I do not blog too often about these major important topics. Yes, last January when I "noticed" that the Bears were appearing in the SUPERBOWL!! I did mention it here a couple of times, and make a couple of predictions, but I'mnot stupid (usually) and in general I know that my readerboat does not consist mostly of NFL fans. However tonight I will trash the sports media in general, and NFL followers in particular.

Because this week they will be bashing the Bears generally and Brian Griese particularly harshly. How do I know this? Well, it has already started. (Brian Griese is the Bears' back-up quarterback given the start against the Lions today due to some creeping ineptitude on the part of Rex Grossman, their regular pigskin-tosser.)

Did Griese have a good game? Not particularly. But it wasn't terrible by any means. He threw a couple of touchdown passes in a game that ended so bizarrely that it set a new record for most points scored in the fourth quarter.

I was actually catching the game on the multiple TV sets at the small club where I go when I want to "work out." Why the quotes? Well, when your back is hurting you don't hit the equipment with the same level of gusto and commitment that you can usually muster. But that makes it perfect for combining with the Bears game. So I was finishing up on the equipment, some of which I had actually used for its intended purpose, when I decided to take my shower. It was almost the end of the third quarter, so I knew there would be a long timeout filled with commercials and that I would only miss about four or five minutes of actual game action. The score was 13-3 in favor of the Bears.

When I got back back about 15 minutes of real-time later, I had missed three touchdowns! The Bears were still ahead but now the score was 20-17! Later in that same fourth quarter the Lions scored another 17 points and the Bears added 7 of their own to make it the most prolific (shouldn't that word mean that you are against abortion---but I digress) fourth quarter in the entire history of showering. Or of the NFL.

But during this coming week I know there will be many hand-wringing assessments of Griese's mistakes. In actuality, if said hand-wringers had seen the game the way I did (except for joining me in the shower) they should have noticed that Griese had two interceptions on the goalline and that even one of those going for a touchdown would probably have meant a Bears victroy in the 23-17 range, instead of the wild finish we all witnessed.

Then Griese would have been the new god of Chicago. Restaurants would be named after him before next Sunday's game.

To me it is a highlight of the year, to see it without clouds obscuring.

Enjoy.

That was just the attention-getting teaser opening line. I have actually only been to Barack Obama's sidewalk outside his house. And he wasn't there. Just a tough looking guy that hangs around outside keeping an eye on the place when Barack isn't there.

Barack wasn't there. But I was, attending a wedding across the street. And wandering around the neighborhood (Hyde Park, near the U. of Chicago) because another wedding guest had asked if we had seen the Obama house, it's right across the street. We were at the oldest Jewish temple in the city which is where the wedding took place. (No. I'm not. But thanks for asking.)

The Obama house looks like any other turn-of-the-century Hyde Park mansion. It's surrounded by a black wrought iron fence. I was interested though, because, guess what? I am an Obama fan.

I don't know if he has everything it takes to get nominated, but I am rooting for him. I have seen him speak twice, once to a big audience and once at a small-crowd town meeting. People in politics are jealous of his rock-star aura, which does come with him. A buzz precedes his entry into any room. But that's not why I like him.

I like Obama because the people that I know who have met him all say the same thing: extremely intelligent and very caring. That's people on both sides of the aisle. I don't know if everyone out there realizes how horrible Illinois politics are (hint: count the number of ex-governors who do time) but Obama rises above that fray. Where I live most of the elected officials are Republicans, and every one of them has good things to say about Obama.

He is also a bit older and more experienced than people generally realize. He is 46, and spent ten years in the Illinois legislature before being elected junior Senator. He began his political life organizing voters for school reform on the south side of Chicago where he accomplished a lot and was encouraged to try running for office. He is a professor of constitutional law at U of Chicago, hence the house within walking distance of campus.

I have read parts of both his books, but not all of them. He's a decent writer, and that can't be bad. So I am rooting for him. My gut feeling is that he has the best shot at being the VP choice for whoever gets the Democratic nomination. I don't think he will get the nomination, too new to the scene, but I think he would make a great President if he gets the chance. I am expecting either Edwards or Hilary to come out on top, and I am hoping for Edwards. It's not that I don't think Hilary could do a good job, it's just that I don't know if she would get elected. I think she might be the one Democratic candidate that a Republican could beat in 2008. Plus I find this statistic appalling: When was the last US Presidential election that did not include either a Bush or a Clinton on either ticket? . . . (pause for thinking, . . . no, it's before Reagan because Bush was his running mate, . . . yep, 1976! Ford vs. Carter was the last election that featured no Bushes or Clintons). For some reason, I just think that everybody is tired of it. Or will be by November 2008.

And that brings me to the title of today's piece. Because last spring I heard the senior senator from Illinois (Dick Durbin) speaking in favor of Barack and he concluded by saying: "So tell your Poppa, and tell your Momma, . . . this guy's voting for Barack Obama."

Yeah. I couldn't resist.

If you have not seen, or at least heard of, the movie Pursuit of Happyness (Will Smith), then this entry will not make much sense to you. Of course, it might not make sense anyway. I haven't written it yet. But I have hopes. And if you have not seen the film? Go rent it. It is a great story, very heartwarming and true-to-life, while still wild enough to be entertaining.

(This whole entry is something that I really should have written about a couple of months ago. But it all happened right before the car accident which resulted in our taking off for Colorado at a moment's notice. We spent several days with middle son, then came home, and I never wrote this up. All this happened in July.)

The author of the book called "Pursuit of Happyness" is a man named Chris Gardner. In the movie he is played by Will Smith, and as the story of his life takes place on screen the viewer learns what a struggle it was for Chris to become a successful stock broker back in the 80s when his small son was left in his care by the boy's Mom who up and left. The basic theme of the story is that he did everything he could to turn his life around, become successful in business, and still put his son first. There was a lot of sleeping in homeless shelters and other out-of-the-way places if the shelters were full before they got there.

BTW If you watch the film the actual Chris Gardner does appear on screen for a few seconds at the end of the film right as the credits start to roll. Will Smith is crossing the street and another man crosses the street in the opposite direction. That's him.

In July we had an opportunity to hear Chris Gardner as a motivational speaker. He is a great public speaker. He told us his life story, which mostly is similar to the movie script with a couple of exceptions. He was actually older at the time than he appeared in the movie. And the son was younger. (In the film they needed the boy to be old enough to converse wth Dad, whereas in real life he was only a bit over a year old.)

He spoke for about an hour and a half and had the audience riveted the entire time. He really did see a man driving a Porsche and ask him, What do you do? And how do you do it? The actual scene took place in a parking lot when Chris offered the guy his parking spot as he was pulling out of a spot in a filled-up lot. And he really did get arrested for unpaid parking fines and show up for his big interview in clothes he had slept in for two nights. In his speech he thanks the unknown jail guard who agreed to hand him the phone through the bars just so he could reschedule the interview appointment. Without that kindness he would never have had his chance.

He told a funny story about eventually landing what was to be his biggest account from a bigoted Southern millionnaire who never realized on the phone that Chris is black. Eventually they got to be friends but it was years before they met in person, and the man was shocked because he had told Chris some bad jokes over the phone.

Good speaker, good movie, too. If you have not seen it, I highly recommend it.

2. I have been getting into . . .

3. (OK, let's build a little suspense here

4. because it is probably the number 1 reason why my Blogging has become so

5. sporadic this summer)

6. Yahoo Answers!

7. if you are not familiar it is one of those stupid

8. but majorly addictive

9. computer time-wasters

10. ever notice those??

11. remember when you thought that use of personal computers would revolutionize our lives and make us so efficient??

12. A World of Information!

13. Right at our fingertips!

14. Except that first we have to click through 8,000 different websites

15. some of which have bikini's

16. before settling into the actual task at hand

17. Yahoo Answers allows you to earn points by answering questions posed by others

18. And they don't have to be good answers either

19. they could even be smartass remarks

20. see how the addiction factor grows?

21. However, you do get TEN EXTRA POINTS if your answer is chosen as the best one for that question

22. so computer life basically becomes a quest for points

23, which have, BTW no actual value

24. they are just points

25. they don't buy anything

26. and you cannot redeem them in any way

27. however, unlike frequent flyer points they also don't increase my

28. "carbon footprint"

29. There's a phrase that caught on this summer, eh??

30. Before this summer I would have thought my carbon footprint was a way to get the right shoe size from LL Bean

31. But, no

32. It is actually a measure oh how evil we are

33. Without even knowing it

34. It is a very Protestant concept, the carbon footprint

35. You have to try to achieve Grace, but you never know if you truly have it

36. Of course, some insist that the carbon footprint is essentially Catholic in nature

37. that is, we can buy "indulgences" and get away with murder

38. simply by paying extra to negate our carbon footprints

39. Would you like to fly to our vacation spa palace and not feel guilty?

40. Then simply donate your frequent flyer miles to goodcause.com

41. (Hey, I just made that up! If it really does exist?

42. I apologize.)

43. and they (you forgot who "they" is, didn't you? if so refer to 40)

44. will plant trees in exchange for your miles

45. See how easy it is to assuage your planetary guilt?

46. I have had more plaentary guilt to assuage than normal due to driving around visiting

47. far-flung sons (see item 1 above)

48. but I am almost back to normal workout routine

49. lifting and such

50. but no running yet

51. will I chance it soon?

52 I am thinking maybe October or so

53. I will start out slow

54. Of course I will start out slow

55. I always start out slow,

56. And finish slow

57. Plus I always run slow in the middle

58. I will run gingerly

59. Which makes me wonder, what is ginger about running slow?

60. Gingerly running ought to be "snappy" which would be fast

61. But it isn't

62. Can you tell that I have run out of things worth saying?

63. I can.

(Incidentally, in an update that i forgot to provide my readerboat, his friend that breaks toilets was successfully married last month to the girlfriend who laughs at our family. So I guess there is hope for us all, if we but dream.)

Once in Kansas City we ensconced ourselves (which ought to mean that we lived in a lampost or a candle holder) (but doesn't) in a refurbished and renovated grand old hotel, the Aladdin right downtown near the Union Station re-do, which is a fabulous interior space if i do say so myself, the dad of a budding employee of said construction company of renovators. It soars like some European cathedral of a train station, which I suppose the American railroads were, in a way, sort of, a century or so ago.

We three had a very nice time in KC for three days, and we met his boss (only 30 yrs old, already heading up major projects far from HQ) and his young family. One of the highlights was a local music fest held over the Labor Day weekend each year: Irish Fest!! Yes, there was beer available. Thank you for asking. A real nice local microbrew. We heard two great Celtic music groups, one of which (Gaelic Storm) were the guys playing in the hold of the ship when Jack takes Rose into the bowels of the Titanic to show her how things go down in steerage. They (the band) were funny and talented as well, with lots of audience participation and rollocking. Lots of rollicking. Rollicking doesn't feel quite as good with sore back and drippy nose as it does normally. But still quite good, considering.

We also had several long conversations about: Girlfriend & job performance & driving & girlfriend & trust & honesty & forgiveness & girlfriend & drinking iced tea compared to soda. Middle son was frustrated with me for being in pain. I was also frustrated with me for being in pain, but I thought I did an excellent job of hiding it. Just winces, very brief winces.

Soon it was Monday morning and time to head for home. Along with the populations of several other states including, I judged all f Missouri and most of Kansas. Most of them were heading for our house. I asked spouse if we had remembered to clean up before we left because it looked like we were definitely having company.

We made ithome just in time to go to bed and get up the next morning. After the long weakened.