Fun weekend

First off and most importantly - Happy birthday Corey!!! Can you believe it? 26 years old!


I'm still sick, but luckily Corey got me to a Doctor within 24 hours of when it first hit. The Doctor put me on Tamiflu and that stuff really works. I've heard from others that had the flu that it could be a lot worse and last a lot longer than it seems to be for me. The Tamiflu speeds it along. I'm not feverish anymore, but still achy and I have a horrible cough.

I should have rested more than I did, but I wanted to spend time with Marcia and Larry (Corey's parents, for those of you that don't know), who were in town.

While they were here, we mostly ate and shopped. I had to miss out on the river boat tour and the first half of the morning on Saturday because I wasn't feeling well enough.

We also saw a movie called, Young at Heart. It's a documentary about a group of senior citizens that go on tour as a choir singing punk rock and roll songs. It's hilarious to hear old people sing, "I want to be Sedated" by The Ramones or Sonic Youth's, "Schizophrenia." It's an Indy film so I don't imagine it'll be out for long. I highly recommend it!


Again, Corey Happy Birthday. I hope this year is the best year ever!

- Mo

Funny, She Doesn't Look Flu-ish

Mo is sick. She's got the flu.

The good news, it came on after the Gilda's Club weekend in Rock Island. That all happened without a hitch, and we had a friggin' blast. The "All Star" ComedySportz match was tremendous. It was me, Sarah, Josh from KC and Patrick from RI vs. Mo, Big G from RI, and Pete and Nikki from KC. Jeff D. reffed and Jeff A. was in the booth. Are you kidding me? Crazy funny. Huge laughter all night long. That was one of my favorite comedy shows in a long time. Every game hit big and it was a true ensemble performance, as every one of us had moments where we shined. Afterwards, Mo and I performed our sketch show, the first time we had ever done a full show. It went really well. Sure there were some areas that we found we wanted to tweak, but overall it went great. It was great to get laughs where we weren't sure it was still funny, and also when we didn't expect it. I'm really proud of our work, and excited to see where it will go as we continue to write more and improve upon what we currently have.

The bad news, Mo is getting sick right before my folks get into town for a visit. Also, it means we have to cancel out of our show this Friday at The Playground, part of Grafitti. She's feeling a little better today than yesterday, but still achy and with a sore throat. Her fever comes and goes, but is mostly gone. We're both cranking ourselves full of Tamiflu and Vitamin C, but I still feel like I'm a ticking time bomb, with my flu symptoms ready to explode any moment. Let's hope they don't.

- Corey

Upcoming Shows

"The Union," our sketch comedy show has a couple of upcoming shows.

* Friday, April 18th, 8pm - Cornservatory.

We are opening for Atilla's Imagination Station a great independent improv team that is making a name for themselves in Chicago.

* Saturday, April 19th, 10pm - ComedySportz Quad Cities presents Gilda's Weekend of Laughter.

Much like Broadway, we are opening our full show on the road. Check us out if you're in Rock Island this weekend.

* Friday, April 25th, 10pm - Playground, part of 'GRAFITTI Presents.'

This is another chance for us to work on new material.

If you can't make it to any of these, no worries. It's all leading to a big showcase and hopefully a run at iO. We'll let you know about that as soon as we know, we'll need all the support we can get.

The Madrittmasters are going to Spain!

Normally tax time is burdensome for us. Typically, because of my self employment, we end up owing money. Knowing this, we've been setting aside money all year long. We expected to owe quite a bit. We were delighted when we found out that not only do we not owe as much as we thought, we actually get a little back. Our tax guy is a genius!

So, to celebrate our hard work, the Madrittmasters are going to Spain! I'd been researching it for a while, but didn't know if it could actually happen.

I'm so excited that I can hardly sit still. We're even going to spend a couple days in Lisbon, Portugal. This September we'll fly to Lisbon for 2 days, then Madrid for 3 days where I'll spend my birthday. Next we'll take a 2 1/2 hour train ride to Seville, where Corey will of course get a haircut. Additionally, it's a sister city to Kansas City, and in fact the Plaza is modeled after it. Since we were married on the Plaza, it makes it particularly special to be able to have a late anniversary celebration in Seville. After two days there, we'll take a short train ride to Granada for two days. Finally we'll spend 12 hours overnight on a train up to Barcelona where we'll spend the last 3 days of our vacation before heading back home.

This is an absolute dream come true for me! Looks like we'll be there during some cool festivals and every time we research online we find more amazing things happening there. It makes all our extra hard work worth it.

Next up... learn Spanish.

Adios!

- Monique

Family Portrait

Sears had a sale, so we took the family to capture a moment in time. A moment before the kids are all grown up and moved away. A moment while our foreign exchange student Bing Bong was still with us. A moment captured forever, hanging over the mantleplace in our den. We'll always be able to admire this moment as we sit here as a family, playing our brand new Atari game system and watching this new television programming on a Music Television channel.

- The Wilkerson Family

The Shot

Wow. Simply wow. And in the post game press conference the guy couldn't be more humble. He makes possibly the biggest shot in Kansas basketball history, and he's all "aw shucks" about the attention. Amazing.

Down 9 points with 2:12 seconds to go. How many of you thought it was over? I'll admit there were thoughts in my head that we had it, but gave the game away in the final minute. When Derrick Rose chucked up that shot-clock beating prayer that banked in I thought "if those kinds of shots are going to fall for them, maybe it just isn't meant to be."

But we had plenty of those "Team of Destiny" moments ourselves. Especially Mario's shot, seen above. Some interesting parallels to the 1988 KU National Championship team:

1988 KU plays 1st and 2nd round in Nebraska (Lincoln). 2008 KU plays 1st and 2nd round in Nebraska (Omaha).
1988 KU plays Sweet 16 and Regional Finals in Detroit. 2008 KU plays Sweet 16 and Regional Finals in Detroit.
1988 KU is led by a relunctant star, Danny Manning who wears jersey #25. 2008 KU is led by a reluctant star, Brandon Rush who wears jersey #25.
1988 Championship Game hero is Danny Manning, who's father is on the bench as a KU assistant. 2008 Championship Game hero is Mario Chalmer, who's father is on the bench as a KU assistant (Dir. of Basketball Operations).
1988 Finals referees included Ed Hightower. 2008 Finals ref crew includes Ed Hightower.

Cool, huh? All I know is, I left the bathroom light on last night when I left the house to go watch the game. Additionally, my cousin Anne is the smartest person I know. When asked if she wanted a KU Final Four t-shirt, she answered "No thanks. I'm waiting for the National Championship t-shirt." Awesome.

- Corey

CHAMPS!

84-66

Yeah, remember that worry? Uh, nevermind.

See you on Monday for the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME!

Current Mood: Like you have to ask.

- Corey

Halftime Update

OK, so I'm not sure what to say exactly. Halftime score, 44-27, KU leads. Watching the first 15 minutes of the first half, I was all geared up to say this was the greatest performance this team has displayed all season. After the last 5 however, they went from phenomenal to fair. Still, the team gets a first half grade of an A. It would have been an A+ if not for that last five minutes.

But we're up 17! On North Carolina! In the Final Four! We're doing pretty much anything we want to out there. After the sloppiness of the last few minutes, the Jayhawks need to get back to what got them the big lead in the first place: going back inside, getting Arthur and Jackson the ball on the blocks.

Strangely, even though we have a 17 point lead, I'm not completely comfortable. Maybe it's because we were up 28 until Carolina went on a big run late. In other words, if we're not careful, this big lead will evaporate in a hurry. We have to keep the pressure on and keep up the incredible defense.

Halftime mood: Hyperly optimistic, with just a touch of worry in the way back of my mind.

See you after the game.

- Corey

The Final Four

It's about an hour before tip-off and it's a mix of excitement, nervousness and anticipation at my house. My cousin Anne (fellow KU alum) is coming over to watch the game with me and Mo. We're feeling a little too uneasy to go out and watch this game in public. Also, we watched the Davidson game together here, so why mess with karma? I'm thinking that if KU can hit their outside shots, they'll be fine. When the Jayhawks are on, they're the best team in the country. When they make dumb turnovers and can't hit threes, they're very beatable (see Oklahoma State). We shall see. Regardless, it's been a terrific season, and it's great for head coach Bill Self to finally get that monkey off his back and make a Final Four. I don't think it'll be his last, I just hope that future ones are as the Kansas coach, also.

That said, after the football team's amazing year, culminating with that incredible Orange Bowl win, this would be impressive finish for KU athletics in general. I'm just sayin'.

All in all, though, pre-game feeling: a wreck. I may be back with a halftime update, or at least a post-game wrap up. I need another beer right now.

- Corey

You know you've MADE IT when...

You know you've made it as an actor when you get paid to dress up as good and bad cholesterol.

Ahh, getting paid to distribute flyers while doing bits all for a drug company at 5:30am in the cold rain on opening day at Wrigley Field.

It would've been miserable if it weren't for the fact that it paid well. Look how happy Corey is!