Update: I saw this post from Beth’s sister Abby, and although it’s a Harry Potter quote, it is quite fitting for Howie:

“To call him a dog hardly seems to do him justice; though inasmuch he had four legs, a tail, and barked, I admit he was, to all outward appearances. But to those who knew him well, he was a perfect gentleman.” –Hermoine Gingold

Great smile. Great dog.

Update 2: Thanks to commenter Nate, who pointed out that I had mistaken the quote as being from a Harry Potter character, which is not the case. I’ll just slink away now… Oh, I also found a few more photos of Howie.

That said, sometimes it’s nice to engage in some traditional ‘man activities’. A couple of weekends ago, I went on a long weekend trip to Traverse City, Michigan with my future father-in-law, and my girlfriend’s sister’s husbands. So what does a group of men do in a cabin in the woods, away from home, away from women? We lived, of course. We ate extremely well (or poorly, if you’re into health foods and such), we drank, we played poker and spades, went to the casino twice, smoked stogies at a cigar bar, went 70mph on snowmobiles, and we even found time to go skiing. Aside from illegal drugs, women, and perhaps hunting, we let our man flag fly pretty high that weekend. And now, a few of my favorite photos from this manly trip below.

Anyways, here’s a few pics I snapped of the first Chicago snowfall of 2012.

UPDATE: Sure enough, right around four minutes later the post got indexed.

Posted via email from Posterous by Brandon Zeman

2011 has been a wild ride for me, but one completely full of action and seemingly no rest. This weekend was no different. I had a wonderful time with my girlfriend, family, and my hockey team. Let’s begin, shall we?

Saturday

Dane County Farmers Market – Madison, Wisconsin

Beth and I have been to the farmers market up in Madison a few times, and we’ve always really enjoyed it. So I decided with nothing really on our plate for the weekend that we should go. So we woke up at 7:30am Saturday and hit the road on a 2.5 hour trip up to Madison. The weather was a little brisk, but really quite nice for a stroll around Capitol Square and the downtown Madison streets. It just so happened that we also went on the day that Nebraska would make their Big Ten debut against the Wisconsin Badgers, so downtown Madison was bursting with fans from both schools. And if that wasn’t enough excitement, there was also a Marijuana Harvest Festival on campus. Don’t ask me how it’s possible for people to be smoking pot right on the sidewalk, but they were.

After spending time downtown, we headed out of town and stopped at a park along the lake to walk our dog Jack. Apparently I didn’t get any pics of him, but take my word for it, he enjoyed getting out.

Thus ended our time up north. We made the 2.5 hour return trip to get ready for our next adventure…

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off at Wrigley Field

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off has always been on of my favorites. Aside from Animal House, there probably wasn’t a movie I’d seen more times than Ferris. I’m a Cubs fan. I love Wrigley field. The chance to watch Ferris Bueller’s Day Off inside Wrigley Field? Once in a lifetime, no doubt. Beth and I scooped up some tickets and made sure we were part of the history. Thanks to Groupon who put on this entire extravaganza, as 26 year olds, we took in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off from the bleachers of Wrigley Field. Surreal. Oh, yeah, We also broke a Guiness World Record for singing in the round. NBD.

After sitting out in 50 degree temps on a cold bleacher, after a day that we already spent time in Wisconsin, we were completely whiped out. But we couldn’t head back home before a stop at Ian’s for some delicious pizza. Hell of a Saturday if you ask me!

Sunday

We got to sleep in a bit on Sunday, which was needed after a ridiculous Saturday. We got going around 1pm and packed up the car to head to my parent’s house in Joliet. Why did we head there, you ask? To play with new new puppy Toby!

My parents picked up Toby last Monday, and he’s an 8 week old Lab-Pit mix. Mostly lab, as you can see by the photos. He’s got such a sweet personality and is incredibly well behaved for a puppy. I give it a few more weeks before that all changes….

Finally, after spending time and having dinner with the folks (and doing an oil change and rotating tires on Beth’s car), we head off to Aurora for my playoff hockey game. I play defense, and my line kept the other team off the score sheet. They only managed one goal against the other defense pairing, and we rolled to an easy 8-1 victory. Phew. A great weekend, capped by a great team performance. Couldn’t ask for more! Check some pics below:

Taken at Bull Shoals Lake

Posted via email from Posterous by Brandon Zeman