Day 187

Coming off a very busy weekend here in C-Town. It is funny because being here now, we are trying to make new friends. We left behind 90% of our friends in Chicago, so adjusting to this life with less and new friends has been an adjustment. Everyone here is so nice, but we are feeling out who we can and cannot hang out with. This weekend we went out with our friends the Frankel's, who like us, moved here after years of living in Chicago. We went to Fahrenheit in Tremont. The place is great. It comes highly recommended from my boy Gregg, who is widely considered an expert on food. His parents go to essentially three restaurants in Cleveland, Fahrenheit being one of them. Also, when was the last time you went to a nice restaurant and all four people order the same thing and all love it? We all ordered the short ribs, which were the whup. Classic C-town confirmed sighting of Tim White, the channel 3 news anchor. We really had a great time with them and Stephanie became my new favorite person when she told us she listens to Howard everyday. Saturday night we went to an engagement party for a friend of our family. It was at the parents house in Hunting Valley. When we pulled up, our jaws dropped. I felt like I was driving up to the Dynasty mansion. This house was unbelievable. It was more estate than house. It was a beautiful night and the party was outside. They had the old school Cleveland Reggae band First Light playing. They served Lobster and Crab legs. I had a glass of Cabernet and it was clearly not $20 bottle kind of stuff. It was first class all the way and so nice of them to invite us. We had made plans a while back with another couple, so we only could stay for an hour, but we wished we didn't have to leave. It turned out that we had a nice time with the Deminco's as well. I grew up with Lauren and our parents were friends, and Leah had been hooked up with her when she first moved here. We liked them as well. Like I said before, everyone is so nice to us here and really have welcomed us.

Quick Notes:
-Leah had a job interview this morning and another on scheduled for Wednesday. The one this morning is for an HR position at an insurance company. We are trying to figure out if this can be a full time or part time job. At this point, we will take either. I think being around the house every day and running errands is starting to get to her. Although, sleeping until 9 everyday hasn't gotten old yet.

-I watched the Browns game yesterday with my boy Fritzer Friedman at his parents house. A couple of things struck me. First, his parents live right down the street from me and I walked over there. Its just funny to me that the house I spent a ton of time in as a my teens to my early 20's is now right down the street. We were over there earlier in the week so Casey could play with their dog Butchy. I said to Fritzer's mom that I didn't remember her deck being the Brown color it currently is and she said "that's because you were stoned everytime you were over here." Fritzer was in town for his sister Brooke's wedding. Gotta give some love out to Brooke. I have known her since she was born and of all of my friends, she was the sister I was definitely closest too. Congratulations to her.

-In the its a small world department, my old neighbors, The Miller's, moved right next door to them. Leah and I were walking with Casey the other night and they they were with their dog. Casey made a new friend in Lola.

-Back to the Browns. They are an absolute joke. They got smoked again by the Bengals and apathy has officially set in. To quote MD, the original Browns hater: "It is time for Randy Lerner to swallow his pride and sell the team. he and his family have done nothing but turn this franchise into a punchline. His dad helped Modell sneak out of town, then he slides back in as a hero and now is son is basically the George W. Bush of football."

-Another shoutout goes to my boy Sturch who once again has left Chicago to return to Utah to help run a wilderness program for troubled children. When he came back to Chicago this summer, he knew that city living was no longer for him, so back to Utah he is heading. The photo above (posted later) is from our 5th year as roommates at KU.

-This Saturday was dubbed "Separation Saturday" in college football and also "The greatest Saturday in regular season college history." I am not a huge college football fan, but I did watch some of the games. The day failed to love up to all of the hype, but I did enjoy the SEC games. That is a real conference. LSU/Auburn was an old fashioned defensive slugfest. Tennessee/Florida had an entertaining finish, at least the 4th quarter I saw. I was glad to see Notre Dame get smoked by Michigan. No program I hate more than ND, especially after the debacle last year with my boss at the game. See the link, The ND Story, for details. It is hard for me to love a sport where you lose one game in the first month and your season is essentially over. That and the BCS system is a joke. The pageantry of a college Saturday atmosphere is awesome for sure, but the BCS system is killing me. Imagine if there was an 8 team tournament in college football. It would become the most popular event in sports for sure.

Song of the Day: "Budsmokers Only" by Bone Thugs and Harmony