2000 and counting

I went the the White Sox game on Sunday with my brother and his friend and got to see Jim Thome hit his 2,000th...erm hit of his career. I'm not sure why I thought I'd share that. All I got out of the game was a loss to the Royals and a sun-burn in some unusual spots. And my annual baseball game with my brother.

Seriously, have you ever gotten a sun-burn on just your earlobes? I had enough sunscreen on the rest of me, but somehow I missed my left earlobe? At least my right one is just fine and dandy!

Paris on the Side

After my jaunt down to Springfield, I was thinking about some of my other travels that I've taken over the last few years and reviewing some of my pictures and home movies. That lead me to the following video of the Eiffel Tower that I took on a trip to Paris a couple of years ago. Sadly, it hasn't been doctored at all. I'm really that stupid to make my videos look like they're falling down.

Geek-out in Land of Lincoln Day 2

Today was all Abe all the time! In case we got lost, we had these helpful signs to get us back on track to the sights. Of course we could only go to Lincoln sights and Springfield is only made of one-way streets, so we had to go in circles. I even began to wonder at some points if Springfield ever had any other politicians in it. Oh, yeah…it did, but many of them have ended up in prison.

I love the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum. I was geek-tastic for the three and a half hours that we spent there. Of course the best part for me though was the gift shop. Forget the moving words of Lincoln and the totally awesome hologram presentations when I can buy a cheap Lincoln head! Presents for those who couldn’t come with me.

We also went to the Lincoln home. I have once piece of advice. Even if you tremble with excitement at the prospect of visiting historical sites or plan a three hour detour into Pennsylvania to visit Gettysburg for the fourth time, if you’re offered a special presentation at the National Park site at the Lincoln Home before going through the house…RUN. Seriously, I got out my cell phone I was so bored and sent text messages instead. Yawn!

But then we went to the cemetery. Of course it poured and it was under construction, so I don’t have any pictures, just lovely memories of the tomb. So I leave you with a song.

Geek-out in Land of Lincoln Day 1

I have taken a little trip this weekend to the state capital in the Land of Lincoln. Every once in a while I feel the urge to totally geek out over my love all things historical about Civil War history. So, I’m planning a totally Abe-gasmic visit to all the sites here in Springfield. I mean this is where his awesome career started, so everything should be all about Lincoln. My license plates have always told me that it is his land (on a side note, not I was shocked to find out that Illinois is the only state that seems to have dedicated the entire state to one person via car registration, not even England does that for the Queen). Only, when I got to the state capital, I was a little confused as to exactly who’s land I live in. Certainly it started out just fine. I mean we have the great young Abe to greet us as we come up step to the entrance:



And I even get the nice picture of the Little Giant, Stephen Douglas that Lincoln famously debated up and down the state in the 1858 senate race. Sorry, just a Geek-out moment.



Then I saw all the other statues around the building. How did Illinois do without a poor replica of the Liberty Bell?



Wait, I know! We should celebrate the white man’s dominance and superiority of the native peoples of the state by erecting a condescending and inaccurate portrayal of someone that is unidentified.



But then here’s a collection of random parts of statues that I like to think are well-intentioned, but poorly executed tributes to state heroes who just aren’t as cool as good old Honest Abe.

Shy John Palmer


Some Awesome Chair Griffens


Everett Dirksen got something on his pants!


I just hope that tomorrow I get to Geek-out a bit more about Abe and and a bit less about Everett Dirksen's pants.

Happy 9th of July!

Today I would like to mark the day that Argentina marks its independence from the tyrannical oppression it felt being a colony of Spain. Actually, I know nothing about the Argentine Independence Day, but I hope that it involves a lot of back yard picnics, crazy uncles making inappropriate comments while slightly (or more than slightly) inebriated, and pyrotechnic displays celebrating the technological superiority of the Chinese. Then I'd know that the American proliferation of "democracy" that President Bush has spoken about so much in the last few years might still have a chance.