Taking A Break.

So this blog thing has been really cool. It has reacquainted me with old friends, and the writing of those I read is entertaining and often teaches me something.

So, thanks to ya!

I'm gonna take a break for awhile. I'm to busy, and I'm just gonna get busier over the next month.

If you happen to stumble across this blog, please check out my links. You might learn something, or find an old friend too.

See you all later this year.

Look What I Made.

Two For Tuesday Tag!

Let's get caught up on our tag/meme things.

1. Small town or big city? City, is preferable.

2. Do you have a favorite childhood memory, and if so, would you share it? I have alot of quality childhood memories. Road trips, which we called, 'Boy's vacations,' cause my Dad would load my brothers and I into the car for a week long road trip. Usually we would visit our relatives in Kentucky, take in Mammoth Cave and hit a Civil War battlefield as we got older. It was really Mom's vacation from us. I also always loved Christmas at my house, a tradition that still has momentum, we had twenty-five people sit down for dinner this year.

3. How do you calm down when something has really upset and/or angered you? Do you swallow it? Call a friend and rant? Go in the bathroom and cry? Punch a wall? Walk around muttering to yourself, complete with scary hand gestures? I just take it out on the kids. They could toughin' up a bit anyway.

4. What attracts you to memes? They are a good excuse for a post, and I'm naturally (nosey) curious.

5. How reliant are you on computers to get through your day? Very. More for contact and entertainment. I don't work in an office.

6. In a crisis, are you calm or do you panic? Calm, but inactive. My 'happy place' is never far away.

FIVE YOU"D RATHER NOT KNOW ABOUT ME.

1. A few years ago, my nose hairs become an issue I had to address. I pluck them regularly, but they have adapted by turning white, making them far more noticeable. I have to pluck them more often.

2. I was named Employee of the Quarter at Shaw's Crabhouse on Hubbard, in Chicago for the fourth quarter of 2000. It is the highest honor I have ever received from an employer.

3. I shave with aloe vera gel and cold water. No shaving lotion or foam. I got into this habit down in Key West. It's treats my skin very well, plus I can use the aloe gel to style my hair.

4. I won my fantasy football league championship this year. Suck it, guys.

5. Family legend says, when I was a kid I would only eat carrots. So many, that I got alittle beta-carotene poisoning and turned orange for awhile. By the way, my eyes suck, so that song and dance about carrots being good for your eyes? Bunk!

My Friends: Another Brennan.

How amazing am I?

So my buddy Dave, over at BadArt, and Mom, at Team Brennan, are expecting another baby this year. Congrates to the whole family, Mom, Dave and Finn, who I'm sure will have his own blog to link to soon.

I've known Dave for, I think, twenty-five years. Most of those years we've spent as partners. One never being far from the other.

I swear, it's been quite a party.

When we were kids, we'd sit back and talk of life, death, and the future. And our own kids playing together. Having the party that we were having.

Add one to the guest list. Let the party rage on.

God's Own Suburban Smackdown, or New Emhurst Press Columnist Might Be A Jerk.

Anyone who grew up in Elmhurst is probably familiar with the humorous, editorial column, "Loose Change." Written by Jack Zimmerman, "Loose Change" was often funny and insightful, never taking itself seriously, it had been a staple of The Elmhurst Press for twenty-three years. He just wrote his last column. I liked it and I'm gonna miss it.

So, let's rip the new guy...

Jeff Vrabel attempts to be funny, but borders on insulting, as he pokes fun at Time's Person of the Year(agreed, but alittle late), YouTube and the current state of the media and information.

You can read the article here. My biggest problem comes in the second paragraph.

"You were also plummeting music mag Spin's Artist of the Year, where Your crappy band and its MySpace page apparently exerted more oomph than anything by Bruce Springsteen or Bob Dylan or Lindsay Buckingham last year. They do not have MySpace pages or blogs, which apparently makes them a little less noteworthy than, say, Chicago band OK Go, who became very popular with a groundbreaking video, shot for $24, in which they run on treadmills for several consecutive minutes."

Here is the first point where he reveals his contempt for harmless modern popular music, among other things, while staking a claim of integrity by comparing it to unimpeachable classic rock icons (which he's obviously smarter for listening to), who are now, more or less, irrelevant.

That's all fine and good, but Jeff, you are writing for an Elmhurst newspaper. OK Go! isn't just a Chicago band. The drummer of OK Go! is York High graduate and former Elmhurst resident, Dan Konopka. Some who read this paper may know him. May have had class with him, or been helped out by him. Some may have worked with him, knee deep in the shit. Other's may have written, lovingly of him, despite his having only a vague memory of the writer.

So, I'll be damned if I let some columnist, who considers his tastes superior to mine, slam my former 16 Inchers teammate. A son of Elmhurst who rocked me out a time or two in this fair city.

Shape up, Jeff Vrabel. You're on notice.

Philip's Photo's

So, Philip has become a little shutterbug. Here are a few of his recent works.

Portrait of the Artists Father.

Self portrait of the Artist.

Electric train set Thomas, his favorite toy.

Christmas tree at friends house.

The Dobbs's.
Could the distance between this couple inform us of a "distance" in their relationship, or is it merely the compositional tendencies of a four-year-old?



Philip's instructions to the subjects in these next photos, "Be silly."

Silly #1

Silly #2

Silly #3