father's day weekend

Well, for my first Father's Day Weekend, I have to say that it was quite an enjoyable experience. Steve Bennecke (the husband of one of Steph's friends from high school and the son-in-law of my father-in-law's business partner) -- a man who's life to date has tracked remarkably similarly to my own considering the sheer coincidence that put us in contact -- took me to New Comisky Field (a.k.a. U.S. Cellular Park) for the evening game of the Dodgers/White Sox. I, of course, am a huge Dodgers fan, and Steve is a pretty big Sox fan; since the Dodgers have cooled off somewhat after their 12-2 start and were coming off of a sweep by the Royals, I didn't have high hopes -- that's a good thing considering Mark Buehrle pitched a gem of a complete game shutout and the Dodgers anemic offense was shut down completely; oh well, at least I appreciate good pitching when I see it. We went with one of Steve's childhood friends (no longer a child, but rather, mid-30s w/ 3 kids; when you think of Irish Cop in Chicago, this guy is it -- straight out of Brothers McMullen -- and a funny, stand-up guy), his brother, and his brother's nephew. Anyway, after the pre-game beers, the game beers, and the post-game beers, we hit a couple bars and took full advantage of the late bar-closing time in and around Chicago. Although I was paying for it the next day on our drive back to GR, it was a great night which didn't end until the sun was coming up. How I used to be able to do that more regularly, I don't know. It was a great time, but once or twice a year is about all my body can handle these days.

The game was on Friday (I knocked off work a little early to get down there in time) and Saturday was spent either driving home or recouperating on the couch. Once I had sufficiently recovered, we drove down to K-Zoo to spend Father's Day with Steph's family. It was a good time. Relatively uneventful, which is how I like it; and between naps I got to watch that guy (I've already forgotten his name) play some seriously clutch golf to close out the U.S. Open. I also got to take my father-in-law's new C6 for a spin around the backcountry/farmland of Southwest Michigan on a beautiful Sunday afternoon with the top off. I was probably gone for an hour to 1-1/2 hours, but there's something about sitting 4 inches from the pavement in a car that is really little more than four giant wheels, a massive engine, and a well-thought-out cockpit, on a sunny Sunday afternoon that made it feel like about 5 minutes. Taking my driving style out of my own car and pairing it with a car built-to-suit is an almost spiritual experience. The g's through the corners and off the line, and the noise, oh that noise, the note the car hits when shifting into 3rd (and a little bit when going to 4th) is really something -- one of those throaty, American-made engine noises suggesting that it's got more to offer than you can take (which is true; particularly when you're being a bit conservative with your father-in-law's sports car). I love that car. Anyway, although the day was capped off by watching Rasheed Wallace leave the single best clutch 3-point-shooter in NBA history wide open beyond the arc when the Pistons were only up by 2 with 5 seconds left in overtime in a must-win game 5 and the predictable result, it was, all in all, a very good day.