Illinois 2014
by Scott Hardie on December 31, 2014
Kelly and I are home after a week on the road visiting family and friends in Illinois. I wish that we had more time to see more people, but I'm also glad that we got out of town before the sub-freezing temperatures returned. It was important to us to spend time with Kelly's father and brother since this was the first Christmas after her mother passed away, and most of the trip was spent just being a family.
The good:
- Having a boisterous Christmas with family moving about the house, cookies baking in the oven, a fire going in the fireplace, lots of gifts being torn open, and varied conversations about loved ones past and present. Hardie Christmases tend to be quiet and semi-formal, so it was refreshing to have a more active Lee Christmas this year. Next year, we hope to lure them to Florida to soak up the sun.
- The Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield. With what must be a far bigger budget than any other presidential library, this facility utilizes Disney-grade special effects in their presentations to make Lincoln's life story come alive. Illinois loves Lincoln and they built a lavish space to memorialize him. Afterwards: Horseshoe sandwiches! Yum.
- Playing board games with Kelly and her father, even if that photo is not kind about my thinning hair. My favorite answer combination in Cards Against Humanity: "We never did find  consensual sex , but along the way, we sure did learn a lot about  a jury of our peers ."
- Exploring our home town with old friend Matthew. We walked through the nearly-empty mall that was booming in our teen years, tracked down the schools that we used to attend, shared some new life stories and some old memories, and of course, ate Chinese food, because that is what we do.
The not so good:
- A light show at the Morton Arboretum was underwhelming. Very few of the interactive displays behaved as described, and the rest were sort of meh. I didn't mind sharing a trail with five thousand other people, but the crowd bothered Kelly.
- We listened to several audiobooks on the road and most were fine, but man was Redshirts a letdown. It got off to a very funny start with a clever premise, but dragged in the middle when it ran out of ideas, and then it went on and on and on for hours with superfluous codas that added zero value. We forced ourselves to listen through to the very end, but we shouldn't have.
It was a fun trip, but it's also good to be home. Here's looking forward to ringing in 2015.
Logical Operator
The creator of Funeratic, Scott Hardie, blogs about running this site, losing weight, and other passions including his wife Kelly, his friends, movies, gaming, and Florida. Read more »
Scott's Car is Dead; Long Live Scott's Car
Is it a reflection of our road-rage culture that a company named Dodge manufactures cars with violent names like Ram, Magnum, Caliber, and Viper? I pondered this at the dealership yesterday during the eternal wait between brief flurries of document-signing so I could buy my first car. It took some doing to get the sunroof and other features I wanted, but I'm now the happy (and relieved) owner of a 2007 Dodge Caliber SXT. Go »Summer of Suck II
Science says that complaining is bad for you, but sometimes it helps me feel better, so I'm going to do it anyway. It's my blog and I can cry if I want to. Summer has arrived and I'm miserable. Go »Documenting My Discomfiture
My company hired a new guy to do documentation a few weeks ago, Rajeev. I've seen him walking around talking to the software developers, and attending meetings with managers in glass-walled rooms. I've heard several managers praising Rajeev by name and telling me that we need to get Rajeev to review prior documentation before we begin on projects. Go »Feeling Lucky
Yesterday was my 13th anniversary of dating Kelly. We've been through many ups and downs together, and those downs have to do with why we're not married yet, but I love her as much now as I ever have. Here are 13 things that have been a part my life for less time than we've been dating: - The Internet. Go »Intruder Alert
At 5:30am I was awakened by the doorbell and the sound of someone fumbling with my door. Through the peephole, I watched a young man desperately trying to pick the deadbolt. After a couple of minutes, he gave up and stumbled off towards the other apartments. Go »
