All Hallow's Eve

Hello world. What a long and brutal week it's been. I dropped the ball at work a little bit and that always makes life hard. People take their jobs personally where I work and even though I don't live and breathe just for this job, it's tough to disappoint colleagues. I haven't really had a lot of jobs that I cared about, and that's kind of a nice freedom, but it also kind of makes you feel like you're wasting your time. I'm glad that I do something now that I want to be good at. But that's enough about that. It's been a rainy week leading up to Halloween weekend and I'm really glad it's almost here. I really like Halloween, and what guy doesn't? It's a chance for all guys to go to parties and dress up as the funniest/most attention-seeking thing possible, while all the girls go for the skanky outfits that they are afraid to wear any other day. What could be better?

This year I'm going to be a ninja, but in recent year's I've been a rodeo clown, Marc Antony (when TheGirl was Cleopatra), a knight, Aristotle, a guardian angel, a ghostbuster, Peter Pan, and a cow. What are your best costumes?

There will be no Justice Miers any more. She withdrew today, likely at the urging of the White House, and that is yet another blow for an administration that will likely see some indictments from the Valarie Plame investigation in the very near future. Not a good week at work for those guys either.

But the biggest news of the week for us Chicagoans is the White Sox sweeping the Astros for a World Series title. I couldn't sleep last night because my street was so loud...honking horns, blaring music, people in the street making noise...this city really needed a champion and they finally have one. I'm happy for the players and for Ozzie...they seem to be a tight-knit group that plays hard and makes sure they do the little things. They deserve this title and while it's not the Cubs, I'm happy the title is in Chicago. Next year, the Cubs get a trophy to match.

Tomorrow is Friday and I've already booked up the entire weekend. If you want to join up for happy hour drinks, email me at my personal account if you don't know where we'll be. If not, I hope to see you out on Saturday night in your costume. When you detect the smell of booze and then find yourself surrounded by a stealthy, deadly clan of ninjas in Wrigleyville, that's when you've found the crew from the Offering. I'll try to be back tomorrow with more, but if not, have a great Halloween. Boo.

Tim

Stomach Punch

Well, the filthy, stinking Wolverines knocked the wind out of me this weekend, and it's a terrible time to have a bye week because this one's going to sting until the Hawks can get a big win and move on. If you didn't already know, Michigan came back in the second half on Saturday and finished the Hawks in overtime, effectively ending our hopes for a New Year's Day bowl and knocking us out of contention in the Big Ten. Right now, I think the best-case scenario is the Alamo Bowl, which is nowhere near New Year's Day and thus a difficult trip to make for those of us with jobs.

At times, I felt that the officiating was indeed terrible, but you can't say that's the reason we lost. Albert Young ran free the entire first half and then we couldn't sustain our run blocks in the second half. Clinton Solomon dropped three passes, including a crucial third down pass in OT that would have given us first and goal inside the 5-yard line instead of a field goal. We couldn't stop Steve Breaston from making a 52-yard run after a very ordinary screen pass in the second half. There were a lot of things that we didn't do well enough. It is notable that we were flagged 11 times Saturday after only having 17 penalties called on us the previous 7 games. We played sloppy, and now we're looking at three very tough games and a best-case scenario of 8-3 plus a bowl game. It's not a bad season, and a few years ago we would have been ecstatic about an 8-win year and a bowl berth, but they just haven't lived up to expectations this year. The entire team didn't play four quarters of football on least 4 occasions (Iowa State, UNI, Ohio State, Michigan) and the defense didn't play well on a fifth (Indiana). They played flat out terrible on at least three occasions (Iowa State, UNI, Ohio State). And the fact remains: we still haven't beat a good team yet. Our best win of the year was against a team who is still looking for a Big Ten win and whose season is absolutely over. What makes our resume even respectable? Beating Indiana at home? Illinois for homecoming? We've beaten a bunch of chumps and lost to everyone who challenged us. It's sad. I'm bummed out for the seniors who wanted to keep it going through their careers (Hinkel, Solomon, Greenway, Hodge, Jovon Johnson, etc...) and I hope that the younger guys learn that a lofty preseason ranking and a popular coaching staff doesn't get you anything in this league.

And if we think that Northwestern, Wisconsin, or Minnesota are going to lay down for us, we're sorely mistaken. Okay. Enough of the rant. I'm just very disappointed by what the Hawks have shown me this year, and I think we have a lot of good guys on this team who should be getting better results.

I got my tickets for Northwestern today, I'm excited for a road game in two weeks. GRide will be in the house and we're going to lay waste to scenic Evanston. Going to attend the Hawkeye Huddle? Holler at the Offering and I'll drink a beer with you.

Not to neglect the other big games of the weekend: The White Sox got more heroics from the usual suspects as well as some role players this weekend, and will take a 2-0 lead down to the Juice Box. With Rocket potentially out of the series, I think my original prediction of the Sox in 6 games is looking mighty fine right now. The Bears kept the division lead with a slugfest victory over Baltimore in the rain last night and set up a showdown with the Lions next week for control of the NFC North. It's amazing, but the Bears have a real shot at the playoffs this year. If they can keep the rest of these underachievers at bay, our easy schedule and the injuries to other key NFC North players may pave the way to a four touchdown blowout loss in the first round of the playoffs, on the road of course. I'm just kidding. Hope springs eternal here at the Offering, and you never know how far the Bears can go with that nasty defense.


Alright then. We've got ourselves a nominee for Alan Greenspan's job, whose term ends in January. Nobody is going to like the next fed chair as much as we liked Alan Greenspan, but there is nothing about Bernanke that makes me immediately think he is objectionable. He has a lot of experience, has already ran a regional fed, and seems to be well-liked by both sides of the aisle as well as in academia. Dolph knows him from his college days and gives him a full endorsement.

It's cold out there. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Eve are some of favorite holidays, but I can do without the freezing weather. I'm really looking forward to Saturday, when I'll be carving pumpkins and then hitting the town as part of a fearsome ninja clan. We won't be trick-or-treating, but we will be trick-or-boozing, which is much more fun. Thanks to Gate and the lovely Sarah for hosting us on Halloween Saturday for festive activities. It's fun to do the seasonal stuff. It makes the cold, windy autumn more bearable.

Wilma has started her rampage in Florida, and she has killed 3 and knocked out the power for over 3 million already. I hope this is the end of the season. I have heard that it will be. I think the people of the South have earned a respite from storms for a while.

That's all for now. I hope you have your costumes all ready to go for next weekend. I'll be dressing up Saturday and probably Monday as well. Holidays are often fun and memorable in proportion to the extent which you exert effort to make them that way. So get out your clown suit or angel wings or whatever and go all out. More tomorrow.

T

Westward Bound

Hi world, TGIF. It's the end of the week and I am getting geared up to hit the road to join the fracas surrounding Black-Out Saturday in IC as a fired-up Iowa Hawkeye squad takes on Michigan. This game has extra importance to our program as well because we have three of our biggest recruits in town to see how we play against a big opponent. Let's hope we impress them and shore up our linebacking for the next several years.

Chicago is also bursting at the seams this weekend in anticipation of the first two games of the World Series taking place at the Cell on Saturday and Sunday. We're wearing jeans and Sox shirts at work today, a rare departure from our business casual policy, and folks all over town are getting swept up in World Series fever. I have gotten over my cross-town bias and am firmly rooting for the Sox, despite my rule to always root for the NL in the playoffs and World Series (except in the case of the Cardinals). I like the Astros marginally more than St. Louis, but I have to root for the hometown team. Chicago desperately needs a new champion (although we had the Bulls in the 90's, this town is a football/baseball town first and we haven't had a champion in those sports since the immortal 1985 Bears) and the Sox deserve this one. They played great baseball for most of the year, did the little things, and relied on solid pitching to carry them this far. I hope they win it all, and I predict they will, in 6 games.

It's a beautiful day in Chicago, and I am looking forward to getting on the road. Have a great weekend and go Sox!

If you want to read some funny stuff about hijinks and adventures of an American in London, check out Hansel's blog. He's a good writer and is doing his best to make trouble in the UK for a year. Hansel. So hot right now.

I'll be back on Sunday with some better content as well as some previews of the upcoming Halloween celebrations. It looks to be quite a festive holiday. Stay safe everybody.

T

The Deadly Art of Invisibility and Originalism

Hi world. Here is a picture of my first Halloween costume, slated for Friday and possibly Saturday night, October 28th and 29th. I say "first Halloween costume" because in the likely event that it becomes destroyed/unwearable by the end of the weekend, I'll have to come up with something else for festivities on actual Halloween. The two-costume format is definitely the way to go when you celebrate Halloween on multiple nights.

I'm going to be a ninja, as part of a stealthy, deadly, and very, very drunk band of ninjas that includes K-Rock, LongMan, Dolph, Gate, and possibly others. We will be carousing the shadows of Lakeview and Wrigleyville next weekend practicing, as Napolean Dynamite says, the deadly art of invisibility. And when I say invisibility, I mean loud, drunk, obnoxious, and armed with plastic throwing stars. We also found matching costumes for the ladies who will (until they become too annoyed and leave) accompany us, but the ninja skank outfits were too big. It's a shame, but we're going to look sharp anyway.

Not much to report today...I love hump day but my week has been crazy. How about you? I'm always nervous the week before going out of town because I feel like all my obligations at work will come due while I'm away from my email/office. I have to learn to get over it.

Two news notes: Tom DeLay is officially on the lamb and Hurricane Wilma looks like a bad one. I've gotten some hits from Florida here at the Offering, so let me say this if you are reading from that part of the world: leave now. Don't be stubborn, too many people thought they would be fine during Katrina and Rita and it cost a lot of lives. If you want to help with the hurricane relief effort, don't be afraid to click on the link to the right.

Finally, Dolph brought this interesting op-ed from the Wall Street Journal by Justice Bork to my attention today. I'll copy the text here (please don't sue me, Wall Street Journal) and withhold my opinion on the matter for now. We haven't gotten into Justice Miers and the nomination all that much, so go ahead and tell the world what you think.

Slouching Towards Miers
By ROBERT H. BORKOctober 19, 2005

With a single stroke -- the nomination of Harriet Miers -- the president has damaged the prospects for reform of a left-leaning and imperialistic Supreme Court, taken the heart out of a rising generation of constitutional scholars, and widened the fissures within the conservative movement. That's not a bad day's work -- for liberals.

There is, to say the least, a heavy presumption that Ms. Miers, though undoubtedly possessed of many sterling qualities, is not qualified to be on the Supreme Court. It is not just that she has no known experience with constitutional law and no known opinions on judicial philosophy. It is worse than that. As president of the Texas Bar Association, she wrote columns for the association's journal. David Brooks of the New York Times examined those columns. He reports, with supporting examples, that the quality of her thought and writing demonstrates absolutely no "ability to write clearly and argue incisively."

The administration's defense of the nomination is pathetic: Ms. Miers was a bar association president (a nonqualification for anyone familiar with the bureaucratic service that leads to such presidencies); she shares Mr. Bush's judicial philosophy (which seems to consist of bromides about "strict construction" and the like); and she is, as an evangelical Christian, deeply religious. That last, along with her contributions to pro-life causes, is designed to suggest that she does not like Roe v. Wade, though it certainly does not necessarily mean that she would vote to overturn that constitutional travesty.

There is a great deal more to constitutional law than hostility to Roe. Ms. Miers is reported to have endorsed affirmative action. That position, or its opposite, can be reconciled with Christian belief. Issues we cannot now identify or even imagine will come before the court in the next 20 years. Reliance upon religious faith tells us nothing about how a Justice Miers would rule. Only a commitment to originalism provides a solid foundation for constitutional adjudication. There is no sign that she has thought about, much less adopted, that philosophy of judging.

Some moderate (i.e., lukewarm) conservatives admonish the rest of us to hold our fire until Ms. Miers's performance at her hearing tells us more about her outlook on law, but any significant revelations are highly unlikely. She cannot be expected to endorse originalism; that would alienate the bloc of senators who think constitutional philosophy is about arriving at pleasing political results. What, then, can she say? Probably that she cannot discuss any issue likely to come before the court. Given the adventurousness of this court, that's just about every issue imaginable. What we can expect in all probability is platitudes about not "legislating from the bench." The Senate is asked, then, to confirm a nominee with no visible judicial philosophy who lacks the basic skills of persuasive argument and clear writing.

But that is only part of the damage Mr. Bush has done. For the past 20 years conservatives have been articulating the philosophy of originalism, the only approach that can make judicial review democratically legitimate. Originalism simply means that the judge must discern from the relevant materials -- debates at the Constitutional Convention, the Federalist Papers and Anti-Federalist Papers, newspaper accounts of the time, debates in the state ratifying conventions, and the like -- the principles the ratifiers understood themselves to be enacting. The remainder of the task is to apply those principles to unforeseen circumstances, a task that law performs all the time. Any philosophy that does not confine judges to the original understanding inevitably makes the Constitution the plaything of willful judges.

By passing over the many clearly qualified persons, male and female, to pick a stealth candidate, George W. Bush has sent a message to aspiring young originalists that it is better not to say anything remotely controversial, a sort of "Don't ask, don't tell" admonition to would-be judges. It is a blow in particular to the Federalist Society, most of whose members endorse originalism. The society, unlike the ACLU, takes no public positions, engages in no litigation, and includes people of differing views in its programs. It performs the invaluable function of making law students, in the heavily left-leaning schools, aware that there are respectable perspectives on law other than liberal activism. Yet the society has been defamed in McCarthyite fashion by liberals; and it appears to have been important to the White House that neither the new chief justice nor Ms. Miers had much to do with the Federalists.

Finally, this nomination has split the fragile conservative coalition on social issues into those appalled by the administration's cynicism and those still anxious, for a variety of reasons, to support or at least placate the president. Anger is growing between the two groups. The supporters should rethink. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq aside, George W. Bush has not governed as a conservative (amnesty for illegal immigrants, reckless spending that will ultimately undo his tax cuts, signing a campaign finance bill even while maintaining its unconstitutionality). This George Bush, like his father, is showing himself to be indifferent, if not actively hostile, to conservative values. He appears embittered by conservative opposition to his nomination, which raises the possibility that if Ms. Miers is not confirmed, the next nominee will be even less acceptable to those asking for a restrained court. That, ironically, is the best argument for her confirmation. But it is not good enough.

It is said that at La Scala an exhausted tenor, after responding to repeated cries of "Encore," said he could not go on. A man rose in the audience to say, "You'll keep singing until you get it right." That man should be our model.

Mr. Bork is a fellow of the Hudson Institute and editor of "A Country I Do Not Recognize: The Legal Assault on American Values" (Hoover, 2005). He is co-chairman of the Federalist Society.

Have a great Wednesday.

It's flattering that you want my identity, but...

Well, add me to the list of people that have been victimized by electronic identity theft. Some ass clown got ahold of my debit card number on Friday afternoon and went to town. The charges just started clearing today and now I have to go through the hassle of getting the money back (since it's a debit and not a credit card, the money is already gone).

I can't figure out how it happened either...I have never used my debit card for an online transaction in my life, and I didn't lose the card, in fact, I still have it. It must have been a lucky hit by a computer program cranking out millions of numbers. Brutal. And to whoever stole my number and tried to drain my checking account on Friday: $125 at Baker's Square? Do you like a little french silk pie to go with your credit card fraud? You're probably some 425-lb freak show living in your mom's basement well into your 30's and eating pies out of the box while shopping online with stolen credit cards for Dungeons & Dragons accessories and mail-order brides who won't make fun of your lack of personal hygiene and your virginity. Asshole.

That's all my personal news for today. The Astros took a gut punch last night as they were one strike away from a World Series berth, but they let Fat Albert, the one guy in baseball that you absolutely cannot allow to hit in this situation, take one very, very deep in the 9th to win the game. It was heart-wrenching, and all I have to say is that the Astros better get their act together because no Cubs fan can be expected to get through a White Sox-Cardinals World Series without commiting a violent crime against a fan of one of those two teams.

We've got another hurricane set to make landfall this weekend, but hopefully it will take it a little easier on the Gulf Coast than the last three. If you want to help out, see the link to help victims to the right of this post.

If you're going to Iowa City this weekend for the big Iowa-Michigan showdown, make sure to wear black to the tailgates and especially to the game. The UI athletic department is starting an annual tradition of "Black Out Saturday" where fans are encouraged to wear all black to the stadium to enhance our home field advantage. I say whatever it takes, we should do it. Plus "Black Out Saturday" is an appropriate term for big games like Michigan. I may do a little blacking out myself.

That's it for now. I'm going to try a new place for dinner tonight that's getting a lot of buzz, the Blue Water Grill. I don't really eat a lot of raw fish, but when in Rome, I guess.

Rock on.

Grrrrr. Stupid Splogbombs

I understand that some jackass dropped a Splogbomb generated by blogspot.com today. For those that are new to the internets, splogs are websites with blog URLs, frequently blogspot.com URLs such as the one for this website, that are cloned (i.e. no written value by the creator) and used for spamming. They are started by computer scripts and continually post ads, send out comments to other blogs, clog up search engine results and other such annoying nonsense.

The splogbomb that came today was the result of some spammer that wrote a computer script that continually generates thousands of new blogs and pings out millions of posts about cheap Viagra, mortgage rates, etc. It originated at blogger.com, the website for all blogspot.com blogs. And that is not surprising, because this Google-hosted blog site is easy, fast, and free. Thus you have the most spammers starting splogs here.

Why do we care? Because blogs are indexed by Google, Icerocket, and other sites so that when people search the internet for content that is covered in your blog, it turns up as a result. Now, these engines are starting to refuse to index new blog posts because the staggering amount of splogs are drowning the search engines in useless results.

What is the solution? Make it harder to post on your blog. For example, I write my post, save it to the blog, and then get an email confirmation that requires me to click on a link to publish the post. Or install some kind of filter that requires an extra step to log in and post.

Mark Cuban's excellent blog covers this topic today, and is where I got some of the above info. He runs Icerocket.com and is a great member of the blog community. His engine is not indexing any blogspot.com posts until the problem has been fixed.

Cuban is right in his post today: Google has provided a great service to those of us who aren't very computer savvy but want to run a free, accessible blog such as this one. But when you allow your site to host literally tens of thousands of splogs that cripple people's ability to use the blogosphere to exchange ideas and information, you should install whatever filter is necessary to curb that practice. Let's get our act together here.

Small Victories

How was your weekend? It was a great one in terms of sports victories, but that's what happens when all your teams are playing overmatched opponents. The Hawks played porous defense yesterday but polished off a much improved Indiana team yesterday in Iowa City. The White Sox came back to Chicago late last night after winning their first AL pennant since 1959 and I heard about it all night long from the street outside my apartment. They played great baseball against the Angels each and every night, and they deserve this chance at a title. What could be worse for a Cubs fan than a White Sox-Cardinals World Series?

The Bears just crushed the Vikings at home for a much-needed win and to get back on top of the division as the Lions went down to the wire but lost to the Panthers.

It was a classic weekend for college football, as both USC and Michigan pulled a rabbit out of the hat and scored as time expired to get huge wins against Notre Dame and Penn State. That's good for the Hawks. If we win out, we're looking at competing for a share of the Big Ten title as long as Ohio State loses one more.

I had a good time this weekend, but I have to say it was a little more low-key than the last four or five in a row and that's not a bad thing. TheGirl was out of town, and a few key players were not around either. Friday I started things off with an extended happy hour at the Union League Club and then hit a variety of bars on Sheffield. Saturday found me at Sedgwick's an early hour as usual, but it was up to me and LongMan alone to carry the load during the Hawks game, so we only could manage to drink 5 or 6 buckets of beer. After a long nap in the early evening, and a few bottles of wine with K-Rock, LongMan (careful with his link if you're at work :)), and five of the Hawkettes, it was a quick jaunt over to A Live One for shots until closing. Yee Ha. I'm feeling the effects of the wine right now, but it was well worth it as always.

It was a pretty slow weekend in the news too. The Iraqis voted by referendum on the constitution that was negotiated over a period of months this year. It looks like it is going to pass, but they will be counting votes for several days so we won't know for a while. A lot of people don't know that not only do a majority of voters have to vote for the constitution, but if it is rejected by a 2/3 majority in any three of the 18 provinces, it doesn't pass. So a small but vocal minority (read: Sunnis that feel disenfranchised) can hold up the process for everyone. We'll be looking forward to seeing how the vote came out in a couple of key Sunni-dominated areas.

Stem cell research is also in the news again, because we may have figured out a way to harvest cells without destroying embryos, which would seem to answer a lot of criticisms that are leveled by people that ethical problems with stem cell research. What do think? Should this make stem cell research a no-brainer (if you don't think it is already)? I am all for stem-cell research, but I'm also as pro-choice as they come, so that's not a surprise.

Here's a question for you: do you allow the music you listen to affect your mood? I was a little bit down this week and weekend, and I think it's because I was listening to too many bands that are all about loneliness and brooding and the generally depressing parts of life (the Death Cab show this past week is exhibit A). With my ipod with me pretty much all the time, I probably have music on several hours a day, and it sometimes surprises me how much of an effect it can have on demeanor. Anyway.

Busy week coming up, as usual. I have to get a lot done because we'll be taking the show on the road next weekend to watch the Hawkeyes play the biggest home game of the year against Michigan. Should be a blast.

Have a great week.

Home Stretch

The last three weeks have absolutely flown by, but for some reason, this week has just dragged and dragged. Maybe it's because it was gray and cloudy all week and it's supposed to be 65-70 and sunny all weekend. Maybe it's because I had some very hectic moments at work interspersed between streches of boredom. Maybe it's because I just like weekends a little too much and when I start planning them on Monday afternoon, it becomes a long week. anyway. It's moot now, because it's Friday and it's just about go time.

I saw A History of Violence last night and it was quite a show. It's a film that's hard to describe (but getting a lot of critical acclaim). It has lots and lots of, at times gratuitous, sex and violence. To steal a quote from a review at the imdb page linked above, this movie kind of crawls all over you. The plot is straightforward, Viggo and Maria Bello are pretty good, Ed Harris and William Hurt play the gangsters and are pretty good as well. It's one of those movies where no matter what you are expecting, it's probably not going to be what you expect. And Gate made a good point when he noted that the movie sort of languishes at times because there aren't very many scenes, they are just really long. There are lots of silences and shots of people moving around instead of cutting to the next scene. Pretty well done. I give it a B/B+. Better than Mr. and Mrs. Smith, worse than Crash.

What are you up to this weekend? I don't have a lot going on so far, except the standard Iowa Hawkeye Victory Routine starting tomorrow at 7:30 AM sharp. I'm hoping to get in one more round of golf on Sunday if I can, we'll have to see about that. The weather is supposed to be gorgeous all weekend, and this may be the last one. So let's get out there and make the most of it.

Have a great weekend. Go Hawks.

"And all I find are souvenirs from better times..."

I expect this from other bands, but not you Death Cab. You are awesome and your live sound has always impressed me, you have a charismatic and talented front man, and quite simply, you rock. I thought that even your recent meteoric rise to popularity (by indie rock standards) wouldn't compromise your ability to kick ass in a small, intimate setting like the Riv.

But alas, you wrought disappointment on the Chicago crowd last night. Your setlist was slow, devoid of energy, and while you sounded as tight as ever, I wondered why I came all the way to Uptown to take a nap. There is so much potential in your catalog, and by now you must surely know how to build a show. Last night's show should have been subtitled "Indie rock for people who like adult contemporary music." If you were at the show last night and loved it, I have a Yanni/John Tesh compilation that I think you will enjoy.

But I'm still not giving up on you, Death Cab. I'm going to your next show and I'm going to give you a chance to make it up to me. Stop trying to please all the high school students in the crowd who heard your (lame) single off of Plans and start worrying about how great you used to sound on the Photo Album and We Have the Facts and get back to the rocking.

Highlights were (sigh), Crooked Teeth and The New Year. If you want the setlist, check out K-Rock's review here. That's all on that subject.


It's been a crazy day today...I have a ton to do, but I'll hopefully be able to catch a movie tonight and relax, because this weekend looks to be a rager (seriously?).

Oh, and by the way- Nice call, Doug Eddings. I guess as a Chicagoan I have to be happy that last night's ALCS mishap bounced the way of the Sox, but come on. A pivotal situation calls for efficient, clear-cut umpiring. If Pierzynski is called out as he should have been (and was, twice), and the Angels win that game, I don't think there is any way the series comes back to Chicago. Now the Sox can bring the series back to the Cell by getting just 1 of 3 in LA and the whole landscape of the series changes.

Umpires have a tough job. They deserve our respect. But let's get our best and brightest out there to umpire home plate in the pennant series, and let's make sure that they call the play one way or the other. The Angels have a right to be upset.

It's almost the weekend. Get out your black and gold. See you soon.
T

Nomar is a stud

Nomar jumped into the Boston Harbor last week to save two women who had fallen in, at least one of whom was unconscious. I hope he didn't tear his Achilles tendon in the process.

Dreary day today. Gross. But the Death Cab show tonight should rock.

Song of the day: Runways & Freeways, YMI. You can stream it for free here.

"Like I could be your best investment around,

If you'd just take the time to listen

You've got offers all over this town,

So I will make this short and sweet..."

Mmmm, nice guns

This story is a little disturbing. We certainly live in a gun-crazy culture when we have 2-year olds shooting 4-year olds. I have gone back and forth about gun control over the years: I certainly don't think that the 2nd Amendment should be interpreted the way that it is by gun nuts, however, the argument that we need guns as a sort of detante policy against those that use them illegally is not without its merits either. When I worked in the DA's office on the south side a few years ago, there were a ton of illegal guns and they were almost always involved when we prosecuted drug busts. Where you find illegal guns, you also find epidemic drug and gang activity. Not to imply that a crackdown on guns would necessarily curtail either of the other two, but it couldn't hurt.

And we're excited here in Chicago, as the Angels come to town for the ALCS. I am strictly a Cubs fan, so I don't much care about rooting for the Sox, but this sort of thing is good for the city and good for baseball in general. That being said, I hope that Sox fans enjoy this post-season run (but you Neanderthals are not welcome at Wrigley Field. Just kidding, sort of.).

It's Tuesday, but already the week is full. I'm shooting to hit the Death Cab show tomorrow night, and Wolf Parade plays Friday at Schuba's, but I don't know if I'm going to make it to that one. We'll see.

TheGirl is out of town this weekend, she's going out to Utah to see the family and do some more advance-team work for the Big Day. We're under the one-year countdown right now, but not close enough for me to have any full blown anxiety-fueled freak outs just yet. Although I have been thinking a lot about it lately. Marriage is a strange thing. Marriages are so universally accepted as being difficult to do really well that the difficulty is now practically a cliche, which is strange, because it's also the only lifelong lifestyle choice/big decision that people routinely make with absolutely no experience without hesitation. Think about how much marriage changes your life. Would you do anything else as similarly impacting (move to Australia, start a career in something that takes a lifetime of training and practice, adopt a few kids, etc...) with absolutely no experience in the area? Would you decide to have a roommate for the rest of your life after sharing a place with them for a year or two? I think marriage is the one "big-ticket" life decision where we make ourselves feel like we don't need experience in the area to succeed. And some people don't. Some people are great at it. It's just hard to be certain that you are one of those people before you try it out, which of course you can't do unless you are in Hollywood and you have a few starter marriages before the real one. Married people, let me hear you.

Have a great Tuesday.

The sweet taste of victory

Well, I just finished sweeping up broken glass and took out 3 garbage bags of cans and bottles, which can mean only one thing: another football Saturday has come and gone. With it came a huge Hawkeye win at Purdue, a win that we absolutely had to have to keep hope alive for a good season. With a home game against Michigan, a trip to Wisconsin for the last home game coached by Barry Alvarez, and Minnesota on the schedule, we couldn't afford to have three losses on the board already. Drew Tate put on a clinic, Clinton Solomon had a career day, and the defense stepped it up with a couple of crucial turnovers. The win did not come without its costs, however, as we lost a huge on and off-field presence in (Tricky) Ed Hinkel when he went down with a broken arm in the second half. But all in all LongMan's birthday party was a success. Game Balls go to Emily for hosting us and LongMan for a stellar birthday effort. Great times, a little bit overboard on the boozing as usual, but if you didn't know, now you know. We go all out when the Hawks win big.

These weekends are physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausting. Maybe the fact that the football season is only 12 weeks long is a good thing. For those planning ahead, we'll be here next weekend for the Indiana game, and then in Iowa City for Michigan, in Chicago for Halloween (bye week), and at the games at Northwestern and Wisconsin the 5th and 12 of November. If we continue to play well, it should be a blast. If you are going to be at any of those games, especially Northwestern or Wisconsin, drop me a line. It's good to roll deep in enemy territory.

This morning I went to a cool place, the Chicago Botanic Gardens. I went a lot as a kid and did not think I was going to like it this time around, but it was a surprisingly fun place to walk around. Of course, I probably would have liked it even more if not for the pounding headache that was the result of a 15 hour assault on Chicago's supply of Jagermeister and tequila yesterday. Even though they are very fragile (a bad thing in my apartment), I bought myself a White Orchid that has been growing out at the Gardens. I will be attempting to grow it this fall and winter. I know nothing about doing this, so if you have some tips, let me know.

It was a pretty slow weekend for news except for Mother Nature was feeling particularly vengeful. There was a mudslide in Guatemala and a terrible earthquake in India and Pakistan, killing 22,000 and injuring 43,000, and those numbers are probably going to rise. Awful tragedy. It seems like we have been having a ton of natural disasters lately, from the tsunami to the hurricanes and then the events of this weekend. If you would like to contribute to relief for any of these disasters, here is a good list of organizations that are heading up the relief effort.

Songs of the day are Concrete Schoolyard by Jurrasic 5 and Transatlanticism by Death Cab for Cutie. The Death Cab show is on Wednesday this week, it should be a great one. I'll be at the show with K-Rock and LongMan, if you're going and want to have a drink or something afterward, you know the drill.

I'll be back with more tomorrow or Tuesday. Have a great week and get out there in the nice weather before it gets too cold.

T

Some Culture for your Ass

Hello everyone, and happy Friday! I love Fridays. There is an air of urgency around the office because people are ready to get out for the weekend. People stand in the halls and talk about their plans and such. The fact that it's an autumn weekend with lots of big games, both baseball and football, makes it that much better.

First things first: today I am going to post a poem written by one of my best friends (who I met on my first day here), a true influence in my life, and a guy with almost limitless talent in a variety of areas, TheKeefer. TheKeefer recently eschewed a career in finance and consulting to take on a career as a poet, and without a great deal of formal training has become a poetry fellow at a prestigious university. A lot of his catalog cannot be posted at the Offering just yet because it is being considered for publication at various literary journals, and they don't like it when blogs like this defile the poems prior to publication. Anyway, we'll go with a selection already published at this fine journal, and as more become available, we'll post them as well.

Without further ado:

Very Large Array


I called in suspicion. Walking home – a fogged
streetcar, fireworks to the east, the stars’
sweaty nest. The flutter in your voice
was a stranger’s smile on the stairs.

I called in anger. Rain and traffic, a basket of
rotten bananas, a splinter.
The crack in your voice was a match-head,
my tongue a trail of gasoline.

I called in desperation. Skin-shiver, achy
Creole music, oceans clutching their aqua shawls.
The tick
in your voice…

there is a place in New Mexico:
Very Large Array - telescopes
scrambling cosmic chatter. Rattle-boxes
filled with snow. Radio waves swim out
like snorklers scanning wraiths
of wet-electric. Each scope-face
wheeling the cyclopean ear,
thirteen miles long. It hears:
a lunar apogee
Plutonian lampposts
a supernova
made human.

*

If you like TheKeefer's work and would like to find out where to read more, email me. I will post another poem next week, so stay tuned.

Okay, the weekend (which, as Krock says, will be sponsored in part by Steven Seagal's Lightning Bolt Energy Drink): The LongMan's birthday celebration hasn't been set in stone yet, but the Birthday Committee is having a dinner meeting tonight to firm up the plans. If you want to be sure not to miss out, be at Sedgwick's for the Iowa-Purdue game tomorrow. We'll be leaving from there after the game. We at the Offering are looking forward to a few drinks with another buddy from Club Midd, DeRooster, who will be in town Saturday.

Tonight after the Birthday Committee meets for dinner at Tango Sur for some Argentinean cuisine, we'll be taking it off the chain as usual. Want to join us after dinner? Have a suggestion for where to do so? Email me or call me today. Pre-dinner cocktails and trash talking about the week will commence at my place promptly at 7:00. Dinner is at 9:00, and bad judgment begins at 10:30 sharp.

The Cold Dizzle will be flowing freely this weekend, so if you are in Chicago, I hope you can take part. Have a great weekend everybody.

Tim

Hump. Day.

Hi everyone. Here's Kyle Orton at the Union Bar in Iowa City, courtesy of www.deadspin.com and my buddy KRock. Kyle Orton and I have two things in common: We both drank a lot of liquor at the Union Bar in Iowa City in the last five days, and neither of us can hit an NFL receiver in stride with the football. Okay, enough...I'm just kidding Kyle. I'm still holding out hope that armed with the best defense in football in the worst division in history, you may be able to win almost as many games as you lose. Okay, now it's really enough.

Ramblings for today, since nothing really noteworthy has gone on that I would like to focus on:

1) The assisted suicide debate is raging at the Supreme Court, and Chief Justice Roberts is wasting no time asserting himself. Republicans always want to say that they are for smaller government and less personal intrusions on people's lives, yet they always eschew their chances to prove it. Why can't a mentally competant but terminally ill person who wishes to die ensure that such death will be painless by enlisting the help of a competant medical professional? It doesn't seem like something that the government should regulate, especially when permissive laws were passed by referendum, as they were in Oregon. It's a personal decision, and the right to make that decision was affirmed by a vote of the people (the ABCNEWS poll is now 85% in favor of the Oregon law.). Small government advocates, step up. This is a chance to put your money where your mouth is.

2) MMMMM, celebrity gossip- Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are having a baby. I wonder what Scientology has to say about being married three times by age 43, having a kid with someone half your age outside of any of those marriages, and professing to be an expert on the history of psychiatry without any formal education in it whatsoever.

3) That is one hungry snake- A 13-foot Burmese python exploded after trying to ingest a six-foot alligator whole, killing both animals. Are you kidding me? I would LOVE to have seen that fight before he swallowed the gator.

4) Michelle Wie turned pro today, and started things off right by donating $500,000 to the U.S. Golf Hurricane Relief Fund. She would have already made about $640,000 in winnings this year, and will make about $10 million a year in endorsements, so I think turning pro was the right call. I would like to see her play fewer men's events and more ladies events, however, and it's not a sexist thing. It's just that she's never won an LPGA event, and has yet to seriously compete on a week-in, week-out basis with the best women players. Would we support an 16-year old athlete in any sport who had never consistently won at the high school, college or minor league level immediately jumping to the pros just because some sponsors of the league allowed him or her into the league? Of course not. Michelle Wie should prove she can win in women's golf, and if that is no longer a challenge, then she should compete with the men. But it's ridiculous to get killed out there by the men (she's never made a cut) when she has exactly zero LPGA victories. That being said, I love her swing and admire her natural abilities in a game that is tremendously complicated, difficult, and frustrating.

Finally, it's the LongMan's birthday party this Saturday and we are trying to come up with something fun to do after the Iowa-Purdue game. Any suggestions? The bowling alleys are all full, and it's getting too late to get a private party at a bar. Let's hear some creative ideas. Bar crawl? Theme party? Post a comment here or email me.

It's a beautiful day, and week, here in Chicago. It feels more like June than October. The forecast for the rest of the week and this weekend is mostly sunny with a 95% chance of wildness and immature antics. Hope to see you out there.

T

Tuesday News Day

Hello world. A lot has gone on since last Friday, and we haven't talked about any of it yet, so here is a little grab bag of big-ticket news items that I found to be interesting over the last few days. Feel free to weigh in on any or all.

1) The Prez picked his second nominee, and she is a rookie. Lots of people are saying that's a good thing, and the fringe ends of both parties are concerned. I like that she doesn't have a proven record on most political issues, and I like that Harry Reid was the guy who originally pushed the White House to put her name on the list for consideration. Does that mean that Mier was the best that Democrats could hope for? I don't know, but if that is the case, then they have to be happy that they got their (wo)man. But how liberal could she be? She was president of the Texas State Bar, and a personal attorney for the Bush family for years. She was staff secretary in his administration before acting as White House counsel. The uneasiness, in my opinion, stems from the fact that we are so focused on litmus tests (read: abortion), we don't really even care about these nominees' abilities as justices, just how they are going to vote. But when something you hold dear is at stake (read: Roe v. Wade), maybe that's not an unreasonable position.

2) Bombs in Bali again, and it is pretty obvious that Westerners were the targets. I'm not usually nervous about international travel, because I don't really go to places that attract Americans in a part of the world that is otherwise dangerous, but this makes me want to rethink where I will spend my free time...at what point to we start to think that maybe this unfocused aggression toward fundamentalists is worth a serious cost/benefit analysis? I am no fan of isolationism, but this is getting ridiculous. How long before we have another September 11th?

3) Post-Season Baseball is here. For Cubs fans, that means deciding who your second-favorite team is for the current season and rooting for them. I'll give the Official Offering prediction for the Divisional Series now, and then as we move along, I'll give my predictions for each round of the playoffs. BTW, I love playoff baseball- great pitching matchups, only 8 teams make it, everyone has a chance...lots of fun.

St. Louis/Padres- The trendy upset pick this year is the Pads, but I am going with the Cards in 4. The balance of the Cardinals is too much for a .500 team, and the Cards roll on.

Houston/Atlanta- Astros in 5. I love how the Astros get big games from their big starters when they need them, and the youth and inexperience of the Braves offense will hurt them.

Boston/Chicago- Red Sox in 4. This White Sox team has excellent, but inconsistent pitching, and the lineup when compared to Boston is almost stunningly bad.

New York/Anaheim- This is the closest series to pick, in my opinion. Neither team has a dominant pitching rotation, New York has to have the edge in offensive octane, but I like Anaheim's bullpen and the Angels got the home field advantage on the last day of the year. I'm going with the Yankees in 5.

One other note: I got some email recently from some Offering readers who are in the creative arts. I hope to gain permission soon to post some of their work here at the Offering, and maybe post permanent links to where you can read it online. If you are a writer, poet, songwriter, or other artist in a medium that is conducive to sharing via the Offering, let me know and I'd be happy to spread the culture. Not only do I enjoy it a great deal, but the Offering regulars of which I am aware are largely culture vultures and we take pride here at the Offering in having people of all stripes contribute their work.

Tonight I'll be heading down to my firm's pro bono clinic to do intake interviews for people who need free lawyers. I encourage all the Offering faithful to donate your skills if you can. In many circumstances, your time and education can be more valuable to those in need than your money.

That's all for now...Plans for this weekend to be released shortly. If you live in Chicago and would like to be included on the email distributions about the wrecking crew's whereabouts, email me. The more the merrier. In fact, this weekend we will be celebrating LongMan's birthday after the Hawks wipe the floor with Purdue, so we could use the personnel.

Have a great week.

No Words

For the kind of work that was done for the Homecoming festivities. It was an absolutely spectacular effort by each and every party involved, and there were many. Special props go out to G, K-Rock, LongMan, BigBro, Mary, Speedy, and whomever else made it straight through from the tailgate, which I christened at 7:30 AM, until the end of the bars early Sunday morning. There were dozens of bar tabs at 8 different bars, one near fight, one real fight, one stolen bike, and too many good stories to recount here. I may post about some of the hijinks tomorow, but suffice it to say, Saturday was as fun as football season can possibly be. As LongMan said Sunday morning, "I was out for almost 18 hours yesterday, and I didn't do anything that wasn't fun."

Thanks to TheMom for hosting all of us this weekend, getting the tailgate together, and a great hangover brunch (as usual).

The Hawks won big, but the defense did not play very well. We're at Purdue this coming week, and they are going to give us all we can handle. We need to get our act together, but I think we have it in us. If you're in the windy city, we'll see you at Sedgwick's. Better idea? Email me.

After Purdue, the Hawks are at home against Indiana, and the wrecking crew will have a home game as well here in Chicago. If you want to weigh in on locations and activities, go for it and we'll try to make it happen.

Weekends rule. It was good to see all of you in IC. In three weeks, when the hated Wolverines
come to town, we'll do it all over again.