Summer has been pretty busy so posts have been sporadic at best. Since the last post, we attended our trade show in Chicago. One of our salesmen (Terry) and myself went in on Friday, which was two days before the show started, to make sure the booth was set up correctly and to make sure we weren't getting ripped off in labor. Seems that if you are at the show during booth set up, it gets done much quicker than if you're not. We ended up saving almost 50% of our labor cost for set up compared to the last show we exhibited at in Chicago!

Friday after we were done working, we ended up getting lost walking in Downtown Chicago looking for Rush Street trying to find something to eat. When we finally found Rush Street, we ended up eating at Hugo's Frog Bar. I've eaten at Hugo's once before but I was so damn tired by that point, I didn't care what or where I was eating. I had the crab cakes which were by far the best I have ever had!

Being in Chicago a couple of days early with not much to do gave me the chance to hang out with Lisa's brother Brad for a bit on Saturday. I went out of McCormick Place to check on the booth and to finish up what needed to be done cleaning up and Brad headed down to our hotel. Once we all met up at the hotel, I got to have one of Brad's homemade brews which was much better than the Mr. Beer batches that I had done in the past. The fact of the matter is that Brad's beer is as good as any micro brew produced beer I have ever had (don't get a chip on your shoulder Brad)! That afternoon, Brad and I headed out to Goose Island Brewing Company for Lunch and had several of their beers. The Midway IPA was very tasty and went down a bit too smooth. We had a few appetizers, a few beers and a few more beers and then headed back to the hotel where we both proceeded to take a little siesta on the couch to sleep off the alcohol. We woke up just in time to catch the Manager's reception and to have a couple more liquid libations on the hotel. Brad headed back home and I went to the Randolph Street food festival.

The food festival was your typical street fair with a several food vendors and beer carts. The place was very crowded so we had a beer and explored the restaurant scene in the neighborhood. We ended up picking a French place called Marche. Marche was probably a bit too romantic to be there with another guy but the food was great. I had the special that day that was shark on some sort of lentil, fennel gravy mixture and also had a side order of french fries that were the best I have ever had. The fries were ultra thin and fried in animal fat (the secret that the waiter divulged to us). That evening we discovered a bowling alley that was in the same building as our hotel. This wasn't any ordinary bowling alley either. It was more like a really nice bar that just happened to have a bowling alley in it. The bars were loaded with LCD televisions and comfortable seating in the form of overstuffed couches and chairs. Even the bowling alley had overstuffed couch seating and ultra modern chairs and side tables for drinks. We had a couple of drinks there and then I headed back to the hotel for the evening.

Sunday evening was the start of the trade show. I really didn't do much during the day but did take a little walk in the area that surrounded the hotel to see if there was a place for the group to eat that evening that was relatively close to the hotel. I ended up making reservations at Shula's Steak House. The trade show was busy. Brad came downtown to walk the trade show with Lisa who arrived with the others that would work at the booth. Lisa was attending classes. The Sunday trade show hours were 4 pm-7pm and the place was packed. The fact that free food and drinks were being served probably helped fill the exhibit hall. After the show, we headed back to the Hotel for clean up and then off to Shula's. Here it goes....Shula's sucks! Over priced, bad service and the steaks were not all that great. I've had better steaks in my backyard and I could have received better service at McDonald's. I had a "cowboy steak" better known as a big ribeye. The steak was not good. I wouldn't say it was over cooked but it was dry and not what I would have expected for $40. I also ordered a side of creamed spinach and lobster mashed potatoes. The spinach was pretty good but the mash potatoes were just that....mashed potatoes without any flavor of lobster at all. Lisa had a pretty good sized strip steak that was a little better than my steak but still not all that good. Based on the price, the food quality and the $83 tip that was imposed on us because we had 6 or more in our party I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone.

Monday was the start of the full blown trade show. 9:30-4pm. Traffic was good at the show and the conversations we engaged in with the attendees was pretty good compared to other shows I have participated. I think that this show may actually pay off. Time will tell. After the show, we had a few drinks waiting for Lisa to arrive back from a late class and then headed to dinner at Carmine's. We were about 15 minutes late for our reservations and had to wait for awhile for our table. Once we got seated, the menu took awhile to navigate because there was so much to choose from. I ended up with a seafood salad and Lasagna. The seafood salad was excellent but so big, I didn't finish even half of my meal.

Tuesday was the last day of the show. Lisa, however had a late seminar and had another one on Wednesday so she and I stayed Tuesday night while the others traveled home. By Tuesday, we had ran out of a lot of our product samples so I had more sent overnight to the hotel. When I went to the security office to pick up the samples, I bent over and yep, you guessed it, I tore the entire seat out of my pants! It seems that I have gained a bit of my lost weight back and I'm in between pants sizes. I either have pants too big or too small and this pair was just a bit too small. My back was hurting that day so I probably was using more leg to lift than normal and just rip. I though I tore something in my back when I heard the rip but then I began feeling the nice breeze so I knew the back was fine. Thank goodness I over packed and had another pair of pants I could wear.

Tuesday evening, Lisa and I took a walk down Michigan Avenue and stopped in a few stores. Bought a "prize" for Shawn from the Lego store and took a walk through the American Girl Store. The American Girl store is a goldmine. Tons and Tons of little girls getting their doll's hair done, having lunch with their dolls, buying clothes that match their doll's clothes and well you get the idea.

That night we ended up at The Tavern on Rush for dinner. We sat outside and had the best meal of the entire trip. Lisa's steak was very good and my Jambalaya was good as well. After we ate, we took a cab to Navy Pier and wandered around then back to the hotel and to sleep early. Lisa had a morning seminar on Wednesday and then off we went back home.

When we got back, the yard was in a bit of disrepair with all the rain we had while we were gone but the flowers all bloomed and plants grew like weed. The basil I planted needed to be harvested so I did that on Sunday and made Pesto. It's amazing what basil mixed with olive oil, pine nuts, garlic and Parmesan cheese tastes like!

Last weekend, we made a quick visit to the family in Northeast Ohio. My Mom is now in a condo in Strongsville and my brother has his own place in Middleburg Heights. Mom's new place is pretty nice and Mike's isn't too bad either for his first place. The visit was a bit strange with all the new environments everyone was living in now. Even though I never lived in Mom and Dad's last place, it always felt like home. I just couldn't get comfortable in the new place though but maybe time will help with that.

This past week, we bought new patio furniture. The last patio set was bought as a house warming gift by Mom and Dad when Lisa and I bought our first house about 11 years ago. It was definitely showing it's age. This time we opted for the love seat, lounge chairs with ottoman and coffee table set up. It looks nice but I haven't taken pictures to post yet.

Lisa also found a smoker at a garage sale last week so I'm now the proud owner of a charcoal fueled smoker that I will use for the first time tonight. I'm going to smoke a pork shoulder roast and a couple of small chickens. Tonight is also the night for our community's firework display so Lisa's Mom and Dad are coming over for smoked food and to watch the show. I may head for the boarded and buy a few fireworks as well.

That should pretty much put anyone that is still reading this blog up to date with our happenings! Have a great holiday weekend.

Just a quickie post. With some heavy coxing from a couple of co-workers, we sent this movie (the top one) of Katelyn into American Funniest Videos. We'll see if it's as funny as everybody thinks it is. We also booked a quick vacation to see my Aunt and cousins in the Nashville area. I haven't been there in years and I think Lisa and the kids will enjoy visiting and seeing the area. I'm sure it will be beastly hot and the drive will be all so pleasant.

Shawn completed a little survey about me for father's day. I really got a kick out of the answers.I had a really nice father's day weekend. Saturday, I fulfilled my end of a birthday present and went to a neighborhood garage sale with Lisa. I really don't enjoy looking at other's garbage but it wasn't all that bad. Saturday evening Jill, Todd and the Kids came over for a cook out and we took a ride over the boarder and bought about $5o worth of fireworks (all fountains). The video of Katelyn below was from Saturday night. Todd and I also indulged in a few Irish car bombs which are definitely my favorite shots. Irish car bombs consist of a half shot of Jameson's and a half shot of Bailey's dropped into a half pint of Guinness. You have to chug the drink before the Bailey's starts to curdle with the beer. If you down it quick enough, the mixture tastes like a chocolate milkshake....delicious!

Sunday, we took Shawn for his 7 year old pictures a few month late. Of course, since we were taking pictures, I jumped in with Shawn and Katelyn, Lisa took a picture with the kids and we took a family picture as well. Overall the pictures turned out well; I can't post the pictures here since Lisa hasn't mailed them out yet. I got a few really cool gifts this year that took me by surprise. From Katelyn, I got a neat framed poem with her footprints painted on it, from Shawn I got the cool survey posted above, a Cleveland Brown's logo 25 foot tape measure and a $150 gift certificate from the Brew Kettle in the Cleveland area to brew my own beer.

My Brew Kettle certificate will pay for me to brew at least (72) 22 ounce beers. I think I will brew a IPA and have it put into a keg. Unfortunately, the earliest opening The Brew Kettle has to brew is in January. Oh well, it's something to look forward to!

The past week also was Lisa's birthday. We celebrated with T-bone steaks with her Mom, Dad and the kids. She got a few nice things that she picked out and I bought her an I-Pod Nano (8Gb) and a JBL docking station.

The next two weeks are pretty busy with work. I get to travel to Columbus for a seminar, Chicago for a trade show and I have a Mudhens' game with a vendor. While in Chicago, I'm going to have a little more time to kill than I usually do and will probably hang out with Lisa's brother Brad for the day on Saturday. Lisa will arrive in Chicago later in the week to attend classes while I work the trade show.

We are also in the process of finalizing a trip in July to see my aunt and cousins in Nashville. I've been there once 14 years ago but don't remember too much about the city except the people were really friendly and there were some fun and interesting places to see. Of course it will probably be 105 degrees everyday we're there. Traveling in the car with Katelyn will more fun than a full frontal lobotomy.

Just a quick video post of Katelyn's reaction to some fireworks:

It's been awhile since my last post so I will just ramble a bit.

We've been pretty busy with getting the yard back in order but I think we are about 90% finished planting for the year. I do have a small area in the back near the patio that could use some help but other than that area, I am pleased with the results. I ended up planting a King Crimson Maple in the back yard. I figure that in about 8 years or so I will have evening shade in the patio area. The leaves got a bit burned out in transit from the store but it seems to be rebounding nicely. I've been meaning to plant a tree and finally got off my rear and did it. The other fun plant I have in my garden this year is basil. Lisa loves Pesto and considering Basil goes for about $25 a pound, I figured I would try my hand at growing it. I hope it grows well.

Labor day, we went to Jill's parent's lake house for a couple of days. It's pretty peaceful there. It's a good size house on a smaller no wake lake; I think its relaxing but I think Lisa gets a bit bored. I think if Katelyn was a bit older, Lisa might have enjoyed it more. We basically hung outside all weekend, I fished (didn't catch more than a few small bluegill) and took a few boat rides in between having a couple of beers.

This past weekend, we had a birthday party to take Shawn to and I played golf for the second time this season. And I played pretty well. Just seems like there's not enough time in the week to play very much anymore.



Tomorrow is Shawn's last day of school and of course he is so excited he can hardly contain himself. I'm sure that after about 2 weeks, he will be ready to go back because he will be so bored. Yesterday he went to the zoo, today he has a field day and tomorrow is the end of the year party in which Lisa is working. Seem like just yesterday that school started for the year.

Not much happening this weekend that I know of yet so maybe I will get a few things done around the house. Maybe we will finalize vacation plans or no vacation plans for this summer. We've tossed around going to Nashville to see my Aunt or to Minneapolis to take in The Mall of America. Either trip will be a bare because we would end up driving and Katelyn is an absolute miserable car traveler. Just scheduling the trip is tough enough due to the weekends filling up fast this summer and I the fact that I will be gone for work a few extra times this year. I still need to schedule a time to get the the Cleveland area too to see Mom's new place and Mike's new apartment.

Here's a video of Katelyn helping Dad water the flowers and taking a shower in the process:

Here's a few more pictures:Katelyn and Dad relaxing in the yard

Cheese!Check me out in my glasses!
Saturday morning fun!New Tree

It's been a pretty busy week. I got my additional 3 yards of Mulch on Monday and spread about 2 yards or so and now I'm trying to figure out where to dig another planting bed. I can't win estimating the amount of mulch to buy or the method the landscaping company measures it by may not be very scientific. It's a good think I like to work in the yard.

Lisa is having a garage sale with her friend Jill at Jill's house today and Saturday so most of our free time has been dragging our garbage from the basement and loading it into the car to take to Jill's. I can't believe that after selling so much last year at their sale that they have filled an entire three car garage and a good portion of the driveway with "stuff". There's so many kids toys; just think of all the money that was spent on a three car garage full of toys!

Last night we had to run over to the funeral home to pay respects to the husband of one of our coworkers. He had a form of dementia that rapidly called Frontotemporal Dementia; he was only 56. I can only hope that no one else I know has to struggle with this form of dementia. The disease doesn't have a cure and there aren't drugs that do much to stop or slow down the progression. Pretty sad all the way around. From diagnosis to death is anywhere from 2 years to 10 years, he made it 5.

Of course with all the talk about death the past couple of days, Shawn melted down last night. He was crying pretty much uncontrollably and saying that he misses his Grandpa and his dog. I wish I could take the pain away from him. It's just so frustrating trying to comfort a seven year old dealing with loss when you don't understand it yourself at 39.

Tonight Lisa and I are working the beer tent at our church festival. I've been practicing a lot lately pouring the perfect draft beer in my garage. I'm sure we will hang a bit after our shift is done.

Lisa and I took the day off today to do some yard work. The mulch wasn't arriving until 11am so we dropped Shawn off at school,Katelyn at daycare and went to breakfast at Mayberry dinner. Since we had time to kill, Lisa bribed me to going to a neighborhood garage sale (garbage sale). She of course found things to buy.

When we got home, we spread the 5 yard of mulch I ordered and I'm 3 yards short. The front flower beds are now half done and I can't get mulch until Monday. Oh well, the house will look like a family of short bus riders live there for a couple of days. I don't know what I was thinking when I ordered 5 yards.

We finished spreading mulch and cleaning up just in time to take Katelyn to her 15 month appointment. All is well other than the fact she had to get two shots. She weighed in at 26 pounds, 12 oz and was 32" tall. She is in the 90-95 percentile for her age. Lisa sure seems to grow them big!

Last night I had some squid that I had to use up but I didn't feel like breading it and messing around with the deep fryer so I got inventive. I took olive oil, onions, garlic and sauteed for a bit. I then added the sliced squid, salt, pepper and oregano and cooked a while longer covered. I then added some cooking sherry and salsa and cooked about 10 minutes over low. The result is what I call Squidward Mexitaliano. I should have served it over rice or noodles but ate it all by itself. There's a picture below; it tasted much better than it photographed.

"Squidward Mexitaliano"

"Katelyn playing with the stainer"