Time for drinks and socializing

It looks like spring is finally here, and a young man's fancy turns to tropical drinks and socializing.

We are going to be graced by a visit from noted Buckeye Flannery Alden. She is going to be in town on "business" as she puts it, and is staying somewhere just this side of the Indiana state line. After a series of emails, she picked (how lucky for me is this?) the fabulous Hala-Kahiki lounge in River Grove as a good spot to meet. Some of us carnivores will strap on a cheap feedbag beforehand at Gene and Jude's just down the street.

Both places are pretty easy to get to from the city and from the suburbs. The Hala-Kahiki is pretty darn swanky, and has an extensive menu of deceptively potent and reasonably-priced tiki drinks. It's possible their outdoor area will be open by then.

So, dear readers, how's about it? I say it's been too long since we got together and had a few drinks. Let's spend some time together and welcome visiting celebrity Flannery Alden.

Here's the info:

Wednesday, May 13 7:30-ish until whenever...

Hala-Kahiki Lounge
2834 River Road, River Grove, IL

Gene & Jude's
2720 River Road, River Grove, IL


View Hala-Kahiki/Gene & Jude's in a larger map

Hope y'all can make it. If you think you can, email me or comment here and let me know.

Bottoms up!

Thank you! It's show time...

Here we are in sunny, fabulous Los Angeles. Who woulda thought?

Nora says thanks. She feels like she's been carried along on all of your shoulders these past couple of weeks, and she's truly grateful. All of you who've been gracious enough to feature Nora on your blogs, Facebook pages and Twitter streams have been truly wonderful. And everyone who voted, or asked other to people to vote, thank you! If there's anyone I forgot to link to, I apologize. You've all been wonderful, and it's been a great experience.

L.A. is pretty charming, actually, and we've been having a great time. Nora was briefly menaced by a giant prehistoric sloth, but she eventually charmed him into a hug. We got to spend time with my friend Bawb the Revelator and ate dinner at Jitlada on Sunset Boulevard, the best Thai food I've ever eaten.

Weekend of Horrors starts at 2 pm today. Nora has to be there by noon to get her spooky marching orders. Nothing to do now but sit back and enjoy the show !

Time to go

It's funny how things happen.

Nora and I are packing and getting ready to leave early tomorrow morning. Like dawn patrol early. She has her talent bit worked out (it's a pip) and is putting together multiple wardrobes. The girl is jittery beyond belief, and stunned that this whole escapade has gone this far. Right now she's still in first place with a lead of 129 votes. Words fail me in my attempt to express my gratitude to all of you for being such a swell bunch of cheerleaders for our little gorehound. I'd especially like to give a shout out to Dr. Zaius for providing us with the most recent pictures you see displayed on the right.

Tomorrow is the birthday of our youngest daughter Hannah. She's a beautiful and complex girl with an old soul. I offered to bring her with, but she couldn't allow herself the time away from school. That's her cake you see. My mom came over and we had an early birthday celebration tonight.

Yesterday Amanda got word from her cousin that her grandmother was not doing well, and was getting rapidly weaker. Amanda spent the better part of today getting ready for a quick drive to Iowa to see her grandmother. Tonight, as I was dropping my mom off after dinner, Amanda got the call that her grandmother had died in her sleep. She was 98 years old, and died surrounded by her three sons and a bunch of extended family. Now, while we're in Los Angeles, she'll be waiting to find out what arrangements are being made for a memorial service.

Amanda (MizBubs') grandparents were cool people. If I recall correctly, they were Republicans and switched to the Democratic party somewhere between civil rights and Vietnam. They counseled conscientious objectors at Drake University in Des Moines during the war. Gladys stayed active with her church and was a voracious reader, and I didn't really see her slow down until a couple years ago. Frank, who died in 1991, was a lifelong newspaper man, and author of "The Country Parson" one panel cartoons that were featured in more than 200 newspapers. I feel lucky that I was able to know them.

So. Life goes on, doesn't it? It's impressive to consider the amount of change, loss and upheaval that we, all of us, are able to absorb, adapt to and overcome in the course of our daily lives.

And now it's time to finish packing, get to bed and prepare for the next adventure.

What a weekend

What a weekend.

On Saturday MizBubs and I visited the Midwest Fiber & Folk Art Fair at McHenry College. She bought some wool, I bought some hiking socks made from alpaca, and we met some interesting people who run small goat farms. We've been stepping up the research into learning what it will take to get out of where we're at, and into that rural compound we've been dreaming of. It was great talking with some people who've actually done it and are making a living at small sustainable farming. The event was livened up by the presence of the Barehand Jug Band. You know I was happy when I turned a corner and heard the magic combination of tuba and spoons. I turned to an older gent who was enjoying the show, and we mentioned that the only thing missing was a washboard. 10 minutes later I walked by and sure enough, they had an adorable girl playing a washboard. Nice kids, good music.

After the fair we headed out to Grayslake and spent the next few hours catching up with some good friends who (I'm almost ashamed to say this) we haven't seen in a couple of years. It was like we'd just visited last week, and next thing it was 1 am and time to go home. We drove home through a beautiful thunderstorm and collapsed into bed happy.

On Sunday we got to meet Katy aka Dino and her man Grumpy, who stopped by while they were in town for a wedding. The visit was good, but too short. I realized too late that I was a horrible host--I thought it would be nice to sit out in the screen house, and it didn't occur to me until over an hour later that it was too hot and humid to comfortably sit outside. The swamp dweller in me was oblivious to the discomfort of our guests until it was almost time for them to go. Please come back Katy, I promise we can sit in the air conditioning next time.

Later that afternoon we were visited by jet-setting expatriate Lulu. Back on her winter vacation Lulu gifted us with a bottle of Thai whisky, so I invented a drink for the occasion:

The Muay Thai Fizz

-2 shots of unknown Thai whiskey



-2 shots of lime juice

Pour in a tall glass full of ice, top with tonic water and garnish with a sprig of mint. Fizzy and refreshing, and if you drink more than two you'll feel like you climbed in the ring and got kicked in the head. Invigorating.

Later we chowed down on pork and pie. Pork tenderloin wrapped in herbs and bacon, steamed new potatoes with fresh pesto, and a lemon chess pie, with black raspberry compote whipped up by MizBubs.



Mmmmm. Pie.

Tomorrow it's jury duty for my better half, and a physical exam and back to work for me. Happy trails!

For Fran

One of the nicest bloggers ever, Fran, just celebrated her anniversary. I'm too disorganized and self-absorbed to have done anything special, or even been among the first 40 or 50 people to comment on her celebratory post. I ran around and finally put a little something together.

Fran, this is for you and yours!

From me and Fred and Barney and the guys down at the station.

Better late than never, right?

Breaking the meme backlog

I have been a poor blog citizen these past few weeks. Not visiting your blogs, not commenting, posting lame-ass clown pictures for want of anything original to talk about. Compulsively saving news items and not posting them.

One of the results of this poor citizenship is that I am faced with a backlog of stimulating memes which I've been meaning to attend to, but have not. Until now.

Let's get started. I'll begin with the oldest tag first.

_____________________

First up is a punchy little meme from Franiam. I felt really bad about not responding to this because I just recently discovered Ms. Fran's blog and felt flattered that she had tagged me.

Rule 1) List three reasons for your blogging.

• My kids suggested it as a way to keep busy while I was recovering from a surgery.
• I am naturally blabberous.
• I like introducing people to things they might not normally encounter, and I like having the same done to me.
  

Rule 2) List the rules.

• Done
  

Rule 3) Tag three others with the thread.

• I will keep this one in the family: I tag Splotchy, Penny Pigtails and Dystopia.

_____________________

Next up is this name-based meme from Write Procrastinator. It's been rocketing around the interwebs and now it's landed here:

1. You have to post the rules before you give your answers.
   
2. You must list one fact about yourself beginning with each letter of your middle name. If you don't have a middle name, use your mother's maiden name, or your maiden name.
3. At the end of your post, tag one person for each letter of your middle name. Or don't.

S Sarcastic. When I asked for help from MizBubs, this was the first thing out of her mouth. I suggested that "swell" or "swanky" might have been a better choice, and she responded "well, yes, you would." She has a point, unfortunately, and I am more sarcastic with my family than I am out in the world. I'm working on it.

K Unfortunately cantankerous is not spelled with a K. Let's see...I like a well made knife, and I own three made by Ka-Bar.

I Interested. I'm interested in a lot of stuff--I consume a lot of news, I pick out a few books a year on topics I know nothing about, I love talking to people and hearing their stories. I'm also inquisitive, and I think it's made me a decent interviewer and interrogator at work. My kids are less thrilled with my interrogation skills.

L Loquacious. I'll talk your damn leg off.

E Egomaniacal. The very fact that I have this blog and am doing this meme is proof of that. I asked MizBubs if I should put down "eccentric" instead and she just laughed.

S OK, this time I am going to say swanky. I am pretty damn swanky when I want to be. I like to have as much swank as possible, in the form of swanky music, swanky food and swanky cocktails. And I like taking swanky vacations when possible.

I think nearly everyone I know has done this one already. But if you haven't, consider yourself tagged.

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Most recently I got a t-shirt tag from another fairly new blogpal, Mathman. Here are the rules:

1. Link back to the original post.
2. Describe two t-shirts that you own.
3. If you design your own vanity t-shirt what would it say?
4. Where would you wear your vanity t-shirt?
5. Tag three of your best blogging buds.

I'm going to go above and beyond and describe not two, but three shirts that I have, with pictures!

This is my favorite, from the Happiest Place on Earth--The Double Down Saloon in fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada:

My eldest got me this next one:

And finally, another favorite. I got a great response when I wore this one at last year's ILEETA conference:


Up until now I've never given any thought to the idea of having a vanity tee shirt. And now I can't think of anything. Sorry. Maybe a catchy slogan like "Show us your guns, America!" Or maybe a clever promotional tee shirt that says "Ask me about Narcozoology".

I think I shall tag Johnny Yen, Doctor Monkey Von Monkerstein, and Samurai Frog.

_____________________

Wow. I feel like a new man, like someone who's just taken advantage of a library amnesty and returned all his overdue books. Thanks for stopping by!

Today's the day!

It's December 26, and you know what that means.


Happy Boxing Day!


It also means that tonight is the night for all of us in the Chicago area to get together at the fabulous Hala Kahiki Lounge in River Grove, Illinois. MizBubs and I will be there around 7pm, but the lavish awards ceremony for this year's Drysdale winners kicks off some time after 8.


I don't know about you, but I'm hoping I get to sit next to Charo.

You can find directions and more info in this post here.

December 26 post-holiday choir practice

Remember folks, December 26 is right around the corner, and that means:

• Deep discounts on Christmas decorations, gift wrap and greeting cards!
• Special day-after-Christmas sales at your favorite stores!
• Back to work, you.
• It's time for a lovely informal gathering of all your favorite bloggers!

Chris at Some Guy's Blog has featured this event, and this year Mr. Grant Miller of Grant Miller Media will be hosting a lavish award ceremony to recognize this year's Drysdale Award winners.

This year we'll be meeting at the fabulous Hala-Kahiki Lounge at 2834 River Road in River Grove. The Hala-Kahiki is the oldest tiki bar in the Chicago area, and features a wonderful assortment of reasonably-priced exotic drinks, as well as your standard beers and hard liquors for the less adventurous.

MizBubs and I plan on arriving around 7 pm, but it looks like most of the really cool kids won't get there until closer to 8pm. The lavish award ceremony is scheduled to kick off then.

For those of you taking public transportation, it looks like you could take the 331 PACE bus from the Cumberland Avenue El stop. You can see the CTA System Map here. Metra's Milwaukee District West line stops at River Grove, .8 mile away from the Hala Kahiki. You can see the station on this map:


View Larger Map

If anyone needs a lift to or from the Metra station, email me and let me know.

Hope everyone gets through the next couple of days healthy and happy. See you Wednesday night!

December 26: Here's an idea

What would people think about maybe having our December 26th get-together at the fabulous Hala-Kahiki Lounge? It should be pretty roomy on a Wednesday night, and I've been there with parties of 10 or 12 people on short notice with no problems. The drinks are cheap and strong, and there's beer and straight liquor for the unadventurous.

The Hala-Kahiki is in River Grove, on River Road between Belmont and Grand Avenue. It's pretty easily accessible from I-90, I-294 and the western suburbs. It's easy to get to from the north side of Chicago as well. Here's a map:


View Larger Map

Just thought I'd throw that out there. I'm happy in pretty much any old gin mill.

Bloggers are damn fine people

That's my sweeping generalization, anyway.

MizBubs and I are home now after Lulu's going away shindig at Toons. While we were there we saw (obviously) Lulu, Tenacious S and her husband, Mr. T, the lovely Megan and Chris from Some Guy's Blog, and Johnny Yen. Megan and Chris, for those of you who haven't met them, are fun and adorable, and it makes me feel really good to be around two people who act like newlyweds. Plus we met a bunch of Lulu's friends, and a nice group they were, too.

So, since I'm related by marriage to Splotchy (who is fast becoming the most popular blogger in the world) and we've also spent time with Kim, I'm ready to make the following bold pronouncement:

Bloggers are damn fine people.