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.