St. Pat's in Iowa

St. Pat's at Barb and Mick's!

Aunt Nancy, Mom, and Aunt Mick

Grandma counting the candy. Not doing word puzzles.

London dressed up for the occasion.

Aunt Barb and Mick preparing for the party.

Beginning stages of the family shindig.

Nothing says Iowa like smoking in the garage! And playing bags!

Mack, looking tough, throwing.

London helping DJ O'Brien

London changes into her hoodie. Something warmer for the Iowa weather.

Alligator on the lake.

Prince was performing in the other room.

Guess the middle ZZ Top Guitar player......

Man, she wailed!

It's my 82 year old Grandmother Dolores!

Captain and Tenille.

Mack says, "It's been a wee long night."

Barb and Mick keep the party going "All Night Long", as long as there is Baileys for the coffee.

London after a long weekend, takes a nap.

Going down.

Drug deal on Google Street View in Chicago

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&layer=c&cbll=41.823471,-87.612699&cbp=1,167.75819312895956,0,3,12.173258141222098&ll=41.837915,-87.609787&spn=0.047193,0.066605&t=k&z=14

Friday. It's after Thursday!

O'Bama for Heisman

Rollin' down the streets in my 1835.

Dogs don't need shoes!

Algunas Fotos

That speech yesterday, yeah....Obama wrote it.

Cheney and Rummy and I in a meeting.

Great sign.

“We the people, in order to form a more perfect union.” - Barack Obama

Read Obama's speech today -
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/18/obama-race-speech-read-t_n_92077.html
Experience. Class.

London's First 10k

So London ran her first 10k the other night.
Here are the results.

The peaks are when we saw geese and squirrels.

A test everyone should take - http://www.dothetest.co.uk/

New Banksy!

This just in from Islington.

Long, live Tesco.

This is probably in honor of those tiny Papa Giuseppi's Pepperoni/Sausage pizzas.

Wheel of Fortune Puzzle #1

This was the first puzzle I won on Wheel of Fortune!

Luke on Moleskinerie

I'm on Moleskinerie!
http://www.moleskinerie.com/2008/03/sighting-michae.html
Project Runway woo woo!

Sightings.

Rob's in Texas....by Mike, see his work at http://www.fightergirls.com/

Another sighting somewhere in New Mexico by Erin.

Listening to American Boy today. Estelle. Kanye's back.

Leap Frog.

Vote for some people from Coralville - http://www.bridalguide.com/boty2008-vote/

Me and some of my friends.

Follow the guy singing road.

Oscar Gamble. Serious.

Ruff.

Bike lane. Whoa.

Guap

guap - (gwa'p), n - a considerable amount of money, most often cash, indicating a high degree of purchasing power for fast-depreciation consumer items such as luxury cars and electronics.
"... ask me what I paid and I say yeah I paid a guap."

Best message ever!

There is something to be said about the gift giving. Some people give books, some people give jewelry, some gift cards. Some people give books, some give flowers. But for Valentine's Day this year I received one of the most unique, incredible gifts of them all.

Below is a picture of the West Bank barrier, photo taken from the Palestinian side. That is Israel on the other side. You'll some some red script on the 8-foot high concrete wall. That is my present. Look closer.

The reason for messages on the wall is as follows, "You help to keep hope alive. 'Our' Palestinians want to send you one single, simple message: "we are human beings, just like you, with sense of humour and lust for life." That's why they do this, and enjoy it."

This is the young gentleman who left the message.

Our message.
Best wife ever.

Define cool.

Best Thing You Haven't Heard of (Yet)

A great site.
http://www.grandcentral.com
1) You sign up for a number
2) You have all your phones routed to that number.
3) You can screen your calls, check messages on the web.
4) Fun for everyone.

Just plain crazy.

Predictions:

1) Obama will win President.

2) Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds are going down.

3) Sears and K-Mart stores will be gone in the next 2 years.

4) This is the craziest necklace on the internet. (see below)

Wheel of Fortune (Part 1)

We get to California on a dreary, rainy, dreary day. Shuttle off the plane to my find my Mom waiting for us at the baggage claim and we were off. Seeing that my Mom had already called the entire state of Iowa and let them know that we had landed. Upon fetching our luggage from the carousel we are on our way to the hotel. Joining the shuttle already full of pre-teen gymnastic youngens from Canada, we are on our way.

We arrive at the Culver City Raddisson and take it easy the rest of the night. Not before one last quiz with Rebecca and my Mother.

Thursday A.M rolls around all too fast and I'm up contemplating my Wheel of Fortune fate that will arrive in just hours.

I have two thoughts;

1. I can freeze. Simply not answer any puzzles and just hit Bankrupt and Lose A Turn in consecutive fashion.


2. I can dominate. Hone in on the puzzle and focus completely on exaclty what I'm supposed to do. Lose the nerves and go for it.
   

The shuttle leave the hotel at 7:15 am promptly. After my wife wishes me the best and gives me priceless advice....I head to the lobby. I join 10-12 nerve wracked people and we discuss the days events. I meet Laura from Wisconsin and Noah from Boston. We get on the shuttle and I realize I'm the only person with coffee. Will it be my extra edge? Or is this another worthless observation I've made this morning. We arrive ten short minutes later at Sony Studios. Shuffling off the shuttle or shuttling off the shuffle. We then stand for about 10 minutes in a parking ramp while the casting agents come to sweep us away. We get on another shuttle and go to Stage 4. We drive past many people....who I'm sure are "key grips" or "gaffers" or "best boys", you get the point.

As we depart our final shuttle for the day we enter the studio. With Wheel of Fortune emblazoned everything, I know we have arrived. We arrive in the "Contestant Room" to a platter of food and beverage. Kind of a vending machine on a table setup. Seeing that it's 7:30 in the morning, I'll stick with my coffee. Once seated the paperwork begins. We are made aware that six shows will be taped this day and we'll be told which show we appear on later that morning. We first fill out a form of our basic information. The make-up artists come in to the room and introduce themselves and say they'll be helping us become more beautiful.

(More soon)

Wheel of Fortune

Cash and prizes. Trip to Maui. Pat and Vanna.

Show airs March 4th.

Details to follow.

No big thing.

Represent.

From DJ Derek.

Nine more days. MGMT rocks.

10 more days........

Getting excited for my trip. If you have any tips feel free to send them to me.

Wheel of Fortune - The American Dream Continues

Countdown: 15 days.

I got the call yesterday the American Dream is a reality. I'll be taping for Wheel of Fortune on the 24th of January.

About 1:30 I receive a call from the casting director that I'm to be in L.A. in 15 days and that I'll be on 1 of 6 shows that is taped that day. I'm not to wear any solid whites or solid reds, so that cancels out my Chiefs outfit and my Cincinnati Reds outfit and my Iowa City Kickers reversable t-shirt that I wore from the age of 6-11.

So I've booked a flight along with Rebecca, my fabulous wife and we're headed to LA. My Mother might make the trip also. Exciting stuff.

Just for fun I decided to Google the date, January 24th. And guess what I found.

A British psychologist claims it is the most depressing day of the year. See article.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6847012/

That is about to change my friends. I will make sure to contact said British psychologist after.

To be continued.....

2,730 reasons to vote for Obama.

Ten months ago, I stood on the steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Ill., and began an unlikely journey to change America. I did not run for the presidency to fulfill some long-held ambition or because I believed it was somehow owed to me. I chose to run in this election — at this moment — because of what Dr. King called “the fierce urgency of now.” Because we are at a defining moment in our history. Our nation is at war. Our planet is in peril. Our health care system is broken, our economy is out of balance, our education system fails too many of our children, and our retirement system is in tatters. At this defining moment, we cannot wait any longer for universal health care. We cannot wait to fix our schools. We cannot wait for good jobs, and living wages, and pensions we can count on. We cannot wait to halt global warming, and we cannot wait to end this war in Iraq. I chose to run because I believed that the size of these challenges had outgrown the capacity of our broken and divided politics to solve them; because I believed that Americans of every political stripe were hungry for a new kind of politics, a politics that focused not just on how to win but why we should, a politics that focused on those values and ideals that we held in common as Americans; a politics that favored common sense over ideology, straight talk over spin. Most of all, I believed in the power of the American people to be the real agents of change in this country — because we are not as divided as our politics suggests; because we are a decent, generous people willing to work hard and sacrifice for future generations; and I was certain that if we could just mobilize our voices to challenge the special interests that dominate Washington and challenge ourselves to reach for something better, there was no problem we couldn’t solve — no destiny we couldn’t fulfill. Ten months later, Iowa, you have vindicated that faith. You’ve come out in the blistering heat and the bitter cold not just to cheer, but to challenge — to ask the tough questions; to lift the hood and kick the tires; to serve as one place in America where someone who hasn’t spent their life in the Washington spotlight can get a fair hearing. You’ve earned the role you play in our democracy because no one takes it more seriously. And I believe that’s true this year more than ever because, like me, you feel that same sense of urgency. All across this state, you’ve shared with me your stories. And all too often they’ve been stories of struggle and hardship. I’ve heard from seniors who were betrayed by CEOs who dumped their pensions while pocketing bonuses, and from those who still can’t afford their prescriptions because Congress refused to negotiate with the drug companies for the cheapest available price. I’ve met Maytag workers who labored all their lives only to see their jobs shipped overseas; who now compete with their teenagers for $7-an-hour jobs at Wal-Mart. I’ve spoken with teachers who are working at doughnut shops after school just to make ends meet, who are still digging into their own pockets to pay for school supplies. Just two weeks ago, I heard a young woman in Cedar Rapids who told me she only gets three hours of sleep because she works the night shift after a full day of college and still can’t afford health care for a sister with cerebral palsy. She spoke not with self-pity but with determination, and wonders why the government isn’t doing more to help her afford the education that will allow her to live out her dreams. I’ve spoken to veterans who talk with pride about what they’ve accomplished in Afghanistan and Iraq, but who nevertheless think of those they’ve left behind and question the wisdom of our mission in Iraq; the mothers weeping in my arms over the memories of their sons; the disabled or homeless vets who wonder why their service has been forgotten. And I’ve spoken to Americans in every corner of the state, patriots all, who wonder why we have allowed our standing in the world to decline so badly, so quickly. They know this has not made us safer. They know that we must never negotiate out of fear, but that we must never fear to negotiate with our enemies as well as our friends. They are ashamed of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo and warrantless wiretaps and ambiguity on torture. They love their country and want its cherished values and ideals restored. It is precisely because you’ve experienced these frustrations, and seen the cost of inaction in your own lives, that you understand why we can’t afford to settle for the same old politics. You know that we can’t afford to allow the insurance lobbyists to kill health care reform one more time, and the oil lobbyists to keep us addicted to fossil fuels because no one stood up and took their power away when they had the chance. You know that we can’t afford four more years of the same divisive food fight in Washington that’s about scoring political points instead of solving problems; that’s about tearing your opponents down instead of lifting this country up. We can’t afford the same politics of fear that tells Democrats that the only way to look tough on national security is to talk, act and vote like George Bush Republicans; that invokes 9/11 as a way to scare up votes instead of a challenge that should unite all Americans to defeat our real enemies. We can’t afford to be so worried about losing the next election that we lose the battles we owe to the next generation. The real gamble in this election is playing the same Washington game with the same Washington players and expecting a different result. And that’s a risk we can’t take. Not this year. Not when the stakes are this high. In this election, it is time to turn the page. In seven days, it is time to stand for change. This has been our message since the beginning of this campaign. It was our message when we were down, and our message when we were up. And it must be catching on, because in these last few weeks, everyone is talking about change. But you can’t at once argue that you’re the master of a broken system in Washington and offer yourself as the person to change it. You can’t fall in line behind the conventional thinking on issues as profound as war and offer yourself as the leader who is best prepared to chart a new and better course for America. The truth is, you can have the right kind of experience and the wrong kind of experience. Mine is rooted in the real lives of real people and it will bring real results if we have the courage to change. I believe deeply in those words. But they are not mine. They were Bill Clinton’s in 1992, when Washington insiders questioned his readiness to lead. My experience is rooted in the lives of the men and women on the South Side of Chicago who I fought for as an organizer when the local steel plant closed. It’s rooted in the lives of the people I stood up for as a civil rights lawyer when they were denied opportunity on the job or justice at the voting booth because of what they looked like or where they came from. It’s rooted in an understanding of how the world sees America that I gained from living, traveling and having family beyond our shores — an understanding that led me to oppose this war in Iraq from the start. It’s experience rooted in the real lives of real people, and it’s the kind of experience Washington needs right now. There are others in this race who say that this kind of change sounds good, but that I’m not angry or confrontational enough to get it done. Well, let me tell you something, Iowa. I don’t need any lectures on how to bring about change, because I haven’t just talked about it on the campaign trail. I’ve fought for change all my life. I walked away from a job on Wall Street to bring job training to the jobless and after-school programs to kids on the streets of Chicago. I turned down the big-money law firms to win justice for the powerless as a civil rights lawyer. I took on the lobbyists in Illinois and brought Democrats and Republicans together to expand health care to 150,000 people and pass the first major campaign finance reform in 25 years; and I did the same thing in Washington when we passed the toughest lobbying reform since Watergate. I’m the only candidate in this race who hasn’t just talked about taking power away from lobbyists, I’ve actually done it. So if you want to know what kind of choices we’ll make as president, you should take a look at the choices we made when we had the chance to bring about change that wasn’t easy or convenient. That’s the kind of change that’s more than just rhetoric — that’s change you can believe in. It’s change that won’t just come from more anger at Washington or turning up the heat on Republicans. There’s no shortage of anger and bluster and bitter partisanship out there. We don’t need more heat. We need more light. I’ve learned in my life that you can stand firm in your principles while still reaching out to those who might not always agree with you. And although the Republican operatives in Washington might not be interested in hearing what we have to say, I think Republican and independent voters outside of Washington are. That’s the once-in-a-generation opportunity we have in this election. For the first time in a long time, we have the chance to build a new majority of not just Democrats, but independents and Republicans who’ve lost faith in their Washington leaders but want to believe again — who desperately want something new. We can change the electoral math that’s been all about division and make it about addition — about building a coalition for change and progress that stretches through blue states and red states. That’s how I won some of the reddest, most Republican counties in Illinois. That’s why the polls show that I do best against the Republicans running for president — because we’re attracting more support from independents and Republicans than any other candidate. That’s how we’ll win in November and that’s how we’ll change this country over the next four years. In the end, the argument we are having between the candidates in the last seven days is not just about the meaning of change. It’s about the meaning of hope. Some of my opponents appear scornful of the word; they think it speaks of naiveté, passivity and wishful thinking. But that’s not what hope is. Hope is not blind optimism. It’s not ignoring the enormity of the task before us or the roadblocks that stand in our path. Yes, the lobbyists will fight us. Yes, the Republican attack dogs will go after us in the general election. Yes, the problems of poverty and climate change and failing schools will resist easy repair. I know — I’ve been on the streets; I’ve been in the courts. I’ve watched legislation die because the powerful held sway and good intentions weren’t fortified by political will, and I’ve watched a nation get misled into war because no one had the judgment or the courage to ask the hard questions before we sent our troops to fight. But I also know this. I know that hope has been the guiding force behind the most improbable changes this country has ever made. In the face of tyranny, it’s what led a band of colonists to rise up against an Empire. In the face of slavery, it’s what fueled the resistance of the slave and the abolitionist, and what allowed a president to chart a treacherous course to ensure that the nation would not continue half slave and half free. In the face of war and Depression, it’s what led the greatest of generations to free a continent and heal a nation. In the face of oppression, it’s what led young men and women to sit at lunch counters and brave fire hoses and march through the streets of Selma and Montgomery for freedom’s cause. That’s the power of hope — to imagine, and then work for, what had seemed impossible before. That’s the change we seek. And that’s the change you can stand for in seven days. We’ve already beaten odds that the cynics said couldn’t be beaten. When we started 10 months ago, they said we couldn’t run a different kind of campaign. They said we couldn’t compete without taking money from Washington lobbyists. But you proved them wrong when we raised more small donations from more Americans than any other campaign in history. They said we couldn’t be successful if we didn’t have the full support of the establishment in Washington. But you proved them wrong when we built a grass-roots movement that could forever change the face of American politics. They said we wouldn’t have a chance in this campaign unless we resorted to the same old negative attacks. But we resisted, even when we were written off, and ran a positive campaign that pointed out real differences and rejected the politics of slash and burn. And now, in seven days, you have a chance once again to prove the cynics wrong. In seven days, what was improbable has the chance to beat what Washington said was inevitable. And that’s why in these last weeks, Washington is fighting back with everything it has — with attack ads and insults; with distractions and dishonesty; with millions of dollars from outside groups and undisclosed donors to try and block our path. We’ve seen this script many times before. But I know that this time can be different. Because I know that when the American people believe in something, it happens. If you believe, then we can tell the lobbyists that their days of setting the agenda in Washington are over. If you believe, then we can stop making promises to America’s workers and start delivering — jobs that pay, health care that’s affordable, pensions you can count on, and a tax cut for working Americans instead of the companies who send their jobs overseas. If you believe, we can offer a world-class education to every child, and pay our teachers more, and make college dreams a reality for every American. If you believe, we can save this planet and end our dependence on foreign oil. If you believe, we can end this war, close Guantanamo, restore our standing, renew our diplomacy and once again respect the Constitution of the United States of America. That’s the future within our reach. That’s what hope is — that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better is waiting for us around the corner. But only if we’re willing to work for it and fight for it. To shed our fears and our doubts and our cynicism. To glory in the task before us of remaking this country block by block, precinct by precinct, county by county, state by state. There is a moment in the life of every generation when, if we are to make our mark on history, this spirit must break through. This is the moment. This is our time. And if you will stand with me in seven days — if you will stand for change so that our children have the same chance that somebody gave us; if you’ll stand to keep the American dream alive for those who still hunger for opportunity and thirst for justice; if you’re ready to stop settling for what the cynics tell you you must accept, and finally reach for what you know is possible, then we will win this caucus, we will win this election, we will change the course of history, and the real journey — to heal a nation and repair the world — will have truly begun. Thank you.

Christmas in Kansas City.

Grandma representing with the new Wheel of Fortune hat.

London's chew toy, post-chew

Luke and Rebecca on Christmas day. Ahhhhhh.

Londers on the deck thinking, "Why are my toes so cold?"

Rocky chillin' under the tree.

London sporting her new winter vest at Grandma's.

London snooping other stocking stuffers.

London playing with her stocking stuffers.

London un-stuffing her stocking stuffers.

London with her fishing hat on.

London on Skype talking to England.

London playing.....

How I feel about that.

Music Music Music

Man. What can I tell you about the last few days? Well, it has been cold and I've stumbled into some great music.

Artist: Simian Mobile Disco

This epic album, yet to be in my collection (hint.) features 'I Believe' - by far one of my favourites of 2007. Then I just heard a remix of 'Hustler' and I'm convinced. SMD is money.

Artist: T2 feat. Jodie Aysha

(This picture has no relevance to t2, I just wanted to put a picture of Pyramids to represent Lauren's 75/90 for her poster.)

'Heartbroken' - This song is just massive. A classic.