And Life 2 Go

Look, it's a post!

2010-02-16T10:04:00.002-06:00

... just wanted to say hi!

Things are going to change.
And this is one of the things I will get going on again.

I'm back, sort of

2009-06-04T10:03:00.003-05:00

It's been well over a year since I posted on here, but I'm feeling the need to simply write things... whether it's about an opinion I have, a thought, or just some random, boring blurb.

Almost all.. and I mean all.. of the blogs I used to follow are like mine, either gone or not updated for a loooong time. Only a few current ones remain, however I have to admit those few that still do somewhat inspired me to fire this thing up again.

So, here I am. I'm not going to write anything else today, but check back soon and I bet you see some new posts. Not that I care if you do check back (however, it would be nice), because honestly I'm just doing this for me (yea I know, I'm a little selfish, what can I say).

The Object of my Affection

2008-01-25T15:21:00.000-06:00

...this is what has been keeping me busy lately...

How can I turn her away when I want to update this blog?

OK, she doesn't keep me that busy. But she definitely changes my priorities in life.

Dusting off an old friend...

2007-12-18T14:38:00.000-06:00

...it's been 272 days since I last posted on this blog.

There are a variety of reasons for this. I'm a lot busier now that I'm a father of a (now) 1 year old daughter. I admit I haven't been very inspired to blog... many of the blogs that initially inspired me are now non-existant or even more dormant than mine. The company I work for now blocks almost all personal and photo websites, so I have to do all my "blog" surfing at home. I suppose the main reason, however, is that I've just been plain lazy.

I won't try and summarize what has happened the past 272 days. I feel truly blessed and amazed to be a father of a beautiful, healthy baby. But besides that, I have really fell off the "creativity and productivity wagon". I barely ever play guitar these days, my photography interested has waned, and I've gotten myself fairly out of shape. Many personal projects I had planned haven't even been started, many others started but never finished.

I was going to wait to get back on this "wagon", like many others probably are who plan to change, until the New Year. I mean really, it's only two weeks away. But then again, why wait? Honestly, I should have gotten myself out of this rut 272 days ago. Two more weeks of un-creativity and un-productiveness just doesn't sound appealing.

And so today, my faithful readers, I am back. And for me, and for those of you who read this simple little blog, this is going to be the proof that I am.

Let the games begin.

Spring is here... and so is the baby..

2007-03-21T09:42:00.000-05:00

.. ah yes, I figure the first day of spring would be a good time to start up this blog again. Grey skies, continous rain, mud all over... what a great time of year in Chicago.

Despite the gloomy weather, it's great coming home to a beautiful smiling baby daughter every day. OK, sometimes she's not smiling... she's screaming, but it's all good. She's over 4 months old now, and I think she's starting to realize who I am. While she doesn't understand the concept of a mom and dad yet, I think she understands that me and my wife are the people who take care of her most. This is most evident when a grandparent or friend stops by... if she's screaming in their arms, soon as me or my wife take her, she instantly stops. While flattering, this is not necessarily a good thing, because there are going to be times where these same people visiting are going to be the ones watching our baby. And if our baby cries the entire time we're gone, these people might not be as willing or eager to watch her the next time. We shall see.

Obviously, there are sacrifices that comes with fatherhood. One that I made this year was Cubs games. Yes, it's true, I only got tickets to 4 games this year. This is quite a change from last year, where I went to 11. Due to this sacrifice I was forced to buy a large screen HDTV to watch the games on that I'm not at. I love that WGN broadcasts the games in HD. It's almost like you're there, without the drunkard behind you spilling beer, the scantily clad ladies walking in front of you, oblivious that a game is going on, or the wicked wind making Wrigley 20 degrees colder than the rest of the state. But that's why I love going to the game. Besides being a true Cubs fan, I'm also a Wrigley fan.

Anyways, back to this blog.. my objective is to at least have a couple entries a week. Not due to my many fans who I'm sure have missed me... you know who you are... but just because even now, I like going back to my entries I wrote 2 years ago to see what was going on then. It's pretty interesting. And I want to be able to the same 2 years from now. And so it shall be.

2006-11-18T00:34:00.000-06:00

Yourself: Happy (and excited... and nervous)
Your partner: Strong. Renewed.
Your hair: You are kidding, right?
Your mother: Excited, loving
Your father: Passed
Your favorite item: Guitar
Your dream last night: Private
Your favorite drink: Mojito?
Your dream car: Infiniti M45
Your dream home: Anything in Chicago's Loop
The room you are in: Den
Your ex: Who knows
Your fear: Dying before I'm 60.. it will probably happen
Where you want to be in ten years: Alive
Who you hung out with last night: Wife, baby
What you're not: Tall
Muffins: Bran
One of your wish list items: 2008 Democrat President
Time: Lost
The last thing you did: Saw baby and wife into bed
What you are wearing: Dang, still clothes from work.
Your favorite weather: Snow.
Your favorite book: ALWAYS Non-Fiction. Get enough Fiction from TV and Movies.
Last thing you ate: Pizza
Your life: Changing.
Your mood: Tired.
Your best friends: You know who you are.
What are you thinking about right now: What's going on tomorrow.
Your car: Jeep Wrangler.
What are you doing at the moment: This, moron.
Your summer: Gone.
Relationship status: Married to a hot wife. No really. I am.
What is on your tv: Conan O'Brien
What is the weather like: It's Chicago in November. Sh*tty.
When is the last time you laughed: Today when my baby smiled at me. It was probably gas, but I'll count it.

Holy @#$, I'm a Dad

2006-11-17T09:39:00.000-06:00

...ah yes, I've entered my next step towards maturity.

OK, not really. But I am a dad! That's why I haven't updated this lovely blog in a while. My wife and I had a daughter last week, and the weeks before and the days after have been super busy!

But it's all super good. Our daughter is very healthy, my wife is doing great, and I couldn't ask for more. It's crazy cool holding my daughter in my arms. I can have the worst day, come home and see her, and it's all behind me.

Anyways, gotta keep this short. Just wanted to let all my internet friends out there know of the new addition to the family! I'll write alot more in the upcoming weeks...

D*mn site blocking at work!

2006-10-16T09:56:00.000-05:00

... it seems every weekend the powers that be here at work decide to block more and more sites that I can view here at work.

The latest casuality is flickr.com. Why block flickr?! I have several of my own photos on there, and it's where alot of my friends upload theirs, too. Now I have to wait til I get home til I can look at any. Plus I just did a little experiment. I can still goto Photobucket, Webshots, Kodak, and several other photo-sharing websites. Why just block one of them?!

Now I know what some people may say; you should be working at work, not surfing the internet. Well, you can bite me. I work my arse off here in the office and if I want to take a 15 minute break to look at some friends photos, I should be able to do so from my office! Flickr also has a great "explore" feature where you can browse great random photos from around the world.

I almost feel like it's some kind of censorship. But I understand I work for a corporation and it's either their rules or find another job. Oh well. Not the end of the world. Just curious what they're going to block next - CNN.com?! If they want to get more productivity out of the employees they should block all those fantasy football sites - I know some people here that are on those sites for 2 to 3 hours a day!

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

2006-10-12T09:42:00.000-05:00

...eh, not really. But it is the first snowfall of the season here in Chicago and it's only October 12th. But I don't mind.

I kid you not, we've already had 2 days the past month where we had BOTH the air conditioner on and then had to switch it to heat. You gotta love it.

Anyways, the snowfall reminds me of Christmas. Usually I love the Christmas holiday (and I still will this year), but it did up my stress level a bit. Not only will we have a new baby this Christmas holiday, but also my sis is getting married, and the basement will be getting finished at the time. This means several more gifts to buy. Thank God for the internet. I plan on doing about 95% of my shopping this year online. Just don't have the time nor the tolerance for the malls, especially this year.

I feel sorry for those Chicagoans who had to drive into the city today. As I drove over I-90 (a main East-West highway that goes to the city), I could see nothing but creeping cars and headlights to the west. And this was about 30 miles west of the city. Ouch!

Oooops....

2006-09-13T16:19:00.000-05:00

This is where I've been for the past 2 or so months....

That's right, I felt asleep on one of the most comfortable chairs, with the most comfortable dog, on my lap. I we just both layed there for about 2 months. I awoke with a little bit of a sore neck, and both my dog and I were a little skinnier, but for none the worse.

Not much new... OK, I'm just kidding. I'm having a baby in about 8 weeks, that's pretty new. Maybe that's what I'm doing in that picture, practicing cuddling a baby with my dog. But yea, the past few months have been killing me with anticipation, nervousness, and excitement all at the same time.

But seriously folks, I am BACK. No more once-every-three-month updates. I'm here, and here for good. Suuuure, I may babble baby talk a little more often than I used to, but it's all good. I hope to get my loyal readers back within a few weeks, even if it takes a cash bribe.

By the way, Steve, if you're reading this, you haven't updated your site with a new photo since April 27th. So I go you beat by a long shot.

Welcome back everyone!

Chicago

2006-07-17T10:36:00.000-05:00

This past Sunday, I had the distinct honor of joining a bunch of long-time friends on a personal speed boat onto Lake Michigan. It was the first time I had ever seen the city of Chicago from a boat.

It may be because I'm from here, but I must declare that the city of Chicago is the most beautiful skyline I have ever seen. I've seen photos of several skylines, and while many are impressive, I still think Chicago is the best. Then again, it's only photos. But I don't care.

I love Chicago, it will always be my favorite city, no matter where I live.

Taco Hell

2006-05-18T11:09:00.000-05:00

Well here is an amusing, and yes, true, story that happened to me a few weeks ago.

A few weeks ago, I made my bi-yearly visit to Taco Bell (for some reason I crave the junk about twice a year). I ordered my 1 tostada and 3 regular tacos, and drove home.
When I got home and opened the bag, I was terrified to find only two regular tacos. I cursed the minimum wage drive-thru employee for denying me of my 3 tacos. But of course, I was too lazy to go back. So two tacos it was.
I went golfing the next day, and it was a little rainy, so the clubs and bag got wet. I left the bag in the back of my Wrangler for a few days, and started to notice a smell. I figured the damp bag/clubs must have accumulated some sort of musky smell, so I removed the bag from my car and figured that was the end of it.
Well, a day or two later and the smell was even worse. It was a truly awful smell. I checked in the back of my car to make sure the wet golf bag might have not left some moldy spores behind that had grown into a huge colony of moldy badness. But I could not find any of that.
Finally, on the way home from work the next day, the smell was unbearable. I pulled over to a car wash and was going to vacuum and deodorize the entire car.
I pulled in and deposited the 75 cents for the vacuum. I first cleaned and vacuumed the drivers side, making sure no speck of dirt or dust was left behind. I then ventured over to the passenger side, ready to conquer all the dirt and dust on that side.
But there was much more to conquer than that.
As I unlocked the door, there it was. A taco, still neatly wrapped, trapped between the passenger side seat and the door. This wasn't just any taco, folks. This was a meaty, cheesy taco that had been sitting in my Jeep for the past 5 days in about 70 degree weather. This was a taco from hell.
Seems the minimum wage drive-thru employee had given me my 3 tacos. When I placed the bag on the passenger side seat, one must have slipped out, neatly falling where I could not see it. You see, no one else really drives the car besides me, so there's no need to ever really open the passenger side door. So it safely sat there, undiscovered, until now.
I did not dare open the wrapper. I was even afraid to pick it up. I seriously though it might crawl out on it's own. But I had no choice. I bravely tore about 7 or 8 sheets of paper towel from the dispenser at the car wash, and went for the beast. With one quick motion, I grabbed the devil taco and hurled it into the garbage can.
It still left it's mark, however. Like most beasts, it left its "footprints" in my car. I drove immediately to an auto care store and bought the largest can of carpet and seat cleaner it sold. For about 45 minutes I scrubbed and washed the entire passenger side carpet and seat. Slowly the remaining smell went away.
Victory was mine.

So a little lesson to you, folks. If you're missing a taco, check your car thoroughly before you curse the drive-thru employee. Seems those tacos are sneakier than they look.

Do You Realize?

2006-04-20T14:20:00.000-05:00

Do You Realize - that you have the most beautiful face
Do You Realize - we're floating in space -
Do You Realize - that happiness makes you cry
Do You Realize - that everyone you know someday will die

And instead of saying all of your goodbyes - let them know
You realize that life goes fast
It's hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun don'-go down
It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round

Do You Realize - Oh - Oh - Oh
Do You Realize - that everyone you know
Someday will die -

And instead of saying all of your goodbyes - let them know
You realize that life goes fast
It's hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun don'-go down
It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round

Do You Realize - that you have the most beautiful face
Do You Realize....

- "Do You Realize?" by the Flaming Lips

Book your trip soon, folks

2006-03-30T14:43:00.000-06:00

If you want to see coral within the next few years, get to the Carribean fast.

Carribean Coral Suffers Record Death

I don't know what else to say, except that global warming is happening. The majority of people who deny it do so because it means their precious Repubilican party and George Bush may look bad.

Look folks, at least for this issue, let's just toss the partisanship aside. Who gives a rats ass as to who caused it; let's just fix it before it's too late. Let's have good ol' George sign the Kyoto agreement that he rejected. Let's have big business be more responsible for the pollution they spew into the air. It's just not enough for the Hollywood elite to drive Prius's.

The artic poles are melting, the sea is rising, the weather is becoming more turbulent, and the grass in my yard is completely dead from the Chicago drought last year.

OK, the last effect isn't that important. But the first three should scare the crap out of you.

Yes, we as individuals can do certain things to help out. Ditch the SUV's, buy energy efficient appliances, etc... but we really can't do much to the huge corporations who are causing the majority of the pollution.

The time for the government to act is now. Or, are we going to wait, as usual, until it's really too late?

Anyway to make a buck

2006-03-30T09:49:00.000-06:00

.. this is why I'm cancelling my "lawn service".

You think the layer of snow covering the ground may have been a little hint that it's too early for any sort of lawn care.

But hey, at over $40 per application, I'm sure they say, "Spray on!"

Where am I?

2006-03-15T18:36:00.000-06:00

Looking back at my blog, I think I just broke my own personal record for not posting.

Let's just say if I was in a boxing ring, and in one corner it was me, and the other corner was my corporate job, I'd be down in round two by knockout. Yes, corporate job is kicking my ass.

Fortunately tomorrow the wife and I leave for Florida for a brief 4 day visit. Since we are visiting my 95 year old grandma, it won't necessarily be a "rockin" time, but just being away from work will be nice. And this crap-ass weather we've been having in Chicago. I mean, either snow and be 30 degrees, or just crank it up to at least the 60's with some sun. I don't think I can remember a winter where it's been in the 40's with nothing but clouds and rain for like 5 weeks. Bleh.

Oh, and I'm seriously considering buying my own domain and ditching this whole Blogger format. I'm tired of the regular blogs I visit being so much nicer than mine. We shall see....

Apple

2006-03-02T09:11:00.000-06:00

.. don't you hate it when you're eating your apple, when all of a sudden you realize in your last bite you also ate the sticker that you forgot to peel off?

Yea...

.

Ten On Tuesday: 10 Things You Want, But Don't Need

2006-02-28T13:25:00.000-06:00

10 Things You Want, But Don't Need
1. The new Apple iMac with dual Intel processors.
2. Another acoustic guitar
3. Plasma flat screen TV
4. A condo in the city (Chicago)
5. An SLR digital camera
6. A more interesting job
7. A full head of hair
8. Cubs World Series Champs... actually, I need this.
9. A tattoo
10. Summer to be here now!

Kids' Cartoons These Days...

2006-02-21T20:31:00.000-06:00

... I was surfing the ol' cable channels on Saturday morning, and had to take a picture of what I saw showing on Nickelodeon Cartoon Channel...

Do I even need to make a comment?

Situation 1: Honk.

2006-02-10T09:03:00.000-06:00

...no, this post isn't about driving in traffic, as the title might infer. It's more about... strange things happening in and around our house at night.

Situation 1:
About a year ago, my wife and I were asleep in our bedroom, when our SUV parked out in the driving started to honk it's horn... basically, the car alarm was going off. It was about 12:30 in the morning.

I am a light sleeper, so I immediately darted out of bed and looked through the bedroom window, fairly worried because if I did see someone breaking into the SUV, I wasn't sure what I was going to do. The SUV was honking, headlights flashing, but from the window I couldn't see anyone trying to break into our car. I grabbed the remote key and shut off the alarm from our bedroom window.

A bit flustered, I stared out the window for a few minutes to see if it happened again. After about five minutes, I turned away from the window and slowly made my way back to the bed. Just as I was getting underneath the covers.... honk, honk, honk!

This time, I jumped into my flannel pajama pants, slid on my flip flops and ran down the stairs towards the front door. The alarm still sounding, I opened the front door and quickly surveyed the area. No one was around. I again shut off the alarm with the remote key.

By now, I was pretty awake. Something was odd. The alarm on the SUV is the most basic you could have. The only way it goes off is if the inside door handles are pulled if the SUV is in security mode. In other words, you can touch, shake, even break a window and the alarm still wouldn't go off. Only if you broke a window, then reached in to open the door, would the alarm go off.

I stood there in the cool night time air, staring at the SUV, keys clutched in my left hand.

Honk, honk, honk!

That's right. As I stood and stared at the car, the alarm went off again. I immediately shut the alarm off, since I'm sure by now the neighbors weren't too happy with sounds of a car horn going off in the middle of the night.

I scratched my head and walked around the car. I looked into all the windows to see, if for some reason, something was inside the car. Nothing. I was starting to get worried there might be some electrical issue, and that this alarm was going to be going off the rest of the night. I was already contemplating disconnecting the battery as a last resort.

I was getting cold, so I walked back into the house and turned on the TV. If the alarm went off one more time, I was going to have to disconnect the battery and take the car to a mechanic the next morning.

The alarm never went off again.

It's been over a year since the incident, and it's never happened again. And, it never happened before this either.

Did my car have a 30 minute electrical issue that fixed itself, never to happen again? Did my car temporarily become possessed by the same demon that possessed Christine?

.... in the next day or so.....

Situation 2.

Uncovering The Past... Sort Of

2006-01-25T11:24:00.000-06:00

...today at work I was looking for some old documentation in my file cabinet. Tucked in between the manila folders was a Day Planner I had used in 1997.

I slowly removed the Planner and brushed off a light layer of dust on the cover. I then proceeded to look at what plans I had made 9 years ago.

It was quite a trip down memory lane. In 1997 I was single, living in a "bachelor pad" apartment in Glendale Heights, IL. Not only in this Planner did it contain all my work appointments, but I had written down all my social events as well.

I smiled as I saw in April of 1997, a week blocked out saying "FLORIDA VACATION!". Me and two other single guys made a road trip down to Florida to see an old high school friend for a week. Man, was that a crazy week.

In May of 1997 I was quite the social butterfly. I had several dinner dates during the week with girl "friends" (Yea, I was one of those.. had no problem making friends with girls, just didn't have the guts to take it to that next "level"). I can actually recall many of those dates.. where we went to eat, and even what they were wearing...

June of '97 was fairly tame, although I noticed on Saturday, June 28, 1997, I have written "U2 Concert". While the concert wasn't that great, the day itself was just a.. good day. I asked my friend Julie to go with me, and we took the train down to the city. U2 was playing at Soldier Field that night, but the Taste of Chicago was going on too, so we made a whole day of it. It was sooo nice out that day, sunny with a nice breeze coming off Lake Michigan. We walked around the food tents, listened to some live local bands, saw a few other friends. We ended up sitting at the edge of the lake, feet in the water, just watching all the yachts and boats pass by (I remember we saw Scotty Pippen in his yacht, pretty cool at the time since the Bulls were doing so good). About an hour before the concert, we put our shoes back on and strolled over to Soldier Field and watched the show.

I could go on and on of what I found in the Planner... alot of memories were stirred up. I was a 25 year old single guy, just hanging out with friends almost everyday. While I am very happy where I am at now, if I could go back to 1997 just for a little while, I would.

Would you?

Ten on Tuesday: 10 Great Things About Being a Kid

2006-01-24T08:49:00.000-06:00

10 Great Things About Being a Kid
1. Your neighborhood, or even just your back yard, was your whole world.
2. Christmas time; All the presents, waking up extra early in the morning, heart racing, to see what Santa brought you.
3. All of your friends were just a bike ride away.
4. You didn't know, and didn't care, what a bill was.
5. Having the summers off (I suppose this applies to grown-up teachers, too).
6. One dollar was a huge amount of money to you. It could buy you, like, 4 candy bars.
7. Your birthday was a big deal, and usually you had a big party with all your friends.
8. Being able to think you could do anything in the future.
9. When it rained, you didn't run inside. You'd stay outside and see how many raindrops you could catch on your tongue, and then go slide in some mud.
10. Falling asleep on the couch, with my head in my dad's lap and my feet on my mom's lap.

When I'm bored...

2006-01-15T07:34:00.000-06:00

... I lay down on the floor with my dog and have a staring contest.

He always wins.

I need me my Pinky

2006-01-05T16:10:00.000-06:00

... over the New Year, I busted up my pinky finger pretty bad whilst playing ping pong (Oh yes, it was an intense game. I, of course, wound up victorious... except for my pinky). I was debating on taking a photo of it, next to my un-injured pinky, to show the damage caused. But I decided against it. It was really quite gross.

By Monday it had swelled up to the size of my thumb. It was fairly amusing... I was the man with three thumbs. By Tuesday, however, it had turned a creepy black and purple, and the swelling hadn't gone down. I wasn't really able to move it, so my wife dragged me to her work to do an x-ray. No broken bones.

But it made me realize how much I used this little phalange on my hand. It comes in quite useful alot of the times. Have you ever been asked, "If you could lose a pinky for a million dollars, would you do it?". Before this injury, I may have actually said, "Yes". But now, I'd give you a definite, "No".

Assuming you use the correct "typing form", try typing without using your pinky. Muy difficult, si? (Mi espanol es muy bien). Try playing the guitar without your pinky. Try itching your ear without your pinky. Try counting to 10 with your hands without your pinky. Try doing the "Hang Loose" hand gesture without your pinky.

Now, now, I know many people out there with lost fingers, even limbs, overcome these obstacles eventually. But man, it's gotta be tough. I needs me my pinkies.

At the present time, the swelling and gone down to about ring-finger size, and the purple and black has mellowed to a nice pink hue. In a few more days I think my little buddy will be back to normal.

So next time someone asks you the million dollar pinky question, I highly recommend you answer with a resounding "No". Because if given a choice, I think everyone should always choose pinky.

A to Z

2005-12-22T14:39:00.000-06:00

... I saw this on another blog (don't know if they want recognition), and it's slow here at work... so here goes..

[A is for age:] 33
[B is for booze of choice:] Beer... stuff like Sam Adams, Heineken...
[C is for career:] "Systems Engineer", according to the company
[D is for your dog's name:] Kopper! A very cool shiba inu.
[E is for essential items you use everyday] How about soap? Hopefully most of you use it, too.
[F is for favorite song at the moment:] "Fix You" by Coldplay.. although stupid radio is starting to overplay it..
[G is for favorite game:] ..computer game? Zuma. It's addicting.
[H is for hometown:] Lisle
[I is for instruments you play] Guitar for 15 years. Trumpet for 8 (actually, coronet if you want to get technical). Currently learning piano.
[J is for jam or jelly you like:] If I had to, I'd go with raspberry.
[K is for kids?] A stepdaughter.
[L is for last kiss] Last night.
[M is for mom's job:] Social worker for drug and alcohol addicts.
[N is for name of your crush:] My wife.
[O is for overnight hospital stays] Yes. It's a long story and for a very bad reason.
[P is for phobias:] I still hate most horror movies and refuse to watch them.
[Q is for quotes you like:] "We don't stop playing because we grow old; We grow old because we stop playing" - George Bernard Shaw
[R is your relationship that lasted the longest]: My wife.. over 7 years and counting..
[S is for sexual preference:] Is this like position or gender?! Females, please.
[T is for time you wake up:] Usually by 6:30. Gotta start getting up earlier.
[U is for underwear:] Boxers only. If you wear tighty whities, you seriously have a problem. Seriously. Seek help.
[V is for vegetables you love] Almost all of them except cauliflower (looks like a brain), and typical yucky stuff like brussel sprouts..
[W is for worst habit:] The way I itch my nose...
[X is for x-rays you've had] Besides dental, I had an "Upper GI" to check for ulcers...
[Y is for yummy food you make] I'm fairly good at the grill, but that's about it so far. I can make decent eggs, too.
[Z is for zodiac sign:] Capricorn

... and there ya have it. A good way to kill 20 or so minutes...

Shortest Day of the Year but a Long Post

2005-12-20T09:26:00.000-06:00

... that's right folks, today is the shortest day of the year in the US. After today, things only get better until June 21st, where we celebrate the longest day.

This past weekend was.. interesting. Now before I write this, let me disclaim that I am very happy with my in-laws and love them, they've helped us out alot. But sometimes, my mother-in-law gets a little... crazy.

Saturday night we were supposed to go downtown and eat at Wildfire, where my brother-in-law, who lives in the city, made reservations. My wife and arrive downtown and meet at the hotel, where the MIL (mother-in-law) decides she doesn't want to goto Wildfire, that she just wants Chicago style pizza. On a Saturday night. In downtown Chicago. On the busiest shopping night of the year. With no reservations.

First stop was Due's. 90 minute wait at the minimum. Next stop was Uno's. Same. Note that we are walking to all these places in, I'd say about 1 degree F. weather, with a nice breeze that probably knocked it down to around -15 F. Finally we end up at Giordano's. They claim a one hour wait, so we put our name down and weaved our way to the tiny bar. After about an hour, we check on our status, and they claim about another 20 minutes. The MIL, who was tired of waiting, decides that she's not eating dinner, that she's going shopping, and she promptly leaves the restaurant. So after about 30 minutes of walking, and an hour of waiting, because she's the one who wanted pizza, she leaves. We could have eaten at Wildfire all along.

About 30 minutes later, we finally get our seat and eat what I'd consider mediocre Chicago style pizza at best.

After that debacle, I was ready for some beers. Luckily Steve, who also lives downtown, was already at Matilda's, so we promptly cabbed it to the bar and enjoyed a few drinks. It was pretty packed and loud, so after a while we decided we wanted something a little more laid back, and boy did we find it. Steve knew of this little place called Joe's on Broadway, and it was the perfect place. The smallest Chicago bar I've ever been in, with just a few locals there when we arrived. We drank there for at least an hour, and the lone bartender said our tab was only $35, well below the amount we actually drank. A nice ending to what started out to be a quite stressful Saturday night.

Sunday morning we headed over to Angelina's for brunch, a nice little place, ironically almost right next to the Joe's place we went the night before. My wife once again yelled at me for dousing my eggs and potatoes in Tobasco. What's up with that?

And of course, on Sunday we watched the Bears trounce the Falcons. Is it time yet to dust off my 1985 VHS copy of Super Bowl Shuffle?

Chicago's first snow...

2005-12-09T09:21:00.000-06:00

...and this happens. Damn.

Incase you haven't heard, a plane slipped off of Midway Airport's runway last night onto busy intersection. While the passengers were fine, unfortunately the cars it ran over weren't. A young boy died who was in one of the cars.

I was actually enjoying my ride home last night. I ended up working late, so I missed most of the rush hour traffic. The 4x4 Jeep Wrangler I have doesn't hurt, either. I love it when it snows around here. I say if it's going to be below 32 degrees, might as well have some snow and brighten the place up a bit.

So I was listening to a talk radio show, whose host was telling listeners to call in and talk about their traffic nightmares due to the snow. Most were calling in just to complain how long they've been stuck on the highway, etc. But then one caller called in and said, "Uh yea, I'm at Central and 55th street intersection, and a plane just went through a red light."

At first the host thought it was a joke, but as the listener described the situation you could tell he couldn't make something like this up. In addition, this person had called the radio station as it happened, so no news sources had even known it happened yet. Not even the police or firefighters had gotten there yet. It was pretty weird knowing what had happened before anyone else did.

I've flown Southwest out of Midway several times, and I am always amazed how the planes can land in such a small area. If you can see Midway Airport as you're approaching, you can't help but think to yourself, we're going to land there?

Anyways, besides that crazy and sad story, I did enjoy our first snowfall. Even though I have a snowblower, I opted to use the shovel last night to clear the driveway. With our outdoor white Christmas lights lit, the clean crisp air, and the blanket of snow absorbing all the sounds, it was quite relaxing. The hot chocolate with Bailey's afterwards helped cap off the first snowfall.

Here's hoping to many more! (without anymore plane accidents, please).

Three Stooges

2005-11-30T09:06:00.000-06:00

My dog, Kopper, is in the middle:

Kopper is a purebred Shiba Inu. He's bigger than the other two because he is a male, while the other two are females.

When we first got Kopper over seven years ago, barely anyone.. and I mean anyone.. knew of the breed. Even on his first vet visit, the veterinarian had never seen one before. Whenever I was asked what kind of dog it was, I'd say "It's a shiba inu", which then was proceeded by a blank stare, then the question "What's that?!" or "It looks like a fox...".

I can assure you it's not a fox. These days, the breed has become much more popular in the United States since seven years ago. This picture was taken two years ago, where we actually met two other shibas when at "Dog Day" at US Cellular Field.

I still get asked what kind of dog it is, but not nearly as often. I have to admit, it was a bit more fun when no one knew what he was. But we still love the lil' furball. Just don't grab his tail or he'll try to take your hand off.

Thanksgiving Morning

2005-11-26T00:59:00.000-06:00

... after somewhat sleeping all night, listening to the 45 mph gusts of 20 degree wind (0 degrees, with windchill) bash against my house, I awoke to this sight. I thought it was kinda cool how the sunlight through the blinds made the rings on our candle holder. Blah.

Potpourri #7

2005-11-23T09:36:00.000-06:00

I saw in the news yesterday that George "Dubyewah" Bush pardoned two turkeys from death, and they are spending their Thanksgiving at Disneyland. What the hell is that? Did it make good ol' George feel good to save those 2 turkeys, then hop on his plane back to Texas to eat one? What a chump.

I got tickets to Coldplay. They are playing the United Center in March. I am pretty excited. I actually got decent seats this time, on the 100-level. Wow!

I seriously wish I would have saved all my concert ticket stubs. This Coldplay concert will easily be somewhere in the range of my 120th concert I've been to. Wish I had the ticket stubs to prove it to those who doubt this claim.

Work is dead today. I think at least half the people here took a vacation day. Usually we can leave early today, but my manager scheduled a meeting from 3 to 4, and then went and took a vacation day today herself. Can you believe that shiznit?! Guess who's ditching the meeting? Moi.

Tomorrow we're having a load of people come over, at least by our standards. We are entertaining 13 folks for Thanksgiving. After taking a quick inventory, my wife and I realized we only have 8 sets of plates and silverware. Ooops. Never fear, the in-laws are here! Not only are they bringing some food, but now some plates and silverware as well. My wife is all worried because now the place settings won't match. This coming from someone who at first suggested serving the food on paper plates.

We had our first snowfall today. Only a dusting, really. But it does look kinda nice. Hey, I'm all in the frame of mind, if it's gonna be cold, might as well snow. At least it brightens up the place.

I'm going to do some extra cardio today at the ol' fitness center, convincing myself that doing so allows me to extra-engorge on the food tomorrow. Somehow though I don't think burning an extra 300 calories today will make up the difference of the 7500 I'll consume tomorrow. Not to mention the leftovers throughout the weekend.

The company I work for (hint: 3rd largest retailer in the world) is making us work at the stores this holiday. (I am at the headquarters, so this is a new thing for me). So while most of you have Friday off, I'll be at St. Charlestown mall, doing who knows what. Don't give me any shit if you see me there. No, I don't know what the difference is between those two drills, and no, I can't tell you where the tighty whities are.

And on that note, hope you all have a fantabulous Thanksgiving. And here's something you may have not known: The fleshy growth from the base of the beak, which is very long on male turkeys and hangs down over the beak, is called the snood.

So now you know what a snood is. And I'm guessing you probably shouldn't eat it.

Ten on Tuesday: 10 Things You Like Eating on Thanksgiving

2005-11-22T08:29:00.000-06:00

First of all, I'd like to apologize to my legion of fans for not updating this in a while. Most of my "text" entries (ie, entries with no photos) are written while I'm here at work, and since I recently switched teams here at my company, things are quite busy. So, without further delay...

10 Things You Like Eating on Thanksgiving
1. Turkey (duh)
2. Mashed potatoes (Red potatoes are good, too)
3. Stuffing
4. Green bean casserole
5. Asparagus
6. Tossed salad with italian dressing
7. Warm biscuits
8. Appetizers (cheese, sausage, crackers, etc..)
9. Cherry pie (Pumpkin is OK, but not my fave)
10. Corn

Nothing too original here. We eat a pretty traditional dinner.

Wedding Day

2005-11-12T09:15:00.000-06:00

... no, not mine. Mine was over two years ago. Today, one of my best friends is getting married. I have the honor of being the best man. I am both excited and nervous. It almost feels like I'm getting married all over again.

I went to the rehearsal last night. The bride is a fairly strict Catholic, and my best friend is a Christian Scientist. How's that for a combo? Somehow they worked things out, however, and the ceremony will be at a large Catholic church in the city. I hope the rental shoes are comfortable, because even at the rehearsal, the ceremony seems mighty long. Silly Catholics, why can't you be like us Lutherans? My ceremony lasted about 20 minutes. Walk in, trow out a few prayers, slap out a song or two, say the vows, walk out. Done! I kid, I kid...

Anyways, as the best man, I am responsible for the speech. Now, at my wedding, my best man happenend to be the person getting married today. His speech at my wedding was done from the top of his head, he even told me he didn't know what he was going to say until the mic was in front of him.

There's no way I can do that.

So, I have in front of me my 14th rewrite of the speech I am making tonight. I hope it's not lame that I am reading it from a piece of paper, but if I try to just wing it, it would most likely end up in disaster. Does anyone think it's lame reading the speech from paper? Please, do tell.

Anyways, I'm actually kind of nervous. I've never been one for public speaking. Ergo, my career in IT ;-). We'll see what happens. All I know is I have to watch the alcohol intake until after the speech. We don't want the best man to slur his way through it.

Cheers!

Ten on Tuesday: 10 News Stories You're Sick Of

2005-11-08T10:18:00.000-06:00

10 News Stories You're Sick Of
1. Anything about Jessica Simpson or Nick Lachey
2. Anything about Brad and Angelina
3. Bird Flu
4. Hurricanes
5. Gas Prices
6. Iraq - let's get out already!
7. Anything about Paris or Nicole
8. Suicide bombers / car bombs
9. News about reality shows
10. George Bush

Caught on film!

2005-11-02T23:43:00.000-06:00

...if this ain't true love, I don't know what is.

What you are witnessing a rare capture. My friend was sitting across the table with his camera, and took this shot of my wife attempting to twist my nipple.

She does this quite often, but denies it.

There is no denying this. Look at the pain on my face, and she hasn't even actually grabbed it yet.

This, my friends, is what love is all about.

Ten on Tuesday: 10 Best Scary Movies

2005-11-01T13:47:00.000-06:00

Before I post this, you must know I am a complete wuss when it comes to horror movies, especially those ones with known suspense. I absolutely refuse to watch any of the recent horror movies, including The Ring, The Grudge, Saw, or anything like that. Most of the movies I list here I watched with my hands over my eyes and probably experienced several mild heart attacks.

10 Best Scary Movies
1. Alien
2. Blair Witch Project
3. Silence of the Lambs
4. The Exorist (only really saw 10% of it. the rest of the time I had my eyes closed)
5. Seven
6. Signs
7. Misery
8. The Fly
9. An American Warewolf in London
10. Pet Semetary

Alot of people put Scream in their list. I watched the whole thing, and I wasn't that scared. Hmmm.

Boo.

2005-10-31T19:30:00.000-06:00

Check out the wicked wolf pumpkin we carved out over the weekend:

Happy Halloween, everyone.

White Sox... win it

2005-10-27T09:27:00.000-05:00

Dear god(s) of baseball:

I hope by acknowledging the White Sox victory today, next year you will bless the Cubs with the same winning season. I offer three sacrifices for this below, two images and my congratulations, so the Cubs can do this next year. Amen.

The city of Chicago shows their support

The Sox team celebrates

Congratulations, White Sox.

Now how cool would it be if Cubs won it next year?

Bumper sticker

2005-10-26T09:15:00.000-05:00

... I saw a bumper sticker on a car in front of me on the way to work today, that I just had to quote:

"My wife says I never listen to her.... er something like that."

As a married man of 2 years now, I thought that was rather funny.

10 Great Things About Autumn

2005-10-25T09:42:00.000-05:00

...from "mama" Yano's Ten on Tuesday... here goes!

10 Great Things About Autumn
1. Jumping in piles of leaves (yes, I still do it)
2. The different colors of all the trees
3. The crisp, clean air in the mornings and evenings
4. Football (I only follow NFL, not enough time to follow college)
5. Cubs will be in the World Series during this time of year... eventually
6. Bonfires / firepits in the backyard
7. Barnburners (One shot of Southern Comfort, warm apple cider, cinnamon stick)
8. Halloween
9. My wedding anniversary (got married on October 25)
10. Only about 7 more months until summer!

Mental midget

2005-10-21T15:30:00.000-05:00

.. that's what I felt like the past day or so.

I went to UIC (Univ. of Illinois at Chicago, for those out-of-towners) last night and this morning to attend a conference that is in the name of my late father (he was a professor at the university for 20 years).

(By the way, last night we went out to Redlight, a kick-ass restaurant (at least IMHO) off of Randolph street in downtown Chi-town...)

I tell you what, these people are damn smart. Or at least they act like it. The lectures blew me away. I now know more than I probably ever should about gynecology (yes, my dad was a OB/GYN at the university) (And yes, I've heard every joke possible in reference to that).

Actually, I really don't know that much about it. I understood the pictures... which were somewhat disturbing. But the words they were using.. I may as well been attending a conference in Nepal. It also made me realize how smart I ain't. I mean, yea I made it through four years of college, but these people... some of them have been in school for 8 years and are still going! Like Einstein said of most humans, maybe I am only using 10% of my brain? (OK, it's a myth, but still, a good one for motivation...).

I know for a fact I have been quite the procrastinator in keeping up with my IT skills. I do enough and learn enough just to get by. It's partly my fault, and partly the crappy work environment I am in. But going to these lectures opened up my eyes, slightly, to how much smarter I could be if I just applied myself.

So will I apply myself? We'll see. I'm not starting right now... hell, it's 3:48PM on a Friday, I'm really not in the mood to get my learn on, if ya know what I mean. But I did keep the copy of the lectures they gave me, and the cover has my dad's name on it. I think if I keep it here at work as a reminder of how smart my dad was, and how smart these people are, it may be enough to want me to learn more.

Now, y'all have a great weekend, hear?

Music..makes the people..come together

2005-10-19T14:27:00.000-05:00

Yes, a lame reference to Madonna's "Music" song. I swear I don't know how certain songs pop into my head. I'm playing the video in my head right now. . .

Anyhoo.

I cannot find my new Weezer CD. I had it in my 6-CD player in my Jeep, and when I drove to work yesterday I noticed that only 5 were in my player, and Weezer was the one missing. I conducted a full investigation, including intense questioning of my wife (she tends to "borrow" CDs without telling me), with no results. The only thing I can think of, is I drove my Jeep to work on Monday "topless", and a theft occured. If someone so chooses, they can simply waltz over to my car, press "Eject" on my CD player, and choose from 6 CDs to take. I find it strange, however, that they would go through all that trouble and only take one. Why didn't they steal all 6? And, why did they choose Weezer?! That is currently my favorite CD right now. I am none too pleased. If I don't find it within the next day or so I'm going to have to purchase another copy.

Speaking of CDs, I'm thinking of making 3 "blind" purchases (ie, buying a new album based on only one single, or none at all). I heard Depeche Mode's new single, "Precious", and found it quite pleasing to the ear. So I may buy that album, although the last album I bought from them, Ultra, was a big disappointment to me with the exception of the single, "It's No Good".
My second blind purchase will be All-American Rejects. I enjoyed their self-titled previous album, and like the new single, "Dirty Little Secret".
And lastly, I may go ahead and buy Franz Ferdinand's new album. Their first single, "Do You Want To", is fantabulous, and the video is absolutely hilarious. Watch it if you can.

Oh, and if anyone finds my Weezer CD, please let me know. I'll buy you a 99 cent cheeseburger.

Spam-alot

2005-10-14T09:07:00.000-05:00

.. OK, so I've been blogging for roughly 2 years now, and never had an issue with spam comments. Now, in the past 2 months, I've been bombarded with annoying, worthless spam comments.

What happened? Did someone learn the secret to spam comments, or was I just lucky the past 18 months?

Anyways, I had to turn on "word verification" on the comments. It seems everyone else has it now, so it shouldn't be too annoying. Hopefully it cuts back on the spamming. I'm getting tired of deleting 10 or so comments a day!

Bird is the word

2005-10-12T21:07:00.000-05:00

... so it's around 9pm tonight, and I go to let my dog out.

I happened to turn on my deck light (which I don't usually do), and notice these 2 little birds sitting on my deck railing.

At first, I thought they were about to fly off at any moment.

But they just sat there. Looking at me.

So, I went into the house, grabbed my handy-dandy Canon Camedia C-750, and took this shot. They never moved. It must be their defense, kinda like "playin possum"?

I just checked, they are still there.

Birds are cool, as long as they don't nest in your vents and cause bird mites.

Sleep, where art thou?

2005-10-11T13:17:00.000-05:00

Last night was not a good night of sleeping. I think I may have got a total of 3 very light hours. No real reason for it, just sometimes I can't sleep.

I used to have chronic insomnia. I'd say from about 1995 until around 1998 is when I had it. Several nights a week I'd literally get maybe 1 hour of sleep. I visited my "primary physician" several times for it, and you could tell he had no clue what to do. He'd offer me the simple advice I had already read and heard hundreds of times before: "Go to bed the same time every night. Avoid caffeine after 5. Read a book. Use your bedroom for only sleep and initmacy.." and blah, blah, blah.

He also recommended a psychiatrist because he thought my sleeplessness was due to other factors in my life; stress, depression, you name it. But it wasn't. I simply could not fall asleep. I would get nervous as soon as I put my head down because I wanted so badly to fall asleep. Every night of bad sleep made the next night even harder to sleep.

He eventually prescribed me some drugs. I probably went through about 4 or 5 different kinds, all of which had terrible side effects (Elavil is one I remember; I can't remember the names of the others). The drugs weren't really meant to cure insomnia; they were for other conditions (mostly depression) but the side effects were drowsiness. However I wasn't depressed, I was just friggin tired, so these drugs messed up my mind and barely helped my sleep.

I finally took things into my own hands. With the coaxing of my dad, who worked at University of Illinois at Chicago's Medical campus as a professor, I got a visit with a "sleep specialist". I finally got prescribed a wonderful little drug called Ambien (apparently, which my primary physician never heard of). I would get a good 6-7 hours of sleep, with no side effects in the morning. It was a miracle.

Now, now, I'm not here trying to push some sleeping pills on you. You should only resort to these if all the drug-free methods have failed you. Lots of people can get their sleep back on track simply by exercising, avoiding alcohol and caffiene at night, and scheduled bedtime hours.

Well, after trying the "non-drug" method for about 3 years, I was fairly desperate to say the last. The drug helped me get my sleep back on track. After about a few weeks of a light dose, I was pretty much back to somewhat normal sleeping patterns. Just having the pills in the house itself helped me, because knowing that I had them took away the nervousness of falling asleep, and I'd drift into sleep on my own, drug-free.

But, as last night, I do have my relapses sometimes. I already knew at around 11pm, after lying in bed for 30 minutes, that I wasn't going to sleep much. I avoided taking any drugs, and just watched some late-night TV from about midnight til almost 4am. I went back to bed, got about 3 hours of sleep, and got ready for work.

So anyways, if you or anyone you know has trouble sleeping, feel free to talk with me. I've been through it all. Almost any kind of supposed "treatment" there was, I went through. Basically a little pill called Ambien and some strict bedtime hours got me back on track. I haven't had a bad week of sleep in almost 7 years now.

Make Your Dog Feel Like A Man Again

2005-10-07T10:53:00.000-05:00

... I ran across this article on Yahoo! today:

Prosthetic dog testicle creator wins Ig Noble prize

Isn't that great? I wonder if it really gives the dog some pride back. My dog is neutered, but before the operation, those thing looked downright uncomfortable hangin there. I don't know if he'd want them back? I'll have to ask him tonight.

Couldn't .... resist...

2005-10-06T14:05:00.000-05:00

A picture of a White Sox fan after Tuesday's game...

Who says Sox fans aren't smart? Just because they can't punctuate a three letter word correctly...

By the way, if you are a Sox fan, you may not notice anything wrong with the picture. It's OK.

O' Portillo's, how I love thee.

2005-10-05T12:59:00.000-05:00

... italian beef, dipped, extra hot peppers, medium fries, medium root beer.

Am I in heaven?

It occured to me while out in Maryland this past weekend, that no one outside of the Chicagoland area gets to visit this wonderful restaurant. I seriously feel sorry for you. True, the east coast gets Chick-Fil-A, the south gets Waffle House, and the west gets In-And-Out Burger, but I'd take Portillos any day.

Now some pure Chicagoans may argue there are better places to get an italian beef (such as Al's Beef on Taylor Street), but I've been to alot of those places and I still dare to say that Portillos has the best. Not to mention, there's one just 10 minutes from my house, with several more within an hours drive.

I don't go there often... I try to limit my visits to once, maybe twice a month. If it's somewhere you went a few times a week, you may as well slap about 20 pounds of fat around your waste. But it's gooood.

I also sometimes go with their Chicago-style hot dog with everything sans tomatoes (sorry, I have to get it without tomatoes. They are gross. I pleasantly refer to them as "ass-matoes".) Get two of them and skip the fries.

There's literally every possible fast food/chain restaurant within about 15 minutes of our house. I'd say, however, that when we decide it's a "eat whatever" night, we goto Portillos 95% of the time.

We went there last night for dinner. I had a craving for it in Maryland, and was quickly horrified when I realized the closest one was a 16 hour drive. So after eating a somewhat heathly dinner on Monday, I took the plunge last night. I devoured the juicy, wet beef and hot peppers with glee. Afterwards I laid on the couch, let out a slight belch, and drifted off to sleep with a smile on my face.

O Portillo's, how I love thee.

One last trip...

2005-09-29T15:24:00.000-05:00

... to Maryland for a cousins' wedding.

After that, I'm done traveling until at least February. I'm actually kind of relieved. The past 2 months I haven't gotten anything done (see 2 posts below) and this traveling doesn't help. It'll be nice to have a solid few months around home.

I'm still suffering the cough/cold I got from Vegas, and tonight I have dump loads to do. I'm so not looking forward to mowing the lawn with this cold, but it's gotta be done or else we will return to a forest after coming back from Maryland. I also got tons of laundry and bill paying to do. Ah, what fun on a Thursday night! I can't really complain, since I am the one who put these things off until now. Procrastination never really pays off.

So anyways, you will not be hearing from me until at least Monday. Hopefully I'm rid of this cold, and things will start to get back on track.

Karl, out.

Leaving (left) Las Vegas...

2005-09-28T12:19:00.000-05:00

.. I am back from my 3 night excursion to Las Vegas. It was, of course, alot of fun, and it's amazing how fast time passes there. I felt like I had only been there for a day.

This was my fifth time in Las Vegas. Each trip has been a little different. On this trip, I noticed something that is kind of nice; alot of people are simply friendly. Every Blackjack table I sat at, we just had a great time. On my last night, I sat at a table with a group of girls for almost 3 hours. By the end of that time, I felt like we were all good friends. It didn't seem to matter that most of us lost a little (or a lot) of money; we stayed at the table for the conversation. When I finally stood up to leave the table, my stomach actually was sore from laughing so much.

Another thing I noticed is that I really missed my wife. Despite being there for a bachelor party, I wish she could have gone with. She can really be "one of the guys"... there's not much you can say that would offend her. She would have been a great addition to many of the conversations we had at the Blackjack tables.

Well, now I'm back at home. One thing I brought back with me from Vegas is a nice cold and sore throat. I'm guessing I might have gotten one from my complete lack of sleep, the smokey casinos, the drinking of beer, and the eating of nothing but greasy food. Ya think?

Potpourri #6

2005-09-22T12:45:00.000-05:00

Stop, collaborate and listen.

The past week has been a whirlwind of crap. I blame no one (and actually, no one (ever) is to blame... lame Howard Jones reference) other than myself. I have become a lazy oaf the past few months and I'm none too proud of it. This week was one of the most unproductive weeks I can remember, and it tops off a few months of it. It was, my friends, the whipped shit on top of horseshit. (Please don't tell me it's supposed to be "whipped cream"; the word substitution was intentional).

Now, I could write in this little entry of how I'm going to change, get my ass in gear, and so on. But I've come to realize recently that words are weak, especially mine. If I had actually done everything I had put on my "to do" list the past year, I'd be one bad-ass mo fo and would have probably received some kind of award from someone for bein' so bad-ass. And I mean that in a good way.

But no awards have come my way. So I give myself an award today, for having some of the most unproductive months in my humble 33 years of life.

Like I said though, no lists will be made of what I need to do. I know what I need to do. It will start to be done.

It is rather bad timing, however, as I leave for a 3 night, 4 day fun-filled excursion to Las Vegas tomorrow. Can't get much productive done in Vegas, unless emptying out your wallet is one of them. So I will have to wait until next Tuesday to start getting things done.

Oh, and look for me writing alot more on this thing after my return. Not that it's really a treat for you... more of a warning.

And by the way, there will be no pictures of my trip in Vegas, because as you all should well know... what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

Couldn't resist...

2005-09-15T09:27:00.000-05:00

I don't know if I'd consider it a news flash; I've known it since he was elected.

Ten on Tuesday: 10 Weird Facts About You

2005-09-13T09:08:00.000-05:00

from Yano's Ten on Tuesday...

10 Weird Facts About Me

1. I write and throw with my left hand. I do almost everything else with my right hand.
2. On most nights, I sleep with the sheets over my mouth but not my nose. I'm not sure why I do this.
3. I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be my dog because his life is so easy. Except his lifespan is only about 15 years.
4. I can make spit bubbles come out of my mouth at almost any time.
5. When I was a freshman in high school, I drank almost a gallon a milk a day for the entire school year in hope that I would grow taller. It didn't work. I have been 5'6" since 1986.
6. I have only one sister and we're almost 10 years apart.
7. I have been to well over 100 live music concerts.
8. I haven't broken a single bone in my entire body yet (see #5).
9. I never had enough nerve to approach a girl when I was single. Every girl I ever dated, including my wife, technically made the "first move".
10. I am partially color blind, but have better than 20/20 vision.

I Have Thoust Returnedeth II

2005-09-06T09:15:00.000-05:00

The lack of posting the last week was because I spent a fun-filled extended weekend in the city of Pittsburgh. A "guys weekend out", if you will.

We left Friday morning and just returned yesterday afternoon. I am still in somewhat of a "recovery" mode, but the 12 hours of sleep last night helped quite a bit.

It was a lot of fun, it's great to see my co-workers "let loose" for a weekend, it's amazing how different people act when on vacation versus when they're in the office, stressed out from work. I seriously believe if large corporations would allow more vacation time (like many companies in Europe), we would be much more productive. Ah, but what do I know, I'm just a peon in my company. I shall sit in my cubicle and keep quiet.

Pittsburgh is a beautiful city, alot nicer than I ever expected. The downtown area is very clean, and the city is surrounded by rolling hills covered in trees. Five minutes outside of the city and you find yourself in several huge, forested parks.

PNC Park (for baseball) and Heinz Stadium (for football) are great sport venues, and both give spectacular views of the city skyline. The fireworks after the ballgame we watched were better than many of the 4th of July shows I've seen around Chicago.

Unforunately I don't have any pictures, as I didn't bring my digital camera due to fear of losing or damaging it.

Looking back on the weekend, I think I made the right call.

Apologies to my liver

2005-08-29T13:36:00.000-05:00

Dear liver,

I apologize for abusing you this weekend, for making you process all that bad alcohol. You see, it was a nice day out, and we were at the Cubs game with a good group of friends. The beers seemed to just keep coming. And then after the game we went to some strange bars where more beers were consumed. I did keep well fed, though, which may have helped you out a bit. I also apologize in advance for this coming weekend, where you will be accompanying me to Pittsburgh for a 3 day weekend of more Cubs games. I will be more careful this weekend, however, as I really like you and don't want to hurt you anymore. You are, after all, necessary for me to live. I will be drinking lots of water this week and absolutely no more alcohol until Friday evening. So hang in there buddy, I'll treat you good this week if you treat me good this weekend.

Sincerely,
Your host body.

Also, a shout out to my colon, sorry 'bout that burrito w/hot sauce I ate after the game.

Stir the pot

2005-08-25T10:14:00.000-05:00

... it's been a little slow around here for a while, so I thought I'd post a picture I took of a church sign I recently drove by...

I haven't been to church in over 10 years, but here's a church I may want to attend.

10 Things You Love About Your City

2005-08-23T08:42:00.000-05:00

.. I haven't done a Ten on Tuesday in a while, but some of you who read this blog may know how much I love the city I live in. (OK, I don't live IN it, but close enough). So without further delay, here we go:

10 Things you Love About Chicago
1. Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field / Wrigleyville - I couldn't think of a more fun place to be on a weekend.
2. The lakefront on a nice day - Walking along the lake, visiting Navy Pier and a few museums? All along one of the greatest skylines in the country? C'mooon it doesn't get any better.
3. The devotion of Chicago sports fans - Whether you like the White Sox, the Cubs, the Bears, the Bulls, or the Blackhawks, you love your team and let people know it.
4. The Chicago Loop - One of the cleanest downtown areas I've seen, with great architecture, restaurants, and shopping to boot.
5. The museums - The Field Museum, Art Institute, Science and Industry, Adler Planetarium, Shedd Aquarium. They all rock.
6. The music scene - I'm a little older now, so I don't frequent the downtown live clubs nearly as much, but the choices are amazing.. Double Door, Metro, Aragon, Park West, The Vic, soo many more. If there's a band on tour, no matter how large or small, they will stop in Chicago.
7. The food - Chicago-style hotdog (NO ketchup allowed!), deep dish pizza (Uno's!), italian beef (dipped, with hot peppers please), the steak houses... it's hard to stay thin around here.
8. The changing of seasons - I could never move to somewhere where it's summer year 'round. The city after a snowfall is amazing. Just don't park on the street.
9. The diversity - You name an ethnicity, Chicago has a neighborhood for it. Greektown, Chinatown, Pilsen, just to name a few.
10. The people - Kind of cliche, but every time I'm in the city I find most of the locals very nice. Maybe it's because of the food?

I'm sorry I have to stop at 10. I could probably go on for another 20 or more reasons.

Picture this..

2005-08-20T07:15:00.000-05:00

.. well it's a rainy Saturday morning, but I don't have much of any interest to write, so I thought I'd post up a few more photos from my Hawaii trip... here we go.

This was the view from our balcony on the "Big Island" in Hawaii. Our condo was about 5 miles inland, giving us great views of the volcanos.

This is what you saw all along the roadside on the west side of the island. Basically the roads were built on top of old lava beds. Locals and tourists gather white sea shells from the beach and create various phrases (Mostly "I love..." stuff) by arranging the shells on the old lava bed.

A view of the mountains around Waimea, an inland town. Much of the northwest part of the island is covered in stunning green grass and rolling hills. The Big Island actually has one of the largest cattle ranches in the country, bigger than any of those in Texas. Most of the red meat you eat on any of the Hawaiian islands comes from this ranch.

A view of one of the coolest places I've been. This is on the north coast of the island, at the bottom of those cliffs is the most stunning black sand beach I've ever seen. There's a challenging trail that takes you down to the beach, it almost takes 30 minutes to get down there. Well worth the hike back up.

...so this concludes my brief picture tour of the Big Island. See what happens when I'm bored?

My 'hood

2005-08-16T17:35:00.000-05:00

... I think we moved into the wrong neighborhood.

Now don't get me wrong... I love my house. But just the people that live around us... I definately will never bond with them.

I grew up in a very middle class neighborhood. A nice mixture of "blue collar" and "white collar" folks. If you had a car up on blocks in your driveway, big deal. If you had your boat parked on the side on your house on your lawn, no big deal. You could throw a bonfire whenever you wanted, drink beer on your front stoop, and even play some loud music without many complaints. The block I grew up on, we knew almost every neighbor on the street.

Not here.

A week or two ago, a friend of mine mentioned that she knew someone who lived in my subdivision. She said, "She drives a black Lexus SUV". My wife and I, at the exact same time, said "That doesn't narrow it down much."

There is a lawn competition going on here. Who can keep theirs the greenest? They religiously water their lawn, every morning and evening, during their allowed time slots. I haven't watered my lawn once. It shows, and I don't give a crap. I've only had to mow once this summer, and I consider that a bonus, not a stupid green lawn.

I once ventured out to a block party, where I started to talk about some current music and my opposition to the Iraq war. They looked at me like a deer in headlights, then proceeded to talk about how great their new BMW is, praised George W. as a genius, and which mutual funds they currently like. I left immediately.

We're definately one of the "rotten apples" in the neighborhood. I play my music loud, I swear alot, I don't goto church, I don't care if my lawn is bright green, and I like to discuss and think about things other than money.

I'm not sure how much longer I can live here, which sucks because we've done alot of work to this house. I'm thinking I may try and see how far I can push my close-minded neighbors. Maybe I'll have a gay party? An anti-war rally? Or blast some Marilyn Manson out my windows as they all come home in their Sunday best.

I may even drink some PBR on my front doorstep.

Back to basics

2005-08-12T15:37:00.000-05:00

... well, I realized how irritating my layout was, so to spare you all looking at it anymore, I quickly switched templates and added a few things. The CSS code on this template is much cleaner, allowing me to customize it alot easier, and making it easier to understand.

So I apologize for the past 2 or so weeks. Next time, smack me upside the head.

Potpourri #5

2005-08-10T13:53:00.000-05:00

... I'm already tired of my feeble attempt to customize this layout. Granted, I didn't spend too much time on it, but it's rather bland, isn't it? If and when I get some free time, I'm gonna have to spruce it up a bit.

I know talking about the weather is lame, but it's been friggin hot in Chicago all summer, with almost no rain. The country as a whole has had a higher overall climate since 2001, getting higher every year. While I always believed that global warming is occuring, do you think it's already affecting the midwest? I mean, has it been so friggin hot here just by coincidence, or, pardon my phrase, is the shit really hittin the fan?

I filled up my Jeep today, one gallon of 87 octane gas was $2.59! Damn! I didn't notice until I was done filling up... I mean, wasn't it around $2.30-something a week ago?! I know the price of oil went up big time but I didn't think it would affect the pumps so soon. I was, and still am, against the war on Iraq, but can't they throw some oil our way for "liberating" them? .... and I use that term loosely.

On a lighter note, I'm going to see Green Day and Jimmy Eat World tonight. I'm pretty psyched. I'm curious what the average age is going to be... after all, Green Day hit it big when I was about 20 or 21, and I've been following them since... so I wonder if alot of peeps my age did the same and are going to the concert. We shall see...

It's Bananas, B-A-NAN-AS

2005-08-06T18:26:00.000-05:00

..sorry... poor reference to Gwen Stefani's song...can't really stand it.... although..she's gotta really nice booty in the video.

Anyways, the point of my title: bananas. I have a "workout" bag, where I keep various pairs of undies, socks, shorts, and shirts. Last week, on Monday, I thought I'd drop a banana in there, to eat when I got to work.

Well, lil' o' me forgot about it. I usually workout everyday, but last week, I came in late on Monday.. took Tuesday off.. and had a noon-time meeting on Wednesday... so I didn't get to my gym bag until Thursday.

That's right, folks. Thursday. Four days in a dark bag for the banana to ...... ripen.

The banana wasn't completely rotten. It was only about 94% blackened. But it was... smelly.

So now, all my gym clothes smell like... bananas. I mean, you open up my gym bag.. and you smell... bananas. I guess it could be worse... at least I didn't leave a pork chop in my gym bag. Nothing like a green piece of pork.

So, on Monday I shall workout and smell like bananas. And after I while, I suppose I shall smell like sweaty bananas.

I am oddly curious what sweaty bananas smell like. I shall soon fine out. I just hope the people next to me don't mind my little experiment. If people start to complain, maybe I'll slap a few scoops of ice cream on me... and split.

Get it? Banana split.... wow... that's so cheezy.

Mmmm, cheeze.

My internet in the 80's

2005-08-05T11:14:00.000-05:00

.. OK, well I didn't really have internet. Obviously the World Wide Web didn't exist, at least in a public form, in the mid 80's. But my Radio Shack 300 baud modem did.

For those of you whose first experience to the internet was surfing on a 28K modem (or, if you started out real early, you may have even had a 14K modem), 300 baud is.. let's see... let me do the math.. 93 times slower than a 28K modem, and 186 times slower than the standard 56K modem. So it was slow. REAL slow.

And there was no browser, no URL's, no graphics. I had a list of BBS's (Bulletin Board Systems), each with it's own phone number. I would dial this phone number, wait for the tone, and plug the phone line into the 300 baud modem. If someone else was already on the BBS... yes, just one person.. you would get a busy signal and redial until that person hung up. Once connected, the text would slowly scroll across my computer monitor, attatched to my glorious IBM PCjr.

Eventually, primitive chat systems arose. Some guy would buy 6 modems, hook them up, and run a chat program on their own PC. The "D-Dial" was born. The six modems (yes, all 300 baud) would be linked to one phone number, you would call this phone number, and be able to chat with 5 other people. I never dialed a chat system that had more than 6; maybe Chicago was behind on technology... but I've heard of some with 8, 12, or even 16 modems.

I remembered late in middle school, and at the beginning of high school, I'd talk about this with my friends. They'd just give me a blank stare. I was talking with 5 other strangers on my computer every night? First of all, they didn't understand how this was possible... and second, they didn't know why. I also remember my parents yelling at me because the phone was busy all the time. I eventually got a second line, funded by my first job at the local video store (No DVDs, mind you.. just VHS and Beta).

I became quite addicted for a while, probably spending 2 to 3 hours every day after school, surfing the internet and chatting with middle-aged men. Very few women.. and almost no kids my age.. were on the D-Dials.

Finally, around the end of my freshmen year in high school, I realized there was more to do after school than call other computers. I became involved in sports, the concert band, met my first girlfriend, and had my first beer. I would go back to it every once in a while, but eventually I stopped using it all together. This was around 1987.

The next time I used a modem was to connect to AOL in 1995.

Now that's old school.

Big crowd

2005-08-02T08:39:00.000-05:00

... I was forced to go to a White Sox game because of "Dog Day", and this is how crowded it was.

OK, it may have been an hour before start time.. but c'mon?!

And yes, this was my feeble attempt at being "art-sy"... I liked the lines of the bleacher seats against the lines of the cut grass...

Different (but true) perspective

2005-07-31T13:24:00.000-05:00

Stop. Watch. Read.

Miniature Earth.

Welcome!

2005-07-29T11:03:00.000-05:00

.. for those select few that have been following my old blog, welcome to the new layout and URL. For those of you who've never been, just plain welcome.

I'm getting my hands wet in CSS. I "customized" this layout by borrowing a template from blogger.com. Still lots... I mean lots... of work to be done, but I'm happy that this is my first time using a template that wasn't completely thought of by someone else.

One thing I'm jazzed about is Flickr, there are going to be many more photos on this blog than in the past. I have a great digital camera (IMHO) and I intend on using it much more often.

So that's it, for now. I'm pretty psyched about the future of this blog. One of the reasons that I changed the name is I intend to keep this thing going well beyond the 32 age mark.. and in fact, I'm 33 now so the URL name was already no good.

Snoop Dogg

2005-07-26T19:30:00.000-05:00

..I just signed up for Flickr, it blows away that poopy "Hello" program.

So here is my first Flickr upload. My best friend on four legs, Kopper:

Isn't he a handsome fellow?