Home

This is where I grew up.

What is it about the song "Home" from Phillip Phillips that has advertisers clamoring to use it in their commercials?  It's quite simple, really.  Next to the word family, there is no other word like home that elicits such an immediate, passionate, and emotional response.  It's an attachment that cannot be explained; it's human nature.  Maybe it’s the house you were born or perhaps the house where you lived your formidable teen years, but we all have that one special place that we call home.  For me that place is not a house, but rather a stretch of railroad tracks near the small Indiana subdivision where I was raised.  From the mid-1980s until the mid-1990s, I spent the bulk of my adolescence on this former Pennsylvania Railroad mainline.  The line once saw dozens of diesels hauling coal, auto parts, and even passengers, but by the late-80s was a shell of its former self.  During the tracks twilight years, I was out watching 70 year-old men switch train cars for the local Ford plant or else I was making my patented late-night walk down the tracks with my friend John.  Despite the passing years, my memories of home are fond and still vivid.  Business on the old tracks dried up in the late-90s and nature soon took over the route.  Where two sets of shiny rails once proudly stood, weeds and trees now rule the right of way.  I flinched and (admittedly) gasped when I learned that the end of the line for these idle tracks is near.  Soon the rusted rails and rotting ties will be torn up and hauled away.  While this news tugs at my heart, I am pleased to learn that a bike path might soon replace the tracks.  One day, I’ll be able to go home again.

Your Oscar Speech

These statues would like to thank the Academy.

2/24/13

Imagine for a moment that you're accepting an award that recognizes your work.  As you step on stage to accept said award, you offer thanks to those responsible for getting to where you are today--all in just 30 seconds.  After mentioning your spouse, family, or perhaps God, who would you thank?  Most likely it will be someone who mentored or motivated you.  But what about those other people: the people who told us that we weren't good enough.  Sometimes proving someone wrong is the greatest motivation.  Michael Jordan once mentioned that his high school basketball coach who cut him from the team served as one the biggest influences on his life.  Maybe it's being turned down for a job, rejected by someone you dated, or being told that you'll never have a future doing what you're most passionate...the opportunities are endless.  Who do you want to thank?

PB&J

"Sometimes all you need is a peanut butter & jelly sandwich and all is right with the world." 
--Socrates?
--Robert Frost??
--Paula Deen???

2/10/13

Memories of Superbowls Past

1/31/13

Once again, it's time for the only day this year that you'll ever hear anyone say, "Shut your yapper, I'm trying to watch these commercials!"  It's also the only day of that year that people seem to use Roman Numerals.  Yes, it's the Superbowl!  After fighting two people for the last Haas avocado at the grocery store, we all crowd in front of a 112 inch high-definition LCD-TV to watch a football game played between two teams that we don't care about.  We complain about the halftime show and wonder aloud why it's always the people at our office who make entirely too much money that win the office pool.  As Chicagoans, it's another excuse to re-live memories of Superbowl XX (which translates to "20") when our beloved Bears stomped on the Patriots.  Next to putting a man on the moon, it's the single most important event in history for those in Chicago.  I was in third grade at the time and remember how special it was at the time that the nuns at my Catholic school allowed us to decorate our lockers with Bears posters (we promptly had to remove them following the game).  Now each Superbowl is a reminder of something even more frightening than Tom Petty's 2008 halftime show: Sunday's game will be Superbowl XLVII ("47").  That means it's been (gasp) 27 years since Superbowl 20.  Apparently, I haven't been in the third grade for a while now.  I'm gonna shut my yapper now...

Why I Should Have Been A Baseball Player

1/21/13

I could be wrong, but I believe the word "January" comes from the Latin word "le January" which means: "dark, dreary and depressing."  With its short overcast days and long cold nights, I can't think of a month with less sex appeal.  Heck, even psychologists discovered the most depressing day of the year falls in January.

This is the time when we take inventory of our lives and set goals or resolutions to go along with the lofty aspirations we attach to the New Year.  It all coincides with the arrival of our W-2 tax forms that bluntly remind us how little money we earned in the previous year.  For me, it's the time when I am reminded that I should have been a baseball player.  Why?  Just look at some of these contracts that these former Chicago players received.

Fukudome has 5-1/2 million reasons to smile.

Chris Volstad managed to get a $1.5 million minor league contract from the Colorado Rockies after posting a 3-12 record with a 6.31 ERA with the Cubs in 2012.

Geovany Soto milked the Rangers for $1.5 million after hitting a robust .198 last season.

After being released by the White Sox with a lousy .171 average, Kosuke Fukudome went and signed a three-year $5.5 million contract to play for a Japanese team.

While the rest of us are groaning next January, these three guys will be laughing when they look at their W-2s.

"Thank You. Have A Good Night!"

1/3/13

What comes to mind when you hear the phrase "Midwest values"?  I can sum it up with one simple story (actually, it's a story that repeats itself daily).  I take public transportation to work every day and each night I notice as passengers pause before exiting the bus.  Each of them, as if they were old friends, tell the driver, "Thank you!  Have a good night."  There it is: two strangers in a crowded city wishing each other a pleasant evening.  It's a simple, yet beautiful gesture that plays out here each night in the Midwest, and it's something that I'll never tire of seeing. 

The Greatest Commercial of 2012

11/11/13

My award for the best commercial of the 2012 holiday season comes to us from Baileys Irish Cream.  The ad will make you long for sweater weather and a fireplace to accompany your cup of deliciousness.  It also provides another lesson that a commercial does not require dialogue to be effective.  It also marks the first time that the music of Blondie has made me want to run out and purchase something other than a Swiffer.  Enjoy and drink responsibly.