Mitch here!
Bad news. The “Mitch, Please” name for this column was rejected by the Kelly in the City higher ups. It was a valiant effort, but we lost and it’s time to focus on moving forward. Anyway, here are the first 10 things that came to mind this week. Enjoy!
- There’s something so precious about the last few weeks of summer. It’s 90 degrees outside, but there’s a pile of dead leaves in front of my house that’s freaking me out. I can see the impending fall and I hereby publicly vow to enjoy every last minute of this summer. Cherish it! CHERISH IT!
- I read a book! And I think it might be the best book I’ve ever read in my whole life. It’s called Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, and it’s a history of the human race from the time when we weren’t the only hominids walking the earth up until now. (When we’re genetically engineering life and conquering space!) It was fascinating from start to finish, and I can’t wait to read the sequel, Homo Deus.
- I’ve been thinking about monkeys a lot. For example, if primates evolved in Africa, why does South America have such large populations of indigenous monkeys? They existed there well before humans, and due to the fact that North America has no monkeys, we know they didn’t walk over from Asia. So how did they get there? Nobody knows the answer but recent research suggests that monkeys straight-up floated across the freakin’ Atlantic Ocean on naturally occurring rafts of vegetation, landed in South America, and flourished. This is a story that feels so unlikely that my mind is searching for a more plausible possibility, but I can’t think of one so naturally occurring rafts of vegetation it is!
- I lost my library card so I can’t check out books anymore. And by my library card I mean Kelly’s cousin’s library card. And by lost I mean that it expired. And by check out books I mean download books from the New York Public Library on the Libby app. So now I’m stuck with my lousy Chicago Public Library card and their lackluster selection of books which is just about as good as having no library card at all. I guess I should probably just start paying for Audible. Yep.
- I’m going to a concert this weekend! Sunday, Sunday, Sunday LIVE at Wrigley Field I’m seeing the most fabulous old men in all of rock and roll: Fall Out Boy, Weezer and Green Day. I know what you’re thinking: Aren’t those bands like 30 years old? Well, yes, the last time I saw these bands was in high school… but they’re still running around the world playing shows in baseball stadiums, and I’m totally stoked. Do people say stoked anymore? Whatever!
- I’m very much enjoying the chicken sandwich wars. While Chick-Fil-A, Popeyes, KFC, McDonalds and Wendy’s duke it out on the world stage, I’m sitting here devouring every chicken sandwich I can get. My personal favorite so far—and this may not be a popular thing to say—is the new Spicy Crispy Chicken Sandwich from McDonalds. Vote for your favorite below:
- Elsa is coming! Elsa is coming! Frozen the Musical, the Broadway show, is coming to Chicago and I’m a little bit FREAKING OUT. We took toddler Emma to Frozen in New York and I literally started crying when Elsa, Anna and the gang took the stage. Emma is now five, and not nearly as hyped about Arendelle these days, but I think we’re all going to have a blast.
- My neighbor’s houses are missing. I walked outside earlier and the two houses across the street are in the process of being torn down. City lots are rare and double lots are rarer, so if investors or developers can get their hands two older homes next to each other, they’ll demolish both houses and sell the empty lots together. It’s sad because one of the houses that was torn down was gorgeous and the other had a beautiful garden, and now I’m looking out at a giant construction project. Fingers crossed for some great new neighbors!
- My brother’s farm is going organic! More specifically, he’s expanding his operation to include organic grains. The process of planting alfalfa to cleanse the fields, raising cattle just for fun, and developing the organic business will take nearly three years! I’m super proud of both him and my dad, and can’t wait to see what they come up with next. Check them out at Above Normal Eggs!
- Lucy is a night owl. As I write this post, it’s 11 p.m. and she’s up in her crib singing at the top of her lungs. She’s not crying or calling for us or anything; she just loves to play and sing and stay up late. Of course, she’ll have an awful day tomorrow… but I love listening to her when she thinks she’s all alone up there.
- Rolling out rugs too challenging for me. We’ve laid rugs all over this place: under coffee tables, dining tables, beds and doll houses. And we’re just bad at it. We have one last rug to lay in Lucy’s room, and I’m dreading it. Pray for me and my marriage. We’ll get through this together! Or we won’t. Stay tuned.
- The dorkiest vacation in the world is calling my name. Disney World has just revealed their new Star Wars Galactic Star Cruiser Hotel and I’m in love. The whole hotel is a ride and you feel like you’re on a Star Wars space ship. One issue is that it costs $6,000 for a family of three… so, yeah, I can’t go. But maybe some day when my spaceship comes in!
- I’m obsessed with watching this guy restore old tools on Youtube. The channel is called My Mechanics and his videos get multiple million views per week—so I guess I’m not alone. Each video consists of him presenting some old tool that looks like it’s been buried for 100 years, and then lighting it on fire. He then carefully takes it apart and restores the individual parts until the tool looks brand new. So that’s where my head is at these days. Also shout out to this tweet that taught me how to double-click on YouTube videos to enable picture-in-a-picture mode on my Mac.
Mitch. OUT!
