Joe

Remember that from SNL? So Simple...and SO FUNNY at the same time. What happened to that show? I'm kidding. I just like to complain about how bad the show is, though, this past season hasn't been THAT bad. Sadly, there were no clips of Jack Handy on You Tube...thought there would be. The best was Justin Timberlake doing "$*@ in a box" a few weeks ago. If you want to see what I'm talking about go to www.youtube.com and put in Justin Timberlake SNL. There is a clean AND dirty version. At the Shamrox game the other night my brother in law and I were cracking up talking about it. The directions in the song are the best part.

I left really early yesterday to get home. Kelly is sick (with whatever I had a week ago) and Steven is too. So, got home, hung out with them and then had to take Steven to the doctor around 1:30. Doctor said he's fine and just working through his cold. He's been really clingy on me lately cause Kelly is sick and he is kind of isolated from her. Last night I left Kelly at home to rest and took Steven up to my mom's house. She loves it when he comes up and was in rare form running around like crazy when we got there. She was saying he was a "daddy's boy" cause he kept running to me every few minutes. 

My mom is tired I can tell but she is a trooper. The chemo is continuing and she actually goes to the doctor today. I don't know how she does it. I'd be a mess. She's strong. Four bouts with cancer. FOUR. She shaved her head (hope she doesn't mind me saying that) this past weekend and is wearing a hat. I'm thinking about her today cause she is going to the doctor again. I've spent a lot of time with her lately and just am in awe of her attitude. I'd be a basketcase I think if it were me.

One of my favorite shows used to be "Titus" on Fox. It was a short run and based on his comedy. The guy is twisted and has a great take on things. I pulled a clip from his comedy special appropriately named "Norman Rockwell is Bleeding" on Comedy Central. Here is a quick clip. His show starred Stacey Keech (Cheech and Chong fame) and was GREAT. Too bad it didn't last!!

If you get a second check out the News-Sun for a HUGE feature on our friend Glenn Timmerman...Lake County (and the world's) biggest Bear fan. www.biggestbearfan.com is his site.

Oh, and www.joecicero.com. I may do something finally with it today. They have templates to work off of and I may use one and dabble so look for that later today.

OK...enough for now!! Take care.

JC

Sorry about the lack of blogging. I'll kick it up a notch this week for sure. Last week with the holiday and being sick I was kind of out of it. That cough syrup with codeine was something else I tell ya!

You'll notice that to get to my blog you go through www.joecicero.com. As Feisty pointed out I may have too much time on my hands. I agree. But I've had that domain for a long time and for awhile there was NOTHING up there. So, now there is something and I'm trying to figure out what to do with it. I guess my thinking is it's MY site so that makes it easier for people to find me. I don't know. All I know is that the popcorn thing is funny to me. I'm thinking about doing a lot with it...but need to just take the time to do it!! Oh, and I Googled my name to see if it came up and something that is just as amusing came up. Remember when the Lake County Traffic Authority (or some organization like that) had those meetings we sent Potsy too? We sent him with a CD of people complaining on the air and they actually played it and transcribed the WHOLE THING. It's a hilarious read. Check it as a PDF file here! 

Not too much to report from over the weekend. Stopped up at my mom and step dad's place on Friday to give Kelly some much needed quiet time at home and ended up sleeping there with Steven! Didn't plan on it but he fell asleep (is sick too by the way) and I didn't want to wake him up. So it's like 11:45 and I have enough for one more bottle to feed him and decide if I'm sleeping over I should get formula. So I made a run to Dominick's and got some formula and baby water and just left it at their place. It was that or get up and leave if he woke up in the middle of the night! It turned out to be a lot of fun. We watched some "Curb Your Enthusiasm's" On Demand (wish I had Comcast!!) and then my mom and I started to watch one of her favorites and one of mine cause of her..."Young Frankenstein". Teri Garr in that flick...hubba hubba!! 

So I slept there and stayed up most of the night with Steven cause he kept making noises and was all snotty. My mom got up and relieved me which was nice and I slept a few hours before I left. 

Saturday night was that Chicago Shamrox game!! It was a BLAST! It was me, Kelly, RJ,and his girlfriend Arazue and then Jillian from the station (works with sales) and her fiance Eric. Hopefully we could get some more tickets for another event because seriously who would have known that LaCrosse could be that fun?! I didn't. And the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates is an awesome place. Maybe a little weird with parking, but other then that a fine facility. 

Sunday, I just sat around and watched some football. Nothing major. Some good games on and I'm looking forward to the Bears playing next weekend.

Kelly has been in bed ALL DAY cause she is sick now. So it's her, Steven, I'm almost well, and then our sitter (my sister in law) has two sick kids. So, she is staying home Monday with Steven...I'll get home as quick as I can to take over and relieve her, and Dominic and Ashleigh, my niece and nephew, have low grade flu strains or something. It was kind of scary actually cause Dominic had a fever seizure Saturday night. Kelly and I were JUST reading about it when Steven had a fever for a few days and I said don't worry it won't happen and it happens to little Dominic. Poor guy!!

Well, everyone has less then a month to get better cause Steven's 1st birthday is officially planned for Saturday, February 3rd. I'm excited and he better smash his cake!! Dominic cried when he saw his.

I have some pics to share...click to enlarge as usual...


The pyro show from my cellphone before the Shamrox game...makes it look bad...but it was really cool!


This is before the game during the National Anthem...they had bagpipe dudes there...


Steven hopped up on Dimetapp last night...in his Pack N' Play...he seems to like it....and so do we!!


Steven and his guitar...well...that Hawaiian guitar thingy I can't spell...he's rockin' trust me...thus the blurry face!

JC

Got bored and put something up on my domain at www.joecicero.com 

Enjoy the weekend...oh...and make sure the sound is ON!!

JC

Sick.

I was hellbent on going on EVERY night of this vacation that started on Friday, December 22nd and I pretty much accomplished that in one way or another. Not drinking every night or anything like a binge or anything, but just enjoying the time off.

Saturday was a surprise party for my friend Jason Turner and I had a really bad headache and was all hopped up on the Tylenol. Well, it could have actually been on Friday when I went up to Durty Nellie's to see the Gin Blossoms perform (I use that term loosely) or was it Thursday when I played in a Texas Hold'em tournament...or, Wednesday at the Wolves game with Tim...like I said I went out a lot!


Can I get into trouble for this from DCFS? Thanks for the pic Tim!


Look at Uncle Tim stepping up!

 
My friend Jon at Durty Nellies in Palatine (so cliche eh?)


That's Jason, just turned 30, on his cake!

So, I feel horrible right now and am contemplating calling in sick tomorrow morning (which is actually just hours away). 

In between my seriously crazy nightlife (ha!) I got to spend mucho time with the family including sleeping over at my mom's house last Thursday into Friday and spending most of the day with her and Steven. When I got home Friday he screamed for forty-five minutes and knocked my tooth loose (I think I blogged about that already). 

Also had a chance to see some good movies including with my mom and step dad on the day after Christmas. We saw "Night at the Museum" and for as much as it got panned by the critics I thought it was pretty good and actually clever in some instances too. I think it actually was the number one movie a few weeks in a row.

"Blood Diamond" with Leonardo DiCaprio was outstanding. I'm a huge Leo fan and am pulling for him to snatch up a Golden Globe and maybe even an Oscar for his role in this flick. It's is VERY violent. Not implied either...downright bloody, but very good. If you aren't familiar it takes place in the mid-nineties in Sierra Leonne on the western African Coast during a very bloody civil war. It's all about diamonds and how they financed much of the conflict. History Channel had a two hour special on called "Blood Diamonds" which I just watched tonight which was excellent too.

My Net Flix account has been coming in handy too. Rented "Jackass: Number Two" which is loaded with so many extras it is like another movie on the DVD. Actually watched that twice so far since we popped it in during the Bears loss on Sunday night for New Year's Eve. Also got "Click" with Adam Sandler. Wow. It is a seriously sad movie!! Don't want to ruin it...but it's got everything you'd expect from a Sandler flick with a little twist included. Really enjoyed it. The one I didn't get to was "A Scanner Darkly" which is next up!!

Goodnight...I hope!

JC

I'm lazy and this is what you get until the return of the show on Tuesday!!

Just wanted to say HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

JC

How confusing not working. I've stayed up late every night and TRIED to sleep in (see earlier blogs for reasons I didn't get to) and today I thought it was Thursday. It's Wednesday though and I only know that cause I'm hooking up (not "hooking up") with our newsman at the Wolves game with my wife, son, his brother in law from Mexico (no idea what's up there) and Jamie and Mario some listeners whom we've become friends with. Befriended? Is that a word?

Was up last night late switching between Leno and Letterman when the Special Reports started rolling in on President Ford passing away. First place, NBC, Second place, ABC, Third Place, CBS (they just put a scroll up!) and fourth place Fox which didn't do anything. Needless to say you know they had those obits in the can already waiting to be played. Remember they screwed up and put up Reagan's early online? Anyway, right back to programming then! Steven woke up a few times and I let him fall asleep in my arms. THEN, I found this cool site where you can take any picture and make a puzzle out of it. Somebody sent it to me actually. www.flash-gear.com It's a great site and I sent one to Tim late last night.

So, Steven and I spent the whole day together playing with blocks he got for Christmas. I LOVE the blocks and took some video of him playing with them with my phone (ignore the stamp in the middle I'm too cheap to buy the program!). This is the real time version! And, this is the Oscar Winning version with music from Lord of the Rings just for Tim!

Had fun messing around with that stuff and sent a TON of pics to my mom at work today to keep her company. Actually, since we were just two boys on the town I brought Kelly lunch at work today.


Have that stuff to me first thing in the morning!! "The Executive"


He really thought he ran the place...did whatever he wanted too...


This is Christmas Morning...he was more into the PAPER then anything else. Kelly and I broke down and bought him just TWO TOYS so we had a photo op to save forever. The "Busy Basics" thing to the lower left and the squishy toy just under his left hand. Everything else was from relatives. We saved big time and still got a sweet shot or two! My mom and stepdad got him that monster toy with the little froggy to the right.


Is he exhausted you think?


Click this to enlarge!! My new favorite picture of Steven TOTALLY baffled as to why a big red dog named Clifford is holding him. Yikes!!

I think we finally nailed down some New Year's Eve plans...hope you worked that out already!!

I was thinking about working on a Top 10 list for 2006 since everybody else does it. I mean, a PERSONAL top 10 list. Maybe we should all do it since we'll be hearing about it ad nauseum anyway. Do I go over the top cliche' and put the birth of my son as #1? Or, do I leave it off? Where does Tim fall into it? Is he on it? Will Feisty Mamma be there? 

Tune in...same time...same bat channel.... ha ha ha ha..........

JC

Hi all! This is about the time I'd normally be getting up to come in but as you may already know our return to the airwaves isn't until next week. Hope your Christmas went well! It was A LOT of running around once again.

I'm up because Steven was screaming his head off for some reason. This is his new thing unfortunately. Friday he screamed for FORTY FIVE MINUTES straight. I didn't know what to do I was getting worked up along with him which probably didn't help. He was flailing his arms and legs and HEAD and hit me in the mouth and knocked and chipped one of my front teeth. Not a bad chip but my teeth are expensive kid!! 

Good to see that Jake (Tim's son) is feeling better. I'm sure he'll update on that later.

Not sure when I'll blog...hopefully not after a screamfest!!

JC

My TiVo had some "30 Rock's" from NBC on them and I'll tell you what...it's REALLY FUNNY!!! Vacation is nice to catch up on TV! :)~

This is all of the stuff I was looking at to get Tim for Christmas for our $10 gift exchange that was started last year. He didn't get all of it like the Bubba Santa doll (what the?) but he got a good haul. I spent $9.87 and to my credit was the closest to $10. Plus, the guy there who remembered me from last year was REALLY cool and didn't ring one thing up. Nice! The pen is the sweetest thing and the hat will come in handy I'm sure on the chilly nights when the heat at Tim's is out since his utilities go out daily!! Kidding dude!! Merry Christmas!!

Yesterday I left the station and headed straight downtown to visit my mom in her office. She is in the business district on the 49th floor and it is huge and the views are awesome all over the buliding. I of course took advantage of my camera phone to share too! You should be able to click to enlarge...maybe!


This is the view from my mom's desk...pretty nice and a beautiful day (at least sun wise)


Looking down from behind her desk...I get woozy that high I swear!


Another shot of the skyline ( I used to work in the Prudential with the pointed top!)


My mom at her desk...right before we went to eat...look at that lasagna!)


An artsy look at the skyline...ha.


Oooooooooohhhh...


If you enlarge this you'll see Soldiers Field...there is a bright glare off the top of it to the back. Not that you have NEVER seen this!!


Millenium Park from one of the conference rooms...


1 Bedroom for $400,000? I'll take two!! 


The BEST part of the day...paying for parking!! Geez. I should have parked at Millenium for $12 or $13 instead!!