The first time I went to Chicago I had a blast. Sure, I was young, childless, committed but not married, and had little in the way of soul-crushing responsibilities. A couple weeks ago, I went back. The main reason was to support my sister as she defended her thesis and earned her PhD. At your leisure you can pop over to my previous post here, detailing all my proud sisterly love.

Ridiculous travel times aside, I had an amazing trip. I got to finally catch up with my buddy Jeff, and met his girl Quince. It bums me out sometimes having my friends so far away. The upside is that it gives me future excuses to journey to distant cities. Jeff’s next destination is Dallas, so at some point in coming years I’ll be having a brew in a badass Dallas pub. Jeff even rode the train with me back to the airport. That’s a true friend!

I took way to many pictures on the trip to Chicago, but I really do like that city. If I considered myself a big city guy, I’d consider Chi Town. My sister lives downtown, so everything is a short train or taxi ride away. Speaking of which, on the way to a cool little club in a taxi, I swear we were going to die. It’s hard to imagine driving in a city like Chicago, let alone driving a taxi in a city like Chicago. The driver, at one point, was driving 60mph! No, it wasn’t on a highway. There were streetlights and everything.

Check out all the pictures I took below.

The tavern downstairs and across the street from Jane’s place. Great spot to hang, and I tried a new beer!

The view from Jane’s balcony.

There were like three of these trucks. We never figured out where or what was being filmed.

Navy Pier

My yacht…no, it’s not:(

I blew this pic up because, if you look closely, under mixed drinks in a drink called ‘Horny Goat’. Wish I had tried it.

Seems a little extreme…right?

Harry Caray’s

Jeff and Quince posing with my and my dad. It was great catching up!

This was around 2am at the club. Apparently, I had something on my face. Thanks Sean!

It’s late. Jane’s friends may be a little “tired”

These next few pics were sent by my wife Kate while I was gone…

Roe wearing the cute little outfit Uncle Don bought her

Kaya, Row and Kate making dinner

Happy face

Sad face

Eleven City Diner. What an awesome place to grub. Gotta eat there if you’re in Chicago

This was my omelet. It was just phenomenal!!

The gift shop at Eleven City was just sweet! (get it?) There was a ton of old school candy and gum like Bazooka. I had to buy a t-shirt and pint class.

These building were under construction last time I was there. Wow…

Soldier Field from a distance

A crazy huge demonstration downtown. Everything is always bigger in the city.

Crazy cool statues

Either the lion is HUGE or Jr. is shrinking.

Don’t give that look sis…I mean Dr. Sis

Uncle Don’s not sure which way to go…again.

I love all the artwork in Chicago. This is one of two huge stone blocks with digital faces looking at each other. Creepy, cool and a little weird. Just my style.

That silver bean thing in the background was also under construction last I saw it. Once the quinceanera moved on, we got a much closer look.

closer…

This is actually our reflection

Views from inside

Pretty cool idea.

My mom is notorious for giving cask to the less fortunate.

My last meal at Midway airport before my flight home. Sadly, I took too long and my plane was about to leave without me! Oops.

Dragon on the Ledge

Some of you know I’ve been obsessing over this new Star Wars game that may, or may not be coming out this year. Site jumping frantically everyday, trying to find out the latest game info, I found myself checking one site more than any others: TORWars. After months of listening to their amazing podcasts, and perusing frequent updates about both the game, and other Star Wars news, I inquired about possibly writing for them. I felt somehow compelled to not only do more writing, but to contribute to a site and a community that I was already a quasi part of. Long story short, they agreed to give me a shot! My first and second posts went up this afternoon.

TOR stands for The Old Republic

If you like what you see, if you are interested in the game, or just want to follow more of my ranting, writing ways, you can follow TORWars on Twitter @TORWars, or ‘like’ TORWars on Facebook. (You can also follow the links on my main blog page to follow me on Twitter and Facebook.) Check the links to my posts below. To all my friends and family, thanks for all the awesome support. By the way, this weekend I will finally post my pics and antics from my Chicago trip…promise!

1st Post: …I am Your Father
2nd Post: 57 out of 60?

Dragon on the Ledge

A few days later I’m still at a loss for words. In most families there is a shining star. Someone who really stands out. Someone who not only meets your expectations, but proceeds to blow those expectations out of the water with a Hiroshima sized atomic bomb. In my family, as much as I wish it was me, I have nothing on my sister Janai. I have called her Jane for as long as I can remember, and as of two days ago, you’ve got to call her Doctor Carr. Yes, my sister has done something few can say. She has earned a PH.D in Biochemistry. My entire family has always been aware of her high intelligence. She skipped the 1st grade for crying out loud! That aside, as snarky, playful and witty as she can be, this has never masked the fact that she is scary smart. I flew out to Chicago to watch her defend her thesis in front of a room of friends, family, peers and other scary smart scientists. She not only defended it, but made me wonder why or how anyone in their right mind would question her work when her roughly 50 minute talk ended. It was absolutely brilliant. Just listen in to her mentor introduce her:

As you can see, her colleagues not only admire and support her work, but they think what we’ve always known Jane to be: way above the rest of us mere mortals. One of the heads of her department made a point of pulling us aside and informing us that she was the best student they have ever seen. Did you catch that? EVER! While following all the terms and processes of her work was hard to follow to us laymen, it was obvious that what Jane’s doing is nothing short of groundbreaking. I have included a coupe of videos and pictures capturing this occasion below. What goes without saying is that my sister is well on her way to making her imprint in this world and our family could not be any prouder if we tried. Me personally, I couldn’t help but puff out my chest as wave after wave of her friends, coworkers and colleagues came by to shake my hand, say congrats, and share their experience with this most extraordinary member to the Carr family. Best of luck Jane, we love you so much. You’ve made us so proud!
(I apologize for the audio in the videos; she wasn’t miked)

 

Dragon on the Ledge

After hours and hours of screen time, my seniors’ rough drafts are finally graded. Managed to finish the last one during the first 10 minutes of my last period class. (I know, I cut it close) Huge weight lifted. After another couple hours I got sub plans written, my classroom organized and ready for the next two days. At the moment I’m trying to get Roe to sleep so I can hit the road and head to Sacramento. Tonight I’ll be staying with my little bro and jumping on a plane to Chicago at the crack of dawn tomorrow. I haven’t seen my sister since Christmas, and I haven’t been to Chicago in a few years. The point of the trip is to watch her defend her thesis and move on to her next step on her way to being a doctor. I’m so proud of her. I’m sad to leave my family, especially my wife, who is super pregnant and needs my help around the house and with Roe. I’ll miss them both terribly, but I’m stoked to get outta dodge for a couple days and see my family. I’m not prepared at all for next week but that’s Sunday’s problem. Now if only this daughter of mine would close her eyes…
By the way, my two YouTube vids are perma linked on my blog so check it out!

For some, sports are second nature. It comes naturally, and with practice, they only get better. For others, it’s takes time, effort and all the mental power they can muster to be just okay at a sport. Take a wild guess which category I fall into. Unfortunately, it’s the latter. I’ve always loved to play, but whether it be confidence, ability, drive or all of the above, I’ve always been just okay at just about every sport I’ve tried. My shining abilities as a kid was that I could run fast, and jump high. Yes, I know, I’m black, so stereotypically it makes sense. That aside, after a brief ride on the bench as a sophomore on the freshman basketball team, I figured my abilities should be used far away from the gym’s hardwood floors. (I won’t even mention middle school bball with my dad coaching no-less!) I found a new place on the dirt track of my small ass school. There I did well, being good at the two main skills required of a track athlete. I ran fast, and jumped high. My record for the 100m dash was 11.88, and my highest high jump was just about my height at the time. Somewhere around 5’6″. Sound impressive? Maybe for a small school competing against other really small schools, but it was only enough for 2nd. There was always a guy from Mariposa who beat me in the 100m and I was too short, (even jumping my height) to win the high jump.
Toward the end of my junior year my dad was really getting into golf and sometime later I acquired his old clubs. The perfect sport for a guy in my situation, right? Yes and no. For a solid decade I played occasionally (it’s an expensive habit I used to say) and improved in barely conceivable increments during that time. If my high school had a golf team I think I would have improved faster considering how often I would have been playing and competition (in golf anyway) I play better. My school naturally waited until I had graduated to start a team and I had to get rounds in when I could, paying out the ass all the way.
Long story short, I have always loved to play golf. In the last four years or so, I finally found a way to play more often. I always liked having consistent buddies to play with so I dragged my brother in law out onto the course one day. Being the former in my little intro, he got hooked and started playing a lot. When I say a lot, take what you think a lot of golf is a double it (at least). Needless to say he got better, fast. My father in law’s bed business FloBeds sponsored our team and we compete in match play events Monday nights starting in April. Unfortunately, I’m back where I started, feeling like the bench warmer on a team of stars. Granted, my handicap has dropped from roughly a 28 to hovering near 16. Team Flobeds won season 2 (see early post for my heroics) and placed 2nd last year, losing in a playoff. Still, last year I won only 3 matches and one was because the other team only had 3 guys, so I won by default.
This year I felt great going in. I’ve changed a few things mentally and physically with my game and I figured I really couldn’t lose if I came to play. Then I remembered, it’s golf. I tied my match last week, and last night, the only reason I tied was because the guy I played choked on his last putt, on the last hole. Upon reflection, I can’t help but feel like I used to. The rest of my team is undefeated and playing great, and once again I’m just okay. I’m ready for my first win of the year, so I can at least contribute to a team, and a game, that I love.

It’s Easter Sunday and once again, up before 7am. Love my little girl for that! Anyway, once I got my ass out of bed Roe was just adorable looking for Easter eggs around the living room. The downside to the day is the stress has returned. I’m back to work tomorrow, and I haven’t started the senior papers, and honestly I’m not sure if it’s gonna happen. I feel like I’m letting the kids down, but my goal today is to be a good dad and husband. I’ve just finished my 1 of 2 church services of the year with the in-laws, and yes, Mass is still the same. After attending Catholic school from K-8th grade, two times a year is more than enough. Anyway, seven weeks of work and probably less until my little baby Zoey enters the world. I just have to remember to take one thing at a time. Gotta find done time to work today…

I’m trying out this mobile blog thing and it’s pretty cool. The wife wants to go on a walk, but what I SHOULD be doing is grading senior papers. Will it get done? Not likely today, but it really should be done by Monday. Let’s see, that’s forty 6-8 pages papers edited and commented on during my spring break. Since it’s vacation do I actually have to work? Sadly, the answer is: always. I worked one day this week already and I feel that’s plenty. Shouldn’t English teachers be able to take time off too? My fear is that the answer is no. On the other hand my daughter got a silly amount of jelly on her shirt, so now it’s off, and she’s decided to make “spicy” pretend peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. That makes me smile.

A new, bad ass, Star Wars MMO. Trying to be really patient since there is still no release date. Should be sometime this year (fingers crossed). If you are into MMOs and love Star Wars, here are some of my favorite sites with very frequent updates about the game. Feel free to join my guild here.

Official SWTOR site.
TORWars (my favorite fan site)
Correllian Run Radio

Dragon on the Ledge