Chapter 5 in the can

I've realized why I don't write too much on this blog - well aside from the fact that I'm really not that interesting and don't have a lot to say unless prompted. I've been busting my ass on this dissertation since I got back from Ireland last summer. And it seems as though all my hard work has paid off. I finished the first draft of chapter 5 today. That is the final chapter of my dissertation. I still need to write the introduction and conclusion, but I already know what I need to do for the former and the latter won't be written until, well, I'm done (or very close to it). All told, I've written 193 pages since September. Now I don't want to toot my own horn, but I think that's pretty impressive. Granted everything is still pretty rough and they're only first drafts of everything, but I now have a really solid base to work off of during the coming school year. Since I'll be making my first foray into teaching in the fall it's probably pretty good that I've got the bulk of this done now.

Go Wings

Game 7 and I have to work. I think that's ok. I'm kind of scared to watch the game anyway. I just hope we get an Original Six Western Conference Finals with both Detroit and Chicago.

The beat goes on

I've made some good progress on Chapter 5 this so far this week. I've got about 8 pages already in about 2.5 days of work. Not too bad if I do say so myself. It's amazing how helpful a little outlining can be.

The most challenging thing as of late is trying to find some work for the summer. I managed to find a gig for the first 3 weeks of May proctoring law school exams at John Marshall and Loyola. Once that's done I've got contacts at two different temp agencies so hopefully one of those will provide something for the remainder of the summer. One of the agencies set up the proctoring gig and the other was a contact through one of my buddies.

The most important development of late has been, of course, the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Wings made short work of Columbus in the first round, but every series has been good so far. The Caps/Rangers series has been amazing. I'm looking forward to game 7 tonight. After Ovechkin's goal in game 5 I'm hoping for some more Russian fireworks. Out west the Ducks/Sharks series was a real surprise, simply because the Sharks were so terrible. The Ducks' forecheck and backcheck were too much for the Sharks to handle. I'm a little worried about facing Jonas Hiller in the next round, but at the same time the Ducks have been playing at such a high level for about 6 weeks now I don't know how long they can keep up that pace - especially with only 2-3 days rest between series. I'm looking forward to the next round and hoping that Lord Stanley makes its way back to hockeytown.

Chapter 4... redux

I just wrapped up my first draft of chapter four. It's by far the most disconnected draft I've written thus far, but at the same time it's a complex time in the chronology of my dissertation. One element of commemoration is on the decline and is being replaced by another, different type. At this point I think it's best to set it aside for a while and come back to it with fresh eyes in a few months. That means I only have one more body chapter to draft out, chapter five, which covers the time period 1987-present. Things to discuss in chapter 5:

The Enniskillen bombing in 1987 as a watershed
The revival of interest in the Great War in Ireland as it pertains to:
Government involvement - especially the refurbishment and opening of Islandbridge
Local advocacy groups
Wrap up the ISSLT stuff (quickly)
Easing of North/South relations, e.g. Sinn Fein mayor of Belfast and R.D. ceremonies
Opening of the Somme Centre in the North
Rise of historical scholarship on the subject
Relative "boom" in using the Great War in Irish literature

Now that I write all of that out, perhaps chapter 5 will be just as disjointed as chapter 4 when I finish the first draft. I guess that's all part of the process. Nevertheless, it's nice to be moving on and I'm even keeping to my original timetable for completion (for the most part). After I get these 5 body drafts done I think I'll write the introduction, which I have yet to do, but I pretty much know everything that's going to go in there.

Two nights of DTB = heaven

The Derek Trucks Band played two nights at the Park West this week. I was able to go to both shows. I sent out setlists and reviews to the Derek email listserv which I'll also post here.



Park West, Chicago, IL
4/8/09

Down In The Flood
Down Don't Bother Me
Days Is Almost Gone
Rastaman Chant
Get What You Deserve
I'll Find My Way
Meet Me At The Bottom
Already Free
Leavin' Trunk
Afro Blue
Get Out Of My Life >
Who Knows >
Get Out Of My Life
Up Above My Head

Encore:
Done Got Over
We're A Winner
Sweet Inspiration

The band came on just after 8:45pm and played one long set finishing up at about 10:45pm. The venue was pretty full for a Wednesday night (I saw Tea Leaf Green at Park West a few weeks ago and the crowd was quite paltry) and it might have even been a sell out - I know tomorrow's show is sold out. The band played with a horn section at tonight's show, which added some nice touches to most of the songs. I'm not a huge fan of horns in "rock" music, but a nice horn triad can add a lot when not over used - tonight's show was a great example of that. The sax player took some nice solos at a few points during the night as well. As per usual, the band played a really solid set. It was evident when they hit their groove though. From Leavin' Trunk through the rest of the show the band was in 5th gear. The version of Leavin' Trunk was one of the best I've heard. Furthermore, not only did the play Rastaman, which was a treat and a surprise, but they played the one song I was really jonesing for - Afro Blue. Suffice it to say the band didn't let me down. Kofi and Derek were on fire, as per usual. I was really struck by Derek's straight playing during Afro Blue tonight. The Count and the sax player took a nice solo each in the song as well. The only disappoint was that I did not see any tapers (again, for a city the size of Chicago with so many tapers not one?). I sincerely hope that I'm wrong because the band was ON and people need to hear this version of Afro Blue. I'll be at tomorrow night's show and report back to the list.



Park West, Chicago, IL
4/9/09

I Know
Get What You Deserve
Sailing On
Miss Me When I'm Gone
Rastaman Chant
Key To The Highway
Days Is Almost Gone
Leavin' Trunk
Already Free
Get Out Of My Life Woman >
Who Knows >
Get Out Of My Life Woman
My Favorite Things
Any Day

Encore:
Down In The Flood
Sweet Inspiration*

*with Billy Branch on harmonica

To me, the mark of a good live band is when their performance transcends time; when you look at your watch and realize, "holy shit, it's been an hour and fifteen minutes already." Fortunately, this happens virtually every time I see the DTB and tonight was no exception. The band took the stage at about 8:50pm tonight and played another solid two hour set. (I love how the band eschews the whole rock and roll ethos in their own attitudes and mannerisms as well as a band. They respect their fans and go on when they should, which allows us fans to get home and to bed for work the next day. Now that's class.) The horn section from the previous night was back and they all seemed a bit more comfortable with the tunes this time around. "Sailing On" stood out early in the set. The horns sounded great and there was an incredible upbeat, funky vibe to the song that really got the crowd moving. Kofi was on all night and Todd did a really nice job of holding the down the bottom end while still adding flourishes of color (as a bass player I notice his playing more than most, probably). Surprisingly, or perhaps not, given the previous night's performance, "Leavin' Trunk" really cooked. The whole band was on - Derek and Kofi doing their thing as per usual and an extended jamming period that saw solos from the trombone player, Kofi's clavinet, the sax player, and the Count. They brought it down a bit with "Already Free" but there was still plenty of tasteful playing. I think "Already Free" is one of my favorite on the new album (that and "Something To Make You Happy" - what can I say, I can't get enough Paul Pena) and what the band does with it live simply builds on an already great song. The band stepped the funk back up with "Get Out Of My Life Woman." Several times during the night I looked over at Bobby Tis at the board and he had a big SEG (shit eating grin) on his face. You know the band is hitting their stride when you see that kind of reaction from the crew. "My Favorite Things" stuck out tonight as well. Having followed this band almost religiously for the better part of a decade, Derek's slide fireworks come as no surprise (that's not to diminish his chops though) but what I really paid attention to tonight (and a bit last night) was Derek's straight playing. He didn't even touch the slide during "My Favorite Things" and just blew me away with some of his work on the fretboard. Throughout the night I tried to focus on his rhythm work as well, which I think is very under-rated. He manages to add a lot of color to his rhythm parts and keep the song moving and interesting while staying true to the arrangement. One thing I noticed during "Down In The Flood" - the guitar change between Derek and Bobby is so fluid it's almost one swift motion. For the "Sweet Inspiration" encore, Billy Branch from the opening band came out and blew some harp. I must say that the combination of the DTB, the horn section, and the harp may have just resulted in the best version of that song yet. The major surprise for me was that I didn't see any taping rigs again tonight. Perhaps I missed them again, but I'm kind of shocked that they weren't more apparent if they were there. Both of these shows were so good it would be a shame not to have them available to the whole community. Who knows, perhaps Marty and company were pulling multi-track tonight (do they do that every night?) for a future release. Trust me, there were enough highlights from both nights to have a pretty amazing live album (of course I'd love it if they released both nights in their entirety, but hey, that's me). One other little funny moment, during the intros Derek introduced Mike as being from Northwestern (when he really went to Harvard) and both night's the Count was introduced as being from Gary, Indiana. I was listening to the House of Blues tape from 4/2/09 and they introduced the Count as being from a town in MA, so I assumed they're just messing around, which I found humorous. I made sure to give Marty a thumbs up and a "good work tonight" on the way out of the building. Everyone earned their paycheck at the Park West gigs this week. It's nice that the DTB finally did more than one night in Chicago, and I hope it's a trend that will continue in the future.

Honeymoon - recap and reflections

Tuesday, March 17th
Fortunately, Katie was forward thinking and scheduled a car to pick us up and drive us to the airport. Our flight was at 5:35am and we got picked up at 3am. Needless to say it was a long day. We landed in Houston, and since our plane got in a little late, we had less than our scheduled 45 min lay-over. By the time we got to the gate for our next flight, I realized I had left my coat on the other plane at the other end of the airport. To make a long story short, the airline did nothing to help me out and I lost my coat before we even got out of the country.

We landed in San Jose and met up with our driver. It took about 90 minutes to get to our first stop of the trip - Hotel Villa Blanca in the Los Angeles Cloud Forest just north of San Ramon. We had our own little "casita" - basically a stand-alone apartment - at the hotel. We had a great view of the surrounding mountains and the hotel's grounds from our terrace. We made sure to take in happy hour our first night there and had a really nice dinner.

Wednesday, March 18th
The next day we woke up early and had breakfast. The hotel had a working dairy farm on the premises and guests were able to milk the cows. The two milk cows were named Britney and Madonna. I had the opportunity to milk Madonna (somehow I have a feeling I'm not the first person to make such a claim), which Katie found very entertaining since I don't like cows (except to eat) and had never milked one before.

We spent the morning walking around the hotel's grounds, relaxing, and reading. In the afternoon we had a couple's massage at the hotel's spa. I think it goes without saying that it was pretty awesome. After basking in post-massage glow for a while we had another nice dinner. Since the hotel was in the middle of no-where there wasn't a whole lot to do in the evening, although there was a game room with a pool table, cards, and other stuff, as well as a movie theater there. Our goal was to take it easy and relax, which is exactly what we did. The hotel offered a wide variety of tours, either half or full day, and if we get the opportunity to go back I would definitely do some of those.

Thursday, March 19th
Another great breakfast at Villa Blanca. Then we just bummed around until our driver picked us up at 1pm. This was when we met Randall, the coolest driver we had on the entire trip. He was a very friendly and personable guy. He pointed out all kinds of neat stuff during our driver to Arenal and even stopped at the grocery store so that we could buy some beer! Score for Randall!

We got to our next stop, the Arenal Observatory Lodge, in the late afternoon. We were staying there for 3 nights, but because of other reservations were were in one room for 2 nights and then we had to move to another room for one night. Both rooms had great views of the volcano and we even saw a bit of lava on our first night. The hotel was a bit "rustic" and they had some hiking trails as well as a pool and jacuzzi. We had a mediocre dinner and then retired to drink some of our beer before it got warm (the refrigerator in our room didn't work).

Friday, March 20th
We got up and had breakfast, and then we got ready for our excursion for the day, which was horseback riding. We got picked up and driven to the stable. After everyone had arrived and assembled, we mounted up and took to the fields. We rode our horses about 5 kilometers to the La Fortuna waterfall. My horse was a bit cranky, which made for an interesting ride, but by the time we came back I was a bit more comfortable. Anyway, we were able to spend about an hour swimming in the waterfall, which was really impressive and an amazing experience. Then we got back on our horses and rode back to the stables. Unfortunately, I apparently inadvertently washed off the sunblock I had put on my hands and both of them got pretty sunburned - especially my left since that was the one holding the reins.

By this time it was the afternoon and we went back to the hotel to find that our refrigerator had been replaced (yay! cold beer) and took a swim in the pool. After another bad dinner - the food there was way overpriced and reminded me of the food at a college dorm cafeteria - we took it easy for the remainder of the evening. At this point some of the allergens in the area started to bother Katie and she wasn't feeling well. To make matters worse our room was right next door to the kitchen so it was loud. Even worse, there was a back door to the kitchen that was left unlatched and when the wind blew the door would slam against its frame. This happened throughout the night and Katie didn't sleep very well, to say the least.

Saturday, March 21st
Since we had to switch rooms and Katie wasn't feeling well, we decided to stay close to the lodge and explore the hiking trails they had. We spent the morning on the trails, got caught out in the rain for a bit, and checked out another, smaller waterfall nearby. When we got back our new room was ready and fortunately, it was very far from the kitchen. In the afternoon we hit up the pool again and Katie started to teach me how to do flipturns. Apparently my wild flailing was humorous and I think she almost soiled herself laughing so hard.

Sunday, March 22nd
Instead of driving from Arenal to our next destination, Manuel Antonio, which was a 5-7 hour drive depending on how many times you got lost, we elected to fly there. We had to take two puddle jumpers, one from La Fortuna to San Jose, and another from San Jose to Quepos. To say the La Fortuna "airport" was nothing more than a strip of pavement and an open air building would be true, but at least there was a bar as well. Since Katie doesn't like flying it was good to get a beer or two before the flight. These were definitely the smallest plane I've ever been on, 19 passenger jobbers. The flights were pretty uneventful. Upon landing in San Jose, they literally paraded us in one door, check our IDs, walked to the other side of the building (about 30 yards), got our IDs checked again, and walked right back out to the plane we had just gotten off of. The "airport" at Quepos was just as small as La Fortuna, if not smaller. The entire trip took about an hour, so we saved a lot of time by flying.

Manuel Antonio was on the Pacific Coast and it was really warm, a nice change from our previous two stops which were in the mountains and more temperate. Our hotel, Si Como No, was run by the same company that ran Villa Blanca, and had really nice rooms, great restaurants, two pools, and spectacular views. After we arrived we went straight to the adult pool and I was introduced to one of my favorite new things - the swim up bar. Over the next three nights we did plenty of business at the swim up bar. One of the other benefits of Si Como No was the return to good food. So we had a good dinner at one of the two restaurants on site.

Monday, March 23rd
Our outdoor adventure for the day was a canopy zip line tour. I must say that I hate heights, but I had a great time. It was pretty much an all day affair. We left the hotel a little after 10am and got back around 4pm. In that time we drove out to the zip line course, which was in the middle of nowhere. The guides at least made the ride interesting by pointing out different trees and things that Costa Rica produced. Once we got to the place we got a quick safety tutorial and started the hike up the mountain. There were 9 zip lines, 2 rappels, a tarzan swing, and a suspension bridge. The rappels were by far the most frightening for me. The first one was bad enough but at the second, which was the very last thing we did, the guide made me go down an alternative way than what they had showed us at the safety tutorial. Basically, the guy made me do a free fall, which scared the shit out of me. I was the first one in the group to go down and the guide gave everyone else the option of going down the original way or the free fall. Thanks buddy.

After we got back to the main camp, we were provided a typical Costa Rican meal. This consisted of chicken in some sort of delicious sauce, rice, black beans, tortillas, and, for me, plenty of tabasco. I had two heaping plates full of the stuff. It was awesome. When we got back to the hotel it was back to the adult pool and swim up bar (2 for 1 happy hour drinks!). After a dip we went to dinner at the fancy restaurant at the resort Claro Que Si. We both got seafood, since that was the specialty, and it was delicious - as was the dessert.

Tuesday, March 24th
Our outdoor activity for the day was kayaking, but it wasn't scheduled until the afternoon. So after breakfast we walked from the hotel down to the beach. Katie's a beach bum, so she went into the Pacific Ocean. I just waded in and took pictures. I'm a pool guy. Especially when there is a swim up bar involved. We went back to the hotel and went to the kid pool, which lacked kids at the time and familiarized ourselves with the water slide.

Around noon we got picked up for our kayaking tour. We originally thought we were going to go kayaking on the ocean, but realized that we were signed up for the other kayaking tour the company offered, which took place in a river estuary in a protected wetland. Apparently, there was no one else signed up for this particular tour that day so we had the guide all to ourselves. He spent the next few hours taking us around the river system and explaining the ecosystem and various flora and fauna to us. It wasn't what we were expecting, but it was a fun experience nonetheless. When we got back to the launch site, they provided us with fresh pineapple and green tea. The pineapple was SO good. I ate a ton of it. Despite putting on two coats of SPF 30 I still managed to get a bit of sunburn on my shoulders and upper back, but the burns weren't too bad so that was good, especially since I burn so easily.

Upon our return to the hotel, you guessed it, adult pool and swim up bar. Another dinner at the Rico Tico Bar and Grill followed and we packed out gear for our flight home the next day.

Wednesday, March 25th
The worst travel day ever. We flew from Quepos to San Jose on another little puddle jumper. The plane was late arriving at Quepos, but we got into San Jose alright. One of the airport workers told me that our driver had called to say he was running a bit late, but since we were late too it worked out fine. As we entered the little airport, again, who did we see was our driver? Randall! We were so pumped to see him that we were almost to the car when we remembered that we still needed to get our checked bags. Randall got us to the big airport in San Jose where you have to pay a departure tax. It's about $26 per person. Seriously? I have to pay to leave the country? That's bootleg. The airport was pretty small and there wasn't anything good to eat there. We settle for Cinnabon and waited several hours until our flight took off.

We landed in Houston on time, but we only had 65 minutes before our plane left. In that time we had to clear immigration, claim our bags, re-check them, clear security again, and get to our gate. Of course, the lines for everything were ridiculously long and people are idiots who don't know how to go through security. I ended up literally sprinting through the airport in order to make our flight on time. One of the gentlemen on the plane told us that they had even begun boarding early in the hopes of getting out earlier (bad weather was on its way into town). Well the cluster#()$ at the airport apparently affected the pilot who decided to keep the doors open until 7pm (we were scheduled to leave at 6:45). Had he followed through with his original plan we would have gotten out without a problem. By 7:30pm, the doors were still open and people were still boarding the plane. Long story short, again, we spent 3 hours on the run way, ended up going back to the gate so some people could get off, and finally, got back in the queue and out of Houston. We landed at O'Hare at about 12:45am, over 3 hours later than we were supposed to land. So the return travel day definitely left something to be desired (never fly Continental Airlines and avoid the Houston airport, one of their hubs, like the plague). Of course, I'm not easy to travel with in those conditions - tired, hungry, and grouchy. But Katie was a trooper and managed to survive the ordeal. It could have been worse though - my brother could have been there too. I can only imagine what he would have done. (I did write a lengthy letter of complaint to Continental Airlines upon my return.)

So those are the details of our honeymoon. It was a great time and we were really sad to see it end, but we were really glad we had the opportunity to go to Costa Rica. Hopefully we can get back there at some point and do more cool stuff, but that's probably way down the line. Fortunately we have plenty of pictures from our honeymoon to tide us over!

Railroad Earth

I went to my first Railroad Earth show this past Saturday. I've listened to them a bit before but, as with most bands, the live show is the real litmus test. I think it's safe to say that these guys deliver live. Although the show was at the House of Blues, which starts every show way too late, the band brought the goods. Listen to it for yourself here: http://www.archive.org/details/rre2009-03-28.akgC34.flac16. Railroad Earth combines folk, Americana, and bluegrass with a hint of good old fashioned rock and roll. So give them a whirl, and pick up their records - all of which are now on my "to buy" list. If they come to your area definitely go see them.

My Wedding - A recap and reflections on a week-long event

Tuesday, March 10th
Katie and I started off our week of wedding activities on Tuesday night. We went to Rose Angelis, our favorite restaurant, for dinner. This is the same place where I proposed. We both got the specials, Katie the chicken and the pasta for me, which were absolutely to die for. This was really the first night of glutenous eating, a trend that continued for the next two weeks until we returned from our honeymoon.

Wednesday, March 11th
After getting up and going to the gym in the morning, I made the bold decision to do some major grooming and went for a back wax for the first time ever. It really wasn't too bad of an experience, and since we were going to Costa Rica a few days later the entire process made the application of sunblock, which I need direly, much more efficient. This was the main reason for such voluntary torture.

My parents came into town on Wednesday afternoon and we went out to dinner with them, and two of my step-mother's siblings for dinner. Tom's wife opted for Prosecco down on Wells, a place Katie and I had eaten at a few weeks earlier and didn't really like, but there wasn't much we could do to change that. Honestly, the food there isn't very impressive and I find the entire restaurant kind of snooty. Oh well.

After dinner we went to meet up with some of Katie's siblings and the night improved. Katie's twin older brothers Tim and Matt as well as her younger sister Maggie met us at the Kerryman for a few drinks. We stayed out later than planned, but had a good time.

Thursday, March 12th
Most of the rest of Katie's family came in on Thursday. We started out the day by going downtown to Gino's East for lunch with the entire Schultz clan. This took a couple of hours because it took a while for everyone to assemble, get seated, order, and eat. Not to mention that the deep dish pizzas take about 30-40 minutes to cook in their own right.

After lunch everyone split up for an hour or so. I accompanied Katie to buy some new jeans, and then we waited for her older sister's family to get back from the Shedd Aquarium. Frankly, I don't understand the appeal of the Shedd. It's by far one of the worst museums/tourist attractions in Chicago, yet everyone always seems to want to go there. I don't get it. Fortunately, we didn't have to go. We met up with Mandy and her family and hung around with the Schultz clan a bit more downtown. A group of us then came back to our place because we had to take the dog out. They went back downtown and Katie and I relaxed until the evening's festivities began.

Thursday night Katie's parents organized a get-together for everyone who was in town. Although I had told my parents about it, they were under the impression it was a Schultz only thing - not so. I managed to impress upon my Dad and his wife that it would be really nice for them to show up (they planned to go out to dinner with Barb's brother again. Didn't they just do that the night before?) Regardless, thus started the obvious dis-interest of my parents in my wedding. They eventually showed up, but seemed somewhat stand-offish if you ask me. Probably not the best first impression, but there's not a whole lot I can do about it.

After the get-together all of Katie's siblings, myself, and her Dad adjourned to another bar and stayed out for another couple of hours. Once again, a good time was had by all and we got home a little earlier than the previous evening.

Friday, March 13th
Friday was the day for me that could have been a little bit better. No time for the gym, I woke up and took Katie and Lindsay to the salon downtown for their pampering. I have no idea what all that includes, but whatever. All of the ladies were involved. Then, since my buddy Poz was in town, I went up to Rogers Park, picked him up and went back to my place to get some stuff done. We had a quick lunch at El Nuevo Buena Vista (NuBu), took the dog to the kennel, and loaded up the car with all the stuff for the wedding. Then we went downtown where I dropped off Poz and picked up Katie. Next, we went to pick up my buddy Bill who had flown in that afternoon. Originally, I was hoping to have my parents or my brother pick Bill up so that Katie and I wouldn't be rushed or anything, but instead of helping me out they all decided to spend the entire day with Barb's family out in the suburbs. (Those who know me know that I like Barb's siblings just fine, but come on this is MY wedding.)

Katie and I collected Bill and headed to the hotel. We checked in and then Bill and I head over to Buffalo Wild Wings to have a couple of drinks and unwind. We took about 3 steps in the door and were greeted by my step-sister, who was there with her husband and her brother. I was hoping to just sit and relax with Bill, but I managed to play nice for a while. Things improved as more folks from the wedding came in, including John, his fiancee, Katie's dad and her brother Dan, as well as her brother-in-law Jim. After a while I had to bail to go get stuff together for the rehearsal.

Everyone made it to the rehearsal alright (except my parents, of course, who I had actually told to come, but opted not to do so) and despite an initial lack of guidance from the staff there managed to organize our wedding ceremony. Thankfully, Katie's sister Mandy took charge and whipped us all into shape.

After the rehearsal we adjourned to the rehearsal dinner where representatives from both families were able to socialize, eat, drink, and be merry. I had asked my cousin Adam to record the wedding ceremony the next day, and he brought his video camera and went around collecting statements of well-wishes from everyone there. A very kind gesture; he definitely went above and beyond.

After the rehearsal dinner we took up residence in the hotel bar for a few hours. Once they closed we tapped into our own reserves of beer and were up until about 2:30am just chewing the fat. I crashed in a room with my buddies Bill, Ben, and Rich, and because of a snoring symphony I didn't get to sleep until about 3:30am.

Saturday, March 14th
Wedding day! I woke up at about 7am to the same cacophony of snoring that I experienced a few hours prior. I hopped in the shower to get cleaned up and then had a good straight razor shave. Then ventured downstairs to try to find some breakfast. At this point I found out that my brother and parents had gone to IHOP (FACT: I LOVE IHOP), but hadn't even tried to contact me. This was pretty much an omen for the rest of the day. Fortunately, my Aunt and Uncle were having breakfast with a couple of my cousins so I joined them for breakfast. After we were done my Dad showed up. Go figure. By this time it was probably 11:45 or so. Wishing aloud that I had a guitar, my uncle concurred, and I remembered there was a Guitar Center nearby so we took off, with my Aunt, too, to jam for a bit. We played for about an hour or so, trading songs and just hanging out. I got back to the hotel at about 1:15pm and started to get ready. I got a shoe-shine kit from my dad via Timmy Hogan, shined my shoes and got ready. At this point my brother showed up and finished getting ready with the rest of the groomsmen. My Dad was no where to be found, an ongoing theme for the week.

The groomsmen took the first shuttle over to the venue, figured out how to attach our flowers, managed to get a drink, and hung out in a little room until the ceremony began (Again, Dad never came by even to say hello). We proceeded through the ceremony, signed the marriage license, and, after a brief appearance by The Colonel, the cocktail hour began. While the guests enjoyed drinks and Irish music we took pictures. Lots of pictures. What else would one expect?

The reception was a lot of fun. Dinner was great. My brother John did a bang-up job with his speech as did Katie's sisters. All, however, were overshadowed by Katie's dad's toast, which absolutely brought the house down. Katie's brother Tim prepared a reading that was pretty funny, and the entire Schultz clan put together a song-and-dance skit that was very clever. I was in the middle of it, and just went along with it. Fortunately my cousin Adam got all of this on video. We did our first dance to Van Morrison's "Into The Mystic" and opened up the floor to everyone after Katie and her dad danced. I tended to eschew dancing for chatting with some of my friends who I hadn't seen in a long time. Katie's dad totally tore up the carpet dancing. He was a popular guy that evening. The most humor pairing was Dan with my brother's fiancee, who reminded many in the vicinity of Elaine from Seinfeld's dancing (I'm not familiar with the show, but based on what I saw, I can surely imagine). The night wound down and the venue closed the bar about 15-20 minutes early because people were getting a bit too drunk, and I think my buddy Scoop got into an argument with the bartender. At some point my parents left without so much as saying good-bye or congratulations to Katie or me. Nice.

Since most of us were staying at the hotel I climbed on the 2nd to last shuttle to let folks know we'd continue to party at B-Dubs once we got back. Barb's sister Debbie said that they had a great time and that we should do it again in June, alluding to John and Maggie's wedding. A hammered Maggie then slurred, "NO! That's when my wedding is!" A very funny moment. Only minutes after I left both Maggie and my step-brother ended up throwing up on the shuttle. My buddy Ben was sandwiched in the seat between them. Poor Ben. By the time the last shuttle came back, there were only 4 people on it - me, Katie, her bridesmaid Lindsay, and Lindsay's boyfriend Josh. After a quick change of clothes we met folks over at B-dubs and stayed there until closing. An interesting thing happened as we left though. We were already outside the restaurant and the manager comes storming after us, mumbles some unpleasantries at us and accused us of stealing sauce. None of us took any thing and Katie's brother Dan started to get into an argument. Then Katie got involved, but fortunately everyone was peel away from the vindictive little man before anything bad happened. After such a long day we went back to the hotel and crashed.

Sunday, March 15th
Katie and I woke up around 8am and went down to breakfast. Her family was finishing their and mine was about halfway down so we joined my family as we ate. At this point we learned some of the previous night's events, many of which were pretty funny. Maggie had no idea she had danced with Katie's dad, and the look of horror on her face when we described the event to her was priceless. The rest of the morning was spent saying good-byes and cleaning out our car, which Katie's siblings had sufficiently graffitied and defaced.


All in all, I have to say that the wedding was a rousing success and we had a great time, as did our guests. It was great to see everyone and we were really happy so many people came. I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't have invited more old family friends, people who knew my Mom, but by the time we realized we had the space to do so it was too late. Another interesting development was our families. For much of the planning process Katie was less than pleased with her family because she felt she got little support or enthusiasm from them, where as my family was very supportive and helpful. However, when crunch-time came the roles were reversed and her family showed up with a bang while the Myers clan faded into obscurity. That's not to say I don't appreciate what my Dad and even Barb did for us for the wedding, but they certainly dropped the ball when it mattered. If I learned one thing in this regard, it's never to assume that everyone grasps the gravity of a given situation. Even in my family, where feelings and the like are not discussed, I assumed that it was implied that this was a pretty big deal. Hopefully, my brother will have a better experience in June.

I'll write a recap of the Honeymoon in the next few days while it's still fresh in my mind. Now that was a great time too!

Review: Tea Leaf Green, Park West, 3/5/09

I went to go see Tea Leaf Green at the Park West tonight. I must say that the Park West is one of my favorite venues here in Chicago and I love it when bands play there. It's pretty close to my house too, which is an added bonus.

I got to the show a bit early and saw the opening act finishing up, a band called Outformation. They weren't terrible, but weren't great either. I wouldn't go out of my way to see them again, but as far as openers go I've seen much worse. As the crew was setting up TLG's gear I went and parked myself right in front of the stage, in front of the bass rig. Fortunately, I came prepared for standing that close and had ear plugs. The only disadvantage to ear plugs is that they cut out a lot of the higher frequencies, but they save your hearing and really help bring out the bass. And as a bass player by trade, that's what I pay attention to the most.

TLG's set was solid. Nothing spectacular, but it certainly wasn't terrible. Their bass player, Reed Mathis, has some real chops and was throwing in some cool riffs and ad-libs during the first set. However, as the show progressed the amount of bass fireworks really declined. For almost the entire second set he played just straight, chugging root notes the whole time. The other thing that annoyed me after a while was the lack of dynamics. It seems like the bassist wasn't even listening to the rest of the band. As the rest of the group shifted through various passages with different feels, Mathis just kept playing the same pulsing bassline. Now, a bassist should always be able to hold a solid groove and set the foundation, but for a group that claims to be a jam band, or at least is lumped into that genre, there was very little jamming on the bass. Honestly, it got to be really boring and repetitive. The rest of the band sounded great, they fed off of each other an seemed to push each other at various points. I'm not uber-familiar with their entire catalog, but they played a really enjoyable set. I'd probably go see them again, but I won't sit that close again. I'd rather get a wider range of the band's sound since the bass isn't doing much.

Welcome this is a poor house

This past weekend I got a letter in the mail from Loyola. I knew what it was when it arrived and had a pretty good idea what it contained. It was a rejection letter for the Schmitt Fellowship. The Schmitt is a fellowship for ABDs that is essentially the same thing as the fellowship I currently hold; it pays you to do nothing but work on your dissertation. One of the best parts of either scholarship is that they cover all school expenses in addition to having a stipend. Therefore, this means that next year I am basically F'd. The History department actually got 3 Schmitt fellowships, which makes it even more frustrating. It's pretty ridiculous that these sorts of things pit colleagues against each other, but oh well. What can you do, right? I saw two of the winners at the Dissertation Writing Group meeting last night and at least those two went to folks that I know and respect (the other winner is a nice enough person, but has been fully funded with no teaching obligations for four years. I mean come on. Spread the wealth a little bit!)

All of this means that now I'm going to be headed back in to the wonderful world of student loans. I threw my name in the hat to pick up a class at Loyola, but I'm sure it's no easy chore for a first time teacher to get one. Even one or two classes per semester would be a huge boon and pretty much keep me on, or close to, my current fiscal situation. More to the point though I'd really like (and need) the teaching experience. If I can't even manage that I'll probably be forced to either take a HUGE loan (which I don't want to do) and/or try to find a part-time job in this current shit economy we find ourselves in.

If I do manage to get a class or two, I have a pretty good feeling that I will get really close to finishing my dissertation in the next year. The only other thing to figure out is when I can get back overseas for a few weeks to fill some research gaps, but I think it's feasible. I spent a few days last week going through some research material, and I think the burn out is starting to fade a little bit. So when I get back from the honeymoon at the end of the month I think I'll be ready to crank out some more writing. I was able to get a page or so written today, which was good.

Burn out continues and the problem with interlibrary loan

The goal was a chapter draft per month, and using those standards I should have a draft of chapter four completed by the end of this month. That's not going to happen. I've got about 45-50% of it done, but I'm struggling with the motivation to really dive into it. This week that is compounded because I'm sick. I also need to spend some time on the microfilm reader at school, but I don't think I could be too productive at present. This summer when I was in Ireland oftentimes I spent upwards of 7-8 hours per day going through microfilm. Last Thursday I went up to school and went through 5 reels in 3 hours and was totally bleary-eyed. I have no idea how I managed such feats during the summer.

One of the other annoyances deterring me from making greater progress is a lack of secondary material. I'm waiting for a specific book from Interlibrary Loan and who knows how long that will take. I had the book via ILL last semester and now I need it again, but a second request such as this is sure to take longer because, I believe, that the previous lending library is not obligated to fill the same request a second time within such a short time span. Normally I would just pony up the money for the book, but with a wedding in 3 weeks that's probably not the best idea.

Ambling along

Chapter four is coming together a bit better now. I kind of had an epiphany the other day. I was struggling over how to structure this chapter because I've spent the previous three charting the establishment of the culture of commemoration surrounding WWI in Ireland and this chapter covers almost fifty years and looks at the fragmentation and decline of that culture. One of the problems was that a number of the lenses that I used for the first three chapters changed and no longer carried the same weight that they did in the interwar period. This means that I have to switch my focus to the new media and cultural forms that replace them. But before getting there I figured it would be prudent to bring the subjects from chapters 1-3 up to speed as quickly as possible. So right now I'm trying to compile a condensed chronology for chapters 1-3 in the period 1939-1986. Once I complete that I think it should be a bit easier to get into some of the newer cultural forms relating to the memory of WWI in Ireland. We'll see how it goes.

I've also realized that I'm running a bit thin on sources for this section so I'm going to need to remedy that situation at some point.

Finally, I got the new issue of Perspectives today (the monthly publication of the American Historical Association) and there was an interesting article about the commodification of history PhDs. Today when people ask me/assume that I'm going to teach with my degree I tell them that that is the ideal, but probably won't happen. The article does a good example of explaining why. One of the most salient problems is that universities operate on a business model that isn't really conducive toward retaining permanant full-time faculty. The serious over-supply of history PhDs is only part of the problem. So while a teaching job is still the ideal and I'll try my darnest to get one, I'll be realistic, not hold my breath, and actively pursue employment outside of the academy as well.

Bachelor Party

So this past weekend was my bachelor party. I must say that I had a good time and I even remember about 90% of it, which is pretty good for me. We spent the day Saturday in Grand Rapids, but me and a couple of my friends left Friday evening, stopping in Kalamazoo to take in the grandeur that is Bell's. We crashed at my buddy Adam's house near K-zoo so we were able to sleep in a bit before meeting everyone else at the hotel in GR since it was only about 30-40 minutes of driving by that time.

We all met at the Courtyard Marriott, a stone's throw from the local arena and downtown area of Grand Rapids. John had procured an 8 passenger van from work so we all piled in an made the drive to Holland. Starting our tour of western Michigan microbreweries at New Holland Brewing Company, most of us got some grub and tasted a variety of their offerings. I got a sampler of six different beers, and would have to say that I thought the "Dragon's Milk" was the best one. A dark stout with a milky aftertaste. Very good indeed.

Then we made our way back to GR to meet up with the a late arrival and were back off to Schmohz Brewing Company. No samplers there, so I tried their stout. It was probably one of the more interesting ones that I've ever had. It seemed to almost have a hint of citrus in it that made for a somewhat weird aftertaste. I can't say that I really liked it, but it wasn't terrible. I tasted the cream ale they made, and that was pretty good. The venue itself was a little weird. There were the standard bar games and the Wings were on (not to mention free popcorn and peanuts), but there were almost as many kids under the age of 15 there as there were beer drinking patrons. This weirded us out a bit so we moved on to the next place.

The Hideout Brewing Company was probably my favorite place. They had three stouts on their menu and I tried two of them, both very good. I also had their pilsner which was delicious as well. They had bar games upstairs, fooseball, shuffleboard, darts. Mike and I played Adam and John at fooseball and came out victorious. I would assume we spent a couple of hours at the Hideout because when we left we headed back to downtown GR for a bite to eat and the hockey game.

We went to eat at a place called Hopcat, which has 44 beers on tap. I had an O'Hara's red. It's an Irish microbrew from Co. Cavan. I had had their stout a few weeks earlier at a bar in Chicago, but before then I hadn't had either since my buddy Joe's wedding, which had both. I got some delicious mac and cheese for dinner. By the time we were all fed the game had already started, so we quickly made our way to the arena to catch the rest of the game.

It was the Grand Rapids Griffins versus the Rochester Americans and the score was tied at 1 in the first period when we got there. By the time the game was over, the Griffins had won 8-4. After every goal, once the arena died down and it was sufficiently quiet, my buddy Bill would yell "OH MY GOD!" as loud as he could. It was really funny, especially after 10 goals.

After the game we went to Founders, where there was a live blues band playing. I had the Russian Imperial stout there, which I was kind of disappointed with, and I think I had the scotch ale as well, which wasn't bad. We stayed at Founders for a while before heading back toward the hotel. Now there was a typical bar/nightclub across from the hotel that we went into for some reason. We stayed there for a few rounds of Labatt's Blue, but once John started to fall asleep we headed back to the hotel. At least that's how the story goes.

It's at this point that my memory starts to fade. I remember there being a hotdog vendor outside the bar, but that's about it. I don't think I got one since I'm not a big hotdog fan. My buddy Joe had brought a bottle of Jameson (the only whiskey I'll really drink) and apparently once we were back at the hotel we cracked open uncle Jaimoe and it got MIB'ed. Bill tells me that I proceeded to order pizza and buy a bunch of candy bars (which I found the next day in my backpack).

I woke up the next morning and I believe I was still drunk. Most of the bottle of Jaimoe was gone, and I hope that I didn't drink most of it, but judging by what happened Sunday it's entirely possible. I think Bill said I threw up the night before and that was a theme that continued for the rest of the day. I slept almost the entire way back to Chicago (stopping to vomit in the sink of a McDonald's bathroom of course) and couldn't even hold down gatorade and water for most of the day. Oy vey!

Fortunately I woke up Monday feeling about 90-95%. Needless to say I had a really good time this weekend. My brother did a great job of putting everything together and it was great to see all my friends and to hang out. I could have done without the hangover, and I was almost there (evidenced by my memory surviving intact so late into the evening), but as the song says "Whiskey You're The Devil." In reality though, it was everything a bachelor party usually is and should be and I was glad it went off so well.

Chapter 4...

I'm starting the first draft of chapter 4 today. I have a feeling this one is going to be the hardest one to write. Ugh...

Fighting For Freedom

Perhaps there is some truth to the pugilist reputation help by the Irish. Up until independence the Irish were a mainstay in the British Army, and even afterward kept fighting amongst themselves for a long time. One of the more obscure Irish military operations, at least beyond the borders of Eire, is the Irish participation in the Spanish Civil War. About 250 Irish men from both sides of the partition line volunteered to join the 15th International Brigade and support the Republican fight against General Franco and the Spanish fascists. Today the Belfast Telegraph reports that the last surviving Irish volunteer died in London. (Another 700 Blueshirts, Ireland's Fascist group, went to fight for Franco, but upon arriving in Spain realized they didn't agree with France when they were order to fight the Basques. Recognizing the similarities between the Basques and the Irish, the Blueshirts refused to fight and Franco sent them back to Ireland.)

Staunch advocates of the rights of small nations (Spain wasn't necessarily small in area, but was definitely a weak player in the international scene) and all to familiar with an unwanted and oppressive government, in many ways it's unsurprising that Irish men joined in this fight. Even the participation of the Irish Blueshirts demonstrates the inability of the Irish to escape their colonial past, regardless of political ideology. Irish balladeer Christy Moore immortalized the Irish volunteers in the song "Viva La Quinte Brigada," the lyrics of which were largely culled from a memoir written by one of the leaders of the Irish contingent.

The Last Professor

A colleague of mine posted this and I figured I'd put it up here. It's a commentary on the state of the humanities in higher education, especially in relation to the shifts occurring in that arena. Namely, the rise of for-profit universities and the marginalization of full-time professors. What's really sad is that the idea that the humanities are only suitable for wealthy men of leisure seems to persist in the modern world. Too many people, organizations, businesses, etc. only look at the short-term, what-have-you-done-for-me-lately type of people, and fail to understand the benefit of having a well-rounded education. For the business world, this may mean a steeper learning curve initially, but I would be amazed if the long-term outcome didn't see an advantage toward folks from the humanities. The world needs people who are capable of thinking on their own just as much as it needs people who "do."

New DTB album

Another brief note: The Derek Trucks Band released their new album Already Free today. Of course I picked up a copy, and yes, they're my favorite band (next to the Dead), but this thing is friggin' awesome. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy. The band as two nights scheduled for Park West in April, which I'm looking forward to seeing. Money spent on DTB tickets is ALWAYS money well spent.

Rocky Mountain High

This past weekend I had the pleasure of going to Colorado to see my family out there. It's no small secret that when I finish my degree I want to move to Colorado and this trip only added fuel to that fire. The attraction of family (for both Katie and I) is strong, but I also like the climate there and the proximity to outdoors activities (both summer and winter) and the frequency of musical acts I like playing in and around the Denver area.

I flew in on Thursday evening and my cousin Peter picked me up at the airport. On our way to his house we stopped and picked up the skis I had reserved for the following day. We stopped at a liquor store that had an awesome selection of microbrews from all over the western united states. I settled on the Obsidian Stoute and Moose Drool brown ale. Both were delicious. After Peter's rec league basketball game (in which he provided the bulk of his team's scoring and was perfect from the line) we went to his neighbor's house (with beer in tow) to watch the BCS Championship game, which had been Tivo'd. I was disappointed that Florida won, but oh well.

Friday was spent skiing. We headed out to Loveland and spent almost an entire day out on the slopes. There was a lot of good powder and for the hack skier like myself, it was a pleasant and enjoyable day. I'm by no means a extreme skier, and at one point we got lost in an avalanche area. That took a while to get out of, and was quite strenuous work, but that just means the beer break afterwards was warranted.

Saturday we went up to Fort Collins to see my Grandma and my Aunt. For a frail old lady, my Grandma sure has an iron tight grip. After visiting with Grandma for about 30-45 minutes, we went over to my Aunt's house for lunch. After lunch we headed over to the New Belgium Brewery to try to get a tour, but once we got there all the day's tours had ended. We settled for the brief self-guided tour and the free samples. Not only was the beer good (this is the place that makes Fat Tire) but they brew house is really cool, and they give you a fair amount of each beer to try. Once we finished there we hurried back to Denver since we had tickets for the University of Denver/Michigan Tech hockey game. The game was really entertaining. It was tied 1-1 going into the third period, which was really the best one. The game got really fast and physical in the third, and DU came out on top 3-1. After the game we went to a karaoke bar and hung out. My cousin Adam was encouraging me to do a tune and I finally relented. I was one of the last folks to go at the end of the evening and did Paul Simon's "Late In The Evening," which seemed to go over well. After returning to Peter's house and raiding the cookie dough, we called it a night.

Following a whirlwind Saturday, a restful Sunday was a welcome respite. We went to Church in the morning (my first time in years), the grocery store, and then watched football for the rest of the afternoon (a nice little Sunday indeed). In the evening my cousin Adrienne brought her kids over to Peter's so I'd get a chance to see them before I left the following morning. I helped Abby with her homework and spent some time reveling in the wonder of youth with both her and her brother Garrett. A couple of good kids there.

We woke up Monday morning to a mild blizzard, but luckily my plane wasn't delayed. Of course that same evening, we got pretty much the same weather in Chicago. Apparently it was inescapable. All-in-all, it was a whirlwind weekend, but it was a great opportunity to see my cousins, whose company I really enjoy, and for the state of Colorado to further endear itself to me.

Cynicism explained

One of the most annoying things for a doctoral candidate is when people ask you what you do for a living. What ensues in an inevitable explanation of school, course work, dissertation, and idealized employment goals. Most people assume that PhDs want to teach. That's funny, because that is exactly what most PhDs want to do. What is difficult is explaining to people how hard it is to get any kind of academic job. That's not to say that it can't be done, but there are a number of limiting factors both within and beyond the control of any single individual. One of the most patronizing things is when, after explaining in layman's terms the difficulty of the job market, folks still say, "oh but you'll be fine." Just because I have enthusiasm for my work doesn't guarantee me a job. I hate to say it. So with all this pessisimism and cynicism in mind, this does a good job of explaining how dire the situation is and what some of the underlying factors are that contribute to the problem, but are beyond the control of the average PhD. Like most PhDs I hope to be one of the 30 or so percent of folks that lands a full-time tenure track job, and when my time comes I'll try my damnedest to get one, but at the same time, it's impossible to ignore the current status of the job market and higher education.

Movies

Katie and I went to see three movies this week. With the Golden Globes rapidly approaching Katie wants to see as many of the nominated movies as she can to better predict the winners in each category. This is an annual undertaking. I don't really get into the whole awards thing, but it is an excuse to see some really good films (Ever since the Emmy's snubbed The Wire, I have no faith in any award shows anymore). In the past week we saw The Reader, Slumdog Millionaire, and Doubt.

The Reader was a very interesting story with an underlying message about having secrets, keeping them to yourself, and the effect that can have on one's life. The basic plot is of a young man who has an affair with an older woman as a teenager, and later he finds out that she was an SS Guard during the Second World War. The story itself was intriguing and the acting was really good. I don't think it will win Best Picture, but I can understand why it was nominated.

Slumdog Millionaire was my favorite of the three movies we've seen. It's about a poor Indian boy who goes on the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, and wins a large amount of money. The story-telling is great as it cuts back and forth between the past and the present, showing how the events of the boy's life lead him to know the answers on the show. There's a romantic arc to the story as well, and the actors do a very good job, especially the kids who play the youth versions of the characters. There's even a Bollywood song and dance routine during the credits. This film has a good chance of being a sleeper winner for Best Film. I wouldn't be disappointed if this one won.

Doubt was a superbly acted film. Both Philip Seymour Hoffman and Meryl Streep are nominated for their acting in this movie (no shocker there - two of the top actors in the biz today). I found the story itself to be a bit dull. It's intentionally ambiguous and nothing is clear by the end of the film, but that's the whole point. I wouldn't be surprised if either nominee won an award for this film.

Out of these three, I would recommend Slumdog Millionaire the most. See all of them if you have the time, but definitely check out Slumdog.