Why I Oughta...

Those of you know know me (or lived with me) know that I **try** to turn in as early as I can.  Especially during the winter, I like to get into bed early and - if I can - go to sleep.  On days that I don't have class and before we had the babe, it wasn't surprising to find me shuffling upstairs around 9 pm to get into bed.  I read my phone and occasionally thumb through landscape/garage/deck books from the library while fading away to sleep.  Nat joins me later and sometimes utilizes a book light to read and stay up like an adult while I saw logs next to her. Apparently, the AARP is taking those early-to-bed stats into account as they extend offers to join their membership.  There's simply no other reason I can explain as to why I received this in my mailbox this week: I'm thinking of joining.  With my time at Kellogg coming to an end in 10 weeks, I'll have to relinquish my student ID.  With this baby, maybe I'll be able to ditch my "Student Rate"

Just 11 days away until I'm a married man. With the longest engagement on record (21 months!) winding down, I thought it'd be appropriate for me to share with you all (Ahem...is there anyone still there?) one of my favorite parts of this whole wedding planning business. Sure...we had all the showers, thank you cards, chicken dinner tastings, table cloth selections, ring shopping trips, and discussions of the various shades of pinks (It's not my color!). That was all good and important stuff. However, the part of this whole experience that Natalie let me run wild with and really leave my mark on was the rehearsal dinner. It's coming up in a bit over a week, and while I'm excited about the wedding, I'm really looking forward to the rehearsal dinner. From the location (Southport Lanes!) to the menu (Italian Beef Sandwiches!) to the invite list (skewed toward my friends/family!), Natalie gave me a lot of room to run. The most interesting/challenging part was t

It has come to this. With all the changes that have happened over the course of the past year (new job, new school , leaving public office ) and the biggest one coming up later this summer ( marriage ), there is one more thing that I'm looking to change: my location. I've lived in the most incredible condo in Frankfort, Illinois for the past (almost) four years. I bought it pre-construction and was lucky enough to pick out all of the finishes. The time has come to move on and I'm parting ways with my home. It was my first, but won't be my last. We've priced it incredibly (considerably below what others have sold for!) and this place is really looking for someone to love it as much as I did. There are NO better condo's in all of the southwest suburbs. I can guarantee that! (Seriously!) The details can be found here on the realtor's site . For a condo, it really has an incredible kitchen and is a great place to host a party. It's walkable to do

How ‘bout the Illini, eh? Taking down then #1 OSU and having an improbable run to possibly 9 wins after back-to-back rebuilding years. I couldn’t be more proud to be an an alum of both the program and the university. The program appears to have turned a corner, and with all the talent that’s starting to pile up down the road on I-57, we should be a force in the Big Ten for many years. This doesn’t appear to be a fluke (like the 2001 Sugar Bowl was). All that stands in the Illini’s way from a New Years Day Bowl Game and possible BCS bid are the Wildcats from Northwestern this Saturday. Should be a slam dunk win for the Illini, no? It should. I’ll be going nuts, rooting for the boys from Champaign-Urbana, right? Ummm…. Not so fast. What? Am I questioning my allegiances? Sorta. At age 29, with a day job that I love and a fiancé pursuing her PhD full-time, the time couldn’t be more right for me to head back to school and get an advanced degree. Earlier this