Random Neuron Firings

1. Fantastic pictures from Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland came out three weeks ago (I must have missed it; just saw them for the first time at the Grand Theater in Lincoln on Monday). JD looks appropriately and delightfully creepy as the Mad Hatter (photo is clicky).

But does anyone see a resemblance, however fleeting, to this? Gotta say, it bothers me. Must be the teeth.

2. I have to learn to not let some things bother me so much.

3. I am glad to be home. Last night, the Thriller & I had some KFC and watched the Indians actually win a game.

4. PK sent me a link to a list of eight dumbest apps for the iPhone. Only a matter of time before BlackBerry earns a similar article. Actually, RIM would probably have more apps available to poke fun at if they didn’t extort their potential contributors. (Apple charges half of what RIM asks for, and the RIM stakes are higher — and dumber.)

5. Didn’t sleep well; much work to do today regardless. Blah.

6. Anyone see the new Potter film yet? What did you think?

Gotta git. It’s Finkday and there is much on the plate. Have a goody!

Photo credit: Walt Disney Pictures

No, not that MJ. The other one. The one who lives at my house. The one who lives.

Lincoln, Omaha, Council Bluffs, Des Moines, Iowa City, Davenport…then the long, long trek of nothin before getting to Joliet and putting my feet up.

Or maybe not “nothin” after all…

So I stopped at two cool places on this trip. First, Iowa 80: the Largest Truck Stop in the World — and they ain’t kidding. This place is a truck driver’s (and tourist’s) dream. I hope #1 Son can get out there on one of his runs to see it up close.

~

~

~

~

They also have a full-service laundry, a movie theater, a barber shop, and a dentist’s office. No really, a dentist’s office.

OK, the second cool place.

The Thriller was raised in the microscopic Illinois town of Buda (pronounced “byoo-duh,” as opposed to, you know, this). Yesterday, while I drove and talked on the phone with him, he made the comment that he probably wouldn’t even recognize the place anymore, having not been there in decades. He’s always talked about taking me there to see his boyhood home and school, assuring me that the entire tour would take roughly five minutes.

(I underlined Kewanee…he was hatched there. Another Illini, ‘sides me, Mavis & PK.)

Anyway, I decided to take a small detour off I-80 and surprise him with a few photos. My favorite was this one, of the high school from which he graduated in 1969:

Nice. When he received the pictures in his email, he was speechless! (And lemmetellya, that don’t happen often…he’ll agree with me there, too.)

All right, enough fun for one morning. I think I’ve timed it so I can hit the shower, get some coffee, and get on the road in time to miss the worst of the Chicago rush hour traffic. What am I saying…it’s always rush hour in Chicago traffic. Oh well. As the Thriller is wont to say: Buckle yer chin straps; it’s gonna be a bumpy ride.

Fink over and out (of Joliet).

And away I go, leaving the prairie. Much of what I drive this morning will look like this (taken on the way to Lincoln on Monday):

And that was just minutes outside of Crete, where Doane College is located. Beautiful country out here for sure.

I’m bugged because I only got about 4 hours of sleep, though. Not good when you have an 8-hour drive ahead of you. My brain gets going and I can’t shut it off, and the more I try to go back to sleep, the more sleep evades me. You know the drill, I’m sure. I just have to stop thinking thoughts that bug me. And a lot of stuff bugs me.

Still, I had a great time the last five days. I told the Thriller on the phone last night that this was a fantastic experience all the way around for me. Lots of good things happened.

All right then, fiends. To infinity and beyond. Or at least to what has become my daily haunt: the Káva House Café drive-through for a sugar-free skinny vanilla latte.

FO