The Ties That Bind

Saturday night was the centerpiece of this long weekend. We gathered at my brother- and sister-in-law George and Krissy's place for the big party, celebrating my father-in-law's 80th birthday, sister-in-law Pam's 50th birthday and Kim's upcoming 40th birthday (September 15). It was also the first time in five years that Kim's immediate family was in one place.

The night was very pleasant. A couple of Kim's old friends from high school, one of whom she hadn't seen in years, showed up. I happily schmoozed with her family and Adam made a bunch of new friends with family members, including Kim's brother Gordon, who's a great guy. They talked politics, finding lots of common ground as fellow liberals, though Gordon's a Hillary supporter, and Adam's an Obama supporter. They happily agreed that any Democrat would be preferable to any Republican.

We did our traditional karoake, and called it a night pretty late.

The next morning, we went over to my in-laws' condo, where Kim and Mel hung out with Kim's mother, and we went with my father-in-law to a Minnesota Twins game. I got tickets the day before, and I couldn't believe my luck-- there were tickets left in only one section, but that section was right behind home plate. The Twins lost to the Kansas City Royals 8-1, but we had a great time anyway-- we're probably the three biggest baseball fans in the family. Going to a baseball game with my father-in-law and son was something I'd long wanted to do.



This was the first game Adam had seen outside of Wrigley Field. Even for me, who has seen games in several other stadiums, it was unusual to be in a stadium with a roof. Adam was pleased that they had "Chicago-style" hot dogs (beef hot dog, onions, relish, mustard, etc.) at the park.

My father-in-law mentioned that the Metrodome's days are numbered: they've broken ground not too far away on a new stadium. They are haggling over the funding for a retractable dome, something that is kind of a necessity giving Minneapolis' weather.

That night, we gathered one more time at a restaurant, and said our goodbyes until the once-every-three-year reunion next year.

On the six hour plus drive home today, I had a lot of time to muse about family and life. I was thinking about one picture in particular-- a picture my in-laws George and Ellie wanted with all of their grandkids. Looking on, I realized that nearly half of the grandkids were not actually related to George and Ellie by blood, including Adam, but are considered just as much their grandchildren as any of the others. I could list a couple of dozen reasons why my in-laws are great, but if I had to pick just one thing, that might be it. They are a couple of the most fundamentally good people I've ever had the opportunity to meet. I lucked out in getting them as in-laws and family.

It's All Good At the Minnesota State Fair, Eh?

I'm down here in the Atrium/Pool Area in the hotel, watching the kids swim and catching up on my blogging.

I finally figured out why we're getting free wi-fi. There is free wi-fi in the public areas, including the atrium and lobby. We're on the third floor, and close enough to get in on that action.

It gets even better. I was a little nervous about finances for this trip; taking this weekend off was a bit expensive for me. The good news was that I checked my bank account online yesterday and discovered that I had one more check coming from my teaching job. I was on a 12 month contract, and wasn't sure when the 12 months ended. Yesterday, apparently. So I'm free to spend like a sailor on leave. I got that good news just before we left the hotel for the Minnesota State Fair.

Just before we left, I discovered that I'd forgotten to pack sunscreen. I insisted that we stop at a drugstore and buy some, over Kim's slight objections. She was to thank me later.

As we crept in the line of cars into the fairground parking lot, we all slathered in sunscreen. We got there too late to see Al Franken, and apparently missed a new Minnesota State Fair tradition-- the "running of the bull.". Shortly before we got there, a bull got loose in the farm exhibition area, and went after a fair-goer. The fair-goer got out of the way and the bull sent himself to the big barnyard in the sky when he brained himself on a fire hydrant.

Co-best friend Andreas has pointed out that strange things happen around he and I (I'll post sometime about the kamikazee bicyclist he witnessed in Frankfurt, Germany). This was yet another example.

Speaking of kamikazee, we decided that it would be prudent to do the rides before hitting the food area. By we, I mean the kids and I. Kim had way more sense than to get on the rides.

But before that, we had to stop at the Honky Tonk Museum. It may have been tiny, but they had amazing relics of country music, including things like...

Buddy Holly's airline ticket (not his final one, but I wondered if that was in bad taste),






Johnny Cash's wallet....



Marty Robbins' shirt-- the final shirt he performed in...



and the one that brought tears to my eyes...

Elvis Presley's sock!



I was left thinking about an old Saturday Night Live bit about Elvis Presley's Jacket going on tour as we headed off for the rides.

I told the kids we'd go together on one ride that they chose, then I'd go on one ride with each of them. They chose the Crazy Mouse for our communal ride.


Kim stayed behind at a safe distance. I began to realize that she have been the wiser one in this case.

They had one of these at Playland Park, the suburban Chicago park I went to as a kid. There was a twist on this one, though, since I'd been on-- literally. Not only did the damned thing whip you around, making you pray to god that you weren't going to be the one cart in whatever million that doesn't hold to the rails, it spun us around in circles. What kind of madman had devised this ride?

I prayed for an safe and peaceful end to the ride. I was granted this.

We finished up and Adam and I rode the bumper cars. As he went to the nearby Tilt-A-Whirl, Mel and I rode the politically incorrectly, and terrifyingly-named Kamikazee.

The picture on the side of the ride did not encourage me. Neither did the fact that they lock you in a cage in the ride. That's it in the background.



















I had the foresight to empty my camera, cellphone, keys, etc. out of my pockets. We were whipped upside down and around. All through it, I kept trying to put out of my mind the fact that the rides were put together and run by carnies.

Kim, to her credit, thanked me for doing this-- otherwise she would have had to go on the ride.

Believe it or not, there were two even more terrifying rides. One was a ride where they shot you up in a ball with giant rubber bands...



And another that was like the ride that Mel and I went on, except that you swung about 150 feet in the air.



Needless to say, we did not go on those rides.

Adam stated that he wouldn't go on those rides for a million dollars. I considered my price. I'd do it for as little as $500.

I had a diet Coke to settle my stomach and we headed off to meet Kim's lifelong friend Ann, and Ann's partner Jody, and to the food area.

We decided that we had one rule: everyone had to have at least one thing on a stick.

At the food tent, Adam had a Corn Beef and Cabbage on a stick, Spam curds and fried cheese curds. Mel had Spaghetti and Meatball on a stick. I had a big honking barbecued turkey leg, pickle on a stick and some jambalaya. I was disappointed that I couldn't find alligator on a stick.

We had ten more ride tickets left-- enough for each of the kids to take one more ride-- with the stipulation that they go by themselves. I was done with rides for the day.

Mel chose a swing ride. Adam and I both thought she was going to lose her Crocs.



Adam took one more turn on the bumper cars, as I mused that in about two years, I'll be teaching him to drive.



We headed for the Democratic Party tent, where Adam got a Barack Obama for President button. We swung through the "free stuff" tent, where Mel got herself some pencils, and headed out.

We went back to the hotel room for about a half hour, then over to Kim sister Pam's place. Two of Kim's brothers were there, and while I rested in a floating chair, an impromptu water volleyball game broke out. Adam, of course, talked politics with Kim's brother Gordon, who I was meeting for the first time this trip (he lives in Syracuse, New York). We called Kim's parents and arranged to meet them for dinner.

By the time I got back to the hotel room, I was exhausted. I did manage to get my Friday Random Ten in, though, slipping one my Ipod headphones right before I fell asleep.


1. Pretty Smart On My Part- Phil Ochs
2. Freebird (live)- Lynard Skynard
3. Neighborhood Bully- Bob Dylan
4. Romeo and Juliet- Michael and the Messengers
5. That Girl- Stevie Wonder
6. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue- Bob Dylan
7. Is It a Crime- Sade
8. Green, Green Grass of Home- Joan Baez
9. Knock, Knock- The Humane Society
10. Kim the Waitress- SIster Psychic

Welcome to Minnesota, Eh?

This morning, the alarm went off at 5:30. I ate breakfast and showered, and we were out the door by 6:45. We picked Adam up at my ex's by 7:15. There was a little traffic on the Kennedy, but by the time we hit the tollway portion, bypassing the toll booths (thanks Ipass!), we made great time. We made it to Minneapolis by about 2:30.



I made it about four hours before Kim took over the driving-- I was exhausted. I was on call last night at work, and indeed, was called in. Not a bad thing. One table alone tipped me $100, I had a party of eight people in town for an archivists' convention-- picture librarians-- and some other good tables. In the end, I made a nice bundle of money-- it should pay for our gas money this weekend. I worked until about 11:30, and got to bed about 1:30. The 5:30 wake-up was rough.

The conversation on the way up was lively-- no shrinking violets in my family. We talked about my new job, politics (surprise), and conversation eventually turned to blogging, including the fact that I've hardly blogged in the last couple of weeks. Adam and Kim were singing the praises of Dr. Monkerstein's blog-- praise I'm prone to agree with. His mix of the humorous and the political is exceptional. Adam suggested we try to meet up with Monkerstein the next time we visit my parents in Knoxville, Tennessee.

I managed to doze off for an hour and woke up to Kim and my son having a conversation about my snoring.

Right now, Kim's across the street at Costco buying a few things, and I'm downstairs at the hotel watching Adam and Mel in the pool. The hotel charges for wi-fi, but I'm getting it free from someone in the area. Way cool!

School is still going well. We're covering some chemistry, including organic chemistry, before heading into biology. It's amazing how much easier this stuff is this time around.

I'm looking forward to seeing my in-laws. It's funny when I hear horror stories about in-laws. I love mine-- they're wonderful people.

It's funny how little things can make you happy. I'm happy to have a laptop again. I'm not hung up on material things-- I drive a 14-year-old rusty truck. But my laptop is a center of communications in my life-- blogging, email, reading the New York Times. Work is going well, I've started school finally, and have put a tough year behind me. My family is doing well. I'm tired, but feel better than I've felt in a long time.

I'm Still Here!

It's been a hectic couple of weeks-- more details in tomorrow's post-- it'll be my one year blog anniversary!

I got my "new" used Ibook yesterday, and between working and school, have been trying to get it set up. It's amazing what you miss. I've been able to post from our family desktop, but I couldn't post my own pictures, and of course, it just wasn't my little laptop.

After I got the Ibook up and running, I wanted to set it up so I could run pictures from my digital camera to my new laptop and put them on my blog. For some reason, Canon did not have the software for this one their site, and when I ran the software from my old laptop (I'll tell later how I did this), it wouldn't read my camera. I had to dig out the original installation cd. This was a good excuse to dig through some drawers and put a bunch of old paperwork into recycling.

While I did this, I had a nice conversation with my stepdaughter. I've felt bad that I've been scarce around here the last couple of weeks because of my schedule. We talked again about friendships, and how they are different with different people, and change over time even with the individuals. Earlier, we'd walked over to the library-- something I try to do with her every week or two. It made me realize how important it is to both my kids to have a certain time or activity that is theirs; to make them breakfast on the weekends; to ride bikes, play catch, play a game or watch a particular television program with them.

Work has been interesting. I finally feel like I'm beginning to know what the hell I'm doing. I like most of the people I work with. They're quite the interesting bunch. Being a waiter is a job that is largely inhabited by people who, like me, are in transition. The flexibility of schedule combined with generally really good money lends itself to that. It's an intense business-- you don't have a lot of room to screw up, which makes the first few weeks pretty rough sometimes. I've been fortunate that there's a bunch of people there who are friendly and helpful, and to them I'm eternally grateful.

There are a couple of people there who I've gotten off to a rough start with, but I think I'm wearing them down for the most part. Like my mother always says, "kill 'em with kindness."

I've been there only three weeks or so, and I've got a bunch of stories (I know-- you shocked. I have stories?). I know you'll also be surprised to find that there have been people I know in there.

Also, I almost waited on the actor Billy Zane a couple of weeks ago. Almost, because David, one of the first "old-timers" there to take me under his wing asked me if he could take him. I wouldn't have recognized him. Like many actors, he's smaller than he looks on screen, and has shaved his head.

The place is going through growing pains. A manager and a sous chef quit this weekend, but the manager came back.

I've been pretty much constantly fighting fatigue. I'm staying up too late in order to write this post, but I realized that I missed posting more than I missed sleep-- and I've been missing sleep. My rides to and from work were a fight with dozing off.

I started class yesterday. It was a lot of fun. First, it was great to feel, unlike the first time I took college science 27 years ago, like I actually had a grasp of the material. And beginning class, I feel, like some people have suggested, like my life is moving forward.


So here I am on the back porch overlooking the "white trash" backyard. Here's a picture from a couple of weeks ago-- it's not nearly as bad now, and it promises to be beautiful by the end of next month. In the meantime, it's a full moon, and I've got an app that will play my Ipod through the laptop (though I have yet to figure out how to transfer my Ipod songs, playlists and all, to my new computer).

As I've mentioned before, I had a bunch of repairs done to my Blazer, and we're taking it up to Minneapolis to see my Kim's family. We're going to go to the Minnesota State Fair, and maybe a Twins game, and celebrating 40th, 50th and 80th birthdays for family members. I'll let you figure out which one is Kim's.

There's a million things I'd like to comment on tonight, including Gonzalez' resignation-- I was on the bus on the way to school yesterday when my father called me. I'll post about that-- I'll briefly say that these people are strange-- the people they throw under the bus hang in there too long, and cause damage. I'm eager to read the books that Bob Woodward will write about this period of history, this war and this administration.

Sunday Morning

Got up this morning, put on The Velvet Underground's song "Sunday Morning", then The Rolling Stones' Exile On Mainstreet album-- because, you know, sometimes a guy's just gotta hear Exile On Main Street-- sat down to a hearty, healthy breakfast, and reflected on yesterday.

I worked a double yesterday. The lunch shift was great, the dinner shift even better, despite the fact that one of the sous chefs didn't show up. I made an insane amount of money. I'm working another double today-- it should be a shorter one.

While I've been away at work, it seems that the President has gone back to using Vietnam as an analogy for Iraq, like he was a few months ago. A lot of you think this is bad news. No-- Vietnam's a great analogy: the U.S. propping up a corrupt, incompetent government that won't come to terms with the opposition, knowing that the U.S. President will continue to feed U.S. soldiers into the meatgrinder to support the government-in-name-only in order to avoid admitting that he was wrong about the entire escapade-- yep, that sounds about right to me.

In the meantime, perhaps we should be planning the Iraq War Memorial.

I also saw the headline that housing prices are doing what everyone said couldn't possibly happen-- they're actually dropping.

Are you better off today than you were eight years ago?

My god, I hate these people.

I start my Biology class at 8 am tomorrow. I was worried about where I was going to get the time to run out and get a spiral notebook for my class-- I'd forgotten to get one this week. I didn't need to worry-- my stepdaughter got me one yesterday. I've got great kids.

The Portable Friday Random 10

I had a good lunch shift yesterday at work, and got off pretty early. I'd gotten a message from my mechanic that my Blazer was ready, so I figured to have time to pick it up, head home, rest a little and head to my other job. Mother nature had other plans.

As I cruised north toward home on the Brown Line, I saw really ugly looking clouds moving in fast from the west. By the time I got off the el, to wait for the Western Avenue bus, it was raining buckets. I was suddenly happy for the city allowing the bus shelters to be put up (the JC Deveaux company puts them up free, then sells advertising on them).

The rain had subsided a little by the time I got down to my mechanic Luis' shop on Western and Berteau. When I walked in, I could see immediately that power was out. He told me to just come and pay him when the power was up-- everything is on his computer. Very cool. I've done business with this guy for over ten years; I remember when his shop was out of a garage. Now he owns his own place, and has a bunch of employees. He's a rarity-- a mechanic you can trust. I highly recommend him-- L and L Automotive, at 4142 N. Western.

My car needed an oil and transmission fluid change, plus, the motor for the window on the passenger side needed to be replaced-- it would no longer work. I wanted them to check the oxygen sensors and some other things before my trip. The oxygen sensors were okay, as it turned out (they're the sensors that the electronic ignition uses to control combustion), but one of my differentials had a leak-- the seal needed replacing. In the end, what I'd feared would be nearly $1,000 worth of work will be a little over $500. My car is running like a dream now. I love that guy.

In any event, I got home to find that our electricity was out too. I called over to Jury's and discovered that their power was out too. I showered and changed, and went over there on the chance that power would be back. It never did.

It turned out that Kim and Mel were at a restaurant less than a block away that had electricity-- like I said, the outages were very local. I stopped by there and rode home with them.

The power was still out. Fortunately, I'd bought a couple of those portable florescent lanterns a couple of years ago at Costco, so we had light here. I couldn't resist reminding Kim that she'd complained that those lamps were unnecessary clutter. As a kid, I'd remembered a few power outages, so I always wanted them around. They paid off yesterday.

When I left for work this morning, I saw the destruction-- lots of trees and parts of trees down. The electrical outages were block to block. I worked my lunch shift, and got home to find, to my relief, that the electricity was back on.

I was glad for the decision I'd made last year to buy a new refrigerator. The food was still cold, and the food in the freezer was still frozen-- the ice cubes were still frozen! Our old refrigerator would not have kept that food cold for more than 4 or 5 hours. We'd have had to throw a bunch of food out.

Now that we have electricity again, I was able to check where my "new" used powerbook was. I got on FedEx's site and discovered that It's in FedEx's hub in Champaign, Illinois, so it should be arriving Monday. I can't wait.

We ended up with an extra waiter on tonight-- we didn't open the patio-- too humid and threatening rain-- so I volunteered to go home. I was tired-- I didn't relish the thought of a double, even as lucrative as a Friday shift would have been. I wanted to go home, rest-- and blog. Between my hectic schedule and the power outage, I've barely posted in the last week. I've missed it and missed reading all your blogs.

This morning, when I left for work, I grabbed my big ipod-- usually I bring the shuffle for the el ride-- so that I could do my Random 10.

1. Is There Anybody Here?- Phil Ochs
2. Have A Cigar- Pink Floyd
3. Insane, Insane Again- J. Geils Band
4. Naked In The Rain- Red Hot Chili Peppers
5. Forbidden City- Joe Strummer and the Mescaleroes
6. Night Fever- Bee Gees
7. Rock, Salt and Nails- Joan Baez
8. She Don't Let Nobody (But Me)- Curtis Mayfield
9. To Sir With Love- Lulu
10. I Predict- Sparks

Notes:
1. An anti-war ballad from the great Phil Ochs-- one of his best.
2. From Pink Floyd's great Wish You Were Here album. Their friend Roy Harper sings on it.
3. From J. Geils' 1981 #1 album Freeze Frame. Their first-- and last-- #1 album. They broke up afterward.
4. I had to restrain myself from dancing on the el with this one. Love this song!
5. Can you believe it'll be five years since we lost Joe, in December? If I'm wrong about religion, I hope Joe and Phil Ochs are having nightly jam sessions in heaven.
6. I really hated the Bee Gees back in the seventies for their contributions to disco. Over the years I've softened and grown to really like even their Saturday Night Fever stuff.
7. From David's Album, one of my favorites.
8. Go out and buy the Curtis Mayfield box set right now. I mean it.
9. Love this song and the movie it's from.
10. One of my college roommates turned me on to Sparks. This song is hilarious.

The Busiest Day Off Ever

Another crazy-busy, but productive day off of work.

One of the things that I've loved about all of these changes in my life is that it's allowed me to switch most of my transportation to public transit. To that end, I bought a 30-Day CTA pass. What a deal-- it's $75 for, obviously, 30 days. It kicks in the first time you use it. I'd been using a pass I got where you add value and take it off every time you use it. One of the things about having an unlimited pass is that it encourages you to use it even when not just using it to go to work.

Thanks to the CTA pass, I was able a good chunk of my day on the bus and el running errands. First and foremost, I had to go exchange my textbook for the correct one. I hopped on the bus that runs a block from my house, and is a straight shot five minute ride to the city college branch that I'll be taking my Biology class at, as well as the nearby Beck's bookstore. I quickly exchanged for the proper book, which is damned near the size of a phone book, and got on the el less than a block away to run up to Evanston to get my ailing laptop. I grabbed my Ibook and went back into Chicago.

I ran down to the Paulina el stop, where I killed three birds with one stone. First, I needed to pick up a new sticker for my license plate. Mine's running out at the end of the month, and I wasn't confident that if I mailed it in that it would get back in time. I went to the Currency Exchange I've been doing business with for nearly 20 years. I'll tell more about that place another time. In any event, I got the sticker, and walked up Lincoln Avenue to Whole Foods. There, I finally found, in a freezer, what I'd heard they carried: gluten-free bread.

Last night, I had another of my dreams that I was eating a sandwich. I loved sandwiches and used to pretty much live on sandwiches. I've mentioned in previous blog posts that I dream frequently about eating sandwiches, something I can't do since I found out I have Celiac disease, a genetic allergy to wheat and other grains.

I decided I'd had enough. I had a few minutes to kill before I picked up my stepdaughter so I finally took the time to find the non-gluten bread that Whole Foods was rumored to have. It was nearly five bucks a loaf, so I hoped it would be good. Plus, a bonus: they had Artizuri, the wine Kim brought to our first date (it was a BYOB place). I grabbed a bottle-- a 2004, appropriately-- our first date was in November, 2004, right after the election.

I got Mel and we went to wait for the bus. It occurred to me that it would be my seventh bus or el ride of the day.

We got home and Mel went to work on a DVD project for an upcoming family celebration. I went to the kitchen to start cooking dinner for everyone.

And to have a sandwich. It was everything I'd dreamt of.

Last night, work was, as they say in the old country, "balls to the wall." I had a back section that would normally have been a little slow. It was crazy busy last night. I made, last night, about 2/3's of what I would make in a week as a teacher. The reviews have obviously been working their magic.

As I left work, I was walking past the inexpensive little Italian place around the corner that the other servers had told me they met at after a lot of shifts, and saw that about a dozen people I'd worked the shift with were in there. They waved me in, insisting that it was my initiation. I had one glass of wine with them; the last couple of trains on the Brown Line were coming in the next 20 minutes or so.

I'm glad I stopped in, though. I've discovered that I work with a very nice group of people. They're mostly, like me, doing this as a way to what they want. Lots of actors. And lots of students, like me. I ended up talking to Christine and David, a couple of people at the restaurant who took me under their wings. They told me that I'm well-liked there, and that regarding the couple of people I've had trouble with, everyone has trouble with them.

I was telling Kim tonight that I've had a backache for the last week and a half. I don't get headaches-- I get a headache in my back. For some reason, if I'm under a lot of stress, I get a pain in my lower back rather than my head. It's finally clearing up, as of last night.

I heard from my mechanic today. My Blazer should be ready tomorrow. The air conditioner will be fully charged, transmission fluid replaced, oil changed, a leak in the rear differential fixed, and the motor in the passenger-side window fixed. Yeah, you spend money on a used car, but in the end, I spend on repairs, in a year, what I'd spend on two payments on a new car.

Tomorrow starts possibly four days of doubles, then up to Minnesota to see my in-laws.

Takin' Care of Business

If you were wondering what that loud cheering sound coming from the north side of Chicago was at about 10 a.m. was... well, that was me cheering. I was on call for a lunch shift at the restaurant. I called at 10 and found they didn't need me-- no one had called in sick. That means I only work my night shift this evening, instead of a double, and had time to do the laundry list of errands I had. And I have all of tomorrow off!

The new job continues to go well. Yesterday, I ended up in a double section for a furious lunch shift. I pulled it off with no problem. The second half of my double shift was slow, but a slow shift there is still pretty good.

Until I get my laptop up and running, I can't post my own pictures. That may be just as well-- the view from the front and rear of our home looks like hell. The back yard continues to look like the Great White Trash Backyard, with piles of scrap and construction materials, with the sidewalk and patio torn out. Apparently there is some master plan to have professional landscaper come in and fix it all up. The catch is that it may take until October to finish. Sigh.

Then in the front, signs went up last week that parking was restricted from August 20 to 24; they're repaving. Cars left there would be towed to another street. I decided to make lemons into lemonade by bringing my Blazer in for a bunch of work that needed to be done-- oil change, fix the air conditioner, fix the windows on the passenger side-- neither will roll up and down properly. I figured that would get it off the street for a few days, and make Kim and the kids happy-- we'll probably be taking the Blazer up to Minnesota in a little over a week.

This morning the city workers came by and stripped the street. When I went out to take care of some errands, I talked to the supervisor, who said that it should be repaved in the next day or two. I've lived here for 9 years as of this month, and this is the third time the street's been repaved. This time, it really needed it-- they really tore it up with the equipment they brought in to fix the broken water main last winter.

In the course of my errands this morning, I opened up a savings account, something I haven't had in a long time. I set it up for money to be kicked in from my checking account every month, as well.

I also signed up for the "Pay By Touch" thing at Jewel's, our grocery store. I found out that unlike a debit, I'm not charged a fee every time I use it.

So for the rest of the week, I'll be waiting. I'll run up to Evanston on the el tomorrow to pick up my laptop, so I can pull the old hard drive out of it, and pop it in my new one, whenever it arrives. Hopefully my truck will be done in the next day or so as well. And then this weekend-- between my two jobs, I may be working 4 straight doubles. Grueling, but lucrative. It'll pay a lot of bills.

And then Monday, I start my class.

I got a little sad news yesterday. Toward the end of the lunch shift, one of the other servers approached me and said that one of his customers thought he knew me. I went to the table, and saw that Ron, one of my favorite regulars at Jury's, was sitting with a woman. Since he wasn't sitting with his partner, William, I had a pretty strong feeling that I was about to get some bad news. Ron introduced the woman, a friend and neighbor, and answered the question I had. His partner of 12 years, William, who had been my friend for about 20 years, had passed away recently of cancer. I'd known William had had some kind of long-term illness for some time-- he was obviously fatigued the last few years, and a couple of times when he and Ron had dinner in the restaurant, I had noticed one of those devices for delivering medicine attached to his arm.

I met William in the late eighties when we both hung out at the Gingerman Tavern, in Chicago. He was chatty and gregarious, and loved music like I did, and we became friends instantly. When I moved out of my Wrigleyville apartment, and became friends with my upstairs neighbors Connie and Lynn, I discovered, when I went to one of their parties (a "Breakfast At Tiffany's"-themed party), that they were also good friends with William.

When Adam was born, I stopped hanging at the Gingerman, and lost touch with William. I started working at Jury's, and got reacquainted when he and Ron started coming in to the restaurant. William's partner Ron, who is a hairdresser (yeah, I know, a gay hairdresser-- that's a first) is a great guy and I'm really glad William had Ron to take care of him after he fell ill.

I'm relieved that William's suffering is done, but I'll miss him.