One of my good friends, the poet Laura Lionello, has a book out title Panic Kit (buy it here).  Here are reasons why you should read this book (and no I am not getting any cut of sales).

1) Laura is a fantasic poet.
2) Listening to Laura read her poems is amazing.
3) There is a poem titled "Alone at the Edge of a half-mile Pier."  How's that for setting the mood?
4) Laura wrote the line "my mouth alive with sticky spit."
5) If you buy this book, Laura will write more poems and you will have more poems to read.
6) If you don't buy this book, I will bother you every day until you do.
7) Laura and I worked at the same pizza place in high school, but not at the same time.
8) Did I mention Laura is a fantastic poet?
9) You can meet her at the  book-release party at Quenchers Saloon in Chicago on Saturday, September 17th.  See you there

Two weeks ago, my wife and our two kids headed to Florida for a few days at Disneyworld with my in-laws to celebrate their 40th Wedding Anniversary.  This was my first trip to Disneyworld since 1989 and I wasn't sure what to expect.  I had certain memories of my two previous trips there, but was not part of the planning for this trip.  I was simply along for the ride.  And while much has changed since 1989 (Hollywood Studios opened a week after my last trip), much of Disneyworld remains the same, particularly two things: waiting in line and dodging the midafternoon rain.

Our first night we waited a half-hour to ride Dumbo.  Right after that, the rains began.  We were ill prepared for the rain and bought the Disney ponchos, which must be their biggest money maker.  Standing in the gift shop crammed into close quarters with everyone else who was avoiding the rain, it all came flooding back to me.  Every day I have ever been to Disneyworld, it has rained.  Ten days spread out over twenty-eight years, during different seasons. 

The trip was a excellent, not only re-kindling old memories of being their with my mom and sister and brother, but new memories: seeing two giraffes running after a wildebeest in the Animal Kingdom's safari ride; my four year old son turning to me right as we were about to get onto Big Thunder Mountain railroad after a forty minute wait saying, "Daddy, I'm doing the potty dance. I gotta pee."; my two-year old daughter screaming that she wanted to go on the carousel, only to scream again once she was atop a horse.  The image that speaks it all is both children, exhausted, asleep in the stroller as we headed home after the light parade and fireworks.  They had their fun, and I had mine.

Just like everyone, I hate the sound of my voice when I hear it played back to me.  For those who missed out on the Two With Water/Curbside Splendor Reading I was lucky enough to be a part of, a portion of my reading is now on YouTube.   Hopefully, more than 9 people will watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3H4CwErqus

It's time for a reading!

On Sunday, May 8th, at 7:00pm, I'll be part of a reading presented by Two With Water and Curbside Splendor at The Beauty Bar in Chicago.  Details in link below.  There are some other great people who will be reading as well (Keith Ecker, Susan Fox, and Christine Sneed, whose stories have popped up all over my collection of lit mags).

Bonus, it is Mother's day so this year's theme is Tiger Moments.  Double bonus, it is also my birthday. 

http://www.curbsidesplendor.com/index.php?id=111

I'm not a fan of New Year's resolutions, or giving things up for lent (Catholic guilt) but I like to make goals.  When 2010 kicked off, I made it my goal to get one of my short stories accepted for publication.  I'd been submitting a handful of stories the last few years with little success but spent alot of time re-working them and cranking out new stories.  Alas, I didn't make my goal to get something accepted in 2010.  The good thing is I only missed that goal by five days.  Two With Water (http://www.twowithwater.com/) accepted my story "Moose and the Virgin Mary" which will be included in their next issue.  Woo hoo.

When did we become so weak that we can't carry anything?

I take the train to work regularly and usually carry a couple of bags; my computer bag and another bag with my lunch and workout clothes. The first bag is a typical over the shoulder computer bag, the second is a backpack.

As I was getting off the train, the woman in front of me took her bag, set it on the ground, pulled up the extended handle and started pulled the bag on its wheels. Now, normally this wouldn't bother me at all since luggage with wheels had been around since I was young. But this wasn't a large bag loaded up for a ten day vacation. This bag was more like a small backpack, smaller than the ugly bright orange backpack I used in grade school. But I carried mine on my back, and this woman, who was alot bigger than I was when I was hefting that bag on my back, was PULLING THIS TINY BAG!

Did I miss this memo? We no longer can carry anything? When I got to work, a guy I work with also had his bag on wheels. This guy was a big guy, a tough guy, and even he was reduced to wheeling his bag.

So I headed over th Kohl's to see if this trend was real. Well, it turns out you can't even find a regular backpack anymore. Every single bag I saw had wheels.

I'm not ready to trade in my old school backpack anytime soon for a rolling model. Now I know I can never get rid of it. I hope in thrity years people aren't laughing at my bad back as they wheel their bags around me.

This is a quote from an AP article today about an FBI agent killed during a shootout. While this situation is tragic enough, the FBI does everyone a disservice with their quote. This quote, from the FBI, is a textbook example of the language of government.

"Preliminarily, information suggests the agent may have been fatally wounded as a result of the accidental discharge of another agent's weapon during a dynamic arrest situation," the FBI said in a statement Thursday night.

If this sentence appeared in a College Composition class, it would surely raise a flag. My composition teacher, Dr. Smith, would have whipped out trustly old red, crossed out the entire sentence and rewritten it like this:

"We shot our own agent."

I would like to see what a dynamic arrest situation looks like. Does the FBI have video of such an arrest.

The sad thing is the FBI is trying to hide behind this language instead of just coming right out and admitting that one agent accidentally shot another agent. It looks like we need to send the FBI back to English Composition 101.

Chicago Elections

Voter turnout was traditionally low in Chicago's city elections on Tuesday February 27,2007. I don't understand why people don't vote. If you don't vote, you can't complain. People running local government directly impact your life dramatically more than on the national level but few people seem to understand that concept.

I did write myself in for one position. Any time someone runs unopposed, I write myself in. There should at least be a choice for all positions.

Balls.

Ron Santo should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame. End of Story

Rant rant rant rant

Nothing to rant about today. Too tired. Tomorrow we'll talk about banning specific dog breeds.

Today is Saturday, and this has been the nicest day of the summer. Not too hot, not to cold.

baseball players are wimps.

I have nothing to say today. Today was uneventful.

www.sayitaintsosa.com

I just finished reading “Mister God, this is Anna,” written by Fynn. The book was supposed to be an inspirational tale about a young man in London who befriends a six-year-old girl who has run away from home. After meeting her and taking her home, he finds this girl is a curious one who looks at things differently than other children (and most adults) looking for “Mister God” in everything. It’s a typical “learn the obvious things from the innocent child” book, with the sad ending.
I’m not sure what I’m supposed to take away from this book except that I won’t read books recommended to me by Paul Depcik, even though he recommended it to me more than 10 years ago and I just got around reading it today.
Some points the book made are things that I tend to agree with, such as “God is God, no matter what name people call their diving being,” and “Churches mess up the meaning of God.” But most points the child brought up were unconvincing arguments that seemed to be thinly veiled bible stories.
Maybe my cynicism towards religion has tainted me from every taking these stories at face value; attempts to get people to simple act and live better. In most cases, the basic ideas Anna lived by are good things, but the telling of the tale through the eyes of a child seems forced. The good thing is that I can now move onto the other books in my stable.

Test Post