Off the suburban weekend ...

Friday night was a typical suburban night. I watched Jay Leno. What's the big deal with that? He's not leaving. They treated him like he was a retiring president or something. He's changing time slots. Moving from 10:30 PM Chicago Time to 9 PM Chicago Time. Actually, I can watch more of him if I want and I won't have to switch back and forth with David Letterman.

I'm not sure I can watch Conan O'Brien. I love his Ads. But I've never been fond of his humor and wit. Hey. Jimmy Fallon was "okay." I watched a bit of him after Leno. But he's not that great. Maybe he'll get better. Or should he have left SNL?

Most of the weekend I spent working on the lawn but the Global Warming Weather we're having really sucks. I mean there has been so much rain and miserable weather I wonder if Chicagoland is really going to have a summer or not! It's terrible.

But I did bring someone in to dig a new water removal pipe from the sump under the house. And, directed two big downspouts into a separate underground pipe, too. I hope the company I hired VillaGomez lawn care did a good job and did it right. We'll see.

I spent the weekend drssing up around the work. I had them remove some huge shrubs. Lay down more dirt to raise the ground level around the house and clean up the rock areas. I fixed about 10 of the Malibu lights -- that's real suburbanite life! but they look pretty at night.

And I took the family to Orland Days, the carnival that wants to be something bigger but isn't. It's just a nice carnival. Not sure they deserve the name "Orland Days" as I think Orland Park deserves something bigger. But it's all local politics. The Lions "run" Orland Days and the local politicians don't want to mess with tradition. The Lions in Orland Park wield clout. Not sure they deserve it though. The food was better this time from before. And the parade was, again, decent. My son loved it. but he loves ALL parades.

I'm looking forward to two festivals this summer. Real festivals. The Naperville RibFest coming very soon and the Frankfort Festival around Labor Day. They are the best in the suburbs of Chicago.

Chicago, pretty much is filled with worthless political festivals run by political ethnic groups. If you're not a part of it then the festival isn't for you. Wouldn't waste my time at a Chicago festival, except for Taste of Chicago. But going to Chicago is costly and there are better options to spend my money.

-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com