August 2004 Archives

Hamm Missing as Wheaties Honors Olympic Winners
Mon Aug 30, 2004 11:20 AM ET
CHICAGO (Reuters) - American gymnast Paul Hamm, who was asked to return his Olympic gold medal in the men's all-around because of a scoring error, may have received another snub.

General Mills Inc, the maker of Wheaties cereal, announced on Monday three U.S. Olympic champions will appear on millions of its iconic orange cereal boxes -- but Hamm was not among them.

Traditionally a launching pad for lucrative commercial endorsement deals, Wheaties boxes will feature record-breaking swimmer Michael Phelps, female gymnastics all-around champion Carly Patterson, and the holder of the "world's fastest human" title, 100-meter gold medalist Justin Gatlin.

Am I surprised that Paul Hamm got snubbed? Not really. Personally, I thought he should have given the gold medal back. Granted he did nothing wrong, but clearly the judges made a mistake which unfairly granted him the gold medal. And as such, in the spirit of the Olympic games and in fairness to the other athletes, I think he should have given it back. I’m sure my opinion is in the minority but I really do think it would have been the right thing to do.

It's official: I have little to no tolerance for people who keep making the same mistakes over and over again. As such, it's time for tough love.

All sexual assault allegations should be taken seriously. But one recent high profile case baffles me. The alleged victim Audra Soulias went on to have a six month relationship with William Kennedy Smith the person she is accusing of raping her. This makes no sense to me. Audra was an adult when the incident happened and even if she was fearful of loosing her job, to go on and have a relationship with the person who raped her is just plain weird.

Update: News reports indicate that two other women who also worked ast the same organization recently settled sexual harrassment suits against William Kennedy Smith so perhaps there is some teeth to Audra's story. But who knows. Either way, I think it looks bad that she waited 5 years to come forward and then when she did, demanded $3million.

If you are thinking of getting in the middle of a family dispute, forget about it. Little if any good will come from your involvement. It is better just to stay on the sidelines and offer words of encouragement and support.

If you're in Chicago on September 23rd, consider supporting this worthy cause.

ONE NIGHT • ONE CAUSE
BAR AIDS: Thursday, September 23, 2004

AIDSCARE is teaming up with Chicagoland bars and nightclubs for an evening of FUNdraising!

On Thursday, September 23, 2004 participating bars and nightclubs will be donating a portion of their sales to help AIDSCARE – a 12 year old Chicago charity helping people living with HIV/AIDS achieve a higher quality of life through housing, care and support services.

Helping is simple…
Make plans to go out to a participating bar or nightclub on Thursday, September 23 and have fun. Ask family, friends and co-workers to join you. That’s it, that’s all you have to do. The bars will do the rest.

I'm sure some of you are wondering what the heck happened to me as I haven't blogged in quite a few days. Well I got back from a really nice vacation with Racquetball Guy which I will eventually write about -- and got sick with a cold so really didn't feel like doing much. And just when I started to get back into my daily route, a storm started brewing around me. Not one of my own making, but one that I'm still in the middle of. If you guessed that it might have something to do with my younger sister, well you're right. And as much as I want to share, I think it may be best to keep the details private. But here's hoping the storm passes soon. I'm tired of dealing with my younger sister's problems. She doesn't listen to my advice but I'm suppose to come to her rescue every time she calls. It's all so exhausting and I want so much to go back to my regular routine. In the meantime, thank God for a supportive older sister and boyfriend.

Congrats to all the athletes regardless of nationality who have won a medal at these 2004 Summer Olympic Games. When you think about the training and individual sacrifices that got them where they are today, it’s quite impressive. Heck, just being a part of the games is a victory in and of it self. A special congrats go out to all those in the Michigan Wolverines family – especially Michael Phelps who won 8 Olympics medals and will matriculate this fall. Granted he won't be able to compete for Michigan since he's taken sponsorship money (heck I would too), but it's still good to have him in the family. Hail to the Victors.

Can a Black-Sounding Name Hurt Your Career Prospects? Apparently so. Read this article to find out more.

The planes are coming! The planes are coming! I'm saying that as this weekend is the 46th Annual Chicago Air & Water Show and the planes are already whizzing over my building. It's usually a treat to hear and watch them fly by, but I really wish they would wait until tomorrow afternoon to do their practice runs. Since they are flying so low, it's difficult to carry on a conversation due to the intensity of the noise. Plus it's all giving me the worst headache. Goodness!

Birthday greetings go out to former President Bill Clinton who turns 58 today.

Am I the only one that gets slightly depressed when they return to work after a week long vacation? Just wondering. Of course, it doesn't help that I'm still sick. Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!

I am back from vacation but I have no energy to do anything besides sleep. On way back from New Orleans I came down with a nasty head cold. Now trying to recover. I hate being sick.

Whenever I tell my friends that I like to go on vacations alone, they always look at me funny. Granted it's nice to have someone to enjoy new places with, but there is something to be set for exploring a new town/city/country by oneself. It provides a time for self reflection as well as self discovery. Plus, I've often found it to be a great way to meet and talk with others that I never would if I were traveling with someone else. Perhaps that's why I enjoy reading travel books. I'm thinking of this today, as I just finished reading Without Reservations: The Travels of an Independent Woman by Alice Steinbach. It chronicles the author's travels through Europe during a year long sabbatical from her job as a newspaper reporter. Through her travels she has lots of wonderful experiences by herself as well as with other travelers who become temporary friends. It all just makes me want to pack my own bag and head off for some adventure. And what would you know; I'm off to New Orleans with Racquetball Guy. While I'm not going solo, this should still be quite interesting as it's been a long time since I've traveled with a boyfriend. So wish me luck! Traveling with a boyfriend brings about a different kind of self discovery.

So my birthday has come and gone and trying really hard not to get depressed about it -- I did have a pretty good day after all. While I woke up with what I thought was a sore throat that went away after drinking a hot cup of tea. I then proceeded to lie about since I took the day off from work. Around 1pm, I headed for the movies to see Before Sunset which was just delightful. After the movies, I went to get a pedicure at which point I got a call from Racquetball Guy confirming that he was back in town and asking me to be ready at 6pm. Grinning from ear to ear I then rushed back to my apartment for a power nap. After meeting up, we went to dinner at Topo Gigio Ristorante. Later we snuggled with one another after having some cake and ice creams back the apartment. So all in all, not a bad birthday. Plus the festivities continue when I have dinner with friends later tonight at Platiyo. Then Racquetball Guy and I are off to New Orleans tomorrow for more rest and relaxation. Oh yeah!! This by far is the best birthday I've had in a long long time.

The next 24 hours are all about me. I'll be celebrating my 34th birthday.

Now I know why I have yet to take a boat cruise along the Chicago river. You never know what might get dumped down on you from one of the bridges. Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!

My friend who got married in June sent me the link to access the official pictures from her wedding. I was really excited to take a look at what was there as I really hadn't gotten any from the wedding ceremony and I wanted a few good ones to include in my scrapbook. So I immediately logged on at pictage.com and checked out the 600+ wedding pictures. As to be expected, they are just beautiful, but I can't get over my shock at what the photographer wants to charge for each picture. For a standard 4x6 print, he wants $9. Yup, that's $9 each. At that price, I really don't see myself buying more than a couple. Now I know he has a right to make a living, but in that I know what she already paid for him to take the pictures, this $9 price is highway robbery. It doesn’t cost that much to process each print. Heck, he'd still make a decent profit if he cut his prices in half. But I doubt that will happen. So I see this as yet another reason to stay away from the production involved with throwing a large wedding. It's all so frigging expensive.

Can anyone tell me why an assassin, would hire a cab driver to chauffer him around while he kills people? Don't these people usually work alone and try to stay invisible? And don’t the professionals wear gloves so as not to leave fingerprints? Oh well, Collateral is just a movie. But hey, it's a Tom Cruise movie, so I'm sure most will forgive all of the flaws I've pointed out. Plus Jamie Foxx gives the performance of his life as the cab driver, which makes the movie a wee bit more believable and thrilling at the same time.

Have I mentioned lately how in love I am with Racquetball Guy? Well I am! I really am! Ok, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

I need professional organizer Peter Walsh to come to my house. Granted my apartment is fairly organized, but I find it hard to get rid of some of the clutter hidden in the closets. I mean, is it absolutely necessary to hold on to papers I wrote while in college over 12 years ago? Over the years, I've tried to get rid of some of this stuff, but each time I put it back as I can't bring myself to throw them out. But hey, I'm not going to beat myself up too much, I did throw out 10 years worth of Newsweek magazines. Of course, not before selling a few via Ebay for big bucks! So yeah for me!!!

The 2004 summer Olympics are less than two weeks away. Does anyone care? Will anyone out there be watching? Truth be told, I wish I was going. It would be great to go and see where the games first started. Then again, maybe not. Based on everything I've read about Athens preparedness, it will be a miracle if things go smoothly.

Alan Keyes will become a carpetbagger should he accept the Illinois GOPs offer to become their candidate for the US Senate. Here's hoping he does the right thing and decides to stay out of the race. Maybe then he can hold on to his dignity. Twice the citizens of Maryland have rejected his Senate candidacy and he will get the same response here in Illinois. Yes, he's a great orator and a well known political conservative, but he knows nothing about Illinois politics. And truth be told, I just don't see voters from Chicago's suburbs as well as those downstate rallying behind his candidacy. So shame on the Illinois GOP party for asking him to run. Sure whoever they pick will have an uphill battle against State Senator Obama, put they could at least find someone who currently lives in the state; someone who has a fighting chance. Damn! Jack Ryan must be kicking himself for getting out in the first place.

I got someone to upgrade my version of movabletype from 2.51 to version 2.661. I did that so I could install MT blacklist plugin. Now when I try and rebuild my site, it times out. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix?

Today, Racquetball Guy and I celebrate our four month anniversary! Yeah for me! Yeah for him! Yeah for us!

Did you know that we are in the middle of National Orgasm Week? Ok, moving right along. Racquetball Guy has been in town since last Wednesday night so we've been spending quite a bit of time together. We went to Noon O Kabab for dinner on Thursday night. Aesthetically the place is not much to look at, but I highly recommend as they have great Persian food. Later we got into our first heated discussion which I won't really talk about, since we have since worked things out. On Saturday, after getting my hair done I went to a picnic with him and then later fell asleep on Bad Santa. This morning we went to gym. He played Racquetball and I well ran around the indoor track. After that, we went to the CUBS baseball game. I was rooting for Greg Maddux to win his 300th game, but it was not to be. But hey, at least the CUBS won the game. Then after a quick nap and some Chinese takeout, Racquetball Guy started teaching me how to play Chess. Well really he went over the various pieces and showed me how to set up board. Now can't wait for the next lesson. Hopefully by the time that comes around, I'll remember what he taught me. Of course, I may want to study up before that next lesson. I know once I figure out the game and we actually start playing against each other, things are going to get intense. So maybe I’ll have to get him to play scrabble with me a few times. I’m not sure I can handle loosing to him all the time. Heck, we played checkers and he beat me three times in a row. It was not pretty but I just let it all go because I was happy that he was here in Chicago and we were spending time together.