Why I Oughta...

After the big Illini win over the Ohio State Buckeyes a few weeks ago, I sent Coach Bruce Weber a congratulatory note in the mail.  I've been a big Weber supporter since day one and was pleased that with the win, he had the team headed in the right direction.  And some of the "Fire Weber" folks would calm down. He sent me back an email note that includes his photo - which was kinda weird.  Guessing that this is what they must use to send out notes to recruits and the like?  He (or...at least his secretary) actually read my note because he referenced it in his response, which I suppose is nice. Unfortunately, the last 2 games since the note arrived (both losses) didn't turn out as Coach Weber had hoped.   There's been just as many 'downs' as there have been 'ups' this season.  If not more. Such is the life of an Illini fan.

On my 'downtown building' walk last week, I found myself of the east side of York and took some time to peek in this building at 151 N. York.   Here is the real estate listing from Inland .   It has been vacant for a while as there was (I think?) a salon of some sort that occupied the storefront most recently.   It is in MUCH better shape - and a better location - than the neat building I saw at 126 N. Addison Street last week. This is right in the heart of our downtown (Or...as they like to call it: "City Center") directly across the street from the York Theatre.  It has 2 large front sets of windows that have been totally underutilized by the previous tenants. For a sense of where this is, see the rendering below.  The location in question is #15 space here on the drawing below.  Right between the Chase Bank and BW3.  For a salon, it is HUGE - and based on the size of BW3, it may be sized properly for a sit-down restaurant. Sit down restaurant?  Or b

Thanks to the Babe's Uncle Bill and Granddad, we have (for now at least) a pretty cute snowman friend out in our front yard.  They even made him 2-faced, so we could see him from the comfort of our front room. With the temps rising and a little bit of rain coming down, the conditions couldn't be more perfect for snowman-making, or as we called it as kids:  "packing snow".

Last night the snow came in and piled up to the tune of almost 8 inches.  Half way through the storm, I went to let Maisy out the back door when we came across this snow-art on our back deck.  The snow was so fine and light that it was spilling through the cracks in the deck boards.

I spotted this cake at the local Jewel (when I was snooping around for one of those free day-old cookies that they often have out for you to take) and while the decorating is more than adequate, I'm going to rule that due to the HUGE Justin Bieber keychain of some sort this qualifies as a CakeWreck.  What happened to sugar flowers?  First came the kids getting cell phones.  Now they're skipping over the sugar flowers on their birthday cakes?  Get off of my lawn!  (Sorry...old man Parrillo came out there a bit.) Anyway....What's the tween going to do with that enormous keychain?  I guess an 11 year old doesn't really have that many keys, so perhaps this straps on one's backpack?

My sister and brother-in-law (Equation Boy/Man) installed a backyard rink this season and with the recent snow and temperature drop it is finally time to get out and enjoy it.  It is pretty impressive and their kids are having a great time almost every night.  My sister has been very generous in inviting just about the entire neighborhood down for a skate and lots of kids have enjoyed their hard work. Recently, I took the Babe down there to check it out and get up on the ice.   She's not quite skating, but with her new snow boots on, she had a lot of fun stomping around with her cousins.  And falling down. I, on the other hand, took to the ice (in my new skates - Thanks, Nat!)  to dominate with my stick handling, dekes, and one-timers.  It wasn't easy.  Just look at the competition!

Over the weekend, while I was out on a walk, I noticed that one of my favorite buildings in downtown Elmhurst - at 126 N. Addison Street - appeared to have some rehab work begun on it.  It is a gorgeous building with an interesting facade that is made of brick, has some neat iron elements and that great looking green tile roof.  It is on the west side of Addison Street directly across the street from where the huge new Addison Street Development is planned.  (If you don't remember what that massive structure is planned to look like, go read this old post again .)   The last tenant (based on the signage) appears to be a photography studio that offered framing services.  The age of the sign indicates that they were there quite some time ago!  Here's what it looks like from the sidewalk. There appears to be an apartment or two up stairs of this retail space on the street level.  You can see a good front-facing photo of the building here on Google Streetview . The sign in th