Today I got to go to the doctor. See if you can correctly guess my diagnosis (answer will apear tomorrow):

Brett's diagnois is:

A) High blood pressure

B) Gout

C) Anal Fissure

D) Poison Ivy

Weekend? What weekend. At least this Saturday/Sunday class thing is only for 3 weekends. Being back to work/school is cutting into my time for reading what I want to read - I don't want to read text books.

Well, it's finally Friday but I can't say "Yay! it's the weekend." I have class tomorrow and Sunday from 9 to 4. Yuck! And then Monday it's back to the grind for a full week of school and grad classes, plus a Kindergarten parent orientation night and a trip to the doctor. I'm looking forward to next Friday - 3 day weekend, no classes and Friday is pay day!

I probably should clean up our computer room. There are boxes and gloves all over the place. However, I'm pretty tired so maybe I'll leave it until tomorrow night which will most likely become next weekend.

First grad class of the semester this evening. This one is deals with Young Adult material for media centers. It seems like it will be a pretty good class. The class size is 20, which is smaller than the other classes I've had the past couple of semesters. Tomorrow I start my cataloging class - I guess that's a love it or hate it type of class. I like organizing things so I think that I'll be on the positive side. Saturday and Sunday's class is on copyright - that one does not really interest me but I may be surprised.

Kristin had fun taking the cats to the vet today. Itchy is healthy and good to go. Scratchy has an ear infection and mites so he has some meds to take. He also needs to gain some weight but he is always running around exercising! Rowdy has roundworm so he's on quarantine from the rest of the cats for the next week. I went into visit Maggie Mittens this evening and she ran under the bed, like usual. I layed down next to the bed and she cried for a little while, then started purring. Then she started walking around, getting closer to me and finally came close enough so I could pet her. She kept moving around, purring, letting me pet her, rolling around, etc.! That is really good - I was expecting that for another couple of weeks. Hopefully she'll continue to trust us and let us handle her.

Back to school for real tomorrow. Kids come for a half day and then I start my Wednesday night grad class tomorrow evening. Of course gas prices had to sky rocket when I have to start driving back and forth to DeKalb 2 - 4 times per week. Good thing I have my hybrid!

I know you're sick of reading about the cats but they are doing well. Nothing much new to report. Kristin has to take 3 of them to the vet tomorrow - she'll have fun!

I picked up a couple new CDs last week with my Best Buy gift card. Got the Son Volt album "Okemah and the Melody of Riot" as well as Ryan Adam's "Cold Roses." After listening to both albums a couple of times, I would say I definitely like the Son Volt disc better at this time. Wasn't sure what to expect after Jay's last couple solo albums but this album is good and gets better with repeated listening. I really like the seven songs - it trails off a bit after that. The Adams disc is ok - some of the songs are good but some are pretty boring. I'll need to give this one a couple more spins before I make my judgement.

All the cats are doing fine. I was able to pet Maggie Mittens for a while this evening - she was purring and rolling around. We finally decided to keep her cage open so she can explore her room. Last time I went in there she was hiding under the bed but she didn't meow or hiss when I put my arm under to pet her so that is good. Rowdy is all over the place! Scratchy and him are getting acquainted quickly and look like they'll be fine. Itchy is still be cold and hisses at Rowdy when they cross paths. She'll get used to it.

Oh no! Back to work tomorrow. Where did the summer go!

Here are some pictures of the two new additions to our family. Rowdy is the grey kitten - he arrived this morning and is doing well. I'm not sure Itchy and Scratchy are thrilled to have him here, but they'll warm up to him. He is named after the stuffed dog on "Scrubs."

The second kitten, Maggie Mittens, is the stray cat that we caught the other day. Right now she is living in one of our guest rooms in a large dog cage. She has learned to use the litter box and is eating well. We've been spending time with her and she is getting used to having us in the room - she isn't as scared of us as she was in the beginning. In a couple of days, we are going to let her explore the whole room. She is named after Maggie Simpson and Ralph Wiggum's cat, Mittens.

Congrats to the US World University basketball team who won gold today, led by Duke's Shelden Williams. Is it college basketball time yet??

I know your life has been missing something without any of my posts the past couple of days. We'll, I'm back to add that spark to your daily life!

I'll get you caught up on a couple of things:
-Climbing wall is installed at school. I climbed it on Thursday - it's going to do wonders for everyone's upper body strength!
-Made it Minnesota and had fun at the shows on Friday. Hit a ton of downpours on the way there but made it safely. The Oronoco show on Friday was really cool - lots of walking! You just keep going around as the dealers set up, hoping to be in the right spot at the right time. I did pretty well - 5 or 6 gloves, a couple bats, a couple baseballs. Would definitely go back again!
-The kitten we rescued from the wild this week is living upstairs in our guest bedroom. We have it a dog cage until we feel comfortable that it has learned how to use the litter box. It has been doing well. I just went up there a little while ago and petted it for about 5 minutes. It didn't try to run away, unlike Thursday morning when it bit my finger.
-We are getting our other new kitten tomorrow!

I'll try to get some pics of the gloves/bats/balls I picked up sometime soon - I put some lanolin on them this afternoon so they are still soaking it in.

We caught the kitten! Kristin brought home a Have-a-Heat trap from the humane society where she volunteers, and this evening the cat went into the trap. I feel sorry for it - it's meowing and it's really scared. I called one of the shelters, where we got our two cats, but they didn't have any "cat" people available so I have to call back tomorrow. If we call animal control, they are going to euthanize the poor thing. Of course tomorrow has to be a super busy day already so let's add this to the pile. Here is a picture of the kitten we trapped - Kristin took this last night when it was outside of the window.

Well, our rock climbing wall was not put up today. Apparently the maintenance workers didn't feel up to it today. It would have been nice if they had told us, after we had sat there for 2 hours waiting. They want to do it tomorrow - everyone's busy! - I'm going to get there about 1 p.m. after I doing my morning stuff - visiting a glove collector, dealing with the cat, etc.

Picked up Season 6 of the Simpsons today. Love the fact that when you open it up, there is a picture of Homer's brain, crayon included. There is also a funny note saying that if you are one of those anal people who like all of your dvd cases to be the same, call the number and they'll help you out. Lot of good episodes - going to try and watch a couple tonight.

Tomorrow our rock climbing wall is being installed at school. I'm excited as this had been a couple years in the making. It's a transverse wall so we don't have to worry about belaying, ropes, etc. I'm sure the kids at school will love it!

Still trying to catch the wild kitten in our backyard. Kristin called animal control and they put us on the waiting list for the humane trap. They told her not to feed the cat so it get's used to the inevitable. Kristin didn't like the sound of that. We've had a couple close calls catching the cat. Would have had it twice if it wasn't for this darn squirrel that keeps alerting the cat when I get close.

Guess we'll have to wait tomorrow to see who the PGA Championship winner is. The final round was fun to watch until the weather problems. I love the fact that Tiger is right there after the media was all about, will he make the cut, blah, blah, blah. Of course he was going to make the cut. Of course he was going to get back into contention. These guys write about the sport all year long but you think they would learn anything as they go along. Guess not. And Tiger has left a lot of shots out there - he missed a ton of putts the past two days. If he gets into a playoff, my money is on him!

Busy week shaping up before it's time to head back to work. Need to mow the lawn, go to school on Tuesday to supervise climbing wall installation (and climb on it when it's done!), pick up Simpsons Season 6 DVD, watch Simpsons Season 6 DVDs, visit a fellow glove collector, go to Minnesota, come back from Minnesota, go to more flea markets in IL, and return my items to the library!

Tonight we watched the documentary Spellbound. It's about the National Spelling Bee and some of the contestants. It was pretty interesting and a couple parts were pretty funny. I'd recommend seeing it.

There is a stray family of cats living under our neighbor's porch. They don't seem to interested in catching them but Kristin is. We spent the good part of this evening trying to catch the one that has been out. We think it's sick - it keeps sneezing. I could have grabbed it once but I didn't have the towel with me. It keeps coming over to our porch to eat the food but it won't go in the cat carrier to eat the food in there. A couple weeks ago, we had a skunk that was eating the food - hopefully it won't go in the carrier. If it does, Kristin can figure out what to do.

With the weather not being too cooperative, Kristin and I decided to stay local today. We have this coupon book with all these "buy one, get one" deals so we had lunch at this new restaurant in Naperville called City Club. Kristin had the vegetable lasagna and I had the sliced pork sandwich. My meal was pretty good, the french fries were tasty and the pork was good. It needed a little more barbeque sauce, which was tasty but needed a little more kick. You'll have to ask Kristin if she liked her entree - my guess is she didn't. We also went to see the Bad News Bears at the cheap $3 theater. We had a coupon for a free ticket so that made it even better. The movie was OK - the original was better but what do you expect. Thorton was pretty good as Buttermaker and the kids were decent. The problem was, they tried to copy the performances of the kids from the first one rather than have their own persona.

So I walk all the way down to Office Max this evening and the power is out so they are not open. Oh well, it was a nice walk anyway. Tomorrow Kristin and I are thinking of going up to Wisconsin but it depends on the weather. It finally rained today - we got a pretty decent amount. It's supposed to rain on and off for the next couple of days. Sure, when I'm on summer vacation and have plenty of time to mow the lawn, we get no rain so it doesn't grow. Now that I have to go back to work and school, we get rain so the lawn has to be mowed. Doh!

Tomorrow I have to go back to school for the morning! Yikes! We have a whole new administration at our school and we're meeting with the new assistant principal to discuss the specials schedule. I also need to check up on our climbing wall that we are supposed to be getting. It's a 40 foot transverse wall that is 8 feet high - the kids are going to love it. That is, if it gets delivered. The company said it would be delivered the 2nd week in August which is this week. I guess I'll have to give them a little call to see what's going on. Watching the Red Sox on ESPN again tonight. Can somebody tell me when the Red Sox and Yankees signed to the network? They are on all the time. What about the Royals! I haven't seem them on ESPN in years. Come on ESPN, give the people what we want!

Not much going on today. Went for jog this morning and bike ride this evening. Watched The Office special. It was pretty good - I liked the ending. As season 2 went along I kept feeling sorry for David Brent, rather than laughing at him. They wrapped it up nicely in this special. I'm wondering if the US version with Steve Carrell is going to follow the same path as the English version, or go somewhere else. Guess we'll have to wait until the fall to see.

Our family will be getting a little bit bigger on August 21st. That is the day we'll be bringing home our new, name to be determined, kitten. I'm convinced that there are only two acceptable names for this new addition - either Poochie D or Disgruntled Goat. I'm partial to the second one but I haven't been able to sell Kristin on that yet - she could call him D.G. for short.

Walked down to the library this evening, something I enjoy doing. It's about 2.5 miles away so it's a nice walk. We watched I (heart) Huckabees this afternoon so I was returning all of the movies we borrowed last week. The Huckabees movie was pretty funny (Kristin thinks Huckabee is a good name for the cat). Marky Mark Wahlberg is hysterical in this movie, even funnier than when he was rapping.

At the library I picked up The Office Special, Spellbound and some documentary about teachers. I loved watching the Office Season 1 and 2 so I'm looking forward to the special. And even better news, Ricky Gervais is writing an episode of the Simpsons where his Office character, David Brent, is going to on the show - apparently it involves some kind of wife-swap reality scenario. Should be hysterical!

Got two cool bats in the mail today. The first one is a playground bat with my favorite logo ever - the Hanna Batrite bat. Plus, Hanna manufactured their bats in Athens, GA, the hometown of the greatest band ever, so that makes it even cooler! The other bat is a gamer from a Cubs minor leaguer Tony McQuade. Don't really care about that but I do like the label - The Journeyman Professional Bat Co. That is in excellent choice in names for a bat company.

Going to watch the Bears preseason game tonight. Can't believe football is starting already = that means it's almost time to go back to work.

So, somehow our cats posted a comment that they wanted to be featured in my blog. I wonder how that happened?? Anyway, here are the terrible twosome - Itchy and Scratchy (and no, Itchy isn't a jerk but Scratchy can be). Itchy is the black one and Scratchy is the orange and white one. Today we went and looked at a new kitten - it is only 4 weeks old now so we can't get it for a couple more weeks. It is grey and a male. Kristin and I are brainstorming names - I'm adamant about Poochie. Please comment and tell Kristin this is the only acceptable name if we get a new kitten.

Last night we watched Sky Captain and the World of tomorrow. Actually, I watched it, Kristin left after 10 minutes because she said "it was too confusing." It was a decent movie - not the best, not the worst. I'm not sure if we'll watch anything tonight - the 4400 is on and we like that. Don't know what I'm doing tomorrow yet - any suggestions?

Today I went to the Kane County Flea Market (and had a delicious brat but no sauerkraut). I enjoy going but it's been getting smaller the last couple of years in terms of dealers. They still pack the shoppers in! On Saturdays it opens at noon so I was first in line about 11:15. I just take out my book and read until it's time to go in - if Kristin was with me (she had to work today) I don't think she'd allow this. As I'm sitting there I like to observe the people. I'm amazed at how many of them try to cut in line - these aren't kids, these are full grown adults. It never ceases to amuse me.

Didn't find much when I got in. Shut out on the bats and gloves today. There were some to look at but nothing I wanted to buy. Picked up two tennis rackets from the 1910's - one is a Spalding that I'll sell, the other is made by the Harry C. Lee Co. in New York City. It's called "The Bat" and has a super cool logo. I'm going to keep this one. I posted a picture of what the decal looks like - I think it's realy neat. There is an endorsement by a player ? Richards, so I'll have to use my reasearch skills to see and if I can find some more information about the company and the player. The racket is in pretty good shape, a couple of the strings are broken but the wood is good. Got both rackets for $7 each so I was happy with that purchase.

My other purchase was a group of 6 pennants. I got all 6 for $20 so that was a good deal. The Big Ten schools and the Army/Navy pennants are probably from the 1950's-60's and are in great shape - no rips or pin holes and the tassles are still on them. The Notre Dame one is probably from the 1960's-1970's - I'll have to look into getting a firmer date. Probably will sell them - was hoping to get a Northwestern in the group for Kristin (class of 2001) but not today.

Going up to a show in Minnesota in two weeks that I've never been to. It's supposed to be good size and full of treasures so I'm hoping I get lucky for a change. I need to pay my tuition bill for my fall grad classes!

Last night Kristin and I watched Spanglish with Adam Sandler and Tea Leoni. I had high hopes seeing that it was directed by James L. Brooks and Richard Sakai, two Simpsons veterans. It was pretty bad. The story didn't seem to flow and it seems they were trying to make too many points and ended up not making any. It was confusing as who the story was focused on as well. I guess Sakai has forgotten his roots, singing karaoke, covering Tramps and Thieves at the Happy Sumo. We have two more movies I got from the library (much better and cheaper than Blockbuster) to watch - Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and I (heart) Huckabees.

And we had a comment yesterday - thanks so much! I'm glad someone is reading.

Today Kristin and I went for a little drive down to Wilmington, IL. It's about an hour south of us. There were a bunch of antique stores but we didn't find anything - they were pretty junky. Oh well, hopefully I'll have better luck at Kane County tomorrow.

I said I would talk about music a bit so here are the last three albums I bought so far this year (2005 has been a good year so far - over 30 new releases I've purchased and most them have been worthwhile). I've linked to the bands websites so you might be able to preview some of their songs.

Fruit Bats -Spelled in Bones
A good disc. Not great, but good. They are on the Sub Pop label so I guess the Shins comparisons are inevitable but the Fruit Bats are a little more mellow. I'd recommend it to people who like popish-folky-indie-rock.
http://www.fruitbatsmusic.com/

Pernice Brothers - Discover a Lovelier You
Didn't think it was up to par after the first listen but it has really grown on me after a few listens. Maybe not as "accesible" as the last album but stil worth picking up. I really like the second song a lot - it will probably end up on our year end compilation.
http://www.pernicebrothers.com

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - s/t
Kind of an interesting band. I don't think they've signed to a label yet so you have to get the disc from Insound. Definitely in the indie vein. I like it but don't love it.
http://clapyourhandssayyeah.com/shows.php

So there is some music content for you. I could go on and on but don't want to ruin the end of the year compilation and accompanying manuscript for you all. I'm going to try and figure out if I can post MP3's on here of some songs you should check out.

Oh, and someone post a comment. That is, if anyone is actually reading. Full report on eating a brat at Kane County coming tomorrow. Will I or won't I have sauerkraut? Tune in tomorrow for details.

Anybody else watch the VH1 show "Hogan Knows Best?" This show is cracking me up. I remember watching Hogan as a wrestler growing up. My mom didn't like us watching wrestling so we'd always have to change the channel when she came in the room. Now Hogan is "retired" and being a dad. Let me give you a couple of examples why this show makes me laugh:

1) In one of the episodes his daugther is going on a date so he has a tracking device planted in the car! And then, to the viewers delight, Hogan and his son track the car on their computer. This was too funny.

2) It's obvious he doesn't want his daughter out with guys, but the son, that's a different story. He was hanging out with his girlfriend and Hogan tries to hook him up with an another, older girl. All of this was done so he could spend more time with his son. I don't get the logic but then again I haven't been body slammed by Sgt. Slaughter or the Undertaker (well, yet anyway).

3) My favorite exchange between Hogan and daughter takes place when he finds out he's being inducted into the Wrestling Hall of Fame. She tells him she doesn't know what it is and his reponse is "It's like the Baseball Hall of Fame - for wrestlers." Super hilarious!

Anyway, that's my musings on the show. I know you're all itching for some music recommendations so I'll try to get to that tomorrow. Kristin and I are going antiquing so wish me luck in finding some good buys!

Hello and welcome to my blog! You'll go where I go, defile who I defile, eat who I eat. All Simpsons references aside, I finally figured it was time to be cool and have my own blog. So, here it is. If you decide to check in periodically (which I'm guessing most of you won't) you'll be able to check out some books and music I'm pimping, cool baseball gloves or bats I've found at flea markets/antique shows or something I haven't thought of yet.

Being my first post, I'll try to appear smarter than I really am and talk about some books that I would recommend reading:

The Miracle of St. Anthony by Adrian Wojnarowski
Being a huge Duke basketball fan, this book enticed me because Bobby Hurley was one of Duke's greatest players who I enjoyed watching as a lad. This book is about his father, the coach at St. Anthony's in New Jersey. I always knew that this team was a powerhouse but never understood the struggles the school had to just stay open. I was amazed at how generous and egoless Bob Hurley is, but yet he is super successful in coaching and life. I would reccomend this book to anyone, sports fan or not.


Don't Eat This Book by Morgan Spurlock
First, if you haven't seen the movie "Supersize Me", you need to go and see it right now. I watched it last October and haven't eaten at McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King or any similiar chains since. The book expands on the movie and goes into greater detail about the leverage Big Food has over the government, similiar to the tobacco companies. I'm especially interested about the school lunch programs. It seems the schools that have instituted highly nutritrious lunches have had less problems with behavior and better student performance. The cost is not much greater than what schools pay now. As a teacher, I would be interested in seeing this change take place. The book isn't very long but is well documented and I learned more, in addition to what I got from the movie. Spurlock is helping to spur my "the government is against us" theory.

Spinning the Globe - The Rise and Fall of the Harlem Globetrotters by Ben Green
I picked this book up at the library as a lark but it is super interesting. I didn't realize the influence the team had on basketball as we know, race relations and foreign relations. I'm about 2/3rds done and looking forward learning more.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
Yes, I read it. Did I like it? Hmmm, sort of. The story is interesting but after the 4th and 5th books, I figured this one would be overdrive. Instead, we are treated to who knows how many wasted paragraphs about who is kissing who, who they are snogging now. Give me a break, their world is in crisis and this is what we have to waste our time reading about. The story segments with Harry and Dumbledore are very good but not developed far enough in my opinion. I'm guessing the last book is going to be close to 1000 pages to answer all of the "mysteries." Oh, and if you've read the book and know what happens, don't care what happens or just like spoilers, here is a cool shirt:
http://www.tshirthell.com/dumbledore.htm

Ok, that is about it for now. Hope you enjoyed my first post. Feel free to comment but keep it clean. ;)