Bingo Night

I haven't been to Bingo in a long time, but since I had a half day at work, I decided to take my Mom to the smoke filled Berwyn Moose Bingo. I was cased (Bingo lingo for needing one number) for G-46 on a regular game, when I looked up on the monitor to discover my number awaiting the call. I ripped off my paper, and much to the chagrin of the grey haired seniors surrounding me, I raised my hand and yelled that delightful word of BINGO when my number was called. Unfortunately, the game was only worth $100, but even with my Mom and I splitting, we did end up with a small profit for the night.

The Key

One of my favorite books to read while I was growing up is "Key to the Treasure". It's about three siblings who spend the summer at their grandparent's house. They uncover clues to an old treasure hunt that their great grandfather had made. It was fun to follow along with these realistic characters as they solved various puzzles. My brothers also enjoyed the book along with me, as did my sister when she was old enough to read.

We introduced it to my nieces, who love it too. We still have the original, worn out copy. The picture above is the new cover. I checked on Amazon, and found out that the author wrote a series of books about the same family, and purchased these for the kids. I gave my young nephew a copy of the book too, and my brother was tickled by it, since he remembers reading it over and over.

The author's name is Peggy Parish. So if you are looking for a fun and interesting book for a school aged child, I highly recommend it.

Picture of the Week

Yesterday it was announced that Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street band will be touring this fall, coinciding with the release of their new CD "Magic" that will be released on October 2nd. If you do not know what a big fan of his I am, then you don't know me very well. They could sell tickets to watch him read from the phone book and I'll be first in line. Speaking of tickets, those for the October 21st concert at the United Center go on sale next Saturday. I'll unfortunately be at work, so I am putting the pressure on my sister Kathy to rearrange her schedule for that day and be on ticket duty.

Ah, the beauty of having your own blog, you can post WHATEVER you want, and that's why Bruce's picture is the picture of the week!

Riddle Me This

Here is the weekly riddle. Who will be the first to answer it correctly?

Only one color,

but not one size,

Stuck at the bottom,

yet easily flies.

Present in sun,

but not in rain,

Doing no harm,

and feeling no pain.

What is it???

Movie Monday

I recently rented the movie "Half Nelson". It came out last year and was critically acclaimed. Ryan Gosling was nominated for the best actor Academy Award. And he deserved that nomination. His performance as a caring, innovative teacher who has a drug abuse problem was outstanding. So was the acting job of Shareeka Epps. She played the student who befriended the teacher after discovering his secret while struggling with her own troubles. The movie was hard to watch at times, since I came to care for these characters and had to watch them make decisions that were destructive to their lives. It isn't a fast paced, action filled movie. It is all about these two very different individuals, and how they impacted each other's lives.

Quote of the Week

"For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness."

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Who is the Baseball Head?

Here is a picture of niece K with a baseball pinata on her head.

Who has it on in this picture?

Let's see who is the first to figure it out.

Low Tech Fun

In this day and age of high-tech games and devices, it's nice to see the popularity of a low-tech game. We call it Bags, but it can go by the names of Cornhole, Bean Bag Toss, Corn Toss or Baggo. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornhole_%28game%29

It's simplicity at its finest, a lot like horse shoes or jarts. A fun game that can be played by all ages and can become a very competitive event as well. A nice break from the world's obsessions with computers, video games, i-pods, mp3 players, cell phones etc. I played with my family for the first time this summer. We had a lively tournament in which everyone had a great time.

Enjoy some photo's from a fun afternoon. I have a feeling this tournament may become a yearly tradition.

Mike and Dad, applying softball pitching skills.

Tom and Laura. (I didn't stand a chance. It's just like playing him at ping-pong every year.)

Bob and Mom. (Mom won that match. Sorry Bob, she used her schuuuuum!)

Dawn and Kathy. (Nice follow through KOR).

Nephew J tried the game a new way, sitting on the hole to block the shots!

Niece E, keeping score and doing her very expressive commentating.

Niece K, sitting on Papa's lap and cheering on the girls.

And finally, congratulations to Dawn for winning the tournament. Well done!

Quite the Hoopla

There has been a lot of buzz lately about Disney's High School Musical 2 and it's predecessor HMS1. I finally broke down this past weekend and watched both of them. It's been all the rage for the pre-teen set, and curiosity got the best of me. In fact, the soundtrack debuted at Number One on the Billboard top 200, selling 615,000 copies in it's first week of release.

Personally, I found most of the songs to sound alike and nothing stands out as anything special.. The movies were goody-goody fluff at it's best, but then again, it was designed for the younger crowd. (Although I liked the baseball dance number). The films have been compared to, but don't hold a candle to, Grease. Great cast and music there, but unfortunately, the adult themes prevent the kiddies from viewing a very entertaining movie that produced a wide variety of songs and styles that I know certain youngsters would get a kick out of recreating. And that's a shame. Now THAT was a classic high school musical. Gabriella VS. Rizzzo, that about sums it up.

Picture of the Week

I saw this on another blog and thought it was pretty funny. They wrote of how Disney should try to breed mice to look like "you know who" and sell them at Christmas! Although this picture is surely "photoshopped", the little guy looks pretty cute for a rodent, don't you think?

Time For A Riddle

Let's see who can answer this riddle correctly:

I can sizzle like bacon,

I am made with an egg,

I have plenty of backbone,

but lack a good leg,

I peel layers like onions,

but still remain whole,

I can be long, like a flagpole,

yet fit in a hole, What am I?

Movie Review

I recently saw a wonderful film from Ireland called "Once". It's a bitter-sweet story about two lost souls who come together through their passion for creating and performing music. The dialog is sometimes hard to follow, (strong Irish brogues) but this movie stands on it own for the amazing music. It's in a limited release, but if you can find it, it's well worth the time to enjoy a story about two people who are able to give each other what they need in very special ways. Learn more about it at http://www.foxsearchlight.com/once/

Quote of the week

"What we have once enjoyed we can never lose.

All that we love deeply becomes a part of us. "
-Helen Keller

Look who is in first place!

Yesterday's Cubs win over St. Louis + Milwaukee's loss = Cubs in first place!


At least for moment. Let's hope they keep the lead for the rest of the season.

How much would I enjoy it if the Cubs and Mets played for the National League Championship?



The answer: very much.

Mining

While reflecting on the recent mining tragedies, I was wondering why technology has not provided advanced ways to accomplish these seemingly dangerous tasks. I'm sure there have been improvements upon equipment, but miners still go down into those dark, scary holes with a lighted hat upon their heads and bravery in their hearts.

The Sci-Tech Museum

I recently took the nieces to visit the Sci-Tech hands-on kids museum in Aurora, Illinois. It was three floors of interactive learning-while-you-play exhibits. Kids of all ages can find many interesting, educational and fun things to do. Our favorites were the working bee hive and the bubble making station. If you go, make sure to check out their web site for a printable discount coupon, $1 off the usual $8 admittance fee. http://scitech.mus.il.us/

Here are some pictures of our visit:

Niece E. and the bees (we did see the queen)


Niece K giving the weather report.


Niece E milking a fake goat.


Niece K making engery.




Dino attacks! But we all survived and had a great time.

Not your Egyptian's father's pyramid

A co-worker recently went to a ski show and told me of the giant pyramids that the skiers do. Teams compete to out do each other from one year to the next, with the winning team getting bragging rights until the next season. This pyramid has 40 members, all being pulled by one boat. After my initial question of how, another came to mind....WHY?

First (of many) posts

This is my first post. I have been given the challenge that I can't post a new one everyday. So we'll see how that goes.