After traveling and working a lot of hours over the last three months, I found myself with a weekend at home with no work to do. I decided to spend the entire weekend in my area doing totally relaxing things.

Friday night, I walked downtown for Skokie’s Backlot Bash, an annual festival of food, music and fun. The highlight was a performance by Tributosaurus, perhaps the best and most unique tribute band ever. Every month, Tributosaurus becomes a different musical act. As their site states, “They aren’t really a tribute band, but are every tribute band.” On this night, they “became” the Who. Despite not being a big fan of the Who, I really enjoyed the performance by Tributosaurus.

I started Saturday with a trip to AU Sports, the best sports cards and memorabilia store in the country. I don’t buy as much stuff as I once did, but I still like going there to talk sports with the staff and the regulars. It’s as close as I can get to the feeling of being a kid again and talking sports and sports cards with my friends.

Later in the day, I decided to test my legs with a five-mile run along the running trails, followed by a series of sprints in the park. I am a long way from my marathon days, but I am heading in that direction.

With the beautiful weather days dwindling in Chicago, on Sunday I went to the Evanston beach and took You’re Next, the newest thriller by Gregg Hurwitz. I recently met Hurwitz and talked about this book, so I was really excited to dive into it. The hours flew by as You’re Next kept me completely engrossed.

It was a great weekend. As I drove home Sunday night, I was completely relaxed and ready for another week of work.

— John Wroblewski, distribution specialist