Sunday reading

... Here it is another Sunday. And I'm wondering where the weekend went ...

... On Friday, we grilled out and shared a night on our deck with good friends Laura and Kevin. The conversation was so good, the sun set without us barely noticing ...

... On Saturday, I soaked up the sun and worked in our yard. And then we went off to see Mom and Pops, who were camping not far out of the city ... It seemed like a good idea -- until we got out of the car were mowed down by a buzz kill of mosquitoes. We rushed Phoebe inside the camper ... and all of joined in shortly after. Instead of an ideal night around a campfire, we spend it inside playing Uno ... Pops played a buzz kill of his own; he won six of the eight hands we played ...

Today, we did church (Phoebs slept the whole service again ... ). I did a baseball practice ... And Mom and Pops came to our place. But the thunder and rain chased us inside once more, and we settled for watching the Brewers finish of the Orioles ...

And how 'bout those Cubs ... After becoming the victims of a hard-fought sweep in Tampa Bay last week ( ... Dang, Tampa is good this year; that series was every bit as tough as I figured it might be ...), the Cubbies came out swinging this weekend. Aramis won it in the ninth on Friday ... Then I got to catch that rocking fourth inning and yesterday's thriller ... And now they're blasting the Sox again tonight as I write this ... But let's not talk about September until we get there, OK?

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

But first, this one says it all: Is everything spinning out of control? Can-do, bootstrap approach embedded in American psyche is under assault

Sports & Baseball ...
a Cubs documents: Wrigley condition not dire
a The Bringer Of The Big Heat ... A good one from the SI archives about Nolan Ryan.
a A Jones For Hitting: Chipper Jones, the baddest switch-hitter since Mickey Mantle
a Spirit of '77 for White Sox, Cubs
a Guillen swap sides? No way
a Met fan squawks about Willie Randolph firing, sends Wilpons chickens
a The Catch: Super Bowl moment small part of Tyree's journey
a Rodgers savoring honeymoon as Packers' starting QB ... A good one from my friend Raechel.
a Verdict still out on Kobe's legacy ... Compare him to Michael Jordan all you want, but they'll never be equals.
a Watching Tiger, Kobe compete on same day

Music ...
a Alanis Morissette continues channeling her anger
a Another Somebody Sung Somebody's Song Wrong

Politics ...
a Obama, or Osama? Hotmail glitch
a In Her Own Time

TV ...
a 'Big Bird' Caroll Spinney Still Flocking to Sesame Street

The Internet ...
a 'Geek girl' helps keep Mozilla safe in scary times
a The Fate of The Sentence: Is the Writing On the Wall? ... Interesting.
a The Web makes us antsy readers, not deep thinkers ... Also quite interesting.

The media ...
a The L.A. Times's Human Wrecking Ball
a Katie Couric shows her ‘nerd’ side ... Quite amusing.
a Will Viacom nuke the YouTube clip of CBS' Lara Logan ... Also quite amusing.
a Tom Brokaw: 'Meet the Press' til Nov. 4
a Tim Russert: the details about what caused his death

The Onion ...
a Mariners Fire Whiffing Coach
a Cricket Located
a Fantasy Baseball Owner Rips Team In Media
a Falling Down Laundry Chute And Breaking Neck Remains America's No. 548,221 Killer

Travel ...
a America's Unkempt Front Yard
a Fake But Fun Destinations

Life & other stuff ...
a How a lake went down the drain
a Men fillet Charlie the Tuna statue in Oregon
a Nike sneaks logo onto the lakefront path ... Not cool.
a More Schools Trying Separation of the Sexes
a Looking to Avoid Aggressive Drivers? Check Those Bumpers
a Your friends? They're dead.

History in the making

I watched Game One of the NBA Finals last night...

Celtics-Lakers, baby. Amazing. ... It's probably the first NBA game I've watched since Michael Jordan was in a Bulls uniform. I'm totally going to soak this one up and root for the Paul Pierce and the Celtics.

The TV ratings have got to be going through the roof for this series ...

* * *

... Watched Randy Johnson break No. 2 on the all-time strikeout list against the Brewers the other night. That was pretty cool ... Even cooler was seeing the Brewers pitcher get two hits off of him.

... The Cubs are looking -- dare I say it ... Like a good Cubs fans, I've faithfully stayed up late to watch their games on the west coast this week.

Until the Padres finally put 'em down on Wednesday night, the Cubs had won nine in a row -- and eight straight were stellar come-from-behind wins. My favorite of the week: Zambrano's performance on both sides of the ball on Monday night.

And there was this from the Chicago Tribune:

Seldom has a Cubs team been linked to so many of its predecessors as the 2008 edition has been during the first two months of the season.

Every day seems to bring about a new history lesson.Consider that the Cubs on Tuesday night were off to their best start since 1977, even before Geovany Soto, Mark DeRosa and Alfonso Soriano homered in a 9-6 win over the Padres at Petco Park.

They've won nine straight for the first time since 2001, and entered June with the best record in baseball for the first time since 1908. They finished their first 7-0 homestand since 1970, and they've led in 25 consecutive games for the first time since 1935.

* * *

Barack Obama finally clinched the Democratic nomination. Thankfully ... I'm fully in his camp now and hoping the Hillary supporters will do the same for the sake of the party ...

Admittedly, our support was strong for Clinton when she swung through these parts over the winter, but it seemed to go totally down hill from there. And for the last couple months I didn't know what to think about her; watching her hang on to her campaign for dear life was woeful. But then again, I can understand and respect her reasons for not quitting ...

* * *

Speaking of Obama ... We got word this week that Chicago is still in the running for the 2016 Olympics. Sweet!

And how sweet would it be if Obama gets in the White House to give us a little pull?

It's not like we haven't been thinking about it already. We were already dreaming of it last year.

* * *

... I got two more Mountain Dews in one of my trips to the office soda machine this week ... I really should go to Vegas.

Sunday reading

... After my game this morning, Kates and I spent the day on our deck, playing with Phoebe and enjoying the GOR-geous weather ...

And now I'm watching Sunday night baseball.

I can't think of a better way to spend a Sunday.

Here's some of the best stories I read over the last week ...

Sports ...
a Historic season looms for Chicago baseball
a Cursed-to-first Rays, White Sox buoyed by offseason deals
a Hitting .400 isn't last crusade for Atlanta's accomplished Jones
a Embattled McLaren, Randolph, Yost fight on
a In NBA playoffs, less ink means more viewers
a Packers to deliver old locker to Favre

Politics ...
a Ex-press secretary bashes Bush
a Book: Rice kept 'her hands clean'
a Hillary Clinton's 'critical decision'
a Obama Practices Looking-Off-Into-Future Pose ... From The Onion. Ha-larious.

The Internet ...
a Blog posts photos from lost cameras to find owners
a MySpace gets its mojo back by opening door to developers

Life & other stuff ...
a Principal's blunder holds good lessons ... One of the biggest stories around Chicagoland last week. The pincipal eventually was demoted.
a Stonehenge was a royal family's burial site, researchers say
a Lowly pencil still the write tool
a N.Y. Hopes to Ensure Smooth Pedaling for Bike Commuters

Go Cubs! Go!

With all of the season's TV shows winding down, I've finally had some good chances to watch some baseball this week ...

And oh, what a week it's been ... The Cubs are hot, and the Brewers, well, they're hanging in there ...

On Tuesday night, Kates and I caught the Cubs come from behind -- in between flipping back and forth and watching Bill Hall bring the Brewers from behind too!

Then I watched the Cubs do it again to sweep the Dodgers Wednesday night ...

And today they came back from eight runs down ...

Ooh this is getting good.

Sunday reading

Here's some of my favorites reading for the week ... Have fun!

Sports ...
a Baseball to formulate instant replay proposal ... Under the parameters given -- and after watching that botched home the other night at Yankee Stadium -- I'd support it.
a Mike Piazza announces his retirement from baseball ... He was a good one. I'm with Lasorda -- I hope he goes into the Hall as a Dodger.
a The Bizarro Supermen
a Wrigley through the decades ... a nice slideshow, especially of the earlier years.
a It'd be foolish for Bulls to pass on Rose ... I agree. But I'd be heartbroken if they traded Heinrich.
a Derek Lowe Asks Coach If He Could Dip Out Around Fourth Inning ... Hilarious Onion read.

Politics ...
a Obama, Clinton, McCain Join Forces To Form Nightmare Ticket ... Good Onion read
a Youngest Brother Enhanced Legacy, and Built His Own ... A good read on Ted Kennedy

The Internet & Media ...
a How Many Friends Is Too Many? ... A really good read from my friend Raechel ... For the record, I keep my MySpace exclusively to people I know personally, people I've worked or gone to school with -- and bands or TV shows I've seen and like to keep tabs on. Facebook is more restrictive, and I like it.
a Facebook preparing for redesign to clear clutter ... interesting.

TV & Entertainment ...
a 'Wicked' will close Chicago run in January ... and I'm quite proud to say Kates and I were one of the first to see it -- with Ana Gasteyer. ... Here's a slideshow.
a Crossing the Finish Line, 'SNL' Shows Some Late Kick ... Ooh, it's gonna be good.
a Where We Got By Walking in Their Manolos ... Ah, Sex in the City. Good times.

Travel ...
a Pump pain
a The Nighttime's the Right Time to See D.C. ... True that. My time touring D.C. during a night last year was one of the sweetes experiences of my life ...
a Have laptop, will breeze through security?

Life & other stuff ...
a New name game: Aiden Aidan bo Aden . . . fee fi mo Aydin
a Emily, Jacob remain most popular baby names ... Two names we really like and considered, but quickly threw out for that reason.
a The World's Wildest Architecture ... very cool!. I want to work in that basket.

Sunday reading

Some of the good reads I caught during the last seven days ...

Baseball ...
a Cubs use Zambrano, offensive explosion to down Padres
a In covering Cubs, bias suspicion looms
a Cubs can't stop all sales of offensive Kosuke Fukudome T-shirt
a The forgotten confines
a The Great Holdout
a White Sox are hot, city is not bothered

Politics ...
a Eight reasons why Obama should not choose Clinton as his running mate in `08
a Obama apologizes to 'sweetie'

TV ...
a Every night live ... I love Jimmy Fallon, but I'm a bit skeptical of his chances on a late night talk show.
a A tale of two Jimmys
a 'The Office': Worst episode ever? ... I think this review is a little harsh, but it backs up my thoughts that 'The Office' is better viewed as a collection of workplace scenes or sketches than as a 30-minute episode.

Music ...
a Coachella DJs get the party moving with MP3s

Travel ...
a 75 cool reasons to visit MSI
a This Year, The Heat's Really On

The Bush wedding ...
a Goin' to the ranch, gonna get married
a Henry Hager, Jenna Bush wedding pictures

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.

Friday's showing

... Kates and I were going to take a walk with Pheebs tonight.

"We should go. It still looks really nice out there," I said, cleaning up the kitchen and looking through our window to the sunny sky in the north.

"Not over here," Kates said, looking out the window to the south and the red-gray sky beyond.

Barely a minute later it started pouring.

So we stayed in and watched a part of the stack of movies we had planned to get to during my two weeks home with Kates and Phoebe but didn't because we spent the whole first week in the hospital and the second week adjusting to life with the baby ...

Tonight's showing: "A Lot Like Love," the 2005 romantic-comedy flick starring the adorable Amanda Peet as Emily and the talented Ashton Kutcher, as Oliver. After a random-hook-up on a flight to New York, the pair make a connection and meet sparingly over the next seven years, with job plans and other interests always getting in the way ...

... I downloaded the soundtrack, which is darn good, a couple years ago, and I'm now sorry I took longer to see the movie ... I really liked this one; I know I use this word way too much, but it was another charmer. The Peet-Kutcher combination played well, I loved the early scenes of the two playing coy with each other and halfway through the movie I was totally rooting for them to just end up together already! ... But, but of course, without a good, solid two hours of back-and-forth the movie wouldn't be half as heart-grabbing ... The somewhat predictable outcome notwithstanding.

(If you haven't seen the movie and want to, now's a good time to skip ahead ...)

Emily's photo sense also was pretty intriguing (The idea for the nude photo under the moonlight was pretty sweet ...) ... And there were several classic, laugh-out scenes, including one during which 20-something Oliver, who lives at home with his parents, takes a call from Emily and he's interrupted by his snooty little sister who must use the phone. Emily's laughing reaction to the childish yelling and screaming makes the scene even funnier (I'm laughing about it now just describing it.)

And the date scene, during which Emily and Oliver get wrapped up in a battle to see who can go without talking the longest ... Emily ends up -- hilariously and quite realistically -- faking a horrific choking on a bite of her food. But Oliver doesn't take it for a second, keeps on eating his food like nothing's happening and even turns away the waitress when she comes to Emily's aid. Emily then fakes her death, but when Oliver still doesn't flinch she finally gives up ... Oliver, who has a deaf brother in the film, retorts "I can go without talking for days."

Also loooooved the two singing to Peter Cetera's "If You Leave Me Now" during their little road trip ... Totally something I would do.



... And there was the scene midway through the movie during which Oliver had popped up on Emily once more; while he's sitting on her couch pouring out his heart about a recent break-up, she's stroking his hair and trying to prime him for a little rendezvous -- an idea she called her best friend about moments after Oliver showed up. So when Emily's best friend calls back to check up and the answering machine picks up, Emily explodes from the couch to pick up the phone in a hilarious bit of physical comedy ... Making the moment even funnier, I had a sleeping Phoebe in my arms and she nearly leaped out of my arms at the very same moment Amanda Peet jumped off that couch ...

Here's the trailer for your enjoyment ...



And now we're watching the last few innings of the Cubs game ...

We've seen Soriano botch not one, but two fly balls he should have caught. He didn't come in fast enough on one, and on the second he ran in when he should've been going back ...Then, he got some redemption and tied the game with a home run in the ninth ...

But the Cards just won it in extras.

Good night.

Sunday reading

Some of the good reads that interested me this week ...

Baseball ...
a Harrowing Ordeal in Iran Has an Unexpected Benefit
a Cubs error fixed: Apostrophe added to Ernie Banks statue ... In case you hadn't heard -- a pretty amusing story in Chicago last week.
a Steve Bartman not to blame, Moises Alou says five years later
a It's time for sincere apologies to Bartman
a Wrigley Field, U. of I.'s Assembly Hall on Endangered Place list

Politics ...
a Why Obama Rocks the Vote
a Why Wake the President?
a Chelsea Clinton: 'None of your business,' Part Two
a Clinton owes her own high school money
a Obama no bowler, vetted at hoops

Media ...
a Channel 2 cuts top anchors

Life & other stuff ...
a After a Baby, Full Time or Part?
a America's first ‘test tube’ twins turn 25
a CPR just got a little easier—and less gross
a Seeking UFOs, deep underground
a 10 Memorable April Fools' Work Pranks ... A good one from my friend Raechel.

Soaking up opening day!

... We've been buried in a dreary, pouring rain for much of the day ... But there was nothing better this morning than waking up to the sound of a steady rain beating our porch and the rolling thunder. I'll take it! ... Good-bye snow ...

And today was Major League Baseball's opening day ...

Still catching my breath from last night's KU game, we changed channels and tuned in to our first "Baseball Tonight" of the season ... and then the magnificent opener at the Nationals new Stadium -- George Bush throwing out the first pitch, Ryan Zimmerman walk-off homerun and all... What a game!

... Today over my lunch I caught a couple innings of the Tigers-Royals opener ...

And then got home in time tonight to see the ninth inning of the Cubs-Brewers opener ... The game was tied 0-0 and Kerry Wood had just nailed Rickie Weeks square in the back. A couple minutes later, Ryan Braun was knocking him in and Corey Hart had a two-run double to put the Brewers up 3-0 ...

Then! Eric Gagne couldn't finish it for the Brewers. He puts a couple runners on and the Japanese sensation Kosuke Fukudome launches a three-run homer into the center field bleachers! We were tied up again! Are you kidding me!?!

The Brewers eventually did win it in the 10th on a Tony Gwynn, Jr., sac fly ... but whoah.

This is too much ...

Baseball fever. I've caught it.

Sunday reading

Some of the good reads (and links) that caught my eyes during the last week ...

Let's start it with this video of one sports anchor's look at the Duke-Belmont upset ... Clever!



Baseball ...
a Season forecast: Tom Verducci's playoff picks and surprise teams for '08 campaign
a A-Rod won't address allegations
a Cubs, WGN celebrate diamond anniversary
a As Jinx Turns 100, the Friendly Confines Are Getting Feisty
a Wrigley, Cubs in limbo as Tribune chief Zell seeks home-run deals
a From Reggie to Chub: One Last Roll Call ... It's been a dream of mine to get to Yankee Stadium ... Unfortuately, it's not looking like it's going to happen this year.
a Deep Inside the Big Ballyard in the Bronx
a You Can’t Just Blow Up History
a The Spirits of Yankee Legends Permeate a Locker Room
a Ballparks Come, Ballparks Go, the Memories Are Forever
a Shea in ’64: The Planes Above, the Mets Below

March Madness ...
a With No Issues, Williams Is Content
a Ford Field, Reliant Stadium raise regionals
a Time to appreciate Big Ten's last 2 ... This story came out, of course, before both teams lost.
a Wisconsin Becomes a National Power by Staying Close to Home

Politics ...
a Okay, Barack. Now Show 'Em Your White Side

Media & the Internet ...
a 'The Simpsons' announces the death of print ... my good friend Matt pointed me to this one.
a LeBron James' Vogue cover called racially insensitive

Life & other stuff ...
a Pottermania lives on in college classrooms ... Good stuff from my good friend Raechel. Some days I long to be in college again just so I can take some of the classes they're coming up with these days ...
a It's a gas: $2.49-per-gallon gaffe lures bargain hunters
a Families speak about switched identity ordeal ... Gripping story. I couldn't imagine what this would be like ...
a In new book, crash survivor ponders why she lived ... different read, same gripping story as above.
a Get Ready to Step Up, Dad ... hey, I'll step up.
a Western Antarctic Ice Chunk Collapses
a The Washington Post: Peeps Show 2

Sunday reading

The good reads that caught my eyes over the last couple weeks ...

Baseball ...
a Cubs' selection Sunday fast approaching
a Piniella settles on batting order
a Wrigley Field sale to state looking like latest Cubs loser
a Lasorda and the Dodgers say goodbye to Vero Beach
a Emotional day at Dodgertown for Lasorda
a Do-it-all Bill Hall returns to infield for Brewers' new defensive look
a Brewers slugger Prince Fielder now eating a Field of Greens
a Q & A with Brewers' owner Mark Attanasio
a Brewers owner: Yost dynamic leader who gives stability to club
a Japan Trip on for Red Sox, Athletics ... an extraordinary move indeed.
a Keeping up with Jones: Aside from closer, Tigers' bullpen is a big concern ... Not good.
a Why it's so Grand to be Tigers' Granderson
a Nobody's calling for Barry Bonds, and the phone won't start ringing soon
a Suspicion lingers in wake of Report
a Nats' Food Will Tag More Home Bases

Other sports ...
a Knight's ESPN gig could provide a bleeping good time ... From what I've seen, it has been.
a Rodgers ready to play for Packers

TV ...
a TV series alter time

Music ...
a Apple Said to Weigh Unlimited Music Deal
a Nine Inch Nails scares up sales with 'Ghosts'
a Judge Portrays McCartney's Ex As 'Out of Control'
a Judge says Heather Mills 'her own worst enemy'

Politics ...
a '3 a.m. call' Clinton-ad actress gets rude awakening
a What we don't know about Obama hurts him

Media & the Internet ...
a Wikipedia starts to look a bit less wiki
a In a newspaper war, we must mind our p's and q's ... an update from the Trib's big contest win.

Travel ...
a Mount St. Helens' booming history
a Restoring the Mall From 'Disgrace' to Showcase

Life & other stuff ...
a Hey, It's Your Funeral
a Dump the penny
a Starbucks tips ruling is made to order for baristas
a Neighbor 'ghosts' haunt drama on deadly summer ... I remember that summer -- and the heat -- well. It was the first time I'd ever been to Chicago, and every night on the news there were reports of more deaths ...

Trib takes the Sun-Times prize

This is awesome!



UPDATE: 03.21.08
In a newspaper war, we must mind our p's and q's

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

Kates and I are feeling truly blessed today ...

Mom & Pops were here for the weekend to help us prepare more for Baby ...

All of today we were finding ourselves surrounded by people who have loved and supported us and played significant parts in our lives, people who have known both of us from the very beginning, some of our closest friends and family members ...

And tonight we had to say good-bye to a dear friend. As Kates' father said in his message, he was "the quintessential Milwaukeean." He was always there with a kind greeting or words of wisdom. He was a devoted baseball fan, too -- As the pallbearers carried away his casket tonight, we sang "Take Me Out To the Ball Game." Kates and I were blessed to have known him.

Here's some of the good reads that caught my attention this week ...

Baseball ...
a Authority assessing face-lift of Wrigley
a Naming rights for sale, but Wrigley can't be bought
a This field by any other name ... Would be risky for would-be corporate sponsors, experts say
a Why Wrigley Field's landmark status should be preserved
a Kenney: More Cubs games on Comcast SportsNet ... and Spanish radio?
a Piniella open to extending stay with Cubs
a Nobody's perfect: Even the best teams have holes to fill this spring
a The big question for Big Papi
a Sox may have (computer) chip on their shoulder

Politics ...
a A little something for the ladies
a A Clinton-Obama ticket?
a John McCain: Consistent on Iraq... ...consistent in folly
a Gary David Goldberg: Just what would Alex Keaton do?

TV & entertainment ...
a Eleanor knockoffs spark a knock-down, drag-out fight
a Did 'SNL' Go Beyond the Pale With Fauxbama? ... I totally don't get why so many outlets are making an issue of this ...
a Hillary Clinton: 'Live from N.Y., it is Saturday night' ... This was a classic.
a 3 a.m. call: President Obama calling Sen. Clinton ... This was classic, too. I know a few people who haven't enjoyed SNL's Clinton-Obama spoofs the last few weeks, but I've loved 'em ...



Music ...
a ‘One Tree Hill’ helps launch Kate Voegele
a Tragedy Knocked Blind Melon Off the Rock Radar 12 Years Ago. But With a New Lead Singer, the Time May Be Ripe for a Comeback.
a Q&A: 'Once' in a Lifetime

Media & the Internet ...
a At Wall Street Journal, Change of Accents
a With parents on Facebook, 'friend' now a relative term

And finally, a cool trivia game about Wheel of Fortune.

Sunday reading

It's Oscar night ...

Yippee.

The only things I cared about were Jon Stewart's comedy and Diablo Cody winning the award for best original screenplay. Both played out just the way I'd hoped -- Stewart was funny and Cody won. But there were a few bonuses, too -- I loved Amy Adams singing the Happy Working Song (she was adorable!) and it also was great seeing Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova perform their song from "Once" ... And then winning for it! ... And then seeing Stewart bring Irglova back out to the microphone for a second chance at giving an acceptance speech!

All great moments.

Some of the good reads that caught my eyes during the last couple weeks ...

Baseball ...
a Look who's in LA-LA land
a Fewer WGN games means more revenue ... Yeah, but it sucks for Cubs fans not living in the Chicago area.
a Pettitte praised by Congress, but hits are coming soon
a Ten key points that were missed during the hearings
a Prosecutors file new details in Bonds case
a The bottom line on Clemens' statistical performance
a Whether on mound or Hill, Clemens is the same man
a 'You can tell your boys I did it the right way' Or not.
a Lot of misremembering going on, but Clemens is the one doing it
a Hank Aaron Believes Baseball Can Move On
a Wood favored in competition for closer
a Carlos Zambrano ready to be ace Cubs need
a Soriano reports early to Cubs camp
a Kosuke Fukudome launches Cubs' career
a Lee could drop to cleanup as part of Cubs' lineup shuffle
a Ranking the best general managers in the game... Yep. Theo Epstein, hands down.
a Bonds' value significantly deflated

Music ...
a Soundtrack making star of Kimya Dawson
a Fans love Carpenters, not carpenters ... I love the Carpenters! Save the house!

TV ...
a 'Lost': Mind-Blowing Scoop From Its Producers

Movies ...
a A year for hot movie scripts
a Not just anyone can be an actor
a The Oscars: A dark view on dark times
a Lindsay Lohan nude in recreated Marilyn Monroe photo shoot

The Internet ...
a What Facebook Knows That You Don't

Politics ...
a Clintons' bias card has basis
a Obama Fever Is Breaking On the Web
a Obama's Missing Ideas
a It will be tough getting used to life without Hillary Clinton, a candidate so perfect that few could identify with her

Life & other stuff ...
a Red-letter day for Blu-ray
a A kiss is just a kiss

Cubs tickets central

… There’s no better sign of spring coming than the day Cubs tickets go on sale.

Happy sigh.

Today was my day, and I gotta admit -- I think I’m getting pretty good at this virtual ticketing thing.

As I’d done last year, and the year before that, and for the last several years actually, I took a day off from work for the occasion …And then this morning, as usual, I set up my private ticket headquarters, placing my laptop and Kates' computer side by side. Schedule, calendar, credit card and cell phone spread out on the floor in front of me …

The virtual waiting room opened at 9:30 a.m. and tickets went on sale at 10. But I’ve learned there’s no advantage to getting in the virtual waiting room early, because potential buyers are picked at random ...

I had a brief freakout when my Internet windows weren’t properly displaying on either screen. But a little tweaking of our Internet settings fixed the problem, and I was logged in just a couple minutes before 10 …

And then I waited.

But not for long!

At 10:07, my first window popped up and I was in! … I promptly snagged two infield tickets for the Aug. 9 afternoon game against St. Louis … Talk about a prime game. It was the top game on my priority list, and I got it! That’s the first time that’s ever happened for me … and the game was sold out by 10:30 a.m.

So with one game under my belt, I was kicked back to the virtual waiting room to wait again, knowing that any other games I got were bonuses …

And, lo and behold, I was in again at about 10:40 a.m., although it took me a couple more minutes to get another pair of tickets -- I kept getting pop-ups saying that my order couldn’t be processed because the transaction volume was so high … I got bumped out of a chance to get tickets to the Sept. 20 game against St. Louis in the Cubs’ final homestand, and the June 21 White Sox game had sold out, so I went with my third choice -- Aug. 30 against Philadelphia, and snagged two tickets in the infield level to that game …

I couldn’t have asked for an easier process this morning, and now I’m having to restrain myself and keep the “B” words in mind (That’s baby and budget.) …

I could keep going and try to make some buku bucks on eBay, but I’m not that desperate …

So my Cubs ticket operation is shutting down for another year …

And I have to decide how I’m going to spend the rest of my day …

Brewers tickets go on sale tomorrow …

And yes, I’m really listening to Toto. On vinyl. It’s a good record.

Sunday reading

... So I got my ice skating fix today. Woo hoo! ... It's not a Wisconsin winter without getting on the frozen pond at least once a year ...

That was the highlight of the day. Here was the lowlight ...

When I put my contacts in this morning, I knew immediately something wasn't right. And when I went back to the bathroom to try adjusting them, I didn't do much good ... Nevertheless, I pressed on, and Kates and I attended church, even though I was having so much trouble seeing out of my right eye I could barely make out the words in the hymnal ...

I tried adjusting them once more after we got home. But now the contact in my right eye was stuck to my eyeball -- I thought. I must've dumped almost half a bottle of saline solution on my eye to try getting it out, but nothing seemed to work. Ok, that can happen, I thought, I'll just try to get through the rest of the afternoon and hope it dries out enough that it just falls out ...

So we went ice skating ... And once we returned home again, I was back at it, trying to get that contact out of my right eye. I tried more saline solution. More rubbing my eye ... By the time Kates and I ate supper tonight, I was in such inexplicable pain and agony. I had practically gouged my eye ...

Only to realize at about 8:30 tonight that the contact lense I had been trying to fix all day was never in my eye ...

Oh, the pain and suffering.

Here's some of the good reads that piqued my interest during the last week ...

Sports ...
a Wrigley Field would get new neighbors under developer's proposal for hotel, apartments ... ugh.
a Lets stop pretending Wrigleyville is perfect ... I think this guy is a Sox fan.
a Albert Pujols still angry over being linked to Mitchell Report on steroids ... I'll give him the benefit of the doubt -- and I love the guy, really. But honestly, I was kind of surprised not to see his name on the list ...
a Deal with it: Bud is staying
a Brady's world an altar-nate universe
a Cardinals' unique stadium set to take center stage at Super Bowl

Politics ...
a How Will We Survive Another Year ... this one's a little old, but still relevant.
a Tribune endorses Obama
a The Kennedys embrace Obama
a The man behind the message: When Sen. Barack Obama gets behind a podium, he’s got a 26-year-old speechwriter to thank for his powerful words
a Obama's misuse of history
a Debate gets fiercely personal
a Why stop short? The Clintons are lying about Obama's remarks on Reagan
a A Clinton twofer's high price ... Great column. One thing I've learned in life is good times can rarely be duplicated ...
a President Heckler ... more great commentary on Bill.
a Billary's Adventures in Primaryland ... and more.
a The politics of personality: Do you like these people?
a Transformer candidates: It's amazing to watch the presidential contenders bend and twist into whatever they need to be

Entertainment ...
a Garth Brooks is almost the retiring sort
a Grammy-nominated videos include Feist, Johnny Cash ... The Feist video and Mute Math's "Typical" are by far the videos of the year ...
a Marketers announce ad lineup for Super Bowl
a Marketers going all out to make impression on Super Bowl audience
a NBC's new `Lipstick Jungle' similar to ABC's `Cashmere Mafia,' but neither series measures up ... Too bad. And yet, not surprising. We're still watching "Mafia," but it's starting to wear thin ...
a Ritter's family says he didn't have to die ... very interesting.
a Southern-bred actress has field day with role of devious co-worker ... Angela Kinsey rocks.

Life & other stuff ...
a Dubious title for O'Hare: World's most flight cancellations
a 10 Things Your IT Department Won't Tell You

The Onion ...

Brett Favre Still Taking Post-Game Shower

GREEN BAY, WI—The Packers confirmed Wednesday evening that quarterback Brett Favre had yet to emerge from the Lambeau Field locker-room shower...