Tulips and Soup


It's like the wallpaper at my parents' house...but in real life.


Guaranteed to cure what ails you.

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Purple Hotel Continued

The beauty of having the fancy camera is the ability to crop pictures. Diving deep into the image can yield certain mysteries. I usually find these while working shots through the software.

The image:

A rushed shot of one end of the hotel. It was crooked and out of focus. I did notice something.

The Crop:

What is going on in this hotel? I see a woman with her head down and somebody sitting back in a chair. Her head could be on a table. Why would she be sleeping on a table if she's in a hotel room? You be the judge.

Spontaneous Baseball Visit


Playball. The once or twice a year baseball game with the bossmen means free beer, decent seats, and my intentional nerd-out with my scorecard. Good times.


If you can spot the ball and see what the crowd is watching, you'll see a home run.


This is Wrigley. Much greener than its southside counterpart.

The Scrabble Score

Down 60 points with 11 tiles to go, I needed something big...really big. The tiles were aligned and I came up with:



Do the math.

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The Day I Paid Eighteen Dollars to Park my Car at Work


Express Lane. The Man requires that, at my own expense, I keep my certifications up to date. Every so often, I'll have to pay the downtown "mid-morning special" so that I could head to Lincolnwood, Illinois to answer questions such as: "T of F - Handicapped people are protected from discrimination only in Real Estate transactions." C'mon...take a guess.

To make it all up, I scheduled the trip favorably. I enjoyed a one hour field trip with an hour to spare. This was the field trip:

The streets are Lincoln, Touhy and Kostner. You'll find it a few blocks east of the interstate. I bet the city planners got excited about this intersection in 1967, constructed a few buildings, then went home and never came back. Here are the big buildings near the intersection:


The Test facility. Everything inside smelled old.


Obviously a Kohls food store. I didn't know they built these this far south. The arched shape building reminds me of my childhood years spent at my neighborhood Kohls food store. Almost all of these buildings (and the franchise itself) have been eliminated from the Milwaukee area...I think there only a few of these left standing.


The Hotel. This has to be the ugliest hotel building in North America. Imagine a convention or wedding reception at a place like this. Best Western gave up on it, so it's now independently named "Purple Hotel." Yep.

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Coldspring

After a few nice weekends with warmer temperatures, we were treated to a cold spell. The camera got a break...sort of. For lack of any interesting subject matter:


Nice Try, buddy. A bunch of friends went to NYC and tried to scare up some trouble back here with "shocking" messages. I advised the sender to not be a 'jive turkey.'

Chicken King / Burger Delights


The real-life McDowell's apparently has spun off it's own McDowell's. Just kidding. I heard somewhere that Burger King was suing this local franchise (comprised of former Burger Kings). They didn't spend much time thinking of a new name.


America demands consistency. It looks as if an employee gave up on tearing the former name off. They probably didn't have a replacement sticker.

Not Pictured: the empty parking lot. I couldn't tell if the restaurant was open...but the lights were on inside.

Des Plaines, IL


Growing up, my parents used to drag me to this city to visit relatives. This is the image I think of when I remember these monthly visits: few trees, plenty of asphalt, and dated apartment architecture. This strip of Golf Road always seems depressing to me...even when it's sunny.

Miscellaneous

- During a late evening workout, I caught about five minutes of Cheaters. Reading the closed caption text was a treat. The host and the subject were on their way to confront the cheater at a trailer park, but there were tornados in the area. The host was trying to discourage the pregnant woman to postpone the confrontation. Every few moments, the host was giving her weather updates about tornado touchdowns and such. It turns out the scumbag was cheating on her with a woman in a wheelchair. He asked for another chance...then literally ran away. It doesn't get funnier than that.

- For fifty cents, you can add salami to the turkey subs at Subway. Turkey and salami is such a good combination...it should be an advertised sandwich.

- The Bulls are in the playoffs for the first time in seven years and nobody in this city really cares. They're still waiting for Jordan to come back.

- Mikey and I were behind a car at an intersection and Mikey predicted that they were both strippers. The driver had a small frame with ruffled sleeves and her passenger featured platinum blonde hair. They were both smoking cigarettes. I pulled around them a few blocks later and it turns out it was a mother and daughter. The fantasy was killed, but the question still remains: What do strippers do during the day?

- Waking up with a pounding headache after a night of only four beers and a vodka drink = sign of living healthier. My distaste for alcohol grows by the week.

- This salsa is on sale: 2 for 1 at Jewel. I picked two for myself. The New Lady pounced on the same deal as well with plans to give me the free jar. I declare my world Salsariffic!

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We Got a Long Way to Go...

...and a short time to get there. I'm east bound, just watch old bandit run.

For the first time ever tonight, I watched 1977's Smokey and the Bandit in its entirety. You get car chases, 28 hour challenges, generic trucker-speak, an almost annoying Jackie Gleason, hairpin turns, cops driving into rivers and Sally Field's ass. Quote of the movie: "This ain't a convoy, this is a dream!" Unfortunately, the experience was slightly cheapened because the movie is essentially a happy version of 1971's Vanishing Point. I know I'm not the first one to draw that parallel, but it's new to me. 1970's American Cinema...Catch the fever.

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Ding-Dong

On the way to and from work, it's the same routine: train comes to a stop, people prepare to board/depart, doors open, people board/depart, a bell is sounded, doors close, the train starts to move again.

Three stops away from home tonight, the routine went as follows: train comes to a stop, people prepare to board/depart, a bell is sounded, people exchange puzzled glances, train starts to move again, people start laughing, I look to see if the same thing happened in the next car, people in next car are laughing. The season is making everybody loony.

Nine weeks ago today, I ate Popeye's for dinner and woke up the next morning with the flu. That event was commemorated today with a coincidental visit to Popeye's for lunch. Hopefully I wake up tomorrow feeling the exact opposite of how I felt that late February morning. Does history repeat itself? You make the call.

Today I coined the term 'Proactive Critical Date Management' to an audience...and it went over really well. The corporate machine is slowly taking over my mind. Stop this crazy thing.

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Monday (yesterday)


Somewhere in the South Loop subsection of the Chicago Loop, I passed by a church-like facility. I'm not quite sure what religion they were selling. All I know is that they definitely knew how to design the display windows. I wasn't patient enough to let that woman in the reflection get the hint and walk away.


Arby's after work can only mean one thing: Half-price night at the baseball park formerly known as Comiskey. This time around, I hedged my bets by not eating Taco Bell for lunch.


Seats. Soon the seats would be filled with fans happy to play upper deck prices to sit anywhere in the park. This was the first half-price Monday of the season. We went to same game last year and saw plenty of fights. The atmosphere has a bit of an edge on these nights.


Babies. The family had two other small children. By 9:30 pm the entire family looked like they were about to cry. American League games take forever.


When you notice everybody in a certain area of the park stand up and turn away from the game, there's probably something hilarious going on. In this instance, there was an altercation behind us and to the left. Somebody instigated a fight and had his clock cleaned. He was asking for it.


Real fans get close to the field. The guy with the "Git-R-Done" sign ran around our side of the ballpark.


Sox Win. The sky matches the ballpark.

In conclusion, every visit to Comiskey is always an adventure. You show up to watch a game. You get extra entertainment for free.

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Tax Weekend: 2005

Spoiler alert: The following has absolutely nothing to do with filing Taxes.

Things around me seem way more tolerable and increasingly enjoyable. For instance, I stopped on the way to Dan's apartment to smile and take a picture of the daily traffic ritual. More pointless pictures to fuel your viewing enjoyment.


Inbound. Every day, people remind themselves that working in the suburbs and living in the city is not the best way to do things.

Lake Visit

There's something very relaxing about hanging around a big body of water. It's probably the reason I slept through the first year and a half of my adventure here.


Forget the sailboats behind me..it's "go time." I went to the lake to witness the fitness...and the sailing lessons. The temperature difference between my apartment and the lakefront was pretty steep.


Planes. They seem a lot smaller on "film" than they do to the naked eye.


Open Lake. This is the rare time of year when you can gaze out towards the lake and not have your vision polluted by the gaggles of Yuppie-craft, boats. For the first time in a while, I didn't feel like everything around me was congested.

Hot Air

Taking a blind recommendation, I saw Out Hud display their version of "dance punk." People danced to the music. I nodded my head approvingly in time with the music. It was a nice departure from the brand of chaos displayed by Hella. Hella featured four amazing musicians constantly soloing together in unison. I enjoyed that sound for about 10 minutes of their 60 minute set.

Eating healthier as of late has featured losing some weight. I didn't plan on this dietary change, but it's been a nice change. Who'd have that leaving a meal not quite full was better than feeling uncomfortably full after every meal?

I'm starting to feel the urge to get off my ass and get things done. I'm not sure what those things will be, but I've been watching things go by for quite some time. Next project: find out if I can be ambitious again.

Last night, we discussed the difference between "Deduction" and "Inference." I'm still not sure I have the two meanings down. Don't all speak up at once....

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Light at Night


After a brief hiatus, the glasses are back...and at a 2-for-1 discount. The bonus pair (not pictured) is perfect for Nascar. The bonus pair will live in the car.

Filing IL state taxes online is very convenient. Almost too convenient. I got the feeling today that when I clicked 'submit', I was signing up for an audit of some sort. The information may never get there. I applied an amount of last year's return to this one but I forgot what the amount was. Therefore, I guessed on that amount for this year. This could be a doozy.

I learned how to get small mp3 files to my cellphone. I can pull six seconds of any part of any song in my music collection and use it as a ring tone. Strangers will get to be confused before they get annoyed. If you were a ringtone, what would you be?

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Bizzarro Daylight

Today, the reversed itself.

They gave us for taking company time to conduct a drill.

At the store, I reached for but wound up scanning .

The sun went down and things finally got back to normal, but I lost at .

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Reprise

It's been a while since I've ranted on here. Time away from the home computer means not having much time to myself in the last ten days. I guess the two year period in my world where I mainly kept to myself during the week is over. Times they are a changing.

Sprung


Nature in the metropolis. Last Friday, I was fortunate enough to make a short escape into the suburban version of nature. Amongst the constant airplane traffic overhead and highway noise sits a nice place to remember what it's like to live around trees.

Spring is starting to show some face. Good things are abound.

Spring Clean your Insides


What goes out.


What goes in.

On a visit to Wisconsin to visit the brothers, I got an oil change. My brothers and I spent Saturday night changing oil, playing yahtzee, sipping beers, and pushing each other's buttons. We average American Joes.

Try changing your oil once. Your relationship with $30 oil changes will become one of resentment.

Unexpected Family Gathering


You eat. Visits from second/third/fourth cousins these happen at my parent's house every few months. I'm usually caught off guard by these visits and tend to do my own thing. I've been to wild parties in my day...but nothing beats an afternoon of spilled sodas, poker games, kitchen haircuts, a broken mirror frame, adults taking naps, kids smashing random notes on the piano, putting everything in the microwave, smoked salmon, and hugging old ladies. Welcome to Sunday.

Paragraphs

Remaining a Brewers fan through all the bad years is starting to pay off. Hopefully this team will take the state's attention away from the Bucks for a few years. They deserve a little success.

When your niece looks at your facial hair and asks: "What's that?" It's time to think about changing things up, right?

Leftoverchinese is up 6-0.

Time to do internet 'errands'...yes.

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I just wasted twenty minutes ranting about the past three days with illustrations and blogger done ate the post. I'm not doing this again. Holler back tomorrow.

(This poast [sic] made possible by Firefox and Blogger.com. They've got the winning moves)

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Note to Self:

Getting up at six in the morning is possible if you force yourself.

People are out jogging and/or riding their bicycles that early in the morning.

Stop eating that leftover pizza from Saturday night.

Same thing goes for Taco Bell.

Getting 99 cents in change is agonizing.

I had lunch by this creepy woman who looked like Sissy Spacek's role as Carrie. She spent the entire lunch staring at people.

Find out where all those protesting kids came from.

Eventually we'll forget the tally, so I'll note it here:
Leftoverchinese - Four
Owltakecareofit - Zero

Work on jump shot.

Get some sleep.

The wireless company is threatening to charge me cash if they determine that my piece of shit phone was dropped and/or spilled upon. I'll take that risk. I just want a signal in my house.

If you forgot what you ate at a restaurant during your previous visit, ordering the same dish will prove to be a helpful reminder.

I have no complaints about the way things are transpiring these days.

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The Hustle

Remember when my life was slow enough to rant about movies a few times a week?

I remember it as if it were last winter.

Tonight featured a special movie theatre screening of Stephen Chow's latest film. Although my friend let me copy his VCD release of the movie last week, I avoided watching the movie until tonight. The kung fu, deliberately cheezy effects, dry humor, and violence combine in a most entertaining matter. You may or may not also notice that the movie contains almost every element of a corny Asian film. All that was missing was the montage to a song. Like the soccer movie, you have to suspend reality for a few minutes and take everything at face value. An awkward moment occurred when somebody in the quiet theatre laughed loudly a few moments too late during a urination gag. It's a classic moment in movie viewing history.

A special thanks to soup for this one. I would definitely pay money to see this again in the theatres (next month). Kung Fu Hustle gets a bunch of stars or something.

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The Weekend Spring Happened


Look up. The sun is starting to show itself again. I hope the weeks of dreary cloudiness are behind us. All events transpiring this weekend made Friday seem like a week ago. I mentally distanced myself from the work-world this weekend and after all the madness, I feel like a different person. Everything seems fresh again.

Spring Training


Yesterday a field trip was made to Miller Park. Under cover of day, a bunch of us woke up before 9am on a Saturday to make the trip. We showed up, got festive, got loud and got tired.


As we tailgated underneath a few clouds, the Miller Brewery basked in the sun. It is always Miller time.


The late afternoon sun does strange things at this ballpark. Line drives hit towards rightfield are probably tough to pick up. A right handed batter facing a left handed pitcher in this light produces the most interesting matchup...or is the other way around?


It's the happiest moment of Chrissy and Mike's lives. Engagements get the finger. The middle.

As a group we probably watched very little of the baseball game. I guess you could say that a Cubs game broke out. The sausage cycle was attempted, but not reached. Drunken fans in front of us poured their beers out in honor of "J P DEUCE." I usually try to watch the baseball game, but circumstances proved otherwise. Still, it was a very good baseball time. It's spring training for the fans, too.

Friday Free Day


Scariest cup in the world.


Jason came to town and was having so much fun, he constantly levitated a few inches off the ground.

...

Approximately 13 hours of this weekend featured sitting in my living room watching films or television. It didn't feel like thirteen hours.

Approximately 9 dudes spent a few of those hours in the apartment at the same time. Total classic man fest.

The local watering hole was visited twice this weekend. Both visits proved to be very entertaining...but I didn't see the tamale man on either night. Strange things are afoot these days.

April looks to be a very busy month on all fronts. Get ready.

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