Boom! Reflex!!

So I was walking towards the train when out of nowhere (somewhere) I felt and heard a "BOOM!" The noise startled everybody around me. I momentarily stopped in my tracks to cover my ears but nobody around me stopped walking. Confused, I saw a white truck drive by shooting black smoke out of the exhaust. It was almost halfway down the block before I uncovered my ears. Damn thing went off fifteen feet away from me and just out of my sight.

Why do people keep their ears covered moments after a loud boom? Are humans programmed to expect two loud booms?

Boom! Restless!!

It's 8pm on a thursday night and I've been home since I left work. I feel a little restless and the situation seems foreign. I don't think I've done this since late winter. I'm used to constantly having to be somewhere else as soon as I get home from work. I wonder if that's a good thing.

Boom! Wake Up!!

Listening to your neighbors having sex at seven in the morning sounds a lot different when you're not seeing/dating anybody. It's not as funny and all you want is more sleep. I should stop mentioning the neighbors sex life.

Boom! Format Change!!

So the local heavy metal / rap metal station changed formats to oldies without any prior warning. I tuned in for the first time a few minutes ago. I heard a commecial for a race at the motor speedway. Apparently it was a suprise to their advertisers, too.

Coming out of the break, a heavy metal-ish "Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!" voice told me to get ready for "Chicago's True Oldies Station." Cue the Carpenters.

Maybe, I'm just guessing on that one...there's no DJ yet.

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Nostalga Continues

Last night, Pete told us that the classic Sesame Street short where the guy with the pies falls down the stairs broke his heart...and to this day, it still does.

I barely remembered what he was talking about, but seeing these images elicit a feeling of dissapointment and sadness inside me.







What other traumatic TV moments have I repressed?

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Party Pizza

Celebration for Nick's 30th birthday party = pizza party at a restaurant

Last time a birthday pizza party was attended at a restaurant = ??????

Party Nostalga Factor = 6

All that was missing before it felt like the Organ Piper Music Palace = skee-ball, pole position, and misplaced theatre organ.

Now if you'll excuse me...I have a flashback to 1984 going through my head.

Current Nostalga Factor = 10

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The Weekend that Kept Happening


Visitors.

The five friends from the Twin Cities made the seven hour drive to the city to visit their former neighbors Jake and Wendy. I joined the adventure and made them look at my camera. They saw downtown, a baseball stadium, a few taverns, and Orgazmo. I think they had a good time.


The Bean.

I should come back here on a quiet day. This was the first time I had visited this lakefront attraction. The clouds and angles were fun.


Robin Leach

After the game and before the fireworks show, Robin Leach showed up on the field and declared it a lucky day for us to watch somebody win $1,000,000.00 as a reward for their lottery addiction. That was our cue to exit.


Erica's Parlor Tricks

Friends the New Black played a CD release show that doubled as a dance party. I even found a game of 'Egyptian Rat ___.' A good time was had by all.

Other Paragraphs:

- While waiting for the bus to swing by, I heard what sounded like a car accident a few blocks away. As I was about to board the bus, a black SUV rolled by. It was missing an entire quarter panel while dumping liquids on to the street. The driver had a focused 'play it cool' face. A few blocks later, I saw a few guys standing by their totaled car while scratching their heads. Baseball season needs to end soon.

- I came home yesterday to find that the lock had broken and a neighbor and I were unable to get into the empty building. This was resolved a few phone calls later when another neighbor came home from wherever she was to let us in. My land lord screens his tenants based the vibe he gets from people. I'm glad he finds the nice ones.

- A woman thanked me added a few extra pleasantries for holding open the door while she was exiting. She did this in spanish. The moustache disguise is starting to work.

- Music. Music. Music.

I could use a shower.

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Hello Fall


Earlier this week an office acquaintance asked me if I watched any college football last weekend. I said I was too busy. Naturally, he asked if I was at the office. I shrugged and said that I lead a pretty busy life outside the office and don't have time to watch football. He gave me a confused look and we started looking for other things to talk about...which wasn't much.

Now that I'm playing the role of 'adult' I keep a calendar handy so I can look ahead at the events that occur outside of the office. I usually keep the routine things off the schedule so the calendar looks clean-ish. Today I included the routine items on the agenda for the rest of the month. The fun continues with visitors from Minnesota this weekend. It's lookin' good. Plenty of blue through October.


Forty seven miles north west of Galveston, Texas sits Houston. The area populates 5.3 million people. Most of them have been trying to get out of town over the past day or two. Fleeing the south east...there appears to be less than 10 main routes out of Dodge. I hear that people can't leave the town because the highways are virtual parking lots. This can't be good.

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In case you were wondering...


This is what crossing internet slang with mainstream slang looks like. English is turning into a series of letters and monosyllabic sounds.


If you don't live around here, you probably occassionally wonder "What happened to that guy who played "Ogre?" Where did his career go after the nerds saved him from drowning off a remote island?" Bar spokesman.

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Ponies. Nintendo. Valet Parking. Walking.

Another weekend, another set of completely different experiences...er, the fun never ends in these parts:


Playin' the Ponies.

Friday afternoon featured an outing to Arlington Heights, IL in hopes of strengthening the bond between client and service provider. As soon as I was introduced to the first few people from the client side, their broker said: "He doesn't really work on the account." That meant I didn't really need to bond and I could take full advantage of the open liquor policy (just kidding. I had a car to drive). I was the benefit of a last minute cancellation. This visit blew my fantasy vision of the racing track. I half-expected seeing a bunch of un-shaven dudes in derby hats and cigarette butts everywhere. Instead, I watched horses race in a facility that looked pretty expensive to make.


minibosses

The excitement didn't stop at the races. That night I watched four guys from Ohio play scores from classic Nintendo games note for note. Three shredders and a drummer churned out classics like Megaman II, Goonies 2, and Super Mario Brothers II. I guess the best musical scores were in sequels. It was the nerdiest show I have ever attended and I overheard somebody say "This is OUR classical music!" I wonder if anybody in Japan knows about them.


Downtown.

We hung out downtown for a few hours and in the middle of it all, we played a well-received set. After the set, a random stranger purchased a round for me, Steve and Aaron. A second later the guy next to the random stranger turned to him and said: "You know that band that was on before this one? They sucked!" Our new friend guestured to us and said "They're right here." The guy didn't really apologize...he shrugged. We laughed.


I Spy

The neighbors had what appeared to be a family gathering this afternoon. Not a word of english was spoken. It gave me flashbacks to the time my family would trek from Milwaukee to neighborhoods like mine for the backyard gatherings with distant family members. Now I know what we looked/sounded like. Fun.

Storytime

Exacta, trifecta, superfecta, box...these are just a few of the words that entered my vocabulary on Friday.

Out of options, I went to Guitar Center to pick up a set of strings. This place is known for the hard sell and they'll try bleed you to the last drop. I thought I could have a little fun in this situation. After asking about bass strings, the sales guy suggested I try a brand that he recently "started using regularly." The strings were neither cheapest nor the most expensive, but they seemed to be heavily promoted by the store. I nodded with appreciation and asked him to compare the strings to what I usually get (D'Addario - six bucks cheaper). He went on to tell me that he usually uses the D'Addario brand and I noted the contradiction. So I went along with everything he said ("wow...that sounds good to me"). He smoothly took a set of the more expensive strings off the wall and was ready to ring me up:

C: "...so yeah, these are great strings..."
E: "that sounds good man, I'll take what I usually get."
C: "....what?"
E: "Yeah, I think I'll take me a set of those (picture me pointing to the bottom of the rack.
C: "Um...uh...sure..."

There was no point to that story.

So I left my car in a friend's neighborhood overnight last night. It was a safe move to make despite the fact I was faced with having to pick up my car in the morning. It was kinda fun getting to the car that way. Steps get retraced, and you get to see what the playground is like in the daytime. I should do this more often (and in different neighborhoods. the trip

I spend too much time on this web log.

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The Subtle Reminder


Use that dental plan. Soon.

For some reason, I can count the number of dentist visits in my life with one hand. I'm don't fear my teeth getting worked on. I actually like going to dentist. Thing is, I wasn't raised in a family that took regular check-ups and dentist visits. My first visit ever was in Kindergarden when a cavity got really painful and kept me awake most of the night before picture day. I went back in second grade because the filling from the first cavity got loose. Sophomore year in high school, I reminded my parents that it had been six years. They eventually got me an appointment with a family friend. I was told that a few cavities were just staring but it wasn't bad for a six year break. It took two visits to get those cavities filled. That makes five visits total.

The canyon pictured above has ached off and on over the past nine years. It's starting to ache a little more these days. I should probably do something about this.

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The Honest Mistake and Eerie Coincidence

One day in July the telephone rang and I was told to confirm information on a mortgage application for the purchase of a home. I had no idea this was going on and asked how my name and number wound up on the application. They refused to tell me how my name got on the application and said that I signed the document. I said my name was Edward. They said my name was Edgar. After a few minutes back and forth, the befuddled mortgage employee left me alone and I checked my finances. Nothing appeared to have changed, so I felt sort of safe.

Now Today:

Voicemail:"His this is ... from American Title ... Confirming the meeting for closing ... The property on ... please call us ..."

The phantom mortgage became the phantom closing. I was to confirm that my client was going to be present for the closing of a house somewhere in the north side of the city. I was on the verge of my first sale without having done any work, been anywhere near the house, or even having worked in residential real estate.

E: "...so yeah, I'm calling about this transaction that's supposed to close and...well, I'm not a party to it and think there's been a misunderstanding."
Other End: "So, who is this and who do you work for?"
E: "My name is Edward __ and I work for ____."
Other End: ".....could you spell that last name?"
E: "L _"
Other End: "That's it? Just L_?...What's your telephone number?
E: "xxx-xxx-19xx."
Other End: "Oh, we're looking for an Edgar L___, L-O-H-_ at xxx-xxx-18xx."
E: "Yeah, I'm xxx-xxx-19xx."

So that's it. One missed number and they call a person with basically the same name. I relayed the story to the people working around me. Then the telephone rang again.

E: "Hi, this is Ed."
Other End: "Hi Ed, I'm calling from American Title, following up on my earlier call to confirm a closing."
E: "Yeah, you got the wrong guy. This is xxx-19xx...I just got off the phone with your company."
Other End: "Oh...hahaaha sorry about that, I'll make a note of it..."

Seven million people in the area...similar sounding names attached to similar sounding numbers.

Bonus story: Before I moved out of Madison, WI I worked at a restaurant that employed a bartender named "Eddie Lon_." Personal calls to the restaurant routinely got mixed up. The name game is going to follow me around for the rest of my life.

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Going once...going twice...



Monday morning 8:14am.

C: So I've got tickets to tonights game...anybody want to go?"
G: ...
C: Okay...four tickets to tonights cubs game....
G: ...
C: Anybody?
G: ...
C: Going once...going twice....
E: Fine...I'll take them.
C: awllright...thanks....

30 hours. 18 innings of baseball, four teams, four home runs, a bunch of errors. Nothing slows down after Labor day.

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The Atypical Typical Weekend

By that I mean: less of the usual events, more of the usual pace.


Cat Bolg III. Der Boots became Das Boots on Friday. That's a play on the German language for those who studied it in high school for two years. I'm probably incorrect with the usage but I digress...The Vet told me that the kitten should be angry at me and will probably hide for a day or two. The result: still affectionate, got more social with visitors to the apartment and he's starting to do his own thing around the house...which leads me to wonder if the Vet actually performed the procedure.


Saturday night featured a box social with the corporate friends. At one point, a woman who claimed to not be of the corporate cloth told me and soup that we were probably in a fraternity and our favorite meal is spaghetti and meatballs. The game was on. Within fifteen minutes Soup was six months off a separation/divorce and I was a child-hating Second Grade teacher. We could have taken the illogical lies further if it weren't for the distraction of everybody else.


Welcome to Week 1 of the NFL season. As if the events of Friday and Saturday weren't enough, I made a quick two hundred mile roundtrip jaunt to Milwaukee to treat my parents to a ball game. I picked seats on the sunny side of the park assuming it would be a nice 70 degree day. I was wrong. It was hot.


I have successfully stayed below the $3/gal line with my fillups. Four years ago tonight the Midwest panicked about gas prices, made runs to get their cars fueled, and a price like the one pictured was considered borderline gouging. Everybody woke up the next day and realized that the oil supply wasn't going to get tight. Somewhere between then and now prices (and profits) went up and stayed up.

Sleep

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The limit's the sky


Or were it vice versa?

Sunlight, clouds, concrete, steel. It makes for a nice view. There are a few elements to my day that make the day job worth holding onto. Most of those elements having nothing to do with the actual work...such as being able to enjoy lunch outdoors on grass. I sense a strange vibe in the nation's collective air these days, but it's nice to look up once in a while and think that everything is going to work out one way or the other.

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Nudge. Nudge. Stand.

Sometimes, I'll be half asleep on the train full knowing when the train reaches my destination. Sometimes, I'll be slightly annoyed when somebody snaps me out of my state with a polite, but urgent nudge so they can disembark at the same train stop. I usually get up and stand in front of them at the door. Today, I did exactly that...except I was the one who twitched the elbow.

Sack Lunch #1. Success.

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Leftover Chinese's Season Premiere!


First Things first. Fortune smiled upon Miller and Torri in the form of baby Oliver. I didn't get the stats, but this looks like one healthy baby. Mothers, lock up your daughters.


Second things second. The nationwide effects of the recent hurricane along with other economic pressures means we're getting a deal at this price. Two blocks north of here, gas was two cents cheaper. Shop and Save!


Third things third. Majority of the weekend was spent doing things musical. Most of the time spent indoors. Stay tuned.


Fifth things fifth. The sun set on "the last day of summer" behind Amelia. I got home and it was dark at 8:20 pm. Although actual summer has three weeks left in the tank, we're suppposed to carry on as if it's going to rain for the next few months. We did what we could.

Hmmm...what else?

- I got sick of the colors and all the information on the right. I've bastardized an original blogger template into what you see now. It's gonna be a clean fall.

- Good luck to Nels and Claire who made a stop in Chicago kicking off a four month vacation that will take them through Europe. Looks like they'll have the adventure of their lives.

- Moustache month is coming up, so I stocked the refrigerator with food. Plans are to pack a few lunches a week and rely less on the takeout chinese place. If I cut back on routines like going out to lunch, I can put some cash away.

- Salads. Plenty of salads will be consumed.

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What a Difference a Day Makes...

Just twenty four hours....


Midnight - September 1, 2005

I stared at this front page last night and noticed how every headline is depressing. But hey...the markets went up. People are "cash flow positive!"


Midnight - September 2, 2005

Meanwhile, not much has changed since then...actually things get much worse and the market doesn't really change. Looks like society can collapse in this, the most powerful nation in the world.

I never thought I would hear the media use the term "refugees" used so liberally towards our own citizens. It doesn't seem right, but hey...America gets to lean a few lessons now.

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