The Palacio Pages: enero 2006

Where Have You Been?

At least a few times in the past 6 weeks, I've asked my inner writer that question. For various and sundry reasons, the part of my id that often likes to express my thoughts and reflections on life has been hibernating this winter. Alas, and it wasn't the groundhog, nor was it the unseasonably warm winter that awoke this bear from his slumber; rather it was the unusual occurence of several postings to an erstwhile dozing blog from Sherman Street that finally spurred me to pick up the pen again.

Where Have I Been
Back to that question, where have I been. The short answer is that I have not strayed from the well-trod paths between Chicago and my two most common destinations: Melrose Park and Tinley Park since the day I returned from Honolulu. The lack of travel has allowed me to see my family nearly every Sunday just as it has given me some quality time catching up with friends around Chicagoland. Of course, it also has given me the chance to sit back and think about the year that passed and the year to come.

My 29th Christmas and New Year's Eve
I must admit that this year's Christmas came and went and I never felt like it was Christmas at all. It's possible that spending Thanksgiving in El Peru threw off my internal calendar, or maybe it was a symptom of my being a little too stressed and distracted by work. For whatever reason, this year's Christmas season lasted for two days, no more, no less. Nevertheless, the Christmas eve and Christmas day celebrations with my family were truly delightful.

A few years back I realized that New Year's eve is best spent with a small group of good friends. Keeping with that theme, Chico Blanco, Mark, Ceebs and I decided to spend our New Year's Eve together in and around our neighborhood. We didn't plan for much beyond hanging out and playing Nintendo or Atari until Ceebs suggested we do a Condo Crawl. I must say, this idea bore much fruit. The four of us plus our friend J-Jo started the night by going to Jim's Original for some tasty polish sausages and fries. We proceeded to the Palacio for some 312 and conversation. Three young ladies joined us at the Palacio before we went on to View 19 (Ceebs' place) for some vino, beer and Nintendo Ice Hockey. Just before 2005 came to an end in the Central Standard Time Zone, we went to the 18th bridge to watch the Navy Pier fireworks and drink some New Year's champagne. Then, the night ended at the Flophouse where Jennifer and I battled for domination in Pac-Man. Of course, Mark forced us to play his "name that celebrity" game, but even that couldn't stop 2005/2006 from being one of the best New Years yet. And that's coming from someone who really doesn't think New Year's Eve should be any different than any other night.

Onto January
Let's see, in January I've watched many Illini basketball games, I've shopped around for real estate with Mark, I've been much more consistent with working out, my Employer announced that it is selling off a division that comprises approximately 65% of our annual sales, and the SoLo crew went sledding for the first time last Friday night. The latter event merits further discussion.

Last Friday night was Ceebs' 29th birthday. It was also the night that Sovanski was billed for an official show up at Gunther Murphy's. So, I went to watch Sovanski, but after the show was over, we headed back to SoLo to have a few birthday drinks with Ceebs.

A little background: after probably 30 days of mild, mostly above freezing weather, we finally got snow that stuck on the ground. We also purchased sleds about a month ago for just such an occasion. So, at about 3:00 AM when I was driving the crew back to the Palacio, it seemed natural to go to the sledding hill by Soldier Field for a few runs. I must say that it was the best sledding I've done in year! In the interest of full disclosure, I should also say that it was the only sledding I've done in years, but that doesn't change the fact that it was ridiculously fun to hurl our bodies down the hill on those $5 Target sleds! (Oh, and I really should record that the indisputed distance champion was the birthday boy himself.)

But the photographs speak for themselves.