Ah, Lundgren 222. Check this out... the photos in this set span 27 years:


Lundgren 222 was my dorm room from freshman year at U of I. The photo up there is our Christmas card from 1980. If you don't have a program, that's Servy, Rog, Billy (me), and Tommy (going from left to right).

The four of us were smushed into a two-person room because we filled out our forms late or didn't pass some standardized test or something. In any case, it was a wonderful year, and these are great guys to spend time with, then and now.

So, we got together for dinner at Pegasus restaurant in Chicago to reminisce and talk politics and sex and religion. Not coincidentally, we also drained the place of their crappy greek Alfa beer in the process. He he!

I think we did better than our reunion two years ago, when the focus seemed to be on our collective health problems. This year Servy had pictures of his 18 month-old daughter. Rog showed up (zing!) and brought pictures of his kids. Bill's Christmas photo helped to prepare the group for his 40-something dating stories. Tommy, as the only Greek food lover, ordered appetizers and beers and wine, hassled the waiter, and whipped out his digital camera (thankfully).

Enough chit chat. Of course, the big question is who has aged the best/least. That turns out to be a toughie... it's obviously been a rough ride these 27 years. But here's my best shot.

1. Rog - I give Rog the nod because he looks the most like he did back in 1980... granted, minus a bit of hair. You add to Rog's youthful appearance the fact that he's the only one of us with a steady, real job (high school teacher) and bingo... there's your winner, girls.
2. Servy - He looks great, minus some hair again, but Servy looks a lot different than he did in college. Trimmer. Less weight-lifting. I wonder if he even still has his Phi Tau membership card. Servy does consulting, owns some apartment buildings, and chases his daughter.
3. Billy - I lost a lot of points for having the most gray hair. I think I'm the wrinkly-est as well. Sigh. I'm teaching part-time at North Central College, volunteering part-time at St. Ethelreda, managing my vast investment and castle empire (cough), and chasing my son and 40-something women.
4. Tommy - Poor Tommy's head just keeps growing for some reason. That and his bizarre halo-shaped gray hair sank him in the rankings. It's tough to pin down exactly what Tommy is doing... something about Motorola and ebay and rugby... I don't know.

It was a great time guys. I'll see you next year... I hope!
eat, eat… yow ,bill

PS - Rog, will you read Servy's book already... or at least get Suzanne to read it. It was awesome!

Merry Christmas!

Here's the 2007 photo that's going out with all my Christmas cards this year:


I had a little free time (cough), so I put this collage together. It's all stuff that happened in 2007, pretty much. Please enjoy this map of my 2007 Christmas photo.

1. Holly (24) and Ty (8) flashing gang signs… I don’t know why
2. I’m selling Castle BillSkull. Interested?
3. My new ‘lil Subaru; it’s ever so fast and fun. SOOBY!
4. 4 hours, 44 seconds: I ran Milwaukee’s Lakefront Marathon in October
5. Brownie checked out in June. Jeez, it was a wonderful 16 years!
6. Our summer vacation aliases: “MadDog” Bill, “Shogun” Holly, “Wii” Ty
7. Wii in is natural habitat… the hotel pool in Myrtle Beach
8. MadDog and Wii (happily) at a bar in Atlanta on the trip
9. This was Ty’s first year of football. He played offensive line and did great!
10. I’m patron/webmaster at St. Ethelreda School in Chicago: www.stethelreda.org
11. Holly transferred to UIC, so she and Ed moved to Chicago. Woot!
12. Me and girlfriend Kim39 cheering on Ty’s football team
13. Sammie… still an international terrorist

If you want the original 3MB image, it's here: Original Christmas photo (3MB, 1200x1800)
it’s a wonderful life… yow ,bill