2009! Woo hooo!

Happy New Year everyone!

2008 was a great year for the Hanleys, even if we didn't start as the Hanleys. 2009 will be even better. We've already made an addition to the house, which will be announced here soon. Oh, the anticipation is brutal.

In the meantime, one of Matt's resolutions is to run more often in the coming year. As part of that goal, he's started yet another blog. But this one is about running and it's for work, not play. At 1:09 am. Jan. 1, a post will show up right here on the brand-new, never-before-seen Off and Running blog. Later in the day, Matt will add Post #2. What would be great is if everyone went on there and looked at the blog - comment if you like - so that Matt's bosses will know why they pay him the big bucks.

Sadly, this means the Ugly Baseball Card Blog may have seen it's final set. Well, all weird things must come to an end.

Hope 2009 is a safe and joyous year for everyone!

This blog would like to express condolences to the family of Studs Terkel. You will be missed, Studs!

Woofing you a Merry Christmas

He's making a list,
He's sniffing it twice.
He's gonna find out who's naughty or nice.
Santa Jack is coming to town.

He licks you when you're sleeping.
He licks when you're awake.
Jack don't care if you're good or bad,
He likes dog treats, for goodness sake!

So, you better watch out,
You better not cry.
You better not bark,
I'm telling you why.
Santa Jack is coming...to town!

Christmas miracles

Matt doesn't like to post his real work on this blog, unless the stories are connected in some way to Johnny Depp, or at least Barack Obama. Matt figures if you wanted to read stories in the Beacon, then you'd probably buy a copy. Or nine. (Please!)
But Matt heard the grumblings about the lack of posts, and last week he covered a particularly memorable event.

Matt was on the night shift, a time when reporters can be assigned to anything that comes up. Matt's boss asked him to write about a doctor at Rush-Copley Medical Center who visits all the kids in the hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Basically, these are babies that were born way too soon and face a whole host of challenges. Obviously, they have no idea they're being visited by Santa, but the doctor stops by to make sure each family gets a picture with The Big Guy on their first Christmas.
With that kind of story, you never know what you're going to get. After all, you can't interview the kids and they're the most interesting people involved. But, Matt was pretty lucky that he found a family willing to share a difficult time in their life, for just a few minutes.
Hopefully, you'll find a little Christmas spirit in their story.

Here's the link to the story Matt wrote for the Beacon News.
(By the way, make sure to click on the pictures. They're not the babies I wrote about, but they're still fantastic photos.)

Obamarama

Last weekend, Matt was trying to straighten up some stuff around Lynne'....er...the house when he came across an envelope he'd completely forgotten about, surprisingly enough.
You'd think with all the Obamaness going on recently, Matt might have remembered that he got a "personal" letter from #44, but somehow it slipped his mind.
Here's the letter:

(You should be able to click on it to enlarge it.)

And it came with this:

Now, it should be noted that Matt never wrote to Mr. Obama asking for his autograph. (Though Matt is on record saying the only person he'd for sure ask for an autograph from, is The President. But, hopefully, not in the middle of the interview that Obama will inevitably grant to Matt.)

Actually, when the letter came in the mail, Matt was sure that someone was pulling his leg or messing around. If they were, they did a great job because they never fessed up. More likely, someone on the Senator's staff saw something Matt wrote in the paper and sent along a letter, which happens more often than seems necessary.

Either way, Matt got a signed picture from the next president of the United States, which he can add to the note that Bill Clinton signed congratulating Matt on becoming an Eagle Scout, and Al Gore's Christmas card.

Matt's 99.99 percent sure that Obama's signature is pre-printed on the picture. But, either way, pretty cool.

Maybe it should replace Carlton Fisk's picture on Matt's desk. Nah.

This is the dog. This is the dog on bath.

So, did Matt ever mention that this dog, this thing that lives in the house, is completely, utterly, totally insane? Matt has never had a dog before so there is really little room for comparison here. But Lynne, as an experienced dog owner, has confirmed that Jack is weird.
(At left - Jack, dry; at right - Jack, wet.) .








.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Ah, but you still doubt.
You're hesitatant to take the word of others. You want to come to your own conclusion.
That's why we cooked up some proof.
See, what happened was...Jack got a bath.

Jack does not mind the bath.
Jack is good in the bath. Very peaceful.
But after the bath...
Well, you see, Jack hates being wet.
Jack would do almost anything not to have that water in his ears. N-E-Thing. Dance. Scoot. Flop.
Jack does not like being wet.
And so he does this:

Draw your own conclusions.

Indiana still has a football team?

Ah, the Ultimate Football Weekend. Or, as it is sometimes known, the annual Josh and Megan Humiliation Game. Last year, Illinois did pretty well. Remember that?
But certainly Josh had learned his lesson. He couldn't really root for the team in red, could he?
He could. He did. Well how'd that work out?
Matt thinks it worked out pretty well. Like 55-13 well.
That's right, the Orange ran wild all over the Red again this year. It was a massacre, right from the beginning. You might think a result like that would deflate the visiting team, discourage them or - heck - just give them pause. But, nay, not the Indiana Hoosier band! Each time - each and every single time - Indiana got a first down, they'd launch into some sort of torturous fight song. Bwahaa be bah be bahhhhhh be BAHHHHHH. Merciless.
Even Megan and Josh had fun at the game, it is believed. Sadly, Lynne lost interest pretty quickly. Even from the second row, the blowout meant she was thinking about other things. Like practicing saying the name of Illini's massive tight end Michael Hoomanawanui. Uh-oh, ma now a noowie!!
But the weekend was about more than football. It was about realizing how old we were. It was about realizing how glad we were that the game started at 7 p.m., and how we all pretty wanted to go to bed immediately afterward. It was about realizing that Legends - Legends! - has a life-sized Chief inside. (Very sad, Matt'll never step foot in there again. Probably.) It was about seeing the Jazz and the Bulls play a game in...Champaign? (Odd, but cool.) It was about grillmaster Dave and stretching the babysitter's hours and Lynne abdicating the Oreo crown to...who remembers that sort of thing when you're this old?
Anyhow, it was another great weekend with great friends, including people who flew in from Colorado and Texas, and drove in from Iowa and Wisconsin. Matt was both thrilled and honored that everyone took time out of very busy schedules to visit. Yet another reminder this year how lucky Matt is to be surrounded by great friends.
But the fact is Matt should have written this post right after the game, as he intended to. Instead, Matt waited until after Illinois lost to Wisconsin and then WESTERN MICHIGAN. The Western Michigan Broncos?!? Ugh. From the Rose Bowl to losing to the MAC second place squad.
Butkus, Grange, Mendenhall vs. Jason Babin and John Harbaugh. Again with the torturing, I see.
Looks like it's back to the .commers for the Illini. Insight.com Bowl. GarbageRemoval.com Bowl. Com.com Bowl. The possibilities are .com less.

Some more Obama

Matt wrote a little in this weekend's Beacon about Obama's appearances in the Fox Valley. The formatting is a little strange online and you'll notice some familiar phrases, but it's still an interesting read. It wasn't so long ago that Obama was saying he wasn't going to run for President. (He did.)

What's more fun is the photo gallery the Beacon ran of all the pictures taken by staffers of the pre-President. Obama always seems rather relaxed, but if you want to know how tough the campaign trail is check out how young he looks just four years ago. Check it out here.

Also, one of Matt's friends wrote a fascinating column - from Africa - about the reaction to Obama's election on the other side of the world. A great read.