Hate him! Hate him! Hate him!

Joe Ricketts is a nasty old snake and I hate him.

He's the billionaire who founded TD Ameritrade, and the father of Tom and Laura Ricketts, who run the Cubs.

He's also poured $10 million of his own money into a PAC devoted to sliming Barack Obama by tying him to Rev. Jeremiah Wright, explaining that it's time to show “the world how Barack Obama’s opinions of America and the world were formed. And why the influence of that misguided mentor and our president’s formative years among left-wing intellectuals has brought our country to its knees.”

I don't mind Republicans unless they do hateful shit like this. Then they make my skin crawl.

Mayor Rahm Emmanuel came down on Pa Ricketts like a ton of bricks. The Republican PAC Ricketts supports is called The Ending Spending Action Fund. Yet the Mayor pointed out that the Ricketts family wants a ton of public spending, tax dollars, to help them renovate Wrigley Field. How hypocritical is that?

To think that by purchasing Cubbie blue merchandise, or going to games, I'd be supporting this sort of thing is heartbreakingly unacceptable to me. I'm always happier when I have baseball, and it's only a slight exaggeration to say that without the Cubs, I got nuthin'.

So I was thrilled to learn that the sins of the father shouldn't be visited upon the son and daughter. Tom Ricketts, Cubs chairman, pointed out that his father has nothing to do with the baseball club. "I repudiate any return to racially divisive issues in this year’s presidential campaign or in any setting," he said in a statement. What's more, sister Laura Ricketts has the title of co-owner. She is not only an Obama fundraiser, she's baseball's only gay owner.

Best of all, the Wright-saturated ads are not going to run. Governor Romney himself repudiated them.

Now when I watch my Cubs, all I have to concentrate on is my Cubs.

Farewell, old friend

Kerry Wood retired today. It was time.

I was nowhere near this copacetic when my beloved future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux hung it up. I miss him to this day. But that's because over his long and illustrious career, The Professor never spent a moment on the DL. Kerry Wood, unfortunately, nearly lived there.

This year has been especially frustrating for Kid K. When he hasn't been hurt, he's been struggling. So it's time for him to hang it up, when we all still remember him as our Rookie of the Year, the steely eyed, unflappable competitor who once struck out 20 players in a single game.

Players' careers never last as long as I want them to!

Joy!

I got an extra quarter back from the Coke machine! Little things mean a lot, you know.

Trifecta

This weekend's challenge: Compose something of between 33 and 333 about the photo shown below.

The word "underemployed" entered his vernacular in 2010. Until then he was a stringer for a major metropolitan daily. The work was regular, the pay was good. So what if he didn't have a contract or benefits? A week didn't go by without an assignment or two – or even three, if there was a hotly-contested election or juicy, headline-grabbing trial monopolizing the staff reporters' time. He was fine. He could afford his own healthcare and IRA.

Then the Recession collided with the ongoing decline in newspaper readership and his career was collateral damage.

Now, instead of writing copy, he uses his computer skills as a secretary – no, make that "administrative assistant" – at the local junior high for $7.25/hour. He likes it more than he thought he would. He no longer faces crushing deadlines or gruesome crime scenes. Many of the teachers and some of the moms who brighten his office are attractive and available. Best of all, his workday is dependably over at 3:00, leaving late afternoons open for interviews in his chosen field. (If only he had any.)

But there’s a big dark cloud looming on his horizon and it’s financial. So he’s doing something he never dreamed he would: Participating in a rummage sale. He emptied his closets and cabinets of everything he believes he can do without and is bringing it to the Patrick Henry Middle School Auditorium. Here he’ll sit at his assigned card table and sell what stuff he can, with 25% of the proceeds going to the fund earmarked for new library books.

Entering the school service entrance that early Saturday morn, he chastises himself for wearing shorts. How often has he heard teachers and students alike complain about how cold the auditorium always is? He smiles. It wasn’t that long ago that he had coworkers who complained about the stench of standing downwind when a drowning fatality washed ashore, but that feels like another lifetime.

THURSDAY THIRTEEN #171

THE THIRTEEN TOP DOMESTIC 

VACATION DESTINATIONS

It's summertime, summertime, sum-sum-summertime! US News gives us this ranking of where to go stateside this year.

1) The Grand Canyon

2) Yosemite

3) Orlando -- Walt Disney World

4) Yellowstone

5) San Diego

6) San Antonio

7) Honolulu

8) Washington, DC

9) Philadelphia

10) Myrtle Beach

11) Dallas -- Fort Worth

12) Chicago

13) Phoenix

I've been to Yosemite, Disney World, Honolulu, DC, Philadelphia and I live in Chicago. And I agree with the list in that I enjoyed them all. What about you? Where have you been? Where do you plan to go? Where do you dream of going?

For more information about the Thursday Thirteen,

or to play yourself, click here.

I Don't Wanna!

I'm just in a shitty mood. I worked out in the afternoon, took a shower, and felt a little better for a little while. But then, oh, I dunno …

I'm fidgety, unsettled, unhappy, and I don't really know why. A lot of issues are flip-flopping around in my head, like a fish struggling on the bottom of the boat. Much of this regards my family, whom I love but don't especially like, but none of it is new.

I realize that this freelance project I'm doing for my friend Kathleen could be the entree to a new job and will be, at the very least, a way to buy myself a tablet and pay down my credit card. But I just don't feel like working on it.

My TT this week will be about vacations. Maybe that's what I need to do -- plan a trip. Or maybe I need a drink.

I know what I should do, which is make a dent in this project. But I don't wanna!

I Want Wednesday

I want everyone to stop annoying me! Whether it's my art director not even pretending to pay attention in status and then asking me what we talked about … or the coworker I only know on sight walking away from the printer with a stack of paper that I am certain includes something personal of mine* … or our team's resident RWNJ who is just itching to engage me in conversation about what horrible people the NATO protesters are … everyone I see annoys me today.

I am glad that we have Monday off. The Secret Service and Chicago Police have commandeered our building as their HQ because of our proximity to Millennium Park, which I think is way cool. And I need time away from these people!

* The receipt for the Marathon Gas Gift cards I ordered to help out my friend in the Keys. What possible interest could this stranger have in that? Unless now he's thrilled to have my home phone number. AARGH!

Busted

Last night, I was farther west than I usually travel, meeting with a co-worker of my friend Kathleen to discuss a freelance assignment in her hometown. When the train pulled in to take me back to civilization, I asked one of my fellow commuters, "Is this the train back to the city?"

"Which city?" he asked.

That train makes literally 20 stops between that particular suburb and Chicago's Union Station. So he was right. Yes, I am a snob.

Worry

My big old tub of guts, Joey, is still limping. He's experiencing soreness at the site of Saturday morning's rabies shot. And I hate it.

He's a very tender soul, my Joe. As sweet as he is, deserves only good things. Since he never goes outside, this shot was really not remotely worth the pain and upset this trip to the vet cost him. At times I wish I wasn't such a follow-all-the-rules/touch-all-the-bases kinda gal and had just blown off the village ordinance about vaccinations.

Trifecta

This week's challenge: Using between 33 and 333 words, write a response including the third definition of the word: 

trou·ble noun \ˈtrə-bəl\

3 : an instance of trouble 

A Valentine for WLS-FM

“The True Oldies Channel!” 94.7 on her dial. That’s her go-to when she hurts. It doesn’t matter if she’s coping with one trouble or twenty. The Top 40 of days gone by can help cure what ails her.

Today it's cash flow that drives her to the radio. The paycheck she received on the 15^th simply won’t stretch all the way to the 30^th. She hadn't foreseen an increase in her annual homeowner’s insurance premium hitting at the same time her cat needed his 3-year rabies vaccination. If she had squandered her money on couture or cosmopolitans, it wouldn't feel this bad. But the expenses that vex her are mundane and it really weighs her down.

Still checkbook math is easier to master with while listening to the travails of that sailor sweetheart, Brandy, the one who's a fine girl. It’s comforting to know that singing Jenny-Jenny’s phone number – 867-5309 – still makes her smile.

She has no idea what Tommy Tutone looks like today. She can’t name a single member of Looking Glass. Yet just now they seem like dear friends and she is very grateful to them. When she hears them, she feels happier, more hopeful and even a little more capable.

Who knows?

I have been thinking about my oldest friend all day. And the impetus for all this reflection were a pair of wildly divergent TV shows: Joel Osteen's ministry and Mad Men.

I was too lazy to get to church today so I watched Joel Osteen's televised service. I like his sunny Christianity. I believe in it. You can have all the hell, fire and brimstone you can handle. I know my Lord loves me, that's why he sacrificed His son for me. He wants me to be happy. As Joel says, "God desires for me to experience joy where He placed me." So I'm fine praying with Osteen on Sunday.

And today his sermon could not have been more spot on for my oldest friend and me. For she's still troubled, still fragile, still surrounded by her troubled kids and the uninvolved cousin she moved 2000 miles to be near. First my shrink told me I'll be happier, and our relationship would be more peaceful, if I quit trying to run my oldest friend's life. But it's a trap I keep falling into.

So this morning's sermon approached it from the spiritual side. "It’s easy to focus on others’ faults and what we would like to change about them. But, God is the one that put the talents, creativity and strengths into each person.  Isaiah 64:8 says, 'We’re the clay and you’re our potter: all of us are what you made us.' Our job isn’t to change people. Learn to accept that God is the one directing their steps, making them and molding them into who He wants them to be. If you’ll learn to love, honor and accept people for who they are right now, your relationships will go to a whole new level." The Lord is the sculptor, not me. She is as God made her. Any change will be between the two of them. It's my job to accept her as she is right now. Must remember that!

Then I watched Mad Men. Betty, Don's ex, now married to a New York state politician. She's struggling with her weight, with her kids, with her new marriage. And she hates how happy Don is with his new wife, Megan. Betty's willing to put their daughter in the middle of her warfare with the ex-husband who has soooo moved on. All this is very much like my oldest friend and her ex. He used to be verbally abusive, but those days are over. I don't know if he's outgrown that sort of thing, or if she's broken him of it because she refuses to engage. I don't care. I love my friend and I'm glad he's knocked it off.

But she still makes digs at him, puts him down in front of the kids. She refuses to co-parent, even though her daughter spends holidays with him. How awful it must be for that girl, to bounce from his ZERO TOLERANCE when it comes to boys and drugs to her mother's more passive "let's choose our battles" approach! But, like Betty on Mad Men, my oldest friend is unable to stop herself, no matter how much she loves her kids. Like Betty, she resents the bond her daughter feels with dad's second wife.

I wonder: as she watches Mad Men, does she see herself in Betty? Do any of us see ourselves that clearly? And I'm not going to ask her if she saw Mad Men tonight, and certainly not if she saw herself in it.

It's my job to love her, not to change her. God is the sculptor, not me. She's not a clump of clay on my potter's wheel, she's a person who deserves my support, not my nagging. Starting tomorrow, I will try harder.

Sloth

You know all those things I was gonna get done today? Like working out and scrubbing the tub and washing the floors? I didn't get any of it done. This place is a messy mess-mess-mess and I'm not at all pleased with myself. All I did all weekend was ... well ... kinda what I'm doing now. It's amazing that I don't have carpal tunnel from all the farting around I've done online this weekend. Oh well, at least I'm relaxed. Isn't that what days off are for?

Sunday Stealing: The Get Out of Jail Free Meme, Part Two

21. Has there ever been anyone that now you regret meeting? Yes. I have a toxic ex in my past and nothing but bad came of that relationship. It was decades ago, and I'd be able to say it was behind me if he didn't insist on reaching out to me periodically, as if there's anything he can say to make up for what he did.  

 

22. What's the last film you saw? Would you recommend it? Titanic in 3D. I have always loved Jack and Rose, so yes, everyone should see it. Not that the 3D adds much. I just like the movie.
 

23. Would you rather have roommates or live alone? ALONE!

 

24. Do you like any of your friends a little more than just a friend? There's a line from Will and Grace describing the main characters: "More than friends, can't ever be lovers." I think that sums us up.

 

25. We loved the results yesterday on Saturday 9. Post a rather current song that you'd like us to hear. Sigh. The Boss has still "got it."



27. If you found out that you were going to be a parent, what would you do? If you are one, tell us what the best parent of being a parent is. At this point in my life, if I found out I was going to be a mother, I'd contact JAMA because I know they'd want to cover it

28. Do you give money to homeless people when they ask? If I have change in my pocket, I do. I have a rather strict rule against taking my wallet out on the street.

 

29. A weekend in Las Vegas or Miami? Why? Vegas. Because it's Vegas. There's always something to do within walking distance.

30. What was your reaction to the president supporting gay marriage? Yawn. I thought it was too timid. For the son of an interracial marriage in 1960 to call this a state's issue is both naive and sad. If civil rights were left to the states in the 1960s, African Americans would still be riding in the back of the bus. And for him to say that, at age 50, he was still evolving on this issue indicates he believes we're all naive. Oh, and there's no way this costs him votes because fanatical evangelicals are skeptical of the Mormon candidate and homophobes weren't going to vote for him anyway. So I'm a little dispirited by the weak tea he served us.

 

31. You are totally alone on a Saturday. What do you do? Read. Nap. Luxuriate in the alone time.

 

32. You have 3 months left to live, what is your bucket list? I don't have a bucket list. I resist it because I find the idea more than a little depressing.

 

33. You're having a bad day, what one thing can make your day better? I've found a lunchtime workout and a middle-of-the-day shower improves my perspective.

 

34. Ever use a tanning bed? I have. I got fidgety and bored.

35. Is there anything you would change about your body if you could? My waist. I miss it.

 

36. You wake up in an unfamiliar place, what is your first reaction?  "What the fu..."

 

37. Is there anything that you should be doing right now? There usually is when I'm farting around on the internet.

38. At what age do you think that sex becomes less important? Why? I don't accept that it ever does.

39. What is your favorite breakfast food? Eggs

 

40. Your phone rings at 4am, who do you expect it to be? My sister saying that my mom is back in the hospital

 

I've got to stop doing this

Yesterday, my mom and I celebrated Mother's Day. I took Saturday because my kid sister refuses to commit to a time to celebrate on Sunday as she is a mother, too, and the day should be about her, too (as opposed to every other day of the year). My mom and I agreed that we'd talk on Saturday at 11:00, after my trip to the vet with Joey and her time in the stands for my nephew's morning soccer game. When I called, she didn't answer.

Where was she? Bathroom (it's a 4BR ranch house) and it's hard to get to the phone in 5 rings before the machine picks up (she still has a machine). Yard? The garbage has to go out. Still with my sister? That would piss me off, if my sister decided to run errands with my mom in the car, making her unable to honor her commitment to me.

The hospital. I was sure she was back in the hospital.

So I got angry at my sister so I called back and left a snotty message on my mom's machine because angry is easier for me to handle than terror.

Turns out she was with my sister's family. Instead of 11:00, she was home by 12:30. She was fine. She liked her gifts (giftcards so she can spoil my niece and nephew and a little plush toy, a gardener, because she misses working in her own garden -- hard on her knees). We had a nice visit. Her health is on the mend.

I just have to stop worrying like this. Every time she doesn't answer, my mom isn't dying.

Our morning at the vet

This was the worst day my big old tub of guts Joey could ever imagine. It was raining, and he hates that. For some reason, he's more sensitive to the changes in barometric pressure than my other cats are, and he hides (or tries to) away from windows whenever it rains. Then there was the "outside" aspect of it. The only Great Outdoors Joey needs is the carpeted hallway just beyond our front door. The traffic and smells and motion that accompany actually leaving the building don't set well with him at all. And lastly, there's the vet and his annual check up. Do you know what they do to you at the vet? UNDIGNIFIED THINGS!

By the time we got to the vet, he had peed on himself. So now he's terrified and wet and uncomfortable. I was eager to get him into the examining room so I could wipe down the carrier while the vet checked him out. At just about the same moment we arrived, so did a woman, just about my age, with a sweet and subdued mutt. We both waited with our pets in the reception area for a few moments, she discussing the new Dark Shadows movie with one of the vet techs. Then the doctor took her first. I was pissed because, well, Joey was uncomfortable and he's my priority and who are these people who aren't on board with this?

We sat there for a half hour, me and Joe, with the urine soaking into his fur. Now I'm angry. A HALF HOUR?! Really, people?

Then the woman came out, alone and in tears. The vet followed her, trying to get her to understand what he was saying. Apparently her dog wasn't merely shy or very well behaved -- he was subdued because he was in a lot of pain. They put him on fluids and pain meds right away and hopefully by Monday he'd be strong enough for the next steps. That might include surgery or a transfer to a facility with more sophisticated diagnostic equipment. Did she understand this? Was she giving her consent? The vet walked her out to the car ... I think as much to make sure she was capable of driving in the rain as to get her permission to spend thousands of dollars.

I felt like such a bitch for being angry that they took her dog before my Joe.

For while he was smelly and scared and wet and enormously fat, he's also in pretty good health for a 15 year old and I'm very grateful.

Saturday 9: Touch Me in the Morning

1. Who or what sleeps with you? My cat Charlotte

2. Last time you saw your high school best friend? December 2010. Though I just heard from her yesterday. We're still very close.
 
3. What do you do when you're sad? Drink and worry and fixate. The usual.

4. What do you wear when you are relaxing around the house? A tiara and feather boa.

5. What did you do immediately after high school? Had a Coke and opened graduation presents.
 
6. Is anyone on your bad side right now? Well, my bad side does appear to be my bigger side at times, so yes.

7. What's the first thing you do when you get online? Check my email.
 
8. What jewelry are you wearing? My lotus ring, my scroll ring, my watch and my earrings. Oh yeah! I forgot the tiara referenced in Q4.

9. Post a current song that you like. (Or name it and tell us why you like it.) Rita Wilson's "Come See About Me." I'm struck by how different it sounds with one voice instead of four. Miss Ross knew her girls had her back, so it sounded more defiant, more like a command or ultimatum, than this more stripped down, plaintive version.

In from the cold

Five days and six completely unrelated emails later, my best friend and I are communicating again. He wished me a happy Mother's Day and advised me to just enjoy my time with my mom, not to fixate too much on how we nearly lost her last month.


No mention was made of IT. And that's OK. He knows what he did was wrong. He feels bad and was very thoughtful and wise in another area. There's nothing to be gained by dragging this out.

I'm just so happy to be back from Siberia.

Trifecta

This weekend's challenge: Write anything you want, in whichever form you please, so long as your response is exactly 33 words and includes the word "mother."  

A Dixie cup of 7 Up, served at room temperature, and a trio of plain saltines are all you can have when you’re recovering from tummy trouble. I know because my mother said.

THIS JUST IN: The good people at Trifecta ranked this entry third. I'm surprised and very happy.

No Cub game tonight

But I don't care. I'm spending this evening with my favorite movie boyfriend, John McClane. AMC is running Die Hard and Die Hard with a Vengeance back to back. Thank you! Thank you!

I heard a fifth Die Hard movie is in the works. I guess being a father again at age 57 has rejuvenated my hero.

Some lucky Obama supporter and her guest are having dinner tonight at George Clooney's home tonight with George and a couple from Washington he knows well enough -- Barack and Michelle Obama. I entered twice. My oldest friend and my friend Mindy also entered, and both promised that if they won, they would take me as their guest. So I suppose it's just as well I didn't win. I mean, which one of them would I choose? Such a sticky question! It's better this way.


I am amazed at how much this fundraiser hauled in. I think it's quite a testament to George's popularity. He may be Obama's secret weapon.

THURSDAY THIRTEEN #170

THIRTEEN MEMORABLE PERFORMANCES 

BY STANLEY TUCCI

He's not a star, not a household name, but you know him. Currently he's appearing in cineplexes all over the world in The Hunger Games. I haven't seen it, but I know he's good in it. Because he's always good. He's just as credible playing a gay fashionista as he is a ruthless businessman and a womanizing mobster. I'm celebrating 13 of his more memorable performances:


1) The Hunger Games (2012). Caesar Flickerman, the host of the famous fictional games.

2) Burlesque (2010). He held his own as Cher's friend and confidante.


3) Julie and Julia (2009). He was lovely as Julia's loving husband, diplomat and artist Paul Child.


4) The Lovely Bones (2009). He earned an Oscar nomination for portraying one the very bad man.

5) Kit Kitteredge: An American Girl (2008). Mr. Berk, a down-on-his-luck magician who takes a room in the Kitteredge house during the Depression.


6) The Tale of Despereaux (2008). The voice of the soup-loving Boldo.

7) The Devil Wears Prada (2006). My favorite Tucci performance as Nigel, the loyal and royally screwed assistant of the evil Miranda.

8) Shall We Dance? (2004) He joins Richard Gere in Jennifer Lopez' dance class.

9) Who's that Girl? (1987) It amuses me that early in his movie career he was billed as "Dock Worker #2" in a forgettable Madonna movie

AND ON TV …

10) ER (2007). The head of the ER during a memorable blackout.

11) Monk (2006). He won an Emmy Award for his portrayal of a Hollywood star researching his greatest role -- Adrian Monk.

12) thirtysomething (1990). Karl Draconis, Michael's boss-from-hell.

13) Miami Vice (1988). Miami mobster Frank Mosca seems to be seducing one of Miami's finest female detectives.

For more information about the Thursday Thirteen,

or to play yourself, click here.

Six out of ten!

I don't mean to imply that with today's victory against the Braves that the Cubs are now on their way to World Series rings. On the other hand, the Boys in Cubbie Blue have now won 6 of their last 10, which is very respectable. And this makes me very happy! I truly believe that we have turned a corner, and that the 2012 season won't blow.

I'm singing, "Go, Cubs, go! Go, Cubs, go ..."

And in other Cubbie news, Mayor Rahm Emmanuel is really trying to get the City Council on board to help fund the renovation of the Friendly Confines. I don't live within the city limits, so my opinion doesn't mean (to borrow a phrase) "a hill of beans in this crazy world." Except that I love Wrigley Field easily as much as Rick loved Ilsa, so I hope that somehow this is all worked out for the betterment of the park.

I Want Wednesday

I want my best friend to get over himself already! He behaved badly (we all do at times) and I busted him for it (he deserved it), and yet somehow in his mind I'm the baddie. I'm not apologizing because I haven't done anything wrong. I did send him one last email on the matter, explaining that if I don't stick up for myself and my feelings, no one will, and that's that. On this subject. Knowing him, and knowing how loathe he is to admit when he's "wr..." (see clip below), I have also given him a trio of unrelated emails to respond to, so he can keep the lines of communication open and still save face.

My considered opinion

Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez have been doing a lot of TV to promote their new book. Emilio and I are the same age, which makes Martin (literally) old enough to be my dad. And yet he is, hands down, the sexier one. Throw Charlie in, and Dad still wins. (Am I alone in suspecting Charlie has some serious hygiene issues?)

Why doesn't my virtue make me happier?

I am such a grown up! And it's left me feeling a little miserable.

One of my coworkers, Tom, offered me the FREE ticket next to him at tonight's Cub game! But, alas, I turned it down, and here's why:

•  While it was in the mid-60's when I left for work this morning, it's going to be rainy and cold in the ballpark tonight. I'm just wearing sandals, a little boatneck t-shirt and my denim jacket. That's simply not enough to keep you warm when it's raining within The Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field.

•  My first impulse was, "Let's go to Macy's!" It's connected to our office building by a pedway and I could pick up all manner of new Cubbie blue gear to keep me warm. But considering that even the cheapest MLB sweatshirt is more than $30, and I'd need many layers, that's just a waste of money that I don't have.

• And then there's the cab ride from the park to the train station after the game. That would be at least $20, probably more. I could save money and take the "el" home, but the game won't be over until 9:00 at the earliest -- later with the predicted rain delays -- and I just don't believe the el is safe that time of night.

•  "Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack," as the song goes. Well, whose gonna take me up on that? Nobody. So that would be even more money. I bet by the end of the evening, that free ticket could end up costing me more than $100 I can't afford to spend.

Sigh. Being an adult so sucks.

Image: Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net