Thoughts for the day, 1-26-17

When I shop at Target, I often hear an announcement letting the clerks know that a customer needs assistance in one of the aisles. When I hear, “Help is needed in the diaper (or whatever) aisle. Who is responding?” I swear, I have to do everything in my power to restrain myself from shouting, “I am! I am!”

 

I feel really bad when I decide to delete an app from my iPhone. All the apps start shaking as my finger slowly hovers over them, getting closer and closer. It seems like the one I’m about to tap wants to scream, “No! Not me! Delete that Starbucks chick! She’s not as nice as she looks! Or, how about The Instagram? You don’t even know how to use it!”

 

iphone

 

I feel kind of guilty, but I know it’s ok because the apps aren’t, in reality, being deleted; they’re going up to hang out in the groovy, puffy cloud I decked out for them. Plus, they’re not up there all alone, because all of the other apps I’ve deleted are up there, too!

I’d like to believe that all of my deleted apps are having a great time playing shuffleboard, volleyball, or reading a good book. And, when I pluck a few apps to re-download, the space thins out making it “partly cloudy,” so the remaining apps can sunbathe, if they’d like.

 

My method for cleaning out my purse is to dump its contents onto the quilt on our bed. I purposely bought a quilt with a colorful, complicated pattern in order to hide dog hair, and muddy paw prints. The drawback is that I don’t always see everything I’ve left behind after putting things back in my purse. As we were getting ready to leave the house one night, Richard discovered a Bobby pin, a AA battery, and a paper clip on the bed. He looked at me and asked, “Who are you, MacGyver?”

 

Somehow, Richard and I began talking about the games we played when we were growing up. I loved KerPlunk, and still do. Richard said, “Yeah, you really are a KerPlunk kind of person.” I took that as a compliment.

Richard told me he and his friends often played The Game of Life.  He said, “The pink pegs represented our wives, so we’d always dump them in the river. We’d try to avoid having children, so, if we accidentally had them, we’d dump them in the river, too.” He saw the look of horror on my face and said, “I’m just not whimsical.”

"The Pink Pegs Represented our Wives"
“The Pink Pegs Represented our Wives”
"We'd try to avoid having children..."
“We’d try to avoid having children…”

 

 

Whenever we go out to dinner and Richard orders a steak, he always asks for plain horseradish on the side. At Belows, our waiter, Leo, warned him that the restaurant’s horseradish is so hot, they refer to it as “No Joke Horseradish.” Personally, I prefer horseradish with a sense of humor.

 

I like Rap Music, and I cannot lie, but what’s with those giant parkas? While watching Rappers singing and busting-some-moves under the hot stage lights on TV shows, such as SNL, I start sweating.

Chris Brown and Tyga
Chris Brown and Tyga

 

Richard’s title for a Country & Western song:
“You Can’t See my Tears When I Text you.”

 

 

When you’re driving in your car, and a song comes on the radio that you used to listen to over, and over again on your groovy stereo in your rad bedroom, don’t you remember exactly where it skipped? And, don’t you expect it to skip every time you hear it? Just me? Oh. Ok.

 

#WhatHappensInVegasStaysInVegas

Las Vegas sign

While we were in Vegas, Richard went to the hotel gym at 6:00 AM. At 7:30 AM, he called to tell me he’d lost his key to our room, apologized for waking me up, and asked me to let him in when he knocked on the door.

This man hardly ever loses anything, or screws up in any way. He lives by credos, such as,”Being on time is being five minutes early.”

So, when he does something out of character like that, I cannot begin to tell you how happy it makes me. A feeling of profound joy inhabits my entire body, sometimes causing me to burst into unrestrained interpretive dance. First, I danced around the room in my underwear. Then I danced in front the windows in our hotel room in my underwear. We were on the 27th floor, so, hopefully no one saw me, but hey! It was Vegas!

The Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas really is, “the right amount of wrong.”

The three-level Chandelier Bar, strung with 2 million beaded crystals
The Cosmopolitan’s three-level Chandelier Bar, strung with 2 million beaded crystals*

 

The lobby of The Cosmopolitan
The lobby of The Cosmopolitan

 

The hotel houses The Wicked Spoon, the best buffet on The Strip, in our opinion.

The Wicked Spoon

News tickers scroll around both inside, and outside the hotel, offering clever, eye-catching definitions of either real, or made-up words and phrases. The news ticker that scrolls around the dessert area of The Wicked Spoon served up the following:

Flexitarian:
A vegetarian who sometimes eats meat or fish.

Buttering the Phone:
A prank a Head Chef plays on a new, less experienced Chef. He or she butters the earpiece of the kitchen phone, and then asks someone to call the kitchen. When it rings, the Head Chef asks the new Chef to answer the phone.

Bacon Stretcher: A fictitious contraption the Chef asks the newbie to find because the restaurant is running low on bacon.

My favorite phrase and definition must have been thought up by someone with a brilliant imagination and sense of humor. As we walked around The Strip, I saw it scrolling around on the ticker outside The Cosmopolitan. I watched the ticker scroll through several times, to be sure I copied it correctly, so I could save it in my iPhone’s Notes.

Here it is!

Stilletus Wobbleus: the difficulty women have while walking in high heels after being over-served.

Thank you, Ladies and Gentlemen! Leslie has left the building!

 

 

Photo courtesies: iPhone: apple.com, Chris Brown and Tyga: www.rap-up.com, Country & Western Clothing: Libby’s Country and Western Wear, The Red Shoe, and The Wicked Spoon: www.bunchesofjoy.com

*Source: lasvegassun.com

 

The best way to ring in the new year

pmc-double-your-impact

Announcing the Inaugural PMC Memorial  Prize Winners!

Congratulations, Ashley Ring, and Olivia Kavanaugh, the 2016 Co-Winners of The Inaugural Paul M. Chase Memorial Prize! I’d also like to thank everyone who made monetary contributions to the PMC Memorial Prize, raising $5,000 to be awarded to the winners of the scholarship in my brother’s name.

Every gift that HEC receives by midnight, December 31st, 2016, will be matched one to one by the Efroymson Family Fund and an anonymous, Indiana-based donor, up to a total of $30,000!

I can’t think of a better way to usher in 2017!

 

Jesse Kharbanda, Founder and Senior Advisor of The Paul M. Chase Memorial Prize Fund, and the Executive Director of the Hoosier Environmental Council wrote the following in the recent HEC email newsletter:

There are few experiences more gratifying than meeting warm, compassionate, intelligent, engaging, and dynamic young leaders — those who hold the promise to make our world a better place and remind us of amazing souls like the irreplaceable Paul Chase.

Several of us had the great fortune of gathering together on October 23rd, Paul’s birthday, to celebrate Paul’s life, renew bonds of friendship, and recognize two amazing young leaders, in whom we see many of the qualities that we loved about Paul.

The dynamic young leaders that we recognized on Oct. 23rd, Ashley Ring and Olivia Kavanaugh, are the Co-Winners of the inaugural Paul M. Chase Memorial Prize. Both young women (just seniors in high school) are wise beyond their years. They are role models in academics, music, and student leadership.  More importantly, they are role models through their community service, with a heart for people and for the environment.  Both aspire to do big things for the world: Ashley, as a future veterinarian serving low-income communities and Olivia, as a future oncologist, focused on helping people like her sister, who has a brain tumor.

pmc-prize-winners
PMC Prize Advisory Council members, Convened by HEC, flank the Co-Winners of the Paul M. Chase Memorial Prize, Olivia Kavanaugh and Ashley Ring. From left to right, Rhea Newman, Sandy Gosling, Lorraine Chase, Terry Briner, Olivia Kavanaugh, Ashley Ring, Beth Avraham, Kathy Williams, and Jesse Kharbanda (Photo credit: Mark Lee/Great Exposures, on behalf of the Hoosier Environmental Council.)

Your financial support makes it possible for the Paul M. Chase Memorial Prize — administered by the Hoosier Environmental Council with the support of the all-volunteer PMC Prize Advisory Council — to be able to identify and support emerging young, humanitarian-minded leaders who will keep the legacy of Paul Chase alive for decades to come.

I am wishing you a healthy, safe, and happy new year — a year that we hope will be one marked by many more men and women stepping up to advance the ideals that Paul lived by.

 Sincerely,

Jesse Kharbanda

Founder and Senior Advisor, Paul M. Chase Memorial Prize Fund

Executive Director, Hoosier Environmental Council

P.S. Please double your impact by giving before midnight on December 31st!  Be sure to note “PMC Prize” in the comment box at the bottom of our donation page to ensure that your donation supports the PMC Prize Fund.

Here Come the Hawks!

The ninth annual Chicago Blackhawks Convention takes place today through Sunday, July 17th. Doors have already opened for registration, which began at noon. The event officially begins at 5:00 P.M. tonight.

10,000 fans are expected to descend upon the sold-out event during the weekend at the Hilton Chicago, according to the official press release given to official press (of which I am not,) and, by clicking this link, http://blackhawks.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=889415.

No one is more excited to get this season started than the most enthusiastic Blackhawk player ever, Niklas Hjalmarsson.

Hjalmarsson excitement

IMG_3417

IMG_3416

I was not allowed access to Mr. Hjalmarrson personally, mostly because I never tried to contact him. But, if these photos I snipped from a video interview of Chicago Blackhawk Defenseman Nik Hjalmarsson #4, the day before the 2016 Winter Classic outdoor hockey Stadium Series, hosted by the Minneapolis Wild are any indication, this guy is pumped.

Hjalmarsson may or may not attend the conference, but we don’t know because, as the website above claims, “there will be special Blackhawks guests throughout the weekend.” Who knows? It could be this guy, standing with Hjalmarsson! *

Niklas Hjalmarsson!
Niklas Hjalmarsson!

My good friend, and, in my opinion, the best TV Color Analyst there is, ever was, or ever will be, Eddie (Mr “Stop it right there!”) Olczyk has been tapped to be The Master of Ceremonies and will host the opening ceremonies at 5:00 P.M. today in the hotel’s International Room.

 

IMG_3357

I’ve never met the guy, but Richard got to meet him at some client thing through work. Unfortunately, I don’t qualify to go to these events. But, to make it up to me, Richard chatted with Eddie, and told him how cool I think it is that there are people who keep track and know what’s happening in the lives of every family member of the team, equipment managers, and anyone ever involved in the Chicago Blackhawks franchise. And, not only that, Pat and Eddie announce birthdays, and send out get-well wishes to family members who are ill. Most families don’t know that much about their own family!

Richard also told Eddie how much I appreciate, enjoy, and look forward to the very gentle way he shouts to the guy in the booth showing a replay, “Stop it right there!” This is when Eddie is at his best, in my opinion, because he uses replays as teachable moments.

After shouting, “Stop it right there!” Eddie says, “For all you young hockey players out there…” and then continues to use the replay to point out how players either make good moves to help the team score a goal, and on fewer instances, make less than stellar moves. Even though I’m neither young, or a hockey player, I always learn something new about hockey, and most importantly, teamwork.

Blackhawks hockey games are so important to our family, Richard actually drafted up a handbook of what we are and are not allowed to do, and say during games. For instance, if The Blackhawks score while I’m in the kitchen, when I return to the family room, I am immediately banished back up to the kitchen to watch the rest of the game with the dogs.

I don’t mind, though. I get it! I don’t want to be that person; the one who ruins the Blackhawks mojo. If the stick ain’t broke don’t fix it.

On game night, or before an 11:30 A.M. Sunday game (whose idea was that?) Richard always announces, “Blackhawk Rules Are in Effect,” as if we don’t know. If Richard has DVR’d the game, super-duper, double-secret-probation Blackhawk rules go into effect. Richard claims that just by walking past one of us, or, heaven forbid, looking us in the eye, he can tell that we’ve secretly checked the score of the game on our Chicago Blackhawk iPhone app, or perhaps, (for shame!) watched part of the game elsewhere, or even watched the entire game and know who won.

Check out the way my friend, and Cartoonist Extraordinaire, Sharon Rosenzweig, portrayed Richard in the cartoon above. His wardrobe consists of Blackhawks sweaters, golf togs, and suits.

Pat Foley, is, in my opinion, the perfect co-announcer for Eddie Olczyk. His enthusiasm is contagious, and, since we watch every game, we understand their inside jokes, and laugh along with them. Pat Foley’s laugh makes me laugh, and, if you know me, that’s one of my favorite extra-curricular activities.

Pat’s energy never wanes. After the Blackhawks win a game, he says, “We hope you enjoyed the broadcast, I know you enjoyed the outcome.” And, if the Blackhawks don’t win, Pat says, with the same enthusiasm, “We hope you enjoyed the broadcast, in spite of the outcome.”

Eddie and Pat feel like friends we invite into our family room, and, no, I’m not hallucinating (again.) Because of them, I look forward to watching the Chicago Blackhawks, whether they win, or not, although, to be honest, there have been times when games have made me so nervous I’ve had to go upstairs and watch The Kardashians, just to calm myself down.

During this weekend’s frenzy, fans will have the chance to attend Q&A’s, and autograph sessions with players, coaches, and front office staff personnel. There will also be live and silent auctions featuring memorabilia, and game-used equipment! (Febreze sold separately.**)

Watch the excitement on CSNChicago.com. The Opening Ceremonies will also be carried live on Comcast SportsNet Chicago and WGN Radio, and streamed live on CSNChicago.com. Seven panels located in the International Ballroom will be streamed live on chicagoblackhawks.com and mobile devices via the Official Blackhawks App throughout the weekend. For more information, please visit chicagoblackhawks.com.***

* Green-screen photo taken of Niklas Hjalmarsson cut-out, and the real Richard, not a cut-out, taken at the Blackhawks Flagship Store at tree-tirty-tree N. Michigan Ave, Chicago.

** Sometimes I just crack myself up.

*** Totally plagiarized from http://blackhawks.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=889415 (Hey! At least I admitted it!)

A Small Piece of Land

When I found this brick covered with moss in our backyard, I immediately began laughing. It reminded me of one of my favorite scenes from a Woody Allen movie. 

piece of land

In “Love and Death,” Woody Allen’s character, Boris, narrates the scene in which another man offers to buy land from his father, Dimitri.

Dimitri pulls a very small piece of land from inside his coat and proudly says, “This land is not for sale! Someday, I hope to build on it!”

Love and death piece of land

As of now, I have no plans to build on my brick.