So, here it is New Year's Eve. Thank God this year is over. Going over to Barry & Buffy's tonight to party. Don't know when we'll roll home.

Carol is off today, so she's been handling "Katie Duty". Yep, Katie is over again today. At least she's not a funnel-headed dog any more - she doesn't have to wear her protective cone any more. She seems much happier. Carol got me an early birthday present - a new coat from land's End. It's lightweight (which I can't use right now - it's 21 degrees (wow - that's warm!). It came via UPS today. I was expecting my DirecTV stuff today, but it didn't show. Bummer.

We were taken out to dinner by Chelby & Damian tonight in thanks for dog sitting Katie (who we get to see again tomorrow). We went to Shaw's Crab House over by Streets of Woodfield. Good company. Not great food. I think there stuff is OK, not stellar. We found lots of things that were either OK or just not to our liking at all. Creme Brule? More like custard pudding. Au gratin potatoes? Didn't expect jarlsberg cheese being the dominant flavor. Crab cakes OK. Filet Mignon - had much better elsewhere (but then again, what should I expect of a seafood place?) Saw an older gentleman knock a glass off his table as he was leaving. NEVER saw anyone bring a broom to clean it up. Just people every once in a while kicking pieces of glass around. Saw a person seat another couple at the table get on her hands and knees and try to pick up some of the glass. When we left, there was still glass around the table even after telling Tina, our waitress about it. No one seemed to care about it.

Why was Andre Braugher (of Gideon's Crossing and Homicide: Life on the Street) in my dream last night? Why did I feel like he was trying to tell me something? Weird.

I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out... Went to the Chicago Wolves game tonight. The Wolves lost 6-3 to the Manitoba Moose. Lost their last 4 now. They're looking bad. I don't understand what's happening I don't trust any of our goalies. I don't trust our defense. I don't trust our vets - they're old and slow in this fast-paced play of the AHL. The new kids just get called up or sent down, so there's always a constant change in lineups. Not to mention injuries.

There's bad blood between the teams. The Wolves lost to the Moose in Manitoba Thursday night 4-0. Bob Nardella got a Game Misconduct for spearing. It obviously spilled over tonight, where we saw a rarity at 17:34 into the 1st period: both goalies - Norm Maracle & Alfie Michaud - skated to center ice, dropped their gloves and masks and went at it! Hard to understand, though - the both of them were smiling and laughing through the pummeling. Both got 5 for fighting and 2 for leaving the crease (which, somehow, I didn't realize was an actual penalty). At the Allstate Arena they also announced that both goalies got game misconducts - which they rescinded or corrected after the start of the second period.

Tossed and turned all night thinking about DirecTV and how the installation should go and what I need to do and order to do what I want the installation to do...

Damn those AT&T Broadband bastards!!!!! I get a phone call at 6:32pm. the Caller ID says INTERACTIVE MAR.

"Hi my name is Millie. I'm calling from AT&T cable. The reason I'm calling is to let you know we've upgraded our system in your area and we're replacing the old analog boxes with new digital boxes. We're going to have an installer in your area on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and we want to set up an appointment to swap the boxes...

AAAAAUUUUURRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!! They're forcing people to switch to digital???? SCREW THEM!!! Just hours earlier I just purchased my DirecTV receivers!

That's it... I've had it!!! After days of crappy reception on our AT&T Broadband cable, I went on eBay and found a company that sells DirecTV cheap. I put in an order for a dish and 4 receivers (4 TV's in the house). I've been waiting a long time for this. Cable rates are going up, no new channels are being added. I can break even on the monthly service by switching to satellite - and as of yesterday, DirecTV started transmitting all local broadcast channels! This was a no-brainer. I just hope that I can get somebody to do the install. (I'm not a hardware guy...)

When you do something illegal, what makes you tell the police? From the December 20, 2001 Schaumburg Pioneer Press Police Blotter:

A man reported that a prostitute had stolen $4,500 from him between 6:30 and 11:30am Dec. 9 in the 1700 block of Nature Court. According to a police report, the man had earlier that night been at Heavenly Bodies in Elk Grove and then had gone to the Grand Victoria casino in Elgin where he had received a $10,000 cash advance on his credit card. He then went to Chicago where he picked up a prostitute, who bought drugs on the street. They went back to his Nature Court home where they drank and snorted heroin. He passed out and when he woke up, discovered the money, his credit card, some jewelry and the prostitute gone.

Well, MJ had 28 points, but that couldn't get the Washington Wizrds to a franchise record 10-game winning streak. They lost 99-93 to Charlotte.

Wow... no Blogging due to security breach at Blogger... damn the bastards...

Spent the entire day at my parents'. Got some great gifts. Also, got some money from my parents to help us out until I can find a job. They were way too generous. But there's no way I could talk them out of it. They wouldn't hear of it. I guess the root of it really showed up when my dad was in the hospital back in May. that's when I found out out upset my mom was that Carol & I & Diane were shuttling her back and forth to the hospital. She really hated imposing on us. In fact, she broke down once while talking to the doctor about how she always saw to it that we were fine, and yet she was having trouble dealing with us helping her.

Kind of opens your eyes.

Needless to say, the cash they gave will help us out more than they know.

I'm just praying that after the first of the year, the job market turns around.

Another Christmas Eve at my sister Diane's house with her dogs, our parents, and my cousin Kathy's family. A nice night. Diane did a great job of cooking. It's great seeing the kids get their presents, even though they're getting older. For us, well a few "couple" gifts - gifts for Carol & me. I wound-up getting a wallet and a Best Buy gift card.

Tim Floyd, coach of the Chicago Bulls, resigned this afternoon. He had a 49-190 record in four seasons with the Bulls. They're 4-21 this year alone - worst in the NBA (last year was 15-67, again the worst in the NBA). Why am I not surprised? Why is Jerry Krause still there?

How weird of a Chicago sports day is this? just two hours earlier, the Chicago Bears announced that Dick Jauron will get a contract extension after the season.

Fox SportsNet Chicago is running a White Sox game from June 3rd.
Basebaaaaallllllllllll...... aaaaaahhhhhhhhhgggllllllll.....
Man I miss baseball.....

Christmas Eve. Groggy again, pain in the base of my neck and shoulders. Damn... I slept wrong again. We had Carol's brother & wife over last night for dinner (another great one cooked-up by Carol) and they stayed a bit late. Got to bed after midnight.

Chicago Bears 20 Washington Redskins 15.
Great game. Great run by Leon Johnson for a TD. Fake Field Goal, Maynard to Urlacher for a touchdown!. Held the 'skins within the 3 in the last 2 minutes. Metcalf fumbles a free kick and the Bears get it back with 12 seconds left. 11-3 for the season, first time since 1988.

Who are these guys?!?!?!?!?!?

I want somebody to get those damn ATA commercials off the air! You know the ones! Any commercial with that damn fat guy in them! Get them off! Get Him off!!!!

Another bad GERD night. Guess I shouldn't have had that tiramisu last night. Man I was full.

The Sports Reporters is on ESPN. It's a tribute to Dick Schaap. All that Mitch Albom, Bob Ryan, & Mike Lupica are doing is just telling stories about Dick Schaap. How sad of a loss - he died because of an infection after hip replacement surgery. He seemed to be a kind man, but he knew everything and everybody. What a career, what a man.

Carol finally called Teri this afternoon and talked to her a good while. It's good to know everything is well with them. Found out that Rick & Kathy really did move to Wisconsin. Joey played football this year instead of baseball. Sounded like everything went well with that. They finally had to put Cocoa down - she was 11 years old.

On our way out the door this evening I see a breaking news story on ABC about American Flight 63 from Paris to Miami being diverted to Boston with an F-15 fighter escort. A guy with a British passport was trying to set his shoes on fire, because they had detination cord and C-4 in them!!! Two flight attendants were hurt and the guy was subdued. Great. I really feel safe. Jeez.

Carol & I had dinner at Magnum's in Rolling Meadows with Barry & Buffy & Debbie as our holiday get together. Definitely a carnivore night. Very good Green Apple martini's. I had a great appetizer - sea scallops wrapped in bacon (yum!) and had my first escargot (I'm almost 45 and never tasted snails). I had a char-broiled 24oz ribeye that was like buttuh with a side of roasted garlic mashed potatoes. Unbelievable. Barry had the same. Debbie & Buff had London Broil and Carol had a filet & lobster tail. Great waitress (Char). Actually had a piano bar at the end of the room. The bar actually had a piano built into it. A guy sang & played all night. Was great. The room was great. All in all, I'd definitely recommend this place if you're a carnivore.

Buff filled us in on her cousin TJ's wife Patty. She had gone back to France quite a few months ago. They had separated and she was allegedly back in France to try to get treatment for her MS. TJ wrote her about 2 months ago and told her that he wanted a divorce and wanted to start the process. She never contacted him about it. Buff talked to hear on the phone around thanksgiving. She was moving out of her parent's and into her own place.

Buff found out this past Wednesday that Patty was found dead in her bathroom in her apartment. She had been dead 1-2 weeks. An autopsy was being performed, since there was no indication of why she had died.

Needless to say, this was a bit of a shock to all of us, not to mention Buff's family and especially TJ. I'm Shocked. I'm stunned. I don't now what to say. I don't know how I feel. It's just a numb feeling. I had met her a few times - great french accent. It's just weird knowing that she was found dead in France. Weird.

Same day - Buff finds out that her sister Karen's place had been robbed - jewelry only. Very specific. Karen's house is just 5 blocks away from my parent's house.

All in all - Wednesday December 19 was not a good day for a bunch of us.

Frustrating. Sounds that don't make sense. Voices from people that don't correspond to the images. I hear squeaking. Seriously start to think Katie is back in the house. It's dark. Drifting in and out of dreamstate. Soon realize squeaking noise is me wheezing. Lungs are filling up. Not good. Roll over awake. Dark outside... just cloudy dark. Damn. I'm up.

Watched the Chicago Wolves game tonight on AT&T Broadband. Wolves lost again 6-3. Man, these guys can't control a puck worth a damn. It doesn't matter that they're in the AHL starting this year. These guys have been doing it for years. They just don't know how to handle a puck. And the defense sucked goats as well. We allowed a bad breakaway and an empty netter. An empty netter. You just don't do that. On top of that, at one time we actually had 4 guys in the penalty box. How the heck can you survive a 4 minute 5 on 3? Chelby & Damian were over to watch the game and take Katie home. Looks like I'll be watching Katie again after the first of the year. No new job postings the last few days. Gee, who'd a thunk? It's almost Christmas, ya idjit.

Wooooo Hooooo!!!!! After today, the days start getting longer!!!!!

It's hard to believe that 100 days ago was September 11. The FDNY reported that yesterday was the first day that there hasn't been a fire burning in the rubble. Terrorists must be stopped no matter where they hide...

YIPPPEEEEEE!!!! AT&T Broadband is DEAD!!!! Well, not really... but close enough I hope! AT&T announced it's spinning-off the cable group in a merger with Comcast and will be called AT&T Comcast Corp. Now if they can just give good customer service and stop increasing rates and stop forcing people to convert to digital cable, everything will be, well, OK.

Mayor Richard J. Daley died 25 years ago today. I remember seeing him just days before at the lighting of the Christmas Tree at Daley Center... wait... was Daley Center called "Daley Center" when Richard J. Daley was alive? Hmmm.....

7:26am. Katie starts howling. And she does this every 2-3 minutes for the next half-hour. I'm dog-sitting a friend's dog, who just had an eye removed due to glaucoma. She's got a cone around her head, and she needs to be leash walked. Since I'm currently unemployed and not doing anything, I'm watching her. I just wish she'd get over her separation anxiety. Then again, I should be awake and up and about. Checked my web job posting sites. Nothing new today.

WTF... The Washington Wizards have won seven in a row. They're 12-12. Of course, the damn Bulls are 4-19 (0-13 on the road). Thank you MJ.

Damn. My sister Diane just called. Dad's biopsy was positive. It's cancer, but it's contained within the lymph node. He's scheduled for surgery January 15th. I knew this was going to happen when they chose not to have any radiation treatment after the laryngectomy. Merry Christmas. Time to get some prayers in line...

What the hell is this???? We spend all this time bombing Afghanistan to go after Al Qaeda. Some actually survive and find their way to Pakistan, where they're captured. Then 21 of them grab some guns and escape when they're being transported by bus. Why can't we get this right????? Now I see a story on the news about an Eastern Alliance commander that has a Pakistani Taliban fighter locked in a house. He's bartering with the guy's family for money to let him go. And this is a normal occurrence in the region.. I DON'T TRUST PAKISTAN TO DO THE RIGHT THING RIGHT NOW. What's left of the Taliban are dispersing. What's left of al Qaeda is dispersing. What's left of bin Laden himself is "dispersing"... We got rid of the majority of the evil ones, but it won't be over until they're all killed or captured...

Just heard that they found Marilyn Lemak guilty of murdering her three young children in their Naperville home. Is it wrong to say "Good!"???

Wow. Finally we got out first snowfall that's sticking... only to the grass, but at least it's an accumulation. It's great right now - the sun's out, the streets are clear, and there's still a bit of snow on the grass. Not bad.

This morning I drove into the city to drive my parents to Loyola Medical Center in Maywood. Dad had to see Dr. Bastian. Dr. Bastian found a small growth on his neck below the scar from his laryngectomy that he had last May. He had it biopsied last week, but the results were "inconclusive", so he had to go back today. It took 2 tries to get a good sample - same as last week. Hopefully, everything will be OK. I'm always nervous about this things.

I hate hospitals. I sat downstairs of the Mulcahy Outpatient Center, eating a chocolate glazed doughnut & drinking a cup of french vanilla coffee from the coffee shop. I know there has to somebody named Mulcahy that this place is named after, but why can't I think of anything except Fr. Mulcahy on M*A*S*H?

Tons of elderly people motor by my table - an awful lot of them using walkers or canes. There are a few "younger" people - in their 30's - almost all of them on crutches. Except for their ambulatory problems, they look in good health.

There's a VERY LOUD-MOUTHED guy that comes over to use the tables to fill out paperwork. He's just LOUD. And he swears a lot. Jeez, this is a hospital for cripes sake! STFU!

Thankfully, everything only takes an hour and we're driving the parents to their home, and then back on home.

Just another jobless day...

Jeez... there was a College Bowl game tonight (The New Orleans Bowl)... seems pretty damn early for this...