A Day to Give Thanks...

As I prepare to enjoy this day in the presence of family and friends I felt it appropriate to give thanks for the things I have been blessed with:

I am thankful for...

*My loving wife, who has stood by my side providing the comfort and support that only she can. For more than 12 years she has continued to be the light that guides me through all the dark moments. Over the recent 25 weeks she has been there next to me with her unending love, care & support throughout my journey to regain a healthy lifestyle. Although I could never express in words how truly deep my feelings for her continue to grow, I am certainly thankful above all else that she is with me.

*My father, who provides the knowledge and wisdom to help me through the trying times and the support and love only a father can provide. He is my rock and will always be my best friend through it all.

*My mother, although we have not always been close she still shows her love and concern in the most trying of times. I wish her my deepest blessings of support, love and care as she continues to make the best of her difficult times.

*My family, who has always supported and blessed the things that I have accomplished. With the new-born additions to our family they breathe fresh life into our relationships and offer a glimpse of the innocence that we all have lost along the way.

*My friends, who without them life would be very dull indeed and who make my days feel like they are lived with a sense of meaning and accomplishment.

*My health, it has been front and center for the past 25 weeks and I am thankful for the continued strength to do what is right and to be able to continue my journey to make amends for all the turmoil I have put my body through over the past several years. I am also thankful to be able to continue to move forward with the strength to succeed and accomplish all the goals I have put forth for next year and beyond.

*My job, through the many hardships that are felt around this time of economic crisis I am thankful for the continued support of a company that is sound and true.

I wish all of you & yours a very blessed and safe holiday season.

We carved some Jack-O-Lanterns!!

(Craig's * Rocky's * Angela's)

I don't think we have ever taken the time to carve pumpkins so Angela and I wanted to check it off our list. We both designed our own and then of course Rocky had to have one too!

October / Halloween: My favorite month & holiday!

I really love October and especially Halloween. I really can't pin-point exactly why but it is by far my favorite holiday! As many of you know, I have at times been known to get carried away some years. Mark and I have even built our very own Haunted House on 3 different occasions. Sure we told ourselves it was for the neighborhood kids to enjoy but deep inside it was really for us!

As the month goes on I will try to post some pictures of Halloween past and show you guys what a great time you all missed out on! Until my next post - stay safe as the sun goes down!

The waters begin to withdraw and the clean-up is started...

So the rain has stopped and the clean-up has begun. Today on Wednesday is the first day that after the rains stopped early Monday morning that many of the roads have re-opened. In fact, I-80/94 which is a main interstate from Illinois into Indiana was closed nearly 3 days due to the amount of rain and flooding that occurred making commuting traffic from Chicago even worse for most.

For Hobart most of the flooding was due to small rivers, creeks and Lake George swelling from the gathered rain fall. Judging from Joe's I believe that it was was up nearly 12-15' in most places. Here are some of the pictures I have. Some of them were taken from downtown where several business were completely flooded and ruined. Remember to click on them for a larger view.

Water rescue on Wisconsin St in Hobart, IN

Ok, here is something you don't see everyday. See this Truck:

Can you now find it in this picture?

That's right. This guy thought that he could make it and attempted to cross the road (which has risen about 2 feet just since my last post). Of course the emergency personnel had to bring in a boat to attempt the rescue:

I guess you just never know what might happen. Oh well, enough excitement - back to my attempts to dry things out.

As with a lot of people - we had a bit of rain this weekend...

There used to be a road here. With it still raining as I type the water is currently nearly 4 feet on top of the road in some spots and still rising.

This is a bait shop owner by the lake. The landing you see is the 2nd level of the house.

My father's pier usually is anchored by poles around it and it usually goes straight out. Water rose so much so fast that it raised up over the poles and came loose. Approx 8 feet rise with more rain still falling and a crest expected nearly 48 hours from now.

Just a quick note for now - going to check to see if the row boat is ready!

OK All - I need Help with Song Suggestions for my Ipod / Mp3 Player

So it's been a little bit since I started my exercise routine for my health challenge and I need everyone's help. I need suggestions for good songs to load into my Ipod / Mp3 Player.

I don't need the songs themselves just Title and Artist so that I can start to put some "new blood" into my workout songs.

Any genre suggestion is OK (As most know, I listen to everything from Soft Jazz/Classical to Country to Heavy Metal) but it needs to be up tempo. Just not enough motivation to ride/run while listening to a waltz!

So send your comments/suggestions my way and help me keep moving along! If your not sure how to send a comment - CLICK HERE to find out!

Who you gonna call? Could it be? Are they coming back?

Word is starting to spread that a 3rd Ghostbusters movie could be in the works! A lot of rumors are out there but no definative word on actual cast members returning or a story line yet.



Read more here:

Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters - part 3

Ramis Plans ‘Ghostbusters 3’ with Stiller

Our eBay Store: Simply Buy or Bid has closed for business today.

With yet another annoucement on Friday, eBay has again made sweeping changes to many facets of their online venue. With recent changes in listing structure, search results, listing/insertion fees, and the overall direction of their business model; it is no longer advantageous for us to continue to pay for a store front that continues to get less and less exposure within their new "best match" search engines.

Never fear though - we have plans to make this transition a positive one for our online selling. We will still be keeping our account on eBay open (just closing our e-store section) and will continue to run weekly auctions for both us and our clients.

Here is our game plan to handle the conversion:

1st - Mark and I have been working hard on getting an e-commerce store up and running. It is currently live and lists several products at terrific prices. It will be an ongoing project and our intentions are to continue to grow the product offering so that Stop-N-Buy.com will be a terrific online selling tool for us to list both new and gently used items.

Please check us out at: Stop-N-Buy.com

2nd - Have an item to sell or list? We will also still be moving forward with the consignment part of the business. I am currently working on a brand new fee/price structure for my Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum packages that will give our clients unmatched exposure when listing their items online with us. Updates and details can soon be found at: Simply Selling For You!!

Change can be a good thing if looked upon from the right angle. With any luck these changes will bring about a better way of continuing our online business and also provide us with a better foundation to grow our sales.

Thanks to all of our customers - past, present and future - for their understanding.

Congratulations Michael Phelps - 8 Gold and 12,000 calories a day!

I must say that I watched a lot more of the Olympics this year than I ever thought that I would. If I had to come up with a reason why I could probably sum it up in two words:

Michael Phelps

Mind you that I don't think I have ever even wanted to watch a swimming event from start to finish before, but Phelps accomplishments were so stunning that if you call yourself a sports fan then you had to be curious if he could pull it off. Not only did he deliver but he delivered in dramatic style! With the help of some determined teammates (and their help should not be taken lightly) he has broken so many records it is unbelievable.

There are so many articles about every aspect of his life being written that I could probably post a blog page every day for a few years linking to them but since I have my health challenge going I thought that the most interesting fact I found was this:

According to Chris Chase who writes a sports blog for Yahoo, Phelps " recently said he consumes 12,000 calories per day, or 9,500 more than the FDA recommends for an active, young male."

12,000 a day! WOW! I can already see a future headline:
4th of July 2009 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Champion - Michael Phelps :)

Here is the article:
Michael Phelps eats 12,000 calories per day

WOW! Joe and I Raced in the Richard Petty Nascar Driving Experience Today!!!

Richard Petty Experience - 8/15/08

How cool was today? On a scale of 1-10 about a 13! I went with my Dad and Linda to watch Joe participate in the Driving Experience sponsored by All Tile Distributing. Imagine my excitement when an extra spot was made available due to a last minute cancellation. Let me just say one thing - WWWOOOOWWWW!

Ok - so here is a rundown on today's schedule:

We arrived at the track about 11:30. The event was held at the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, IL. After pulling down through Gate 5 we were able to drive right under turn 3 to get to the infield. Of course at this moment I was ready to just observe but little did I know what was in store for me today....

All Tile was host to approx 30 wide-eye drivers and while we waited for everyone's arrival we were allowed to walk around and get a real good close up of the 4 cars we would soon be strapped down in. As soon as everyone was there we were treated to a lunch in the Chicagoland Media pavilion and awaited further instructions.

Approx 12:45pm I was given the terrific news that a spot had opened up and that my number was called. I did not even dream of being able to participate but once given the chance it didn't take long for me to fill out and initial the 3 page release form (Yep, it was about 3 pages :) and quickly get fitted for my racing firesuit. After a few publicity shots Joe and I made our way into the first driver's meeting to start our instructions.

After a quick initial driver's meeting it was outside again to get familiar with the cars and the track. We started by going over the car. Our instructor explained the instrument panel, emergency procedures, and basic operation of the vehicle.

After our car orientation we were offered a ride in the Petty Van to get an overview of the track and direction on how to drive the track. They were very thorough and explained the nuances of the track. It was a lot to take in - especially when your heart is going a hundred beats a minute in anticipation of getting things started.

Finally we attended our final drivers meeting. They reviewed our instructions and gave us communication information. No radios so you had to learn the flag system they used when you passed by the start finish line. Pretty straight forward and once we were comfortable we were ready to get racing!

In addition to the regular driving experience, they had a few other things available. Joe and I decided that we also wanted to participate in the Ride-Along experience so after our initial instruction we headed over to this area first and purchased the additional tickets.

In the ride along, you get to sit beside an experienced Petty driver in a true COT (Car of Today/Tomorrow) and they take you around the track closer to max speed then you would get driving by yourself. It was a great experience because 1) it helped ease the pre-race jitters by letting you feel a faster ride then you would drive and 2) it gave you a bird's eye view of how to truly drive the track. During the ride along you travel 4 laps (3 at speed) at approx 165-168 mph (Chicagoland's Track qualifying record: Jimmie Johnson 188.147 mph). First off, I am tremendously happy that I have already lost the weight that I did because the G-Force that you feel inside the car is completely unexpected. Secondly, anybody that contends that these Nascar drivers are not athletes need to do this experience. It is really unbelievable and I have an even deeper appreciation for what the Nascar drivers do on a weekly basis.

Next on the schedule was what we were all waiting for: The Driving Experience. The Richard Petty School has several program levels and for ours "The Rookie Experience" what it meant for us was to be strapped in our own Nascar Car and be able to follow behind an experienced driver (basically shadowing their line around the track). As you got comfortable and sped up the pace car in front of you increased their speed and away you go. 8 full laps (and they of course went by way to fast) were yours to run. If you run the laps correctly you have the potential on this experience to run between 140-145 mph. For those that think that doesn't sound too fast, try strapping in with over 600 hp at your fingertips out on a high banked track all by yourself and then tell me if you still think it isn't that fast.

So what were the final results? Well there were roughly 30 drivers and the winning speed was just over 141 mph. I am happy to announce I was in the top 5 with a top speed of 139.05 mph. (Hey the 2007 race winner Tony Stewart's average speed was 134.258 mph!) Unfortunately I must report that Joe turned in a top speed of just over 129 mph. Do you think I should let him live that down? (Neither do I :)

As you can probably tell - it was truly a unique and wonderful experience! I highly recommend it if you get the chance! As always click on the pics for a larger version and if you want: hover your mouse over the pic for a description of what you are looking at.

Want more info? Visit the Richard Petty Driving Experience website!

Update: The Harry Potter Movie: The Half-Blood Prince will be delayed until 7/17/09!

Back on July 29th I posted an article about The New Harry Potter movie. Unfortunately Warner Bros has announced today that they will postpone the opening of the film for nearly 8 months so that their 2009 summer movie schedule can now include The Half-Blood Prince.

Good news (at least for right now) is that the 2 part 7th movie has not been effected by this change and Part 1 is still slated for November of 2010.

Here is an article from Yahoo Movies with further information:
Next Harry Potter movie pushed back to July 2009

I will keep you updated if any other changes are announced.

Cubs vs Cards - Another Game @ Wrigley!

Wow! 3 Cubs games so far this year!

Joe and I were able to see the Cubs vs White Sox back on June 21st (Cubs won 11-7). See Pic Below

Then I was able to be lucky enough to see them play the Marlins at My 1st Rooftop Game. Now I was able to go back and watch them play their rivals - The St. Louis Cardinals!

Unfortunately the game I saw - Saturday, Aug 9th - was the day they lost 3-12 but the seats were still great! Originally I was planning on attending with Mark (see Blog the Info!) but something came up that prevented him from going. Instead I went with someone that I work with and we had just a terrific time! (Sorry Mark!)

Working on trying to maybe get to one more game. (This one may be away from Wrigley Field) I really think this is a magical season this year and I am trying to be able to say I was there during the season that history was made.

My dad and I - 6/21/08 - Cubs vs White Sox