What a weekend !

This has been a weekend filled with more than the usual "Ups" and "Downs". I went to the north suburbs of Chicago, centered around Skokie, IL, for my family's annual picnic. I hadn't gone in many years, while living in Florida, but now that I am in Ohio I try to go every year. There aren't too many left from my parent's generation and even those my own age are "getting up there". We Boomers might have gotten the name now that many of us make a booming noise when we hit the floor, but more on that later. I hated to go there alone, but Peggy was in Denver playing Grandma to her first grandchild, a boy born early on July 4th. After the bris tomorrow, we'll know his name and can refer to him by that instead of "him" or "the bump", as he has been called for the last 9 months.

UP - Saturday - I made the 320 mile drive in 5 hours, a pretty respectable time considering the extra hour spent sitting in traffic on the Skyway (tollroad from Indiana) and on the Dan Ryan "Expressway". Truth in advertising would dictate that it be renamed a "slowway", to coin a new word. After checking in to my hotel, I had an Italian Beef sandwich for lunch, something I always HAVE to get when going anywhere near Chicago. Then I went to my cousin Jerry's house, mostly to listen to jazz albums (yes, Vinyl Albums) and CDs and to jam with him. He a pretty good trumpet player and has an extensive collection of Play-Along CDs. This is usually my high "fun-point" of a trip there. I went with Jerry and Sheila (his wife) for dinner at a nice little Thai place in Evanston, not far from the Northwestern campus.

DOWN - after dinner we had to move picnic tables to our reserved site, an annual ritual done by me, Jerry, cousins Richard and Jeff Kramer and whoever else volunteers (nobody else this year). We even got to meet one of the "Village of Golf's finest" - we were towing tables behind a van and all of a sudden there were flashing lights and an officer screaming into a PA to "Stop the car, cease and desist". He then let us know about the 2-3 counts we each could be arrested on if we didn't stop and leave the park immediately. Which we did. Duh, there's a no-brainer for ya!

UP - On Sunday morning, I went out to Shalom Memorial Park, where my father is buried. That was good, until.....

DOWN - When I got into the "car" (okay, SUV Wannabe) to leave, there were warning lights flashing that said "service vehicle soon" and "security". I noticed it was getting VERY warm inside and quickly figured out that is was in the mid-90s and the air conditioner wasn't working. The thought of driving 6 hours to Cincinnati with no air started to freak me out a bit so I tried to roll down the windows. Which didn't work, either. While panicing even more, I decided I better look up those codes in the manual, which is stashed all the way in the back. And found that the rear hatch is electric and was on strike like the rest its electircal component friends in the car. I somehow got the idea that it was related to the key, and LUCKILY had a spare that I keep in the car for valets to use. This key worked perfectly and everything returned to normal, expect maybe my nerves! I now need to go get a new key from the dealer.

UP - The picnic was good, we had close to 80 people there but there were some conspicuous absenses, like my brother, sister, cousin Barney and his wife, etc. It was hot (near 100) but still good to see everyone. The older folks sat in their cars with the air conditioning on for a while.

Up - Monday was time for shopping for food at the "Kosher Jewel" in Evanston and at Hungarian Market in Skokie. I picked up things for me that you can't get in Cincinnati and some things for the dinner I have to cook at the synagogue on July 27th (The annual Shabbat-on-the Range). Then the long drive back home, which was uneventful.

DOWN - The ride home was VERY quiet - it seems that I had left my CD holder in the visor of Sheila's van. :(

Up - I got home at 3:45 and was at Lifetime (the gym) a little after 4pm. After about a 45 minute workout, I left to take the chicken I bought in Skokie (it was in a cooler with ice) to the synagogue to put in the walk-in freezer.

Down - On the way back out to the car, I stepped off a 1 inch curb (that I wasn't expecting), twisted my ankle and went down like a rock, landing on my knee, then hip, then forearm and hand. Had I been wearing "normal" clothes, it wouldn't have been too bad, but I was still in my shorts and t-shirt from the gym, so I am now nursing several large scrapes and bleeding areas.

MORE DOWN - I tried to turn on my laptop when I got back home and found that it was dead. I spent the major part of the next 5 hours on the phone with Compaq's poor excuse for tech support trying to convince them that the extended warranty that I purchase on THEIR website, the same day I bought the laptop, still had 10 months left on it. As it now stands, they will FedEx me an empty box (in a day or two) so I can ship the thing to them for repair. Hopefully it will work when it comes back but I have my doubts!

Keep checking, I will post more as it happens and once my laptop is back and I can get to the pictures I took at the picnic, I will post them for all to see.