Sunday reading ...

Some of the reads that caught my eyes last week ...

Baseball ...
a Kosuke Fukudome Tastes Good
a Mark Cuban takes closer look at Cubs
a Reporters on scene recall Elia's meltdown ... This was a new story of Cubs lore to me. You can hear the rant here.
a Message to Bonds: It's over

Entertainment ...
a Kristen Bell: Sassy Is the New Cute
a Spears reprises guest role on CBS' 'Mother'
a TV crew members still feeling effects of writers strike
a Tom Petty returns to his roots with Mudcrutch
a Leibovitz defends Miley photo ... OK. Is it just me or was this story way overblown this week. Miley exposes her back -- her back! -- for a prominent and respected magazine and suddenly her career is in danger? I'm not getting it. She could've done much, much worse.

Media & the Internet ...
a Friends Indeed? As We Click With More Pals Online, The Idea of Friendship Multiplies
a When Young Teachers Go Wild on the Web

Life & other stuff ...
a Another Chicago business icon gets swallowed
a IDOT fails to see humor in Oak Lawn's quirky stop-sign campaign
a Between Medieval And Folk, Two Mass Audiences
a Moe: Fame didn't change humble Pollard ... A good story about a famed local artist whom I'm pleased to say I once interviewed.
a How much about your teenage transgressions should you tell your kids?

And finally ...

Potential Employee Uprising Quelled With Free Pizza

NEW YORK—Besides suppressing office acrimony, the pizza appeared to subdue frustrated employees on a physical level, leaving many full and slightly fatigued.

Sunday reading

It's so cold and dreary here today, the weather people are predicting snow tomorrow ...

My ball team played a practice game today. We won 3-1, but our team was so cold and miserable, we convinced the other team to stop it after six innings. Plus, I struck out twice ... The season starts in less than a month, and I'm nowhere near the shape I should be in ...

And Phoebe did not give us a good night of sleep. So far, she's been an excellent sleeper, but not last night ... We also learned on Friday she's a few ounces underweight and we were told to bulk her up this weekend with a lot of feedings ...

But hey, we'll keep going.

I know you've missed them. So here they are, several weeks worth of good reads ...

Baseball...
a Bill Buckner welcomed back by Red Sox
a Cedeno: Cubs 'thinking about' World Series after beating Mets
a For centenarian Cubs' fans, 'the first 99 years are the hardest'
a How in the world did this guy win 347 games? ... A good read from my friend Tom about Greg Maddux.
a Mr. Cub in Sosa's corner
a Reporters on scene recall Elia's meltdown ... listen to the meltdown here.
a Now is the time to appreciate Ken Griffey Jr. and Frank Thomas
a Touring New York's Yankee Stadium before the walls tumble
a Red Sox "curse" jersey fetches $175,100 in charity auction ... Now this is a great prank!
a Baseball needs to pick up where Canseco left off
a Heat Reaches a Boiling Point

TV ...
a Neil Patrick Harris: Say No to Britney!
a How They Get Each Other ... another good read about "Mother."
a 'The Office': Jim's Best Pranks!
a Rainn Wilson and the real officea Why 'Men in Trees' and 'Old Christine' should come back ... Never been a fan of "Men in Trees." But Kates and I do really enjoy "Old Christine."
a Where in the World Isn't Ryan Seacrest?
Music ...
a Mariah Carey has a winning formula with 'E=MC2'
a Mariah is a pop queen, but don't forget Elvis is still the King
a Come away with Wong Kar-wai: director persuades Norah Jones to try acting
a Sara Bareilles talks about her hit song, going commercial and writing

Politics ...a Chelsea Clinton Finds Her Voice
a Cheney's shades: A 'Naked Lady?'
a Why Obamamania? Because He Runs as The Great White Hope
a Obama picks up support and calories

Media ...
a At Sparkly Newseum, The Glory Of the Story Goes Above the Fold
a The Katie-Hillary Bond
a Tough Question For CBS: Who'll Follow Couric?

Life & other stuff ...
a Cops kill cougar on North Side

Sunday reading

Here's some good reads that have caught my eyes the last couple weeks ...

Baseball ...
a A squeeze at Wrigley
a Multiple firms may be part of rights deal
a Steroids In America: The Godfather

Politics ...
a Pro-Clinton? ‘SNL’ Says You’re Joking
a Decriminalize prostitution

a Spitzer's Troubles Ready-Made for Jokes

TV ...

a Britney Spears meets Barney, plus much more on 'How I Met Your Mother'

Media & the Internet ...
a Facebook is doomed
a Virtual friends too much like work
a Wikipedia's tin-cup approach wears thin

a Signing Off at XM: Radio Innovator To Try His Hand At Tribune Co.
a Black TV Crew Attacked While Filming ... and in case you haven't seen it, here's the video.

Life & other stuff ...
a Former president gave campus new identity ... This one was personal. A man who's legacy I really admired and the chance I had to interview him and his wife on Valentine's Day in 2001 was a big highlight for me ...
a Kansas woman sat on toilet for two years
a Parent-teacher talks can get heated
a We Really Need a Staycation

Sunday reading

... The bad news is Kates feet are swelling and she's having trouble finding any comfortable shoes.

... The good news is it's really mild out today and the snow is melting! It's melting!

Here's some of the reads that caught my eyes during the last several days ...

Politics ...
a Hillary Clinton fought the Republican attack machine, and emerged stronger
a In Hunt for a Running Mate, Ohio Governor Could Please All or None ... and old one, but still noteworthy.
a Change Is In the Air, At the Polls
a Obama's Economic Plan Is A Pitch to the Working Class
a The man behind Obama's message
a John McCain's birthright: Fit for the presidency
a MSNBC reporter suspended for 'pimped-out' Clinton

Entertainment ...
a Writers working late again
a Before they were stars: Stories about celebs with Chicago roots
a Leave Britney alone ... I kind of agree.
a 'Saturday Night Live' gets ready to rock with Tina Fey ... I was just thinking the other day, How awesome would it be if SNL brought back Tina Fey to host!?

Music ...
a The Baton's Been Passed Over: The Grammys Pretty Much Ignore Classical Music These Days, and Vice Versa
a The king of pop is back ... Say what you want about his creepy, messed-up personal life. But Michael Jackson's music is darn good, and there will never be another like him ...
a At the Grammys, some gold, some silver
a A night for the ages Amy, Kanye refresh music's roots
a Sheryl Crow finds her way with 'Detours'
a Having fun, and a breakout year besides, with Canada's Feist

Sports ...
a Berman caught with his mike on ... I stopped being a fan of Chris Berman a long time ago, and this didn't surprise me.

Life & other stuff ...
a Love Means ...
a Artists write of love

Sunday reading

Got to spend the afternoon with Joel and Stephanie, and Millie. The Packers won. The Colts didn't. Took a really nice nap. And got the yard ready for the winter...

Here's some of the good reads that caught my eyes during the last week ...

Politics ...
a Are we Colbert's punch line?
a Bush the Embracer: Interpreting the Presidential Hug
a From the Desk of Donald Rumsfeld . . .

More about the California wildfires ...
a On Shaky Ground in California
a In the Line of Fire
a New developments mask wild land's deadly threat

TV, music, entertainment & art ...
a Hulu.com, NBC and Fox video site, looks promising in beta
a Schulz: The Good and The Grief
a The year’s best music
a Spears Calls World 'Cruel' in Interview
a A museum's secrets
a 'Bean' to get a companion: The 'Popsicle'
a Adults Revisit Their Teenage Traumas and Dramas to Create Compelling Performance Art

Sports ...
a Handicapping the contenders for A-Rod's services
a What's Wrong With Sports Illustrated

Life & stuff ...
a Driver in crash that killed horses could face additional charges ... A tragic and dramatic ordeal that happened down the road from us last weekend. Some of the surviving horses are now being put up for adoption. There's also a slideshow of photos here.
a Chimp who knew sign language dies

P.S. ... Kates is talking on the phone with a friend and we were just reminiscing about the wonderful National Anthem performances of John Williams and James Taylor during the World Series ...

In case you missed them ...

Sunday rambling

Toured haunted houses on Friday night ... Worked around the house yesterday ... Stayed up late to watch the Sox-Indians game last night ... And just finished watching the Packers-Redskins game, which neither team apparently wanted to win today ...

Now I'm wondering where the weekend went again ...

* * *

Kates and I just finished eating supper. Pierogis with sausages and an array of peppers. Good stuff.

Afterward, Kates tells me “You’re on dish duty.”

“Wha?” I say. “I got a baseball game to watch.”

“Whatever. I got papers to grade. Masters papers to write. I got people calling me. I’m a busy woman.”

Whatever? I’m always on dish duty. We need a dishwasher …

* * *

I still can't stop listening to Regina Spektor ...

Here's two weeks worth of good reads that caught my eyes ...

Entertainment ...
a To Leno, it's guilty until proven innocent
a Can Lindsay save herself from Britneyville?

Music ...
a Sell your old CDs at your own risk. It won't be long before you get a yen to sing along with them again
a Sting tops Blender’s list of worst lyricists
a Are record companies still relevant?
a The folks who brought you 'American Idol' turn voters loose on bands
a Josh Ritter Eschews Politics for Heartland Rock on 'Historical Conquests'
a Kid Rock has an 8-track mind
a Radiohead, the savior of 21st century rock?
a 'Kurt Cobain About a Son' an intimate portrait of the artist

Business...
a Is Apple losing some of its shine?
a The end of the Wal-Mart era
a Newspapers, bloggers now on same page

Washington & politics ...
a Arlington National Cemetery Plans to Move Beyond Its Borders
a Hillary Chuckles; Pundits Snort
a Chill out: Stop fighting over global warming -- here's the smart way to attack it.

Baseball ...
a As Bonds and Giants Part, BALCO Limps On
a Cubs' baggage gets heavier
a Song Makes a Comeback Along With the Cubs
a GM job of no interest to Stone ... thank goodness. I got a little bit nervous this week when I read he could be the GM.
a Yanks' loss may mean end of an era
a A-Rod could solve a lot of problems
a On the Mark: A-Rod fails to shine again
a Meet the Mets: They're not what they seem
a Where does Mets' collapse rank?
a Oh baby, what's a Sox fan to do?
a Times change. To his credit, so did Bud

Life & other stuff ...
a Whatcha Doing Now? ... And Now?

Aunt Threatens To Devour Helpless Newborn's Toes

WALDEN, TN—While family members stood silently by and did nothing, visiting aunt Debbie Koeler proclaimed her desire to consume the "tiny...

Sunday reading

The stories and the headlines that caught my eye this past week ...

World & Politics ...
a The Two Obamas
a Dept. of Cheap Shocks
a Iraqi orchestra finds harmony amid war

TV & Entertainment ...
a Silverman calls Spears VMA joke ‘innocuous’
a 'Grey's Anatomy' spinoff 'Private Practice' in need of surgery

Music ...
a The album: Obsolete to whom? ... Um. Not me!
a Amazon takes a stab at iTunes market ... very interesting.
a Will.i.am goes solo for 'Songs About Girls'

Baseball ...
a These guys didn't live up to expectations
a Yost’s Bad Week Leads to the Brewers’ Elimination

Life & Other stuff ...
a Kids must run, not clop along in Crocs
a Long wait at the license bureau: "Jenny, I've Got Your Number" ... I remembered this story from several years and stumbled across it again this week. It's still a good read.
a There Are No Gray Areas

... And finally check out this video. Very cool ...

Sunday reading

Some of the good reads that caught my eyes this past week ...

Entertainment ...
a Letterman Appears on Oprah's Talk Show ... I'm sorry I missed it.
a Kennedy Center Announces Honorees
a Emmy Awards: The bland and the clueless ... not in our office.
a In Defense of Nude Celebrities
a Fans don't have to wait to see new fall shows
a Devastated Britney bawls at VMAs
a We expected Britney to maintain a sad ideal
a The Britney brand is busted

Other stuff ...
a Use time wisely -- by slacking off
a Typeface Designers Mix Art, Engineering
a Popcorn Lung Patient Inhaled Fumes Daily

Good-bye summer

It it wasn't over already, today officially signaled the end of summer ...

The weather was so cold and rainy, it felt -- and looked -- as though it could've started snowing at any moment (which didn't help my crappy day at work either ...)

And mark this one down: Tonight, for the first time in about four months, I changed out my work clothes and into sweats.

* * *

It seemed everywhere you looked today, it was Britney, Britney, Britney and her awful performance at last night's VMAs ...

Sorry I missed it. But it sure was good reading ...
a What happens in Vegas ... hurts my eyes
a So much for the Britney comeback
a The Britney Spears disaster at MTV's Video Music Awards

Sunday reading

Some of the good reads that caught my eye over the last week ...

Tech stuff ...
a Apple expected to unveil a new iPod
a Is Facebook the New MySpace? ... I'm still finding my way on this whole Facebook stuff. And I still like MySpace better ...
a MySpace could lift ban on commerce

Entertainment ...
a Britney reportedly earns $737,868 per month
a Watch out Lindsay! Daddy’s coming to visit

Media ...
a Katie Couric to Report From Iraq, Syria
a It's back to basics for Katie Couric's newscast ... Now they're thinking over there at CBS. I didn't buy their schmaltzy "new and improved" newscast for a minute. The traditional format doesn't need tinkering. Just give me the news of the day straight up with a couple heartfelt human interest stories and that's all I need ...

Baseball ...
a Stretch run turns into a stress run for fans ... Got that right. I'm feelin' it this year.
a Charles Albert Comiskey II: 1925 - 2007
a Knocking at death's door with no answers: Amazing that '05 champs have fallen so far, so fast
a Guillen's rant is sent in the wrong direction

Other stuff ...
a Mining Our Treasures: An 1872 Law Paves the Way for a Rush of Claims in the West
a Enter the world of Sokolow
a A wave of disapproval greets Cardiff surf statue
a White House Vet Ari Fleischer, Back to Fight for The Surge in Iraq
a Out-of-body experience created in labs
a Big Mac marks big birthday
a Study Predicts More Severe U.S. Storms ... Scary

Sunday reading

... Some of the stories and headlines that have caught my eyes the last couple weeks ...

Music, pop culture, entertainment ...
a Britney to kids: You’re both mistakes!
a Bigger audience would suit Fey better
a Pop looks to the past for a forward-feeling sound
a Weird Al's Imitation: A Funky Form of Flattery
a Movie Endings We Love Forty pitch-perfect film finales
a Jim Killeen: The Man Who Found Himself: "Google Me'' might have begun as a gee-whiz exercise in egotism for Jim Killeen, who found numerous other Jim Killeens via Google, but it quickly became much more.
a Colbie Caillat: A MySpace Star on the Rise

Newspapering ...
a The graying lady: Cuts in newspapers' foreign reporting will leave the world worse off
a For Some in Oakland, Editor's Death Shows Subversion of Black Activism

Politics ...
a Obama Says He Can Unite U.S. 'More Effectively' Than Clinton
a Eating Right: In Frederick, a Bushel Of Crabs and a Back Slap For President Bush

Baseball ...
a Keep the Brewers in perspective
a Giambi escapes punishment from baseball
a Ruthian or Faustian? Barry Bonds' sins -- the questionable use of science, the raging drive to be No. 1 -- are, we should remember, distinctly sins of our time.
a Vincent says Bonds' record tainted
a Connor was baseball's first home run king
a Costas: HR record is 'inauthentic'
a Aaron, Bonds faced hatred on the way to historic homer marks
a Will A-Rod be the next HR king?
a Rizzuto’s Secret of Youth Lasted for Years
a Goodbye, Scooter: Insults didn't stop Rizzuto from living a wonderful life
a Dubious distinction: Cox passes McGraw for most ejections with No. 132
a My All-Time Team: Cobb, Hornsby, Ruth are among the best of the best
a My All-Current Team: Jeter, A-Rod, Manny lead the crop of today's stars
a My All-Future Team: Which stars of today will still be great in five years?

The Internet ...
a Bloggers consider forming labor union
a Facebook Grows Up
a Class War: MySpace vs. Facebook

Other stuff ...
a Gruesome mystery of eight skeletons in a forest
a Old Age Cause Gives Pause

Sunday reading

Some of the headlines and stories that caught my eye this week ...

Life, history & politics
a From Here to Eternity
a Happy 50th, Helvetica
a A Law Day Unto Himself: Beyond Presidential Power, What Is Bush Upholding? a Obama reaches out with tough love
a I'm sorry, Barack, we're through: Obama may make a good president, but he's a bad MySpace friend. ... I decided to cut him loose from my Space for a short time this week too, after hearing and reading about this ...
a Pastor: Stop Complaining ... a rule to live by.
a Need It or Want It? ... Fickle consumers' constant itch to refresh and remodel their homes keeps the makers of toilets, cabinets, countertops and more in business, which in turn helps keep the economy humming. Never mind if many of these things do not need replacing.
a Tall building with a twist: Calatrava design carries Chicago's lofty aspirations
a 70th Anniversary of Hindenburg's End

Baseball
a The Dignified Slugger From Mobile
a Brewers giving fans reason to believe

TV
a In Depth, and in the Elements: Weather Channel Marks 25 Years on the Nation's Radar Screen ... Hey, it's my mom's favorite channel. And Kates and I now find ourselves tuning in regularly too.
a Special reveals how 'SNL' got its 'schwing!' back in '90s

Music
a Britney Spears swirls up another flash in the pan

Movies
a Sony spins Web to pitch Spidey ... I didn't see Spider-Man 3 this weekend. And I probably won't see it for awhile ... The fact is I was turned off by the first one. I saw it in the theater, thought it was a bland film with less-than believable computer graphics and special effects (believe it or not, I've read similar reviews about this third installment, now five years later), and I haven't looked back ...
a Take a dream and bake till golden: In 'Waitress,' a zany and touching film by the late Adrienne Shelly, a server takes out her life's frustrations by creating luscious pies.
a For 'Waitress' actress, pregnancy is a way of life ... More on Keri Russell, who, by the way, was pretty good in Scrubs the last couple weeks ...
a Show house: Let outdoor movies light up your yard

Sunday reading

... Our church services and my Sunday school class was canceled this morning thanks to this latest winter storm ...

A friend of ours called Kates and I last night to let us know things might be called off if we actually got the huge amount of snow the weather forecasters were predicting. If we only got a dusting, she said, the regular Sunday schedule would still be on ...

I went to bed pretty late last night, seeing little snow falling but still hoping that perhaps things would be canceled. And when I got up this morning, there was barely any new snow on the ground ... So I got ready for church.

Still, the news stations were scrolling dozens of church closings. And ours wasn't being mentioned ...

So I ate breakfast with just minutes to spare before I would be heading out the door ...

Then the phone rings ...

It was Amy. No church activities today. The ice was so thick, the pastor couldn't even open the door ...

Praise the Lord!

... But don't expect me to be feeling so thankful tomorrow. We had 40s last week!! 40s!! We thought spring was on its way!! Enough snow and cold already!!

My point?

It's a good day for cozying up on the couch, doing some reading and watching the biggest basketball game of the season ...

Here's some good reads from the past week ...

Sports ...
a 2007 could be the end of an era
a Jacque Jones happy with another year with Cubs
a Ivy League or bush league? Cubs last team to place ads on outfield walls
a Early to rise? Cubs ready to go
a Cubs' Ramirez hustles to remove lazy label
a Santo wants Hall selection 'very badly'
a Daytona Offers Hollywood Ending ... I'm not a Nascar fan, but watching the finale to last weekend's Daytona was one for the ages ...

Entertainment ...
a So bad they're good: This year's Oscar field is rife with characters who reside in that shame-filled land of Those Who Should Know Better
a Defense of 'Studio 60' becomes a moot point ... Every Monday night we let our DVR record Studio 60, and every week I seem to put off watching it more and more. But the cast -- a lame excuse, I know -- is the only reason I keep watching. It should be really good, right? But it only seems to get more boring and aimless each week ... Just cancel it already.
a 'Long Way' to Grammys: Was the Dixie Chicks' big win fueled by politics? ... In all the excitement the day after the Grammys, a friend asked me if I thought the Dixie Chicks' Grammy success was actually because of their album or politics. I told her it was both: The Dixie Chicks sang their message and political views loud and strong on their "Taking the Long Way" album, and that resonated with people; it's what music is supposed to do. But it didn't hurt that the album also is really good musically, from top to bottom.
a Guide to the Academy Awards ... I rarely get excited about the Oscars, mostly because on most years I've haven't seen many of the films. This year, the only Oscar-nominated film I've seen is "Little Miss Sunshine." But have at it ...
a Specter of Hudson haunts Fox's 'Idol'
a Twenty-three reasons not to see "The Number 23"
a Britney is bald, but not the first celeb to be so bold
a Britney, Anna Nicole, our obsessions - What's the lesson here?

Everything else ...
a What's next? Defining the new generation of young adults
a Chicago readies itself for visit by U.S. Olympic officials ... oh, to have the Olympic games in Chicago. Talk about a dream come true ...
a Palming off the Ash Wednesday dirty work
a Young Voters Find Voice on Facebook
a 450-year-old receipt proves Michelangelo stayed in St. Peter's
a Maryland to Unveil the Page That Began a New Chapter
a Web site points the way to latest attractions ... The Grand Canyon skywalk sounds so freaky -- and soooo cool!!

And from news of the weird ...
a Sword seized after man mistakes porn for rape

Sunday reading

... The Shins strong -- and overdue -- showing on SNL last night inspired me to pull out my Shins CDs this afternoon. Great stuff ...

Here's some good reading (and cartoons, courtesy of Cagle's Cartoons) that caught my eyes this past week ...

Entertainment buzz ...
a What does Oprah believe?
a It's Not All About the iPods, Oprah
a You'll likely read more about Britney in '07
a Comedy writers aren't laughing about 'Studio 60' ... I have to agree: It's a show about a comedy show, but the comedy in the show that the show is about isn't funny at all!! ... I so wanted it to do well, but at this point NBC would be wise to let it fade away ...
a Who's that 'Studio 60' nominee? ... whatever. I've admired Sarah Paulson long before Studio 60 came along ...
a Matthew Fox talks about his dark side
a Vieira Settles In, and 'Today' Gets Ready to Go Long
a Tween actress' sex scenes raise ire ... Oh, Dakota, why must you grow up so fast? Please don't become a ruined child star ...

Music ...
a Ain’t it odd? Song lyrics defy grammar rules music ... Get over it, English teachers. Alanis Morrissette's ironic is one of the greatest songs ever, whether you like it or not ...
a Will compact discs go the way of the LP? ... Whatever. I'm still buying them -- heck I'm still buying LPs. The sweet cover art, liner notes and that feeling of tearing off the wrapping -- like opening a new toy on Christma morning -- is a big part of what makes certain music so special and enduring ...

News & trends ...
a Theme party ideas for February's major events ... As cheesy as some of these suggestions are, these parties could be a lot of fun to host! Who's in?
a After laughter, action ... Great column. So true.
a Too Casual To Sit on Press Row? Bloggers' Credentials Boosted
a 1870s dead horse photo sparks mystery ... Great story!! from Sheboygan!!
a Is there a new calling for Apple? ... My friend Sean appears to be obsessed with the iPhone; his eyes looked as though they were going to pop out every time the mega-hyped gadget was mentioned this week. I, on the other hand, prefer to use my phone as a phone and for calling people only, thank you very much.
a Kathleen Parker: Clicking on death ... So true.

Baseball ...
a Suppan joins Brewers after dinner, $42 million contract ... Now let's hope he holds up. If he does, it could be a very good Brewers season ...
a Don't Expect Hall Call, Big Mac

Splitsville!

Stop the presses!

... Brit and K-Fed (... or should I say Fed-Ex) are sooooo over ...

... Rummy is high-tailing it out of the Pentagon ...

I can't remember the last time the announcement of a story breaking on the news wires drew so much applause/cheering/laughter in our office ...

... Upon hearing the news about Rummy, I immediately Googled him and this is the first story that came up, from The Washington Post, posted just before the announcement ... very interesting and insightful!