End of Summer update

Hey, 3 weeks between posts. Not bad. I'm sure everyone is wondering - Where did he go? Well for the past 3-4 weeks I've been struggling with Allergies. I've never believed I had allergies, let alone get tested for them. Sure I would sneeze and have a runny nose, but it would last a day or two and be gone, just the common cold. Or so I thought.

I have now had 2 stages of testing for allergies. And the results aren't pretty. (Phase 1 - Indoor Allergies, Phase 2 - Spring Allergies, Phase 3 - Late Summer/Fall Allergies, and finally Phase 4 - Food Allergies). Results from Phase 1 - Indoor: Dust!? Is that even possible? I know I've heard of people being allergic to dust, but dust is everywhere! How can your body decide - you know what this dust isn't working out, I need to produce vast amounts of mucus, swell my nasal passages to where I can barely breathe through one nostril at a time, and finally make me sneeze at least 3 times every 10 minutes. OK, so on with the testing - surely dust can not be causing all these miserable symptoms. Luckily the mold tests was negative, along with dog (although a little reaction did appear, but not enough for concern), but the biggie. Yeah, if you've read this blog you know, CAT... POSITIVE. And not just positive, but 5 times worse than anything else on the indoor allergy test.

I love Cats, especially my cute, cuddly, LONG HAIR domestic, Estrella. Allergic to cat? I had a few cats growing up, and my step father was allergic to them, but no way I was. Cats are great, they are so independent you can leave them for a day or two and they are fine. They clean themselves, use a litter box, and don't eat a lot. OK so once in a while you have to clean up a hairball, or comb out a mat in the fur. No way am I allergic to cat, nor getting rid of mine. They suggest keeping the cat out of the bedroom right away if you can't part with your pet. Its hard to kick someone out of the bedroom, especially when they sit right outside the door and cry non-stop until you let them in. But I guess its worth a try. Or deny it... Yeah there is something else out there that is causing this, not my beautiful cat. That's it.

Phase 2 - Spring Pollens, grasses and trees that bloom in the spring. OK so a few more positives - Birch, Oak and Hickory. And Birch was worse than Cat. Even all the grasses were slightly positive. As you have read, I like to mow the lawn. Allergic to grass and trees? WOW.

So next week, Fall Allergies - Ragweed, corn and other late summer/fall pollen. These must be what are bothering me so bad right now. Can't wait to see how this turns out. Even the nurse is excited, kind of sick, but she likes to see the reaction and even cheers when its big. Weird lady, but I guess you have to have something to get excited about working in a doctors office.

So yeah, I'm still alive, but struggling. OH yeah, I can't take anti-histamines during the testing process. Although when I had taken them, they didn't seem to help much anyway.

Waj

New Busch Stadium

Here is a view of the 1st base/right field corner of the new field during construction while we were there. The current stadium is pretty much in dead center field. Looks like it will be a nice stadium, just hope it isn't dubbed "The Hottest Stadium in Major League Baseball."

St Louis Day 2

Edit: OK so its a little late - some people only get to sit at a computer while working and don't have fancy mobile phones where they can type blogs while listening to concerts (I haven't spent a lot of "free" time on the PC). WARNING: Extremely long post ahead, after typing every exquisite detail, I thought about shortening it. Then I thought "since I spent so much time on it, I might as well leave it." So for those of you with a short attention span, try reading one paragraph every hour.

Edit: So my edit is basically a post in itself, I just had one more update (can I update a post before I publish it?), in honor of the Cubs vs Cards series in Chicago with a victory for the Cubs ending a skid of 8 losses in a row, I will publish this post!


Sunday we had all day to waste, since the game was changed from 1:15 to 7:05. We had to be out of the hotel by noon, so we got up with enough time to sit by the pool for an hour or so. It was hot by 10AM, and sunny so we decided to catch some rays and dip in the pool (barely big enough to swim). After checkout we went to Galleria (shopping mall) - it was a half mile from our hotel, and there was plenty of AC. We had about 6 hours to kill, might as well make a day of it. We ended up going to the Cinema and watched "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." It won by 1 vote over "The Wedding Crashers". The movie was a little darker than the original, but I wouldn't say it was any better or worse. This version had a little less of a "musical" feel to it, and the oompa loompa songs weren't done nearly as well as the original. I would have to say I liked the original a smidgen more, more so because of the nostalgia than anything else (countless pop culture references - Family Guy).

After the movie we did a little more shopping and decided to head to Union Station. This one time, in college, we drove to St Louis one night and went to the Arch and Union Station and drove back home. It was kind of a daze, we spend an hour or so at the Arch and a few hours at Union Station, then we drove home. It was about 5 hours in St Louis and 10 hours in the car. We were smart. Anyway, getting back to this trip, Union Station was very different. The layout was generally the same, but I remember different restaurants and stores. Also my head was a little more clear this time around. We didn't really shop, just kind of took in the experience and "tried" to find a place to eat. Of the 10 choices we had, we narrowed it down to 3. After an hour of checking out the menus, walking back and forth between the 3, we decided on the cheapest one that had a table available. I guess there is a reason this place was cheap and had a table... it was a "Jimmy Buffett" style cafe with a VERY LOUD jukebox and very bad service. Oh well, at least it was cheaper (<$8 for our sandwiches). My BBQ tuna was pretty good though.

After our wonderful dining experience, it was time to head to Busch Stadium. We didn't want to get there early because of the heat - but we still wanted to get into the parking garage close to the stadium (same price as our 4 block walk the previous day, but getting out was a little tougher). We brought 2 coolers full of water for the game. I never knew you could bring water - good call by my bro - so we saved a ton of money. We got a couple of pre-game beers down in the garage, after a big party foul by yours truly. Unpacking the van, there were 6 beers in a six pack, which happened to be soaked from condensation. While I erroneously grabbed them by the handle, each one (separately) fell through the bottom of the pack, bouncing off the bumper and falling onto my bare feet (flip flops). Strangely only 3 of them broke after hitting the concrete and/or bumper. The damage was done, one of the bottles landed squarely on my big toe, giving me a nice deep cut. Nothing a few high quality Band-Aid brand adhesive bandages couldn't fix. Luckily, or coincedentally, my bro had blisters on his feet from the previous day wearing his sandals, he had the bandages on hand.

Now for the final game of the series (which is my 2nd and last game at Old Busch Stadium). This time we were up in the upper deck, right in the sun. A skycraper in the distance teased us with the shade it could provide, had it been 30 yards to the left. The game started off bad for the Cubs, as Prior gave up 3 solo home runs in the 1st inning. This seemed to happen just as 4 ladies (3 off them had to be 70+ years of age). The all had matching shirts, visors, and the hand-held fans with spray bottles. It definitely was one of the coolest things I have witnessed at a baseball game. Too bad they were Cardinals' fans, but you could tell this wasn't the only game they've been to this season. Unlike many fans, they toughed out the heat, and came to a good ball game. I was suprised at how many empty seats there were for the Cubs/Cardinals matchup for both games. When the announced the attendence, they announced "paid" and not actual, so I'm guessing either the scalpers bought many tickets they weren't able to sell becuase of the heat, or many people had tickets but couldn't bear the heat. So after the disasterous first inning, Cubs are down 3 runs. Prior settled down after that and the Cubs chipped away at the lead over the next few innings to make it 3-2. Not much happened over the next few innings, pretty good pitching dual until the 8th inning. After walking DLee for the 3rd time in the game (and what seemed like 10th in the series) Aramis Ramirez smashed a homerun to take the lead 4-3! Our section (mostly Cubs fans - except for the lovely ladies in front of us) went crazy! By this time is was getting late - very late. Most of us had to work at 8 or 8:30AM the next morning, so we were hoping for a quick inning and a half and get on our way home with a couple wins for the Cubbies! For the most part, we got our wish... until 2 outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. Suprisingly many fans left before the ninth inning (yes even the 4 ladies in front of us). Ryan Dempster went through the first two batters, bottom of the order, with no problem. Two outs and my friend Tim sends me a text message "Get On Your Feet!" Of course I didn't need the instruction, everybody was one their feet, Cubs fans hoping for the final out, Cards fans hoping it wasn't the final out. Dempster then gave up a walk to a pinch hitter. This is where things went bad. After putting a pinch runner in, who then "stole" second (from the replay, it looked as though the throw and tag, he was out. Unfortunately, instead of being game over, lets go, it was, OH NO! Not this, not with the top of the lineup coming... Next batter Eckstein singles in the tying run. Ouch - now all we could hope for was extra innings (what time is it? who cares, we're not leaving this game!). Dempster gives up another hit to Nunez, bringing up slugger Albert Pujols with 2 outs, runners on First and Third. BIG TROUBLE! I had all but given up on this game - surely Pujols was going to win this one for the Cardinals. Dempster then got Pujols to ground out to second base for the final out! So we make it extra innings! You could really feel a momemtum change though, after the Cubs lost the lead. Luckily we had the higher part of the order coming up - Walker, Lee and Burnitz. The inning started off good - Walker cranked a double, followed up by another walk for DLee (4th this game). Burnitz actually sacrafice bunts (whah?) in order to avoid the double play and move the runners up to 2nd and 3rd. Looking good, we have 2nd and 3rd, one out, and here comes Aramis Ramirez. With the pitcher spot on deck, the cards actually load the bases, intentionally walking Ramirez. The Cubs bring in Barrett to pinch hit (Blanco was cathing). After a couple of swings, Barrett strikes out swinging! 2 outs, bases loaded, and its up to Neifi Perez. with a .265 batting average, I wasn't expecting much. A hit would be great, score a couple runs, gets some up on the board and hope that we can hold them for one more inning. Lo and behold, Perez rifles the ball into right field, barely fair, into the Cardinals Bullpen. A GRAND SLAM! It had to be one the most exciting moment I've ever felt at a baseball game. Our entire section went crazy, my heart was beating so fast! All the Cubs fans high fiving everyone within 5 rows of you, screaming and celebrating! During which, many Cardinal fans walked silently toward the exits with their heads down. With a 4 run lead, you definitely felt safe, it was just a matter of getting the game over with. We decided to stay, even though the time was nearing midnight, and there was work in the morning. The bottom of the tenth finished without much excitement and we could finally head back to the Burbs!

Luckily I slept most of the way home (thanks bro!), so I got about 3 hours there and 2 more after getting home at 4:30 before waking up for work the next day. I don't really remember that day of work - just that I didn't feel like working. I think Tuesday was a little harder to wake up than Monday though, probably after the excitement wore off.

Hope you enjoyed my extremely long post. WHEW!

Waj

Here it is, in all its glory!

Interject

Bet you were expecting the 2nd day of my trip to St. Louis eh? HA! I wrote most of that post, but didn't get a chance to finish it... and like most things, I've started a new project before finishing the last.

I went to my 2nd Kane County Cougars game tonight, and had to post my fresh thoughts (thought maybe not the clearest about now). This time sat in the Center field deck thanks to a nice vendor of ours. Can't pass up a free baseball game (er free food and beer). Good game, although very slow - Eddie Kim hit a 2 run homer to put the Cougars up by 1 in the 5th inning, but the bullpen couldn't contain the QC Swing. Reminds me of a local National League baseball team doesn't it? There were supposed to be fireworks, but after 10 innings of minor league baseball, fireworks weren't about to keep me from getting to my nice comfortable bed. It was Dontrelle Willis Bobble-Leg night... Yeah you read it right (picture to come later). We showed up too late to get a nice mint freebie, but I prayed that one of the 30 kids would leave one behind, just for me. Someone was listening to my prayers, because the 8th inning a family left a broken leg Dontrelle on the picnic table in front of us. Luckily with a little operation, Mr. Willis was back in shape to sit next to my Sosa Bobble-head and Fergie Jenkins autographed baseball. Whooo Hooo! Don't know if the Cougars won or lost the game, listened on the way home and it was in the 12th inning by the time we got home.

Waj

St Louis Day 1

So this past weekend we took a trip to the Gateway to the West. That's right, we ordered our tickets for the best rivalry in Baseball - at least as far as Cubs/Cardinals fans are concerned. We bought our tickets when they went on sale - oh about 4 months ago. Little did we know then, that we had purchased tickets for the most exciting and HOTTEST (literally) baseball games I have ever been to. Don't get me wrong, I've been to many exciting, come from behind/walk off/blowout games at Wrigley Field. None of them were quite as exciting as these two games.

Let me reflect on the weekend as it happened...

I received a call from my brother last Wednesday while eating pizza at Al's Pizza (Warrenvilles finest pizza!). He just wanted to let me know that the Sunday game that he bought tickets to (he bought 6 tickets together so we could all sit together - The 3 brothers and their significant others) was changed to the Sunday Night Game of the Week! We had to choose - Do we watch one game this weekend in St Loius, try to sell the tickets, and drive home early Sunday - Or WATCH BOTH GAMES AND GET HOME EXTREMELY LATE SUNDAY NIGHT/EARLY SUNDAY MORNING. For me, there was no decision - we had the tickets, we had to watch both games. Most of us didn't have the option of taking Monday off work, so we would have to sacrafice.... After a few days of pondering and checking our options for selling the tix, we all decided to go for it!

So we get up at the crack of dawn, pack up the car and go! We get to St Louis with about an hour to spare, just enough time to do a little tailgating under I64. Good thing my bro forgets the grill - we get to have a liquid lunch, not the best thing for a 100+ degree day. Luckily our seats happened to be in the shade, because it was seriously the hottest day I can remember. We stopped at a gas station on the way, a man told us that Busch stadium was the hottest stadium he had ever been in "It holds the heat well". Wonderful! We were sweating as soon as we stepped out of the A/C'd van, now we had to sit in "the hottest stadium" for an afternoon of Cubs/Cardinals baseball. Now history has told us that the Cubs had little chance to win either of these games we were about to enjoy. My siblings went to a game last year in St. Louis and after the Cubs lost the game, they said the walk back to the car was one of the worst experiences ever. "The Cardinal fans were brutal". Not sure why they wanted to go back, but here we were. The game was hot, very, very, very hot. The shade was great, I don't think we would have made it in the sun. The beer was good, although I did have to walk a few sections to get a Budweiser. Guess people really like their Bud Light down there. The game was great, the Cubs took an early lead and kept it after the Cards would battle back every time the Cubs would score. Derrek Lee hit a home run and Aramis Ramirez hit a home run in the 6th inning to put the Cubs up by 2 runs;the bullpen allowed 1 run and Dempster closed the game with a save.
Excellent close game. Final play - Albert Pujols hits a hard line drive to Neifi Perez who then tosses to Todd Walker for a double play to end the game! Very close play, Cards would have tied the game had the hit gone through the infield. AWESOME!

We drove to the hotel checked in - unpacked and cleaned up for dinner. Went to Show Mes for dinner, based on a recommendation by a friend. Probably the biggest Hooters rip off ever - its a wonder how they can even get away with it. The wings were very similar to Hooters too, can't really say I liked them better, or say they were worse. Seriously, I think whoever started Hooters had some background in starting this place. Finished off the night playing cards - no poker - but a fun game called "Hand and Foot" or something like that. Pretty fun game, we played until we were too tired to carry on.

End of Day 1. Not enough time to finish this up today. More to follow...

Waj

Emo-Core?

Went to an awesome show on Friday. Bands: The Get Up Kids - Straylight Run - Lucero Venue: House of Blues Chicago (HOB).

HOB Chicago is one of my favorite venue's in Chicago. It is big, but also intimate, almost anywhere you stand, you can see the band pretty well. Unless of course those 6" 5' fatheads stand in front of you (which pretty much happens at all standing room only shows, doesn't it?). For being a good venue, they really jack you for drinks though. $4.50 for a can of beer? Thats right we paid $27 for a six pack. Ouch. Luckily, no fatheads on this night! Now for the good part (very long review ahead):

We drove downtown right after work. 5:00. That is right, for all those people that know, 5:00 is not the time you want to be driving in Chicagoland, anywhere. The doors opened at 6:00, show at 7:00. We figured, OK if it takes us more that 2 hours, we'll just miss the first band, Lucero, who I have never heard of before that day, and listened the 5 songs that you can stream on their website. The drive was as perfect as a rush hour drive could ever be. There was little traffic going through the I88 construction, and even the Hillside/Oak Park traffic wasn't horrible. It was stop and go for a few minutes, but it was less than 10, so a trip to downtown was actually close to the 50 minutes a 40 mile drive should be!

We arrived about 10 minutes to 7:00, driving by the HOB, we can see that the sold-out-show was a little late opening the doors to let people in. It was about 15 minutes to showtime and there was still a line around the building. We parked nearby (parking garage) and stood in line. 10 minutes or so later, we found a nice cozy spot at the bar and waited for the show to begin. The curtain opened and the band played. I wasn't too excited, after listening to the 5 songs, and reading their bio, I kind of thought they were a mix of Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Nirvana. Kind of different for sure. Their bio was something like "Lucero was started by someone that wanted to play country at a punk show". I have never liked country, and this wasn't something that interested me. They were very slow and I wasn't that impressed, but I can say it didn't hurt my ears, so it wasn't bad either.

Next up Straylight Run. My brother is a pretty big fan of this band, and he even let me borrow the CD. I think I listened to it once or twice, but never gave it a chance. I can tell you this, if you are a fan of The Get Up Kids, or any other emo band, you should definitely see them live. I have a ton more respect for this band after watching them, and am a little disappointed that I didn't give them a chance so I could "sing along" with them (I try not to sing aloud, ask anyone who has heard my sing). They put a lot of EMOtion into their music, which I felt, and it made me all warm inside. I have since listened to their CD, which is now much better!

And finally The Get Up Kids. I have seen the Get Up Kids and one of their various side projects before. They have announced this as their final tour, 14 shows, 2 of them in Chicago. I guess they have a connection to Chicago, recording one of their CDs here, and playing countless shows at The Fireside Bowl, the Metro, and of course HOB. I was very excited to seem them, even if for the last time (reunion?!). They did not disappoint. I was so glad we decided against our new theme of not driving to Chicago for anything during the week, i.e. Cubs games, Concerts, etc. They played all the old favorites and 2 songs off their latest CD that I had not heard (but have now!). They played for over an hour without delays, and finished with the Favorite "Don't Hate Me". Amazing performance, great stage presence and the crowd was great. I haven't been to too many EMO shows, but it wasn't smokey, and there weren't a lot of crowd surfers (allowing the Body Guards to stand in front of the band so you can see them), quite impressive. Guess I am getting old, but it was a great night, except for the vast amount of money we spent, but we came home with 2 T-Shirts that I'll get some use out of and a CD full of music that I'll definitely get some enjoyment out of!

Well that ends the review... Not sure what is next, nor when it will be. Thanks for reading until the end!

Waj