July 2010

I have a niece!

July 30, 2010

Congratulations to my little brother and his wife on the birth of their daughter “Jensniece”! She escaped the womb at 9:24 last night, July 29th, and left no evidence of a vanishing twin, which is less rare in my family than you’d normally expect. This means two things: 1. I am a real live uncle! [...]

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My trip to Chicagoland, Part Two.

July 27, 2010

This trip up north was occasioned by a Zaccardi family reunion. The family’s story deserves at least a quick recap: Tommaso and Maria Zaccardi were my dad’s mom’s blood-parents. They came to America, got married, and over the course of eleven years had four sons and four daughters. All four daughters were named “Maria Something” [...]

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My trip to Chicagoland, Part One.

July 23, 2010

I arrived in Chicagoland last Thursday night after a 1,100-mile drive. My first stop was at my old apartment in Wheaton, to hang out with my old roommate Kenny. I had forgotten that the place was essentially a live-in chimney. However, my old room was vacant, had a clean bed, fresh paint, new carpet, and [...]

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A chat with my idol.

July 18, 2010

At the Zaccardi family reunion yesterday, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to chat with my idol “BG,” a 95-year-old former professor of economics at the University of Chicago who drives a cherry-red sports car and dates a woman 28 years his junior. Among other things, we discussed travel, such as the trip I [...]

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World Cup South Africa 2010, Part Eight.

July 11, 2010

Alas, the Cup is over, and Spain won despite my predictions that they’d choke, and despite the coin flip I did a few days ago. It was very appropriate that the winning goal came from a midfielder, Andrés Iniesta, because that midfield was by far the best in the tournament, with Spain averaging over 58% [...]

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World Cup South Africa 2010, Part Seven.

July 7, 2010

Spain vs. the Netherlands in the final. For me, this is the worst time of the Cup… knowing that there are two soccerless days left before the consolation match and the final, and then four long years before the whole thing starts again in Brazil. Hopefully the final will be better than the Spain-Germany semifinal [...]

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Fourth of July, 2010.

July 4, 2010

Happy 234th Birthday to the United States of America! … In celebration of our independence from Great Britain, here’s the third and best stanza of the “Star-Spangled Banner”: And where is that band who so vauntingly swore That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion, A home and a country should leave us no [...]

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World Cup South Africa 2010, Part Six.

July 2, 2010

So much for “clinical and calculating.” Brazil’s second-half collapse today was one for the ages. They had a second-half lead against a flailing, desperate Holland until Felipe Melo had the mother of all meltdowns. We probably shouldn’t lay all the blame at one person’s feet, but when you block out your own keeper on a [...]

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