Beating Tennessee in the same season that Indiana pulverizes you on national TV? That's right, Bama is Illinois.

I made us one last night and was looked at like I am weird! I am weird but not because of Lemon Pig!

Book 39, and the last, of the year. Somehow as good (if not better) than everyone says it is.

If you're looking for an easy and good thing to do more of in the new year, I recommend making more of a habit of using your library. I checked out 31 movies and 29 books from mine this year and it rocked!

A cool thing we're all gonna do in 2026 is start calling green onions "grunions". Gimme them grunions.

The Illini are actually a legitimate football program for the first time in my memory and it is so much damn fun!

Bret Bielema is now tied for the Illinois record for bowl wins. Sure, it's 2, but it's the record!

I-L-L!

I did not anticipate Luke Altmeyer becoming one of my favorite Illini of all time but I'll be damned if he isn't.

Get another one and put these dorks in the dirt!

Do it to it, boys!

Should take about five minutes or so.

Sneaking in one last amputation before the end of the year. As a treat.

I was terrified of space heaters as a child because it felt like you heard about one burning down a building per week on the news.

The massive temperature swing plus seeing my niece and nephew last week have me sounding like Tom Waits when I talk.

The Iceman cometh?

There was a Greenland 1 movie?

Tip drill picks like that are so damn fun.

Team of Destiny!

When me and my buddy both reach for the last slider in the Crave Case.

It is easy to name a perfect album from the 90s without using Pearl Jam because every Pearl Jam song features Eddie Vedder singing.

I got to see a buddy today that I hadn't seen in probably a decade because I decided to text him during the Ted Leo show I went to this summer (he introduced me to his music back in college) and man, I am glad I went to that show!

July 14th, 2022.

I ate Pop-Tarts every day for breakfast in college and I don't know how I reached adulthood.

A nice thing about These Times is how many people you respect and value standing up and saying "hey this shit sucks, help fix it if you can". It's a big shitty world but there are so many more of us than them. We will win.

I personally hope it is a successful strategy because I do want Kat to win but even if it winds up not being one, she will have spent time, money, and effort working to improve the lives of people in the 9th District. Which is the whole goal!

Reading Lonesome Dove is going to be what ultimately gets me to play RDR2 again. I feel it in my bones.

Prince Virgil.

Bears

Every time I see a Good Vets location I want to open an office named Best Vets across the street.

I love when the giant snow mounds melt because it makes you an amateur archeologist. How did a whole sixer of Miller Lites get in there?

I'm not sure why I chose meatballs as my Christmas dinner (other than loving meatballs subs so damn much) because man, this is so much work (a thing I remember halfway through making meatballs every time).

If I was married to ancient Greek Anne Hathaway I certainly would not be getting lost on a decade long journey full of shenanigans, I can tell you that much.

Just sauteed an entire bulb of garlic and my house smells heavenly.

I love Christmas.

Merry Christmas from the grumpiest elves in town!

My brother-in-law asked me to name the Fantastic Four because he couldn't remember one of them and "You're good at this stuff", which is fair. He kept calling Mr. Fantastic "Stretch Armstrong".

"I can never tell which one is Cuba and which one is Venezuela." "Well one is an island, so that makes it pretty easy!" My line did not go over as well as I thought it should!

One of the first lessons you learn in junior surgery is "when you drop an instrument, dodge".

Besides being a transphobe, Riley Gaines was the most annoying type of swimmer you could encounter growing up: the kind that came up with excuses for why they lost.

Walking around the apartment singing "Uncle Marky's coming to town" at the cats because I get to see my niece and nephew today.

Finished wrapping presents! And it's not even gift day!

New York is called the Empire State because every room is legally required to have carpet.

Unless something magically needs cutting next Tuesday during my vaccine clinic day, I am finishing 2025 with 3,699 spay/neuter surgeries. Gonna enjoy my one week offseason!

Tomorrow is my last surgery shift of the year and I get a vet student shadow for it and it continues to tickle me pink that I've reached the "trusted experienced teacher vet" stage of my career.

One December way back in high school I really wanted some brownies so I invented the concept of Winter Solstice Brownies so that my mom or sisters would bake some like it was a real thing and it worked and became a Primiano tradition.

This sunlight is a little too bright.

DUMB AS SHIT AND WE LOVE IT!

Had a delightful little dog at work named Daisy yesterday.