A new life; same as the old life?

I am truly grateful for all the wonderful people and things in my life. I have a wonderful loving & caring wife, a very supportive family back home (despite my not visiting them very often) and probably the most well behaved and mannered dog in the world. I have terrific friends all over the world, including a number of bloggers I have never even met! I get to work with some awesome people in a job that I really enjoy, and at the same time allows me the freedom to do the the things I love to do, like Habitat, play bad golf and ski. All in all, the last 18 months have really been the pinnacle of a life I have, for the most part, enjoyed to it's fullest. As another year closes out I find myself wishing for only one thing. Several more years to do it all over again! Happy New Year to one and all!

What a festive season it has been this year. We had a packed month planned between a city trip, checking out the lights in the neigbourhood , visiting Santa in the town square, a Christmas party and some friends for dinner on Christmas Day. Work has been a little quieter throughout December, but we have had a lot of fun decorating the office and adopting a family for Christmas. There are pictures here . This picture is from the Kris Kringle market in the city, but more of that later. The first event was the lighting of the Libertyville tree and a visit from Santa. The high street looked excellent and many shops had taken part in a local competition for the best windows. One of the local choirs came along and were singing Christmas carols. You can see some pictures here of the lights, the town tree, and some of the neighbourhood lights. The next event was the city trip. We wanted to check out the biggest and oldest flea market (car boot sale) in the city, since the late 1800s. We boug...

Here's Why! I received this email today from our local Habitat chapter. "I want to tell you how exited I am because I was "dyeing" to give money to buy a house for a person out there who didn't have one." Ellie, 9 years old I was "dyeing" to give money. Ellie's words brought a smile as I opened the envelope containing her bright pink construction paper card, decorated with a rainbow and a pot of gold. With the certainty of a very wise person, Ellie told us she chose Habitat because we put our money to good use. This is a high honor from a nine year old of limited means. Later, Ellie told me that when she lost her second tooth, she decided to save her tooth fairy money so she could buy a Habitat house. She added several years of birthday money to Hanukkah money. For her 9th birthday, she requested donations to Habitat instead of gifts. She even returned several gifts, so she could make sure there was enough money for a house. Her gift totaled $9...

I cannot claim to have researched this story at all. I just heard it on the radio this morning and thought it was an incredible story. Just the size of the extended family is mind boggling, but think of the things she has seen! The world's oldest living woman has died at the age of 116 in a nursing home in Memphis, Tennessee. Elizabeth "Lizzie" Bolden held the title for just over three months, according to Guinness World Records, following the death in August of Maria Esther de Capovilla of Ecuador, who was also 116. Mrs Bolden, was born on a cotton farm in Fayette County, Tennessee, to freed slaves and worked as a farmer. In 2004, she suffered a stroke which left her unable to speak and moved into a centre where she spent much of her time sleeping. Born Elizabeth Jones on August 15 1890, she married Lewis Bolden and had seven children, two of whom, "Queen" Esther Rhodes, 89, and Mamie Brittmon, 86, still live in the Memphis area. Mr Bolden died in the 1950s. Ac...

Most of you will know that I am a supporter of the Habitat For Humanity charity. I volunteer regularly at the Lake County affiliate here in the Chicagoland area, and always have a great time. Like any charity, of course, they always need more money. Right now, they are working to build a whole new subdivision of homes and most of their funds are being sucked up by building new roads and sewerage systems, which means that vital supplies and tools are really in short supply. This isn't helped by volunteers losing or accidentally removing tools from the job site. I was out there at the weekend, and saw for myself the struggle they are having with basics such as utility knives, which cost only $2 each, but they currently only have two left. I purchased 10 for them right there and then. I don't tell you this for kudos or plaudits, but to show you how easily you could help them with a very small donation. So I decided to try to raise funds for them to buy these essential supplies. I...

Whatever your thoughts on the subject of this terrible disease which has been with us for some years, coming to prominence in the mid/late 80s. It is obvious, as with all diseases, that it will take a lot of money and awareness to defeat it. Although, I guess it may never ultimately be beaten globally. Light To Unite is an effort to raise funds on behalf of World AIDS day, which was on 1st December 2006. Sorry this posting is so late, but I only heard about this effort on the radio this week. Basically, this website, run by a major drug company, pledges to donate $1 to the fight against AIDS, for every individual who goes onto the web site and "Lights A Candle" on the site. So far they have raised over $1m. It will cost you nothing, go on, you know it makes sense. Do it from any computer you can, and tell your friends too. This article from last year offers some interesting insights to the changes in attitude towards this once most feared disease, particularly in the Wester...

The Vodka Scooter... How many times have you woken up in the morning after a hard night drinking and thought, " How on earth did I get home? " As hard as you try, you cannot piece together your return journey from the pub to your house. The answer to this puzzle is that you used a " Vodka Scooter ". The Vodka Scooter is a mythical form of transport, owned and leased to the drunk by Bacchus, the Roman God of Wine. It works as follows:- The drinker reaches a certain level of drunkenness and the "slurring gland" begins to give off a pheromone. Bacchus or one of his many sub-contractors detects this pheromone and sends down a winged Vodka Scooter. The Scooter scoops up the passenger and deposits them in their bedroom via a Trans-Dimensional Portal. This is not cheap to run, so a large portion of the passenger's in-pocket cash is taken as payment. Which answers the second question after a night out, " How did I spend so much money? " Unfortunately...

Those of you who know me well will know that this is my favourite time of the year. I love Christmas! Everyone's mood improves, it gets cold, and snows (not everyone's favourite thing I know), the feel good movies start showing on TV (the many versions of the Scrooge/Christmas Carol tale are my favourites, but there are too many to name), here in the US everyone decorates their houses, and the trees go up really early, but most of all, I love all the music. One of our local stations renames itself every festive season to the Holiday Lite . WLIT is a local station, which most of the year plays decent music, but from 1st November this year they have been playing non-stop Christmas music, which I love. If anyone is interested, you can actually listen on line assuming it is not blocked on your connection. I decided, in the spirit of the season, to share some of my favourite Christmas tunes. Again these will not work if your connection blocks such links, but if you click on one of t...

In many of the major cities in the UK, in common with most major cities around the world, we have bus lanes to try to help our public transport move more efficiently through our ever more congested streets. For many years, the busses have shared these lanes with other authorised vehicles, such as the Royal Mail, Taxis, and cyclists. However due to certain citizens sense of self importance, they are also abused by members of the general public. Many schemes have tried to prevent this use, as ultimately it ends up back where we started with public transport being held up. We have had signs with "strong warnings", police and traffic officers issuing tickets, and even cameras designed to capture your picture and issue automatic tickets. Manchester has now come up with a new, but it would seem not completely idiot proof scheme. They have captured some fools trying to avoid the issue on camera. I especially liked the young lady in the Silver Fiesta

It's been a while coming this year, but the first big snowfall happened overnight last night. They have been tracking a big storm all week and were pretty accurate with their predictions. We woke up to about 8 inches this morning and it continued to fall most of the morning. Several people could not get to work and those who did took many hours. I just drove my truck over it all! I cleared the path and deck for Lorraine to walk Reggie this morning, but by the time she woke up there were several more inches; so she had to start again. Reggie loves the snow, and had great fun frolicking around in it this morning. One of the guys from work managed to drive his car over one of the corner stone rocks in the parking lot and actually stranded it on the subframe. We tried to pull him off with the truck but to no avail. I couldn't get enough traction. The towing companies were predicting 6 hours, and so eventually he rounded up about 10 volunteers to basically lift and push the car fro...

See what can happen when you blog? I received an email last week, from my second ever manager. I mentioned her in this old post . Now Hilary will be the first to tell you that our relationship was less than harmonious most of the time. We had our moments, and we wound each other up a lot. I was a typical young tearaway, Hilary was in a new role with uncharted waters to navigate and an aggressive target to achieve. I think though that for all of our tension, there was a relationship based on mutual respect and if it wasn't then, it certainly is now. I look back and I realise just what she did for me. I think that everyone in your life as you grow up contributes something to your development, and the secret to a happy life is learning those lessons. If she hadn't been as strict, who knows where I might be now! For Hilary's part, she is living the life of Riley, working part time, with a new man in her life. They have two boats and hopes to retire soon, so she must have gotten...

I have a feeling that this one is going to make it onto a few blogs, but hopefully I will get there first. A good friend of mine sent me this, but I understand it is doing the rounds. It needs no explanation!

Here I am in Zurich, Switzerland, fresh off the plane from India via Frankfurt, the Diwali Festival and the Taj Mahal were excellent experiences, and some that I hope to repeat some day, maybe introducing Lorraine to them. The contrast, as you would expect, is very marked. My taxi driver from the airport drove like she was from India! I arrived at the hotel around 10:30am, 40CHF lighter. The hotel is right in the centre of town, right by all the shopping, the river and restaurants. My first impression of Switzerland is expensive. The hotel is almost $200 per night and the room is tiny. Breakfast is not included, and is another $20. I had a look around the gift shops and stuff on Saturday and the prices were outrageous! I continue to be disgusted by the blatant profiteering in this hotel. I have just ordered room service for my evening meal. Certain dishes are only available in the day time, the cheap ones! Additionally, I asked for a coke with dinner, but they won't bring one, ...

As you may know, I was in India for a week. We had an awesome time and we were able to spend a day at the Taj Mahal. I had always assumed that it was a religious monument, however it isn't. It is actually a tomb built by Muslim Mughal Emperor Shāh Jahān to honour his favourite wife Arjumand Bano Begum, who is better known as Mumtāz . It took 22000 workers, 23 years to build, from white marble. There is an incredible amount of inlay work and carving, all cut by hand. It is completely symmetrical in every aspect except one, explained in the next paragraph. The gardens, the mosque, every jewel, every carving, is a complete mirror image from every side. The monument was built to house his wife's body He had actually planned to have a black version for built himself, and it was actually started, but his son felt that it was too costly and wasteful and kyboshed the idea. When he died, his son entombed him alongside his wife, who had been placed in the centre of the mausoleum, hence ...

This week was the Diwali festival here in India. The main days were Friday 20th & Saturday 21st October, and unfortunately Mike and I were not there to see the festivities and fireworks. All week long, preparations had been intensifying with lots of decorating, shopping and preparing for family gatherings. The office was a hive of activity, with decorations going up, a traditional dress day on Thursday and a food competition day on Friday. There is a lot of information out here on the internet with respect the festival, it's origins & history , traditions & customs , the meaning & significance and the associated celebrations . Obviously I cannot say whether the information on these web sites is accurate, but it makes fascinating reading, I would definitely head out and have a look if you get some spare time. I took lots of pictures in the office, including a lot of Diwali pictures. Check them out here . Shubh Diwali!

I have never been to India before, and was very excited to be able to do so for business. I have only actually been to Asia once before many years ago, when I went to Indonesia. It is probably a horrible comparison to make, but it feels very similar. The contrast between all the new posh buildings and lots of construction, side by side with the tents and makeshift structures. The quite clearly very prosperous rubbing shoulders with the incredibly poor. I flew out in the lap of luxury, business class on United and Lufthansa. Mike took a picture of me kicking back. Lots of space and chairs that recline and have foot rests, very comfy! The hotel is a marble edifice, a clear differentiator of the haves and have nots. There are some pictures of the hotel pool, and the vacant lot next door in the collection here . I think I was surprised by the western influences though, particularly on the women. In the city here, there are probably more women in western clothing than traditional. Cows wand...

Winter is coming to the US, with snow across a large part of the country yesterday, and temperatures in the freezing range. We had a few snow flurries here yesterday, but we didn't come close to Buffalo, NY . It is going to be quite the challenge, packing for my forthcoming trip. Leaving Chicago in freezing temperatures, a week in Delhi in the 90s, then Zurich in the goodness knows whats and probably a rainy November in the UK! I will be out of touch for a few weeks, but I will try to post from the road.

No one knows how the fire started in the cowbarn at the rear of the Patrick O'Leary cottage at 137 DeKoven Street on Chicago's West Side. A long investigation and many witnesses were unable to determine anything definitive. It was first noticed by a Drayman Daniel Dennis Sullivan, who just happened to be sitting on the sidewalk almost opposite the property. The O'Leary family were all in bed and asleep at the time. Theories include a stray ember from a chimney to arson of course. The blaze began around 9 p.m. on Sunday, October 8, 1871. By midnight the fire had jumped the river's south branch and by 1:30 a.m., the business district was in flames. Shortly thereafter the fire raced northward across the main river. The waterworks were evacuated although the tower was not badly damaged and is one of the very few original buildings still standing in the city. During Monday the fire burned as far as Fullerton Avenue. Rainfall which started about midnight helped put out the l...

All year we have been saying that we should head down to the city and cycle along the lakeshore. In the summer of course, it can be pretty hot, and so the spring or autumn is usually the best time. Additionally there are restrictions throughout most of the summer on taking bikes on the trains, due to summer festivals, parades, etc. We had planned this weekend for a few weeks now, hoping we would get good weather, and we could not have hoped for better. Mid 70s, light breeze and very sunny; perfect for a bike ride. For those who know the area, we started at Union station, went down Adams to the lakefront, turned right and headed South, via Northerly Island (a peninsula) and then as far as 31st beach where we actually paddled in the lake. The water wasn't warm, but it wasn't Scotland cold either! On the way south we passed the Chicago Fire Memorial Park, with a fabulous waterfall, and a stone replica of the Chicago Fire Badge. From there, passing behind Soldier Field, we also pas...

Europe takes the hat-trick! For the third successive year, Europe took home the prize; the Ryder Cup. In a performance that would have made Motherdear happy, Tiger was mediocre at best, despite his win. The US have the top three players in the world rankings and still only one of those won, and it was a close thing. The Europeans, who also hold three of the top ten world rankings (the lower half), always seem to be able to step it up at this level. Colin Montgomerie is unbeaten in singles in this tournament. So well done boys, rock on 2008, when we will go for a 4th straight victory! There is more news and reviews over here at the official site .

We recently had an event at work to help raise morale. It is a continual battle to keep people motivated in a highly stressful environment. The theme of this event was a carnival, you know, ring toss, balloon animals, bozo buckets (apparently invented by some guy from Chicago; scroll down to the second picture and there is some text there about it.), candy corn, etc. Whilst discussing this in a meeting the day before, someone jokingly suggested that I should dress up as a clown. I said nothing, but though, duh, why didn't I think of that, and hatched my plan. Where would I find an outfit, at one day notice, with make up and all the doin's. We found a place not far away, with reasonable priced outfits, and the plan was in motion. Everybody thought it was very funny, apart from Steve who is"scared" of clowns. Anyway not much of a tale, but I thought you might enjoy the pictures.

Ha, famous at last . The Azores were on full alert in readiness for me, but in true style (not a word Charlie!) I just hit the Azores in a much weakened state . Winds around 75mph were barely enough to classify me as a hurricane. Thanks to Olly for this.

Well almost, actually, the very first McDonalds was run by two brothers Dick and Mac in San Bernadino, CA. Raymond Albert Kroc was the exclusive distributor of a five spindle milk shake mixer, that they were using in their restaurant. He heard they were using 8 of them side by side and decided to go take a look for himself. He was so impressed by their operation and the speed of service, that he hit upon the idea of opening a chain of similar places, planning to sell many milk shake machines to each. Upon further discussion with the brothers, he decided that, in fact, he would open them himself. He opened the first in Des Plaines, IL in 1955. His first day's sales $366.12! That particular restaurant is no longer functioning, but is in fact a museum, with another retro style venue across the street. There is lots more to read over at the McDonalds website . Why do I care, most of you are probably asking. Well, I care, because apart from eating a lot of Mickey Ds as Charlie would ca...

Last night I went to what may well prove to be the last Cubs game I see this season. I hope to catch a few more, but there are only a few left and I have a lot to fit in before I go home to the UK in a few weeks. If this was the last game, what a game to go out on! I had managed to score tickets to some of the best seats in the house. Seats that don't cost a lot of money ($60) but that are nigh on impossible to get. Seats that you are not allowed to swap, even for the one right next to you, which I think is a little strict, but hey ho. We were in Cubs Box seats, right behind the GO of Chicago on the roof of the Cubs dug out. Row 2 if you please. The seats were awesome, but it did mean that I will probably be spoiled for ever sitting anywhere else! My neighbour Sean had already invited me to go to the game with him in the 200 seats, and we were up for it, until these tickets came in. We decided to try to sell his tickets at the ball park, but there were very few biters. It turns out...

5 years later, the wounds still exist. People are still raw. The movies and the documentaries meet with criticism. Some think it is still too early, some think never will be too soon. I actually managed to offend someone this morning by saying that it was our generations John Lennon moment, our JFK. He felt that I was comparing the death of one man with that of several thousand, when all I was trying to say, was that it was one of those moments our parents and grandparents talk about. I can still remember where I was when....... a world defining moment. There is no comparison of course between 9/11 and John Lennons death, or for that matter July 7th in London. So many people have said this so much better than I, there are many in the blogging world, but the bottom line is this. Never forget the day the world changed forever.

Sorry, not had much time for posting lately. Trying to plan a trip home, a party, catch a few more ball games before the end of the season, and get ready for Fall & Winter. A couple of friends sent me these the other day and though they were excellent. No explanation required, form an orderly queue. The guy who sent me this is a closet redneck.

This past Sunday I had the opportunity to attend the last "Major" on the PGA 2006 calendar, the PGA Championship. I was very excited, as I had previously attended a Nationwide Tour Event and the Walker Cup last year, and had a great time. One of the guys, JB Homes, that was awesome at the Walker Cup last year, turned pro and actually won his first outing on the PGA tour this year too, and so he was a nice segway into the big boys. I set off for the Park and Ride at the Wyndham Hotel, near the Medinah Country Club, aiming to arrive around noon. As I drove down the expressway, it was nice to note that I was driving past the general public parking directions and following signs to the VIP parking. We took the shuttle to the club, where I was told an interesting fact. Apparently they have three courses at the club, or at least they did until they tarmac'd over the 6th fairway of one of them to make the shuttle bus stops. Apparently they normally use a local school for their m...