This is a still from the TNT footage of the Eastern Conference Semi Finals (Bulls vs. Hawks) showing a shot of me, my brother-in-law Elliot, and friend Ray (from left to right). They also showed a close up of us again as soon as the game ended.

We had great seats right off the floor – Dominique Wilkins was sitting 5 seats to our left!

Watched bits and pieces of the Grammys last night and caught quite a bit of the performances. Mick Jagger still has it. Bob Dylan still has it too, but for him I’m not sure what that “it” is.

I definitely see how a younger viewer who hasn’t been exposed to Dylan’s musical legacy could watch that performance of “Maggies Farm” and ask themselves, “What the hell was that?” In fact, I’d consider myself a pretty big fan, and I had to lightheartedly ask myself that same question. But I cannot help but love the guy even more during performances such as these. He is fully realizes that his legacy will always trump his age, and is determined to ride off into the sunset in the mannor of which he chooses.

Johnny Depp seemed to like it also – I never noticed how much he looks like John Mayer…

Rhianon on the radio is pretty good – but she didn’t do it for me last night. Eminem was definitely the standout and an perhaps put on the shows best performance.

I attempted to watch The Arcade Fire, but the strobe lighting gave me at least two seizures throughout the performance.

In-between the seizures, I would re-gain focus only to observe a bunch of kids riding around on bikes, a guy yelling through a megaphone, and an incredibly strange high pitched shrill being sung by the keyboardist. Not sure if this was real or not. Not sure if it was good or not either.

I didn’t catch the Lady Gaga performace, but I heard it was pretty routine. Hatched from and egg or something…

-craiglutter.com

I encourage any Packer fan/Green Bay musician to post a music video in response to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUbc8E3r520

I can’t help but expect some Packer fan to submit a cover of the Wisconsin standard “Cheese, Wonderful Cheese (Glorious Cheese)”, which was written anonymously by an unknown dairy farmer during the Great Wisconsin Cheddar Famine of 1886.

The story is a good one, and I believe it’s history and relevance should be taught in every Wisconsin classroom.

Back in 1886, the once-thriving cheese production that Wisconsin had enjoyed came to a grinding halt. The state had requested federal government assistance, as many of the Wisconsin residents were starving due to cheese shortages. The federal government, concerned with other national issues, denied aid to the farmers. This is know as the Great Wisconsin Cheddar Famine of 1886.

Hardships were wide-spread throughout the state, and farmers no longer took cheese for granted. This is when an inspired anonymous dairy farmer penned the classic Wisconsin musical standard “Cheese, Wonderful Cheese (Glorious Cheese).” Cheese was now something every Wisconsin resident could get behind.

In only two years, Wisconsin cheese production made a complete comeback and was productive as ever despite no assistance from the federal government. This was largely due to inspired and more rigorous milking efforts by the farmers themselves as well as advancements in cheese-aging technology.

However, the farmers still held a large amount of animosity towards the federal government for not coming to their aid when they needed them the most. Acting on behalf of the distressed farmers, the state of Wisconsin declared their independence from the rest of the country.

State legislature met in Madison to discuss a new monetary system. Wishing to abandon the federal “silver backed” dollar, they opted instead to use what they had plenty of – cheese.

The act was swiftly passed by the state – dollar bill sized slices of cheese were now used as currency in the state of Wisconsin. The value of a cheese bill was actually determined by the actual value of the cheese itself.

Bills of muenster or colby was generally valued at 1 cent each. Swiss or parmesan were valued around 2 cents, while a bill of nicely aged cheddar or gouda was worth 3 cents and so on.

Unfortunately this system was repealed in only a matter of a few days. There were a couple big problems:

1) Because the values of the cheese bills were based on the actual value of the cheese itself, a cheese bill of even the most desirable cheese was hardly ever worth more than 5 cents.

Therefore, any large purchases of land or property paid for by “cash”, would constitute several wagons full of cheese to be delivered to the payee from the payer. This was obviously inconvenient.

2) Cheese had a tendency to easily become devalued. If kept in a your pocket, purse or billfold, it would become warm, very soft, and not as appetizing. Unlike paper currency, the more the cheese bills were handled, the more “undesirable” they became. Wisconsin residents also found that cheese bills were not as easy to fold as paper bills and as a result, had a hard time transferring them to and from their wallet.

Since a cheese bill became devalued the longer it remained in circulation, higher prices for virtually everything (except cheese) were set into place state-wide. With rampant inflation on the rise, Wisconsin had no choice but to rescind the act.

-craiglutter.com

The clutter award (clutter = C. Lutter) competing in the category “Crappiest Food With The Cutest Mascot” goes to….. PANDA EXPRESS!!!

How can a panda, so cute, huggable, and innocent wreak such havoc on my digestive system? That food was terrible, but everytime I felt the intestinal rumblings of a potential iceland-esque volcanic eruption, I would look down at this soy sauce packet and the adorable panda would melt my heart. I would not let him down. And though the slimy pieces of pepper chicken and the rubber chunks of beef were tough to stomach, I continued to consume in order to not hurt his feelings or give him any indication at all that his food sucked.

Mary, I’m Leaving by Craig Lutter

Wondering if I’m alone on this one. For the past couple weekends, my girlfriend and I have been looking at high-rise condos around Evanston. When initially entering a potential place of residence, she will look at the floors, appliances, cabinets and overall layout of the unit.

But I believe what I inspect has a much higher degree of importance. I like to examine the windows, and note our elevation from the ground. I then ask myself two very important questions:

1) If armed intruders were to break down our door, how easy would it be to break this glass? AND
2) Would we survive the fall?

No, HGTV will not have this included on your typical “Top 10 Tips To Finding That Perfect Condo,” segment, but make no mistake – it should be.

That’s What Tomorrow’s For by Craig Lutter

Mountaineer by Craig Lutter

St Patrick’s Day by Craig Lutter