Monday, December 29, 2008

Change the Ball Color Game

This can be done. I have changed the color several times. Patience, patience, patience!

http://thedogpaddler.com/RandomUploads/Ball/ball.htm

Stethoscope Video

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Festival of Lights Parade

It's Coming! Friday night, November 28, 2008 at 7:00 pm!

It's the Annual Downtown Crystal Lake Festival of Lights Parade!

For more information, go to the Downtown Crystal Lake Website

Click here for a link - Downtown Crystal Lake Festival Of Lights Parade

Stop by and see me announcing the parade outside of Dalzall Jeweler's across from the clocktower. Make sure you say Hi! Get there early and See Ya There!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

We Are The Old Video

Bottom Row, Left to Right: John Sebastian (Lovin' Spoonful), Axel Bundy, Richie Havens

Top Row, Left to Right: Spencer Davis, Mark Lindsey (Paul Revere & The Raiders), Robbie Krieger (The Doors), Peter Noone (Hermans Hermits)

mental_floss Blog » The Secrets Behind Your Favorite Toys

mental_floss Blog » The Secrets Behind Your Favorite Toys

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Friday, October 17, 2008

Fireproof - The Movie

My wife and I went to the movies last night. This is indeed a treat, since we feel most of the movies out there are not worth the price of admission ($9.00 per person).

We went and saw a movie called Fireproof which starred Kirk Cameron, whom most of you will remember from the TV show "Growing Pains" We both loved the movie and thought it was definately worth the price of admission. I highly recommend the movie not only to Christians, but to non-Christians as well.

Are you having problems with your marriage? You might want to consider seeing this movie for sure and visit the website below for tools to help you rebuild it, yes it is worth it!

http://fireproofmymarriage.com/

Here is a website for the movie itself:

http://www.fireproofthemovie.com/

Thursday, September 25, 2008

1971 Photo From Grammar School



Top Row:
Lee Kozie, David Schwab, Mark O'Meara, Perry Pogorniak, Ben Kaleta, Dominick Vivorito, Kevin Keyser

3rd Row:
Frank Fontana, Jim Nowakoski, Vince Pusateri, Grant Gessner, ?, Anton Bzowy, Rich Zameda, Jeff Callies, Jeff Southwell, John Madej

2nd Row:
Dolores Eberle, Glenda Munger, Margaret Thron, Sherry Conklin, Donna Mueller, Carol Stuber, Barb ?, Cynthia Szymanski, Ruth Thomies (teacher)

Bottom Row:
Cindy Bishop, Fran Hulsart, Carrie Schwartz, Donna Bellafiore, Wendy Sharp, Debbie Mikolajczyk, ?, Susan Miller

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Baptisim At Indian Trails Beach

Char and I were Baptised as adults last Sunday at Indian Trails Beach in Lake In The Hills. Senior Pastor Dan Harrison preceded over the event along with Associate Pastor Rich Wollford. It was a life changing experience. More photos to come soon!









Thursday, September 04, 2008

It's Lovely! I'll Take It!: Chicago

These are some interesting real photo's of Real Estate for sale.

It's Lovely! I'll Take It!: Chicago

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Watch Rush Play Tom Sawyer on Rock Band

Here is a video of the rock group - Rush trying to play their hit "Tom Sawyer" on the "Rock Band" game.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Donate Food To Animal Shelters

Click on the link below to donate free food to animal shelters and play trivia at the same time! Go here everyday for a new question!


FreeKibble.com


Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Chris Doyle Presents - Reasonably Clever! Wasting your workday since 1995


Chris Doyle Presents - Reasonably Clever! Wasting your workday since 1995

Create a Mini-Mizer in virtual plastic of yourself.

Just stupid mindless fun. We need that sometimes!

Here is what I did for myself!

Sunday, June 15, 2008

RepairPal

Do you feel your being ripped off on automotive repairs? Compare prices in your area. Very cool idea!

RepairPal

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Please Remember Our Brave Men and Women Overseas

Click on this link below to see a truly wonderful website. I hope it give you a chill down your spine as it did to me.

http://www.greatdanepromilitary.com/Battle%20Hymn/index.htm


God Bless our Servicemen and women... past, present and future!

May our lord and saviour watch over them and keep them safe from harm.

I ask this in Jesus's name...

AMEN!

Thursday, May 15, 2008

For Star Wars Fans Who Love The Blues

Keep watching until the 30 second mark and you will see Darth Vader being bluesy.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

I Need Spring!

I need the Spring and I need it bad! I know it is officially Spring by calendar rules, but I need the weather of Spring. I want to hear the Birds chirpping, see the green grass and buds on the trees. I want to see flowers poking their heads out of the ground.

I want to go for walks around the neighborhood, ride my bike instead of driving. I want to shut off the furnace to stop the gas company from raping me.

Please let it come soon!

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Monday, March 10, 2008

Food Court Musical

From the team of Improv Everywhere, a musical breaks out in a food court, here they describe the action:

"For our latest mission, 16 agents staged a spontaneous musical in the food court of a Los Angeles shopping mall. We used wireless microphones to amplify the vocal performances and mix them together with the music through the mall’s PA system. We filmed the mission with hidden cameras, mostly behind two-way mirrors. Apart from our performers, no one in the food court was aware of what was happening. "

Friday, March 07, 2008

Great Movie For The Whole Family

My wife and I saw a great movie the other day. The Ultimate Gift was based on a book by Jim Stovall. I highly recommend it. It is rated PG, so use your judgement with the little ones.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

THE OLD FISHERMAN - A story to tell your children.

Our house was directly across the street from the clinic entrance of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore . We lived downstairs and rented the upstairs rooms to out-patients at the Clinic.

One summer evening as I was fixing supper, there was a knock at the door I opened it to see a truly awful looking man. "Why, he's hardly taller than my eight-year-old," I thought as I stared at the stooped, shriveled body. But the appalling thing was his face, lopsided from swelling, red and raw Yet his voice was pleasant as he said, "Good evening. I've come to see if you've a room for just one night. I came for a treatment this morning from the eastern shore, and there's no bus 'till morning."

He told me he'd been hunting for a room since noon but with no success; no one seemed to have a room. "I guess it's my face. I know it looks terrible, but my doctor says with a few more tre atments..." For a moment I hesitated, but his next words convinced me: "I could sleep in this rocking chair on the porch. My bus leaves early in the morning." I told him we would find him a bed, but to rest on the porch. I went inside and finished getting supper.

When we were ready, I asked the old man if he would join us. "No thank you. I have plenty" And he held up a brown paper bag. When I had finished the dishes, I went out on the porch to talk with him a few minutes. It didn't take a long time to see that this old man had an oversized heart crowded into that tiny body.

He told me he fished for a living to support his daughter, her five children and her husband, who was hopelessly crippled from a back injury. He didn't tell it by way of complaint; in fact, every other sentence was prefaced with thanks to God for a blessing. He was grateful that no pain accompanied his disease, which was apparently a form of skin cancer. He thanked God for giving him the strength to keep going.

At bedtime, we put a camp cot in the children's room for him. When I got up in the morning, the bed linens were neatly folded, and the little man was out on the porch. He refused breakfast, but just before he left for his bus, haltingly, as if asking a great favor, he said, "Could I please come back and stay the next time I have a treatment? I won't put you out a bit. I can sleep fine in a chair." He paused a moment and then added, "Your children made me feel at home. Grownups are bothered by my face, but children don't seem to mind."

I told him he was welcome to come again. And on his next trip he arrived a little after seven in the morning. As a gift, he brought a big fish and a quart of the largest oysters I had ever seen. He said he had shucked them that morning before he left so that they'd be nice and fresh. I knew his bus left at 4 a.m. , and I wondered what time he had to get up in order to do this for us. In the years he came to stay overnight with us there was never a time that he did not bring us fish or oysters or vegetables from his garden.

Other times we received packages in the mail, always by special delivery; fish and oysters packed in a box of fresh young spinach or kale, every leaf carefully washed. Knowing that he must walk three miles to mail these and knowing how little money he had made the gifts doubly precious.

When I received these little remembrances, I often thought of a comment our next-door neighbor made after he left that first morning. "Did you keep that awful looking man last night? I turned him away! You can lose roomers by putting up such people!" Maybe we did lose roomers once or twice But, oh! If only they could have known him, perhaps their illness would have been easier to bear. I know our family always will be grateful to have known him; from him we learned what it was to accept the bad without complaint and the good with gratitude to God.

Recently I was visiting a friend who has a greenhouse. As she showed me her flowers, we came to the most beautiful one of all, a golden chrysanthemum, bursting with blooms. But to my great surprise, it was growing in an old dented, rusty bucket. I thought to myself, "If this were my plant, I'd put it in the loveliest container I had!" My friend changed my mind. "I ran short of pots," she explained, "and knowing how beautiful this one would be, I thought it wouldn't mind starting out in this old pail. It's just for a little while, till I can put it out in the garden." She must have wondered why I laughed so delightedly, but I was imagining just such a scene in heaven. There's an especially beautiful one," God might have said when he came to the soul of the sweet old fisherman. "He won't mind starting in this small body."

All this happened long ago -- and now, in God's garden, how tall this lovely soul must stand. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." People are put in our life for a reason. Don't miss the chance to embrace them.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Pie Face Game Video

I don't know why this never took off. They should bring this game back out and people can use it to solve their differences with pies rather than fighting.

Thursday, January 31, 2008

The Great Garloo

Now where can you find a faithful servent these days for only $17.98? Not in my neck of the woods!


Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Space Food Sticks

Do you remember these. I remember they had a weird paste like texture, but didn't taste that bad. We always bought peanut butter. Their marketing was way ahead of it's time - only 44 calories!


Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Defunct Chicago Area Businesses

I made a couple of changes. I removed Lord & Taylor (I was informed they are still around). I also removed Orange Julius, since they are making a comeback in Chicago in 2008. Anyone have any to add?


Wiebolts
Main Street (now Kohl's)
Jack In The Box (still in other states and southern Illinois)
Chicken Delight ("Don't cook tonight, call Chicken Delight", still in other states)
Robert Hall
Winchell Donuts
Silo Electronics
Sounds Good Music
Flipside Records
Pacific Stereo
Mayflower Supermarket
Kohls Supermarket
Standard Gas Stations
Handy Andy Home Improvments
Service Merchandise
McDades
United Audio
Fotomat
Montgomery Wards
M&R Movie Theaters
Plitt Movie Theathers
Wags Restaurants (they had the best Patty-Melts)
Woolworths
Kresges
Ames Dept. Stores
JoJo's Restaurants
Venture
Turnstyle
Polk Brothers (who remembers the Polk-A-Lay-Lee, a huge sitar looking ukelalee)
Poppin' Fresh Pies (now Baker's Square)
Morrie Mages Sporting Goods
Bosa Donuts
Franks Nursery and Crafts
A&P Foods
Kroch and Brentanos Bookstore
Crown Books
National Tea
Jewel Tea (now just Jewel)
Madigans Clothing
Bargin Town (now Toys 'R Us)
Dog N' Suds Drive-Ins
Sinclair Gas Stations
Yankee Doodle Dandy Fast Food
Chas. A Stevens Clothing
Highland Electronics
Big Boy Restaurants
Amoco Gas Stations
Community Discount
Kroger Foods
Playback Electronics (I used to buy all my car stereos and 8 tracks there)
Cock Robin Ice Cream
BJ's Warehouse Club
Pacific Stereo
Shakey's Pizza (sing along pizza place, follow the bouncing ball)
Ponderosa Steak House
Bonnanza Steak House
Ground Round
Chicken Unlimited
Goldblatts
Thom Mcann Shoes
Zayre
Lee Wards Crafts
Arthur Treachers Fish & Chips
Sizzlers
Texaco Gas Stations
Purple Martin Gas Stations
Ground Round Restaurants (throw your peanut shells on the floor)
Saxons Paint and Wallpaper
Mr Donut
Hot Sam Pretzels (only in malls)
Docktor's Pet Stores
Merry-Go-Round Clothing Stores
Amy Joy Donuts
Stuart Anderson's Cattle Company
Eggheads Software
Herman's Sporting goods
Builders Square (thanks for this one, I was going crazy trying to think of the name of this place. This was owned by KMart)
PharMor
Golden Bear Restaurants
Peppers Waterbeds
Thompson's
Wanzer Dairy
Steinberg Baum
Shoppers World
Omni Food Store
Highland Appliances
Galyans
Child World
Eagle Food
W.T. Grants E.J.Korvettes
HomeBase
Italian U-Boat Submarines
Topps
Marshall Fields (now Macy's)

Crabby Old Man Poem

This is something my uncle sent me, so I thought I would share.


CRABBY OLD MAN

When an old man died in the geriatric ward of a small hospital near Tampa , Florida , it was believed that he had nothing left of any value. Later, when the nurses were going through his meager possessions, they found this poem. Its quality and content so impressed the staff that copies were made and distributed to every nurse in the hospital. One nurse took her copy to Missouri . The old man's sole bequest to posterity has since appeared in the Christmas edition of the News Magazine of the St. Louis Association for Mental Health. A slide presentation has also been made based on his simple, but eloquent, poem.

And this little old man, with nothing left to give to the world, is now the author of this "anonymous" poem winging across the Internet.

Crabby Old Man

What do you see nurses? ......What do you see?
What are you thinking......when you're looking at me?
A crabby old man, ....not very wise,
Uncertain of habit .......with faraway eyes?

Who dribbles his food.......and makes no reply.
When you say in a loud voice....."I do wish you'd try!"
Who seems not to notice .....the things that you do.
And forever is losing ............. a sock or shoe?

Who, resisting or not...........lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding ...... the long day to fill?
Is that what you're thinking? Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse......you're not looking at me.

I'll tell you who I am ...... as I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding, .......as I eat at your will.
I'm a small child of Ten......with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters .......who love one another

A young boy of Sixteen ..........with wings on his feet
Dreaming that soon now. ..........a lover he'll meet.
A groom soon at Twenty .........my heart gives a leap.
Remembering, the vows........that I promised to keep.

At Twenty-Five, now .......... I have young of my own.
Who need me to guide ........ and a secure happy home.
A man of Thirty ........ my young now grown fast,
Bound to each other ......... with ties that should last.

At Forty, my young sons ........have grown and are gone,
But my woman's beside me........to see I don't mourn.
At Fifty, once more, .......... babies play 'round my knee,
Again, we know children ......... my loved one and me.

Dark days are upon me ......... my wife is now dead.
I look at the future .............I shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing ........young of their own.
And I think of the years...... and the love that I've known.

I'm now an old man.........and nature is cruel.
Tis jest to make old age .......look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles..........grace and vigor, depart.
There is now a stone........where I once had a heart.

But inside this old carcass ...... a young guy still dwells,
And now and again .........my battered heart swells.
I remember the joys.............. I remember the pain.
And I'm loving and living.......... ...life over again.

I think of the years ...all too few......gone too fast.
And accept the stark fact........that nothing can last.
So open your eyes, people ..........open and see..
Not a crabby old man. Look closer....see........ME!!

Remember this poem when you next meet an older person who you might
brush aside without looking at the young soul within.....we will all,
one day, be there, too!

Flame gun ad from 1972 - Boing Boing

Flame gun ad from 1972 - Boing Boing

I thought this was pretty funny. I really like the line - "So easy even your wife could use it". I guess they had to stop selling them due to high product liability insurance!

Friday, January 11, 2008

Spotlight on the Great Chicago Artists of Yesterday

Chicago has been the birthplace of many great musical artists such as:

Styx
Chicago
Buckinghams
Cryan Shames
New Colony Six
Lou Rawls
Chaka Khan
Ral Donner
American Breed
Ides Of March
Survivor
REO Speedwagon

Here are a couple of old videos from the Buckinghams

Don't You Care



Kind Of A Drag