Category Archives: Holiday

St. Patrick’s Day (or What Myles Tersnak Missed).

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This year St. Patrick’s Day was spent at Ginger’s Ale House in Wrigleyville with nearly everyone I know in Chicago along with Josh, Jim and James from various corners of this vast country.  Below you will find photographs of the day but there are a lot more located on Flickr.

I soldiered on by getting up at 10:00am, showering and heading to Ginger’s by 11:30am where I was met by Kelly and her friends. My strategy (which I’ve been plotting for a month) was to get to the bar before the soccer games end and then score a table. When I arrived I grabbed a seat at the bar across from one of the best ‘bar tables’ this side of the Ohio River. I was planning on staring at the occupants until they left, kind of creepy bit it usually works. Emily on the other hand decided to start a conversation with the occupants and thereby establishing a relationship built on trust to ensure the table. It worked. We didn’t leave the table until at least 11pm.

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Throughout the course of the day people came and went and I manned the corner seat. We ended with what some people would consider the best waitress in the Western Hemisphere. She literally was at our table nearly every 15 minutes to serve our needs. And there were a lot of needs.

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A list of things we learned from the weekend:

  1. Former Cuban President Fidel Castro loves the Irish.
  2. The bathrooms at Ginger’s are set at a steady 27 degrees.
  3. When girls dressed entirely in Bushmills apparel ask you what kind of Whiskey is in the 15 shots you just purchased you should not answer Jameson.
  4. If you’re dad forces you to learn to ‘play’ the bag pipes you’re going to be busy on St. Pat’s for the rest of your life.
  5. Backyard hero Brett Farve decided to celebrate his recent retirement in style at Ginger’s.
  6. Finding a hat on the street is a perfectly legit way to add to your wardrobe.
  7. In many ways a Polish sport coat is better than an Irish one.
  8. Don’t ever eat meat with peanut butter or it will cause you’re ear to explode.
  9. Josh Furman & Jim Wallis have a way with words.
  10. Myles Tersnak studies too much.

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Thanks for all those who showed up on Saturday and to those who traveled great distances. I believe it was worth it.

A good time was had by all.

St. Patrick’s Primer: The Dark Horse

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To kickoff the St. Patrick’s Day weekend we headed over to The Dark Horse waiting for the arrival of Jim Wallis. There were several drinks shared,  a couple of North Shore friends and the uneventful trip to the Wiener’s Circle where a ‘Double Chocolate Shamrock Shake’ was spotted.

Unlike last year there was no snow, everyone who was coming actually made it and the Airline’s more or less cooperated.

A good start to the weekend.

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Holiday (extended) Weekend.

Bears - Saints at Solider Field.

Julie dresses as a Ninja whenever it’s cold out.Da Bears!Julie and Nik in the cold wondering why we bought these tickets in August.

For our first New Years in Chicago Julie and I headed to the Bears game on Sunday.  When we bought the tickets this summer we assumed this would be at least a decent game.  The game was all but meaningless, No Reggie Bush, No Brian Greise, No Rex Grossman.

James , master of his domain.

Turkey preparation: Cajun Rub.The backyard.The Result.

On New Years day during a 12 hour football watching marathon James engineered one hell of a Turkey Fry.  In less than an hour we had one of the better turkey’s ever tasted.