Shhhh!

So I'm off in my own world walking up the street. It's a pleasant summer evening and the sun has about an hour before it disappears. As I get a block or two away from my house, I notice that some kids a few houses north are playing on a porch across the street. They're making noise and having a good time. While still across the street, I get a little closer to the kids and they stop what they're doing. I sort of glance over to them and the youngest kid starts to make noise. The older kid looks at me, then gives an urgent "Shhhh!" to her little sister. When I passed they started making the same noises again. I'm not quite sure what the deal was with that...either they're scared of people who apparently look like thugs because they're sporting a hat and look kind of Afro-American or Mexican, or they were up to no good. For about two seconds, I felt like a monster...then I laughed.

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Taking to Task

Even though I knew that the person on the other end could not do anything for me. I still had to grill her.

ME: "I have a question about my security deposit. I got a letter saying you're not resopnsible for it."
SHE: "Yes, I think when the bank forclosed last summer, there was no transfer of the security deposits. We have nothing in the books about it."
ME: "I don't get it. When the takes over the building, don't they have a legal obligation to perform the covenants agreed to in the lease? They assume the role of landlord in that case."
SHE: "Um...yes, yes you are correct in some form. There is a duty for us to - blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah. We'd love to give you your money, but we just don't have it."
ME: "That's a breach of the contract. You're still responsible."
SHE: "We just don't have the money. Other tenants have had the same thing happen."
ME: "So what was their recourse? How did they get their money?"
SHE: "I don't know. If you got a hold of the former owners of the building, you could get the cash back from them."
ME: "You know you're screwing people over, right?"
SHE: "If we had the money, we'd give it to you."
ME: "I'll see what I can do."

I knew the situation but needed someone to bitch at. It looks like I'd have to get lawyers involved. I don't know if this situation is covered in renter's insurance. I didn't take a policy out anyway. Anywyho, it seems like more time, trouble, and expense filing a claim. Going through the effort might not be worth it. I thought I was done with this bullshit.

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Things We Learn

"Can you spare me a dollar?" For the first time in a while, I answered this with a "sure." On the street outside of the restaurant where I 'power-lunched', I took cash out my pocket. I fished out a dollar and handed it to the guy. Then we got in the car and drove back to work. Did I feel better for this task? Not really...my boss needed a buck to tip the valet. It felt kind of weird...you're not supposed to give your boss money, right?

Unlike the last time I had the 'go to Arby's after work/go to Comiskey/watch Sox lose/go home' type of night, I didn't get sick. The solution? Don't eat Taco Bell the same day. Yes, yes...I'll eat crap more than once a day if I'm in a pinch...but not today.

If I had to choose between dating a Wrigley Field type trixie and a Comiskey Park type trixie...I'd go with the south side on this one. They seem more humble. They actually know the game of baseball. They're probably not scared of minorities and they might even be just a tad less annoying. Wow, I think I'm getting too single for this.

Based on the commercials for this movie, I observed something strange. Perhaps Hollywood's version of Asian-American (I'm including S. Asian) men will get the white female population to notice us? Is that too much to ask? Just kidding. I'm getting too paranoid for this.

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Riddle

What do you call a fish without an eye?

- "Fsh"

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The Weekend I, uh...

Not much happened and to me, that's a welcome change from the typical 'you have somewhere to be' weekend. The heat went away, things were grilled, and I earned a new couch.

- Much time was spent sitting on lawn chairs. Summer = cookouts. Beer was consumed, stories were told, laughs were had and I ingested a polish sausage, a hamburger, and half a hotdog after dinner. Somebody get me a salad.

- On Saturday, I went 3-5 with three soft singles and one RBI. I'm talking about baseball. One of these days we'll actually keep game score. Just playing out innings is fun...but one of these weeks, I'll find a serious game. I just hope to never feel/see a line drive hit a pitcher. That would ruin all the fun I've had with this sport.

- occasionally, I'll find myself arriving somewhere only to immediately realize that I want to leave. I don't think I'm agoraphobic...I just try to avoid going to place because I already know the experience will suck. The last time I had such a feeling, I found myself at the company Christmas party. Anywho, add IKEA to that list. On a Sunday, shopping there is worse than sitting in a traffic jam. You're always finding people in your way and your trip is extended because you seem to be the only person in the store who knows exactly what he's looking for. Considering all the obstacles I put myself through...I decided to invent things I might need in the apartment. It took me forever to find a tablecloth. It took me forever to get to the lamps so I could pick one out in less than a minute. It took me a while to get to the cash line because people line up to use the escalator. I spent a lot of time dodging old ladies. I think I know why everybody looks lost half the time...so much crap.

- The Brewers have won exactly one (1) game since I bought my Brewers' license plate frame. I crossed the line into the baseball nerdland and my team went into the shitter...it's the story of my life.

- I ordered take-out from a restaurant called Lo's China Chef. It seemed like a cheap Chinese restaurant type place. In ordering my food, I was hoping that the restaurant didn't soil the reputation held by my namesake (not that such a reputation exists). As it turned out, the food wasn't bad. I'm not related to these folks, but they serve a pretty decent dish. Score one for the namesake.

- The living room now comfortably accommodates five(5) sprawling guests. Given my solitary tendencies, I didn't think I would need the seating space. As it turns out, I tend to entertain a lot more than I used to. Luckily, a friend needed to store a couch and I offered to store it in my living room. The lounge continues to grow.

I going to work before 8am tomorrow for the second time this year. This will become a weekly thing for a while. Life is slowly getting more difficult.

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The New Hobby

Lately I've been really good about watching movies out of order. By that I mean I tend to see a sequel before the original. There's no reason I do this...I just sort of pick up on the stories as I find them. Seeing them out of order can be a good thing. You can't forge expectations and be let down by the next movie in the series. Instead of being disappointed, you just watch and try to make sense of the big picture. I don't know...I just wanted to type words and simultaneously waste your time. Thanks.

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Shooo

Apparently, it's not okay to quietly sit near the sidewalk entrance of the office building across the street. That's not what that convienient platform is meant for. Yet, it's okay to get up from where you were sitting and stand in the exact same place. Nobody will bother you after that...who would have thought that?

Translation: I was sitting on a large step bordering an office building was told that I couldn't sit there...so I stood up and I didn't move from my spot.

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Insomnia

Whether it's the time of the year, things going on, or just plain old adrenaline, I've gotten an amazingly small amount of sleep in the past few days. Sunday night, I couldn't fall asleep until 2:30. Last night, I went to bed at around 2. Tonight, I'll probably go to sleep at the same time. I'm still getting up by eight and getting to work by nine. Something is going to give soon...I'm drinking my juice ...I need to sleep before midnight one of these days.

Tonight, I watched The Lottery. It is a short film shot with handheld cameras back in 1969. The story is this: all the townsfolk gather a bunch of rocks and meet at the center of town. The head of each famlily draws a piece of looseleaf paper out of a box. As they start drawing, somebody says: "Lottery in June, Big corn in August." As more people draw paper, the town's resident grumpy old man shouts to nobody in particlar things about how everybody is getting soft and the other towns are weak for ending the lottery...so to make a long story short, they draw the papers...a family wins and each family member has to draw another piece of paper. The woman of the family makes a big stink about it then winds up winning the second lottery. Then all the townsfolk mob after her and stone her with big rocks....uh....yeah...I'm not sure what the deal was with that...but somehow I saw it on tape...

If you've ever seen that film...drop me a line...I'm not sure if that was meant to be funny or disturbing....

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Bland Halen

(...or the post that Nick will look forward to seeing as soon as he gets to work.)

(...or the post that spends way too much time pretentiously talking about Van Halen.)

(...you should probably skip this post...but don't worry, I wont' talk about this band ever again.)

Tonight featured the mid-summer treat of going to one of those big money concerts. You know, the ones where you spend a lot of money to go to an arena or stadium so you can see mullets, mile-high bangs, and guys stumbling around the parking lot looking for their cars? Well, I got to see the band I listened to quite a bit growing up: Van Halen. Although the night itself was a good time, I couldn't help but make the following observations:

- The good news is that it seems like the entire band is off the wagon, on the sauce, and ready to tear shit up. The bad news is that their best years are way behind them. The energy is not there anymore. After seeing this, I now believe the show I saw at Alpine with Gary Cherone was a lot better everybody wanted to admit....Seriously. I'm glad I saw this band at their peak ('93).

- Van Halen is finally entering the "no new stuff at the shows, please!" stage of their careers. I know that the new songs have yet to be released, but besides those in the front row, most of the 40,000 strong sat motionless during the three new tracks to be released soon. I can already tell that these will be the same reactions after the songs are released to the general public.

- At first I thought that having a week off the road would energize the band. It turns out the exact opposite happened. The first five or six songs were some of the most uninspired versions of the hits I have ever seen. My old cover band probably delivered more passion during our over-the-top renditions of their songs at our rehearsals than they did tonight. Eddie Van Halen just noodled around during the solos, Sammy Hagar just barked the verses, and Alex Van Halen did nothing but smile...You could feel the United Center actually getting cooler.

- Eventually the band shook off the rust and indifference. They busted into a groove during "Unchained." This backs up my argument that you just can't hit the proverbial 'Rock-Out' stage with Sammy Hagar songs. Even Sammy seemed genuinely jacked up to do a Roth-era classic. He finally gets it.

- I'm not a big Sammy fan. I'm sure the shows are a lot of fun, but Sammy Hagar and his fans always seem like they're trying too hard to have a good time. However, I noticed that during the two solo songs, he delivered a lot more soul into the guitar than Eddie did for the entire show. That may have been the highlight of the show.

- One the band got going, Eddie started having classic gear problems; possibly alcohol related. His pedals were blowing out and he kept stepping on his guitar cable over and over again. During the last quarter of the show, he would unplug his guitar over and over again. I could be wrong, but I think he was even turning his guitar volume knob down without even knowing it during verses. I realize that I noticed these things from across the stadium and on the third deck...but they were pretty obvious on the screens. Nick...back me up on this one.

- Things got political during "Right Now" where they would show titles from the original video mixed in with newer, updated statements. For example, during the title "Right Now, there is Nothing More Expensive than Regret," they substituted the condom with the president. Ooooooh.....so political. I don't think anybody noticed that one...for some reason, people dance to that song.

...and yet. We were all left wanting more.

(p.s. - I saw the last song from the the opening band. They sounded like Nickelback, but I bet people out there would have a million reasons to tell me otherwise. Compared to Vince Neil in '93 and Kenny Wayne Shepard in '98, this had to have been a joke.)

(p.s.2. - For the locals : you can park 5 feet away from a $13 dollar parking spot for no charge if you shake off your fears of that neighborhood and park the damn car on Adams street just west of the stadium. Spots are always available there and there's so much traffic after the events from the parking lots, you'll have nothing to worry about besides driving through that.)

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The Bunch of Days Where I didn't Bother Posting to This Thing

As a result, this post will take you about three hours to read.

So you miss this web log? Lately, I've been occupied with things going on during the night and I don't plan on ever posting from the workplace unless I'm really pissed or have something intensely hilarious to say. Life got really busy ever since I started packing my things for the move last month and well...my internet habits have taken a beating as a result...and that's probably a good thing. Now I give you an extra long list of random nonsense to kick off your week.

- I have two (2) tickets to see Van Hagar tomorrow night at the United Center. My friends who are going decided to spend over $400 to take a tour backstage and get seats within the first three rows. I found that to be an insane expenditure, so I picked up two of the cheapest tickets I could find. Unfortunately (or fortunately), my hipster friends don't care too much for Van Halen and nobody even wants to go for free...so if you're a VH fan and know me in some form or another, drop me a line. I'd rather take an acquaintance than sell the ticket to a stranger whom I'll wind up sitting next to. That would be pretty creepy.

- At today's christening celebration at the local country club in my hometown for a family friend's offspring, I took my niece in my arms and carried her around the banquet room to say hello to my parents' friends. Aside from the "which brother's daughter is this?" question, a few said "You look good with a baby. When is it your turn?" That's a pretty funny question to answer when you cant even find someone to date.....good times.

- The trip back to the hometown means another trip to the local record store to balance out the, um...musical sampling. Using blogger.com's new interface, I'll list the weekend's booty without looking up the correct HTML code:

• The Roots - Tipping Point. My first casual listen to this tells me that I'll have this on the rotation for a while. They lose the arrangements and go with produced beats...and they pull it off damn well.

• !!! - Louden Up Now: I missed their show in Chicago a few weeks ago. I now have the latest release in which to recreate the live shows in my living room. Their brand of inoffensive pop/funk/punk will make your heart smile.

• Love You Like an Arsonist: I consider these guys to be acquaintances of mine (although I don't know any of them too well). It's strange purchasing a CD at a store when you know the artists in human form. There's a picture on their bio page of Bobby Smiley passed out on a couch. I took that picture (it's temporarily missing from my image directory). Weird.

• The Fucking Champs - V: It just rocks. This is a band you don't want to put on the regular rotation. You have to preserve the awesomeness in small doses.

- The six regular readers of this page are probably wondering why I haven't posted my New Orleans pictures yet. They'll be up soon. My project of putting the useless (and I really mean useless) 15 second video clips together has taken more time than I should have allowed. I wanted to unveil some cheezy title page that presented the two separate directories and the short movies from my trip. The more I think about that, the more lame it sounds. I might scrap that and just post the links on the front page.

- I spend way too much time typing about site updates and what not. Ooops...I'm going it again...
- Adam came to town for two days this past week. The international man of mystery flew in from Denmark to visit Chicago for two days before visiting his American hometown of Berkeley, CA for a few weeks. It was good to see him. We had some good times in the short time he was at my college and as expected, his visit featured a few more good times. More bullets!

• Adam tends to be the absent-minded type. One day in college, he wore two different shoes on each foot without even knowing it. That sort of absent-mindedness rubbed off on me, for I left my cell-phone with him as he traveled out of the city. Yep....he forgot he had the phone, and getting my phone back didn't cross my mind until it was too late.
  

• Adam has spent most of the last two years outside of the country. When he got to Chicago, he said that America is becoming foreign to him. I wonder what that is like.

• In an e-mail a few weeks ago, Adam casually mentioned the fact that he co-produced a movie that aired on Danish cable television a few months ago. Most of us on this side of the ocean were floored that he didn't mention this until now. Unfortunately, he dubbed the movie in the non-friendly PAL format and couldn't prove that it's actually his project...but I'll take his word for it. Adam has come a long way since the days he would slap beers out of jock's hands at crowded houseparties. It kind of made me question what hell I've been doing with myself since college. Then I realized that we're all still way young and there's still plenty of time to do something meaningful.
  

- Not having your cell-phone around is nice. In fact, it's better than nice. People can't get a hold of you at all times, and you don't walk around with an eye on the phone as if your life depended on it. I'm glad this happened. I'm going to leave my cell-phone behind more often. It's nice to truly "not be home" when people call.

- Popeye's Chicken opens up by my house tomorrow. My life will get THAT much better now. If an Arby's moves into the area...this apartment building will probably explode into a mess of chicken wings, roast beef, and the formation of a new cocktail featuring Arby's sauce and Popeye's gravy. Yum.

Is it possible to have a three-dimensional object stand next to a two dimensional object representing a three-dimensional object?

(name that movie)

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Uh...


Something looks strange in that picture.

No, this is not my new apartment. I don't advertise where I live for passing traffic. That would be kind of, um...strange. This was found by my old roommate Dave somewhere in Butler, Wisconsin. I grew up in the city next to Butler, Wisconsin. Of all the places in the world to put that up...I wonder if anyone else who remain in those parts noticed the connection.

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The Weekend I Spent Ten Hours in a Car so I Could Spend Twenty-two Outside.

It's Sunday night. I'm tired. I spent too much time on the computer tonight. It must be time for self-indulgent crap. I'll stop complaining. Weekend = good.

- The workweek ended at 4:30 on Friday afternoon. It was the first time in a few months that I've been at work past 3 PM on a Friday. The later than usual exit gave me the creepy feeling that this would be the case for the rest of the year. Long live the early Fridays.

- After changing your own oil for a few years, one finds getting the $30 quick oil change a bit annoying. I didn't have the time or resources to change my own oil...so I bit the bullet. Visits to the oil change place are way different when you know what's going on. The guy at the shop tried to sell me a bunch of treatments and add-ons...all I could do was smirk and reply "just change the oil, dude."

- I was thinking about the terror threats during my drive this weekend. If this is just a ploy by the executive branch to scare voters...I wonder what its effect would be. Some people heed these with great care, while others see them as fear tactics. Wouldn't terror threats scare those who are more inclined to support the president? They would be more likely to stay home that day...I'm probably way off base here...but think about that..

- Rumour has it the backseat of my car is very big and comfortable. Two nappers came away impressed. That's good to know. If I wind up having to sleep back there, I'll rest easier knowing that it rates high.

- Quinn and I were too busy rocking out to Soungarden to notice that we blew by our turns. That added 30 minutes to our trip north. Whoops. It was worth it...heh.

- Trip North? Yes. The majority of the weekend was focused on a camping excursion. I have never gone camping before. A sheltered upbringing was forced on me. That didn't stop me from having a great time in nature. I saw more stars in the sky than usual, ate more beef jerky than usual, and shot yet another sunset progression. I think I'm obsessed with the sun but I digress. I'm disappointed that I never got to camp as a kid. It seems like a good time for everybody. I bet lifelong memories tend to happen at these things.

Why yes, for the third week in a row, I have more pictures for public viewing:


The beach was fun. A lot of baseballs were thrown around. Some of them were tossed into the lake.


If something looks steep when you are looking up. It sure as hell looks worse when you look down. I didn't know that huge sand dunes existed in Western Michigan. They were "rad." Beach + Dunes = SAND EVERYWHERE.


Perfect temperatures, few mosquitoes, and the company of good people made this trip fun. A good time was had by all.

- Since moving in, I've wondered if my upstairs neighbors have the exact same floorplan as me. At 8pm tonight, I learned that the floorplans are indeed identical...

I've got a busy and full workweek ahead of me...time to sleep "early"...now.

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See Below

If I didn't post this tonight, I would never get to it. Yesterday's post about the error in the Russell Athletic ad prompted the following exchange via e-mail between Shug and the company:

I am writing in response to one of your Internet advertisements placed on Yahoo! Sports Game Channel which reads "The Chicago Red Sox wear Russell Athletics."
I am not even a Red Sox fan and I am outraged that a major company involved in the world of sports like Russell Athletic could make such an unthinkable error. Who the hell do you have running your ad department?
THE RED SOX ARE IN BOSTON.
...Not knowing where they are from is like referring to a hot dog as a hamburger. I can't believe that with all the personnel that are involved in creating, editing and publishing your adversisements that this mistake was overlooked.
You guys seriously have your heads so far up your asses that you could be singing in harmony.

Sincerely,
JShugart

OH, BURN! Um...hold on. Russell Athletic had this to say:

...On behalf of Russell Athletic, a division of Russell Corporation, we apologize for any strife this may have caused you or your fellow Red Sox fans.
We immediately replaced the ad so that it now reflects the Boston Red Sox. While this inaccuracy is purely a case of human error, we realize that there is no excuse for this kind of mistake. But make no mistake about it, we know that it is indeed, THE Boston Red Sox.
Russell Athletic has been a part of several great accomplishments and moments in Red Sox history over the years...Nomar Garciaparra when he won the "Rookie of the Year" in 1997 ...cheered for the Red Sox when Pedro won his Cy Young awards in 1999 and 2000...Mo Vaughn's incredible season in 1995 when he won the league MVP. Russell Athletic is a true baseball brand and we believe that there isn't another brand that supports the Boston Red Sox more than us.
Thank you for your comments and your passion. We look forward to the continued Red Sox success in 2004 and beyond.

Best regards,
B. Quick Chadwick

Yes...they signed it with this name: B. Quick Chadwick. Well...Shugart got the form letter. Apparently they forgot that he isn't even a fan of the Red Sox. Well, that's the story.

I have to get up in less than six hours...it's raining pretty hard out.

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..and then Shug said: "Just wait."

Telephone rings. The conversation is paraphrased as such:

Jon: Hey Ed, you got the internet handy?
Me: Yeah, I'm at home...are you still at work?
Jon: Yeah...for a little while. Okay, go to yahoo sports.
Me: Okay.
Jon: Open up the Major League baseball scores and open up the live game cast.
Me: Um...sure.
Jon: Pick a game, open the window and click on the sponsor tab.
Me: Uh...okay.
Jon: What do you see?
Me: I see Ken Griffey over and over again.
Jon: Just wait...you'll see what I mean. I sent the company an angry e-mail about this.
Me: Uh...okay, talk to you later.

A few moments go by and I see this:



Um...hmm...something doesn't look right with that advertisement used ON BASEBALL UPDATES! Jon gets a 'way to go' for writing an e-mail to Russell Athletic. How does an athletic supply company for a professional sports league screw this up?

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The Day I did a hell of a lot at Once

Somebody mentioned to me recently that there's a certain generation of people born after 1979 who tend to function with a lot of things going on. They're the type who can watch TV, listen to music and play a video game at the same time. At this moment, I'm watching Sportscenter, listening to The Cars' (see yesterday), and typing this nonsense. Although I was born in '78...I probably qualify as one of those freaks. I am a machine.

Random Vents:

Albeit begrudgingly, using Cell-phones on public transportation is slowly becoming accepted. At first, people frowned at you if your phone even rang once on the train. Now, you can talk softly and no one will notice. This morning, I got a taste of the full blown conversation about nothing. "Blah-blah-blah this, I'm three stops away from there, blah-blah-blah that, I'm two stops away from there" and so forth. I had my headphones up to drown out the noise, but the negative energy was still there. Yeah, I know it happens every hour of every day now...but it will still piss me off.

Ronnie Woo Woo was shown at Miller Park tonight sitting in the front row behind home plate shouting "Go Cubs!" constantly for entire innings. It was classic. It's too bad that guy doesn't get free season tickets to games...He's the true fan.

May or May Not is playing a show tomorrow night at Cal's on Jackson and Wells down in the South Loop. That is only a block from my job. I'm not sure if I'll go home and come back but I will be there. So shall you.

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The Question

So the question was: "Where do you see yourself in five years?" I usually have a few canned responses for this one. I always say 'the plan is to not have a plan.' Sometimes I say my plan is to eventually find a path and enjoy every step of the way. On other occassions, I get more specific and detail my plans for world domination featuring music and real estate or something. Today, that question came out of left field and considering the circumstances...I had to fake my way through it. This was the hilarious hightlight of my day. The party who asked it probably got sick of being asked that question and just wanted to flip the script. I delivered a boring and corporate-happy answer with as much sincerety as I could muster...I probably looked foolish in the process...she either saw right through me or wanted to believe anything to get the job...and that's the story of my first job interview. It is very strange being on the other side.

The Brewers won again tonight. During the telecast, I noticed many random crowd chants of the "bullshit!" nature. Hmmm...I wonder if the so called "great Cubbie fans" got into any trouble at Miller Park tonight. Hopefully, the Brewer fans win all the fights in the concourse and parking lot. It's the Brewer fan's duty.

Spinning random on my CD player: 1) Tower of Power 2) Electric Light Orchestra 3)The Cars 4)Black Crowes 5) Foreigner 6)Grand Funk Railroad.

Can it get any better on a summer night?

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Relax...It's just America's Birthday

Skirting conventional American custom, I decided against planning one thing. There would be no city to be at, no reason to get dressed up, and no obligations familial or otherwise. I did my part as an American by living slow, playing video games, consuming hot dogs, watching baseball, and...um...that's about it.

- Taking advantage of my early exit from the office on Friday, I made my fourth visit to the DMV in the past seven months. This time around, I got my address changed. For a fee of five dollars, I now have two minor inaccuracies to correct. My zip code is wrong and I think my middle initial should be a different letter. I don't consider this a major thing...Unless I get charged for ID fraud to myself, that is. Is that possible?

- We have found the front yard of Lane Tech to be a nice place to have a game of catch. The greenspace is nearby, the yard is fairly open, and you get to see a lot of crotch rockets whiz by. Hopefully the janitors will neaten up that yard. We found a dead squirrel, a headless pigeon, and a page of phone numbers from Hustler just this week. I'd hate to trip into a pile of something unknown.

- Throwing and catching things for sport was the most patriotic thing I did this weekend.

- This is one of the weekends where it would have been nice to have a significant other. Long summer weekend like this always mean good times with those close to you. Hmmm...is it about time I give up the 'happy-to-be-alone' game? Probably...

- Ben Sheets was straight dealing on the Cubs today. When the Cubs travel to Milwaukee, Miller Park becomes Wrigley Field North. Their cheers make the game seem like a home game for their Cubs. The fans in Milwaukee have to deal with all the classic annoying traits we Northsiders have grown to love. The home fans will go home this week thinking that everybody from Chicago is an ass. It goes a long way in fostering negative feelings between the cities. The sellouts at the park are nice...but I'd like to see Milwaukee fans sell the park out for once.

- I'm going to hear about this week's series against the cubs at work all day long. I'm glad we got the first game. That will shut the fans up for a little while longer.

- This year's edition of the Fourth of July was relaxing. I sat around, cooked out, and made my way back to the old neighborhood for some lakefront action. We overshot our party and got to see the various cookouts along Belmont Harbor. Plenty of families were having a grande old time with their bocce ball, volleyball, cookouts, and booze. When we got to the end of the harbor, I noticed that a bunch of people at the last cookout were wearing 'White Pride' T-shirts. Instead of running off, I choose to keep on walking by. Nobody was looking for a fight...this is a Happy Holiday. America can get along if everybody minds their own business.

- The constant sound of fireworks popping is nice. I never heard any of this at the highrise. I forget that kids like to blow things up at night. I miss those years. By the end of the summer, I'm going gather a few friends and have a classic bottle-rocket war. It would be a good way to commermorate my childhood.

What's a holiday weekend without any pictures? Here are a few:


No cookout formalities needed. We bought meat and buns and fed them to the grill. No chips, salad, sodas, or cotton candy. Just the meat.


I lived by this harbor for almost two years. Yesterday was the first time I stepped foot here. I neglected a lot of nice things around the old place. Oops.


With cans of Pabst on the grass near our feet, we tossed the ball by the lake. My Van Halen shirt elicited a few comments from the ladies. The shirt still works.

Well...the weekend means only one thing: Summer is now officially in decline. Enjoy it while it last, folks. Around these parts, it started way too late.

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A New Day

Welcome to leftoverchinese.com. It is no different from thelozone.com. I just wanted to lose the reference to my name and try to assume some form of ambiguity (and lose a bit of the self-serving nature of said name). I also wanted to clear the confusion as to why the page was called 'thelozone' while the weblog is called 'leftover chinese'...well, not really. Anywho, I bid thee a happy holiday with the recycled picture. Regular programming resumes after the holiday:



America Good. Happy Birthday...to Jake, too.

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Coasting

The public areas of my apartment are complete. Stuff is starting to get hung on the walls, the air conditioner boxes are installed, and there's not a box in sight. Enough talk about the house...let's...wax pointlessly.

- I get the argument that Home Depot is evil. They exploit workers, use wood from borderline endangered trees, and outprice the little guy. They're as criminally capitalist as the next big chain. However, it's nice to find everything you need for home improvement in one, cold, gigantic warehouse. Out of the million things I could have purchased, I picked up screws...they have a lot of them. This purchase does absolutely nothing for their bottom line. Call it a free tour.

- The Brewers were one Sammy Sosa strikeout away from soul possession of second place in their division. This time last year, they had thirty wins. Right now, they have already won fourty-four games. It's fun to follow. Just before I moved down here, I watched every single game that I could. It was a 106-loss season. I probably saw 25 of those losses. I miss Milwaukee when my favorite sports teams are doing well. It makes all that misery worth it. Then again, we're talking about sports here. Not one thing that team does physically alters my life. I shouldn't care, right? Well...I still do.

- My good buddy and former roommate, Shugart, cut last night's telephone conversation short to watch the A's game. It's been a month or so since I chatted on the phone with him, but it's all good. I won't take it as a slight. I totally understand supporting your team. I'd do the same if the Brewers ever made it to National TV.

We've got a long weekend ahead. I have absolutely nothing planned. This is the perfect setup.

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