This is where I'm gonna post old front page comments. I don't really expect people to read them. Which I guess begs the question of why am I posting them? I'll leave that one to the philosophers.
New pictures and video of the girls
Yeah OK so its several days late. And I haven't updated this in MONTHS. So sue me.
I filed my petitions to run for North Palos district #117 school board. I ran for this board 2 years ago and lost. Then, someone resigned and I was appointed. Now I'm running again, this time as an incumbent. There are three seats up and four people running. Me and Tom Kostes are incumbents. The 3rd lady has a daughter in Katelyn's class at Quin. I've only talked to her a couple times but she seems like a nice lady. The 4th lady I've never met - I assume I will at some point before the election on April 5th. Eileen Grimmer is not running again as her and her husband are moving out of the district. Eileen is a real class act, losing her is a real loss. Whoever ends up taking her place has some HUGE shoes to fill.
So we're heading back to see The Mouse again in a couple weeks. Katelyn will have been to Disneyworld 5 times before she turns 5 years old. Not too spoiled, these kids. Staying at Port Orleans Riverside again. We usually stay there, its a nice place that doesn't drain the wallet like some of the overpriced nonsense they have there (looking at you, Grand Floridian).
Packers won their 1st round playoff game at Philadelphia and now they have to go to Atlanta. This scares me, Atlanta is damn near unbeatable at home. We'll have to see what happens. I'm not overly hopeful.
The Sky hired a new coach. Her name is Pokey Chatman and she has a long, successful history as a women's basketball coach, both in college and in the pros overseas. All things considered, I think she's a definite upgrade over the clown they had there last year. Unlike whoever takes Eileen Grimmer's place, Chatman has very very small shoes to fill
9/26/2010
Well at least this time I have a good reason not to have updated this since end of July. End of July was the last time I had more than a second or two that I wasn't working.
We updated to PowerSchool at work. Its the system we use to track all the stuff we track about the kids: grades, attendance, emergency contact info, bus routes, immunizations, all sorts of stuff. Its the backbone of everything we do and holy crap was it a LOT of work. Me and another guy at work (hi Erwin, in case you read this) practically killed ourselves getting it set up. But its pretty close to being done now, so maybe more than 5 hours a sleep a night? Lets hope.
The Sky are done with their season, yet another disappointment. They went 14-20 to once again miss the playoffs for the 5th time in 5 years in existence. Meanwhile, the Atlanta Dream, who came into the league 3 years ago have made the playoffs twice and this year went to the Finals! Sort of makes you wonder what the hell the Sky are doing! But at least they canned their idiot coach/GM. Yeah, I know that says he resigned. Don't let that fool you. They told him quit or be fired. Then they probably gave him a few dollars to go the hell away. Money well spent. He was an awful game coach, a below-average GM and the few times he stooped down to talk to fans from his lofty perch, he came across as an arrogant jerk. Toodles, "Coach." And yes, that was supposed to be in quotes.
Speaking of piss poor Chicago sports teams...The Cubs. Ah, never mind. Lets not speak of the Cubs. It'll just piss me off.
Ah, I know what will make me happier! The Packers! They're looking real good, and they play the Bears tomorrow. Both teams are 2-0, although the Bears lost to Detroit. I don't care what the stupid rule says, that was a touchdown. I expect the Packers to stomp a mudhole in a highly overrated Bears team. I hope so anyway, I've been talking a lot of junk about the game.
In case anyone is curious, the motorcycle is still available, and at a reduced price. Still no ideas on how to talk Debbie into it.
UPDATE 9/30/2010: The Packers lost. Bleh
7/30/2010
Well well well. I certainly don't appear to be very good at updating this.
The Sky are nearing the end of their season, and yet again they have woefully underperformed. When your coach is mentioned prominently in discussion of "worst WNBA coach of all time" that's not a good thing. I really hope that if the team fails again that the coach gets a pink slip. Last year and this year are really his fault, much moreso than usual for a coach.
Grace starts school in a couple weeks. This summer has just flown by. I'm not sure where it went, but I'm totally not ready for it to be over.
In my last post, I talked about firing DirecTV and not missing it. Well, since then I've missed it twice. I didn't see the MLB All Star Home Run Derby and I missed the WNBA All Star Game. Both were on ESPN, which stubbornly refuses to offer any kind of streaming package. Actually, that's not quite correct. They do, but only to certain "preferred" internet providers. Very odd
One last thing: A friend of mine sells cars. He has a 2000 Harley Fat Boy he can sell me for about 11k. Its a great deal on a really nice bike, but there is no way Debbie will go for it. And I don't blame her. But, if anyone can think of a way for me to justify it, let me know.
I was a big Hawks fan in high school and college. Then they got REALLY awful, weren't on TV and I sort of drifted away. Last season, they made a deep playoff run and I was re-hooked. This season, they won the friggin' Cup!! They haven't won a Cup since 1961. This is almost as big for me as Super Bowl XXXI. Now, if the Cubs could even sniff a World Series, that would be epic. Alas, the Cubs.....well, they're the Cubs. Enough said about that particular festering pile of feces.
We recently bought a new TV. A real nice one, a 55in LED. It's ridiculous, really. We also got a PlayStation 3 that does Blu-Ray. And then ironically, we fired DirecTV. I don't understand the TV provider industry. We were DirecTV customers for 10 years. Never paid late, never complained. We were a regular source of $70 every month for them. So when we got this new TV, we wanted to upgrade to their HD package and get a DVR. Sure, ok then they say. Give us $200 for the DVR receiver, $100 for the other one, plus we'll bump you up $20 a month. At the same time, new customers are getting free HD, free receivers, and 6 months for $40 a month. How is this right? Seems to me that they should be giving the deal to the people who they know are going to pay, rather than someone who may not ever pay a single bill. And its not just DirecTV, they all do it. So we told them where to stick their TV service. With that $, I got a newer video card for the computer, we got Netflix and Gamefly. What we found out is that all the shows we watch are either network shows (which we can get with out $30 antenna), or are streamed online (which we can watch with the new video card on the PC which is now connected to the TV). And Netflix is the single coolest thing ever. They stream over the PS3 (and the Wii, which we moved to the back room for the kids) and they have almost anything you might want to watch. Movies, TV shows, documentaries, its all streaming on the PS3. Plus, we can have 3 discs out at once so if its not on the streaming, we can get the disc. Its fantastic.
On the topic of Netflix, I'm currently watching The War on Netflix streaming. Its a Ken Burns documentary from 2007, and holy crap is it good. Like most Burns' stuff, its incredibly long but its engrossing, educational and awe inspiring. If you can, watch it.
2/5/2010
Katelyn is 4. Wait, what? Yeah, that's right. 4. That can't be right, she was just born yesterday! She had her birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. She loved it but holy crap is that place LOUD. And we had it on a Tuesday! Earlier in the day (which I took off work), we took her to Pump It Up, where they had an "open jump." Looks like Grace is going to have her party at Pump It Up, she turns 8 later this month. Wait, what? 8??
Winter Olympics are next week. 4 years ago, me and Grace stayed up late every night watching them and then crashing in the family room while Debbie got to hang out upstairs with a 2 week old Katelyn. This year, both kids will be watching Olympics and crashing in the family room with me while Debbie sleeps upstairs. They're really looking forward to it and truth be told, so am I. I'm still a little annoyed at the way the IOC took out their (legitimate) beefs with the USOC on Chicago a few months back, but I'm still looking forward to the Games. Winter Olympics > Summer Olympics.
12/21/2009
Well, more than two months between posts. Me = FAIL.
A lot gone on since the last post too. In November, we went to Florida again. This time, we didn't JUST do Disneyworld, which was nice for me. I mean, I'm ok with the Mouse and all but all Disney all the time isn't necessarily my bag, baby. This time, we did SeaWorld and Discovery Cove. A word about Discovery Cove. Its expensive. This is true, I cannot deny that. Get over it, and spend the cash. Its worth every penny. Check out the pictures. Grace got to ride a friggin' dolphin! When Katelyn gets older, we'll be going back for sure so she can ride one. And SeaWorld is worth the money too. And then we of course did some Disneyworld. We went to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. It was....OK. Interesting to do once, but I don't need to do it again.
Oh, and Cape Canaveral screwed us again. Twice we've tried to see a Space Shuttle Launch, and twice they didn't launch. So this time, we thought we'd see a private launch of an Atlas V by the United Launch Alliance. It was a 1 am launch. We got a hotel right across the river from the launch pad with a fantastic view. So we get there, get the kids to sleep and then wait. At 12:30, we get the kids up and out on the balcony to watch a night launch and at 12:45 they scrub. Not weather, some sort of issue with the rocket. These things have a fantastic record of reliability. So of course I fail at it. It sucks, but it is what it is. Someday, Cape Canaveral, some day.....
More recently, my fantasy football team finished 7-6 and got bounced in the 1st round of the playoffs. Carson Palmer killed me the last 4 weeks of the season. Just killed me. The playoff game, he threw for 94 yards. Read that again. Ninety-four yards. What in the hell is that? As soon as the season was over, I waived him and he'll never be on my roster again.
Oh, and the Bulls suck. Badly.
10/2/2009
Well, the IOC made their decision, and they made the wrong one. They chose Rio over Chicago. Actually, Rio isn't a bad choice. They have the 2014 World Cup, so a lot of the infrastructure stuff will already be done. But for Chicago to finish 4th, behind Tokyo which basically gave up 6 months ago? Travesty. And thanks to the toolbags in Salt Lake City, the actual people doing the voting weren't allowed to see the cities they were voting on. What sort of messed up system is that?
On the whole, I'm mildly disappointed that we won't be getting it. I think it would have been kind of neat to have the Games here. For one thing, it would have required the CTA to do something about that miserable L system and their pathetic bus service. But its not the end of the world. Maybe we'll try again for 2020, although I doubt it.
Oh oh oh! I got an iPhone today! I'll report back when I've had a chance to mess with it.
RIP Sgt. 1st Class Christopher D. Shaw.
9/29/09
A lot going on, which is why there have been no updates recently. And since I'm reasonably sure that no one really reads this, I doubt I'll spend large amounts of time writing here today - Katelyn wants me to come play Wii with her.
Went to some IASB school board training this past weekend. There's a LOT more to this job than I realized! I hope I'm up to it. Another thing I learned is that Ron Moran has a really nice car.
I'm 2-1 in my fantasy football league so far. Just destroyed Keith last week, then the whole team just forgot to show up this week against Frank. Feh.
Interesting freebie game I've been getting into: Evony. Its basically a Civilization-type game where you build up your city and join alliances. Its not crazy involved, but its a nice little diversion and its free (although if you really want to DOMINATE you need to pony up some cash).
True Blood is back! So is Sons of Anarchy! And Dexter! Woo Hoo!!!
RIP PFC Matthew Martinek.
8/7/09
Been a while since I wrote anything here. I'm finding that I'm nowhere near as full of insightful stuff as I thought. Guess that'll show me.
I helped lead a
Patriot Guard Welcome Home Mission for Hq
Co-178th on Monday. I don't normally get to
do Welcome Homes - I don't have the time to take
off work, and I try to save what I have for KIA
missions, which I feel to be the more important
to make sure they happen and happen right.
But this happened to work out, so I got to go
and help out. It's been so long since I
did a Welcome Home that I'd sorta forgotten how
much fun they are. These guys and girls
had been through hell and back (this unit had
lost several members in action on this most
recent tour), and now we got to come cheer for
them, shake their hands and watch them greet
family and friends they haven't seen in months.
Very cool. I'm still much more committed
to the KIA side of the Patriot Guard's mission
statement, but I need to make more of an effort
to do a Welcome Home now and then as well.
7/10/2009
I don't read much fiction. For whatever reason, it usually doesn't appeal to me. However, I've recently read some really great fake stuff. First of all, World War Z by Max Brooks. He's Mel Brooks' son, and he's written a damn fine book. It takes place 10 years after the world was almost overrun by the living dead. Its a zombie book, but its more about the effect the zombies had than it is about the zombies themselves. Grab a copy.
The other book(s) I've been reading is the Harry Potter series. I started reading it when Grace was looking at it, and quickly got hooked. JK Rowling is a genius. She wrote the 1st book, and its aimed at the 10-13 age group. A kids book, basically. But there are 7 books in the series and they took a decade to write and publish. So those 10-13 year olds that read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone were 20-23 when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows came out. And the last 4 books in the series reflect that. The readers are older, so she wrote the books for an older audience. The last couple books are basically adult books. And the story they tell is a solid one. Good stuff.
6/16/2009
As you may recall, I ran for School Board in North Palos District 117 back in April. As I've mentioned, I lost by 9 votes. The reason I became interested in that was because in January, a board member resigned and I applied to fill that vacancy. I didn't get that, so I ran. And lost. Now, the lady who beat me out for the vacancy in January has resigned, so the original seat is open again. Tonight, they offered me the job. So it all comes full circle. Now, I just hope I'm up to the work.
6/1/2009
Quite a bit on my mind this evening. 1st of all, today was Grace's last day of school. She's now officially a 2nd grader. I'm also going to say this: I love Dorn! Grace was there for two years and in that two years I met nothing but fantastic people with the kids' best interests at heart. Her teacher last year set the bar pretty darn high and her teacher this year surpassed that. I'm of the opinion that grades K-3 are the most important years of a student's academic life. At Dorn, they do an excellent job of making sure that the 1st part is well taken care of. I'm looking forward to Grace being at Glen Oaks, but I'm gonna miss Dorn, at least until Katelyn is older.
The other thing on my mind tonight is Sgt. Rachel Carey of the United States Army. She was an active duty soldier that served with distinction in Afghanistan. And now she's gone. She didn't die in combat, she died in Texas of cancer. She leaves behind a 4 year old daughter. I'm helping lead her funeral mission tomorrow as part of my duties as a Ride Captain with the Patriot Guard. They're all tough. This one, I suspect is going to be even tougher because of little Madison. Thank you, Sgt. Carey and RIP.
5/16/2009
I picked up a "new" TV last night I say "new" because its new to me. I bought it off a guy I work with. Its a Toshiba 65h82. The 65 in that stands for 65 inches, and holy crap is this thing HUGE. We're going from a 36 standard def to this monster. Its not as cool as one of those fancy LCD flat panels, but it'll do me just fine and it was a fraction of the cost. Now, just have to clean all the stuff off our old entertainment unit and get it out of here...
4/17/2009
I took the kids to Brookfield Zoo today. I went with a few co-workers and their kids. We were supposed to meet up with several more, but we missed them. The zoo is awesome. They have all the animals of course, but its also just a good place to go walk around. And if you have a membership, its really not all that crazy expensive either. We also went to the Children's Museum in Oak Lawn for a while. Equally cool All in all, a real nice Dad/Daughter day. Tomorrow, Grace is having friends over for a sleepover. I'm sure she'll have fun. Maybe not so much for me and Mom.
I talked to a reporter the other day about my losing the school board election. I already talked a little about it here. He called Debbie, and I called him back. When I called him back, someone else answered the phone. I told him my name and he said "oh yeah, you're the guy that was in the real close one!" When I answered affirmative, he asked "are you going to contest it?" I told him no, he said "you never know, a recount might get you those 8 votes." The thought of contesting the election or asking for a recount had never crossed my mind before. 1st of all, that's something that a person would do if they were 1) petty or 2) of the opinion that the winner wasn't fit for the job. Neither of those are true.
2nd of all, who's to say that a recount would get me those 8 votes? Coleman, in Minnesota asked for a recount of the Senate race. When the recount was over, he was farther back than he was before!
So in case Elizabeth Stulginskas reads this: no, I had never even considered contesting the election. I think you'll do an excellent job, as you have been doing. Best of luck. In fact, if that guy at The Reporter hadn't asked me, I never would have thought of it and this post wouldn't exist.
4/9/2009
Sooooo....
If you checked this space in the past month or so, you'd see that I had converted this site to be an "Elect Ian Chafee for North Palos District #117" site. If you haven't visited recently and want to see the site, I saved it here. Well, the election was Tuesday. There were 5 people for 4 seats. And I lost. By 8 measly votes. On the surface, I suppose I ought to be crushed. And I was, for about 12 hours or so. But I'm better now. Why, you ask? Well, allow me to explain:
1) All 4 of the other people running are quality individuals. No hidden agendas, no ulterior motives. Solid people who will do a great job. I might feel worse if I thought I had lost to a bunch of jerks. That's not the case.
2) I had said that I didn't want to unseat an incumbent. I think that the sitting board has done excellent work, and when you have someone working for you that has done a good job and wants to keep doing it, then you retain that person. The person 8 votes ahead of me was an incumbent. So its good that I didn't cost her the seat. She hasn't done anything to deserve losing the job.
3) It was a fantastic learning experience. I learned a) yard signs are a waste of time and money and b) I'm not well known enough in the community to really expect to win something like this. I need to get more active in the district. I'm only known at one school, Dorn. And that's because Gracie goes there. In a few years, when Grace is at Glen Oaks and Katelyn has been through Quinn & is at Dorn, I'll have much more exposure. All of the other candidates have a much longer record of exposure in the district, to parents, teachers, staff, everone. That was what carried Ron Moran and Mark Gambla especially. One of my neighbors put it best: "Oh Ian, everyone knows the Morans!" I know why I lost, and I think I know what I need to do to make sure I get those 8 votes next time.
Other than that, I had a blast doing it. The candidate forum was fun (although I probably should have prepared a bit more), I got to meet some great people (getting to meet and talk to Tom McAvoy alone was worth it - he almost makes me want to move to the 3rd Ward). And I was shown once again how awesome my family is. My mom sat in front of the Palos Hills Community Center ALL DAY handing out little cards with my name on them. She took an hour or so for lunch (and to go vote herself) and another half hour for breakfast. The other 13 hours, she was there. And I think its not a coincidence that the precincts at the Palos Hills Community Center were the ones I did the best in. How can you say no to a little lady in a wheelchair asking "I hope you'll consider voting for my son?" My wife took the day off to help out. My sister drove up from Mokena to stand outside the Palos Hills City Hall and hand out cards. Even my daughters (ages 7 and 3) helped me put together yard signs. I totally don't deserve these people.
So, it was definitely worth it even though I lost. If the circumstances are right, I'll probably try again. At the moment, the most important non-family thing I'm involved with is the Patriot Guard, but I could easily see being a school board member being at least as meaningful.
2/21/2009
DISNEYWORLD THOUGHTS
We just got back from Disneyworld (pictures). 3rd trip in 3 years. Kids love the place and so does mom. Dad? Well, lets just say that I NEVER need to ride The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh again. Same can be said of Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. On the other hand, as I sit here watching it snow, I'm reminded that our last day down there, it was 89 and we were sitting by the pool. So I suppose there are ups and downs to everything. The thing that really annoyed me about this trip was that there was supposed to be a Space Shuttle launch. Then a day before we left they postponed the thing because of a "faulty valve." What the hell is that?? They don't have plumbers at NASA that can replace a valve. It was originally scheduled for Feb 12th. Today is Feb 21st and the dumb thing is *still* sitting there waiting for this valve. I do really want to get down there and see a launch before they mothball the shuttle fleet in 2010.