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Things that make you go hmm....when you travel.

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:12:00 GMT

People who go into the restroom, enter a bathroom stall, and then call someone on their cell phone.
People who put their carry on luggage on the conveyor for the x-ray thingy, WITH their laptop still packed in it, even though there are 4 thousand signs before you get to that checkpoint that say, "PLEASE HAVE YOUR LAPTOP OUT."
Baggage handlers who clearly see you looking out at them through the plane window, and STILL they throw your luggage from ten feet away, onto the baggage carrier.

Rock Out Friday!

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 18:04:00 GMT

What song would you suggest, that's appropriate, for Rock Out Friday!?

Advice

Sun, 02 May 2010 21:05:00 GMT

One time I got some good advice that I still follow. I never liked to get my picture taken. Of course, this was because I didn't like the way I looked in pictures. Why? Because I was so busy trying to tell the photographer not to take my picture! How would I possibly look good with my face contorted or frowning? Someone told me to quit fighting it, and just smile when someone sticks a camera in your face. I took that advice, and now I always have a happy face in photos. Recently, I got some more really good advice that I'm trying to follow. It was about how to deal with negative people.

What good advice have you been given that you still follow? How did it come about?

Family Fun

Mon, 03 May 2010 18:05:00 GMT

Once when we were kids, we were making donuts from scratch, in our kitchen, with a donut fryer. We, being me and several of my older brothers. At that time, my little sister Mary "claimed" that she did not like bananas. We decided to experiment with random things laying around the kitchen that we could batter up with the donut batter, and fry. We tried apples. We tried marshmallows. We tried a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. We tried bananas! The bananas were so good, that we decided to taste test them on our sister Mary. "Here, try this," we said. She did. She loved them. She wanted more. We fed her more. We stifled our giggles and restrained ourselves from yelling, "You're eating bananas!" Finally we couldn't control ourselves, and blurted out--"It's bananas!"

She suddenly became grossed out. It was hilarious. She claimed that she knew they were bananas. We rolled on the floor. Mom and Dad entered the room and we told them, "Mary was eating bananas and she didn't know it and she liked them!"

For some reason, they did not think this was as funny as we did. We still remind her about that. "Oh yeah, Mary--you don't "like" bananas, do you?"

What jokes have you played on your family, or have they played on you?

Random Acts of Kindness

Wed, 05 May 2010 17:05:00 GMT

One time I was at the Whistle Stop Cafe in Fox Lake, having breakfast before I had to get on the train to go to DePaul for my Saturday morning class. While I was eating, I noticed this woman who often rode the train, and who also seemed/appeared to be homeless. (Homeless people sometimes buy weekend passes on Metra, and ride the trains all weekend for two reasons. Warmth and a safe place to get some sleep.) Anyway, when I went to pay my bill, I paid hers too.

When I got to the train station, I had a little wait, so I went in to hang out witht the ticket agent, in his office. (Which is something you get to do when your husband is an engineer for Metra.)

That lady came and waited on the platform. I told the ticket agent that I had just eaten at Whistle Stop and that woman had been there, and I'd paid for her breakfast. He told me I shouldn't have done that, because she probably had more money than I did.

What do you think about that? In Chicago, there are some "homeless" people who ask for money in and around Union Station, but the Metra employees will tell you they are not homeless, they are scam artists. How is a person supposed to be kind to others? How do you decide who is homeless and who is just taking advantage of your kindness?

Stress Relief

Fri, 07 May 2010 18:05:00 GMT

Things are SO hectic this time of the year, with end of school stuff. I get so stressed out. Can you believe it? I need some tips for stress relief. What do you do to relax and unwind when you are feeling under pressure?

Please don't tell me to eat chocolate.

Embarrassing Moments

Mon, 10 May 2010 18:05:00 GMT

One time I was at the Driver's Licence Examiner's renewing my driver's licence. I was talking to my sister-in-law, killing time, waiting for the line to move. When we got to the front of the line, I said something to my sister-in-law like, "He must be really patient doing this job all day." And my sister-in-law replied, "He's a she." I thought the girl was a guy. It was quite embarrassing. One time I was at a grocery store, and I left my cart at the deli section while I ran down an isle to get something. Then I put it in my cart, and continued shopping. Twenty minutes later, I got to the checkout, and realized that it wasn't my cart! It had stuff I'd added, and it had stuff from whoever I "stole" it from. I went back to the deli, and the lady was just looking for it, because she'd just finished up getting her deli order. I was very, very embarrassed. I had to trade out my things with hers and get my cart back in order. Then I went to check out again. I think the cashiers thought I was overmedicated or something.

Kevin

Tue, 11 May 2010 18:05:00 GMT

My brother Kevin is coming to visit. He comes every year and stays from the end of May until July. Kevin is my oldest brother--the one who is "developmentally disabled" but we always say "retarded" because when we were growing up, "retarded" didn't have a negative connotation like it does today. Know why "retarded" has a negative connotation? Because people use it to describe things other than retarded people as retarded. My bike is so retarded. This class is retarded. Our vacation is retarded, etc. You get the picture. Anyway, one thing about Kevin is that even though he's retarded, he sure isn't stupid!

While he is here, we will do some things that he really enjoys. He is a rabid fisherman. He wants to fish every day. Last year, he didn't get enough fishing in, because the creek was so high that it wasn't safe for him to go down there alone. We will also take a train ride and have lunch at a place in Glenview. Kevin's special gifts include: Etch a Sketch drawings, skipping rocks, and oh--did I mention fishing? He also likes to hang out with John Wu and "supervise" his projects. It's quite amusing.

My brother Tim wrote a great essay about Kevin for a college entrance essay, a few years ago. I wish I could cut and paste it here, but I can't find an electronic copy of it.

What's on your mind?

Thu, 13 May 2010 16:05:00 GMT

What's on my mind is whether or not any of you have learned anything this year. Each year, about this time, I start to wonder this. It seems like you should learn something, just by being in school every day, whether you want to or not. Even if you didn't ever do an assignment, you'd have to get some sort of learning done, wouldn't you?

Another thing that's on my mind is running. This weather is really getting in the way of my outdoor life! It's too rainy and wet to run outside, to bicycle, to canoe, to mow the lawn, to plant things in the garden. It just makes me want to bake stuff!

Another thing that's on my mind is food, because I'm hungry. (I'm always hungry.) For some reason, I'm really hungry for deep dish pizza, which I almost never eat, because at the place we like to go to for pizza, (Tammy's) we always get the thin crust. (Sausage, mushrooms, extra sauce, and jalepenos on the side.) I could really go for something to eat. Which brings me back to running!

Guest blogger: Andi-Best Friends

Wed, 19 May 2010 18:05:00 GMT

In fourth grade, Mr.Cohn said something I have never stopped wondering about. He says that you can only have one best friend. I never believed this was true. But...is it? Best friends are the people you turn to at any time of day, the people that you are never sick of being with. You can turn to your best friend and know everything is okay. But what if you have two, or three...or more best friends? They all fit your qualifications. What is a best friend to you? Do you believe Mr. Cohn's words? Can you really only have one best friend?

Kevin Part 2

Thu, 20 May 2010 03:05:00 GMT

Here is the college entrance essay that my brother Tim wrote a while ago--because Kevin is now going on....55? 56? I can never remember!

It’s mid-May in Northern Wisconsin when the crappies start biting. They gather in shallow sheltered corners of Crystal Lake to participate in a yearly ritual that I’m sure only crappies fully understand.

Awaiting this ritual for as long as I’ve been around is my brother, Kevin. The oldest of my eleven brothers and sisters, Kevin is thirty-seven. He is a well experienced, extraordinary angler who is wise to the ways of crappies and more patient than Mother Theresa. His methods are unconventionally simple, but his results are usually quite remarkable.

I had the privilege of growing up with Kevin. My experiences with him have enriched my life with volumes of humor and wisdom. What makes this so remarkable is that in clinical terms, he is mentally and physically impaired. I never understood this terminology used to classify special populations, because Kevin is so uniquely individual that broad terms simply don’t apply.

Therefore, in order to convey the value of my experience, I am compelled to write what I have learned in terms of Kevin’s world, in this case crappie fishing, and his ability to negate limitations.

Apart from the certain cognitive and physical limitations, Kevin is endowed with an extreme tenacity and enthusiasm. When he applies this to fishing, the fish are helpless. It is this rabid, singular pursuit that has served as an example to me. In several cases it has left me laughing at my own shortcomings.

One incident in particular illustrates this quite well. It began with a new lure. It was a pink headed jig, with a white tail, recently purchased from the neighborhood bait shop. Kevin began fishing with it just down the shoreline from our swimming beach. He was standing knee deep in the frigid spring water sheltered by the lowest limb of a willow that reached out over the submerged remains of an ancient wooden raft; in other words, crappie habitat. His first few tosses of his new prize lure yielded a crappie that bent and bowed his pole and made him holler and swear frantically. He negotiated the fish into shore and put it on his stringer.

But then, his excitement exceeded his ability to contain it. His shaking hands cast the lure into the outer reaches of the willow’s hanging branches. He hesitated at first and then used a word I don’t care to repeat here.

I witnessed this from the beach, where I remained even though I knew his world had just plummeted into the abyss of despair. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I had an awful sense of foreboding but my selfishness brushed it aside. He asked me to retrieve it for him but my response was only lukewarm. He was very upset.

A week past and despite his requests, I forgot about his imprisoned lure. I was out for a leisurely canoe ride with my mom and as we returned to the shore, we drifted towards the willow tree. What I saw confirmed my sense of foreboding. My selfishness slithered out of sight and my jaw dropped to my sunken chest.

A fresh stump adorned the shoreline, where the lowest limb of the willow was. The sawdust peppered the hard mud beneath it. I knew at once that Kevin has emancipated his lure with my dad’s handsaw and blood of the lowest limb was on my hands. All I could do was laugh at myself, and I did, for days.

Kevin had acted accordingly. In fact he acted cleverly. His insatiable drive to retrieve his prize lure knew no limits. I think of Aesop’s fox giving up and moving on. The fox knew the grapes were sweet. He simply lacked the determination to employ a handsaw. Kevin’s simple means had achieved his results. So much for sour grapes. I apologized to him for what had passed. But he had his lure and didn’t give a darn about my anguish, the tree or any of the complexity that I had assigned to the situation. He had his lure. I had my lesson.

Winter Thoughts

Sun, 06 Feb 2011 22:02:00 GMT

I LOVE winter, now that we have a real one. This is what kind of snow fall amounts I grew up with. My point of view about winter cold is--What's the point of cold weather if you can't go outside and play in it? So, this weekend, I went cross country skiing. I tried to ski at the Chain O Lakes State Park. They had NO TRAILS opened. NONE. Come on, State of Illinois! How do you get to own vast acres of recreational land, and not provide a winter playland for your residents? That stinks! I had to go to Glacier Park in McHenry County. Which is semi-decent, but way too hilly for cross country skiing, if you pick the wrong trail!

So, what are you doing with all this snow?

Trust

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 00:04:00 GMT

A really cool song by The Cowboy Junkies called 'Angel Mine' has these lyrics.

I can't promise that I'll grow those wings or keep this tarnished halo shined but I'll never betray your trust angel mine.

I love that song. It was on my short list of songs to sing at my wedding. (Went with 'Someone to Watch Over Me'.) You know that if you've had to watch the THE WEDDING VIDEO! (It's still MISS-UZ!)

Definition of TRUST

1a : assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something
b : one in which confidence is placed

How do you decide who is trustworthy? When you trust someone, what do you trust him/her with? Have you ever lost someone's trust? Has anyone you trusted ever betrayed you? How does that feel?

Better than a Video Game

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 19:04:00 GMT

These are some things that I love to do.

Laugh. Swim. Canoe. Read. Cook. Eat. Be with my family. Travel to New York City. Camp. Bicycle. Have a really meaningful conversation. Watch suspenseful (but not gory) movies. Sing. Listen to music. What are things that you like to do, even better than playing video games.

Trimester 2

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 21:11:00 GMT

How are you going to do even better in Trimester 2? What goals and strategies will you use to be successful?