I love relaxing days...

Today was a wonderful day. I slept in, finished a book, IMed with some good friends, and spent some time cooking a very nice dinner for myself which I ate with no TV. :) A nice tofu stir fry, with silk chocolate milk, fresh strawberries...mmm.

I need to spend more great days like this just relaxing, nothing in particular to do.

A H. W. O. S. G.

So I just finished up A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. It was a really good book! I just love it when authors can use such amazing little details to tell a story. Details that just make it come alive and feel so real. The random little things you notice, or never think of noticing in everyday life can just turn a random story into something so real. Great book, great stories, and lots of mention of the chicago area and SF, so that was fun too! :) Interest was sparked after hearing him speak at Printer's Row last summer. Cool guy with quite a life story already!

Next up is the story behind the blog.

crazy fcc fines vs. other fines

Very interesting

cubbies tickets!

So Cubs tickets on Friday! Crazy, awesome, wonderful! I couldn't think of a more worthwhile way to spend a friday!

For those of you who don't know, the Cubs ticket system was run on a wrist band basis for anyone who wanted to buy tickets at the field. I was down there on Wednesday to get my bracelet, and then set my alarm to wake me up to WGN at 5:58 on Friday morning. They drew a random number where they were going to start selling tickets, and my number was a little over 2000 past that number. All was good when I arrived at Wrigley around 9:30. They were like we're doing about 750 an hour, we should get to you soon! And I was like "sweet" :) So I hung around. After not moving for an hour, they were like, come back after noon. I didn't really have any place to go for an hour and a half, so I hung out with the other 2000 fans at the little starbucks on Addison. Fun times...guys there with 3 laptops each all hitting cubs.com to get tickets, people with 2 and 3 cell phones going to 1-800-THE-CUBS and tons of people getting tickets. Oh, and I want to thank T-Mobile for having 3 day weekends! :) Cause apparently busy signal calls count for a minute each!

Anyway, I get back in line, and it takes until about 4pm before I get up to the gate, but all was good! By this time I was a bit cold though, but oh well. I was walking into Wrigley Field! And who cares if you're cold in wrigley! They took us in this little room, told us what was sold out so far and has us pick games there. And then we got in another 1/2 hour line and got tickets. When all was said and done (at 5:30 with only 50 people behind me allowed to get tickets that day) I had the following:

July 27, 1:20pm SF - 4 bleachers
August 11, 1:20pm STL - 4 bleachers
August 22, 7:05pm ATL - 2 Field Box
September 24 1:20pm HOU - 2 Terr Reserved

Not bad at all for a day's "work"

Following ticket fun, I had dinner at Chicago Diner and saw The Last Two Minutes of the Complete Works of Henrik Ibsen. Which was funny, awesome, and bizarre. Just everything you'd want a friday night show to be like! I loved the reading norwegan part. If only Gunnar was there! (a Norwegan coworker)

The day ended with a homeless man trying to wash my window and falling on my hood as I tried to drive away at a stop light on North Ave. Um, yeah. Maybe it's a good thing to be moving out to the suburbs and not downtown! :)

it's a small world after all...

So I left work a little early tonight to go stand in line for my cubs ticket wristband. And I get down there, and the line wasn't that bad...basically around to the bleachers. So I get in line and look in front of me, and like three people ahead of me is this guy that looks strangely like this guy who went to FLP (MIT's Freshman Leadership Program) and lived in a frat right next to Student House. And I'm like Luke??? It was him! How random!

Anyway, let's all root for number 03402 to be the first in line on Friday!! :)

heckler...

Stolen from SusanT, stolen from The Heckler

10 questions as pitchers and catchers report
The Daily Heckle, Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2005

With pitchers and catchers reporting to Mesa for the start of spring training, the 2005 campaign is officially under way. And while it would be nice to think the Cubs will begin the season with a clean slate, many questions remain about this ballclub, and how it fell apart at the end of last season.

10) Shouldn't the highest payroll in the National League come with a leadoff man?

9) Is Dusty Baker really considering LaTroy Hawkins for the job of closer? And if so, is Dusty Baker smoking Todd Hollandsworth's weed again?

8) Is Mike Remlinger still alive?

7) If Jim Hendry is so damn smart, how come number 10?

6) Who the hell is Roberto Novoa?

5) If Jeromy Burnitz is comparable to Sammy Sosa, what does that say about Jeromy Burnitz?

4) Is it just Ryan Dempster, or is it really hot in here?

3) Will the absence of Paul Bako's bat prove to be the team's Achilles heel this season?

2) If the entire starting staff can stay healthy all season long, what's the point of finishing this ridiculous sentence?

1) Okay, it was funny at first, but who stole Wendell Kim?

It is sad that Wendell is gone! He was hilarious!

awesome friends...

So some friends just totally rock! And those would be the ones who call you in the middle of the work day asking silly questions like "frank, would you be interested in cubs tickets for a game this year?" I mean is there any way I could possibly say no to that???? Yay SusanT (to distinguish you from SusanB who was in town this weekend), you rock!!

I am still going down to get a bracelet to try my luck at other games, under the freak chance I'd get a number early enough to get a seat to a Boston game or something..or at least bleachers at ANY game. We'll see how things go! If you want to get a bracelet with me, I'm going Wednesday afternoon!

Go Cubbies!! :) :)

cubbies!

The rules are out! Who wants to go get a wristband this week? :-D

TML!

Today was a good day! It snowed, it rained, the snow melted, and I cleaned. Well, that's not that great part I guess. But tonight I hung out with my friend Susan again and went to see TMLMTBGB again :) Yes, I know I just saw it last week, but four plays changed, and my favorite neofuturist Dina was in it this weekend!! :) :) Yay! And this was Susan's big chance to see the show! I talked to Dina a second after the show and got a $5 coupon off the prime time show about Ibsen's plays if anyone wants to go with me sometime. They just extended the run too! And tonight was the unveiling of their new US map. It's cool and on the close wall of the "waiting room" area. Fun fun! And they sold out and ordered out...on a Sunday! Pretty impressive.

Anyway, we ended a great night with a trip to Pick Me Up Cafe in Wrigleyville for some good vegan french toast. mmmm. It's fun to have friends visit! :)

not very surprising...

You Belong in 1978

1978 If you scored... 1950 - 1959: You're fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in! 1960 - 1969: You are a free spirit with a huge heart. Love, peace, and happiness rule - oh, and drugs too. 1970 - 1979: Bold and brash, you take life by the horns. Whether you're partying or protesting, you give it your all! 1980 - 1989: Wild, over the top, and just a little bit cheesy. You're colorful at night - and successful during the day. 1990 - 1999: With you anything goes! You're grunge one day, ghetto fabulous the next. It's all good!

What Year Do You Belong In?

lease...

Before I go ahead and try to break my lease, does anyone know anybody who might be interested in living in Evanston? Rent is $1035 and there is available parking in the alley. Less than a block from the el. I'm looking to be out by the end of April. Let me know...

chicago fun!

I love when friends come visit Chicago! My friend Susan from Student House is here this weekend and we had a really wonderful dinner at Chicago Diner last night!! The food there is just so awesome! I should really go more often! Tomorrow we're off to see the matinee show of TMLMTBGB at 7. It'll be odd seeing it so early, but still fun as always! If anyone wants to meet up with us, give me a call or just show up :) Doors are at 6:30!

Today was just a nice relaxing day for me...my mortgage is all in order now and they have all the forms they needed, so I'm pretty excited about that :) I feel so old!! Susan and I had a conversation about windows and thermostats and appliances last night. :)

yay for dinner with friends! :)

This has been a fun week of dinner with various friends! So nice to just relax after work and have a nice relaxing meal with good friends! It was CPK last night, and Chowpatti tonight...mmmm. And Susan will be in town tomorrow from Pittsburgh!! Yay for old MIT housemates coming to town!! And we're going to Chicago Diner which is one of my all time favorites. I can't wait! :)

Not much else new around here. Looking forward to a nice realxing weekend!

Z Frank is cool...

So I was reading this great article on the front page of the Chicago Reader today (which is another reason I love take out from Blind Faith!!). And it's about the guy that runs Z Frank Chevy in the city. So for those of you not from here, Z Frank is the biggest Chevy dealer on the planet and it's been around for ages. The guy that runs it now is actually Z's son. Anyway, he works with the Sierra Club to lobby against SUV's and for higher gas mileage restrictions for new cars. He wishes he would have been an environmental lawyer, but his dad talked him into running his business. Just thought that was very cool. The headline is "Car Dealer Begs you: Stop Buying SUVs" if you're interested and live someplace where you can find the Reader :)

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I decided that after last year's adventures for celebrating the day, I thought it wise not to try to celebrate this year. I think it's a good choice :)

interesting...

Can we predict the future? Doubtful, but interesting.

TML!

I went to go see TMLMTBGB again last night! So much fun! It's always a really great time although I'm sad that the plays are on average much less politically based since the election. But still really good and they had a few about the war and the president and that was good. Some thought provoking once as well, which is always nice. And it wasn't too cold out there to have to wait outside for an hour! Which is always a plus when going in winter! Oh, and they got a new sign to replace that little tin one they used to have...it's all light up and fancy. I guess that's what they're doing with the two extra dollars :)

Their next play is called Patriots and it's by Chloe! I want to go!! It starts in April!

condo

Hey everyone! So as many of you know, I signed the papers on my condo yesterday! I'm really excited!!! :) It's such an awesome place! Thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate last night :) It was fun!!

london!!!

So london! It was amazing like I said before. We got in on saturday morning and wasted no time in going to the British Museum and seeing the Rosetta stone and the Enlightenment Room before heading off to explore Picadilly Circus (times-square-like), have a nice Italian dinner, and then find a good pub so stacie could have her guinness. :)

Day two was even more action-packed with a trip out to Cambridge to hang out with Helen and see all the amazingly-old and ornate colleges out there - and of course have some tea! They even had a Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross (see pictures below)!!! That night after wandering around the city some more, we went to one of the most amazing restaurants I've even been to - Hakkasan. So it's this Chinese place in the basement of this alley that cost like 3 million pounds to build! The food was amazing, the drinks were amazing, and the environment was just totally incredible! It's really hard to describe the awesomeness of the place. :)

Sunday was also filled to the brim with fun places. We took a double-decker bus tour around the city, seeing the Westminster Abbey (amazing!!! so incredibly old and beautiful!), tower of london (a medieval castle!), Big Ben, the Globe theater, and so much more. It was a great time and an awesome way to get to see the rest of the city and actually learn something about what we were seeing :) We had dinner at this awesome Indian place near Leicester Square called Mela. Great food and totally more reasonably priced than Hakkasan. But no awesome candle-walls here :) After dinner, we walked down to the Strand and saw Chicago. Yes, we saw Chicago in London. And it was awesome. And fun to hear them talk about Cook County! :)

So yes, it was a great trip! I was amazed how similar London was to Boston. The buildings, the parks, even down to the tile on the walls in the Tube stations and the steps to get down to them. Walking around Russel Square by our hotel you could have totally been in the Common. :) I was also totally amazed by the oldness of everything. Living in the states Medieval castles, churches built in the 1200's, and pubs that Dickens used to go to are not things you get to see everyday. So it was pretty amazing :) Oh, we also watched part of the super bowl there! Funny having british commentary and having the announcer explain all the odd rules that comprise "american football" :)

London is totally on my top list of favorite cities now. I've gotta go back and spend some more time there someday!

OK...that's the recap. I've gotta get ready for work now!

london!!!

London was so awesome! :) I'll write all about it tomorrow, but first, some pictures before I head off to bed! :)

what???

and this, my friends, is why I hate our military... (among other reasons of course)

Off to london tonight!! I doubt I'll be able to post from there, so look for all kinds of stuff when I get back on Tuesday!

What political persuasion are you?

You Are a Liberal for Life

You've got a bleeding heart - and you're proud of it. For you, liberal means being compassionate, pro-government, and anti-business. You believe in equality for every person, and you consider yourself universally empathetic. Helping others is not just political for you ... it's very personal too.

What political persuasion are you?

condo pics...

So here are some pics from my trip to the condo in Palatine today! What do you all think? I love it! So unless anyone has serious objections... :) It's right on the train...which I thought would be an issue...until two trains came by blasting their horns and I heard something like a little hiss for a few seconds...yay for foot thick concrete and triple pane glass! :) I also totally love the low windows with the super-thick sills. I can totally see myself sitting in the window reading a book. It's like a foot and a half deep! And the balcony is pretty awesome too! Yay!

I've got a week to figure things out, of course I'll be in london for 4 of those days...but whatever. It'll all be cool.

wow

wow...what else can I say! Making entrees out of edible paper... Is Chicago cool again??

yay!

yay for getting rid of Sammy. And I don't think it's mean...any player that doesn't show up to a game he was supposed to play in for no good reason deserves to be gotten rid of. And so many more reasons... :)

London tomorrow! Yay! And tonight look for pictures of the condo I might buy...

suburbia cont...

So this deal is palatine is looking better and better. I talked to one of the people at the sales office today and they have a couple really nice two bedroom places that are totally in my price range and so much bigger than anything I could get in evanston or the city. Here's one of them that I really liked a lot. Anyway, I'm going over there thursday to take a look in person! Scary!

Thanks to all of you who responded to my "Convince me to move to the city/suburbs" emails :) I hate to say it, but it looks like suburbs is a clear winner. *cringe*