Bethany and Jay got engaged!! Kristin and I had been waiting for a couple weeks, knowing that Jay had a plan in the works but was waiting for the pieces to come into place. According to Bethany he proposed at Promontory Point in Chicago, under the ruse of taking her there for some photography session. Well done, brother!
I don't know any other details, but figure that Bethany will fill everybody in on that soon. I'm very happy for my sister and happy to have a new brother also.
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The four of us (Jay, Beth, Kristin, me) went to Tiskilwa to hang out with Grandma Barb a few weeks ago, and had a really fun time. We had a nice meal at the Indian Valley Inn, which has the best fried chicken dinner around (seriously, a half chicken's worth of white meat is only six bucks!). We saw Aunt Jan a few times, and were only twenty minutes late to church on Sunday morning.
Grandma also took us shopping a bit around Princeton's main street, where she got me this nifty item:
It was a really fun visit. Here are a couple pictures from Jay's camera.
I don't have photoshop so I just put these two back to back. Jay took the first one and Kristin took the second one. Obviously.
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For the Super Bowl a couple weekends ago, we went to the Schultz household for a feast and a great game. I was jazzed that the Packers won, I have a real love of Wisconsin, and it's great to have a non-profit, city-owned team beating the big boys, even if that means they beat the Bears to get there.
I was going to post a picture from the Schultz party but did not take any. So I have stolen a picture of Brian, Liz, and Porter from their Christmas cruise vacation:
I wish I was on vacation too, looks fun!
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Kristin finds it hard to shop for me (see this most recent blog of hers), so she made me a calendar for a Valentine's Day gift. It is really cool. My favorite page is the August one.
Because, you see, I like to eat wings with Brian and Jay. Classic Brian photo face in this picture, and she captures Jay's hair-tastic essence well in using this photo of him.
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In the world of politics, it looks like Rahm will win the mayoral election without trying very hard. I didn't vote for him, but I think he'll do better than I fear.
In one of his ads he says "city government is not an employment agency" and some of the union folks freaked out. I consider that a good sign, and hilariously bad tactics by them ---- they should've said "We agree! That's why we insist on the highest performance and efficiency!"
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As for Egpyt, it looks like "Yea! Now let's wait and see."
The cover of Newsweek this week says "Egypt: How Obama Blew It." This is an excellent point, because Barack Obama is indeed the president of Egypt. And everything is always about America, always.
It was fun to watch the jackholes over at the National Review spin themselves silly during the entire Egyptian uprising, trying to blame President Obama for something, anything. When he wasn't giving speeches saying "Mubarak is the devil!" they criticized him for his lack of leadership. When he was supportive of the protesters, they criticized him for being in league with Islamists who will take over in Mubarak's absence.
There was of course no recognition that, behind the scenes, the CIA and the foreign service were working with the Egyptian military to sew things up peacefully.
Anyhow, it's not about us, or President Obama. But in the parts where our actions mattered, I think he did very well.
Of course I do, I'm an Obama apologist, ride or die.
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I didn't have the car yesterday, so after finishing teaching my class at the northside lakefront, I just. . ..started walking. I am Forrest Gump, but slower. Got to Western, then took a bus the rest of the way. It was a pretty beautiful day, it's nice how 40 degrees is completely tropical after the past few weeks.
Speaking of weather, we had a lovely blizzard week. I really enjoyed it, honestly! Ben and Kendle's car was snowed in right in front of our house, so they stayed with us for two nights, and we had a blast.
And in conclusion, I shaved my beard off a month ago. Kristin did not like it, and so I have grown it back. You can see the week's growth in the Tiskilwa pictures. It was nice while it lasted, but I am fated to be a bearded man.
[Editor's note: Colin took none of these pictures. They are by Jay, Kristin, or Liz, and used without permission]
