Where can I buy my "I Love Detroit" t-shirt? From The Detroit News:

Judge Nancy Alida Farmer will determine if authorities have enough evidence to order Mathis to trial in Wayne County Circuit Court on allegations he touched himself in a sexual manner in front of a district administrator while meeting in his office.

Mathis tried to take back his resignation June 18, but board members cited a Michigan attorney general's opinion that declares unconditional resignations from elected public office take effect immediately. Mathis admitted in a letter to board members he committed inappropriate actions and said health problems contributed to his poor judgment.

"I am following up with my doctors because I need to pursue treatment, and because I want to make sure that what happened doesn't ever happen again," Mathis, a cancer survivor, wrote to board members.

Let's read between the lines, shall we? He lawyer told him to say he had health issues because he could get some sympathy with the ignorant people on the jury.

Detroit rocks!

Ellen DeGeneres is leaving American Idol. Raise your hand if you really care.

If you have a few million dollars hanging around, there is a very nice estate up for auction in Novi. It was originally $18 million, but with it facing foreclosure, you can get it for less:

The estate is packed with princely perks: five bedroom suites, a bowling alley, steam room, wine vault and a media room with a herringbone leather floor. Outside: $5 million worth of landscaped waterfalls, a pool with a 60-foot-long water slide and a par-three golf hole.

If only I could remember where in the backyard I buried that can of money...

We have returned from our week at the cottage in Shelby, MI. We had great weather for the first five days, though we did get some rain the last two. Our cottage was just a few minutes walk to Lake Michigan and we spent a little time at the beach almost every day.

There were some sleeping issues. For Elena and, in turn, us. We had thunderstorms most nights, and those would scare Elena, so Andrea had to sleep with her for a while on those nights. They even woke me up, so they were loud storms.

Our big discovery were the doughunts at the Cherry Point Farm and Market. We also had those most mornings, along with the little travel size boxes of cereal that Elena and I ate. I used to love those when I went camping, and even though we're not camping, I'm carrying on a tradition.

Also at the Cherry Point Farm was the fish broil, where they boiled whitefish, potatoes, and onions in a big cauldron and we sat around picnic tables. It was B.Y.O.B., or, in our case, wine. And while we waited for our food to be served, we walked through the herb garden, which Elena called a maze.

Ice cream was a regular feature of our day. We ate it in Silver Lake (twice), Pentwater (twice), and New Era. My favorite was the Whippy Dip which had the best soft serve ice cream I've ever had. But the Dairy Store in New Era was also very good, and it came from cows right behind the store.

So to conclude, this year's trip involved much better weather than last year's, lots of ice cream, and lots of swimming.

For Skip's birthday yesterday, we went to Buddies in East Lansing. I had the Southern Nachos, which were very good (I wrote a post on Michigan Foodies), though they didn't top the Nachos Supreme. Elena kept wanting to use the bathroom, but at least she is going now. We'll get her potty trained yet!

Lunch today was not as good, but I do like Arby's. I went to the one on MLK near Holmes, the one next to what used to be EDS. The building is now empty, and EDSers (now HP) having been moved to parts east. I remember working the night shift on the helpdesk and watching a car sitting in the parking lot, then having another car pull right up next to it for a minute, and then both cars driving away. Drug deal, or just friendly guys in a parking lot at 3am? You decide.

Happy birthday Skip! See you in about... two hours.

The U.S. government seems to hate people who want to use their God-given freedom to travel, as anyone who has dealt with the TSA can attest to. To make things even better:

Passport and passport card fees are going up by as much as 50% starting Tuesday.

Even travelers who simply need to add pages to their passports -- a service that was free -- will pay $82 now.

I read in National Review that the actual U.S. debt, including state and local debt and unfunded liabilities like Social Security, is not the pathetically tiny $14 trillion, but an impressively unpayable $130 trillion. So maybe is the time the government is starting to screw us to pay for their massive, relentless spending. Hope and change!

We are back from a busy weekend in parts north. On Saturday, I took part in the 15k, part of the Cherry Festival in Traverse City. I ran a respectable (to me) pace of 8:31/m, which is a good pace for me over that distance.

But that just began the fun of my day. After that, we went to the beach where Elena got to enjoy splashing around in the bay before we headed to the midway. I rode the elephant rides with Elena and Andrea took her down the burlap bag slide, which I used to love at Cedar Point.

We ate lunch at Amical, a favorite of mine, and I gorged on olive twists. But that was OK, since I had burned all that energy during the race. I also had a turkey and prosciutto sandwich. That was alright, but I prefer their pizza. We also watched the parade go down Front Street. One of the floats was sponsored by the MSU alumni association, and the band played the fight song, so the rest of the weekend, Elena was singing "Fight, fight, fight, green, fight!" Hey, it's close enough.

On Sunday, Andrea did the Interlochen triathlon in the state park and she beat her goal time by 13 seconds. The weather for both of our events was great. Now it is Monday, and we can both rest from our weekend.

Finally, coffee worth $4 a cup:

Hot Spot Coffee Co. — set to open in Brighton Township on Aug. 1 — will deliver customers more than just a daily dose of caffeine and a smile.

The baristas — a collection of slim, attractive women typically in their 20s — will wear lingerie, bikinis and other sexy outfits while serving customers their choice of beverages.

This is why I'm not a coffee drinker, objectifying women like that. Who wants to see women in bikinis serve coffee, anyways? I mean, besides every man on the planet. Offensive and scandalous.

I went to Cedar Point yesterday on a brutally hot day. Add to that it was a holiday weekend - technically a Monday, but lots of people had the day off, including me - and it was not the best time to go. But, beggars can't choosers.

The biggest disappointment was that Shoot the Rapids, their new ride, was shut down. The one time I actually want to ride a water ride, and it was broken.

But, I got to ride Max Air, Millennium Force, and Sky Hawk, among others. And, of course, the Mine Ride. And I ate at a new (to me) McDonald's in Sylvania, OH. So I'll take what I can get.

So what have I been up to? I'm glad you asked. On Saturday, Andrea, Elena, dad, Denice, and I took the 8:30 AM train from East Lansing to Chicago. Elena enjoyed the train. The trip out, we sat in the seats at the end of the car and she had extra room to play. We also brought The Aristocats and that entertained her for quite a while. I'm not a firm believer in portal DVD players for children.

We arrived in Chicago on-time, and after a taxi driver attempted to take us to the wrong hotel, we arrived at the Residence Inn Chicago Downtown/River North and checked into our 4th-floor room. Then we were off, because it was lunchtime.

My first choice, Xoco, had a twenty-minute wait and limited seating. We moved on to Rosebud, just a block from our hotel. We had a nice lunch while watching the U.S. lose in the World Cup. I had a very large "hero" sandwich with fries for only $9, much less than I thought I would pay in Chicago. And Elena really liked the waiter Jason, even giving him a picture of Boots the monkey from her Dora coloring book.

We moved onto Navy Pier where we rode the Ferris Wheel, then Elena rode the Lighthouse twice. The Lighthouse is a little ride that bounces up and down, kind of like a tiny Tower of Terror. She loved it.

We also enjoyed some Haagen Dazs and walked to the end of the pier for a beer in the beer garden. It was a beautiful day, so we walked to the Ohio Street beach so Elena could splash around in Lake Michigan. Our busy day done, we headed back to the restaurant. Andrea went to Havana for take-out. I had the Pollo a la Caserola which was fantastic. And since I was still not very hungry after our ice cream at Navy Pier, I had leftovers for the train ride home! Thank goodness for kitchenettes.

Sunday began rainy, so we took the bus to Navy Pier again and went to the Children's Museum. This was our second visit, our first being when Elena was a year and a half. She really got into some of the exhibits, so we didn't get very far. First, she decided to be a Chicago firefighter, a noble profession:

Next, she climbed up a rope tunnel and over a rope bridge:

And for the piece de resistance, she splashed around in the water room. Impression 5 has one too, but Chicago's is, of course, much bigger.

Speaking of Impression 5, since we are members of that museum and the Chicago Children's Museum is affiliate museum, so four of the five of us got in free. That right there is worth the membership costs.

We ate lunch at Capi's, a half-sit-down, half-fast food Italian restaurant at Navy Pier. Andrea, Elena, and I had eaten there once before, but Elena loves pasta, so we were game to go again. Just like last time, the employees were fast and very friendly. I had the pepperoni pizza, which was very good and big enough to share… but just a piece.

Back on the bus and back to our hotel for Elena's nap. Andrea headed up to the fitness room to continue training for another triathlon, and I laid in bed and read, training for being lazy. We both succeeded in our goals.

Once Elena was up from her nap, we went to the 27th floor pool for a swim. Well, Elena swim and we held her up in the water. It was relatively quiet until a half-dozen other kids showed up and made the pool unpleasantly crowded and noisy. Maybe it was just me.

Dinner was at the Grand Lux Cafe, home of the chocolate soufflé that Andrea so loves. This was the first time that we didn't have to wait for a table, which was fantastic. In fact, the restaurant wasn't full at any time during our dinner. We arrived a little early, about 5:00, but it was still surprising to see empty tables.

The Grand Lux is very generous with their portions. Knowing this, and knowing the wonderful desserts following, we ate relatively light. We started with a fried pickle appetizer, which were quite good, enough so that I would eat them again. That was followed by potato spring rolls and crispy flautas, both of which were excellent. Andrea had her "oozing chocolate center" dessert and I had the cheesecake, which I enjoyed.

After an early bedtime for all of us, the next morning, we took the Red Line to Shedd Aquarium. We got there just after it opened to avoid the long lines which are typically out the down and down the stairs. After checking out the Caribbean Reef, my favorite exhibit, we watched Fantase, a cheesy, Disneyfied show (without the Disney quality) involved some sort of queer-looking fairies interacting with the animals. Hint to aquarium: Just show us the dolphins and whales and sea lions. We don't care about the other crap.

We did more fish watching before locating Andrea's moray eel lurking in it's tank. This eel was there for our first trip to Chicago, and Andrea wanted to pay it a visit again. Yep, still there.

For lunch, we walked to Grant Park for the Taste of Chicago. Lots of great food there. My favorite were the pierogies with sour cream. It wasn't a cheap meal, but it was diverse, and it was a beautiful day, as you can see from the picture.

While Elena splashed in Crown Fountain in Millennium Park, I returned to the hotel to finish packing and get us out of the hotel for our 2:00 PM late checkout. And then I relaxed in the hotel lobby, looking out over Dearborn Street and reading Forest Mage.

When everyone returned to the hotel, we returned to Union Station for our 4:30 train back to East Lansing. The boarding process was horribly organized, and everyone was confused about which gate to go through, when we could go through the gate, who was able to enter the "pre-boarding" area. Complete lack of communication. But we made it.

Elena had a good ride home, alternating between laying on Andrea and my laps and sitting with dad and Denice. Our train arrived after 9:00 and the car was covered with leaves and bugs - bad parking spot - but we got home safe and sound.