Not to make light of her situation, but...



I don't claim to know the complicated chain of events that lead to thepanhandler doing the rounds in the lunch yard. All we got was a feeble and garbled "please help me out" while she held out a scribbled note for us to read. We refused and she moved on. A few minutes later, I turned around and noticed (a) she was putting the money in what appears to be a decent handbag and (b) she checked her cellular phone for voicemails. Moments later, she could be heard yelling at whomever was on the other end. Either way you look at it...accessories and technology should be left behind when looking for a few bucks.

. . [~] . 0 (Grumble) Grumbles .

Park


I could either spend an extra 90 minutes inconveniently finding my way to a NW suburban train station to catch a ride with my boss to the meeting in the SW suburbs...or spend the parking money to take myself therby avoiding fourty minutes of awkward conversation in favor of music. Out of the need for sleep, guess which decision won..c'mon guess. I wouldn't recommend taking a car downtown if you can help it.

. . [~] . 0 (Grumble) Grumbles .

Second to last "Summer Weekend"


Herioglyphics sans Del tha Funkee Homosapien. They were pretty good and we shook hands with Casual after the show. It was horribly hot in there.


Armed with two dozen or so buffalo wings, I attended the Baby Shower for one Missus Torri Bradley in a non-traditional, traditional social event. Fran got them a shield.


Young Jack falls asleep in his grandfather's arms. Earlier he was crying while the priest held him for picture time. Welcome to the Catholic church, good buddy.


Fourteen months ago, I was wandering through the French Quarter and took a picture of this alley. You can see the ghosts. Here's to a quick recovery.

Other events of Note:

- Allergy Season
- There's a moment during the Karate Kid where Daniel Larusso's mother says her benefits and pay at the restaurant are much better than when she worked in computers. Nerds Win again.
- Cub's Foods makes good fried chicken. I wonder where I could find broasted chicken 'round these parts.
- This will be the week of hurdles.

. . [~] . 0 (Grumble) Grumbles .

Myth vs. Reality


Small Gear haul. Guitars, pianos, amps. Allow me to reminisce...

While growing up, every maturing male has the fantasy that when you start/join a band, you meet women. As soon as you get on stage, they'll be throwing their underwear at you. When I joined the Van Halen cover band in college, I thought it was a possibility that I could have at least a little fun. In reality I learned the joys of being my own roadie. The above picture isn't even a fraction of what we had to haul back then.

After shows at the hallowed Oakcrest Tavern in Madison, WI, we would finish a show, shake a few hands, and then exit every conversation to wrap every single cable, pack mics, wind and pack the Audio Snake, Pack the 64 channel mixer, disconnect and pack the amp and processor boxes, use a dolly to haul the amp box away, pair off and haul the subwoofers, bag the PA speakers, stack the three monitors, and a bunch of other things I probably left out. We routinely filled four to five cars. By the time we were done, it was 3am and everybody had gone home. I'd have rather been talking to the girl who waited for everybody to leave the room before approaching. I was too distracted to get a phone number.

Less gear = good times.

. . [~] . 0 (Grumble) Grumbles .

Seasonal


Zucchini. Tomato. Mushroom. Soysauce. Red Vinegar. Chicken. Pepper. Citing the need to slow down for a night, I took the night off and made myself a dinner using vegetables from my mother. I haven't had much time to cook lately, so I felt a little out of practice. I already look forward to tomorrow's leftovers.

. . [~] . 0 (Grumble) Grumbles .

Greasing the Wheels


I get quite a bit of junk mail these days for business opportunities that could potentially make me a lot of money. Most of the time, I immediately toss the unopened envelopes into the trash. Making deals - not the focus of my job, so it's a waste of their time and resources. In order from left to right...a business cast the proverbial reel with: Seeds, Cash Money, an Air Freshener, and a four-leaf clover. Looks like the next week will feature nothing but luck, right? So I guess I'm going to spend the seeds, plant the money, keep the air freshener in my back pocket and hang the clover. Good times.

. . [~] . 0 (Grumble) Grumbles .

Quiet Whirlwind Weekend


To keep the grandkids entertained, my parents let them play with toys my older brothers received in the 70's. The little-person turning the crank looks pretty angry about his job. Most realistic toy ever.


My pleasant reunion with hometown friends finished the night at a place called Victor's. It is supposedly the city's #1 pick-up joint. Watching this rather unattractive group of strangers try to romance each other, I learned that no matter how un-sexy the approach is...guys will try it with every woman on the dance floor. I also got one step closer to understanding why Chicago people tend to look down at Milwaukeeans.


Six Hours Later, I'm golfing with a sibling and parent. My game got worse as the woozienss went away.


To complete the trip home, I looked at bees on flowers.

The spontaneous night on the town created a quirk in my schedule. It turns out I exchanged sleep hours with fiesta hours. The trade meant waking up after three hours of sleep at 6:30 am to the sounds of a screaming niece while feeling like I shouldn't have had that last drink. I haven't slept a wink since (it's 11pm)...not sure what's keeping me awake, either.

Out of the rare Friday night off at home comes the flickr account. Enjoy the work in progress.

. . [~] . 0 (Grumble) Grumbles .

Tie Waste


I used to wear ties to work every Monday (ties not required) so as to get my mind in focus at the start of each week. Eventually that motivation turned into getting lookovers from non-co-working female office acquaintance's. These days, I wear them only on meeting days. Today's corpo-meeting was cancelled about ten minutes before it was scheduled to start. I was stepping towards the door when the telephone rang. I deem this the good-luck tie.

. . [~] . 0 (Grumble) Grumbles .

Monday Evening Entertainment


Green Grass. Fresh lake air. Screaming people. Sprots.

. . [~] . 0 (Grumble) Grumbles .

Cloudy


The water-inflatable monkey grows to ten times its original size and leaves fifty times the amount of slime in its trail.


Moments later, a train enthusiast would tell us that we could have been aprehended by the rail police for getting too close to the engine.


Afternoons of having nowhere else to be but here. CaT BlOg.

Not Pictured:
Batting Cages
Long Exposures + shaky hands
Documenting Lunch for Columbia University
Naps
Spaghetti Dinners

. . [~] . 0 (Grumble) Grumbles .

Tonight


Sleep Out . More Electric Guitars . More Crunch . Me playing Zaid's Whurlitzer Electric Piano (not pictured) . emusic.com recording . My first full set on stage (with instruments) since Halloween 2003.

10pm at Schubas

Film at 11.

. . [~] . 0 (Grumble) Grumbles .

Crown Fountain


One inch of water. Dozens of feet of refreshing fun.

. . [~] . 0 (Grumble) Grumbles .

Flashback: Saturday


Little did we know what to expect after sunset...

. . [~] . 0 (Grumble) Grumbles .

*Poof*

Text portion of this blog is going on hiatus. I think I'll stick to pictures and captions while I sort things out. I need the time...

(Sequence completed. Go Gadget, Go.)

. . [~] . 0 (Grumble) Grumbles .

The Beginning of the End


Formerly ESPN.

I wouldn't say I'm stealing cable. I moved into my apartment and the signal was active. I came home this evening and noticed that 30% of my channels are gone. The landlord hinted that he has something rigged up, but I'm not entirely sure he did. A few months ago one of the channels displayed a message that told me that my "old box" wasn't going to be out of commission "soon." My neighbor confirmed that the signal will indeed be converted. All the channels could disappear in a few days. The last time I tried to live without cable, I subscribed two weeks later. Despite the fact that I was home and awake only a few hours a day, I needed more than four channels. If cable disappears, I bet I can last more than two weeks...

. . [~] . 0 (Grumble) Grumbles .

Sweat

The heat and humidity don't seem as bad as the last heat wave. I've heard only one person so far complain that it is worse this time around and I disagreed. You can enjoy the heat so long as there's a breeze moving the air and things like the following occur:

- Another Chicago Transit Authority misadventure

- Finding an almost full book of USPS stamps on the sidewalk.

- Saw a guy avoid a near collision at an intersection...then watched him emphatically pound his steering wheel in slow-motion.

- Spotted in public from a friend's apartment.

- Was paralized by the island rhythms of the lunchtime band of the week: Waterhouse

- Puzzles...nothing but puzzles.

. . [~] . 0 (Grumble) Grumbles .

Sweat


The air was so thick today, you had to swim through it. The lunch crowd was smaller than usual for a sunny day. It's still better than the office.

. . [~] . 0 (Grumble) Grumbles .