Boots Goes on Vacation

*spoiler alert* cat bolg

Calendars match up this week. I embark on an adventure later this week. Jacob embarks on an adventure with Leftover Chinese's Boots the Kitten. In the spirit of Halloween (or friday the 13th) this is what the semi-black kitten looked like last week.


Kitten Poses for Senior Picture.

I'm pretty sure I'll come back to a much larger and different looking animal. Have fun, Boots. Have fun Jake and Wendy. Cats. Yep.

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

The Weekend I Got a Haircut and Gained Four Pounds

Every meal featured a binge of some sort. Chinese food, the hot dog shack (twice), a Chinese buffet, and spaghetti dinner will do that to you. The weather was nice...


Despite some of the elitist comments thrown about the office as to why the ratings for the world series were the lowest in history, plenty of people in the city celebrated the winner. Folks lined up on my block, but the madness was a few blocks away. Since they were running behind schedule, the team sped by us waving as fast as they could. I may or may not show up on Channel 5's self-appreciating commercial commemorating their coverage of the World Series.

My old roommate summed it up:
Ed,
Congratulations on inhabiting the city where the local
sports team won the 2005 world series.
-Jon


Oliver. We dressed as zombies. The baby wore the ring and made a public appearance. Yes, it was that kind of night. Since it was the first Halloween spent in Chicago, we decided to have a little fun and perform a 446 show. Laughs were had, dances were made, and we all had an extra hour to recover. Perfect.

Other

I've been anti-social as of late and I have my reasons...all of which are good. As a result, I finally get a chance to catch up on the DVD collection. Logan's Run was messed up. According to the 1970's version of the future, we all dress in uniform colors and the world looks like a shopping mall.

Now I'm watching Dreamscape. The 1980's version of dream science has a lot of keyboard music, nuclear holocausts, turtlenecks and sweaters.

Wearing face paint for probably the first time in my life was kind of strange. I may have looked like a zombie. I didn't think I'd have to take that shower when I got home.

Brooke just texted to tell me that she's hanging out with Bruce Vilanch. I guess he's not a figment of my imagination.

According to my landlord, the single family house next door is on sale for $1.3 Million. From my back alley, you can see into the house and there's a pantry door that looks like it cost about 10 bucks. Location. Location. Location.

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Reality. Dream. Reality.

The boxspring has had it's share of problems. It always sounded funny when you'd lie (lay?) down - as if a collapse was imminent. Early this morning, I fell back to bed and heard something snap. Then I had a dream that I looked under the bed and saw that some wood had dropped out from the boxspring.

Tonight, I took a closer look. The slat running length-wise snapped...and the angles were all confusing.

Point being, I guess I can dream about the near future.

What should I dream up next?

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SPROTS: Sox


Chicago Wins the title. The drought that nobody mentioned before the playoffs finally ends. I took a picture of the TV.


When the team owner graciously accepted the trophy, he had a few things to say. The first item was a heartfelt thanks to the commissioner. The owner started to break down and cry a little bit. He looked ready to declare his love for Bud.

A few innings earlier, I drove by this park. It sat quietly in the rain and the neighborhood did its best to stay quiet as if nothing were going on.

After a game of catch in 2004, Miller and I discussed the Sox as a more viable team to root for. As Brewer fans, we couldn't commit to the Cubs. World Titles are fun to witness. If you count the Packers winning in '97...that makes two major championships on teams I genuinely endorse.

Enjoy the riots, Chicago...I'm going to sleep.

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Rain. Clouds. Rain. Rest.

Minus the four plus hours spent in Madison, the past few days featured plenty of rest, relaxation, and the chance to not go out at all. Here's a happily mundane look at the past few days.


Friday's stay-home decision was made easier when the boss man suggested an early happy hour. A few buckets later, I'm left reflecting on how alcohol fuels daytime industry. Those with families had a few quick ones before returning to their games of house. Those without families got a head start on their nights. I watched the Metallica documentary.


A day later, I wandered through the spice aisle and paid the premium for a disposable pepper grinder. I put that thing to immediate use.


A visit to the families means I get another chance to play with toys, nieces, and nephews. This is what a toy cellular telephone looks like when you angle the mirror to reflect a camera lens. Happy Birthday, brother.


After the Madison voyage, I tried to take a picture of the knob settings so we wouldn't lose them. It didn't work.

Other Events

The John Tesh experience has evolved from TV to music to the air waves. Yes. He has a radio show. I was making my way through the dial and stopped on a Jimi Hendrix song. Next thing I know, John Tesh is telling me the benefits of caffene. It's a life improvement show.

A thorough neatening of the apartment yielded the original color of the bath mats. They came out of the wash their original color...and they're fluffy. Again, I should do that more often.

I tired to watch this movie. Nothing during the first thirty minutes made me laugh. The cast, seemingly doing a favor for Harry Shearer, is vast and ranges from Morgan Fairchild to Alan Thicke to Dick Butkus. I started to feel embarrased for the actors after a while. Not sure if I'll watch the rest of this.

During Friday afternoon's outing, the barback served us pretzels and cleared an ash tray with a bare hand. It wasn't pretty at all.

Chicago has a serious case of World Series Fever going on right now. The television coverage reminds me of the year the Packers won the Super Bowl; bordering on annoying. If it were the other Chicago team in the series, the coverage would be nauseating.

Yes, the Packers are due for a horrible season.

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Acro Mania

So back in 1997, us semi-nerds (nerds) would kill a few weeknights in the dorms playing Acrophobia.

The situation: You're in a chat-room. The computer spits random letters at you. You string them together to make a witty sentence, phrase, collection of words, etc. After that, everybody's 'acro' is shown and you vote. This goes on for a few rounds with differing levels of difficulty. The top two vote getters get to be in a one-on-one face off. Back in 1997 this was a fun time. The game disappeared for a few years, but came back recently.

So seven years later us semi-nerds (nerds) will re-live that glory on occasion.

You can either play with clean language (no profanity) or 'adult' language (anything goes). The games featuring clean language are more challenging because you can't just throw out an insulting or profane word as a last resort. The games in 'adult' language get pretty graphic and some acronyms are pretty offensive.

Tonight we took in a few rounds in the adult room. Wanting to act fast and not knowing how to make R-C-C sound perverse, I spit out what came to mind and let it fly. The graphic below has been censored out of good taste:



Note the winner.
Note the blanks.
Note the last comment in the chat window.
Note the checkered flag means I was fastest to enter.
Note Jacob's reference to Raccoon finance.

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Five in Four

Again with the Chicago-Madison-Milwaukee triangle, but this time around I found myself slouching in front of other people rather than the normal slouching in the corner kind of stuff.


Thursday Night Sponsor: Sparks. It tasted like carbonated flinstone vitamins. Snapped me out of the funk that was already a busy week, and made me stay out way past sensible bedtime.


Friday Night Sponsor: Pillows. As kids get older, they're less likely to get themselves involved in a true mosh. So on this night, the kids went nuts with the pillows while being polite enough to applaud between song performances.


Saturday Afternoon Sponsor: Bulls. It was unseasonably warm in Batavia, IL. It was a nice time for fresh air, farm museums, and talking about how we don't like group photos.


Saturday Early-Night Sponsor: Club 770. JP designed this and it's still there...and then I had to leave right away.


Saturday Late-Night Sponsor: Trapezoidal Stage. Fun times abound on Capitol Square. We somehow stayed up past 4am watching "Mean Girls" (again).


Sunday Night Sponsor: Big Dago. Saw some old friends at a south-side Milwaukee club...then drove back to home four days, five shows, 1.5 gas tanks later.

...and then I talk about stuff

I took the working day off to settle the nerves and recover. I learned that there is absolutely nothing on the local TV stations during the day. Summary checks to work e-mail and voicemail yielded nothing major. Most of the day was spent with a cat. I think he was kind of happy to have somebody to talk to after three isolating days alone. CAt BolG ReLaxxors.

Due to a dance-infused death, it is Blu-Blocker buying time. No matter what I do to maintain the life of those things, they'll find new ways to break. Unapologetic dancing bystander. Check.

Friday night was spent out in the western suburbs. At first it was too quiet to sleep. Eventually the chorus of geese throwing a party on the river put me out...at least I think it was geese.

That's all I got. Time to get back at it.

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

God Fearing Terrorist Day

First I get one of those African phishing scams. In the letter the gentleman said:

"Now that I am the only benefactor to this fund I now look for a trusted GOD fearing investor to be my beneficiary for the claim of this fund deposited in the SECURITY COMPANY IN AFRICA."

Apparently, the Fundamentalist Christians are the lucky investors with this crusade. Watch out.

Then During the course of a day, I came across this passage:



The language is very broad-sweeping, general, and probably shouldn't be posted for a host of reasons...but what type of lawyer writes this passage? If you deal with terrorists, you can't use their space. If I have a three hundred square foot office to lease, I'm not going to check a National register of terrorist organizations or audit your finances to see if you've done business with them. The GOD fearing cynic in me might think this language targets a particular group of people.

The point of this? The powers that be have their stamp on everything.

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Bad 'stache Day



Some people complain about having a 'bad hair day.' I used to have long hair, and I sort of saw what they were talking about. If it was humid, my hair turned into a thick, wavy and unmanageable blanket. Today, I had a bad moustache day. At times it was itchy. At times the ends of the hairs were poking the skin on either side of my mouth. At times, people looked at me in fear as if I was about to start swinging a sledge hammer. That's the way moustache grows, I guess.

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The Two Color, One Hangover, Zero Sleep Weekend


Green

According to my fifteen seconds of research into the psychological effects of this color: "Green is a calming color and has a neutral effect on the human nervous system. It signifies life, youth, renewal, hope and vigor." My bedroom from ages zero through six featured soft green colored walls and carpet. I'm permanently calm. Thanks, Green.


Red

According to another fifteen seconds of research into the psychological effects of this color: "red can elevate blood pressure and respiratory rate. It has the effect of stimulating people to make quick decisions and increase expectations." My bedroom in high school featured bright red carpet. I was pretty ambitious back then and accomplished things like learning stringed instruments, talking to girls on the phone, stealing change off the dresser when I was little, and endless games of Robotron 2084 on the Apple ][c. Thanks, Red.

Both colors did their respective jobs this weekend. Based on what I read about the colors, green helped us discover a comfort zone and put us on the road to a pretty festive evening (and a pretty festive hangover). Red helped us accomplish a lot of work but left me to endure a sleepless night despite being exhausted.

The research could be correct. Internet, you done it again.

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Can't Get Up

I have this habit where I have to listen to Peter Frampton's "Do You Feel Like We Do" in it's entirety...it shows up on the radio and I just stop...so I'm killing the last few seconds or so writing this sentence.

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Go play volleyball


Crescent Moon. Slug. People.

The last time I saw Atmosphere, Slug (rapper) showed up wasted and tried to pick a fight. Tonight's appearance was at a larger venue and the was definitely a bit more polished. Women up front went nuts over the performance. Yuppies and their brown leather shoes danced along to the beat. I saw a kid pass out in the bathroom three songs into the set. Nobody was sure how to enjoy a live band backing up half the show, but everybody seemed happy at the end.

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Feeling kinda Luigi today



Have you ever wondered what it's like to be Luigi? What is it like growing up with your last name being your more famous brother's first name (I looked it up)? Mario Mario owns the spotlight while Luigi Mario is famous for being the most difficult character to use in Super Mario Brothers 2. The New-old-high-school-semi-acquaintance-turned-friend Brooke, theorized that Mario probably saved kittens from trees and won science fairs while Luigi hid jars of animal parts in the back shed. Rhetorical questions we discussed during our failed quest to 'beat the princess':

Why all the pits and floating elevators? What is mushroom land like during peacetime?

I instinctively know the location of hidden extra guys and coin banks. What should I have remembered instead? Geometry?

When the brothers beat a level, why do they lower the peace flag? You'd think the flag would go up.

Is it more painful to eat the mushroom and enlarge, or step on a goomba and shrink?

What message would Nintendo have sent to children if Mario and Luigi could get hurt from their own fireballs?

When fireworks go off, does Bowser get angrier?

Do the dance.

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October

So much change in the air...Summer/fall is over...Welcome to fall/summer.


Soon...

I shook off the Saturday AM cobwebs to meet extended family for a Chinese Buffet. The buffet sits near this chicken joint in the vicinity of a friends' house. I shall come back. Note that the cartoon chicken is offering his own legs with a side of fries.


Googly Eyes

Going back to the parents house when a niece shows up usually means I get to play with toys. You have to shake front-and-back and side-to-side to split the eyes. Fun.


Apples

A semi-uncle and his nephew came to America for a few weeks. We took them to an orchard. Lots of apples sitting around the house tonight. Plenty of apples. It was also during this time did I learn how important race is to native Asians. On more than one occasion was I polled the racial make-up of my friends and band members. Good times.


Closed

Not quite the ideal location for this boutique. It never seemed like anybody shopped there and last December, they said they'd be closed for two months. They had moved. I'd make a joke about past tense and past participle as it relates to the announcement, but I can't think of one.

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