Meet Chloe

We have a precious new granddaughter. Her name is Chloe Evelyn Smith. She was born today at 5:26 pm weighing in at 8 pounds, 7 ounces and she is 20 1/2 inches long. She had chubby cheeks, a result of being born to a diabetic mother. She is about 3 hours old in these photos. As you can tell from the photo above, she is pretty bruised up from a tough and stressful birth.

Rocky Horror Picture Show

Obviously, Rocky Horror Picture Show is one of the worst films ever produced. But experiencing it with a live cast and an interactive audience is something one should not miss. With that said, we went to the Oriental Theater last night to see the midnight showing of this classic (it only shows at midnight every second Saturday of every month). Because of Valentine's day, this showing included a lingerie contest for both the men and women in attendance.

After a parade of men in silk boxers, Iron Man briefs, garters, corsets, and various lingerie-like attire, a male winner was chosen followed by a long line of female participants. I was horribly surprised by the thick bellied belles strutting their extra-large "stuff" across the stage. It was very Wisconsin-like. Both the male and female winners were given a free Rocky Horror t-shirt, a bumper sticker, and a free movie ticket to use on another day.

The contest was followed by cast introductions. After that, all the RHPS virgins went through a ritual where they all lined up to crawl across the floor while the cast paddled them as they went by. It was hilarious.

Then the movie started. The audience had their props ready. There was rice to throw during the wedding scene, newspapers and squirt guns for the rain scene, and unbuttered toast to throw during the dinner toast. I don't want to give it all away, but those were my favorite audience props.

The audience was a wildly mixed group, many were in Rocky Horror costumes while others were the leftovers from the lingerie contest. I felt somewhat out of place in plain old jeans and a sweater. The cast was great, acting out the scenes in front of the stars on the large screen which was the only thing that made the movie worth watching - that and the audience participation part. It was obvious that many of these people had done this before. They knew the script so well they had all the queues down for adding their own lines to the movie.

This was the craziest, most well trained audience I had ever seen. It felt like everyone in the theater was part of the same team, like they rehearsed together before the movie. This is one movie you should never rent, this is the only way to see it. At least it's the only way you will ever be able to see it all the way through.

Senseless crap

I got this email from an acquaintance, someone I knew from a group I used to belong to. Once I read it, I laughed. I first thought how pathetic it was that someone I hardly knew had to dig me up from her archives just to come up with 10 emails. (Yes, like the instructions say to do, there were exactly 10 email addresses that got this.) Then I thought about how absurd it is that anyone believes these stupid chain emails. I considered the source, and it made more sense. The woman who sent this is not the brightest crayon in the box.

As I went to hit the ‘delete’ button it occurred to me that these types of emails are really better addressed to one’s enemies than friends. Wouldn’t that make more sense if one believed this crap? Here it is in its original form, I wanted to correct all the grammar, spelling and punctuation but I chose to leave it in the moronic format as delivered. . .

Read Alone...... Especially the Poem. I believe whatever is in store for us will be for us. The poem is very true, unfortunately. Make sure you read the poem!

CASE 1: Kelly Sedey had one wish, for her boyfriend of three years, David Marsden, to propose to her. Then one day when she was out to lunch David proposed! She accepted, but then had to leave because she had a meeting in 20 min. When she got to her office, she noticed on her computer she had some e-mail's. She checked it, the usual stuff from herfriends, but then she saw one that she had never gotten before.It was this poem. She simply deleted it without even reading all of it.BIG MISTAKE! Later that evening, she received a phone call from the police.It was about DAVID! He had been in an accident with an 18 wheeler. He didn't survive!

CASE 2: Take Katie Robinson She received this poem and being the believer that she was she sent it to a few of her friends but didn't have enough e-mail addresses to send out the full 5 that you must. Three days later, Katie went to a masquerade ball. Later that night when she left to get to her car, she was killed in that spot by a hit-and-run drunk driver.

CASE 3: Richard S. Willis sent this poem out within 45 minutes of reading it. Not even 4 hours later walking along the street to his new job interview with a really big company, when he ran into Cynthia Bell, his secret love for 5 years. Cynthia came up to him and told him of her passionate crush on him that she had had for 2 years. Three days later, he proposed to her and they got married. Cynthia and Richard are still married with three children, happy as ever!

This is the poem:
Around the corner I have a friend,
In this great city that has no end,
Yet the days go by and weeks rush on,
And before I know it, a year is gone.
And I never see my old friends face,
For life is a swift and terrible race,
He knows I like him just as well,
As in the days when I rang his bell.
And he rang mine but we were younger then,
And now we are busy, tired men.
Tired of playing a foolish game,
Tired of trying to make a name.
'Tomorrow' I say! 'I will call on Jim
Just to show that I'm thinking of him.'
But tomorrow comes and tomorrow goes,
And distance between us grows and grows.
Around the corner, yet miles away,
'Here's a telegram sir,' 'Jim died today.'
And that's what we get and deserve in the end.
Around the corner, a vanished friend.

Remember to always say what you mean. If you love someone, tell them. Because when you decide that it is the right time it might be too late. Seize the day. Never have regrets. And most importantly, stay close to your friends and family, for they have helped make you the person that you are today.You must send this on in 3 hours after reading the letter to 10 other people. If you do this, you will receive unbelievably good luck. *NOTE* the more people that you send this to, the better luck you will have. SMILE, even through your tears!

Groundhog Day

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this year, thus declaring 6 more weeks of winter. From my vantage point, it doesn't matter because there would be 6 more weeks of winter at minimum anyway. Here in Wisconsin, 6 weeks would be a relief but being a realist I expect that winter will hang around a lot longer than that.

Now that I think about it, Phil is just as accurate as our weathermen, only Phil is so much cuter.

4th Annual Chili Bowl

We attended the 4th annual Chili Bowl (cook-off) today which was an event where restaurants from the area put their chili up against all the others. There were 60 different varieties of chili to choose from and only one vote per person. This was a tough competition. The thing is there was so much variety, from seafood chilis in a white base, to brat & beer chilis, to the traditional kinds. My vegetarian daughter and her husband attend every year and they love it. There are plenty of veggie offerings for her to try.

This is a new event for us and it was held at the Harley-Davidson Museum. H-D offered a motorcycle to be raffled off with all the proceeds going to the Hunger Task Force, a worthwhile cause. A $13 ticket got you six chili samples and you could get two more if you donated two canned goods. I did not bring any canned good (the cupboards are pretty bare) but many others brought plenty. The food donation barrels were pretty full. We really didn't need the extra tickets anyway, even though it was fun to try the many varieties, when you multiply a 3-4 ounce sample times six, you're up to three whole cups of chili!

I started at Durango Bar and Grill where I tried a chili that had chuck roast, bacon, and a variety of spices that gave it a tasty, smoky flavored chili. There were good sized chunks of beef that made it really good. I headed to The Red Accordion and had their spicy chili that turned out to be not too spicy to me. We stopped at the bar for something to wash the chili down. That turned out to be really necessary when I got to my next stop, Trysting Place where I had some chili called "Oh My God". I couldn't resist adding some jalapenos to it, just to show up the Harley dudes who were ordering a milder version of their chili. All I can say is, "Oh My God!" It was hot, very hot. Glad I had a drink in my hand to pour some ice down my throat. There's nothing better than a sinus clearing, belly burning chili. Wow, it was good! My next stop was the Soup House. I stopped there out of loyalty since I frequent their restaurant a few times each month. It's the kind of place where you know it's going to be good, but even so, I had better on this day.

I was pretty full after that and I was only four down with two to go. I checked out the Iron Horse's entry. It was a little weird, it had blueberries in it. Hinterland also had an offering with some wild meat in it. It all looked good but I was pretty much done. My friend Carol, loved the Brat House's entry that had (of course) brats and beer in it. She really liked that she could taste the beer. Brocach gave you a shot of whiskey with their chili.

My husband, Jeff is not that fond of chili, so he tried all the seafood entries. He tried Sake-Tumi's that had mahi-mahi and shrimp in it. He tried Solly's traditional chili and a few others but his favorite was Rip Tide's white seafood chili. It was thick and peppered with chili seasonings and that was the winner as far as he was concerned.

After we voted, we left feeling warm and full. This was partly because the crowd was growing larger by the hour and the room was getting a little claustrophobic. It was a good time, although there weren't enough places to sit and enjoy the chili. And because of the crowd, it was difficult to stand and try to juggle chili and a drink while everyone is bumping into you. We managed but that would be my only correction to a really fun event.

Motorcycle season, already?

In the heart of winter, with my Packer hopes dashed, there's nothing better than planning an 8-day summer motorcycle trip - to Sturgis. It's always good to have something to look forward to even if it doesn't occur until August. It keeps my mind off the dirty snow and the lack of sunshine on my face. So the first order of business in this new vacation year was to put in my request for the week off. With that accomplished, we start the search for a place to stay. It's the 70th anniversary of the motorcycle rally so it's important to book a room very early. Luckily our extremely excited friend, Ken takes the lead and makes it happen. Ken and his friends have been talking about going to Sturgis for a few years now and he knew he would have to take charge to coordinate this for everyone. Jeff and I are pretty new to the group but we enjoy their company and they treat us like we've been part of their group forever. We had 12 people who committed to going , so he booked 3 double rooms with 4 in each room. That's when the rubber hits the road and lofty dreams become reality - one person dropped out. I bet that spot gets filled by August so there's no worries about that right now.

With the major part of the planning confirmed, Ellen takes over and books a room in Mitchell which is a little further than the halfway point from Milwaukee for the ride out and another room at the halfway point for the ride back. The cheaper rooms are non-refundable, so we chose to pay $9 extra to book a room in Mitchell that was refundable. It's been my experience that plans can be dashed if it rains all day. The safer, slower speed in the rain can mean cutting the distance some. And safety will always come first, so we tend to play it by ear. Hopefully it won't rain and that won't be a problem but you just never know.

Now it's time for the fun to start...the touristy planning of the things to do and see while we're there. I ordered lots of tourist information from South Dakota tourism centers and started my travel checklist. I talked to my friend Cindy who goes to Sturgis every year and she confirmed that we got a good deal on the rooms in a decent part of the Sturgis area. She offered to look into the condo next to the one she stays in, but that would have cost more than the deal that we got. So Ken did well. And the hotel we're staying in allows for bike parking right outside of the rooms which have their own separate doors so that's a good thing. The inn also has a shuttle into Sturgis so you don't always have to get into the fray of hundreds of thousands of bikes if you don't want to - another good thing. On the negative side, the hotel does not include a restaurant but there is a diner close by (I like my coffee first thing in the morning). And there is no pool/hot tub, which would be nice for after a long day of riding.
With the hard part of the planning over, we can move on to other things, like the International Motorcycle Show in Chicago. Jeff and I make it an overnight stay in Rosemont. He books us a nice suite at Embassy Suites across from the convention center and since the IMS is the week after Valentine's Day, we plan a romantic dinner in the evening. This year we will go to Morton's Steak House right down the street. The cool thing about the motorcycle show at the Rosemont (Donald E. Stephens Convention Center), is there is a walkway from the hotel to the convention center so you don't have to go outside if you don't want. Since the car is parked at the hotel there are no worries about driving through Chicago when you can walk.

The motorcycle show has vendors from all over the world. Last time we attended we bought a travel bag made specifically for our touring bike from a German company. It has served us well. This year there's nothing we really need, so it will be more like a fun adventure than a search for a specific product. After spending a day at the convention center we will head back to the hotel for the free happy hour drinks before dressing for dinner. In the morning, we get up to a nice breakfast in the hotel then head over to IKEA for some shopping before heading back to Milwaukee.

Maybe winter won't be so bad after all.