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.

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.