MyerBlog

Only in Oak Park

This post is for Mary:

Before it has been to long to tell this story, I wanted to post about a little watering hole in Oak Park called Philanders. It has been there since the early 1920's. We have been to this fine establishment many times, since they have free cheese and crackers and live Jazz music. We have always noticed that they have hard boiled eggs on this serving display, yet we had never seen anyone eat one. One night, I pointed out to Amanda that a guy at the end of the bar was actually eating one of the hard boiled eggs. To top it off, I told Amanda I would give her $20 to say: "Hey Buddy pass me an egg." She made me eat it though. Since that night, it became a tradition. During my graduation weekend, we took my Dad and Mary to this bar. We all ate an egg in a fare-well toast to Oak Park. Here is the picutre from that night (and as Mary pointed out...her first appearance on the blog)

This is a very fitting picture in that, if anyone knows me well enough, I am not a huge fan of having my picture taken...this worked out well. Obviouslhy the guy taking the picture was drunk or had the hots for my wife...probably both

Courtney's Wedding

The photos from the wedding are in a photo albumn on the left titled Courtney's Wedding These have been cropped down in size so that you can look through them quickly (depending on your internet connection). I have also placed the full sized images in a public folder. Click here to download the images Please let me know if you have problems finding the images or downloading them. I am sorry they are so large, but it you want to take them to be printed, the highest resulution is best.

Update 9/24/2005

Your prayers worked, but don't stop praying yet. I have talked to everyone and they are safe. It looks like we were very lucky, relatively speaking. It looks like any damage is going to be minimal to what was first feared. The Freemans may even have a home to return to once they get the go ahead. I am sure there will be wind damage (fallen trees, down powerlines, etc...) It looks like there will not be any flooding since they ended up on the clean side of the hurricane. Thank you all for the calls and prayers. More to come soon.

Hurricane Rita

Since most of you have asked, I thought I would use the blog as a means of updating you on how everyone is doing that is in the path of the storm. My dad and Mary have already headed towards San Antonio and are not really expecting to return to anything. The same with the Freemans who also are very close to Galveston. I have not talked to Kurt, but I am sure he and his law partner have loaded the firm in a couple of trucks and have headed north. My mom and Morgan are pretty far north of Houston, but could still expect some very strong winds. Last I heard they are going to ride it out, and they should be ok there. Becca and Jimmy are actually in Chicago and may be trapped here for a few days until the airport opens back up. Depending on the damage, it could be a day to weeks. At any rate, we are all praying for them and hoping for the best. As long as everyone is safe, that is all that matters. Keep them in your prayers.

Check out the map

If they melt....

Becca and Jimmy have obviously lost it. I know how hot it is in Houston this time of year and they are out running in that kind of weather. Please look closely at the pictures. If you hear of a couple that apparently melted in the TX heat while running and they are having a hard time identifying them from the pile of goo that remains, maybe these pictures of them will help. In all seriousness, I am quite impressed.

It could happen to you...

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Growing up I always remember when a storm would roll in, my parents would not let us talk on the phone and we had to unplug the television out of fear that lightning would hit the house and the TV would blow up or that the lightning would travel through the phone line and fry our brains. I always thought they were crazy and I had never heard of this happening to anyone...until yesterday. My dear sister (Becca) and her fiance (Jimmy) suffered a huge loss yesterday (both brains still intact). When I say huge loss, I mean 2 computers (both attached to surge protectors), 2 TVs, a garage door, a router, and a poor tree who was not allowed inside during the storm. And to add insult to injury, Jimmy was lucky enough to get in touch with the most overqualified idiot at the cable company tech support center to help him fix the cable boxes. I am not sure they are to the "we will look back on this and laugh" stage yet, but they are without computers and will not read this post for a couple of days ; ) For those of you interested in sending money to the relief fund to help with their loss, send cash to my paypal account and I will forward a portion of the proceeds to them. In all seriousness, I will be unpluging my computers anytime nasty clouds roll in, it really could happen to you.

Memorial Day

Today is a day to pay tribute to those who have died in our nation's wars. It is a good day to pay tribute not ony to those who have died, but to those have served in our armed forces in time of war or in peace. Click here to read more about Memorial Day Here are a couple pictures of my grandfather and the men he fought with in the Korean war. He is just one of many examples of those who fought for the freedoms we enjoy...and thank God that they did. Enjoy the holiday!

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