Why I Oughta...

We were down in Champaign recently for an Illini game and as part of the pre-game festivities we spent some time in what they call the "Legacy Lounge" in the Northwest corner of Memorial Stadium.  Along with a nice bar and some good tailgate chow (bbq sandwiches this week), they have photos of a bunch of the past Fighting Illini football teams.  There, on a few of the team photos, was a picture of *this guy* that I was able to show my nieces and nephews and kids.  That was kinda fun. There's a page here on the blog that chronicles a bit more about my time as a punter on the Fighting Illini football team in the 90's.   Jake Parrillo - punter on Illinois football team .  If you look closely at the photo, you'll see me in #44. They also gave me this sweet "football alumni" lanyard that granted access to the field.  Really nice way to embrace former players - even guys like me - beyond the annual "Varsity I" weekend game.

Posting this here for diary-keeping purposes.  That's Vic's/Equation Boy/Man's house all doll'd up with inflatables and pumpkins and what-have-yous on Halloween 2016. Look who is missing from last year . I love me some inflatables despite Nat not being all over them (I think she prefers them in the backyard!) and brought them out front for the big day last week. Here's a look at our home on Halloween back in 2013 .

On the left in the Pixar calendar is Wall-E and on the right is 'passing the time' as a student waits for a bus on the UIUC campus.  Today is the 6th and in looking at last year, I flipped them on the 8th , so that's a -2 addition to the tally.   For those keeping track like I am (Which, we all know is nobody!): January took 8 days to put up the calendar . I don't think I was tracking January last year. So let's call it a wash. (+0 Days) February took 16 days to put up the calendar. In 2015, I turned it over on the 17th . (-1 Days better) March took 8 days this year. In 2015, I turned them on the 10th . Posted on the 11th. So...that makes it -2 days better. April took just 7 days. I didn't post last April. So..no new net days. May took 12 days. Net + 5 days over last year. Wowsa.  June took 6 days. Net +5 days over last year. Another Wowsa.  July took 8 days. Net -14 days over last year. Huge swing. Leaving a -7 day advantage over last year. August

Compare those stands of trees to the west (to the right in this photo) of the Pritzker Pavillion in all their red glory to what they looked like just 3ish weeks ago in this post . It won't be long before they're barren and covered in ice.

Earlier this week, I posted about this year's Halloween Trick-or-Treater tally (302 for the record) , but I also wanted to share one little change we made to our candy mix.  Normally, we have both 'full size' candy bars (for the kids we know) and the normal 'snack size' candy bars for everyone else.  (For the record, we get both a big bag of chocolate-based bars and a big bag of chewy/fruit-flavored treats.) We also have the blue pumpkin out front for kids who can't eat nuts and candy and what not, so Nat gets a set of plastic toys and spider rings and vampire teeth and what-have-yous, although I don't think we had anyone request that stuff this year. But this year, I also bought a book of 20 of those free small slurpee tickets that you see up top of this post.  They went fast!  I gave them to 'kids we know', so 20 of those kids got a little extra treat from us.   And at just $5 for 20 tickets , it was a fun little addition to the mix.  I

Walking down State Street this week, you'll see that they've gone 'dark' with their windows in preparation for the release of their annual windows featuring Christmas scenes. I covered the same 'coming soon' situation back in 2014 and the day they opened last year here on the blog .  We still take our kids down to the Walnut Room every year just as I did when I was a kid with my mom and sister(s).  (I actually only remember going with Vic, but I'm guessing that Sharon and Linda were there, too??  I dunno.)  Thus, I have a really soft spot in my heart for Marshall Field's at Christmastime and specifically for peering into these windows. Let's hope that the fine folks at Macy's have learned their lesson and won't give us New York City's "hand me downs" like they did last year .  Shame on them for that one.

If you pointed your browser in the direction of my Can I Listen to Christmas music? project yesterday morning, you would have noticed that the annual transition has been made from 'no' to 'yes'.   Much rejoicing was had with various Christmas-related memes and gifs . The countdown clock is now counting 'up' since November 1st at 6 am central - which was the time that the committee selected as the official line.  (And, for the record, the committee just included me!) So, go ahead.  Turn on the Christmas classics.  Nobody will be judging you any more. Enjoy this little clip that Aunt Sisi surfaced earlier this week from Buzzfeed.