The ecstasy...and then the agony

Two news stories that I managed to catch today....

1. About time this dirtbag goes down. One wife will get justice, anyway.

and now the one that really upsets and discourages me....

2. Padre Cutie...porque?

18 months ago, it was Fr. Francis. Now Fr. Alberto. More egg on the face of the Church, sure, but what disturbs me most about their stories is how well Satan picks his prey...two very bright men, gifted communicators, role models both aiming for and enaging the young adult segments of our Catholic population...and then they fall so horribly, so publicly, that they leave behind discouraged and disgruntled parishioners and international viewing and listening audiences, and the distinct impression that living up to the obligations and commitments of a priestly vocation is just too difficult for it to be a realistic or viable option.

ARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!! [But I didn't say "argh" in my head!]

Pray for these priests...and then follow that old hair-band anthem and Shout At The Devil!

YAY!!!!!

See, last year I posted early and jinxed it...my Cubs won their season opener!

GO CUBS GO!!!!!

Prayers for the parish family...

...at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago, which was devastated by fire earlier today. It's a grand old place - went to Mass there on special occasions and weekend treks into the city when I was young. Hate to see news like this.

Especially For The Much-Missed Ma Beck...

Today's feast day honors St. John Cantius, Bishop and namesake of a rockin' parish in my native Chicago, of which our dear Ma is lucky enough to be a member.

For all parishes like SJC that treat and present the Faith with beauty, honor and reverence...thank you, God bless you, Merry Christmas...wish you were here.

My favorite quote from St. John of Kanty (and one I need to remember and put into practice myself):

Fight all error, but do it with good humor, patience, kindness, and love. Harshness will damage your own soul and spoil the best cause.

You GO Mike!

A break from the usual topics...it's sinless confession time:

I LOVE MIKE SINGLETARY!!!

One of the best linebackers ever, a Chicago Bear legend, and now the SF 49'ers head coach. He is a class act all the way around, very old-school, and probably REALLY p*ssing off the wildly overpaid, high maintenance players on his team . Here, he's taking responsibility for the loss in his coaching debut, then taking one Vernon Harris to task - and rightly so, the selfish git! - I just hope it doesn't get him fired:


The AOL headlines today were screaming: "Coach has meltdown, rants at player" which is total bs. He's being very direct and speaking from the heart, but I actually thought he was rather restrained. As anyone who's ever seen "the eyes" when he lined up back in the day could tell you, he looked downright mellow in this press conference.

Seriously, what would you do if you saw this 275-lb. bundle of intensity and 110% commitment hurtling at you?

(Answer: Depends?!?)

Again, I just think the world of him and I think he'll be an amazing, even legendary coach if given the leeway to get these young snotty players and their entourages under control.

Now, I love Lovie, too, don't get me wrong, but having Mike Singletary or Gary Fencik as head coach of my beloved Bears has been a dream of mine since each man retired. Loving my Bears may not be a sin, but I will admit, loving the 1986 "Superbowl Shuffle" video (which I still own) probably is.

(P.S.: RIP, Walter Payton - I have spent more than a few teary-eyed hours watching YouTube fan tributes to #34)

The Agony...

....Happy 100th Anniversary, Cubs. Swept in the first round by the crappy record having Dodgers. Nice going.

And now for The Ecstasy....Illinois 45 Michigan 20. In your FACE!

(No offense, Larry....ok, maybe a little.)

Hey Chicago, whaddya say...

....those Cubbies clinched a spot in the playoffs [yester]day!

Yessss!!!

YESSSSSSSS!!!!!!

YESSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!

(please?)

Oh NO, he did!!!

YESSSS!!!!! (Photo credit: AP)

For the first time since the Nixon Administration, a Cubs pitcher has thrown a no-hitter. Congrats to Carlos Zambrano!

I am now finding myself slightly more able to forgive you for looking (and occasionally acting) a little too much like ......the wacko president of your native land.


It would be nice to make it to the World Series on our 100th anniversary...

GO CUBS GO!!!

I don't like Ike

UPDATE: We had some pretty righteous downed tree limb issues (including one 12' spruce log that mercifully missed structures on the neighbor's side of the fence), lost power and downed lines. Now Ike's up in New England and heading for the N. Atlantic. Good riddance!

The havoc in Texas is incredible. My family and friends back in Chicago had a few flooded basements and one newly-discovered leaky roof - not good when you get six inches of rain all at once.

Even here in the middle of nowhere NY, some 1200 miles from Ike's landfall, we are slated to get tons of rain, it is sultry and positively tropical outside (90* at its hottest today, and still in the 70's at 9pm), and the wind gusts are getting up into the 30-40 mph range. The scope of this storm is amazing. Will check back in after we get past our share of the scary weather.

In, then back out

Well, we made it home last night after 11 hours in the car with a very nicely behaved baby, who (along with his carseat) acted as a perfect buffer to two slightly cranky female children.

Sadly, I must do a little [- gulp -] WORK tomorrow, then on Friday we are off to NYC to do something I've never done...a game at Yankee Stadium with the Beloved and crew. One of those things that must happen before the stadium is wrecked and replaced after this season. I've gotta get a picture of the Beloved and the Boy standing out front of the stadium for the sake of posterity.

It's almost as good for a Boy as going to Wrigley with his Mamma.

GO CUBS GO!

P.S. I just realized something else - this will also mark my first venture into the Bronx, oddly enough - I think I've driven through and/or at least flown out of every other borough. Digi, I will chow down on a dog and hoist a cold adult beverage in your honor.

A Day At The Races

Greetings from the road! On Thursday, we went to Arlington Park (a.k.a., "the track") to watch some good ol' fashioned horse racing. The fabulous Depression-era old wooden grandstand structure burned to the ground about 20 years ago, and despite the track being less than 2 miles from where I grew up, I had not been to the new facility since. Kinda like when they installed the lights for night games at Wrigley, but that's another post.

I was quite impressed by what we saw. The facility is absolutely spotless, wide open space, beautiful horses, abundant seating (and high-stakes boxes, which we did not inspect), and family friendly - as long as you don't sit behind dudes smoking cigars - cough, gasp - which they sell at $5 a pop, along with $8 packs of ciggies, at the concession stands. Worth a few bucks on a sunny summer afternoon if you are ever in the Chicago area.

Here we are, walking in to the park. What you see here is the waiting area for the horses - the grandstand is off-camera to the right. You can walk over and take a look at the contenders before you place your bets, and then the horses are walked/paraded around this inner track by the stablehands before heading through the tunnel, beneath the grandstand, for the races.

WOO HOO!!! I won the princely sum of $12.10 on a $5 bet in the fourth race on this horse, "Fashionable Time" (picked solely for the name, of course). He started at 8-1 when I placed my bet, but I guess he looked good over in the holding area, because the odds dropped precipitously in the 15 minutes before the start...and unlike in Vegas, the payout is on the odds at the start time...not the odds when you place the bet.

Ahhh yessss.....the Princess has caught race fever. Here she is on the rail at the finish line. She actually won twice - one on a win bet, and one on a SHOW bet that she made, via her grandmother. She had the race list ("green sheet") on her lap and was studying it assiduously all afternoon - once she ascertained that there were no horses named "Dover" ( so she could tell him/her to "move yer bloomin' arse") she got down to business. Good thing we don't live here...we had to drag her away with three races to go.

So that's the word from the Windy City (well, the NW suburbs, really). Hope you're all having a good time, and I recommend watching the Arlington Million today if you are not in the Olympic mood.

Out and about

8-4-08 update: Extra day of partying on Seneca Lake....so we are off to the homeland (sweet home Chicago) tomorrow morning. We decided to stay home tonight and make sure the recyling goes out tomorrow, given the amount of longnecks that've sacrificed their lives in the name of family communing over the past 4 days. We have probably fed a family of 4 for a week with our empties!

;-)

Well, Friday is here, as is August (<--that was fast!), and I'm wide awake at 2 a.m. formulating lists and itineraries for the next 10 days. After work tomorrow, I have all the pre-wedding stuff to do - family dinner, hair and nails, then Saturday is the wedding of the Beloved's cousin - two big HUGE Catholic families, 350 guests (note: only immediate family and 1st cousins are allowed, or they were well over 500!), and a very small handful of teetotallers among them. So needless to say, Seneca Lake is crawling with extended family, some of whom are already in "pre-flight" mode. Say your prayers and clear the roads.

If we can lift our heads on Sunday, we will go to an afterparty on the lake, then Monday we are off on the 10 hour drive to IL for as long as my mother and I can tolerate each other. So I'm guessing 3-4 days, tops - maybe an extra if we manage to make it to a Cubs game.

Posting will be light, but I'll be checking in with some regularity...as an evasive self-defense move if for no other reason.

Wish me luck, and have a great weekend!

Was There Any Doubt?

(Quiz at sidebar...I got one wrong, but hey - I grew up in the Northwest suburbs!)