Why I Oughta...

I've written here on the blog about our past brushes with famous people.  Like Hollywood famous people.  T here's that time when Nat and I - before we had kids - stayed in the pool house of Joel Murray . But recently, we had a totally different experience.  We we went to see the new Disney movie Beauty and the Beast at the York and we stayed all the way through the credits.  Why?  Because, we wanted to see what you see above:  the listing for the executive producer. The Babe, who is the only one of the three that can read, was waiting in her seat with us and she just about jumped out of her seat when his name showed up.  It was a fun little way to end the movie for us.  The film itself was great, but because we've know that someone we know has been involved in the project for years, it made it even more fun.  So, I'm considering this our 2nd Hollywood *kinda* connection.  Kinda...because they're related to people we're related to.  So that means 'kind

I came across this tire swing at Menards recently and immediately snapped a photo and texted it to Nat.  I mean...who wouldn't want a 'Tractor Ride'n', right? Her response?  A simple: "no." Which, is probably the only answer I should have reasonably expected, right?  I mean...come on.  Look at this thing.  It *is* ridiculous. So, if you're in the market for something like this, you're in luck.   There's at least one left at Menards on North Avenue.

This photo is hanging in the lounge at the Boardwalk Inn down on Crescent Lake.  I think this is from the club-level floor either in the club or right outside of it.  Kinda love the sea shells behind the couples in each of the matching convertibles.  I took this photo months ago, but for some reason it just popped up in my Google photos.  Thus, why it is getting posted now. It reminds me of the vintage photos that they had hung up down in Sea Island . You can see all the of the Boardwalk-related posts on the blog all the way back to our first stop there in the summer of 2012 here on the [boardwalk] tag page .

Well...actually from my daughters.  But the sentiment sticks.  Maybe I'll wear it around the parks on our next trip, but hopefully I won't run into any of the guys from the Mandelbaum clan . "You think you're the #1 Dad??!?" "I'll show you who's #1." "It's go time!"

If you haven't been in the Elmhurst City Centre in the past few weeks, you have likely not seen the progress being made at the old Plass Appliance site on the west side of York Street right in the heart of the City Center.   These concrete block structures are the elevators, right?  They're set way back from York and rise vertically in the middle of the site. We last covered this project back in January of 2016, more than a year ago when they tore the old building down . If you haven't been following along on the blog, here's the site concept for the location :  it is a terraced building that will have offices/commercial on the first floor and I think it started as condos up stairs, but now is going to be offices?   They're calling it the York Building and it will border both York Street on the front, but also that "Schiller" alley thing that connects the new parking deck over on Addison and includes Nu Crepes (who, somehow has survived all of the

Once you see this - and then try it yourself - your mind will explode. This is former Chicago Bull and NBA Journeyman Steve Colter pulling off his 'signature move' called the Crooked Leg on John Stockton three times in one game.  I was listening to Bernstein and Goff and Dan Bernstein brought up this move for some reason. I used 'signature move' in quotes above because that's what this NBA.com segment featuring Isaiah Thomas calls it.  The pre-roll video ad is brutal, so I grabbed the video file and put it up on my own YouTube Channel as an unlisted/non-monetized video.  Embedded below.  Not sure how long it will last and if the NBA will yank it down.  If the player below isn't working, click here to watch it elsewhere on YouTube .  But... it is worth it to see these guys all light up when they're talking about Steve Colter.  Then Zeke gets up and shows the move off himself.  LOL when he says "...and then he gone!"  Kinda sweet.  They all

At Pete's Fresh Market in Villa Park, I spotted these Choco-X Toys in the checkout aisle.  These are basically knock off Kinder Eggs, I think.  But they have official Marvel branding, so they must be legitimate in some fashion?  These are written in Spanish, so maybe these are the Mexican Kinder alternative? Wonder why we can't get Kinder Eggs, but we can get these?  Kinder has these same kind of 'scoop the chocolate out' of eggs with the 'surprise' on the other side now, so the whole child eating the Kinder Egg and choking on the little toy thing seems to be a non-issue? Either way, get to Pete's on Roosevelt for all your Easter Basket needs.