Zion, Illinois

High school reunion this weekend. Well - not a proper reunion - but just a little get together with some of the people I spent a lot of time with growing up. "Dan the Man" (second from the right) hosted and even dug up the old graduation video; circa 1996. Yup, that means bad graphics and the camera pausing between pictures. Classic!

LicketyShip

LicketyShip's done it again! They made Forture Small Business Magazine's business plan competition semi-finals for the second year in a row. In honor of the win, I'm going to do some frog Origami.

Check out the South Bend Tribune for their latest advertising.

Lake Placid, New York

Notre Dame MBA investment guru, Minnesota native and friend, Dan Arlandson, took 14th place in the Ironman Lake Placid competition. That's out of almost 2000 competitors! Just think - 2000 people wanted to spend over 10 hours running, cycling and swimming. I've heard the swimming can be rough - choppy water and people kicking you - so I have a new suit idea for Dan that will keep him afloat. Safety first!

Complaint Box

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Lightning Book Reviews

In touch with tonight's Chicago weather, I present lightning book reviews. A number of topics are covered to satisfy everyone! Who dies in the new Harry Potter book? Private equity investing in China? You want power? Hang on:

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Solid sixth entry in the Harry Potter series, building the plot for the seventh and final book where Harry will likely take out He-who-must-not-be-named (I'm too lazy to look up the spelling of the real name). Recommendation: skip all the snogging parts to the end where a main character dies!


Mr. China: Tim Clissold leaves London to pursue Private Equity investing in China. Follow him all around the country and learn about a crazy drinking game called baijiu!

In, But Not Of: Hugh Hewitt is not a person I'd like to know, as I'm sure he'd hijack every conversation. The book will help me in my world conquest though (that's next on the list as soon as I find a job.) Remember - power only goes to those that seek it. Surprise power recomendation from the book; start a blog!

Why People Believe Weird Things: This horrible book lacks any insight into why people believe weird conspiracy theories. He simply panders to the 'scientific' and 'intellectualism' of his audience by giving snickering comments to the choir.

Lake Ridinger, Indiana

Sarah loves the kids and they love her. But kids can be cruel - like when they all want to go turtle hunting with Sarah and leave me in a kayak by myself! Here's Sarah with her nieces and her five-day old nephew, Devin.

Lake Ridinger, Indiana

Sarah and I spent an adventurous day at Lake Ridinger with the kids. We took them swimming, turtle hunting, and finally the turtle race! What is a turtle race? Well, everyone puts a turle by the cabin 20 feet above the lake and the first turtle to get wet wins! If you're a kid - you poke, prod or yell at your turtle until it is so scared it goes into its shell (then you just push is down the hill into the lake!) My turtle couldn't care less about going home to the pond and just sat shellshocked on the grass. Eventually, it took the plunge off the rock!

Wheaton, Illinois

I am cooking for myself everynight now, and have found the perfect job search food. Steak! A little salt n' pepper and a pan help create a delicious steak in uner 8 minutes. Caution: I've set off the fire alarm the last couple time I cooked, so take the batteries out of the alarm before you start.

Zazzle.com

I didn't know Zazzle.com was an early-stage startup when I bought my "that LicketyShip chick" tee-shirt, but just saw this in the news. 'Kleiner' is basically the top VC firm in the country. They'll never make it unless they keep designs on file longer!

Zazzle.com Inc., a Palo Alto, Calif.-based operator on an online customized products marketplace, has raised $16 million in Series A funding. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers led the deal, and were joined by Sherpalo Ventures

Lake Geneva, Wisconsin

I celebrated missing out on another job by heading out to Lake Geneva for a swim with Tom & Suzy. Bouncing on a trampoline, backflips and a lot of sun was a fun way to spend the weekend.

Naperville, Illinois

Harry Potter mania hits Illinois! Our young Harry Potter, aka Charlie, shown here is just one of literally hundreds of kids dressed up to look like a character from the series last night. We are at Naperville's Harry Potter celebration, where crowds closed down 3 full blocks to celebrate this adolescent literary event with costumes, spell lessons and trivia games - 50 points to Gryffendor for the correct answer!

Wheaton, Illinois

Alright, everybody. I know I haven't posted a lot this week, and I can understand how disapointing that is. But don't forget there's still great links on the lower right of my page for great stuff like Irish Today and Friends Circle! I've personally clicked on them 14 times when I'm travelling (so Google doesn't know), so whoever the other 2 out there are - Thanks!

Does anybody know why I always get the Friends Circle ad? I'll do anything to get it to go away.

Granger, Indiana

U2 fans, check this out! Two weekends ago at my AIM Notre Dame reunion, we had a little get-together outside the house of the head of the ND endowment. Inside, there was this picture of the best band ever, U2, kneeling at the ND grotto before a concert. Pretty cool, huh? I need a copy!

Some-where in Chicagoland

The hottest summer fashion has just unexpectedly surfaced in a quaint, breezy Chicagoland town. "that LicketyShip chick" is generating buzz all over! After appearing in an Indiana newspaper, "that LicketyShip chick" has generated a huge following, which has put together this first limited edition t-shirt. It comes in all sizes and designs, and all profits support "that LicketyShip chick" travel to Minnesota. Get yours today! (See the back)


(Unfortunately, Zazzle.com already deleted my design ... I said it was a limited edition!)

Hammond, Indiana

When you shop at a store like this, there must be some good deals, right? Wrong! Krazy Kaplans, the owner of seemingly 100+ billboards in Chicagoland has a horrible, small, and overpriced fireworks Cline Ave. store. They had hardly anything I would consider reasonable - even though I walked in with really low expectations. That's not to say people inside weren't loading up on the 'Big Bombs'. The marketers for this place know their audience!

Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota

Little Jon and I had a great time playing games at MBA friend Paul's family's house on Friday. Twilight Zone was the best pinball game . It had a piano, Battle the Power area, and gumball machine. Watch a video here.

Apple Valley, Minnesota

Little Jon and I stop at McDonalds to have a couple double cheeseburgers - they're best with only ketsup. He is spending time in Minnesota visiting relatives and watches the bird at his grandma's place hatch and fly away. We were lucky enough to play some mini-golf and play games on CartoonNetwork.com. If you're at work right now, go try it out. It's fun!