Hunt Family Connection

A night out....

A week or two ago I noticed that Lewis Black was coming to the Hult Center so I found someone to go with me and bought tickets.

Last night I went to the show with Matt after a late meeting at work. We had dinner at the Jackalope Lounge first (just down the street) - yummy burgers....I definitely recommend :) After dinner we walked on over to the Hult Center and did some good people watching before heading in to take our seats.

Here's what I already knew about Lewis Black:

In 1996, his friend Lizz Winstead tapped him to create a weekly segment for a show she was producing on Comedy Central called The Daily Show. The segment, a three minute rant about whatever was bothering him at the moment, evolved into Back in Black. It became one of the most popular and longest running segments on the show and also created a long and successful relationship with the network. Since then, Lewis has taped four specials for the Comedy Central Presents series, co-created Last Laugh with Lewis Black, presided over Lewis Black’s The Root of All Evil, and continues to perform Back in Black on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. His popular appearances on Comedy Central helped to win him Best Male Stand-Up at the American Comedy Awards in 2001.

And after poking around his website and bio today, this is something new that I learned about Mr. Black:

In addition to his professional pursuits, Lewis is dedicated to a number of charitable organizations. As a long time mentor with the 52nd Street Project, Lewis was roasted in Charred Black 2007 which drew the largest fundraising numbers in the Project’s history. He’s a member of their Advisory Board, is Co-Chair of their Capital Campaign and in 2000, the Ron Black Memorial Scholarship Fund was created in memory of his late brother. Lewis is also committed to raising funds for the Rusty Magee Clinic for Families and Health. He’s a strong supporter of both the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and Autism Speaks and was recently honored by The Brady Center for his commitment to ending gun violence. At the Williamstown Theatre Festival, he established the William Foeller Fellowship, having taught and performed at the festival for more than a decade. Lewis also supports our military personnel and recently became involved with the USO. He toured several Middle East and European military bases with Robin Williams, Lance Armstrong, Kid Rock and Miss America Rachel Smith in December 2007 and hopes to return soon.

If you have a minute and haven't seen him at all, I would recommend watching this Back in Black Segment from a recent Daily Show episode: Trump 2012

The show was great - we had seats right on the floor, near the front and a bit off to the left. The opening act (John Bowman) was funny and he had done his homework about the city to make some "locally funny" jokes. Lewis Black was great (though a little bit loud at times for poor me who doesn't love loud noise so much!) Overall I have to say we enjoyed it very much and I'm glad that we went. There isn't a great comedy scene here in Eugene and it really seems like there could/should be....it's nice to get out and laugh....feels very healthy and fun :)

The rest of the weekend

There was quite a bit of rain on Saturday afternoon, but Sunday was sunny all day long. Church, breakfast, and another bike ride (yay!) was a great way to start the day. Graham and I hung out together on the couch while Ellie napped, then he went with Pa-Paw to watch Grandma Chery play tennis while Ellie and I went out back to play and enjoy more of the sunshine.

I thought Ellie would be ready for the car this summer so I wheeled it out onto the patio. She quickly figured out how to get in and out, but can really only seem to move backwards in a kind of circle. Not a bad start though - at least she was moving! (I dug back into the archives and found Graham's first car ride HERE) One of her favorite things to do was to pick up rocks and put them in the little bucket part behind the seat. She also likes putting her rocks in the cup holders of our camping chairs on the patio....she really likes her rocks.

Ellie also found the mop I had set outside to dry (that's right - I mop my floor sometimes! Sometimes I even get down on hands and knees with a rag and clean my floor.....but now I'm getting off topic) Ellie thought it would be good to clean up the patio some...

Poor thing got very upset when I tried to take it from her when it was time to go in. This bodes well for teaching her to mop the floors inside one day :)  I mostly took the picture though because I love that sweater she has on. It's a 12-18 month size so it's not too big/long, that's the way it's supposed to be and I love it! I believe it was a hand-me-down from Leila and Savannah (thanks guys!)

Ellie was disappointed to go back inside....she is sooo excited to get outside these days. Doesn't matter what we do - play, go for a walk, run an errand....she's always getting her boots on and trying to get out the door with us.

We ended the day with ice cream treats for all then everyone (including me!) fell to sleep at bedtime pretty quickly. All of that outside time definitely wore us all out. Here's hoping that there are many more weekends of nice weather coming up. I'm looking forward to more time playing out back, more bike riding, and getting the grill started!

 

A brand new bike....

....for me!

Sorry about the blurry cell phone pic - but there she is!

The weather has been getting nicer and I've been wanting to do this for a long time....I finally decided to just go for it. Thanks to Rod at Paul's Bicycle for helping me find just the right one, and then getting it all ready for me to take out of the store. He even helped size my bike helmet and clipped some of the end off of the kickstand so it would stand a bit better :) We used to ride bikes all the time when we were growing up - up and down the road to visit family. I can even remember back farther when mom and dad would take us along on bike rides in our little ride-along seats behind them.

I took her out on her inaugural ride this morning before it started raining - just on the bike path along the river. It was a beautiful ride and the air was nice and crisp, but not too chilly. I had a great time and hope the weather cooperates so I can get out there again soon.

Also of note.....

Last night Matt and I went to the 16th Annual Eugene Laff-Off (Up to 20 comedians vying for the title of Funniest Person in Eugene/ Springfield/ Cottage Grove/Veneta/Junction City/Coburg Metropolitan Area), a fundraiser for Greenhill Humane Society. Matt's brother is just starting to perform stand-up comedy and entered the competition - he was sooo funny! Out of the 21 comedians we saw, he was definitely my favorite. Some were funnier than others, but we had a great time and it was for a very good cause :)

Cell phone photos

I just moved a handful of pictures from my cell phone to the computer....here's what I found there :)

A fancy fruit arrangement that the psychologists and consultants got the ESS classified staff to thank them for all the great work they do for us.....

Results of an incredibly fun and relaxing afternoon with Kara getting our toes ready for spring....

Evidence that I have been working on my One Little Word class....FORWARD.....

And a picture I took while I was out on a lunch time walk yesterday - it looks (and feels!) like Spring has arrived - yay!

I'm very happy to see Friday arrive - once I'm past my dentist appointment this morning and a stack of files at my desk at work, there will be great rejoicing :)