Fox Valley Blogger

 Gotta mention the quality service we received at a couple local electronics/repair stores recently.   We had a Nintendo Wii U game-pad that hadn't worked for years.  I had essentially assumed my children's poor handling of the device over years resulted in a faulty charging connection.  After letting the device sit dormant for a few years, we decided to get it checked out to see if we could get it repaired.  We initially reached out to local gamer store Press Start , a place I had never visited and they said they don't really do repairs and suggested we contact a local repair shop called target="_blank">UbreakIfix.  They took the device in for an assessment at no charge and a couple weeks later we got a phone call about the results.  They said, "The charger is bad, we tried a different charger and it worked fine." Skip ahead skip ahead I take the kids to the store to pickup the device and the guy at the register basically says the same thing and hand

 Hey Folks, I'm dusting off the old blog and we'll see if it sticks.  But for now I'm hoping to share some content and maybe, hopefully, it's helpful to someone.  The last few years I've considered cooking to essentially be my hobby.  I enjoy trying to make good, reasonable food for my family.  Nothing elaborate but basically simple and tasty (I hope).  And sometimes a little bit healthy.   My younger son enjoys some fried foods and frankly so do I.  At one point during the pandemic, he said, "Dad, we should get a deep fryer."  A few minutes later, I visited Amazon and found this Cuisinart Deep Fryer  . A couple clicks later we are waiting for delivery.  So it's been about a year, and I gotta say it was a pretty good purchase.  I've made french fries a few times, donuts, chicken tenders & shrimp.  Not a ton of use because I prefer to use it outdoors to avoid filling up the house with fryer fragrance.  But it's been easy to take out when nee

 The most hyped "draft" event of all major sports wrapped up this weekend.  I am resurrecting the old blog today to share some thoughts on my local team.  There is a nice summary of the picks here if you are looking for more info.   Clearly, most Packer fans (including myself) were expecting the Packers to take a WR early in the draft after the departure of star WR Davante Adams who was traded to the Raiders earlier in the off-season. Day 1 of the draft probably left many Packer fans disappointed and scratching their heads.  The Packers went after defense early with two first round picks taking an ILB & DL from defensive powerhouse Georgia.  After the initial shock wore off, I started to come around to really like these picks.  For years, the Packers' front seven on defense has always had some holes to fix and it seems the Packers have finally buttoned up what looks to be a solid defense.  Also worth noting, there was a pretty early run on the top WRs in the draft wh

 If you are at all like me, you are always seeking out new recipes to try and get great flavors at home.  Especially since COVID restricted our access to dining out, I have been more motivated than ever to try new recipes at home.   The use of this  Pork Carnitas recipe was prompted by noticing how inexpensive pork shoulder roasts can be at the store.  Sometimes they are on sale and I'm buying 3-4 lbs of meat for just a few bucks.  Especially when compared to the cost of beef nowadays and some items being harder to come by during the pandemic.   Couple that with my appetite for anything "taco" related and this recipe turned out to be a good match for me.  I mean, I would do tacos / nachos etc. just about every day of the week if I had to.  I love those flavors.  This recipe in my opinion is pretty much spot on.  My first run came out a bit salty so I tried low sodium chicken broth as an alternative but that didn't help much.  The initial step in the recipe calls for

For full disclosure, I purchased this book because I know the author.  Jennifer Teske is my cousin's wife and I wanted to support her efforts on her first book.  With that said, here are my thoughts.   The book can be purchased on Amazon . The book generally would be considered a self-help type of read.  Prior to reading this book, I had no idea what "Law of Attraction" was.  My assumption was that it related to relationships with others but I was wrong.  Law of Attraction, put simply, refers to a concept of being able to bring your wants and needs into your life and the steps you can take to make it happen.  I think the author does a nice job explaining her background on the topic as well as weaving her personal story into the book to help the reader understand the author's mindset.  She also provides some nice, simple and relatable steps you can take to foster your own growth.   One of my biggest takeaways from the book was a concept I had never really considered un

The last few days of July, I began to feel a tightness in my chest.  I had no other symptoms besides feeling pain in my chest cavity if I took a deeper than normal breath.  So I chalked it up to being old and possibly have tweaked a muscle or cartilage in or near my rib cage.   But it worsened.  It really felt like there was a harness strapped around my chest that was preventing me from taking deep breaths.  Amazingly, I think my body was able to shut down the need for yawns or sneezing for 2-3 days while I was experiencing this pain.  Then I started to look up some COVID-19 symptoms as this clearly was more serious than a muscle pull.  I noticed some folks would say it felt like someone was sitting on their chest.  As it relates to trying to take a deep breath, I would agree with this.  I was growing pretty concerned about my inability to breath normally.  This was something I had never experienced before.     By now, it was Saturday, August 1st.  I felt like I had made a slight impro