The Journal-Sentinel just asked me to do an extended column for publication on Christmas Day. Quoting the email from the editor: "You seem to have a knack for writing holiday columns with just the right feel." Flattered and all, blah blah, but mighty sick of being good enough to be sought out for publication and yet never considered for regular work.

My Thoughts

Former IL Gov Rod Blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison today on corruption charges. Blech. I'm all for punishing the guilty, but to my mind imprisoning someone for a non-violent crime seems like a waste of resources. Stab someone, rape, murder, even risk someone's death (by drunk driving or by carrying a weapon during a crime) and by all means lock 'em up, but short of that there have to be more cost-effective & intelligent solutions.

We Remember

70 years ago today my maternal grandparent's were on a date at the Riverside Theater. The movie was stopped, the lights came on, and an announcement was made that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. They both knew my Great Uncle Leo (grandma's brother) was stationed there that morning. He was part of the crew of the USS Vestal, moored alongside the Arizona. Luckily, he survived, but of course 2000 Americans did not. To all the men at Pearl that day, thank you for your service. We'll always remember.

St Nick's

St Nick's morn went well, with everyone in a good mood and loving their stockings. Booklights, winter caps (featured), dry erase boards, an outfit, a book (doll for Junie), candy, and odds and ends. A good haul and as I said they loved it. Lisa got makeup and a nice candle. Heck, I got a new pair of slippers myself.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

We just finished watching "Forgetting Sarah Marshall". It was much, much better than your average comedy/rom-comedy, Kudos to Segel for a funny, well-crafted script that made the characters real and complex, each with their own flaws and strengths. I was really impressed (and the great cast didn't hurt). A + (Lisa was less keen on it, but ya ain't hear to read her opinions, are ya?;)

St Nick is Coming!

The stockings are full and laid out by the fireplace. An unintentional compliment from the kids tonight: one of them asked why we bothered with the stockings since "there's always too much to fit in them anyway". For that, a big thank you to Lisa, who I swear works all year long to compile an impressive hoard of goodies for the holidays.

The Smurfs

I just finished watching 'The Smurfs'. It is what it is, a not unpleasant kids movie w/ a nostalgic hook for the grown-ups. NPH, as is his norm, rocked.

Yaya and LuLu and their first "real" school Dance!

Tonight my girls had their 1st 'real' school dance and both were dressed to the 9's and wore corsages their Mama made them @ the floral shop. They had a great time!

Water For Elephants

"Water for Elephants" surprised me by being a darn good, non-weepy romance set during the Great Depression. Robert Pattison, aka Twilight boy, proved to be more than just a pretty face, and Renee Witherspoon very nearly convinced me she had one. A-

Moving Malcolm

"Moving Malcom" is a film about a guy who's devastated when his fiance (Elizabeth Berkeley) leaves him at the altar. A year later she calls him - but only to ask if he could help her elderly Dad move while she's out of town. It's more of a mild drama than a comedy, but enjoyable either way. B.

Quote

I love you more than tongue can tell - a saying of Robin Bush (daughter of George and Barbara, sister of Dubya) who died of leukemia at age 3. The family never forgot the saying, adopting it and using it often since her death a half century ago. It appears in private letters between father and son reprinted in 'Decision Points'.

judy Lewis

The secret illegitimate daughter of Clark Gable and Loretta Young; I  just saw her speak on a documentary a few months back. RIP.

Becoming Chaz

Long day. As a nightcap we watched "Becoming Chaz", a documentary that followed Chaz Bono through the 1st year of his transition from a female to a male. Excepting the morbid title music, it was a happy if not carefree window into his life, made all the easier to accept by his likable personality and the presence of his quirky girlfriend. Read between the lines of the doc though, and you'll come away certain that the relationship btwn Chaz and Cher is tenuous (if loving), and that he is far more accepted by his father's side of the family. It's Lisa's opinion that this has as much to do with Cher's reaction to Chaz's weight and non Cher-ness  as his gender. I think it's a good point.

Changes in the Mass

I went to the school Mass today, the first featuring the 'new translation', and it was a mess. Nothing sounded 'right', everyone was stumbling over lines, I was reflexively answering w/ the 'old' responses, some kid got stagefright and couldn't do his petition, the Communion lines got inexplicably turned around and out of order, and the guest Priest was so dry I think he sleeps in a dehydrator. Geesh. You'd think after 2000 years we could put on a better show . . .

Thanksgiving 2011

This year work and whatnot ('whatnot' including family that didn't return our calls re: dinner plans) conspired against a traditional sit down dinner. So instead, after work, we hightailed it down to Kenosha, about a 40 minute ride, to dine at Golden Corral, an all you can eat buffet we'd noticed on a prior road trip.

The price, even while inflated for the holiday, was reasonable. For six people it was $54, far less than I would have paid for all the fixin's at home.

The place was packed, and we g0t there only an hour before it closed, but we were seated quickly and as a buffet the food was immediate. I stuck exclusively to dinner fare - meatloaf, potato, broccoli, roll, etc - while Lisa had a salad before hitting the dinner section.

The kids on the other hand . . . well, they ate some protein and some veggies at our insistence,

but mainly they just raided the dessert table. They were ecstatic over the sight of a chocolate fountain

Oh, and cotton candy. Did I mention they liked that?

We had a blast. Hey, I even impressed Lisa, stepping in and saying something to a couple who bullied their way into the restaurant as it closed. How rude - what, the staff doesn't deserve to go home and spend time with their own families?

I think we'll dine out again for the holiday, and maybe even at the Golden Corral!

My (Current) Facebook Profile Pic

FB - the end of October

October 23rd

‎10 years ago today - at 4:20 pm to be precise - the first of the Four Greatest Kids Ever was born, inaugurating me as a Dad. Happy Birthday YaYa, and welcome to the Double Digits!

"Pujol's 3HR performance last night was awesome, and one of the best WS shows ever. But best of all time? Hell no. Albert - 3 HR in a blowout of a series tied at one, and he recorded an out. Reggie: 3 HR on 3! pitches in a WS clincher won by a score of 4-3. As usual, my YANKS retain their glory and surpass the rest of baseball. REGGIE, REGGIE REGGIE!"

October 25th

15 years ago today, on what was the 25th anniversary of the UN's misguided expulsion of Taiwan, Lis and I were married. Thanks for putting up w/ this dork for 15 years Sinatra. Xoxo

Maggiano's for lunch today, courtesy of an anniversary gift card from my sister (thanks Katie!), followed immediately by a flat that necessitated a new tire. Then, with no sitter, we picked up the kids from school and retired to a night of X-Factor, some Smirnoff, and a McRib. Now we may/may not rent "Horrible Bosses" from Vudu. Not exactly a TMZ worthy day, but a decent way to pass an anniversary.

October 27th

Redbox is raising their daily DVD rental fee to $1.20. Bluray and game rental prices will remain the same."

Muslim students at a Catholic University are claiming the presence of crosses violates their 'human rights'. What crap. Nope, it's not a master plan to colonize in reverse. No sirree.

October 28th

"I finished reading "Double Dexter" by Jeff Lindsay, but don't feel up to a review right now."

October 29th

"We had a great time at the school Halloween Hoopla. Lauren even won the costume contest in her age bracket for her "Uni the Unicorn" outfit!"

"Breaking News: CNN is reporting 13 US Servicemen KIA from a suicide attack in Afghanistan . . ."

October 30th

"Heading to Kenosha, listening to Lisa and the kids sing along to Adele. Lu loves her."

"out for a walk w/ Smiley and Ginger"

October 31st

"Over the weekend I finished reading "Tension City: Presidential Debates from Kennedy-Nixon to Obama-McCain" by Jim Leher. A memoir of his own time as a pres. debate moderator, the book offers nothing new to anyone familiar with history. While the point of the book is to stress the importance of Presidential debates, it actually proves the opposite, giving ample examples of how appearance and one-liners triumph over substance."

"half an hour ago i was ready 2 kill these kids . . .now I can't stop beaming over 'em"

"‎@ dance studio waiting 4 the kids. Took the opportunity to take a brisk 32 min walk."

"kim kardashian filed for divorce today - after a whopping 72 days of marriage"

No Higher Honor by Condoleezza Rice

I FINALLY! finished "No Higher Honor", the White House memoirs of Condoleezza Rice. Don't get me wrong, I think Rice is a heck of a stylist and the subject matter was compelling, but I think I'm burned out on political bios for the duration of 2011. Plus at 750 pages of meticulous detail it's a bit on the "not light reading" end of the scale.

Value Village = Score!

Found at Value Village tonight: optical USB mouse $2.50. Dress pants, new, in my size (!) $2 Suit coat, dress shirt, dress shoes for Parker: $6 1970's pictorial bio of Jimmy Carter: 50 cents 2 kids books for Lauren: a quarter each. Sweatshirt for LK: $2. OTOH, the cost of a 1/2" Mondale-Ferraro button was an outrageous $2, and I refused to pay the price. Haughty ba*tards.

Frost/Nixon and Page One

Tonight after work we watched "Frost/Nixon", a dramatization of David Frost's interviews with the 37th President. It's a great film and very compelling, and the acting was top notch. Grade: A

BTW, I think I failed to mention we recently watched the doc "Page One" about the NY Times. I get off on anything related to publishing so I enjoyed it, BUT even I have to admit it got damn boring and lost its way well before the end. Of note: I was alarmed at the scene where NBC's Brian Williams is exposed 'inventing' a hook out of whole cloth, to the professional disgust of the Times reporters. Wow. Grade: B/B-

Grey Gardens

This morning we watched "Grey Gardens" a film based on the life of Jackie O relatives Edith Beale and her mother, whose descent into squalor and poverty was documented in a famous documentary of the mid '70's. It's a sad but hopeful little film, bouncing back and forth from the wealth and dreams of the earlier decades to the dung filled house of later years, but never surrendering the certainty of better times ahead. Very enjoyable.

Tim Cusprin

I just got a big shock when I ck'd JSOnline. Tim Cuprisin, former TV columnist and a FB friend, has passed away @ 53. RIP Tim, I valued your columns.

Super 8

I eagerly rented the JJ Abrams flick "Super 8" today. The verdict? Disappointment. I loved the cast, especially the kids, and really enjoyed watching the internal conflicts between the characters. OTOH, I thought the sci-fi plot was thin and incredibly 'been there, seen that'. Sadly, the latter took up the bulk of the film, leaving the human element to waste away into a footnote. C-

3 Films

But, courtesy of Netflix's mail service, we did have a double feature today. 1st up: 'Just Go With It', a comedy about a man who has his assistant to pose as his ex-wife to help him land a girl. The plot is ridiculous and has holes big enough to fit a truck through sideways, but oddly enough, I liked it. It was surprisingly funny, and there was a noticeable and sweet on-screen chemistry between Adam Sandler and Jennifer Anniston (whodathunkit?)

2nd course: The Queen, starring Helen Mirren. The Queen and newly elected PM Tony Blair navigate the public's perception of the monarchy in the wake of Princess Di's death. I thought it was a superb movie. I like that they don't shy away from the idea/(fact?) that Di's private persona was directly at odds with the image she manipulated in the media. I love how the film traces Blair's building indignation w/ the attacks leveled against his Queen, and his rise to defend her. A+

Oy, almost forgot a film we watched over the weekend: "Good Neighbors". Set in an apartment building in Quebec while a serial rapist/killer is on the loose, it follows 3 neighbors who hit it off but who may - or may not - each have their own dark secret. Lisa found it boring, I thought it was quirky and entertaining, if a bit light on action, plot, motive, and . . .well, a lot of things. Plus Jay Baurchel's voice gets on my nerves. C+

A Headscratcher

markers the kids linked together and posted over the office door for reasons unknown