Why I Oughta...

Thanks to my brother-in-law Mr. Fox, I've upgraded my primary carving knife to this one in the bottom of the photo.  My old knife (the one on top) came with my kit of chisels.  This one has a thicker, more substantial handle and a one-sided blade.  I still have my gnome carving that I've been working on for a while, but with this new blade (and the stone/strop that I have now), I'm going to try to get serious and get the little guy over the finish line.

See that storefront right where Fresco's used to be - next to Chipotle?  As we learned this week from the State of the City address, we're getting a Meatheads Burger joint. That will be (by my count) our fourth higher-end burger place.  First there was SmashBurger on St. Charles.  Then Back Alley Burger opened across the street.  Then Hamburger Jones opened up down on York Road near the Prairie Path.  And, now Meatheads. Don't get me wrong, I don't have any problem with burger joints and if someone is willing to take the risk to open a business, especially in our downtown City Centre, I applaud them and wish them well.  I'll likely even go a bit further with Meatheads and try to support them with my business.  Unfortunately, it appears that their menu doesn't include Turkey Burgers (nor veggie burgers), but they do have chicken sandwiches.  If they had a strong Turkey Burger, both Nat and I would be all over them. When I walked by on the way to the trai

Do you live in Spring Valley?  I'm guessing not, but if you do, you can get on the Walt Marini for Mayor train.  I've volunteered some of my time last weekend to Walt's campaign.  He's got a real chance in the race and he's just started to roll out some of his yard signs. Want to get involved in the Walt Marini for Mayor race?   Sign up here .

Bummer we didn't win the Eldorado .

Sure, it is after Christmas.  But that doesn't mean we shouldn't document our annual Front Yard Christmas tree, right? Here's the post showing last year's .   Here's 2010's version with snow !

I started wearing my FitBit on April 27th, 2012.  Since then, FitBit tells me that I've traveled 1350 miles - or as they say "more than length of the Tigris River"! The fine folks at FitBit sent out this 2012 summary note yesterday and they included a few little data points that are interesting.  Some of them I understand like Tuesday is my most active day.  That makes sense because for all of 2012, I've been going to Cardio-Tennis on Tuesday mornings. The month of May was my most-active month and that kind of makes sense in that I had just started to track my activity, so I'm guessing I was motivated to get in those extra stair climbs or a few more steps each day.    Looking back at my calendar I can't quite figure out if there were any other dynamics at play that caused me to move a little bit more in the month.  Nothing jumps out. Also, the June 7th date - as my most active - puzzles me.  That was a few days before the Bird was born so maybe I was r

Take a look at that backyard rink.  Pretty awesome.  Equation Boy/Man really stepped it up this year - his second as a rink owner/operator - by adding some length to the ice and building boards for behind the goal at one end.   He even (with the help of his daughter) painted on the Elmhurst Chiefs Hockey logo (see it there on the boards) and hung a cute banner (which is cut off from this picture because it has their last name on it!). I walked down there one day last week and they weren't home and the ice was so clear that I was afraid to go on it, so I didn't even do a 'boot skate'.  Last year, Nat gave me a nice pair of skates and I played down there a bunch of times with very few injuries.  Hopefully the weather stays on the cold side so I get an invite to come down and play over the weekend.  I'll be padding up a bit more than I did last year, I think.