Stanley Feld M.D.,FACP,MACE

Brad and I get together for a father and son weekend each year.

Some of my readers have the impression that we always go to the Consumer Electronic Show in January.

We have gone to a couple of CES because I like seeing the new electronics that are offered.

This year Brad wanted to go to the place where he was born. He was born in 1965 on Blytheville Air Force Base, the home of the 851^st Medical Group.

I was stationed at Blytheville Air Force Base from 1965-1967 as a Captain in the Air Force and chief of medicine of its hospital.

Arkansas International Airport is the old airstrip for the Strategic Air Command base. Brad and I landed there.

Cecelia found the hospital bill for Brad’s birth a few years ago. The total bill was 15 dollars

The hospital was a thirty-bed acute care hospital with all the modern equipment for 1965.

The hospital seemed much prettier in 1965. There is total rumble within its wall now.

Life on the base was great for all of us. It was the first time I made a living wage.

I remember Cecelia walking through this front door with Brad in her arms after he was born to take him to our base housing.

What a thrill to see them walk out of the hospital.

We spent a lot of time playing with Brad in the front of our house at 1924 A Dogwood Dr. Our back yard faced the airfield.

Cecelia, Brad and Stan. Brad’s 6 months old.

Brad at 8 months

Brad 12 months and me 1966

Brad and I think we found our house during our visit. However, it was impossible to tell. All the street names have been changed.

This might have not been the actual house but is was the actual configuration.

The government closed the base in the 1998 and gave it to a non-profit charity. Westminster Village of the mid South is now a non-profit a retirement community designed for people 55 years and older with affordable housing. The oldest resident is 101 years old. He is independent and weekly drives himself to a local casino.

All 400 houses on the base were the same. They were duplex Capehart Housing. I flagged down a woman driving a car. She would not take us to see her house. She called the security guard for us. He brought us to the village manager’s office. The manager took us to a guesthouse that had the same configuration our house on 1924A Dogwood Dr.

I showed Brad his first bedroom.

This was the place of Brad Feld’s first bedroom. It has obviously been redecorated.

After visiting the remaining notable sites on the base we headed into downtown Blytheville. I could not remember anything about downtown Blytheville except the New York Store. I bought my first Harris tweed jacket in that store fifty-three years ago. It still fits. I wear it on cold winter nights in Dallas.

I was thrilled to visit Blytheville Arkansas.

I know Brad was thrilled with our visit.

Next stop Memphis Tennessee. Brad was hungry so we stopped in Osceola, Arkansas. I could not find the famous Dixie Pig in Blytheville.

After lunch we were on our way to the Hotel Napoleon in downtown Memphis. We checked in and immediately headed for a 4 PM appointment at Sun Studio, the birthplace of Rock and Roll. We did not have an appointment but thankfully they were able to assign us to the 4.30 PM group.

Sun Studio is a fascinating place. “Sun Studio is known worldwide as “The Birthplace of Rock’n’roll”.

“ It is the discovery location of musical legends and genres of the 50’s from B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf and Ike Turner and Elvis Presley to Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis; from Blues and Gospel to Country and Rock’n’roll.”

One can buy all the old original 45s

Sun Studio is a small place with all the memorabilia Rock and Roll freaks only can love.

Sam Phillips the owner rejected Elvis at first because he was too ordinary. He wanted a new sound. Elvis sang tunes he thought would please Phillips.

When Phillips left the room Elvis started singing tunes he liked to sing. Bingo!, Sam Phillips heard Elvis’ tunes and hired him on the spot. The rest is history.

Brad and I did not have our traditional hot fudge sundae. We settled for chocolate ice cream malts at the Sun Studio soda fountain.

We both needed a rest. It was pouring rain outside so rather than walk in the rain we got an Uber to take us to the Hotel Napoleon.

Dinner was on Beale Street. Beale Street is exciting. It is a little like Nashville’s Music Street and New Orleans condensed into one city block.

We ate in the BB King building’s top floor at Itta Bena. The live blues music during dinner was wonderful. I had lamb chops. They were great.

http://ittabenadining.com/memphis/?utm_source=tripadvisor&utm_medium=referral

After dinner we walked Beale Street.

We stopped into A. Scwab a trading store that was established in 1878 for a real hot fudge sundae.

“In 1876, Jewish immigrant Abraham Schwab opened a store on Beale Street.

Over its 138-year history, A. Schwab has become a Memphis institution, beloved by many generations.

1. Schwab is the only original business remaining on Beale Street.”

It was time to go to sleep. Tomorrow, “We are going to Graceland, Graceland in Memphis Tennessee”.

Graceland is one of the places I have never gone too. I am excited because Elvis was “my man.”

To my surprise Graceland was overwhelming.

The entrance with gift shops, memorabilia and Eliv’s car collections, clothing collections, electronic collections, airplane collection and auto collections are housed across the street from the mansion. I could spend hours there. We only spend two hours going over the collections.

Elvis bought this house in 1957. It was 7,000 square feet. He extended the house to 17,000 square feet. He liked a lot of rooms with a lot of different themes.

He paid $102 500 for the house and 7 acres. The house original cos Dr T Moore 37,636, in 1937.

This is the living room at Graceland. It is a little loud but wait until you see more.

This was his bedroom. Purple is a good color for a bedspread in the 1950s.

This is a billiards room and meeting room. Elvis was into color.

This was Elvis’ playroom. I still have not figured it out.

This is the media room. He have multiple TV. Everyt ime RCA came out with a new one he good it. His love of music resulted in his buying every new media gadget. He love all the electronics of the time.

Elvis was a good looking guy who who was a man of the 1950s and 1960s

He knew how to dress when it was appropriate.

He was a great collector of cars, electronics and man toys.

Here is one of the toys he drove around Graceland.

Here is a toy he would fly around the word in

That is it folks. 

I apologize for not discussing all the chocolate ice cream on this trip. Let me just say we had plenty. We covered every meal.

Except there is one last thing.

Brad gave me a party present for my love of Elvis and his music.

It is a little big on me because he bought an xx large but some safety pins got it to be presentable.

Daniel asked me if we could revisit his birthplace in Boston on one of our next father-son weekend trips. Who could blame him. My answer was why not?

I always have a fabulous time on my weekends with one of my sons.

Remember I lived in Boston for two years when I was an endocrine fellow at the Mass General. I know most of the fun places especially Fenway Park.

Daniel, Boston it is.

The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” are, mine and mine alone.



Copywrite 2006-2018

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Every year I have gone away with each of my sons, Brad and Daniel for a weekend. We just talk about our lives and have a good time being with each other.

I figure it is good for our health. The boys agree.

My readers have had an extremely positive response to past where I have written about these one on one trips.

Readers know my bother and I are very close. He also lives in Dallas. We meet and have a pastrami sandwich together once a month whether we need it or not.

We have also gone away for weekends in the past with all the Feld men, my two sons and my brother’s two sons.

These weekends have been great for all of us. My sons live in Boulder Colorado, Kenny lives in Atlanta and Jon lives in Dallas.

The boys were close as kids. They have not gotten together very much in the last few years.

However, they love the weekends we have had to bond and just have fun.

It has been very difficult to get everyone together the past four years. This year Brad was determined to make it work. He got tickets to the NCAA finals.

The notification said anyone who can come should come. Unfortunately, Daniel could not come. He and his family were going to be in Japan that week.

The Feld Men have officially added a new member to the group. Jon’s son Jack is now 16.

Jack is a very smart kid. He kept up with all of our conversations. He even taught us a bunch of things.

I welcome Jack to the club!

My brother and I took 7.30 am Southwest Airlines flight to Phoenix on Friday March 31.

Kenny, Jon and Jack were not coming in until Saturday at 10.am. Brad was in Scottsdale for the previous month.

Charlie and I decided we wanted to hang out with Steve Hochschuler and his wife Kim all day Friday.

Steve is co-founder of Texas Back Institute. He has been a good friend since 1970. We both graduated from Columbia College.

Steve now lives in Desert Mountain part-time. He and Kim showed us a great time. Desert Mountain is very upscale. There are lots of big houses, and fancy cars.

There are very few trucks in his neighborhood. Steve has been irreverent all of his life. Steve has the biggest truck with the biggest and bad-est tires I have ever seen.

Their house is magnificent. Lunch and diner at local Desert Mountain restaurants were wonderful.

Steve and Kim took us to a neighbor’s house for a wine tasting with food before dinner. Both the wine and the food were out of sight.

They are living the good life.

This was a good start for the weekend. Charlie and I then drove to the Sanctuary in Paradise Valley to meet up with Brad.

The house Brad rented was beautiful. It had a pool and a tennis court with magnificent mountain views.

I was so tired I fell asleep instantly.

On Saturday morning Jon, Kenny and Jack all arrived at 10 am. We went out for breakfast/brunch to a place Brad and Amy found called Scramble.

Scramble looks like a PF Changs with menus on the sidewall as you wait on line to order and choose your food. The have everything from the simple breakfast to the most exotic omelets, waffles and pancakes.

We ate enough breakfast for a week but we were not finished.

Our next stop was Dairy Queen. This old Dairy Queen was a standout in a contemporary designed Scottsdale shopping center.

Neither Jon, Kenny nor Jack ever had a Dairy Queen Blizzard.

Brad and I told them they had to have a Chocolate Extreme Blizzard.

All three were hesitant by finally complied.

They all loved it.

DQ icream thick enough not to spill.

Next back to the Sanctuary and Brad’s house. It was time to hang out with each other.

After a while we all took our Feld traditional afternoon nap.

I learned to nap in a chair as a medical intern in 1963.

The “car” picked us up at 2:15 for a 5:09 starting time for Gonzaga vs. South Carolina. The games were being played at the Arizona Cardinals football field in Glendale Arizona.

It was far from Scottsdale and the traffic on Saturday afternoon was horrible.

Brad had Jon pick the seats because Jon was experienced in watching basketball in a football stadium.

He picked great seats on the 50 yard line in row D of the first deck. The people watching on the floor had to strain their necks. They were always looking up. The playing field was raised a couple of feet.

The North Carolina vs. Oregon game followed. It thought both games stunk. All four teams had terrible shooting percentages.

The television timeouts were endless. They took up more time than the regular timeouts. It became annoying.

The food was the typical terrible stadium food. Some stadiums and arenas I have been to have pretty good food including Coors Field, Fenway Park, the Yankee Stadium and the American Airlines Arena in Dallas.

After the games we found our driver easily. He was a master of heavy traffic driving and got us home nicely.

All of us were bushed except for Jack. He was hungry. He wanted a hamburger at 10:30 pm. I guess this is what happens when you are a sixteen year old.

On Sunday morning we all met at 9:30 a.m. for a 9:45 a.m. reservation at Rita’s Kitchen at the suggestion of Kim Hochschuler.

She took Cecelia and me to Rita’s once before. The atmosphere was as good as ever. It was a two and a half hour brunch.

After brunch some quiet time at the Sanctuary. At about 2:30 I went to the fitness center to work out and then to the pool.

We had a six o’clock reservation at the Wildfish Sea Food Grille in Scottsdale. Jack picked up the fact that the font on the menu and the description of the dishes were the same as Eddie V’s in Dallas.

Everyone wiped out their cell phones to see if there was a relationship. There is. The Darden Restaurant chain owns both restaurants as well as Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Seasons 52 and the Capital Grille.

Three of us had steak and three had fish. The waiter was upset that the chef undercooked the steaks. He complimented desert for the table.

I was afraid we were all going to miss the hot fudge sundaes at the Sugar Bowl in Downtown Scottsdale.

The desert was fair. They did not have chocolate ice cream in the restaurant.

After diner we went back to Brad’s rental house. We all watched 1941. I thought it was the dumbest movie I ever saw.

It was a 1979 flick for teenage boys. My bother and Kenny baled after 20 minutes. I stay to the end. Brad and Jon were teenagers in 1979. They thought it was great then but lousy now.

Monday was the day of the finals between Gonzaga and North Carolina.

We had lunch at a Sports Bar. Then we finally got to the Sugar Bowl to have their fabulous hot fudge sundae.

Brad and me eating at Sugar Bowl

We left for the NCAA Final at 2:30 to beat the traffic for a 6:09 p.m. game.

I will not complain about the traffic in Dallas, Texas anymore. We got to the stadium at 5:30 p.m.

Both teams played a lousy game. Shooting percentage for both was under 40%. Free throw percentage was not much better.

However, the festival of the NCAA final and the excitement of the crowd made the lousy game worth it.

When we arrived at Brad’s house Jack needed a hamburger at 10:30 p.m. again.

I went to sleep immediately because we were leaving for the airport at 5.15 a.m.

I slept on the plane for the entire ride home.

This was another successful “Feld Men’s Trip.” I can’t wait until next year.

The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” are mine and mine alone.

All Rights Reserved © 2006 – 2017 “Repairing The Healthcare System” Stanley Feld M.D.,FACP,MACE

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Stanley Feld M.D.,FACP,MACE

As my readers know every year each of my sons and I go away, separately, for weekend. We love to hang out, catch up with each other and eat plenty of chocolate ice cream.

Brad, my older son, is venture capitalist involved in startup technology companies. I am a retired endocrinologist who is a nerd. I love computer technology.

My wife, Cecelia, insists that I would have gone into compute science rather than medicine if I understood its potential when I was in college.

In my day the computer was a pencil, pencil sharpener and eraser.

My goal has always been to understand how everything works. I love to figure out trends and what will develop in the future.

This was the fifth year that Brad and I went to CES for 5 plus year. We walk the floor together and get a good feel for what is happening.

Brad made a mistake thinking that the exhibition started January 4,2017. The only flight I could get on when I got my ticket to get in to La Vegas at a reasonable time from Dallas was a 7 am flight. It got me to Las Vegas at 8 am. However, he exhibition started at 10 am January 5^th not January 4^th.

It was no problem for me. I walked the entire Venetian Hotel and the Paris Hotel. My lunch was chocolate gelato.

Brad got to the Venetian with his partners Lindel Eakman and Ryan McIntyre at 2.30 pm.

Brad then negotiated a 3,000 square foot suite for the both of us. He gave up our two rooms for one.

We were happy and the hotel was happy because they were out of rooms. Now the Venetian Hotel had an extra room to sell.

We then walked from the Venetian to the Sands to get Brad’s registration badge.

On the way back to the Venetian for our afternoon nap stopped for my second chocolate ice cream of the day,

Brad, Ryan, Lindel, Morris Wheeler (a venture capitalist friend of Brad’s) and I had great dinner at the Lake Side in the Wynn Hotel.

My problem was that no one would share a salad or entrée with me. I am a clean plate guy and had much too much food.

I became sleepy after the large dinner that ended at 9 pm Las Vegas time since I had been up since 4.30 am Dallas time.

However, walking back to the hotel I was ready for another chocolate ice cream.

At 8.45 am Thursday we were on the bus to get to LVCC from the Venetian. Las Vegas transportation authority did not create a bus lane. The one and one quarter mile drive took one hour.

I was starving at 9.45 am. I had no breakfast. I found a Nathan’s Hot Dog stand. I bought a hot dog and a coffee. All I needed was the coffee. The hot dog was great. The coffee was undrinkable. I threw it away.

CES seems to grow each year. This year it covered 2.5 million square feet of showroom space. It is a formidable challenge to walk 2.5 million square feet and see all the products of all the vendors.

I covered 9 miles a day for 3 days according to my Fit Bit.

The largest venue is the (LVCC) Las Vegas Convention Center. The Sands Convention Center was the second largest venue.

LVCC was where the big guys hang out. This year the automated automobile dominated.

For the first three hours we went from exhibit to exhibit quickly.

Brad was forever looking for patterns of innovation. Every few feet someone stopped Brad to ask him a question.

Many wanted to take a picture of Brad with them. Many wanted to take a picture of Brad and me.

The autos in the exhibits were phenomenal. Some of the sensor technology was otherworldly.

I was most impressed with the 3 D printed motorcycle.

A splendid exhibit at LVCC was a small exhibit by Sphero the creator of DB 8 and other Spheros one can control with a smart phone.

Brad is a major investor in Sphero, which originated as a TechStars start-up company.

We were led into the inner sanctum exhibit by Paul Berberian`, the CEO, to see the new products coming out in 2017.

There will be several new products that I believe will be big hits for both kids and adults in the next nine months.

The Sands Convention Center was the exhibit hall for all the start-ups and near start-ups exhibiting.

Eureka Park was where all the action and excitement was for me at CES.

Eureka Park was start-up heaven. This year CES outsourced Eureka Park’s development to TechStars. There were bout 600 vendors this year. Next year TechStars anticipates doubling the exhibitors in Eureka Park.

Brad was scheduled to interview James Park co-founder of Fit Bit at 1 p.m. After the interview I had my lunch in the TechStars green room. It was strawberry yogurt with a bunch of green and white TechStars M&M in the yogurt.

So far it has been a terrible eating day.

After lunch we continued in Eureka Park until 4 pm.

Was anyone tired yet?

We were scheduled to go to the YPO meeting in the LYNKS Hotel after Eureka Park.

Brad met a couple of people as a favor to YPO’s CEO.

The hotel was advertised as being only 1 hotel away from the Venetian. The problem was it was over a mile away from the Sands in the bitter cold. I was done when we got there.

The next get together was a Foundry Group get together in a Mexican restaurant at the Venetian. It was a lot of fun. I spoke to lots of people and met lots of new people.

I was on running on empty. The wonderful people at TechStars begged me to come to their dinner that I was invited to. I tried but had to bale out for a good night’s sleep.

After a great night’s sleep I was determined to have a mellow day. It just did not happen. There were too many things to see and absorb.

I went to Brad’s panel on Diversity.

I spent a lot of time in the area of micro-sensors and their use. We have not seen anything yet folks.

The use in clothing and exercise clothing made my head spin

I also spent a lot of time in the Smart Home and Smart Lighting area.

The night before I left Dallas Cecelia and I watched a Netflix movie entitled IT with Peirce Brosnan. https://dvd.netflix.com/RoleDisplay/Pierce-Brosnan/11699.

It is about the building of a Smart Home and its consequences.

My wife will never let us have a Smart Home after that movie.

I have news for everyone. Singularity is here. We do not have to wait for an Artificial Intelligent world.

It is here and we are living it.

The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” is, mine and mine alone.

All Rights Reserved © 2006 – 2017 “Repairing The Healthcare System” Stanley Feld M.D.,FACP,MACE

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I love spending a weekend each year with each of my sons.

I have done that with Daniel and Brad once a year for at least the last decade.

Daniel picked L.A. this year then, he changed his mind. He wanted to go to Atlanta. He had Tech Stars business in Atlanta on Monday and Tuesday and his 25^th Emory homecoming on Saturday.

He figured he would kill three birds with one stone. I would love mingling with young people (47 year olds) at the 25^th college reunion.

The plan was to meet up on Friday afternoon at 2:30 pm at the Atlanta airport.

I would go to Atlanta Thursday morning and spend twenty-four hours with one of my best friends Dr. Albert Padwa, Professor Emeritus at Emory University, now an accomplished artist/sculptor.

Al and I have been buddies since the second grade at P.S.70 in the Bronx. We both went to Wade Jr. High School and Taft High School in the Bronx.

We competed with each other in a very friendly way. We were considered the smartest kids in the class.

We both went to Columbia College and graduated in the Class of 59. I went on to Medical School. Al got a PhD in Chemistry. He did that instead of medicine because he could not tolerate the sight of blood.

He became a famous free radical organic chemist at Emory University.

We have been pals for 73 years.

When Daniel went to Emory as an undergraduate Al and his wife looked after him.

Al and I spent a great day together going over old times and some old adventures.

First, we went to Emory’s chemistry building to see his mobiles. He has mobiles all over the new chemistry building. They are truly excellent.

picture

Next, we went to his house to see his mobiles and stabiles. I fell in love with two of them. I think he will give me one of his stabiles for my backyard.

I showed Brad my pictures of Al’s work. He wants to buy one.

On Friday morning we went to Piedmont Park. Piedmont Park is one of the great botanical gardens in the world.

The next morning we went to the Atlanta version of the New York City’s High Line, the Atlanta Beltline Eastside Trail.

Large Cities are finally figuring out how to make themselves livable.

On the trail we had lunch in an old reconditioned factory. I had a delicious shrimp roll.

Then, we then drove out to the airport to pick up Daniel. Al wanted to hang out with Daniel in the afternoon. We had a great time finding an ice cream parlor in Al’s neighborhood the Virginia Highlands.

As soon as we walked into the lobby we saw a bunch of Daniel’s fraternity brothers. I knew most of them. We shot the bull for a while (2 hours) before we ever got to our room.

We went downstairs immediately because we were now late in getting to Kenny and Lisa Feld’s house.

Kenny is my brother Charlie Feld’s son. Daniel is one year older than Kenny. I love Kenny and Lisa.

Brad is one year older than Jon, Charlie’s other son.

The boys spent many weekends together when Cecelia and I left town for a date weekend. Charlie and his wife took care of my kids. Each couple watched the other couple’s kids for date weekends.

We have a wonderful evening with them and their two kids, Sidney and Dillon.

Kenny then drove us to some bar near Virginia Highlands for the first official homecoming event. Daniel’s class had a bigger representation than most of the other reunion years.

The opening event was much different than my 25^th Reunion at Columbia. I had fun at the Emory Reunion opening night. The noise was deafening.

We went back to the hotel via Uber. The Uber driver convinced me to download Waze. It is an excellent GPS. Waze is one hundred times better than the GPS in both my Lexus’. Lexus needs to learn something from them.

At ten am Saturday morning we were on the way to the World of Coca Cola. I have been to Atlanta several times but have never been to the World of Coca-Cola.

My visits have always been for business. I never made time to visit Atlanta for fun. Daniel and I had a great time tasting all the Coca Cola products produced all over the world. Frankly, some of them were awful. However, I am sure they fit the taste of that individual country.

The most precious time was just talking to each other about life goals and our philosophy of life.

Next stop was a Mexican fast food place in downtown Atlanta. It was better than I had expected.

After lunch we walked across the park to the National Collegiate Hall of Fame. I did not know it existed. I enjoyed that very much.

I picked out the Columbia College helmet. We always had the worst team in the Ivy League. The museum had all the helmets of all the collegiate leagues and biographies of all the college stars in the Hall of Fame.

It was over 90 degrees when we went to the Emory Reunion Lawn Party. I was so hot I lasted only about an hour. The instructions I got to get back to the hotel were terrible. After a two-hour hike I stopped a woman to ask how far the hotel was from here. We got into a nice conversation as she started walking me to the hotel.

We passed her car on the way to the hotel. She said “why don’t I drive you to the hotel?”

I guess she saw how overheated I was and how horrible I looked. I accepted with great relief.

In the hotel room I took a cold shower. I remembered my days at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas when someone would come into the ER with heat stroke and we put them in an ice cube filled bathtub.

I feel much better in ten minutes.

Daniel came home just before the next event. He needed a cold shower too.

Down to the lobby and off to Turner Field for the next event. It is all about reuniting will friends, some of whom you haven’t seen in 25 years.

The barbeque was good but not as good as Sonny Bryan’s or Dickey’s in Dallas.

The conversations were wonderful. Daniel’s classmates (men and women) were as dressed up as you can be in 2016.

I had a great time that weekend. In the hotel room Daniel and I talked for a while. I was off to the airport relatively early on Sunday having once again spending a wonderful weekend with one of my sons.

The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” are, mine and mine alone.

All Rights Reserved © 2006 – 2016 “Repairing The Healthcare System” Stanley Feld M.D.,FACP,MACE

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Stanley Feld M.D., FACP, MACE

Every year Brad and I go away somewhere to just hang out, eat a lot of ice cream and a couple of fancy meals. Daniel and I do the same drill on a separate weekend.

Both boys and I feel it is very good for our health and spirit. When they were teenagers and young men I felt good because I had the opportunity to teach them something when we were alone.

Those days are long past. I am the one that learns from them and their view of life. I relish the opportunity to just to be with them alone and talk about their life and their worldviews.

Brad and I can walk for hours just talking.

Brad always has me pick the city. This year I picked Chicago. I know Brad’s been to Chicago 100 times. He was the lead investor in Chicago based Feedburner and was on the board of directors.

I guessed Brad had never been on the Chicago Architecture Foundation River Cruise. I have done that tour three (3). It is a very educational experience. Brad knows a good deal about architecture but had never been on the Chicago River Cruise.

The cruise and the Chicago Cubs is the reason I picked a trip to Chicago.

We both got into Chicago about ten a.m. on Friday May 6^th. I had a terrible time getting through security at DFW airport even with TSA Pre. I have had TSA Pre early on and never had a two block line at DFW airport. Something funny is going on with TSA.

The ride from O’hare was not bad because the driver took the side streets.

Brad booked two rooms at the Peninsula Hotel.

It was getting late after checking in, talking and playing with all the electronic toys in the room. We had tickets for a 1.00 p.m. River Cruise.

We had a quick lunch at Rosebud on Rush. I had eaten there before. The pasta was excellent.

We then walked the mile to the River Cruise port just below the Michgan Avenue bridge.

As we walked over the bridge guess what we saw?

Donald Trump is ubiquitous even in Chicago. Actually, this is the first building the tour guide told us about.

The Wrigley building is a wonderful building. It was the first building we went into after the boat tour because it has a Ghiradeli ice cream store.

Brad and I usually have chocolate ice cream twice a day during our weekends together.

Let us get back to the River cruise. The cruise gives one the opportunity to see Chicago and the tremendous architecture along the riverfront from a viewpoint one never sees on the city streets. Chicago has done a wonderful job it showing what can be accomplished using the riverfront as an asset for revitalizing g a city.

I think I have made my point. This is a tour that should not be missed.

After our ice cream we walked the mile back to the hotel. Along the way we stopped in a few stores. We stopped in Disney’s store to see the BB-8 display, the Garmin store, the Nike store, and the Under Armour store.

Along the way we talked politics, philosophy, economics and life in general.

It was time for a half hour nap. Brad and I are both experts on napping. He claims I taught him how to nap.

Next we were off to Swift and Sons for dinner. We met Brad’s friend Jeff Hyman for a drink at Swift and Sons before dinner. I love meeting Brad’s friends. I always learn a lot from them. Brad had invested in one of Jeff’s companies a while ago.

After drinks Brad and I had dinner and talked more. After dinner we were trying to figure out where to have chocolate ice cream. A chocolate ice cream sundae just showed up for both of us with the following note from Phil Nadel of Florida.

Our Chocolate Ice Cream

The note was in response to Brad’s blog post pre our Chicago trip in which he said,

“My only regret about my father son trip with my dad is that we’ve only been doing it for a decade. I wish we had started 40 years ago. If you are a father and your son is at least ten years old, I strongly encourage you to consider this tradition. If you are a son and you are at least 20 years old, I encourage you to take the initiative and just start doing this with your dad.”

I second this comment. I also suggest you open Brad’s link and read the comment section.

On Saturday morning Brad went for a long run along Lake Michigan. I intended to go for a short run (3 miles). I went outside. It was 48 degrees with a strong wind coming from the north. I went back into the Peninsula Hotel and up to its exercise room. It was good enough for me.

Next was the Chicago Cubs game. The game started at 3 p.m. Brad’s partner Jason Mendelson arranged a 12.30 pm tour of Wrigley Field for us.

We had to go to Giardino Pizza which was right across the street on Rush. I had forgot it takes forever to cook a Giardino’s Pizza. We had to down the pizza, then get an Uber to get us to Wrigley Field in time for the tour.

The pizza was great but the eating experience was lousy.

We met our tour guide in front of the Ernie Banks statue.

I look a little stuffed because I had all the clothes I brought in my suitcase on for the game. I wore three undershirts, two button down shirts, one cashmere sweater and a Cubs T shirt.

Brad was still shivering from his run on the lake. He went to the Cubs store and bought a sweatshirt hoody and hat.

The guide took us all around the ballpark showing us the renovations historical elements and collected mementoes.

The Cubs have been a perennial losing team. In the last few years, under Manager Joe Madden, the Cubs become a pennant contender. On May 7^th they had the best record in their division and in all National League divisions.

Thanks to Jason Mendelson and his friendship with the Cubs present owner Brad and I had the best seats in the house. We had a chance to see how Joe Madden manages the team.

It was a fabulous game. The National were first in the eastern division. The lead changed hands 3 times during the game. The Cubs beat the Washington Nationals 8 to 5 in a superbly managed baseball game by both Joe Madden and the Nationals Dusty Baker.

Both managers used almost their bench.

After the game we had dinner at Coco Pazzo with Troy Henikoff (who runs Techstars Chicago) and his wife Kristin (a Columbia College graduate and lawyer). They are two lovely people. The conversation was stimulating. I always learn a lot from Brad’s friends. Thank you Brad.

We walked a mile and a half from Coco Pazzo to the Peninsula at 11 pm. It was warmer than the game time temperature.

We were tired but we are heading home in the morning.

This last picture is at the airport after another unforgettable weekend with Brad.

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