Well the summer is coming to an end and I really wish it was not and could use a couple more months but I do like the more comfortable weather.  Things have been very busy and hectic of the last few weeks and I am totally in love with Hoober and he is the cutest best Lab Ever.  He has been with me almost everyday while I am out running errand or hanging at Lockdown and is really really good and super smart.   The potty training is going pretty good since he is in the crate or with me an I take him out all the time,  he does make some mistakes in the house but not too bad.

The quick rundown for the last few weeks is a really a lot of hoober time including the beach and a couple dog parks and a bunch of trips to Humboldt Park.   I have been to a couple good dinners but nothing too notable and have been spending some time at Lockdown with Sol and PJ.  Couple BBQ’s with the friends at Pete’s, Sergio’s and was at Danny’s this past weekend.  Went out to visit Nicki and her kids with Hoober and had a really nice night catching up with them Hoober had fun with their dog and a old HS friend Carrie Miller stopped by to share some wine and talk about old and new times.  We have a big wedding coming up this Saturday for Jamie and Colin and I am sure it will be a drunken crazy one with the crew that will be there.

Lockdown was voted the Best Burger, Best Fries and Best Late Night Dining today on Citysearch Best of 2010 and that is a huge deal for us.  We are launching a new and improved menu this weekend and the food is the best it has ever been and we are working getting it perfect and consistent.   Sunday Hoober is getting picked up by a trainer and going away for 10 days and I am looking forward to having a super perfect well behaved dog and no more Sabre’s in my life even though he was the best dog ever.   Well that is it till next time and will post more pictures of the Pooch soon

Well it has been an interesting busy couple weeks.   We have had more changes at Lockdown and things are getting very organized and much better in many way and the food is getting tweaked and and new simpler menu coming out 9/1.    I took a quick 3 night trip to Costa Rica with PJ and Mikey and we had a great time besides being a little too far for such a short trip.  We went to San Jose for 2 nights and just drank and ate and had a great time at night with a little jungle canopy tour one afternoon and.   The 3rd day we headed to Jaco to relax on the beach and chill out and ofcourse we went out and drank the night away.

Sunday the 15th I drove to Cambria, WI to pick up little Hoober and he is so cute and actually pretty good even for a 8 week old puppy.  I am back in the thick of dog ownership and potty training and teaching not to bite and chew on things and no matter what I will have a great well behaved dog.  I bought Hoober from the same breeder as Eddie G and he is actually younger brother to Ed’s dog Jordy.   I look forward to getting them together next week to hang out.   Some pictures of Costa Rica and Hoober are in my galleries.   I have had a couple great nights out with the friends and played poker at Pete’s house and doing a few more things with them while Bill is in town

Other than that is has been some work and getting things going,  I went to a great meeting with my dad at Score and got to listen to some awesome speakers.   All in all things are good and just looking forward to keeping the momentum going and hoping it cools off soon.

Ok so I have to start this post with the exciting news for the summer,  after almost 3 years of not owning a dog and missing Sabre very much after 13 great years with that crazy pooch, I have decided to get a puppy.   I drove 3 1/2 hours to Cambria, WI to pick out little hoober and he is so frickin cute and awesome,  I actually got him from the same parents as Eddie Garcia’s dog Jordy so Hoober will have an older brother that he will get to see and play with and hopefully be as well behaved.  Speaking about be behaved,  I have made a promise to myself that I will do whatever it takes to have a perfect dog and he is not going to be anything like Sabre except cute.  I am going to pick him up Sunday 8/15 and I really can’t wait to have a goofy cute puppy again but not looking forward to potty training and all the things I know go into owning and caring for a young dog.

I have had a busy couple weeks between helping out at Lockdown and some other projects I have been working on.  After interviewing about 20 Chefs at PJ’s building we narrowed it down to 3 final people and we met those 3 again with Sol and we decided on our new chef Janice Mancusi and she started about 10 days ago and things are going very well.  We have been busy doing tons of changes with getting things more organized and changing out some systems that were put in place early on.   Things are really starting to shape up at Lockdown and within a few more weeks we should be running better than ever and going to launch a major overhaul on the menu and cut  some things off and add some new items.

Some Highlight of the last couple weeks was Friday the 30th I got to celebrate Eddie Garcia’s 40th B-day that started out with a Surprise breakfast at Sarkis with his family and parents and sister and her kids plus myself.  After breakfast I drove him out to Pine Meadow to golf and was surprised there by Paul and Brian,  we had a great round with lots of Bloody Marys and beers and spent some time in the clubhouse afterwards hanging out.  We left Pine Meadow and headed back to Lockdown where Julie and Ed’s 3 boys and Brian wife and his kids met us for dinner and plenty more drinking and we had a great time in the backyard with cake and our own small private party.  Great great day with some pictures going up in my new Galleries.   Last Saturday I drove out to Michigan City to visit Betsy and the kids at there yearly vacation spot and my Dad and Janice were there plus my cousin Miranda, Dola, Aunt Louie and Amani.  We went for lunch at the Tree House and hung out there for hours and let the kids play games and in the sand.  We then went back to the house the rent and relaxed and talked and Jeff made some great food as always and I headed home around 10:30

I have also been busy helping my mom and getting her condo rented out and ready.  Had a nice dinner out with Erin on Wednesday and tried Folklore for the 1st time and it was decent but not as good as Tango Sur.   Friday was a busy day with a meeting with a PR company followed by Lunch with Scottie G and PJ followed by a meeting with Sergey, Alex, KY and Brian and then I ran a ton of errands with PJ and Sol and grabbed a bite at J Alexanders and them somehow went back to Lockdown and hung out till 4am.  Yesterday had a nice late afternoon BBQ and Pete and Grace’s with all the kids and had a nice evening there followed by checking out Lockdown for big UFC night that was crazy busy with 200+ people stuffing the bar and the backyard and even had 60 people out the doors on Cortez and Western watching through the doors.

Well till next time…..

Is it me or do Chicago summers wear you out with so much to do and everyone seems to be on vacation. Time to run through the last week and half. Friday the 16th I went to dinner at the Chicago Firehouse followed by my 1st show at Charter One, I saw Chicago and the Doobie Brothers. The show was actually really good and my dad must have played tons of Chicago when I was a kid since I knew every song just like when I went to Mamma Mia and knew all the Abba songs… After the show we headed to Lockdown and boozed it pretty good and had a fun night.   The rest of the weekend I was hanging around Lockdown and keeping Sol company.

I was pretty busy all week long with not much special going on and then started the weekend early with PJ on Thursday night. We went to the PAWS beach party at North Avenue beach and hung there for a little while followed by a good tourist night out that started with drinks at the Signature Room for a few hours and then we moved on to Dublin’s and finished the night at the Zebra Lounge. Friday started with Cubs Game at 1pm with PJ, Jamie and Colin to start celebrating PJ and Jamie’s 30th bday and it was the hottest day of the year and when I say hot it was like 100 and humid as hell. We left the Cubs game around the 6th inning and headed to LD to meet everyone and start celebrating more Bday fun, well it was a long ass night that ended at 2am and I had been doing it pretty good since 1pm. Saturday I took it easy since I had another B-Day in the evening and I headed to Wrigley around 7 and stopped by Lockdown for a couple drinks then met all my friends at Casey Moran’s to celebrate Grace’s 35th B-day with everyone. We had a great time on the rooftop hanging and we all left and stopped for a quick one at Rockwood then took the party to Lockdown and stayed till 3am eating and drinking and enjoying some great food and friends. Well that was about it for the fun. We had a full page article come out last week on the Summer Drink issue of Timeout Chicago and I was actually interviewed for a website call All-Swagga http://goo.gl/vfq6 kinda cool….  That is it until next time!!!!!

On a walk and decided to do a quick catch up. I was really busy last week packing up my mom and moving her to a new amazing fun place for independent living for seniors in Niles. The move went well and she is happy and settling in to her new home, the place has so many activities and things to keep her busy. I am very happy and think she is gonna do amazing and meet lots of great friends and stay busy.

I was not crazy busy last week but had a really fun night that started with dinner at Mia Francesca’s then went to route 66 and met the owner and did some shots and then ended up shooting pool at EZbar on division. Went to Katrina’s wedding Saturday and had a blast, started at 3:30 at the Church on Logan followed by ohare intercontinental. Had a great fun late night till 5am and enjoyed catching up with the entire Solomon family and meeting some new people. Sunday was a small get together at Sergio’s with the kids and the Grace’s and Danny and Mary and the girls. Love all those kids:)

Other than that I have been helping at Lockdown a bit and working on a few things. Till next time