Chuck Lorre

Chuck Lorre produces some shows on CBS which I watch and have written about before. Actually, that's an interesting entry from over a year ago. He had a vanity card (which shows up at the end of the show during the credits, think "Sit ubu, sit. (Bark) Good dog.") today after The Big Bang Theory that really struck a chord for me. Here it is:

CHUCK LORRE PRODUCTIONS, #111

This is the official "I have nothing worth writing about" vanity card. It will run whenever I have nothing worth writing about. Don't be surprised to see it quite a bit. From now on, when our schedule requires me to deliver a new card and I'm empty, I'll simply say, "Run one-eleven." A check of the one hundred and ten cards I've already written will quickly demonstrate that I should have written this card a long time ago. Why didn't I? Vanity. I had become vain about my vanity cards. I was determined to write a new one each week because, well... I'm just that kind of guy. But I'm older and wiser now. I know when I have nothing to say. And that knowledge is freedom. Freedom from the constant need to win your approval. And more importantly, freedom from the obsessive and relentless need to end each vanity card on a joke. Glenn Beck is sober.

I'm wondering if I should have a "I have nothing worth writing about" entry? Or maybe an "I'm to drunk to write an entry" entry? Interesting concept. Don't be surprised to see it!

A drinky weekend

Wow, sorry for the posting silence. It was one of those fun weekends that involved a lot of drinking, which I actually haven't had for some time.

Friday, Ricardo, LL, myself and a client went out for happy hour at Emmitt's Pub. They cook a mean fish and have Goose Island Matilda on draft. Yummy! It was apparent that I'm getting old though because I was home by 9:30 and exhausted! We started at around 4:30 or so, but still.

Saturday brought preparation for the tailgate on Sunday and an evening bowling fundraiser with Ricardo and Ricardo's wife, who sits on the board of said charity (Kaleidoscope, which benefits abused children). The event was at Southport Lanes, a bar with four lanes on it. They actually have manual pinsetters still so you can only bowl on any two lanes at one time. The oil on the lanes was inconsistent so it was hard for me to control my finger tip hook ball, but it was fun nonetheless. I'm looking forward to maybe going bowling again here in the next month before my surgery.

Also, in the morning, LL and I drove up to Wheeling to this place where I get free bagels every month (something I won at a charity event). So it's a nice relaxing drive in the morning, which was gorgeous by the way, and we had brunch there too. A nice way to start the day!

Sunday was the Bears debacle and tailgating. Bill the Bear joined me as LL had a baptism to attend for a friend of hers. Benny Baseball and Andy "The Sausage King", were there as well. We had good fun and were joined by a guy who used to play softball with us until he got married and had two kids. Now he lives in the far, far, far, western burbs. He still makes a few Bears games though...good fun.

The war in Basra is going well with 10 troops killed so far. That's right, 10! In just under a week. Sweet. The holes I've collapsed have not reappeared, which means I may have killed their habitant. I'll keep at it and see what kind of progress I can continue to make.

Redirection

Had another busy work day today without much inspiring to write about, so I'll defer all attention to Alexis in Amsterdam who got engaged!!! Whoop-whoop!!! Congratulations!!

Un"Bear"able

First, there are two fewer rats on the planet after last night. That's five in two nights. Like 10,000 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean, it's a good start.

The Bears have many deficiencies this season and the game against the hapless Browns did nothing to alleviate concerns. This year, the Bears did not have a first round draft pick and they traded out of their second round pick for more picks later in the draft. Let's examine those picks:

Rnd 3 Jarron Gilbert, DE. Hasn't done squat or seen the field on defense. He's on the roster, but no one is sure why.

Rnd 3 Juaquin Iglesias, WR. Hasn't seen the field on offense. Seems like a bust if you can't break into the starting lineup with this weak receiving corp.

Rnd 4 Henry Milton, DE. On injured reserve, but didn't do anything worth talking about prior to his injury.

Rnd 4 DJ Moore, CB. Yet another player on the Bears from that great football powerhouse, Vanderbilt. Like those before him, hasn't seen the field on defense with virtually no competition to beat out.

Rnd 5 Johnny Knox, WR. Got the pick as part of the Cutler trade. He's been a great find in the 5th round.

Rnd 5 Marcus Freeman, LB. Not in football.....at all.

Rnd 6 Al Afalava, FS. A huge find for the 6th round. Starts and plays the run well.

Neither 7th round pick has seen the field and one was cut.

So why the analysis at this point? Next year the Bears again do not have a first or second round draft pick, however theyalso don't have the extra picks that they had this year (in the 3rd, 4th and 5th). How are the Bears going to fill all the holes they have if they continue to draft like they did above? You're not likely to find an impact defensive lineman or a lock down corner if you're not picking until the third round. Maybe you can find a solid offensive lineman that will be an upgrade, but that's questionable too. Can you find another Johnny Knox? Maybe, but that's banking on a hope and a prayer.

The Bears have a lot of holes and not much chance of filling them through the draft. Trading hasn't been successful for them either: Omiyale just got benched for the starter from last year and Orlando Pace gets beat by everyone not shaped like an elephant. Cutler is certainly an upgrade and would be even better if he had anyone to whom he could throw.

So 2 out of 8 draft picks are decent players (values based on where they were picked) and the two trades which weren't a can't miss (Cutler was a can't miss) both missed. That makes it tough to plug holes and get better.

Fewer rats today than yesterday

The first night of T-Rex reinforcements in Basra was a huge success....sadly. Three T-Rex traps, three solid kills. There's never been such a successful night. Unfortunately, it means that there are probably a crap load more rats than normal, but the holes have pretty much already established that fact. So it's good and bad...though it's tough to say three dead rats is bad in anyway now that I think about it. The T-Rexes will be reloaded and out again tonight. Hopefully I can make a dent in the rat population.

Today was day one of bringing my own cup to Starbucks and being greener. By latest count, I spilled the coffee while drinking it three times. Argh. Fortunately, I missed my shirt all three times, which was good because I was headed to a client downtown.

October is over and good riddance!!! According to Tom Skilling at WGN, October was the 3rd cloudiest, 9th wettest and 11th coolest October in 139 years of official observations. Good Lord. After the lame-ass, cold summer we had and the really nasty, snowy and cold winter, 2009 is a weather year best forgotten.

Forced to go green(er)

On my way back from Starbucks this morning I saw a very strange looking bird land on the sidewalk in front of me. It's bill was much longer than it's head and it was plump, like a dove. Very odd. After looking it up online, I think it was a Curlew Sandpiper. Very interesting bird.

Went back into Starbucks this afternoon for my second cup of coffee, decaf as of late for health reasons. They gave me the refill price, 55 cents as usual, but told me they had to give me a new cup due to recent health code interpretations by some health departments. If you've gone to get coffee with me, you know I normally have them double cup my coffee due to the temperature and the flimsiness of the cups. I've always felt bad about going through two cups each day due to the waste, but I really haven't found a good travel mug and I wasn't sure they'd give me the refill price in the afternoon. Now I don't really have a choice. Tossing out FOUR cups a day would not be acceptable from a garbage standpoint. Change is forced upon Joe once again.

The rat situation in Basra has gotten out of control. Basra, if you remember, is my neighbor's front (south) yard. It's an apartment building and the owner doesn't seem to care about the rats at all. So I decided to take a video to show you what's going on.



Due to the proliferation, I've launched a new T-Rex attack. We'll so how we do against this new generation of combatants.

Tiring but very fun weekend

Boy am I going to sleep well tonight. It's been that kind of weekend.

Friday night the weekend was kicked off with a hockey game at The United Center pitting two original six teams against each other, the Blackhawks and the Canadians from Montreal. The good guys won 3-2 and I belted out the Canadian national anthem as I always do when afforded the opportunity. Good fun! We took the shuttle from The Beer Bistro where we had some dinner and then took the shuttle back after the game. Very nice way to get there and back.

It wasn't the usual rowdiness at The UC though as I had to get up at 6:30 a.m. to get out to Naperville for a golf outing/fundraiser for my softball team which had a shotgun start at 9. After surviving the cold (low 40's), wind 20 mph easily and general dampness on the course (cartpath only because it was so wet) for 4 1/2 hours, we were rewarded with a decent lunch and free booze for an hour. Lunch consisted mainly of the biggest bread bowl I've ever seen and ample amounts of chili. My bad for not taking a picture of the bread bowl. It had to be 8-10 inches high and 6-8 inches wide. Unbelieveable.

When I got home, it was time to shower and warm up, maybe get a little nap in. By the time I was ready to go to the grocery store to buy food for the tailgate the next day, the cops had blocked off my street so cars couldn't get through due to a Halloween parade. So I could either wait until 9 p.m. to get started on cooking, it was about 6, or I could walk and carry my grocerys back home, which I did. Fortunately though I needed a lot of stuff, it wasn't particularly heavy.

The cooking was finally wrapped up around 11:30. The additional hour of sleep because of daylight savings time change couldn't have come at a better time. It was a 6:30 wakeup call again, but this time so I could leave by 8 for tailgating.

Mission accomplished though and LL and I were at Soldier Field with the grill going by 8:30 a.m. We were visited by 17 guests over the course of the morning, the majority not making it in time for breakfast, which I cut off at around 9:45. The breakfast sandwiches were particularly tasty and the maple sausage links were a positive change from the sausage patties I normally cook. They didn't burn as easily and were delicious.

All things bacon wrapped were up next: waterchestnuts and shrimp which both were doused in barbeque sauce and figs. Yum. We ate about a pound of shrimp, two pounds of bacon, one can of whole waterchestnuts and probably half a pound of figs.

The homemade chile came next. The chili is made with a pound and a quarter of ground beef and a tube of spicy breakfast sausage. Combine those with an onion, three peppers, tomatoes and three kinds of beans and you have some damn good chili. It was good by itself, but after the game we put it on cheddar cheese filled brats. Yum again!!

Tomorrow, I have to deal with the clean up!