate the White Sox and their fans, and the White Sox fans hate the Cubs and their fans. It is a fun rivalry.

Also, in case you haven't been following, the White Sox are doing better than any other team this season so far. The Cubs are kind of sucking.

My weight log.


[click for larger image]

We got four new Goodyear tires for the van today. The front ones had almost no tread depth. We also had to get a new tie rod and a left front wheel bearing because they were damaged.

Trixie was such a good girl. We really wanted to take her home. She is a three year old shepard mix. Loved to play. Very attentive. Soft. Clean. Friendly.

These pics are for Mom and Dad to see how the beds we worked on late last summer made it through the winter.

The peonies are looking pretty healthy. The rabbits seem to be enjoying the hostas!

I just found out that I guy I went to high school with just won a Pulitzer Prize!

This is a satellite photo of the Bay Bridge going through Treasure Island.

This is the mechanical pencil I bought in the Union Square Mall in downtown San Francisco. It is a Faber-Castell E-Motion with the pearwood barrel.

That is Sheri looking out of the window of our roomette on the sleeper car. I am on the platform of the Denver station. We stopped there for about 45 minutes Sunday morning on our way to San Francisco at about 7:00 AM.

I intended to take a picture of every meal we had on the train, but I either forgot the camera, and if I remembered the camera I didn't remember to take a picture until after we were halfway through eating. I at least got this picture of how they set the tables.

This is looking down the hall of our sleeper car. Sheri is sitting in one of the seats in our room. It's a little on the dark side but it gives you an idea of what it was like.

Driving over the Bay Bridge south from Berkeley to San Francisco. The bridge does not go all the way across the bay. There are actually two bridges; the first from Berkely to Treasure Island, and then another one from Treasure Island to San Francisco. There used to be a military base on Treasure Island. Now there are homes. I never heard of Treasure Island before. You can see a little bit of the San Francisco skyline in the lower right of the picture. I think it costs $3 to cross the bridge.

This is me sitting in one of the seats in our roomette on Amtrak. The curtains for the exterior window are on the left. You can see our coats hanging on the right. You can see a little shelf area for one of our bags to the right. See where the purple chair back stops and the dark blue wall continues? The upper bunk folds down to that level, so you can see that I could still sit comfortably upright even if Sheri wanted to take a nap. A reading light and the temperature control are over my right shoulder.

I am not smiling in this picture because my back really really hurt from walking around all day in San Francisco. I found a nice staight-backed chair in this weird store to sit in for some relief.

Ask your butcher about the new flat iron steak.

I don't have my vacation write-up finished yet. I have about 900 words that take us up to the first night on the train. I made notes in a steno book during the trip so I wouldn't forget anything.

The train had an almost constant rocking back and forth.

Similar to how you feel after being on a cruise for a few days, I still feel like I am rocking back and forth on the train.

Per Amtrak's schedule, the implied average speed to travel the 2,438 miles in 50.98 hours from Chicago to San Francisco is 47.8 mph.

The conductor announced over the intercom system that the train would travel at speeds up to 79 mph.

I expected to put on a pound or two in San Francisco because of all the great food, but I actually lost a couple pounds! I guess the increase in activity offset the extra calories. Yeah!

We got back tonight from our week-long vacation. We took an Amtrak sleeper-car to San Francisco, visited friends for three days, and came back on Amtrak. I will write in greater detail about the trip in the next day or two. For now if feels really good to be back in our bed. Here are a few pictures until I can get around to a full update:

Sea lions at Fisherman's Wharf


Having a sour dough roll at Boudin's for breakfast


Alcatraz as seen from a cable car




Reading the Sunday paper in the Amtrak Sightseer Lounge car

I love it when our crab apple tree is in bloom. It almost looks like it is covered in snow. I just wish it would keep the blooms longer than a week.

Last night (Sunday) I turned off the furnace in order to change the furnace filter, but I forgot to turn it back on. This morning the thermostat read 58º.

The famous Pier 39 at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco.

This is a short and neat article written by a GIS analyst on the impact that Google satellite maps are having on the awareness lay people have of the GIS profession.

Recall that last weekend I tried an Americano at Starbucks after liking the Americano I drank at our local independent coffee shop. I thought the Starbucks Americano was weak and that I wanted to try ordering it with an extra shot next time.

Well yesterday we stopped by Starbucks to read the Saturday paper and The Week magazine. I ordered a "tall Americano with an extra shot". It was sublime! The perfect cup of coffee. This is now my standing order at Starbucks.

It was so good I went up for a second one. I ordered the same thing but from a different barista. She asked if I meant a triple Americano. I gave her a confused look and mumbled something that probably sounded like "Uh..whaa..huh?" She explained that a tall Americano is normally made with two shots of espresso, so did I mean a total of three shots? Yep.

A tall at Starbucks is 12 ounces by the way, and a shot of espresso is one ounce, so the perfect Americano (for me anyway) is one part espresso and three parts hot water.

Our last two visits to a coffee house have been to a Starbucks and not our independent. I think it is because Starbucks has a few comfortable soft upholstered chairs, and we just didn't feel like sitting on hard wooden chairs at a wood table for a couple hours.

We watched Sideways last night and both really liked it.

It's about a couple of middle age friends from college going on a road trip through California wine country the week before one of them is getting married. Good character development. Engaging story line.

An interesting factoid: Three months after the release of Sideways the sales of merlot dropped by 2% and the sales of pinot noir increased by 14%.

I found myself wanting a glass of wine all the way through the movie. I suggest opening a nice bottle of pinot before starting the movie.

I never had a pinot up until 2001. Until then my favorite was cabernet sauvignon. I would have a tough time choosing which one I like better now.

The motherboard on our main GIS server is being replaced this morning. As such you may notice an increase in my random postings.

A writer is someone who has written today.

I don't know if the difference is between male dogs and female dogs, or if the difference is just from dog to dog, but some dog's urine and/or poop kills grass while others make it grow.

Goliath's stuff definitely made grass grow. The grass would grow greener around a steamer that was left on the lawn for just a week.

He never learned to lift his leg to pee on objects so he did a good job of evenly distributing his pee over most of the lawn.

Why do I mention this? After more than a year and a half of his demise the areas of the yard that he preferred are still significantly greener and fuller than the other areas. I usually have to raise the lawnmower up half a click when I get to those sections or the lawnmower gets clogged up.

He went through about 25 pounds of dog food per month. He used our current yard for about 32 months. That is almost 800 pounds of nutrients applied to a relatively small area.

In case you are wondering, the area of enriched soil is the half of the back yard that is closest to the house, especially within 15 feet of the patio. He didn’t like to be outside much. He would race outside, do his thing, and then be barking at the door to be let back inside with us. I guess that tendency explains why he fertilized closer to the house.

I started around 260 but didn't start keeping track until 247. Notice the little bump the week after my birthday! (These are not my daily weights. They are averages of the previous seven days, that is why it took a week for the birthday excess to show up. The last two days I have been under 240, but that won't show up in the averages for another week.)

I am thinking about putting my birthday money towards this saddle.



Body Geometry medically proven comfort, delivered in a focused off road design.

Slightly downturned nose for comfort during seated climbs

Smooth back won't snag shorts when you need to get behind the saddle for steep drops

Scientifically proven Body Geometry design with V-Groove plus window relieves pressure and improves bloodflow , even in extreme riding positions

Durable, lightweight, water resistant MicroMatrix synthetic leather

Abrasion resistant panels on the corners and nose

Lightweight, hollow titanium rails

Approximate Weight: 240gm

We spent $180.85 on gasoline last month.

A small development on my coffee preference front: When I first ordered an Americano at our local independent shop they asked me if I wanted one shot or two of espresso. I said two.

This weekend we went to a Starbucks and I ordered a small Americano and did not specify any shot preference. It was too week for me. It was actually weaker than some regular cups of coffee I have had.

The next time I order an Americano from Starbucks I will order a "small Americano with an extra shot". I don't want to order it "with two shots" in case it is already made with two shots.

(I feel really dorky saying tall, grande, and venti instead of small, medium, and large in Starbucks, so I usually just say small, medium, and large.)

My A1c numbers have always been in the 7.x range. The doctor just called and, because of my weight loss, my last test came back a 6.6.

Excellent control: A1c less than 7%
Good control: 7 to 7.9%
Fair control: 8 to 8.9%
Poor control: greater than 9%

Get ready for some old time religion. The new pope is in town.

Karl Rahner, Hans Kung and Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger all die on the same day, and go to meet St. Peter to know their fate.

St. Peter approaches the three of them, and tells them that he will interview each of them to discuss their views on various issues.

He then points at Rahner and says "Karl! In my office..." After 4 hours, the door opens, and Rahner comes stumbling out of St. Peter's office. He is highly distraught, and is mumbling things like "Oh God, that was the hardest thing I've ever done! How could I have been so wrong! So sorry...never knew..." He stumbles off into Heaven, a testament to the mercy of Our God.

St. Peter follows him out, and sticks his finger in Kung's direction and "Hans! You're next..." After 8 hours, the door opens, and Kung comes out, barely able to stand. He is near collapse with weakness and a crushed spirit. He , too, is mumbling things like "Oh God, that was the hardest thing I've ever done! How could I have been so wrong! So sorry...never knew..." He stumbles off into Heaven, a testament to the mercy of Our God.

Lastly, St. Peter, emerging from his office, says to Cardinal Ratzinger, "Joseph, your turn." TWELVE HOURS LATER, St. Peter stumbles out the door, apparently exhausted, saying "Oh God, that's the hardest thing I've ever done..."

I am getting ready to cut the grass, and Sheri is on her way home with Ocean's Twelve.

I think I have yet another new favorite coffee drink when I am ordering out. (At home I still like coffee from my newly rediscovered moka pot.) It is called an Americano. It is simply espresso with enough hot water added to dilute it to about the strength of a normal cup of coffee.

I don't like drip coffee any more. The slow brewing process adds too much bitterness, and the paper filter removes too much of the good oils that are in the coffee. I don't think a straight shot of espresso is enjoyable, and a cappuccino just seems like too much sometimes. (whatever the hell that means.) The Americano gives me the best of both worlds. The sweet non-bitter taste of espresso in a less intense form that I can drink like a regular cup of coffee.

Another advantage is that a coffee shop's drip coffee can sit brewed for quite some time. As soon as coffee is brewed the taste starts to deteriorate and get bitter. With an Americano it is not brewed until after you order it so it is always very fresh.

Also, I like a HOT cup of coffee. Drip coffee makers just can't get as hot as the water from an espresso machine. Therefore you are always guaranteed a fresh hot cup of coffee with a nice full body when you order an Americano. Sheri tried it (I drink it black) and she said she really liked it a couple of times. She normally adds a lot of Equal sweetener to her coffee.

I ordered the Google t-shirt I posted about last week, and it came in a couple of days ago. Today was the first day that I wore it out and I noticed several people looking at it, and one guy even commented "I like your shirt." as we were leaving a bookstore today. I plan to post a picture of me wearing it tomorrow.

I haven't posted in a while. I go in cycles sometimes where I just don't feel like writing. I think I'm back.

My birthday was a week ago yesterday. Sheri and I took the day off work and took the morning express train into Chicago. From Union Station we took the 28 express bus to The Museum of Science and Industry to see the Body Worlds exhibit. Outstanding!

Mom and Dad took the Amtrak in Friday morning. The plan was that we were going to meet them at Union Station and then proceed to the Museum together, but there was trouble on the line (that's for you Shawn!) and they were two hours late getting in. We purchased the tickets on-line and you have to specify a time for the movie and the Body Worlds exhibit. As it was approaching the time for us to enter the movie Mom and Dad were still at least an hour away from being at the Museum, so I got the bright idea to change their ticket times before they got sold out and then leave the tickets at will call. That worked out good.

We finally met up with Mom and Dad after they had seen the movie and started the Body Worlds exhibit. We told them we would meet them in the cafeteria. We were getting tired and a little hungry.

Sheri and I split a surprisingly good sandwich and a bag of chips. I got a Diet Pepsi from a machine. We sat there for a while just relaxing and watching people. My back was bothering me so I didn't mind just sitting.

Mom and Dad found us after about an hour. They got a sandwich per our recommendation and a salad. We sat there for a while catching up on things. When they were done eating we did a very quick walk-around of the rest of the Museum. The coal mine and the German sub exhibits were both closed for remodeling. Crap!

When we were done the four of us caught the bus back to Union Station. I decided that for my birthday dinner I wanted hot dogs and French fries from Gold Coast Hot Dog in Union Station. Portillo's Chicago dogs are good, but Gold Coast dogs are even better. Also, I don't normally get French fries any more, but there are very few fries as good as theirs so I splurged. Besides, it was my birthday.

The plan was to get back home and go to our favorite coffee shop for coffee and a birthday cookie, but on the way home I realized that we were all too tired for that, so we just went home.

I opened up birthday gifts on the couch and then we all went to bed relatively early.

Saturday morning I made a soy protein drink for Dad and I because he was curious to try one. He liked it.

Then we went to the Bobak's. We ended up eating at their inside café for breakfast. We got two Polish sausages baked inside bread dough. Sound strange for breakfast, but everyone really liked them.

We walked around the store for a little bit and then we drove by the Ikea that is being build near our home.

Then we went to Trader Joes. Dad got some soy protein powder. He got the smaller tub than I get and from what I hear he has almost already finished it!

After that we took them to our downtown to stroll around. We took them to Penzey's to get some good spices.

Then we went to our favorite coffee house and relaxed with some cappuccinos. It think it was the first real cappuccino they had (as opposed to the gas station cappuccinos) and they both appeared to enjoy them.

At this point it was probably about 4 PM and we were all getting hungry, so we took them to Joy Yee, our favorite local Asian restaurant. We started with an appetizer of cold Japanese seaweed salad. Then we split an order of Thai red curry chicken and an order of chicken phad Thai. Their portions are HUGE and the appetizer and the two entrees were more than enough. Everyone left full.

We went home and watched Spanglish. It was good.

Sunday morning Sheri had to be at work at 6 AM, so the three of us were on our own for the day. We ended up having breakfast at White Castle (Don't laugh. Their toast-egg-cheese-on-toast sandwiches use fresh eggs and are really good.) and then spending most of the afternoon in the backyard and hanging mini-blinds over the two windows in the garage. We also bought a packet of seeds to grow giant sun flowers and planted those in the back yard.

Around 4 PM it was time to take Mom and Dad to the Metra station. We stopped on the way so they could pick up a couple of sandwiches at Jimmy Johns for the Amtrak ride home. I think from now on every time they visit we will have to take them to Jimmy Johns. Their vegi sub is that good. They love 'em.

Sheri called about the time we got to the Metra station. She was half way home from work and wanted to let us know she was trying to get to the station before their train came so she could say good bye. She made it.

The took the Metra into Chicago, had a couple more hot dogs from Gold Coast, and then took the Amtrak back home. I think they said they didn't get home until like 1 AM.

All in all it was a nice birthday.

I think I'm going to order a Google t-shirt for myself.

We are going to see this exhibit Friday. They are real cadavers. The muscles and other tissues are preserved in a process called plastination.

Guy holding his own skin


Guy riding a horse

The new GPS unit will be delivered here at work any minute. The person bringing it out will give us a couple hours of training, and then come back in a few weeks for follow-up training to see if we have any questions after using it for a bit.

Oil prices jumped to an all-time closing high of $57.25 a barrel on Friday.