Check another one off the list!

One of the things about living in the Chicagoland area is that winters here can be unpredictable at best.  When I was a kid I used to love the winter as I was an avid skier, but as I've gotten older and the grown up world of commuting to work and other such adult BS has factored into my thinking, I've grown sick of the cold and snow.  And while I still ski every now and again, I can't seem to find that indifference to the cold that I had a kid.

Anyway, I digress...as I mentioned winters here can be at times, mild or subzero cold.  Usually all within a few days of each other, so it was no surprise that we went from a mild weekend of temperatures in the mid 40's to 8 inches of snow.  After convincing my girlfriend to come over in the snowstorm (in my defense I never looked outside to see how bad the snowstorm was) I had the brilliant idea that we should go outside an build a snowman (something on her bucket list) and I could make a snow angel, which for some reason I had on my bucket list.  I don't know, maybe it was on there so I could remember what it was like to be a kid again, without a care in the world and no knowledge of how tough life could be at times.  What was surprising was that my girlfriend (who hates winter and snow more than I do) didn't hesitate a second.

Next thing you know there we are, in the snow building a snowman (not as easy as I remember) while both of us laughed and giggled like children.  After about 10 minutes we had build a somewhat small snowman, which even without a carrot nose and a coal smile, looked pretty good!

Our snowman

Now it was time for my snow angel.  As I spread my arms and fell backward into the snow, the first thing I realized was while the snow was about 6 inches deep, it wasn't all that soft of a landing!  As I lay there in the snow...laughing, I begin to flail away, making what I hoped was the best snow angel EVER.  Then I began to notice that my ass was now cold, and wet...two issues I don't remember having (or caring about) when I was a kid.  Either way, I stood up, admired my handiwork, took a picture and got my cold wet ass back inside to change.  But I have to admit, for the briefest of moments, I forgot that I had to work in the morning, I didn't care what my neighbors might say if they looked outside.   I forgot about bills I had to pay, or dishes that needed to be done.  I felt like a kid again...mission accomplished!

Not as soft a landing as I had hoped for!

Can't stop laughing!

#92 Make a snow angel 

30 Day Blog Challenge - Day 10

Describe something you are proud of.

This may sound strange but I'm proud of the fact of who I am.  I've had a lot of set backs in my life and I've overcome them to become the person I am today.  I'm proud of the fact that I rose above the hardship in my life and became who I am.  Literally in high school one of my friends was voted most likely to become a roadie.  These were the type of people I hung out with.  I was a mediocre student that no one thought would amount to much.  But here I am, a college graduate, I served in the Army, I've got a great job and I'm financially stable.  Aside from these things it is also amazing that I'm as well adjusted as I am.  I watched my step-dad die of cancer slowly and painfully at the awkward age of 14.  On top of that I was the shy, overweight kid who got picked on in grade school.  In high school I was the guy who didn't give a shit about anything and had a bad attitude and crappy grades.  I was basically one screwed up kid.  But I rose above that and began to make something out of my life, precisely because no one expected that of me.  And when things were going good for me, I lost my wife.  In a moment my plan for life was erased.  And to be honest that almost broke me.  But it didn't and I realize now just how strong I am.  I realized that I can be knocked down, but I can get up, I can be bruised, but not broken.  Not only did I survive, but I prevailed as I'm happy now.  I'm proud of the person I am.

Add another to the completed list!

Every year my work puts a team together for the Polar Plunge.  For those who don't know the Polar Plunge is a fundraiser for Special Olympics where after raising money you basically take a quick dip into some frozen body of water.  Not really sure what the point of it is, other than to watch others suffer, but hey it's for a charity right?  So anyway, every year my work puts a team together and I inevitably will donate cash to one of my co-workers.  This is my way of buying my way out of it.  So one recent cold snowy day downtown Chicago with Jessi she mentions that she wants to do the Polar Plunge one day...long story short I decide to do it.  Now this was one of the things I said no way in Hell would I do, but I got to thinking about bucket lists and living life for new experiences.  I once saw a quote somewhere that said it was better to look back and say "I can't believe I did that" than "I wish I had done that."  Well it was in that spirit that I created a bucket list, so I decided that I should take the Plunge, if for no other reason than to say I did it.

Well as the day approached I tried not to think about it too much, other than to say to myself that it was crazy and that I couldn't believe I was going to do it.  On the day of the Polar Plunge, it finally hit me that I was about to fully submerge myself into water that was barely above freezing.  Luckily that day was the first sunny day we had in a few days, and the temperature was a balmy 37 degrees.  All in all not too bad for a February in Chicago.  So after standing in the cold, wearing a t-shirt and bathing suit for about 20 minutes it was our turn to hit the water.  Apparently our team has one rule..go all in or don't bother going at all.  That means full submersion, underwater, head and all.  So as we got the go ahead I ran into the water, which quickly dropped off from just above my knee to about mid stomach depth.  I quickly dunked myself under water and tried to run out of the water.  I say tried, because by now the shock of the cold water was beginning to set in and I don't think my brain knew what to do about it.  Strangely I didn't notice the water temperature when I first ran in, it wasn't until after I had dunked my head that I realized just how cold the water was.  So after a bit of a struggle with my motor skills, I ran triumphantly from the water and into the heated changing tent.  Total time at the event, about an hour and a half, total time standing around in shorts in the cold, about 20 minutes.  Total time in the water, about 6 seconds.  Was it worth it you ask, I would have to say yes, for the experience and the bragging rights to say I did it.  Would I do it again you ask, probably not.  However...

#64 Do the Polar Plunge

30 Day Blog Challenge - Day 9

What defines you?

Let's see, that's an interesting question.  The most obvious answer is my life experiences define me.  Everything from not having a dad around early in life, then gaining a step-dad who was more of a father to me than anyone, then losing him to cancer.  To being the fat kid in school, to being a loner growing up, even my tattoos.  Then there is all the good things, my college experience,  my experience in the Army, and to getting married. Even the bad things, losing my wife to cancer, friends lost over the years, all the painful and sad times.  But then learning to live again and actually having fun doing it.  All of these things, the good, the bad, the fun times, the sad times, the laughter and the pain, they all make me who I am.

Now, outside the obvious answer, what else defines me.  There are two things that come to mind when I think about what someone who just met me would take away and how that person would describe me.

First, I would have to say it would be my sense of humor and fun loving nature.  I love to laugh, joke and have fun, even when the joke is at my expense (as it often is.)  Second, I would have to say it would be the fact that I care deeply for the people in my life and would do anything for them. I actually enjoy giving at Christmas more than getting.  I love to brighten someone's day with some little gesture, just to make them smile.  This is who I am.

30 Day Blog Challenge - Day 8

A photo that makes you sad?

Another tough one today, because depending on my mood, some of the pictures of things in my past can either bring a smile to my face remembering the happy memory, or bring a tear to my eye, remembering what I've lost.  As I said in the last post, now that I've come to accept my position in life, as I look back on my photos, they bring a smile to my face, so picking one that makes me sad is tougher to do.  So again I went through my pictures and you know what I found?  I don't have pictures that make me sad, I take pictures of fun, happy events, not sad ones.  That being said I did find a picture, that while taken during a happy, fun moment, when I look at it now I do feel somewhat sad.  First then picture, than I'll explain.

This is a picture taken out at what I think was Durty Nellie's in Palatine with a bunch of friends.  This picture only has about half of my friends that were there that night.  Now what could possibly be sad about this picture you may ask.  No, nothing tragic happened later that night, no fights broke out or anything like that, in fact we all had a fun night, and made it home safely.  This picture makes me sad because it represents a time in my life that is gone for good.  All of the people in this picture are married now (some were at the time) and have kids.  This picture makes me sad because we don't get together like this anymore.  Additionally, I look so much younger in that picture and I acutely feel the time slipping by in my life.  This has always been an issue for me, getting older.  I hate it, because there is so much I long to do and I worry that I'll have time to do it all.  So while this picture doesn't make me break out into tears, it fills me with a sadness, because it won't be like it was here again.

30 Day Blog Challenge - Day 7

A photo that makes you happy?

I put a lot of thought into this one.  I'm one of those people who takes a lot of pictures of random stuff, and occasionally I go back over my photos and reminisce about whatever I'm looking at.  Consequently I've got a ton of pictures documenting my life, the good and the bad.  So it is any wonder why I agonized over this post for a while?  There are literally hundreds of pictures that bring a smile to my face and make me happy.  Obviously a lot of them involve my late wife, and while for a while I couldn't even look at those photos, they do now bring a smile to my face because I no longer associate those pictures with loss.  They are now what they were before she died...happy memories.  So the more I sat here and looked through pictures, ones taken long ago and ones taken more recently, I realized that I should pick one that reflects my happiness now.  I've turned to a new chapter in my life and recently became happy again.  While one should never forget or try to erase the past, I also cannot, and do not want to, live in the past, as that chapter has ended.  So I decided to find a picture that was taken more recently, one that I could look at and say to myself "I look happy there" and not only say that, but still feel that happiness as I look at it.  So here is the picture I came up with.

This is a picture of my girlfriend Jessi and I taken at The Hard Rock Chicago a few weeks ago.  Jessi and I decided to stay downtown and accomplish some bucket list items.  This was one of the best weekends I had in longer than I could remember.  Even though I think I look kinda crappy in this picture, it reminds me of this amazing weekend we had.  It was a long road for me to find happiness and what do you know...that light at the end of the tunnel wasn't a freight train after all!  So while I have tons of pictures that bring a smile to my face, this one here not only brings a smile, but makes me happy, for it shows me happy where I am in my life at this moment, and not how I was in the past.

Another weekend, more bucket list items done!

So one of the things I originally put on my bucket list was to visit every local brewery within 150 miles.  Little did I realize just how ambitious this goal was.  I've always been a fan of craft beers, and one of the things I've loved in recent years is the explosion and acceptance of craft beers.  Well this has led to an increased number of micro and now "nano" breweries.  And while a lot of these breweries are actually turning out some great beer, finding them and sometimes even knowing they exist can be a challenge.  It seems every time I check out a new brewery I discover two more, so I'm not making a lot of progress toward accomplishing my goal.  So with that said, I think I will revise my bucket list to visiting every local brewery withing 50 miles.  This seems like something I can accomplish...let's hope!

With that being said, my girlfriend Jessi, who also loves craft beers, had told me about a small local brewery in Mundelein called Tighthead Brewing Company.  Having grown up in Mundelein and working in the town next to it, this seemed like a place I had to check out.  Like a lot of these microbreweries the tap room at Tighthead doesn't serve food, but encourages you to bring food in or have something delivered. I like places like that, not having a food menu lets the establishment concentrate on what it does best, making good beers.    Jessi and I tried the We Be Yammin' (a sweet potato ale,) the Scarlet Fire (red ale,) an oatmeal stout and a porter.  I think our favorites were the porter and the We Be Yammin'.  All in all Tighthead Brewing Company is a must visit for anyone in the area who likes craft beers.

The next day, I suggested a trip up to Milwaukee to visit Lakefront Brewery and go on their tour.  Having been on several brewery tours in the past, they all start to seem the same, because lets face it, the beer making process is fairly standard.  The Lakefront tour is nothing like I've ever been on before!  Part brewery tour, part comedy show, all fun.  For only $7 you get the tour, 4 six ounce samples and at the end you turn in your plastic sample glass for a souvenir pint glass.  How can you pass up a bargain like that?!  Our tour guide, and apparently all the tour guides make this tour anything but boring, and I laughed so much it hurt.  Now for those who don't know, Lakefront is not a large brewery but they are big enough to have their beers available in Chicagoland bars and liquor stores, so I had had some of their beers in the past.  I have to say the beers are pretty good, but not my favorites.  Now admittedly while Lakefront does make several beers, I've only tried a handful of them.  In fact this would be my one complaint about the tour, there were only 5 different beers available for us to try that day.  Typically Jessi and I will each try something different then taste each others, so in theory we could have tried eight different beers that day, but this was not to be.  All in all I would highly recommend this tour, but I think next time we'll do it with a group of friends on a Friday or Saturday night rather than a Sunday afternoon, because I think that on weekend nights it could get pretty rowdy!

So while I didn't get to actually check off anything on my list, I made a few baby steps toward one.