Back to it.

In case you didn't notice... and I am sure you did, but were too polite to mention it.... I had a long lapse in posting, and just played catch-up to get posts about the trip home up and running.

After the trip, I was pretty much toast.

Too much food. Too much beer. Too many nice people. Too much nice weather.

It was a great break. So great that it was tough to face the absolute madness that I encountered upon my return. Deadlines. Class wrap-ups. Show openings. General insanity.

I'll post on all of that later. For now, I need to prepare for more daily grind nonsense.

The Wedding.

Bruce's Wedding was some of this:

A bit of this:

And a lot of this:

Food.

When you've been away from the south and you come back to visit, you are barraged with an incredible bounty of delicious food. Food you can't find in Chicago.

Before the wedding, we were going to hit up Mac's Drive Thru, a Clemson institution. Gorgeous greasy heart-stoppers. Delicious.

It was packed. Therefore, we went here:

What are the odds?

Good food. Not Chicago-style.

Which is fine. For the record.

Bachelor Party

In lieu of the standard ridiculous bachelor party debauchery, Bruce, Ray, Jason, and I went up to the mountains and had a few days of giant steaks, good beer, stogies, xbox, chicken wings, table shuffleboard, and good old fashioned Boone relaxation.

It was pretty fun.

Easter Egg Hunt

Cuter than a basket full of kittens and puppies floating in a magical pool filled with lollipops, candy canes, and baby mermaids.

Spongebob Addiction

My niece Bailey is 19 months old and precocious. (I guess. What do I know about early childhood development? She seems a lot less lame than most sub-2 kids. )

She likes to eat ice. She presses her forehead against stuff. She really likes being thrown in the air and jumping off of stuff. She can differentiate between drinks, and will often ask for water, milk, juice, and tea all in the same sitting. If you give her the wrong drink, she doesn't pout, but she does look disappointed. She quotes Spongebob Squarepants incessantly.

If you've ever seen "Wonderpets", "Doodlebops", or any other program targeted at toddlers and preschoolers, you'd know that a Spongebob obsession is a wonderful thing for a child to have. Those other shows? Terrible. Spongebob? Hilarious.

Still, it's somehow troublesome to see a tiny kid toddling around yelling "Go Gary Go!" or "I'm ready! I'm ready! etc..." or any other common Spongebobism. Does a show about a sponge who lives in a Pineapple who works for a crab and has adventures with his best friend (a starfish) warp a kid's worldview?

I guess no more than a show about a magical street inhabited by a giant flightless bird, a trash monster, and a hairy elephant.

Or, for that matter, a dude who plays with puppets and can't walk in the door without changing his shoes and outerwear...

I miss those shows.

Trip Home

So, I'm down in South Carolina for a bit. I left around 8 on Thursday night and drove through the night. Maybe that sounds like crazy-talk, but here's what it 13 hrs in a car got me:

Chicago:

Sumter, SC:

Not a bad trade.

Strange.

I wish I lived in this house. I'd wear a threadbare smoking jacket all the time.

I saw this on the Reagan Expressway.

Makes sense, I guess. How else would you carry a turn-of-the-century 'high wheel' bicycle on the back of your sensible late-model Honda?

Birthday Joy

Saturday was Vince's birthday. (Vince is Mindy's boyfriend. Mindy and Amber have been friends for about two decades. Clear? Clear.)

The celebration of this birthday included the rental of a limo to take us out to eat German food. (Vince is super-German). The food was delicious. The limo was nice and cheesy. It had neon lights, a mirrored ceiling, and little LED outlines of martini glasses and champagne bottles. It also had Wisconsin plates. Nothing says 'class' like a vehicle registered in a state best known for cheese, beer, and extreme cold.

I ate sausage and sauerkraut and schnitzel and drank great weiss beer. Then we went back to Vince and Mindy's place, played flipcup, and hung out in the hot tub.

Sound fun? It was. Until I had to wake up the next morning at 7:15 and drive to the burbs to teach. Ouch.