Why I Oughta...

A year ago today, I was pondering News Years resolutions.  All the typical ones ran through my head, but it occurred to me that I've never actually fulfilled a resolution - and carried it throughout the entire year. This year was going to be different, I claimed!  No promising to go to the gym.  No promising to save more money.  This year, I was going to publish a post to my personal blog EVERY DAY ALL YEAR LONG.  Yes.  By some measures, I aimed somewhat low.  To some, a post-a-day doesn't seem like a very high bar to get over, but it was an important personal goal and allowed me to get re-acquainted with something I was missing. Blogging is how I fell in love with the web and found a profession.  To those who know me, they know that the funny thing about my career is:  before blogging, I was a driver.  Yes...I drove someone around for a living. I LOVED it, but still....I was a driver.  Then came along blogging.  2004 was the first time I dug into it - a few years behind th

My brother-in-laws are a pretty creative bunch.  For the past few years, they've been building gingerbread houses over their Christmas breaks.  Last year it was a pretty intricate log cabin house with a front porch.   This year, all three of them (Bill, Charlie, and Peter) had time together and spent quite a bit of time making a different kind of "house".  I use "house" in quotes because for some reason  they actually made a combination KFC/Taco Bell with a drive-thru lane.   Yes.  A restaurant.  I watched (I had NOTHING to do with this aside from watching and cheering them on!) as they baked the walls/structure and poured the sugar "glass" windows.  I came back a few days later and this beauty was built.  On the right, you can see the drive-thru's menu board and also note the wire(s) going to the bottom of the structure.  They even wired this restaurant up with interior lights.  And...to be even more crazy:  There's even an air conditioning un

For Christmas, my mother-in-law bought me a sourdough starter from Sourdo.com .   Yes.  Finally.  Some of you might remember that I was asking for one back in June for Father's Day.  This particular culture is of the Italian variety and comes from Ischia - right in the northern end of the Gulf of Naples . The starter takes a few days of work to get started and requires some specific steps.    The first of which includes getting the starter in a jar and bringing the temperature up while it proofs.  This is my kitchen hack of a proofing box - a plastic tub with an Illini nightlight rigged inside.  So far, so good.   It is like a thick pancake batter. 24 hours from now, I get to move on to step two - if this goes as predicted.  We *should* have bubbles and a bit of fermentation action.  My fingers are crossed.  I hope yours are, too!

Santa brought me this "Shower Tool" from Dove.  Funny how marketers try to market different to men, isn't it?  Are men not interested in loofas?  Do they need "tools"?  I've been using a loofa for 10+ years (since I went to college) and I didn't feel very feminine using one, but apparently *some* men do?  Is that why Dove had to create a men's only shower tool?  Seems like most of the time, this type of thing is being bought by women anyway, right?  I don't buy my own shower soap.  Doesn't matter all that much to me what it is called, but maybe there's some sort of marketing jujitsu being done on women - as they make purchases for men?  Don't know! Similarities can be seen with Coke Zero.  Don't get me wrong.  I like the stuff a lot.  But the Zero part?  That's clearly aimed at men who are *afraid* or *embarrassed* to be ordering "Diet" beverages, isn't it?  Just make Diet Coke taste like that, please. Oh...a

In the spirit of haul videos , I figure I'd share a few of my spoils from the holiday festivities.  I thought for about a minute or two about doing a spoof haul video, but then figured I have better other things to do with my time. First up is a gift from my dad.  Growing up I always LOVED the holiday time because that meant that my dad was going to be setting up his Lionel train.  The set was his since he was a child and he somehow hung onto it and the set - for the most part - survived various moves and time.  This was a shared tradition throughout my childhood as we even went to various train shows each December adding a piece to the collection - sometimes a car, sometimes some track.  And....boy the smell of that transformer!  Those of you with older train sets know what I'm talking about, but it just smells like Christmas to me! The hobby resurfaced again a few years back when - for some reason - my interest in Lionel and trains rose.  We even went back to a show and

With Christmas already in our rearview mirror (sad, isn't it?), I needed to document the latest addition to our decor before it gets packed away.  In early December, we went to a vintage Christmas fair on Randolph Street in the city.  We've gone the past two years and have come home with a handful of treasures each year. These guys were my favorite buy this year and they've been sitting near our front door in the entry - so we get to see them a lot. They're stamped "Japan" - so I'm guessing that dates them to before WWII, right?  As with most people's Christmas and their Christmas decor, things just keep expanding.  Or...as my brother-in-law once put it:  "Christmas is like the universe.  It keeps growing each year." I'll have to remember to put these guys back up by the front door.  That is, if I can get my attention away from building the baddest Christmas Village ever!

Christmas is here and the Penny Hockey boards (Topper Hockey!) were a hit!  Nat and I gave our gifts to my family last night on Christmas Eve. The boys get A LOT of gifts from Santa and others at my folks, so it takes a lot to grab their attention.  I'm hopeful that they'll pick up their boards in the coming days and fall in love with the game like I did. On the 3 boards I made, I stamped each one with the name of the game (Topper Hockey), their name and also left room for a second owner.  Getting them to think of the game as something that they can enjoy and share with others is important and this way, they understand that this isn't a disposable gift. Also...if you look closely, you'll see that Topper Hockey hasn't left 'beta' quite yet! I stamped my initials and the year in the bottom corner - so they remember when the game showed up.  I also included a "History of Topper Hockey" (written tongue-in-cheek) and the official rules of the gam

Just like in years past, we not only have a tree in our living room, we also have a smaller one out in the middle of our front yard.  Our front yard, you ask?  Yup. It is a fundraiser for the school district and they drop the trees off for our block on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  Not everybody puts one up - there might be a person or two who are Grinches, but for the most part, the entire block participates. This year, I arrived early at the tree pickup and grabbed a tall one.  Everyone puts the old-fashioned C9 lights on them - we use the big ones, but in LED bulbs. There is a lot to like about Elmhurst, but this small tradition is one more reason to like living here - the sense of community around the holidays is nice and makes the season a bit more merry and bright. For reference sake, here's our other yard trees: 2009 Front Yard Christmas Tree

For the past few years, Google has teamed up with NORAD to allow parents and kids to track Santa across the globe in Google Earth.  I'm posting this on the 23rd (Happy Festivus, Everyone!) because some of you read these posts via email a day after they're posted.  Here's a video from last year.  If you look closely around 23 seconds, you can see Santa flying right down the Chicago River!  And...I have it on good authority that there will be even more Chicago footage this year! This year, Google has made it even easier to track the Big Guy wherever you might be on Christmas Eve. Pay attention, parents!  This year, no more need to be chained to your laptop or desktop.  Now...you can track Santa on your phone.   That's pretty easy, isn't it? How to Track Santa on Your Mobile Device: 1. Get Google Maps on your mobile device .  If you don't have it loaded, you can use this QR Code to get it now: 2.  On Christmas Eve, open the application. 3.  Search for &quo

Each year, Anchor Brewing puts out a Christmas Ale .  This is the 36th version and each year the recipe changes a bit (although they keep it a secret!).  Thanks to the refined palate of my brother-in-law Charlie, this has become a mainstay at the Moran household during Christmas.  I don't drink all that much these days, but I always make room for a few of these - as a treat.  I *think* I've had the '07, '08, '09, and now the '10.  (ah....the aughts were fine years, weren't they?!?) Can't tell you much about the flavors and/or taste, but it certainly was effervescent.   The bottle, on the other hand, is quite handsome.  In fact, they change the tree on the label each year, but this year's tree has meaning for me!  It has a Ginko on it - and those of you who are loyal readers know that we planted a Ginko tree earlier this summer! Turns out, if you keep them over the years, the flavors age and the ales taste differently the longer you keep them.  Or.