• [Night?] OK, more of a midday recap, because I took the day off to fight a cold and odd 3+ day allergic reaction.  And because of it, you guys win with a bonus post later tonight!
  • [Photo Challenge] A couple more days left for September’s Challenge.  I’ll try to get the October challenge up by the end of the week…we’ll see how I’m feeling.
  • [Fogo de Chao] On Thursday I got lunch with a friend at Fogo de Chao in Chicago – my first time to a Brazilian Steakhouse.  I never was a huge steak person, but I must say I was satisfied.  In addition to the food, our attention was taken by a few rather large men sitting next to us, one who looked very much Brian Urlacher of the Bears.  Towards the end of lunch they got up to leave and my friend asked to get a picture with Brian, to which he responded “I’m his brother, Casey”.  Sure enough, Brian does have a younger brother named Casey who plays for the Chicago Rush.  I wonder how many times that happens to him…
  • [U of I] I made the trip down to U of I with a couple friends this past weekend to visit my fiance.  An extremely busy weekend with so much madness and very little rest.  Here’s a sub-recap…
  • [Allergies] 24 years of my life and never had a reaction to anything.  But somehow at the end of the drive to U of I, my upper-left lip started swelling up.  It wasn’t going down, so I took some benedryl.  It started going down, then my upper right and lower left lip started to swell, so I took more bendryl.  I continued taking benedryl which helped through Saturday.  I stopped at around 3ish, and when I woke up the next morning both my arms had mosquito bite-esque spots from my wrist up to my biceps.  So I took a few more bendryl which helped for awhile, but later Sunday it started flaring up again, this time my entire face and my back and sides.  Another night of Benedryl and now I’m doing better, but got red spots still.  I went to the doctor, who said it was some allergic reaction, and referred me to an allergist.  So now we’ll see when I get an appointment and find out what this madness is all about.
  • [Mini-O’s] My campus church (CFC) hosts a mini olympic event every year, which is a fun time of competition between all the different small groups of the church.  Here’s a tease, and I’ll post the rest later tonight:
  • [Dinner and a Movie] My fiance and I left mini-o’s before the final competitions, and got to spend a little time together.  First up was Tropic Thunder.  My review-  highy unimpressed.  The previews and the first 10 minutes for funnier than the movie as a whole.  For dinner, we went to Jim Gould’s, where I continued my steak-eating.  Nice food, a bit pricey but definitely satisfying.
  • [Midnight Ball] Well…it was more like 10pm, but I got a chance to play some ball with the guys out there.  Word of advice:  Never eat a steak dinner before playing ball with people who have never seen you play before – it doesn’t do well for their view of your skills.
  • [CFC] A line from Pastor Min’s message on Sunday morning that caught my attention:
    • (is doing good and going to church enough?) “Christianity is not that superficial.”
  • [Dead Battery] Yep.  After church, went to get lunch, then swung by the place I was staying, packed up the car, turned the key…nothing.  Completely dead.  We called a tow (through my friend’s AAA), who came by, and jump started the battery.  Now we just need to drive it to an Auto zone and check if the battery is fine.  Driving down the road, coming up a red light, brake…dead.  In the center lane.  Called our friends to come and give us  jump, before they get there the tow comes back with the girl shouting “Don’t worry, I’ll help you guys!”  She turned around, got out of the car, and gave us a head start in pushing my car to a nearby walmart.  We jumped it again in the parking lot, and drove it all the way to the car center just before it died.  Awesome.  We got there just before they were closing (becuse they were short staffed), and they were nice enough to do a quick battery replacement for me.  Luckily we found out about the battery before even getting on the highway…that would have been rough.
  • [MLB] Everything is set for the playoffs!  With the Brewers win over the Cubs and the Mets loss, the Brewers picked up the wild card spot, meaning the Cubs are playing the Dodgers in the first round this week.  I’m excited!  Craziness in the AL, with the White Sox totally crumbling at the end of the season are still 1/2 a game back.  If they win their game today, they will be tied with the Twins and have a one game playoff to see who makes it in to October baseball.  Woo hoo!
  • [Fantasy] It’s not a good sign when you’re kicker is the second highest scorer on your team.  I got rocked due to the bye week…I’ve got a lot of ground to make up in the next few weeks.  Wish me luck!

Alright, my head cold and the benedryl are taking its toll on me, so I think its time for a rest before I post my pics on Mini-O’s.