Regular Service to Resume on the 10th

I will resume the blogging mayor function on the 10th! See you then!

Temporary Relocation

As you have all probably guessed I am quite busy. I am also keeping a campaign blog as well, so as I have been getting busier I have been neglecting this blog and the campaign blog as well. So I decided for the next 50 days I will only be writing on the campaign blog. After the election I will be figuring out how to make a senatorial blog so I will be blogging on in some format one way or the other!

I also moderate comments on the blog, since its a political site and you know people can get heated over politics. Not like over here on this blog. So see you all over there.

I'm Back!

Having had an eventful week off, I have returned to blogging action hopefully at the level that my loyal readers (specifically Paul Hollingsworth) have come to expect.

The lowlight of last week and the real reason I was not ready to blog was I had a tooth extracted which was beyond salvage. The extraction was not pretty, in fact it was quite messy, but amazing how quickly it went.

I was also successfully able to line up some November support from the Dentist and the rest of his office as well! Of course there were pain killers involved so maybe I just thought I did!

Final Update-- On the Move

Shock of shocks we brought not one thing home! Correction we brought some empty boxes and suitcases home, but that does not count.

It all fit easily with some degree of organization into the room! The room is so small, my dorm in college was at least twice the size of this place. The windows and the desks are about 3 feet off the left of this picture so there is not much space not on camera.

I was impressed by the degree of organization at the school, from the curb to the room all our boxes and miscellaneous stuff was in the room in about 30 minutes.

The parting was traumatic to say the least!

LIVE UPDATE-- The Move! This is a lot of stuff!

Bonus time! How much of this will NOT fit in her dorm room and will return with us to Round Lake in the next days? My count was of at least 15 purses, and 20-30 shoes, not including what I could not see in boxes. Plus we appear to be sending granola bars by the 1,000's to ISU, I am guessing that they are not available in the remote areas of the state, which is why we need to send them with her.

Big Days!

Today is a big day in the Gentes household! My daughter is off to college, she will be a freshman at Illinois State University, majoring in Art Education. So we are driving to Bloomington-Normal to get her organized and moved into the dorm, where she has an "orientation week" (yeah right) with school starting next Monday.

I know I am sure going to miss her sassing me, making snide comments about my obsession with all things 120, and 26! Plus what am I going to do when I need to understand my facebook issues! The picture is from Memorial Day a few years ago, when she still liked to drive my golf cart in parades one of my favorites of the two of us.

Jim McKay 1922-2008

When I was a kid in New York, I grew up watching ABC Wide World of Sports. To this day my love of international events like the Olympics, cycling, track and field, soccer, boxing, and of course American events like NASCAR, and of course the best of all time demolition derby. There was one person who was always and will forever be the voice of sports in my childhood.

That was Jim McKay, I can't tell you the feeling when I heard yesterday that McKay had passed away, all my memories of sports and my love of them came flooding back. When I heard McKay's voice or saw him over the last few decades I always thought of the "thrill of victory and the agony of defeat" first!

He loved horse racing like I do, and as far as I concerned he was the finest voice in television sports! He will missed.

Graduation Day

On Saturday my daughter graduated from Grant High School! She was a member of the Honor Society, the Art Club, the environmental club, swam on the swim team, ran cross-country and track and field in her four years at Grant. She earned 7 letters in those four years. She holds the school record in the 100 meter fly swimming and was Academic All Conference this year for Girls Track and Field.

The Grant Girls team of which she was a member finished 8th, 3rd, 5th and 7th in the state AA division and won numerous sectional and county titles.

I am incredibly proud of Denise, who will be going to Illinois State this fall to become an Art Teacher. She hopes I win my senate race so I can be her clothing, shoe and magazine delivery man on my way to Springfield, since Bloomington is on the way down!

7 Years in Jail errrrrr Office!

Well today is my anniversary of exactly 7 full years as Mayor. I could have sworn I would be out for good behavior, by now! I have learned a lot in the last seven years. Allow me to summarize!

• Trust your instincts, making good decisions is hard and sometimes making those decisions means unpopular results happen.
• Once you have learned how the village works, don't be afraid to take it out for a spin! You would be surprised at some of the results.
• I have made 100's of friends, when I was elected my contacts in Microsoft Outlook were under 200, today I have close to 3,200 (not all are friends I would observe) but many are.
  
• Its much harder then it looks!
• Government moves much slower then you want it to.
  

Some of the other comments or observations I would make are:

• Being Mayor is the single most rewarding thing I have ever done in my life.
• Being Mayor is the single most aggravating thing I have ever done in my life.
• Always keep an eye on the "out of the ordinary residents" when they somehow get your cell number make sure you tag them in all "UPPER CASE" in case you "accidentally" answer that phone call. By the way there are 23 of them at this time in my contact list. If you are on this list calling my phone 2 times a day for 5 weeks in a row, is not going to get improve your odds!

Things that I find myself saying more and more!

• Did you call 911? No, then why not?
  
• Thanks for telling me that.
• Please don't park on the grass.
• Yes we do patrol the sub divisions
• No we are not picking on you.
  

Mayoral oddities that only I may find amusing:

• People do not tailgate my car, since it has Mayoral plates, the moment they see that, they drop back suddenly, quite amusing to me! When I drive my daughters car I notice how people are on my tail all the time, outrageous!
  
• 4th graders get the biggest kick out of my mayoral badge, that seems to be the optimal age, lower and they don't get it, higher and they are jaded.
• People of all ages enjoy meeting the Mayor, that never gets old!
• Almost everywhere I go, someone says I love or read the blog!

Best things I have done:

• Modernize the village's operations (not sexy but needed).
• Fixed our police department.
• Started this blog to better communicate.

Worst things I have done:

• Yeah you wish!
  

Parents Night at Grant High School

Last night was parents night for Grant High School's Girls Track and Field team, where they recognized the parents of the seniors on the team. It is always a nice ceremony and I vowed not to miss it when my girl was a senior.

Denise has been a squad member over her four years on the varsity with the team finishing 8th in 2007, 4th in 2006 and 7th in 2005. She has long jumped, triple jumped, run relays and sprints and has turned into a decent 3,200 runner (2 miles) in her senior year. I am very very proud of her!

She is running 4th in the picture (#9) at a recent invitational in Wisconsin. Denise is going to be a bilingual art teacher and will attend Illinois State this fall.

New Adult in the Area!

My baby is 18 today! She just told me she is buying a scratch off ticket on her way to work! Nice! UPDATE: Both (non-Round Lake) places she went to purchase tickets did not card her, which of course was the point of the purchases! I am also am not allowed to post a picture by the way.

RIP-- State Senator Adeline Geo-Karris

Yesterday I learned that former State Senator Adeline Geo-Karris passed away at 89 years young.

I met her about 7 years ago right after I became Mayor and in her direct way she dissected me and my political beliefs, always accusing me of being a Republican which I denied, because of course I am not. Our standing joke was always me trying to convert her to the wisdom of the democratic party and hers was to convert me.

Since she was Greek we had her visit us for Greek Easter periodically which was always an adventure, I had to drive to Zion, pick her up, drive her giant Lincoln (which was like driving a giant pillow) all the while listening to her shout at me that there was stop sign coming up, and calling me Billy the whole time. Which only my sister is currently allowed to call me!

Anyway even though the village of Round Lake has exactly one parcel of land in the 31st Senate District and no residents, Geo always and I mean always, looked out for the village of Round Lakes interests. When I called she responded and helped.

While she did not change my political leanings she did encourage me to run for the State Senate and if I can be 10% the Senator she was I will be happy! Geo I will miss you and so will the village of Round Lake

The Birthday Boy's Post!

Today is my birthday, I have been told it happens once a year! I reworked the post slightly to better reflect where I am today from last years post.

48 Years Ago-- I was born in Port Jefferson New York. (1959) Oddly enough the White Sox clinched an American League pennant that day.

47 Years Ago-- My sister Gaye showed up to steal all the attention! (1960)

39 Years Ago-- My Dad did a sabbatical in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico where I went to school in a one room school house with 15 other kids ranging from 1st to 8th grade. (1968)

37 Years Ago-- My parents both took early retirement and moved to Guadalajara Mexico, where my sister and I attended Mexican schools until we went to college. (1970)

31 Years Ago-- My grandfather took me to the Montreal Olympics (hooking me on Track and Field) and the Baseball All-Star game in Philadelphia. (1976)

29 Years Ago-- I went to college, where a few years later I would emerge with a degree in History and a minor in English Literature from Texas Pan American. (1978)

26 Years Ago-- I bought my first car a white 1973 Toyota Corona for $400, it had 73,000 miles on it. Sold it for scrap 6 years later with 201,000 on it. I would still be driving it if had not self destructed. (1979)

25 Years Ago-- I got my first "real" job. I was a warehouse manager in New Orleans and then later Dallas. (1982)

21 Years Ago-- I moved from Dallas to Chicago (1986)

20 Years Ago-- I met the First Lady of Round Lake, a couple of shotguns, a few slaps upside the head and I was married! (1987)

19 Years Ago-- I played golf at Renwood with my father in law and was amazed that civilization existed outside the city of Chicago. My first exposure to Round Lake.

17 Years Ago-- The first kid arrived, my daughter Denise. (1990)

15 Years Ago-- I lost my mom to a long struggle with cancer. I miss her to this day. (1993)

13 Years Ago-- We moved to Round Lake buying a townhouse in Tree House in the Woods. I also purchased my first Big Gulp at the Rollins Road 7-11 one of nearly 100,000 since! (1994)

11 Years Ago-- I was appointed to be a trustee of the Round Lake Area Library District.

9 Years Ago-- Was appointed to be a member of the Round Lake Planning Board (1998)

8 Years Ago-- Became Chairman of the Round Lake Planning Board (1999)

7 Years Ago-- I lost my dad miss him everyday as well. (2000)

6 Years Ago-- Elected Mayor of Round Lake, what was I thinking? I also resigned from the Library Board where I had won re-election twice. (2001)

5 Years Ago-- I weighed 283 pounds (2002)

4 Years Ago-- I weighed 194 pounds (2003) Thank you Mr. Atkins!

3 Years Ago-- Re-elected Mayor, this time my eyes were open, and I knew what I was getting into.

3 Years Ago-- This blog was born and nearly 900 posts later is still going strong!

2 Year Ago-- I still weigh under 200 pounds (barely) but damn I look good.

1 Year Ago-- Considering a run for State Senate, and working through the process and building support.

Today-- I am 48, I am running for State Senate, things are on the up in Round Lake, and I am enjoying my life immensely!