Last Updated:  June 22, 2009

Happy SEVEN Year Anniversary for Laura and I
Seven years ago to this day (June 22, 2002), in Naples FL on a rainy day that turned sunny and beautiful shortly after the ceremony began, Laura Lamberty officially became a McGonigal.  Since that time we've been blessed with good health, good fortune, good families & friends, and of course an absolutely wonderful son.  Best of all we still got each other, and though we'd both freely admit that not every day is like a honeymoon, we will always love each other very much.  I know it was Lou Gehrig that originally said it, but I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth.

Oh, and a couple other anniversary wishes:
Also today (June 22) is Jimmy & Julie Lamberty's 13th wedding anniversary, and my great aunt/uncle Doris & Gene Wolfe's 52nd!  June 22nd is a busy day in our extended families...

So HERE'S the business news...and thanks for your patience!
I know I’ve been promising to provide news and information on this “secret” venture for a while, but it has been necessary for me to hold off on these statements for various business and legal reasons. To be honest there are still some additional business details & info that can’t be discussed yet, but here’s what can be reported at this time:

A couple weeks ago our families – being my father, my sister’s family and us – agreed up on and signed the sales papers to purchase some commercial real estate in the heart of downtown Barrington IL (a couple pics are included below). McGonigal’s Pub (or just “McGonigal’s”) will be the feature attraction in the main building. This will be a traditional Irish pub on the main level, basically doing what these types of pubs do best, and will also include a menu of traditional Irish food plus other pub favorites. Space permitting we’ll also have live music and be able to cater some banquets and special events.  Opening date is planned for sometime this fall, hopefully by early October.

Believe it or not that’s not all - there will be another business announcement very soon! It’s currently pending some decisions and resolving some other issues . . . . however it is also a very exciting venture and will fit in very nicely with both the pub and the general Barrington area.

If you’re familiar with downtown Barrington you’ll know exactly where this will be located. If not, suffice to say it’s probably the most visible spot in town – off of Cook Street a block east of Rt. 59 (Hough Street), a block south of Main Street (Lake-Cook Rd) and on the south side of the Metra train tracks just a couple blocks west of the Barrington train station. Easy access, a ton of public parking and surrounded by shops and businesses. Additionally, these are historical buildings and the one that will contain the pub is labeled as a landmark building in Barrington.

As we get closer to our actual closing date on the building (tentatively scheduled for June 30 but that will likely get pushed out a bit) I’ll be releasing more information. Also, I will be soliciting for some ideas and assistance on both businesses from my friends. As I have said many times in the past, “stay tuned” for more!

Working on it...sort of ...
OK, this is getting ridiculous...it's been over a month (mid-March) since my last update yet I keep promising to do some major website updates.  "Real life" work combined with a bit of apathy continue to get in the way. Guess I can blame Facebook too as I end up spending more time updating things there than here.  Still hoping to get back on track with this site soon, which includes just about every aspect of updates & perhaps, just perhaps, a full site overhaul.  AJ & family pics for the latter half of 2008 will be up soon (they're almost done) and hopefully the rest will follow.

...and while you're waiting for these updates...
  As I (very) slowly put together new postings and fix some pages, please feel free to go grab some music or silly documents off of the Fun Stuff page.  Also, be sure to get on my mailing list so that you can receive the "Deep Thoughts Weekly" messages from me every Monday!

Facebook seems to be THE place to be - so get on it!
To shorten the rhetoric on this main page I've moved my writeup to the news section, so check it out.  In the meantime, check out my profile link and if you haven't done so already JOIN Facebook!
 Bryan's Facebook profile link
 

Picture of the Moment

The eventual home for McGonigal's Pub...or just "McGonigal's", we haven't decided yet!  Don't let the ugly Wolf Camera decorations fool ya, this is really a majestic looking building.  Click on the pic for a view from just beyond the train tracks...

Bryan's Bloglike Banter...
read it, love it, then yell back at me!
Just a taste of my more recent posting can be found here - you can read the full stories and leave your comments at my blog spot: http://huskerfan1.wordpress.com/

April 20, 2009
A Great Lesson on Socialism
I received this from a friend via email, and though there is no specific date posted (or true verification), over the past month it seems to have become a popular posting on many other blogs and various media sources. The explanation doesn't get much more simple than this . . .


An economics professor at Texas Tech said he had never failed a single student before but had, once, failed an entire class. The class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer. The professor then said ok, we will have an experiment in this class on socialism.

All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A.

After the first test the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. But, as the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too, so they studied little.

The second test average was a D. No one was happy.

When the third test rolled around, the average was an F.

The scores never increased as bickering, blame, and name calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for anyone else.

To their great surprise, all failed. The professor told them that socialism would ultimately fail because the harder it is to succeed the greater the reward, but when a government takes all the reward away, no one will try and no one will succeed.

 
. . . (for the full posting, click here)
 

Other things worth mentioning:

Catching up with the family - 2009 style!
Since my web updates have been quite infrequent, here is a brief synopsis of what's happening with our family (this was originally written in mid-January).

Join Facebook NOW
It's a great social networking platform, plus more of our updates have been happening there.  Start here, then sign up!  If you want to read a bit more about my experiences, here you go...

Duffy's Sports Pub update . . . sorry, it's not happening.
From a sure thing to (9/16/08) a dead deal...you can read about it on this page.

CN Railways...huge assholes
Read here about how Canadian National Railroad is threatening to basically destroy many towns in the Chicagoland area...all in the name of a foreign business.  Hmmmm...

 Berry Family Update
They've moved back to the Chicagoland area!

Pictures of the Kids
You can always find the picture pages for our child Alexander (A.J.) under the Alex Pics link in the left side near the top.  These are updated roughly every couple months.  Additionally, on this page there are links to pictures of my niece Isabella and my new nephew Rory.

Dorsch Family - Moved to AZ
Gene started a new job that had his family relocate to Arizona in the summer of 2007.  Read more here and check out pictures of their new house at Dorsch.org.

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