I would usually write about the Bears today but since they didn’t play Sunday I can enjoy writing about the rest of the weekend.

I had a GREAT weekend.  I am a huge haunted-house fan…  To me, a haunted house is theatre-in-motion —  scene after scene of live (and interactive) entertainment.  As with any theatrical productions, some of the actors were better than others and some of the “sets” were better than others, but all had their charms.  I cannot wait until our friends and ourselves can put on a haunted house in our area!

But, by far, the best part was spending time with family and friends.  My friends are just amazing.  I can do anything with them and have a good time.  It really didn’t matter in the end if we were driving in the car eating Italian Beef (YUM!!), or wandering through a haunted house, or just waiting in an insanely long line — I was enjoying myself fully!  As much as I HATE LINES (man, I HATE lines) I kept thinking to myself — how unbearable would this be without these guys!  Standing there wasn’t much fun in a conventional sense, but it was another experience we had together…  And thinking about us standing in that line — now makes me smile.  I love my friends (which makes living with my best friend awesome!).

After a night of haunted house action we got to spend Saturday seeing all of our family.  Everyone!  It was just one of the best days I can recall.  It started with us being very late, getting stuck IL traffic – ugh!  Although stressful at the time, it actually is perfect — the in-your-face reminder of why we’re so lucky to live where we do.  Anyhow…

After the delay we got to see my (side of the) family.  We had a delicious breakfast (that poor Lisa couldn’t enjoy) and then visited at my Sister’s/Mom’s house.  Spending this time with my family was just delightful.  I had such a feeling of peace being with them and was just ecstatic to see my mother so happy and healthy.

From there we went to visit Lisa’s grandparents.  Her grandfather lives in a nursing home so we went there for the visit.  The home was nice and they were both in good spirits, enjoying their situation as best they could.  How wonderful is that!  They’re still appreciating the wonders of life — nursing home and all!  They just glowed when they saw the great-grand-kids.

At Lisa’s sister’s house we celebrated her mom-and-dad’s 40th wedding anniversary.  It was a low key event that was very enjoyable.  Kim & Tim are always great hosts and Lisa’s family just eats-up our little ones.  I just had a blast running and chasing the “big kids” (Taylor, Austin, Sammie, and Disney) and was completely exhausted afterwords.  We then enjoyed a meal (yummy lasagna) together and played a bit more.  After the meal we went to another haunted house.  This time with Kim & Tim — Derek too.  It was a very good haunted house; probably the best one all weekend.  But I thought that by far the coolest part was seeing Kim & Tim out on a “date” together.  They’ve had some rough times lately and it was just awesome to see them connecting and just enjoying one-another.  Lisa and I both felt really great that we got to enjoy this experience together as two couples.  It was a nice double date + Derek!  And, Derek being along just made it better.  He’s no third wheel, he really made everything more fun!  Like all of my friends, he always enhances every experience.

So — even though the Bears didn’t play this weekend it was still the best!  It was awesome.  All the ingredients — Lisa (LISA!!), Taylor, Sammie, Disney, Christopher, Derek, Jamy, Megan, Mary, Mom, Caroline, Wilson, Ben, Gwyn, Lilly, Great Grandma, Great Poppa, Uncle Bud, Mother-in-Law, Father-in-Law, Kim, Tim, Austin, and Ryan + Italian Beef + Haunted Houses.

A recipe for a great weekend indeed!

I am SOOOOOOOOOOO excited to be traveling this weekend to see some family and friends!  I will get to see my awesome mom, and my (Best-Man, 1999) Derek.  I will also be celebrating my in-laws 40th anniversary.  So, what a great weekend!

I have to admit though, one of the most exciting parts for me is going with my wife and friends to some Illinois haunted houses!!  I love  being scared (*when it isn’t REAL) and I love spending time with my friends.  So I am just totally psyched!  I wish my friend John could make it, but I will make him come NEXT TIME!!

Anyway, this post is not about my trip.  It is about being scared.  And I saw a movie on Tuesday that totally freaked me out!

My wife and I went to see Paranormal Activity, the SUPER-HYPED low budget horror film that has been causing people to lose sleep at night.  We also saw Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs; the kid’s flick.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs FREAKED ME OUT!

Paranormal Activity was umm…   Baby-Diapie-Smell-Like-Poopy!  It stunk bad.  I have never been so disappointed in a movie in my life.  I was really hoping to get a good scare but ended up being something I rarely ever am in a movie – BORED!  This movie is all hype, no bite.  I think some teens convinced each-other this was real or something (ala Blair Witch) but…  The hour and a half running time of this movie felt like 3 hours!  I was never once held in much suspense nor was I worried for the main characters.  I was just bored.  I give this an IMDB rating of 2.3 – AWEFUL!

Now…  I have weird food phobia.  I freak out at the thought of food on skin.  Yes, I know — weird.  But when gobs of eggs, meatballs, and nacho sauce (yes, a guy was BATHING IN IT!) fall from the sky – YAAAHHH!!!  This was a scary, scary, scary and disturbing movie.  I do NOT want to go to the ketchup-and-mustard haunted house!!!!!

So Cloudy = Cute for Kids — Scary for Food Phobics

Activity = You be Better Off Playing Monopoly VS. Yourself

The Bears are 3-0 on Sunday afternoon and 0-2 on Sunday night.  They played the Falcons this week – they lost.  What else needs to be said.  As always, since 1985, the Bears are inconsistent at best.

UGH!

I have several friends and fellow tangent-heads opening in shows tonight.  Jamy, Mary, Travis, and others are in two productions – one in Bryan and one in Hicksville.  BREAK A LEG GUYS!  I hope you have a great time and that the audience give you a wonderful response.

Well, the Bears killed the pitiful Detroit Lions 48 to 24…  But I might be more excited even that my dear friend John may get to see his Detroit Tigers get into the playoffs.  The Tigers, also playing Chicago (the White Sux), won their game propelling them into a 1-game playoff vs. the Minesota Twins this Tuesday.  Lisa and I will have to watch that and root for John’s Tigers!

But, even more exciting than the Bears and Tigers winning and even more amazing than Detroit playing both baseball and football against Chicago at the same time — BEEBER STARTED WALKING!

Now he has been holding-on-to-stuff and walking for months.  More recently he had been pushing things around the house — like mini-walkers.  But on Sunday, he started WALKING.  This means unassassisted and when he falls down, he gets back on his feet.  WOW!  Another child reaches another milestone.  Life is truely a miracle!

More good news…  Superfriend extraordinaire (and Best Man at my wedding) Derek has just let me know that he WILL be attending out haunted house outing in IL on October 23.  YEAH!  This means our other friends must join us — it can be a true TANGENTS event.

Jamy, John, Mary, etc — that means you! (Hey, WHERE has CAROL been?  Carol, if you’re reading this – WE MISS YOU!)

** LISA I LOVE YOU **

The Chicago Bears did it again!  Another 4th quarter comeback!

Next week we face the Detroit Lions which, with one win in the past two seasons, should be a cakewalk.  However, if I know anything about the NFL (do I?) I know that on any given Sunday either team can win the game.  So, I will not get too confident!

Jay Cutler, the Bears shiny new QB, looked sharp again helping to fade my memory of that terrible start in Green Bay.  At first, I was not very happy…  The Bears started down 13-0 and it wasn’t looking very positive.  I even had to turn down a friend’s invite for dinner (sorry Cathy!) because I was not feeling very social.

But just before the half the Bears scored a touchdown and provided some tension relief.  The rest of the game remained an exciting affiar and it ended the best possible way — with a Bears win.

So, there you have it.

It wasn’t always pretty and I have to be honest, I am still not sure about this Bears team…  BUT WE BEAT THE STEELERS and avoided going 0-2.  0-2 might not sound like too big of a deal to you baseball fans, but in NFL world and 0-2 start often means a long and painful season.

Bears new superstar QB, Jay Cutler, rebounded from his terrible 4-interception performance last week to have a very solid game.  No interceptions and two touchdown passes!

The Bears defense looked soft at times but, in the end, was able to keep the Steelers to 14 points — thanks especially to Jeff Reed (the Steeler’s kicker) missing 2 “easy” field goals.

It was an exciting game and a Bears win.  Have I mentioned how much fun the NFL is?  Next week, the Seattle Seahawks…  A team I personally hate.  Don’t know why, but I do!  Hoping to be 2-1 after next Sunday — a winning record would be awesome after that putrid start against Green Bay.

Well, this season of The Office is off and running — literally.  Michael, Dwight, and Andy are participating in creating a Parkour video.  What is parkour you ask?  (see video)

Let’s just say that the trio from The Office didn’t create such amazing athletic footage.  It was a great way to start off this season — with some physical comedy!

We also quickly learn what we already kinda knew…  That Pam is carrying Jim’s baby.  And then we learn something we didn’t know…  That Stanley Hudson is having an affair.  Uh oh!

Thanks to some interns, Michael becomes aware that Stanley is seeing someone on the side.  He then proceeds to tell everyone in the office.  Which, of course, he is proud to do — after all, HE has some inside juicy gossip.

Thanks to Jim, Michael begins to realize that perhaps spreading word about Stanley’s affair is not a good idea.  But, as Michael points out “you can’t unsay what you’ve already said” (ok, that is not the exact quote)…  So, his plan?  No problem, he will just spread crazy rumors about everyone in the office.  If he does that, people in the office will realize the information going around is not true and, thus, realize that the rumor about Stanley’s affair is ‘not true’.

In the end, Michaels rumor mill does work…  At the expense of Pam & Jim.  He tells people that Pam is pregnant, unaware that she actully does have a bun in the oven.  The couple had wanted to keep their pregnancy private but confessed in order to protect Stanley.  (If you want that last sentance to make sense, watch the show!)

Anyway, I’m sick of blogging…  The point is — THE OFFICE IS BACK!!  YHOOOOOOOOOOPPPPIIIIIEEEE!

Well, it was another year at the WCCT Family Fun Day — a great tradition started and organized by my wonderful wife.  Family Fun Day is a day where people from the Williams County Community Theatre get together for as picnic and some softball.

This year there weren’t as many players as in years past as the WCCT has a show coming up soon and some of our regular players had to work on the set.  However, we still managed to fill two teams with the help of an all-time pitcher (thanks Beth!).

Enter this year’s game I was 0-2 and I was bound-and-determined to get my first win this year.  I even made sure I would have the benefit of Zach on my team (always a strong player).  Since John was unavailable 🙁 I thought I had a very good chance of winning — FINALLY.

Things started well, after the first inning my team had a 5-2 lead and I was actually starting to feel guilty thinking it might be a blowout.  But after the 2nd inning I felt a little better; we were still winning but it was a close game.  The score: 8 – 6 heading into the 3rd and final inning.  Hey, were theatre people and were old.  Any more than three innings and we do start to sing showtunes and drop dead.

The third inning was interesting, the opposing team (consisting of Lisa, Jamy, Eddie, and Jose) scored 5 runs making it 11-8…  But we (Zach, John R, Megan, and myself) still had yet to bat.  Since we were averaging 4 runs per inning I was not concerned.

WE SCORED ONE RUN!

Even Zach couldn’t get the ball out of the infield in the third inning!  The ending score was 11-9 and I now stand alone at the BOTTOM of the record list at 0-3.  Yep, that’s right.  NOBODY ELSE IS 0-3.  The next worse record is 0-1 or 1-2…  Meaning EVEN if I get a win next year, I will STILL have the worst softball record in the WCCT!  Eeech!

The problem is — several people have expressed that they do not want to be on my team next year.  🙁  I just don’t know how to break the curse — oh, and before you start thinking I just stink at softball let me say this…

I HAVE NEVER GOTTEN A SINGLE OUT WHEN BATTING!

Am I boasting there?  Come on!  I have the WORST record, you gotta give me something!

The good news is that my dear friend Jamy is now 3-0 and my beautiful wife, Lisa, now has a win.  Also, with 6 (count them SIX) RBIs my wife was undoubtely the MVP!!!  GO LISA!!!

For me, it’s once again “maybe next year”.  Hopefully John (John O!) will be playing then and will agree to be on my team.  Until then maybe my friends will take it easy on me and not razz me too much about my win-less record.  We will see!

• We lost our most celebrated player…  FOR THE SEASON.
• Our new pro-bowl quarterback had the [statistically] worst game…  OF HIS CAREER
• We had other key injuries…  THREE OF THEM (yes, three MORE)
• Our consistently amazing special teams unit made a huge error…  THAT MAY HAVE BEEN FATAL
• Our defense looked good all game, but when it mattered most…  THEY CHOKED
• They were not playing a normal Sunday day game, it was a night game…  ON NATIONAL TV
• It was not any game, it was against the Packers…  PUBLIC ENEMY ONE

I’m going to try and answer some common questions often asked after a game like this…

Q: What positives can you take out of a game like this?
A: Well, I didn’t die while watching it, and that’s always a good thing.  (Good for me anyhow)

Q: Can the team bounce back next week and win big in their home opener?
A: Nope.  They play the Superbowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers.  The only thing the Bears can hope for is a Steelers team that gets arrogant and fails to come ready-to-play.  But, hey, this is not just a good team — these are the Superbowl champs!

Q: How big is the loss of Brian Urlacher?
A: Brian who?  Never heard of him.

Q: Should Offensive Coordinator Ron Turner be fired?
A: Football is about the fans, and I’ll tell you — the fans do know the sport.  I personally think Ron is just plain boring for our offense.  If we’re not going to win I at least want us to be exciting…  We have some speed, we have a top running back, and we have a [supposedly?] pro bowl QB.  Lets roll!

Q: Want to make a season record prediction for the Bears this season?
A: No, but I will anyway…  I predict they will start 0-1.  The only noble thing to do is predict that they will go 18-1.  Fifteen wins during the season, 2 wins in the playoffs, and one in the Superbowl!  The only loss being that abomination in Green Bay at the start of the year.  (But if they went 8-8 I wouldn’t say I was surprised)

Q: Would you trade Jay Cutler back to the Denver Broncos for Kyle Orton and some dog food coupons?
A: No.  That is a ridiculous question…  Well…  How much coupon savings are we talking here?

……end of my self interview…… wait, one more thing…..  no, wait, the self interview portion of this blog post is over……

I am doing the rest in bold.  Why, because the Bears lost and I am pouting so I can do what I want!

Oh man, I just remembered…  I am trying to work on being less obnoxious, so off with the bold!

Well folks, the bottom line is that my beloved NFL team the Chicago Bears lost this September 13, 2009 to the Green Bay Packers (see what I did there – all the keywording, it is so Google (Hi Google!) will know my blog post has info about that exact game).  We lost the game, we lost good players, we lost confidence, and I lost my mind…  Oh boy…  Another NFL season is upon us!