I am writing today's blog entry while visiting my mom in Kenosha, Wisconsin. We're having a nice visit with my mom and dad. Last night, Jill and I went out ona pub crawl with our friend Brian. We visited the following three bars: The Port of Kenosha, the Boathouse, and Paddy-O's. At Paddy-O's, we ran into my friend Erik. Erik and I grew up as nearby neighbors, and were very good friends in high school. He and his mom fed me almost one million lunches. We used to watch 'The days of our lives' soap opera and have lunch at his house all the time when we were in high school.

I was very happy to see him as We've lost touch over the past six years. He was very happy to see me. I used to think Erik was crazy, but I've realized in the past few years that he is a normal russian. He showed his pleasure by smashing his wine glass and giving me a big furry kiss on the lips. Then we watched some You-Tube videos on his computer projector. I made him watch a Shakira parody video that I think is hilarious. It's got a big fat white guy in a blond wig who dances around as 'Shakira.' I take ironic pleasure in this particular video, because I actually have no clue who Shakira is and, really, know nothing about her place in the American pop culture pantheon.

My mom, for those who don't know her, is a little unconventional. She is a well educated woman and has a professional practice and dabbles in art and literature. Despite this, she owns as a pet a blue tick coon hound, Smitty. Smitty would be a great dog to release in the north woods of wisconsin, and wait until his thunderous howl alerts you to the fact that he's cornered a racoon in a tree. Like most Blue Tick Hounds, Smitty's voice carries well over distances of several miles - very useful for finding him after he's accomplished his mission.

While Smitty's powerful voice is useful in hunting situations, it detracts slightly from his charm here in suburban Kenosha. I had just gotten my daughter to sleep upstairs and a few minutes later heard her and her brother screaming. I ran upstairs.

"May, why did you scream and wake up your brother like that?" Waking up your brother is an offense for which one sometimes can get a time-out.

"But dad, Benjamin woke me up, and Smitty woke him up."

"Oh, honey, I'm sorry."

Benjamin is now climbing in and out of my mom's file boxes and screaming.

Forgot to include details about our trip up til now. The drive was pretty uneventful until now. The trip from Philly to Pittsburgh was relatively uneventful and we enjoyed visiting Jill's cousins and their kids. We spent the night, and the next day I took a long afternoon nap and then we drove all night to get from Pittsburgh to Chicago. At about 5 AM, we were driving through Gary, IN and almost done with the trip when a terrible rainstorm enveloped us. Visibility was low and we crawled along at 35 MPH while compound semi truck trailers splashed torrents all around our tiny SUV.

It was terrifying, but productive. Nothing like a jolt of terror and brush with the grim reaper on I94 to wake one up after driving all night.

We had a great time visiting Jill's brother, sister-in-law, and our nieces, and 6 wk old nephew. It was a blast.