Halien Party - Chicago, Labor Day weekend, 8-31-13

[My Alter Ego]

This weekend in Vegas is going to be 118 degrees! It will be a new record for Las Vegas, and I get to live it!! Yay. (It could be worse, I suppose. I could live in Death Valley where it is expected to hit 130.)

Stay well hydrated, Swanie. I hope it's not too intense -- and, I truly hope you will not have any power outage. But during extreme weather conditions (hot or cold), the human tendency is to max out whichever appliance will make one comfortable, and that tends to overload power systems. If you're prepared for that potential, you'll be better off.

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One more note on the subject of being scared/acting stupid around Haley....I think the only thing I've done that is stupid/embarrassing was at the mall. I almost forgot to take the autographed picture she gave me and she had to remind me to grab it. You can see it in the video Himm2 made

I ended up clipping that video to capture an .mp3 off of it as one of the audios that play on the 8th hole of my minigolf course and thought it would preserve the original but it didn't...so I had to reassemble it in this edited youtube HL4E:

and talk about embarrassing, I was talking so fast I didn't even give Haley a chance to fully respond before repeatedly cutting her off...and on top of that when she offered a high-five my hand went into some weird contortion that she giggled about!.. a combination highfive/handshake/fistbump.

I don't know, Himm2. You were doing some serious multi-tasking there -- given that, I'm not sure there's reason for embarrassment. But it's your choice

[Himm2]

2nd post to view MAE's post

Hi Himm (or may I call you Steve),
You posted a similar message earlier this week (in response to someone else's message). I didn't understand it then -- I don't understand now. Are you have trouble viewing posts -- or responding to them?
Sorry to seem obstuse --
Cheers,
MAE

...actually it was Tusk that first noticed it. For some reason in only this thread, when you can see that someone posted a new message in it in the thread list, that post won't show on the next page that it is on until some one posts a second message in the thread. Weird that it only happens on this one.

[lovinghaleyr]

NUG, I think we are all excited and nervous about actually getting to talk and hopefully hanging out with Haley. We can all make fools of ourselves together.

When I saw Haley on NYE in the small club that her parents were playing in, I was so excited that she was actually there, that I think I knocked a few people down to get near her...hehe just kidding, but I think i did walk in front of the line of people waiting to get their picture with her. Then I asked this guy to take our picture and gave him my camera... I think he was a little mad at me. I felt guilty about that afterwards, but I was a little star struck i think. So this time I'm gonna be calm and cool.

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If we keep getting storms with massive flooding like we have in April and just this morning - I think we may be playing water polo or have a fishing derby instead of Volleyball and croquet in the detention basin:

It was raining so hard yesterday morning. Half my block was under water. I had to drive to work in the middle of it, was so dark outside too. I think it rained over 4 inches in 3 hours. I feel very lucky that my basement didn't flood. Is this global warming or what??

Himm, I'm bringing some swimming gear to your house party!

BABBS:Your emot.are really nice and funny

[Himm2]

Oh Crap...I may have just got myself into trouble. I emailed a White Sox Joke to sports writer Barry Rosner at the Daily Herald and he emailed me back. Then I decided to send the photos of my backyard ballpark & minigolf course and now all hell has broke loose. He forwarded my photos to the managing Editior of the biggest Newspaper in the suburbs and he wants to send his best writer Burt Constable out to do a story all about it!:
Steve,
Wow. Truly amazing. I'd love to do a column in the Daily Herald about your course. If the Sox spent as much time on baseball as you did, the team probably would be ahead of my mighty Cubs these day. You did it right. I'm thinking we could run this story (with photos and a video) next Sunday as the start of All-Star week. Is there a time I could come out next week with a photographer and play 9 holes with you? Thanks for letting Barry know. I think it will be a fun story.
Sincerely,
Burt Constable
Steve,
As a huge White Sox fan, let me add my strong kudos. Very, very impressive. But where, may I ask, is the retired number for Nellie Fox? (Not to mention his centerfield statue.) : )
Great work. Looks like you were inspired.
John
John Lampinen
Editor/Senior Vice President
Daily Herald
Sent from my iPhone
On Jul 3, 2013, at 12:49 PM, "Baumann, Jim" <jbaumann@dailyherald.com> wrote:
Steve:
This is about the coolest thing I've ever seen. I'm going to put one of our best writers on this.
Congrats on a great concept and execution.
I think the White Sox could use you on staff.
Jim Baumann
Managing Editor
Daily Herald

Problem is I didn't get a building permit for it and there are things that aren't up to code so I had to email them all back saying thanks but no thanks.

[Miguel]

That's a shame, they were obviously excited about it.

What's not up to code? The piers for the deck?

http://www.wheeling.il.us/Services/Commu...ements.asp

[Himm2]

^^ only 24" high protection from falling over the billboards to the ground instead of 36", use of many grounded extension cords, and the fact that I never got a permit for the hot tub, the decks and the original swimming pool, and I still never called for a final inspection for my addition that was completed 15 years ago. Plus I'm sure they'd find other violations that I know are safe but not technically up to a more costly code.

This was the latest response from the lead writer for the Herald:
Stephen,
Your creation truly is amazing and I would love to share it with readers. I had hoped to somehow persuade my editors to let me write a column about playing the course and explaining all its charms without mentioning you or Wheeling by name. But a source inside Village Hall pretty much asked me not to write anything for fear it might ignite a resident who has a bone to pick, a complaint about the permits for his project or some other mean-spirited griping. So I guess this will continue to be your private joy. Pity, we all could use a nice positive baseball story about now.
Thanks,
Burt

I'm off to see Harry & Patti Reinhart perform in an hour before our local fireworks show.

[Tusk]

Have fun, tell Harry the Haliens say Hi

(I think that's a good point from the DH, I could definitely someone with a gripe using the article on your project to complain about their own agenda. Good thing Burt brought it up. Don't need that sort of grief)

I have been feeling a good amount of Halien melancholy lately, so I hope for "HaleyBelle" to show up soon and sprinkle some of her musicality our way.... even a Stageit show would be nice

[Haleylvr4evr]

That would've been so cool if they did a story about your house!

[NUG]

I know how you feel about the permits...my hubby made a 7,000 gal. pond, a few decks, hot tub, and several other "structures" in our large yard with no permit. He's very handy and an electrician, and did build everything to code. It happens.

[lovinghaleyr]

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY FROM ARGENTINA