Happy Independence Day!

This 4th of July weekend I plan on doing a number of patriotic, all-American things.  First, I plan on watching baseball games (nothing particularly new or special there - I'm a huge sports nut).  Baseball and American flags waving just seem to go hand-in-hand.  I reference, on left, a guide to the flags of Wrigley Field.  I just LOVE this illustration and many of the others from the same era.  Check out this neat website of Cubs scorecard art through the years and remind me why I don't study the history of something more like this. Many of the drawings were done by the same artist who did many of Wrigley gum's early ad campaigns.

After checking in on my favorite National League (Cubs) and American League (Twins) teams, I plan on drinking a Leinenkugels beer.  While I usually give Wisconsin a pretty hard time, those guys really got it right with this beer.  The Leiny's factory in Chippewa Falls is pretty much the beer version of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.    

Once I've completed one or more delicious midwestern brews, I plan on eating about four Hebrew National hot dogs.  Hebrew National's slogan is "We Answer to a Higher Authority," and boy do they ever, those things are damn good.  Man, if you think I'm bad, it could be so much worse.  Seriously (if you only click on one link today, let it be this one).

I also plan on participating in the great American tradition of blowing crap up (or watching others professionally blow crap up).

On the academic side of things, my research really sped up this week in the archives.  I set a new personal record for most time spent with a single box last week while working on the Committee on Anthropological Research in Museums (CARM) records.  I immediately broke that record when looking though the very next box. Thankfully, God heard my prayers and the last couple of boxes were filled with only moderately useful documents. 

In other words, I've been productive enough to take a long weekend over the next few days.  I have to keep reminding myself that I still have a few more weeks to scratch a few more things off the summer to-do list.  And yet, I still feel like I've blinked and missed half of the summer.

Have fun this weekend!  And please be careful if you plan on blowing anything up yourself.  You need most if not all of your fingers to read this blog the rest of the summer.