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Teching things to extremes
Two years ago, Todd Green was happy with his Blackberry. Or so he thought. Then he went to his son’s basketball practice, where another dad hanging out in the bleachers was showing off this new contraption called an iPhone. “He starts to show me some of the stuff on it, and I’m like — this is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,” Green says.

What I learned when I failed
My topic is failure. I could talk to you about the failure of others. Instead, I would like to talk to you about my own failure, as experienced in the Boy Scouts, in the Order of the Arrow. The Order of the Arrow is a special honor society focused on leadership and dedicated to service.

Today’s perpetrators of gas pump thievery
Like a Fourth of July crescendo of fireworks, our gasoline prices are rising higher and higher. While this is tough on consumers, we’re assured by a covey of tongue-clucking industry analysts that nothing can be done about it, for it’s simply the law of supply and demand in action — so suck it up, and pay up.

LETTERS
Yes, Gov. Pat Quinn can veto the budget, but that won’t happen. It would be better to take back the Illinois General Assembly members’ initiative money ($500 million this budget) and use it to balance the budget.

welcomehomepoem #1
the new AC unit upstairs fills with water there’s no way to drain it easily spent a lot of time mopping no way to keep it from leaking turned it off dragged bedding down-stairs slept on the floor demi already asleep on the couch up at four checked...

When will Lisa Madigan come out of hiding on tax hike?
Every Republican governor this state has had for the past 40 years has raised taxes. Republican legislators and most of their leaders have always been involved with those tax hikes.

Private hell
On June 8, Robert Foor filed a grievance with the Illinois Department of Corrections seeking a transfer out of Tamms Correctional Center and into a mental health prison, plus proper treatment and medication. Last week, on June 23, Foor was found unresponsive in his cell, and within hours was pronounced dead at Union County Hospital.

New nonprofit plans fitness center for the disabled
As Illinois prepares to slash funding for, and effectively shut down, social service and nonprofit organizations, Kerry Jennings is working to launch Chrysalis Independence Foundation, Inc. — a nonprofit that plans to build a fitness center for Springfield’s lowincome and disabled communities.

Singing with the stars
In just the past year, Cassy and Alyssa Gaddis, teenage sisters from Springfield, have become the bright-eyed faces of the National Guard music campaign.

What price speed?
President Barack Obama announced his plan for a national network of speedy passenger trains in April by painting a scene familiar to high-speed rail utopians. “Imagine boarding a train in the center of a city.

Korean War National Museum comes to downtown Springfield
Springfield resident Larry Benson served in the Korean War, working first as a radarman and then for a chaplain. Last Friday, Benson joined dozens of other veterans from central Illinois and around the nation on the Old State Capitol Plaza to celebrate the grand opening of the Korean War Museum’s exhibit in the old Osco storefront.

Be mean to weeds
Last week in between the rain showers, I finally had the opportunity to tend to my flower beds. While not the most enjoyable outdoor task, weeding is necessary. Remember the saying, “one year of seeds equals seven years of weeds.” That is enough motivation to get me to pull weeds in this heat, humidity and mud.

Everything’s just peachy
It’s one of my earliest sensory memories: climbing our old white peach tree, picking one of the rosy fruits, and taking a big bite. The taste was sweet, floral, delicate — almost ethereal. The peach had been basking in the sun, and the hot sticky juice ran down my chin as I ate.

Away We Go a trip well worth taking
Finding themselves expecting a baby and a bit displaced, Burt and Verona (Krasinski and Rudolph) decide to set out to find a place that they can call home. They decide to visit various married couples they know in order to see if they might live in a compatible community.

More robotic nonsense in Transformers 2
Yet, for some odd reason, I had a relatively good time, though I have an appointment with my doctor to check for hearing loss.

Movie times
Kerasotes listings are for Thursday, July 2 through Thursday, July 9. All times are subject to change. For updates on Kerasotes films, call 1-800-FANDANGO. For reviews of other films, visit www.illinoistimes.com..

Brad Elvis of The Handcuffs
Honestly Abe, what an incredible selection of live music goings on are going on around Springfield this weekend. From shows around the lake and neighboring town fireworks shindigs, the downtown Capital City Bicentennial Celebration and American Music Stage to all the regular bar business bands, it’s a regular once in a 200-year gala event.

PUB CRAWL
8:30pm-12am. The Good Year Pimps with special guests Heart Felt Sorrow.

BAND SPOTLIGHT
Conceived by Bill McKenzie (bass, vocals) as a “collection of local musicians from different bands who get together now and again for recording projects of live performances around particular themes,” the Aspect is not your average, everyday band.

THE CALENDAR
Capital City Bicentennial Celebration

FESTIVAL
This isn’t just a festival – this is a big party honoring the 200 th birthday of Springfield’s most famous resident, Abraham Lincoln, in concurrence with Independence Day.

FOOD
Fried oyster poor boys, BBQ shrimp, pulled pork horseshoes, Mediterranean tofu salad, ribeye sandwiches, West African gumbo, grilled chicken portabella, risotto, gourmet desserts and more. If you think your mouth is watering now, wait until you try these delicious entrees prepared by downtown Springfield restaurants.

FIREWORKS
Feast your eyes on the Fourth of July night sky as it fills with explosions of color and light. The Capital City Bicentennial Celebration concludes with fireworks above the Capitol building at 9:30 p.m. simulcast to music on radio station ABE 93.9. Knight’s Action Park puts on its display of sky art, called Fireworks Extravaganza,.

FESTIVAL
In conjunction with the Capitol Bicentennial Celebration, the Jaycees present several bands and activities including rock climbing, mazes and inflatables. Perhaps the most unusual and exciting, Wii-rock, is the Recycled Records/Game Crazy Wii Rock Band Contest.

PUBLIC NOTICES
NOTICE UNDER ASSUMED BUSINESS NAME ACT STATE OF ILLINOIS COUNTY OF SANGAMON TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: Notice is hereby given that on the 8th day of June, 2009 a Certificate of Ownership of business was filed in the Office of the County Clerk of Sangamon County, stating that RAMONA S.

Real Estate Foreclosures
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE 7TH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT SANGAMON COUNTY — SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS WELLS FARGO BANK, N.A.

NEWSQUIRKS
Authorities responding to a bank robbery in Daytona Beach, Fla., arrested suspects Randall Fredric Walker, 38, and Jason Warren Dietrich, 35, after their getaway vehicle ran out of gas while leaving the scene. A man wielding an ice pick entered Black Diamond Equipment in Salt Lake County, Utah, and demanded cash and precious metals.

THEADVICEGODDESS
What’s a boy to do? After a long relationship, I’m back on the market, but having trouble because of tattoos. When I see one on a girl, I think “Skank!” (I don’t really believe that of every tattooed girl, but my mind leaps there for a second.) Even hidden ones that aren’t noticed early in the relationship put me off.