This past Saturday Beth and I took the Amtrak to Champaign, Illinois to attend a memorial service for our very dear friend, Jim Spencer. Jim came from a big family, all of whom are well known around Champaign-Urbana—Beth and I have always joked that if you live in Champaign-Urbana, you’re either a Spencer, related to […]
Every other Wednesday, I head down around the corner for something that’s become a neighborhood ritual. Bingo. Seriously, BINGO! It all started weeks ago when a favorite barkeep at our favorite local (Half Sour) pleaded with us to come in on an upcoming Wednesday evening. Half Sour has big second bar used for special events. […]
Years ago I had an idea for a Saturday Night Live skit: “The baseball organist at home.” I imagined the mother, on her off day from the ballpark, sitting at the organ. The kids would leave for school and she’d play, “Na na na na, na na na nah, hey-hey, good-bye.” There’d be a walkup […]
Get thee to a movie theater with a great big screen for “Apollo 11.” Late at night, after Beth retires, I usually channel surf. Most of the time I come up disappointed. Sometimes I run into an old favorite and rewatch it, and then kick myself the next day for staying up too late […]
I met Doug Colbeth back in, oh, well, before the web, before the Internet, before social media—it was when cell phones were really large, didn’t have screens, and they were actually primarily phones. Doug was my boss at a little tech startup that was a University of Illinois spinoff. The company was based in Champaign, […]