Oak Park Dad

Happy Birthday Roxy!

2012-11-09T10:23:00.002-06:00

REPOST! From the Sunburstproject.org: Happy 4th Birthday to our wonderful Roxy!!!!! We wouldn't have her without the Sunburst Project! Donate if you love the hounds at the link below!

http://sunburstproject.org/2012/11/08/this-is-what-can-happen.aspx

We Cut the Cord and Signal

2012-11-07T13:50:00.001-06:00

I was fed up with a constant up-tick in costs for our Dish Network setup and started following the folks who had cut the cord (and disconnected the Dish) (like these folks). Now, 3 months into this, I have some observations and recommendations. In the Spreadsheet (also below) it lists the actual model numbers and links of what we purchased, but essentially it broke down to

2 Roku Boxes
One Satellite Antenna
1 Yearly Subscription to Amazon Prime
Monthly Subscription to Hulu Plus
Monthly Subscription to Netflix

Make sure you know where you can get your Chelsea Lately fix. Turns out this one is the most painful as she was our go-to Late Night show. I can't find her ANYWHERE in the streaming world.
To expand the number of channels available, look into setting up a Plex Server, it runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, on pretty low-end hardware.
Dig through YouTube for kind souls who capture and upload extra programming and run it through Plex.

Here is the Spreadsheet we used (preview below) to calculate our actual costs to install and also the monthly rates.

Cheese. That is All.

2012-11-05T14:07:00.001-06:00

Last Hanukkah the fam purchased a $30.00 gift card to the Marion St. Cheese Market in Oak Park, IL and I only just now have gotten around to using it. Actually, I tried to use it in the Summer but I was overwhelmed by the Market's awesome cheese and beer selections. That trip I left in shame having been unable to make up my mind.

Yesterday, though, I had a plan and brought the posse with me. We settled on relying upon the cheese-monger's selection (with a must-have of an awesome Stilton). The cheesemonger at the Market was a very knowledgeable young person (yes, I'm old), she had quite a knowledge of the selection (3 huge cases), offered samples of anything and everything we wanted and sang along to the James Brown on the radio.

Anyways- we walked out with 5 different types of cheeses- I'm too lazy to list all 5 right now, but the first one sampled today was:

Which upon looking it up I found the Colston Basset site: http://www.colstonbassettdairy.com/ but a better rundown on the Stilton is this PDF.

Thank you Marion Street Cheese Market Mongers! (and the personal posse!)

2011-11-27T10:34:00.001-06:00

It's the Hollerdays, that special time of year: Time to oppress your friends and family with photos through the mail is here. If you pick the right picture you impress your friends with the "photo" version of your life, if you don't, you will be ridiculed for an entire year-- choose carefully!

NOTE: Do NOT use planking pictures for your holiday cards:

Here is a great site that I'm considering using to generate our holiday cards: Tiny Prints - Check out their Hanukkah card example:

Remember, card placement in your house is a decision not to made lightly. Do you want to create the Picture Collage on your fridge? Or throw them randomly into the tree? Or create a "Special" Menorah that somehow incorporates your favorite received pictures (what???). Get crackin! If you are just getting around to taking that family photo with matching Christmas Sweaters you may already be too late!

2011-10-11T09:57:00.001-05:00

I was recently asked to be a pinch-hitting Shofar Blower at our Temple (the Oak Park Temple) for one of the High Holiday services. I hadn't done this type of thing before, and while I was learning, I started a Shofar for Newbies site. Check it!

My Kids Making Microwave Brownies!

2011-10-07T14:45:00.001-05:00

Here are my kids doing their best kitchen demo of Microwave Brownies - Yum.

Our New Puppy!

2011-09-30T10:22:00.000-05:00

We just received our new puppy, Roxy, a retired racing Greyhound! She is really sweet and wonderful and we're all getting along really well. The kids are over the moon about our new girl! Her original racing name is Go Bon Rock Me and her mom was Go Bon Pure Evil. Nice! She is a rescue from the Flordia race tracks, who have a whole lot more dogs who need homes. Check out this link which has a picture of Roxy before we received her. Also look at the Sunburst Project for more info about what is happening to these Greyhounds (the rescue of them).

Phosphates: Getting my Dishes Clean. Finally

2011-07-12T17:35:00.005-05:00

We have a dishwasher that we purchased a couple of years ago. Not the best, mind you, but somewhere in the middle of the Consumer Reports ranges. Fact: dishes were filmy and sometimes outright dirty after running it with the highest quality dish soap (also tried powders, powerballs, etc etc). We completely pre-washed the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. This sucked.

Turns out that Dishwasher cleanser companies have removed Phosphates from the cleansers, better for the fishes and environment, bad for our plates and glasses and bad because now there is 20 minutes of wasted water in the sink for the pre-wash wash phase.

I heard about re-adding the phosphates back to the dishwasher detergent. Yeah, I'm an environment abuser, but it works and I save a couple of gallons of water each time.

Put just a bit of this powder http://goo.gl/SqqGL (available at Amazon, Home Depot, Lowes) at the bottom of the detergent holder, fill the rest up with detergent and VOILA, dishes are clean after a wash now! No measuring needed. Just dust the bottom of the holder, fill the rest with detergent.

CLEAN DISHES, no residue!

AC/DC Schooling

2010-12-15T12:38:00.000-06:00

Every morning I take the kids to school, I have a quick under-10-minute drive. Being an old school heavy-metal enthusiast (think Crue, Van Halen (with David Lee Roth ONLY)) I subject them (boy age 10, girl age 6) to all manner of the ROCK.

In addition, I'm a trivia and minutiae junky, so the drive includes a quick discourse on whatever song I'm playing, sometimes it is lightning-quick quiz time, sometimes it is more subjective: "Who is the best rock drummer EVAH?"

AC/DC has proved to be the most agile ROCK subject, complete with sordid history of debauchery, death, Hell, love, etc. Two lead singers marking two distinct eras, the band coming back from the edge of dissolution by recruiting a new singer and creating one of the most listen-able and money-making albums of all time, Back in Black.

My favorite quick quiz for AC/DC is, guess which guitar player is starting the song - Angus or Malcom Young - I make them listen for the tone and pattern of each of their very-distinctive guitar rigs. Also on the agenda is "How does Phil Rudd make so much from so little?"

At the end of this, they just like to yell "HELLS BELLS" at the top of their lungs all the way to school.

Foisting my kid pictures upon you with Shutterfly!

2010-11-28T15:55:00.000-06:00

I can’t wait to order our holiday cards this year - we just received some awesome pictures of the kiddies. I don’t like the cutsy red-green cards, but I love the Hanukkah cards or generic Seasons Greetings, etc type cards. That being said - I’M LATE with getting the cards set up. I am checking out Shutterfly.com right now - this one : http://goo.gl/1PlEJ is pretty good, also this one: http://goo.gl/KcwN1. There are a bunch of other designs for the holiday cards here, also I like the Wall Calendars - we give our kids a calendar every year. Also saw some cool birthday cards. At least Hanukkah is early this year, a generic holiday card of the kids will be ready just in time! I might have to spring for the quick shipping though. I really like the Shutterfly designs because, let’s face it, I got a C-minus in grade-school art and design and I NEED THE HELP. (And no, I don't know "The Cohen Family")

Vibram Five Fingers and Beginning to Run

2010-05-19T12:14:00.001-05:00

I recently started running after long years of a sedentary lifestyle. Not much beyond chasing around my kids at the park and a bi-annual bike ride. I'm not really quite sure why I started, maybe my 38-year old body was packing on a bit too much in the bowling-ball-stomach area and I wanted to arrest it. Typical reason to start.

When I decided to start, however, I was pretty worried about how my feet would react to being jammed into a running shoe, as I already have ugly, gnarly feet (bunions, plantar fasciitis, stinkiness). I had read a bit about the barefoot running movement (see The Running Barefoot) and a pretty funky Wired story. Long story short, I purchased some Vibram Five Finger KSO's (keep stuff out) and have been running exclusively in them since February. I'm up to running 3 miles a day on pavement/asphalt through Oak Park and am feeling pretty good in them.

I have had some pain in my ankle area and in my calf muscles, I can't say whether or not I would have had the same pain if I had begun running in traditional shoes. I went too fast with my training at the beginning but have now worked through (what I hope to be) the last of my running growing pains.

Breakfast in Oak Park (and nearby)

2009-12-11T06:02:00.000-06:00

A friend just asked me for Oak Park breakfast recommendations, here is what I said (slightly edited from the email):

Buzz Cafe: not a huge menu compared to the next two restaurants menu but really execllent food, my wife's friend owns it - 905 South Lombard

Original Pancake House - more regular breakfast joint, big portions, my wife likes it alot

and a little drive down Harlem: Yia Yia's - pretty good Greek-style old-lady/family place

H1N1 Flu Shots in Oak Park

2009-12-06T16:35:00.000-06:00

Full disclosure: Emergency Response Manager Chris Shields is my neighbor on our awesome block in Oak Park.

I was amazed at how smooth the H1N1 vaccinations took place in Oak Park over the last few weeks. Both my kids received the vaccination and the booster with no problems at all. Not only did Oak Park seem to have the best supply of vaccine in the entire nation, but the process of receiving information and the vaccination process was quite easy. Good Job Village of Oak Park!!!

Freaky Toe Shoes (Vibram Five Fingers)

2009-12-04T14:13:00.000-06:00

I have recently started wearing some freaky-looking shoes that have created quite a stir at home and at work. The Vibram Five Fingers shoes are essentially a foot-cover that allows me to walk around as if I'm not wearing any shoes at all while protecting the soles of my feet from the nasties on the ground. My kids are of the age where they are easily embarrassed by parental silliness, and these shoes are about a 9 out of 10 on the silly scale. Work colleagues have harangued me thoroughly as well, but again, I'm soldiering on with them. I have been trying to figure out a way to wear them more inconspicuously at work, I have even tried on some bike shoe covers. They didn't look great over the toe shoes.

Here Fishy, Fishy (or something smells fishy in here)

2009-05-06T12:29:00.003-05:00

I just bought this FISH EMULSION for the garden. Every book I've been reading has been talking about this and I hope it helps my veggies get fruit and grow large. It is kind of brown and soupy and has pungent odor, but the container said it should be "odorless". Maybe after applying it. Hopefully. It says it is 5-1-1 NPK which is shorthand chemical speak for nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, all good things your plants want and need to grow.

And HERE is a link to how Alaska Fish Fertilizer is created.

Container Gardening

2009-05-05T13:03:00.004-05:00

I was asked this weekend by a cousin about starting some vegetable gardening at her townhouse and found some great information from Texas A&M

I was pretty happy with the information, and the best part is this site doesn't overwhelm with too much useless chatter.

Peas and Beans are Up

2009-05-05T12:59:00.004-05:00

My Peas and Beans are up! Very exciting.

Raised Garden day - whatever

2009-04-13T14:13:00.003-05:00

I finished off the beds with the boy and had the soil delivered. Just started planting yesterday in the new beds (before the cold and rain today).

Raised Garden - Day 2 or so

2009-03-23T08:43:00.003-05:00

Here is the before shot (the tarp is to try to kill the grass)

And the after shot:

Project - Raised Garden Bed

2009-03-21T08:22:00.001-05:00

I've been silent for some time, but now I'm going to post about my next project:

A Raised Bed Garden - Urban style (I've a pretty small back yard)

I've started with this link sent to me by my Dad (my own personal PhD plant/garden/trees expert):

http://www.eartheasy.com/grow_raised_beds.htm#a

I'm going to drag the kids to Lowes today to buy some lumber. J helped me lay out 4 4'x 8' beds in the back yard with some twine. We then put down a blue tarp to kill the grass and weeds below.

Facebook and reminiscing (Love Junkies)

2008-10-20T10:49:00.003-05:00

I am enjoying Facebook for reconnecting to all my friends from near and far, but also keep remembering good times that aren't recorded anywhere else, and Google searches show up nothing. Here on my blog, then, I'll post some keywords and hope to shake loose some more old good friends.

Joe Mozzarella, or Ball State Fame
The Love Junkies, also of my BSU days. I played keyboards for this New Wave band, and my first gig with them was at the Flying Tomato in Muncie (Ball State). Ok, google spiders, do your work.

new game for us - RUMMIKUB

2008-10-20T10:46:00.002-05:00

This game rocks even more than Hearts. I'll post more later (yeah, right) but we've been playing it almost every night for a week. Now we are finally to the point where we have the rules down pretty well and our strategery is beginning to work. Yes, I said strategery. The Rummikub website is kind of kludgy, but HERE it is.

Quick Post - I Heart Hearts

2008-10-02T16:02:00.003-05:00

We have been playing Hearts recently and love the game. It is a quick hand and really allows us to stick the points to each other. A nice reverse-type points card game. I know it is all over the Internets and whatnot, but nothing beats sitting down at the kitchen table my Grandma and Grandpa used to use when they were first married and playing a fun game of cards.

Pool Video

2008-08-21T12:57:00.002-05:00

I am currently testing a Camera for work and have fallen in love with it. It blends decent video and decent camera functions in a great single-hand-use setup, the Sanyo Xacti VPC-E1. Awesome. I even had one mom gasp when I walked out in the lake with it "YOU HAVE YOUR CAMERA!!!!! IN THE LAKE!!!!" Then I put it underwater.

One Thousand Milestones

2008-07-10T09:03:00.003-05:00

Another new card game has been started at our house, Mille Bornes (yeah, say it like the French), an excellent travelling-style card game. The boy and I like it very much so far, it is fun and also keeps a bit of school-math going with alot of addition. I find it also very interesting how we have been drawn to games that are the most fun when we are trying to thwart each other (see Hearts and Ticket to Ride).