We should be watching basketball today. But, as we all know, this year is different. Not different as in ‘odd’ but different as in ‘we’ll a...

Welcome to our third girl, Clara Elizabeth! We are so excited to add a third musketeer to the family. Born in our nation's capital, she ...

For those who may be interested, you can follow me on Twitter @Westy33, where I every so often share some short bits of miscellany.

So (that's the Minnesota way to start sentences) I thought this graphic by the Chicago Tribune was pretty helpful in understanding the...

Upon reading this success story in the Chicago Tribune today, I couldn't help but post some excerpts to draw attention to this astound...

The pages of this blog have slowly grown quieter.  This is largely directly correlated to the addition of children into our home life.  Tim...

How about another 'decade in review' post.  I thought I would point you to this fantastic compilation of news photographs from the...

As we wrap up the decade that was, I'm a big sucker for reminiscing.  So I'm loving all the posts collaborating on the 'best of...

Continuing the tradition from last several years , here's where I was in 2009: Chicago, IL * Champaign, IL Indianapolis, IN London,...

On this Thanksgiving Day, I want to take the chance to point you towards some of the photos in the National Geographic's International ...

Twenty-five years ago, the #1 ranked high school basketball player in the nation was shot and killed.  Ben Wilson's death resonated acro...

I cannot understand the outcry today over Bill Belichick's decision to 'go for it' in last night's game.  Not a single medi...

And worth reading as well, Malcom Gladwell, again on football .

Well worth reading is fellow far upper Midwesterner Chuck Klosterman on football .

Since my last post on the problem of violence amongst youngsters here in Chicago, there has been much rhetoric about "fixing" the...

The past quarter has been very good to the investment banks on Wall Street.  JPMorgan Chase reported $3.6 billion in profit and Goldman Sach...

So far this year about 1,000 have died in the USA from the swine flue. Thankfully an effective safe vaccine exists to prevent the conditio...

Which city do you think is the world's greatest ? The editors of Time Out asked that question and here's their list : 1. New York ...

As you can see on the right, I've just finished reading The Prodigal God . Because I've just been reading it, I've been thinkin...

Last Thursday on the far south side of Chicago, a 16-year old boy was beaten to death after stumbling into a gang fight. You've probab...

As it seems like we all are taking some time to consider health care in our country, I thought this article was well worth passing on. The A...

Good analysis by Yonah Freemark on why High Speed Rail has potential.

A lot of fanfare is being made out of the fact that Ricky Rubio is not going to be coming to NBA and play with the Timberwolves this year a...

So I'm overly excited to share some unexceptional news. I've now been featured on not one, but two of my favorite blogs. As those ...

Chances are, if it was between 2:20 and 3:50, you were sleeping. Between those times, the greatest number of people in America are sleeping...

Last week, some of us were discussing what the movie of the decade (the '00s) was, now that it's almost over. And yes, we were insp...

On Friday night we were for the first time this season taking in a show at Millennium Park. A fellow concert goer and I were admiring the aw...

Whenever I have had the chance to tour ruins of old manmade fortresses, I have been moved by the history, the decay, and the omnipresence o...

This image produced by the Rice School of Architecture is pretty cool. They note it shows the " ring roads from 27 international citie...