Why I Oughta...

How about my talented wife?!?  Thanks to her handy work, there's a pretty great Mickey the Mouse jackolantern on our front porch ready for the deluge of kids (and adults!) who are going up and down our block. Last year we had 269 individuals come to our door .  Will we top it this year?

Do you know a worthy organization that needs financial support from the community of Elmhurst? Well...there's some good news.  Each year, the Elmhurst Newcomers and Neighbors Club selects a new group or organization to support. ENNC is a non-profit community organization for women in Elmhurst, IL that helps women and their families meet new people, connect with others with similar interests, participate in community service projects and generally become more familiar with the Elmhurst community. This group holds an annual Spring Fundraiser to raise money for local charities. My wife, Natalie is involved in the organization and is helping lead on the event and I'm glad to be able to help her spread the word. ENNC just announced that they're now taking nominees for their 2013 event - online! The application can be found by clicking here . Interested parties need to fill out the nomination by November 4th 2012.  Get goin' and nominate a good charity, group, or

Today we celebrated my dear wife on the occasion of her birthday.  We also got together on Thursday (her actual Birthday) to celebrate along with my Mother who shares the same day, but these celebrations at the Moran Household are always very special.  I certainly don't say it enough, but my God, this is one special woman.  She's an amazing wife, a heroic Momma, and a spectacular Best Friend.  Love her more every single day.

Three years ago, Nat and I were married in front of all of our friends and family.  We're extraordinarly blessed and lucky that most of them are still in our lives today.  Here's to 60 more years together, Nat! I still think about our wedding a lot - and with Nat being a wedding pro (literally), I think the event was a great representation of ourselves and spoke about who we were and who we wanted to be as a couple.  We kept the wedding website (NatalieandJake2008.com) out of search and I think I remember having the guys from 1871 (Thanks Phil and Rick!) meddle with the robots.txt file so that may be why the WayBackMachine doesn't have a copy of the site.  But....we do have some relics from the wedding still around.  Specifically....I have dug up digital copies of the invites just this morning - Thanks to Flickr (where they have the bulk of my digital life from 2002-2006 locked up!  The rehearsal dinner - which was my domain in terms of planning (mostly) was a politically

Have you been in the new Terminal 2 at SFO?  It is home to American Airlines and Virgin America and it is spectacular.  Well...at least as far as airport terminals go it is. The chairs are nice.  The outlets are plentiful.  The bathrooms are spacious and clean.  But the best part?  They have a candy place called Natalie's Candy Jar.  I *had* to stop by on my flight out.  They weren't open when I was departing, but I told the guy in the store that I couldn't go home without some over-priced by-the-weight candy.  After a bit of negotiations, I boarded with a small bag of licorice.  Mission accomplished. 

The Babe is clearly an "outside-the-lines" thinker, right?  She colored it all by herself. Here's to the most wonderful woman in the world.  Hope it is a good day, Nat!

Happy Birthday to my lovely bride, today!  Here's to MANY more happy years.   Hope today is a great day. Love....Teej and the Wheeze And...strangely enough, Happy Birthday to my Mother.  Born on the same day, some years apart.   The photo above is from this weekend's festivities at Ravinia.  Cheap Trick/Squeeze were a lot of fun as we toasted the two birthday ladies.

In the most recent edition of Paste Magazine , Wilco Frontman Jeff Tweedy talks about 'listening': I would love for more people to listen to music as a sole activity. I think it’s a really transformative way that that art form can touch you. Aside from live music, which I think is really important to being human-to be a part of a crowd experiencing music-recorded music is like literature when you allow yourself to sit and listen. I mean, you know. That’s all you did when you were growing up; that’s all you needed to do. You found friends that could sit and be quiet and not f-in’ ruin it; those were your friends, you know? If somebody couldn’t do that, you couldn’t hang out with them. I don’t care how cool they were; they were not cool. And...for all you lefties (like Nat), read his last quote. Snob that he is, he doesn't watch much tv, except for the Daily Show.

Yesterday afternoon, I cut out of work early (I left my desk...) and Maisy and I headed downtown to meet up with Nat. We were all set to head to the Jeff Twedy Show at the Abbey Pub . Good times, right? Turned out great! Well, I got there a bit early and Nat hadn't gotten home from work yet, so me and Maisy ran over to Barker and Meowsky for a new sweater and she dug it. It's a pinch big, but hopefully she'll 'grow' into it. (She's turning into a bit of a 'fatty arbuckle' as it is!!) We got back and Natalie was home. Outsmarting ourselves, we thought, 'Hey! Let's just get chow at the Abbey instead of SoupBox or Tomatohead . Irish Nachos and Ruebens and such. Well, as we're walking up to the Abbey, sure as shit, we run into Jeff Tweedy, his wife Sue Miller, their 2 boys, what appeared to be one of Jeff's cronies/guitar techs/friends, and a hot nanny. Jeff was carrying 2 clamshell carryout styrofoam containers and the kids weren't

Nat started a new job with the American Red Cross a few months back. She's in charge of events in Chicago and she's really into it. I mean 'TPS Reports'-into it and 'proximity card'-into it. Tonight it all pays off with her first event. She's worked really hard on it and its bound to be a success. Metromix covered it, too , which is nice. Flirting for Disaster The Kerryman 661 N. Clark St.  Dangerously attractive  We know, fellas: When you sport the fitted jeans and vintage shirt, the bar-ometer goes into overdrive. Flash your hazards at other young professional singles at The American Red Cross Auxiliary Board's Flirting for Disaster networking party. Includes Corzo tequila sippers, apps and raffle prizes, plus $3 cosmos and $2 beers. Dec. 1: 5:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Price: $20-$25. Proceeds benefit the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago If you have no plans tonight, make sure you get there. I have to go to the Village's Tree light