Japan - May 09

We came back from Japan this morning from a very fast and very eventful and memorable trip. The main reason we went was to celebrate Mrs. Architecturefootballandfood's parents' 60th birthday. We went as a complete surprise to them, and only had informed a small handful of family members of our plans prior to coming. Incredibly, nobody spilled the beans and it all worked like a charm. I have never seen such purely surprised and happy faces as those displayed by the parents, and we were lucky enough to get it on three separate video cameras!
We also got to see and take photos of the M-House, our first built single-family house. It turned out incredibly nice, and it was so great to see a design of ours become reality, and even better to see how happy the clients were. Overall and wonderful trip. We are planning on heading back there for another short trip in September to go to our cousin's wedding party, so we are very excited for that.
I'll post some photos either here or to facebook as soon as I get them downloaded.

Sports and Fraternity

Not as in they greek system, but actual "fraternization," as in a quality of being like brothers or of a brotherhood.

This is a hilarious video clip as a follow up to the previous post. Why do we stupid sports fans feel obliged to become a member of whatever team we choose to support? How can we just automatically join the club without any application process? Is it really that easy? See the video - sound required.

Mitchell and Webb

Thanks to Cousin Ray for the link.

Sports and Happiness

Why do men(and some women) take so much enjoyment in sports? I must be in the upper 10% of this category, and when I think about it, I have no idea why. Does it make my life any better, really, if my team wins? (Or in my case, usually, worse when they lose) Do I learn any skills? Yes, I think so - teamwork, perserverance, etc. But I don't think this is why we love it so much. Is it the testosterone-driven version of soap operas?

Anyway, yesterday was a killer day. Newcastle actually won a huge match which will help us immensely in our bid for safety from relegation. The Blackhawks won game 6 to put them into the Semi-Finals. This is HUGE for the Hawks, being a very young team in a league that is still hoping to gain some popularity. The Cubs had the day off - so they did NOT lose!!

But why do I care about any of this? I'm still faced with the same moral, professional, economic issues that I was yesterday. In the long term, the Hawks going to the semis doesn't really stack up against the thousands of retirement dollars I've lost in the past couple years....

The Most Eventful Day

This past week, Mrs. Architecturefootballandfood's cousin's fiance was in Chicago checking out MBA programs that he'll be applying to for 2010. So he stayed at our place and we did enough different things to thoroughly tire me out. I've had some guests, and I've had some busy days, but nothing beat what happened yesterday for being just down right busy.
It started by the three of us heading down to Millenium park to show him everything it has to offer (I won't go into the park here) and we bumped into an old friend. Then we headed over to the Gleicher Center at the UofC school of business and bumped into ANOTHER old friend. Now I'm getting the feeling that I know pretty much every person in this city. Just one of those things. Then after lunch, we settle in to start watching one of our favorite sports events of the year - the Kentucky Derby. We head on over to Stretch Run, place our bets, and head back home in time to prepare some damn strong mint juleps. Well, as anybody who watched the race knows, a HUGE underdog won, and although none of us picked that horse, Mrs. Architecturefootballandfood was WISE enough to pick the Show horse - #2, Musket Man. So this was a point of excitement for us all, and we strolled back over to Stretch Run to collect our winnings. While in line, who do I see hanging out with a beer in hand, jeans and a button-up collared shirt untucked, looking loose as a goose after a good Sunday afternoon wholloping of the Florida Marlins, but LOU PINIELLA, head coach of my beloved Cubbies. So of course, I get a nice hand-shaking in and Lou gives me a "Good to see you" as if we've been homies since Junior High. What a feeling!
Up next was the Bulls game 7 against the Celtics at Hop Haus, rounding out what HAS to be the best first round playoff series in NBA history. A lot of beer and beef later, The Bulls ended up losing but a killer time was had. My friend Chas came and met us, and Chas, myself and Yoichi (our guest) headed over to Joe's to watch the end of the Hawks game and the Hatton Pacquiao fight. The Mrs. went home to a relaxing bath and a Woody Allen movie.
So by the time we went from Hop Haus to Joes, the Hawks came back from 2 goals down to take the lead, and we were able to see them finish off with a 5-3 away victory! This was just a warm up to the main event - the FIGHT. We snuggled into a tight table and immediately started talking some wicked Pac Man trash, because most of the guys we were sitting near were Hatton Supporters. Well, not even two rounds later, we were obviously the ones with big grins on our faces, as we were lucky enough to see one of the most dominating physical performances I have ever witnessed in my life, surrounded by good-humored company and, of course, more beer.
By the time we got home, I was exhausted, we were satisfied with the last day of Yoichi's trip, and I have to say it was one of the all-around most eventful days of my life. (In the "quantity" sort of way - not necessarily the "quality")
Just thought I'd share.