One Nation, Under God
One Nation, Under God
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Last Wednesday I took most of the day off. In hindsight maybe I shouldn’t have. My two main objectives for the day were getting a tremendous amount of yard work done and preparing spareribs for dinner. I have had some success smoking meats as of late, so I was pretty stoked about trying to smoke a rack of pork spareribs on my day off. My day started off pretty well. I woke up at about 4:30 a.m. for an early morning workout. Later, I went into work for about a hour or so. Then I went home to a...
When I was younger, I appreciated sports of every kind. Sure I had my favorites in the sports realm. I first loved basketball. To this day, I think that the 90’s Bulls in their prime could beat any team today. My second love was football. I always have been a fan of the Chicago Bears and I always will. I have been a fan of the White Sox since I was seven and the Blackhawks since college. People have always said hockey wasn’t a “black” sport, but to me hockey has always been exciting. If you’ve...
I’m starting to see why people love sit down mowers. The older I get, the harder it is getting to stay motivated to walk behind my mower. It typically takes me about an hour to mow my lawn. I also found out that it took me nearly as long to mow my yard with my neighbor’s sit down mower. Though the times weren’t very different, sitting on that riding mower made me feel like I was mowing in a luxury vehicle. Ever since my neighbor loaned me that mower, my relationship with my walking mower hasn...
I don’t understand why nearly every movie or popular song has to either be pro-fane, vulgar, sacrilegious or all of the above. It seems that nothing is sacred anymore. The promiscuous world we live in has even reached the youth to the extent that it is “normal” for kids to lose their vir-ginity at preteen ages. I saw an alarming commercial the other day saying that one in four teens have std’s. Yikes. I know I risk being called “judgmental,” by even talking about this topic but hon-estly i...
My first indirect smoking experience went so well with baby back ribs that the only thing I could think of was lighting that grill again. So this past weekend I did. This time around I decided to try a long smoke… with a 4 pound Boston Butt (Pork Shoulder Roast). I have to admit I was not excited about the possibility of an eight hour cook. I get impatient when the coffee maker takes too long but I knew that if I was going to do this, I was going to be “all in.” I used the most basic rub you cou...
I’m pretty excited about the summertime… I got a new grill. Well new to me. For the past couple of months I’ve been hoping to upgrade from our small 14-inch table top charcoal grill I bought last summer. Yes I prefer charcoal to gas. Gas grills serve their purpose for sure. It’s great for quick and timely cooking but I just love the flavor of smoked meat. It brings me back to my childhood. My dad always used charcoal. No matter what our food options were living in the Chicago land area, I alway...
To expand on my experience during the state tournament, I figured I would tell you about my first experience with a heart rate monitor. Being a Bears, White Sox and Bulls fan really set me up for failure because I know no lead is ever safe and they always leave me on the edge of my seat. When I’m deep into a game I know that at any moment my heart rate goes crazy. When the Malta Mustangs faced off against Wolf Point in the Class B State title in Butte a few years ago, it was my first taste of a...
This past State B Tournament in Butte was my favorite state outing so far, for a few reasons. It was great seeing PJ interact with complete strangers by making them laugh and every once in a while it’s just nice to travel. This past trip marks the fourth time that I’ve had the chance to not only go to State, but the fourth time that I’ve experienced a championship game. In previous championship games, I’ve always made some kind of food related mistake. This year I did wise up a little bit. My wi...
I’m not going to name any names but a couple of months ago a gentleman came into our office in sup-port of his friend that is running for a political office. He seems like a cool dood, even a guy that I would hang out with in college but the poor guy had one huge flaw. He reached out to shake my hand after our conversation and to my dismay came the limpest hand-shake I have ever experienced. I know that the point of a handshake isn’t to break someone’s hand but it does say a lot about your...
When there is a basketball game happening I am typicaly on the baseline trying to get a few good shots for our newspaper. After being at a couple of games in Malta’s run at the Northern B Divisional Tournament, I decided that I would sit with my wife and son for the first time since I started this job. I was out of sorts because I knew I would be sitting in the crowd this game but my wife was all for it. I don’t know if you were at last Saturday’s game, but she was looking pretty stunning and I...
I never have been a fan of writing. That being said, I love my job for a number of reasons. I am a fan of sports. I love photography. I love trying to be a positive influence in the lives of students. Every once in a while I get a chance to travel. I also love meeting new people. I found a new reason for loving my job. Every once in a while you meet someone famous. My first experience was meeting Brian Urlacher last year in Great Falls. Last weekend I met a news anchor I see almost every...
I was so distraught on Wednesday morning when I found out that last Tuesday was National Pizza Day. My love for pizza is pretty deep. Being from a town right next to the pizza capitol of the world, I’ve eaten many pies in my life. I’ve had many different topping combinations, crusts and flavor profiles, some awesome and some not so much. My favorite all time pizza consists of sausage, pepperoni and jalapeño peppers in traditional Chicago Style Deep Dish format; my venue of choice, Gior...
Apparently last Thursday, February 4 was dubbed Friends Day by the creators of Facebook. The creators also wanted users to share what life was like before Facebook. For years I have used Facebook and there are many times I think that maybe I should cancel my account. Over the years, I have made many “friends,” be it through high school, college or my time as a traveling musician. At the time that I wrote this I had 1,939 friends on Facebook; however there are less than ten people that I wou...
My Super Bowl 50 pick is 90 percent Bears related. Of course I know that my favorite team from the windy city is not going to be the team representing the NFC in the big game this Sunday, but a few players and coaches on the Carolina Panthers are related to my beloved, therefore I want to see them win. Panthers head coach Ron Rivera not only helped the Bears win Super Bowl XX, but he was also an assistant coach as well. When Rivera was Chicago’s Defensive Coordinator, during his second season w...
This time of the year always reminds me that at a few different times, I, like many “snowbirds,” have spent a few winters in warmer climates. One of those winters was spent in Northern California in a town named Antelope. I was living in Florida, and while my band mates were back in Australia, I decided to venture way west to spend time with my childhood best friend and his wife. That trip was supposed to serve a dual purpose. A. I needed a change of scenery and B. I needed to find some wor...
I wasn’t always a coffee snob. I have never been one of those types to confuse a barista with insane 20 step instructions to make a perfect cup of Joe, yet I am still pretty picky about my coffee. I like my coffee black and strong. If it’s too weak, that’s a problem. Even as a kid at church services, I liked coffee. But I liked it with creamer. I liked it not only because I thought it perked me up for the three hour event but because I genuinely loved the taste. Then I went to college. In those...
Last Thursday night, somewhere in between the two channels that showed American Idol, was a channel that premiered a brand new weight loss show. While I used to love the Biggest Loser, I have found myself finally getting annoyed with all the tears and terrible pop songs that come with watching that show. Though I am probably done with The Biggest Loser I am still very much intrigued by weight loss shows and documentaries. That being said it was a surprising to find a show that had an emphasis...
It’s around this time of year I get a real hankering for Mountain Dew. If you know me then you know that my vice used to be a certain neon colored drink made by Pepsi-Co. It wasn’t just the original flavor that tickled my fancy, it was the orange flavored Livewire, the purple colored Pitch Black and red Code Red Mountain Dew flavors that I craved. I get the craving because on December 31, 2009, I gave up pop with the intention of not drinking it until 2020. In other words ten years. Many of you...
For the past few years I have been spoiled during the Christmas season because my wife Susan has not only blessed me with an abundance of gifts. It hasn’t only been the amount of gifts, but the quality as well. It doesn’t end there. She gets so excited about the gifts she gives me that she always lets me open them well before Christmas. Feeling I need to reciprocate, I always let her un-wrap hers as well. This year we came close to waiting as most of America does, but less than one week to go,...
Ever since it started snowing, it has been hard to get out of bed. While beautiful, winter is the most depressing season in my opinion. Thank God for sports, otherwise I might be a shut-in. Go to work, go home. Re-peat. Luckily this County has several competitive teams in the winter season. I love hearing the optimism in players’ and coaches’ minds at the start of basket-ball and wrestling season. To see the hard work of our local athletes played out in games and meets is en-couraging to me....
Between binge-writing stories, picking up and delivering the PCN on Mondays and Tuesdays, on Wednesday my brain is drained. Of course the weekend adds to the brain fatigue I feel on Wednesday. Not to joke about the medical condition but in my tired state of mind things get bipolar real fast. I have less control over my mind on Wednesday mornings. I can sing anything from love ballads to rap at any given moment. I can go from over the top excited to useless in minutes. Sometimes in my tired...
I’m encouraged by the amount of athletes that enjoy lifting weights. It’s apparent that Malta has had plenty of success in sports thanks in part to a hard work ethic in the gym. Since my high school years I have also become infatuated with becoming stronger through weight training. I’ve never turned to alcohol or drugs during the “low” times in my life. I’ve always found prayer and the iron to be more therapeutic. There’s nothing like kicking off your week with 300 pounds on the back of your...
Life throws you a curveball sometimes and all you can do is either take a swing or leave it alone with hope that the umpire makes a call in your favor. I had a curve ball the other day, a furry, disease carrying type. My wife Susan knew something was up when the peanut butter on our set up mouse trap was licked clean. (Don’t worry it’s the plastic type and would only scare PJ if he tripped it.) There was no possible way PJ could lick the peanut butter off without it snapping and Bruce isn...
I have to say I’m proud of all of our high school sports teams. The season may not have ended with the coveted State Trophy but our schools have gotten a lot closer than many schools have this year. For there to be so many cross country runners to even make it to state this season was an encouragement. Second round of the playoffs for the football team and volleyball team? I’ll take it. Though the football season ended last Saturday, it was great to see the team going over their last film of...
I really wish I could’ve jumped on the Cubs bandwagon this post-season…. But honestly, I just couldn’t do it. No matter how many seasons they have under .500, I just can’t abandon my White Sox and it felt like if I cheered for the Cubbies, I would be in the wrong. People ask, how can you be from Chicago and not like a team representing your city? Looking from the outside that is a valid question but for some reason sports can bring out the worst of people. It’s ridiculous when you look at things...
