...fine line between insanity and genius

sending thanks to christabel, emer, and tim for listening to the damn story for several hours. i needed someone to confirm my perceptions and help determine the proper recourse at this stage of... well... whatever it is. the bottom line is, i need to calm the fuck down. as far as the previous entry... i know that i haven't given it much time to stew, and it's the weekend, but no one has left a comment. this means one of two things: i haven't been updating frequently again, so readers are slow to check or my story is a piece of shit that no one is interested in. i'll assume the prior, and will let you know that she did kiss me... but on the neck/lower cheek. i should take it as a compliment meant to boost my confidence, but it's hard when a girl's mustache is tickling your skin. just kidding... about the mustache i mean. she really did kiss me several times, and as of today there is still no sign of herpes on my neck.

i finally wrote a nice long entry earlier today, but i decided that it needed to be revised before posting. oops. i really wanted to drunk text tonight, but thank christ i held back and decided to enter this drunk blog instead. all you need to know is that i was at waterhouse with christabel, emer, mark and tim . and while dancing to old skool hip hop and house, some girl came up to me and told me that i was hot. obviously drunk, she proceeded to tell me that i was one of the best djs she had ever heard. she said i was good at scratching. so when i told her that i wasn't a dj... she shrugged at me and said, "well just play along then." wtf?!? so when she asked me my dj name, i said... " dj poise ". wtf?!? i know, i know... i don't know why that was the first word that came to my head. anyways, she asked me if i made that up, thereby reaffirming that she was truly wasted. long story short, it went downhill from there. i kept pinching tim to have him save m...

i wanted to go to circuit city yesterday, but i had to work until 9:00pm . had i thought about it on my way home, i would've tried to sneak into one of the stores before the ten o'clock holiday closing time. anyways, i bought season 3, much to the dismay of my fellow obsessed lost fanatics, who have endless supplies of free unofficial copies. so i welcome myself to my own private hell. nights of isolation, hours of immobility, and many moments of clapping, questioning, and screaming out loud "what the fuck!?! brilliant!"

see, this is exactly why you aren't supposed to talk about fight club. i want to tell you a story about this girl in the starbucks drive thru on golf and higgins, but i've been blabbing on and on about someone else in previous posts... so now it looks like i'm some douche who just crushes on girls left and right... which is actually true... though i'm not a douche. so anyways, the wednesday before thanksgiving, i ordered my usual bourgeois concoction at the starbucks, and this sorta-close-to-my-age cutie hands me my drink. as i drove away, i know that i probably said " damn ", out loud and to myself. so two days later, on black friday, i pull up again, and she's there again . she then says to me, " weren't you here earlier today? ", and i pulled a "huh?", and she gave a big smile. i told her that she helped me a couple of days earlier, and then she said, " you're right, i just remembered you and your car ." ( someti...

happy birthday wishes to roy , who didn't invite me to todai for his birthday dinner. sonofabee.

thoughts and prayers to my cousin, leon ... who had a quadruple bypass emergency surgery early this morning. he's in recovery, but it was an extremely risky procedure, so he'll be monitored for another week. i guess he had some chest pains and a headache at work yesterday, so he went to the emergency room. after some tests, the doctor told him that he had two choices ( and this is exactly how uncle bing tells the story )... either die in a couple hours or agree to an extremely radical open heart operation, in which case there would be no guarantees that he would survive the operation... and even having survived, there would be no guarantee that he wouldn't get a stroke or some other detrimental complication immediately or soon after surgery. apparently the doctors were not optimistic at all and pretty much told him that he needed to get his whole heart reconstructed. if time wasn't such a factor, he'd be a candidate for a heart transplant. so thankfully, he's ...

since the first time i heard it used... in third grade, i thought the word douchebag was very lame. it's been a word that has escaped my vocabulary for a very long time. but i've been hearing a lot of people using it lately and it's beginning to creep on me faster than bubble guts after a trip to taco bell. anyways, i'm slowing working it into my regular banter, because it has become such a novelty. if you don't like the word, douchebag , you will... try checking out the site, hot chicks with douchebags . i don't know how people find this shit, but it's delicious.

it was sweetly strange. the replay in my head's dvr is so clear right now. i can't explain it to you, but we were having a secret conversation around a corner. see, i was on break, and she wasn't, so while she was taking care of customers, i was hiding. i finally took a walk to the directory to find where to eat. when i turned around, she was looking for me. i decided to wait for her to get off of work, because she said she'd sit with me. i ate lunch a mcdonald's while she told me stories. she's the greatest. we parted ways and i gave her an awkward hug. i think i've given her like 6 hugs in my life, and like 5 have been awkward. i still have no idea what that is, but it's kind of fucking hilarious.

there was this dude i worked with a couple of times. his name was truesbury . he passed away a couple days ago. he was a strange guy, but very inspired and fun to work with. anyways, i wanted to honor his memory in a post. he was 67 and he passed away, december 1, 2007 at his home. he was an aspiring screenwriter with no experience, so he was a great inspiration. the title of this entry was the name of one of the scripts he was working on. he will be missed.

this is a big mistake. i just know it. the good news is that i can come back and just delete anything that i've regretted posting. if you are reading this line... then i have already edited my posting. she's awesome. anyways, today was a long day at work. right at the end of the day, i got caught up with an irate customer and so i did my best to ease her worries. she was satisfied, but i had to stay a little later than planned. i got my adc/dvi adapter and it looks like my computer is back up and running. the only issue that i have (that i read about in some forums) is that my monitor doesn't turn off when the computer goes to sleep. i'm gonna have to find some sort of workaround. shit. i ate dinner with pops and lourdes at panda express , and even though it's no where near real chinese food (what is, really?), it was delicious. don't worry, i didn't get the damned orange chicken ... oops... yes i did. i then caught mnf at bww and, as usual, the game was...

i spent most of today like i do every sunday... in and out of sleep, doing laundry, watching football. it was very productive today. i spent a little while talking on the phone with tiffany while i cleaned my desk. the final piece to make my computer work, comes in tomorrow, so i had to clean its home. i guess that tiff was ironing clothes on the other end, so we were able to kill three birds with one stone. in other news, when the bears game ended, i let out a painful moan that incited laughter from the guests downstairs. argh. the playoffs are as good as gone... at least i can see the top of my desk again and at least the dust creatures have been exterminated.

first rule of fight club... argh. so i had a great time friday night with margie and ariel at stonewood ale house . problem was, i had never drank with ariel before, and she was lightly sauced when i got there, and i was driving her home... apparently . we shared some stories, some drinks, and some laughs, and at about 3:00am we left. it took all my strength to... oops. ...don't talk about fight club. happy birthday, ariel!

❝ i've been on top of the world since about six months ago, marking the first time i laid eyes on you. i lost all train of thought as i entered the room. i saw what looked like really good food, then i saw you and so did you. i wanna wake up naked next to you, kissing the curve in your clavicle. kissing your clavicle. i've been on top of the world since about 1 week ago, marking a time when i was drunk enough to talk to you. i lost all train of thought as your eyes met mine. told you i thought you were gorgeous. you gave me your phone number, i gave you mine. before you left i said that you can bet i'll be bothering you soon. you said, 'no bother, please do.' i've called you twice. it's been a hellish fight to not think about you all the time. sitting around waiting for your call. i wanna wake up naked next to you, kissing the curve in your clavicle. kissing your clavicle. ❞ " clavicle " alkaline trio this song was in my head this morning... and th...

despite being off today, i woke up at 6:30am so that i could make a birthday card for ariel and meet her and her family for her 8:00am birthday breakfast... a what? a birthday breakfast ! yes. it was strange. and it was in fact, my first birthday breakfast celebration. but it was a genius idea, not only because breakfast is the greatest meal of the day, but also because tonight is reserved for glow in the dark mini-golf. anyways, 8:00am became 8:45am , because elsa broke her leg on thanksgiving (huh? this tidbit of information is for my own enjoyment... it's an inside joke) . we had some great conversation about: guns, ids, children, work, sleeping in ihop, driving, breakfast, and thanksgiving gravy. i had an absolute blast. on the way out, i gave ariel the card i made and we said our goodbyes and i smiled to myself, wondering how i always find myself hanging out with ariel in the presence of her dad and elsa. now i'm thinking, "if i ask her out to dinner... should i m...

sent by jim . London PA Voice Fired for Slamming Tube By RAPHAEL G. SATTER | Associated Press Writer 11:39 AM CST, November 26, 2007 LONDON - The woman behind the gentle, even voice which warns London's subway commuters to "Mind the gap" was fired after telling a newspaper she thought the transit network was dreadful. Emma Clarke has been recording messages for London's sprawling subway network, popularly known as the Tube, since 1999. In addition to warning passengers to watch their step in walking between subway cars and the platform, she also reads the trains' stops, tells Londoners how long they have to wait until their next ride, and delivers service updates. Transport for London, the body responsible for running the subway, said Monday that Clarke, 36, was fired for telling The Mail on Sunday she avoided using the subway whenever possible. "The thought of being stuck in the Tube with strangers for minutes on end and having to listen to endless repeated ...

so i saw this jcpenny commercial today and i noticed two things... number one, jcpenny's marketing department or the ad agency that's helping them, has been doing a great job trying to improve their image. kudos to them. number two, they've been using some great background music in their commercials. i know that regina spektor sang one of the older ones, but in the one i saw, they used the song " all that i want ", by the weepies . and by the way, i don't know if you pronounce it weep-ies, like freebies or wee-pies, like levi's . anyways, i think that if you don't watch tv a lot, you pay more attention to the commercials, and in this particular case, the soundtrack was delicious.

11/26 : crazy day at work. absolutely swamped. got video card for computer. met with danny at wild wings for monday night football. good night. 11/25 : brunch at dave's. watched noon football games. watched first half of bears. drove home. caught last bears drive at buffalo wild wings . crashed a drunken mess. 11/24 : lumen with dave, carol, erikka, irene, gabe, azita, and mia. lucky strike met up with roy, chris, kristine, jim, phuc. regal beagle joined with tim and dar. ate at al's beef . crashed at dave's place. 11/23 : black friday, surprise visit from chris & kristine, dinner at san , solo viewing of hitman , and drinks at stonewood ale house .

holy shit. i've been through two black fridays with express and i never thought i'd ever go through another one. but i did today, and oooo... what a doozy. i can't really explain this, but it was a fast, yet long day. it was a lot of fun, and it was good to get out there and work the floor. if you read chris's blog on thursday, then you would've known that he made a surprise trip back to the states to surprise his family for thanksgiving. as soon as i read this, i commented that he should visit me at work... and he did, along with kristine . yay! i believe that i was talking to a customer when kristine jabbed me in the arm from behind. i thought it was a co-worker, until i saw her guilty smile as she walked around the store. i ended up meeting with them for a quick lunch at the nordstrom cafe for a little sit down meal. we caught up a little bit, but i had to get back to work... meanwhile, it was ryan m.'s last day, so the plan was to meet up at stonewood al...

hitman i should know better by now. trailers are made to lure you in to a shitty movie. 9 times out of 10, you will be disappointed with a movie because you've set your expectations to match that of the moments shown in a 30 second clip. the trailer for hitman looked really promising, but i should've held my anticipation back. i went in knowing that timothy olyphant was a shitty actor, but he really outdid himself on this one. don't get me wrong, he's got the right look for the part, and he nailed the presence of the character, he just doesn't know how to deliver a good line. i don't know if the story followed the video game exactly, but it was poorly constructed and the dialogue was mostly ridiculous. the action was decent, like a solid B , but the choreography of the fight scenes could have been a lot better. and finally, like all action films, we come to the hot supporting actress. you probably have never seen olga kurylenko in a movie before, and for good ...

last year, erin and i spent thanksgiving at cammie's place in the city. it was an intimate gathering of cam's close friends. i made some baked mac and cheese that i was very proud of... it was delicious. but betsy broke my casserole dish on purpose, because she had her own mac and cheese she wanted everyone to eat. just kidding, but i dish really did break, and it really was betsy's doing... accidentally, on purpose. heh. anyways, this is the first thanksgiving in 5 years, that i haven't spent with erin. very strange, and sad too. i've found myself reflecting on the friendships that i've made over the past couple of years... thinking about the people who come into and out of our lives so quickly. as you may be able to tell, i'm a nostalgic little fuck. i live every day like it's a big event. i try to treat those i've just met, like they're my best friend (unless they're a complete douche bag). i get sad at the end of the night when i have...

the night before thanksgiving is one of the busiest nights all year for bars and clubs. kids are home from college, and nobody has to work the next day. after a long day at work, i was looking forward to getting my drink on. webs invited me to join her crew at crystals , and even monica called and said i should check out finn mccool's . i was also planning to call danielle g. , to see if she was going to be in the area. lots of options, all local, all viable. so what did i do? i got home from work at about 10pm, took a nap, and woke up this morning. shit.

there are two things i look forward to, after the end of a long day... ...the first sip of that crisp, ice cold draft beer, and the moment i take my socks off when i get home. after each one, i breathe a long sigh, and bask in the thought that i've got 8 more hours till it starts again...

after work today, me and a couple of coworkers had some drinks at the stonewood ale house . it's nice where i work, because the post-work bitching is not about management, unlike my previous place of employment. we had a couple beers and talked about video games, porn, and other sorts of bullshit. i did get a new vocabulary word out of tonight's discussion... knife fighter . this was courtesy of gabe . apparently it's an slang popular on the east coast and is pretty descriptive when you really analyze it. but, since i don't want to offend, i will not give the definition here. and don't try looking in the urban dictionary , because it's not in there. also, the quote of the night was from andy , who said, "anything that makes your penis bleed, is probably not a good thing." and don't worry my fellow perverts, he was referring to kidney stones.

wow. i probably shouldn't have gone to wild wings to watch monday night football. i had a nice enough nightcap that i almost didn't write this... not wasted, but not just buzzing either. anyways, today started pretty early and basically blew by. but then there was a frustrating situation with a customer, and long story short, i ended up having to go above and beyond to keep her happy. this gave me a lot of stress, but nothing a tall glass of beer didn't fix. i got to see heidi and her husband and two kids today. and rob and tita mommy stopped by late in the day as well. i ended the night watching the broncos kill the titans. i had some boneless wings and a couple of beers. the place was packed with all the kids home from college. on one hand, i was jealous that all the kids got to hang with their crews, not worrying about work or school the next day... ah... the days of college. on another hand, fuck college. the best times in college are when you're not in colleg...

robyn sent these pictures, for adult onesies... available at jcrew . chuck wants a pair, and i'm starting to think that i do too.

on her 21st birthday, i showed up at sarah's house to find her wasted in her bed, getting fed water... i was there at like 10:00pm. so showing up for her 23rd, i was expecting the worst. i was smack dab in the middle of boys town, right across from roscoe's , calling her cell phone to try to get let into her apartment. after three calls, i was starting to get nervous that sarah had passed out already... plus, some pretty boy in a cashmere coat was eyeing my goods. she finally called me back and i was safe. i haven't been to a real house party in a long time. there were jello shots for fuck's sake. i didn't realize that it was b.y.o.b, so there was a lot of stealing of beers. some of sarah's crew were passing around a bottle of captain, so i took some swigs. i spent a lot of time hanging with nick, alyssa, and kyle , because they were fucking nuts. it was a pretty good time, considering that i didn't know anyone except sarah. by the time i left at 3:00am ,...

these pictures were sent by charles , with the caption, "jim & phuc halloween costumes '08". i'm not even gonna try to explain this. you just need to know jim and phuc to understand.

i had a blast at work today. good sessions. had fun meeting some of the new staff. and i had some unexpected guests. first there was lisa v. and katie , stopping in because they heard that i got the new gig. then manny and rachel came in to shop, with sleepy jayden . i gave jayden a happy meal toy that i got from my lunch a couple days prior. finally, my cousins, lita and craig came in with the three boys, carson, cole, and christian . i typically don't get visitors, and if i do, i rarely will have an opportunity to chat. but it's still nice when friends stop by, even if all i can do is wave. i went home to eat before going to sarah web's birthday party in the city. while i was eating, i saw the greatest episode of csi that i have ever seen. maybe you've seen it? it's the one where the 12 year old genius says that she killed the prom queen by putting solid sodium in shower head in the locker room... anyways, when they finally did the reveal at the end, it fe...

so i was off today and surprisingly enough, i got a lot of shit done. not that you would care, but i did like 6 loads of laundry, paid the bills online, sent chris something long overdue, checked t-mobile to make sure my service was canceled, cleaned my house, cut my hair, and made it just in time for an 8pm meeting at work. after the meeting, i met up with jim, phuc, al, and danny at chevy's . david showed up and then berated me for not updating my blog fast enough. danny chimed in as well. everyone else just laughed. jim said that there should be another blog that let's people know when i've updated my blog, so that people can just check that instead of going to my page. funny. but they're all right. i set the precedent a couple months ago, by posting messages daily. people got into the habit of checking my page on a regular basis to keep up with whatever ridiculous stories i had to report. so i'm gonna try even harder to post a least a sentence, daily... anyw...

so... someone at work got some free passes to a wednesday screening of beowulf . so as you may or may not know, pre-screenings of films allow the local media to view them early so that they can write reviews for the friday papers. here's mine. beowulf when i saw the trailers for this movie, i thought... "i'm never going to watch this picece of shit." but given the opportunity to watch it for free, i thought i'd give it a shot. i'm normally not a fan of cg/animation and after this... i'm still not. however, this is some of the best animation i have ever seen, and when you combine it with the 3D rendering (you get to wear glasses!), and some wonderful p.o.v. shots and choice of depth of on screen objects, you can't deny that this movie is at the top of its game. as far as the story goes, i haven't read the book, but this is one occasion where i am confident to say that the book is better. the pacing was inconsistent and i felt like there wasn't ...

last night i went to a show at the metro , featuring born ruffians, caribou, and battles . armando set the whole thing up, and the crew included adam, scott, vanessa, rob, and steven . here's the assessment... born ruffians wow. this indie band from toronto really surprised me. when they came out, they looked like a bunch of high school kids lucky as fuck to have gotten the gig. when they began to play... shit was i wrong. they have a style that we've heard a little of before, think modest mouse but a little more organic and reminiscent of the jam band sound. the voice of lead singer, luke lalonde was melodic and effortless and similarly, so was the stage presence of the entire band. in the middle of the set, i told armando that i'd probably be buying the cd. check 'em out here . caribou strikingly different, caribou, was a little more down tempo, and very much psychedelic. i felt like i was transported back into the 60s, and found myself getting lost in the music.....

i had the day off today, and i was very excited. as a complete mac nerd at this point, my plan was to clone my current system and then perform a complete erase and install. well before you fall asleep listening to my babble, let me just tell you that things didn't go so well, so i have to bring my computer in for a checkup tomorrow. i spent the rest of the day today running errands, paying bills, taking naps, and basking in the glory of my fantasy football team. mind freak i just saw this strange picture on cari's myspace bulletin... no big deal right? but wait... is the image rotating clockwise or counter-clockwise? give it a minute before you make a decision... try looking away from the picture from either the left or the right side and then let your mind get fucked. at first i saw it only clockwise, but after a bit i could see both directions. it's crazy. the website claims that if you instantly see it going clockwise, then you're right brained (and vice versa for ...

shit. it's creeping in slowly... the darkness of the winter... the sharp sting of cold, cold air... the aches and pains of a fresh flu coming on... i really don't like going to work in the dark and coming home in the dark. the coat came out of hiding today. yeah, you know the one. the one that people like to describe as the pimp coat or (most recently) the gangster coat (what?!? i don't get it either). i don't think it's pimp or gangster, but when it comes out, one thing is for certain... it's cold outside. i should really invest in gloves with fingers. i pulled out the mini space heater for the bathroom, and i found the heated blanket too, but nothing heats me up quite like the warmth of her delicious sarcasm.

i noticed the other day that woodfield is playing christmas music already. wtf? i spent much of my day singing little drummer boy to myself, in agonizing pain. in lighter news, i ate sushi at sushi station , with tiff . delicious. after that, we picked up ariel and drove to amc, where armando was waiting to watch dan in real life . i got to sit next to ariel (oooo...), and the movie was excellent. the end. ps. to roy and anna... the stories will get better, i'm just exhausted... as always.

"life moves pretty fast. if you don't stop to look around once in a while, you could miss it." i bet you didn't think i'd ever blog again. well fuck. i've been a busy son of a bitch. well, if you're still checking... thanks. i'm sorry i've been slow at updating. roy said that he's unsubscribing, so i guess i'll just have to blog a bunch of shit about him... um... roy eats poop?

we didn't sleep in. we couldn't keep away from the gaddamn tables. by 10:00am or so, we were up and at the imperial palace , shooting craps at a table all to ourselves. it was back and forth all morning, and we finally started waking up when the celebrity impersonator/dealers came out to perform. there were: the blues brothers, ricky martin, elvis presley, shakira, beyonce, and some others... and for $5, you could have any one of them deal you a hand of blackjack or caribbean stud. we left at 2:00 or 3:00 to go eat some cheap pizza at o'shea's . we walked across the street to the mirage , where we were turned off by the $10 tables. then we took a stop next door at treasure island and found that their limits were steep as well. across the street again, to the wynn , (my favorite hotel), so that danny and i could sign up for some player cards, just in case we wanted to drop big bucks here... at some point, but not today. we decided that we may as well just go the comp...

nothing crazy on day one. danny and i arrived around 4:00pm . we went to check in at our free room at excalibur , until we realized that we were staying at the flamingo . as it turns out, the flamingo has beautiful new rooms, all decked out with a huge flat panel and remote controlled curtains. pretty good for a free room (video to follow). we then took a tour of the north side of the strip, a set of casinos and hotels that i wouldn't be caught dead staying at. we took the monorail from harrah's to the sahara . we picked up some player cards, played some quick craps, and walked over to circus circus . at c2, we noticed that all the workers looked like absolute death, especially in the midway, where all the carnival and video games are located. it was like 10:00pm at this point, with no kids around, and these poor bastards had to sit there, trying to get adults to throw bean bags at milk bottles, waiting for their shifts to end. we caught the free trapeze act on the second fl...

so in vegas this weekend, david and danny told me that they would like to unsubscribe to my blog, because i'm not posting enough anymore. well shit... that ain't good. i'm sorry to have neglected my faithful readers, who look for a good story on here, at least once a week. i'm just getting used to this work thing again, so it will be back on track soon. vegas vacation so we went to las vegas this weekend, to attend the wedding of john leggero and ivy martinez . and while this was my first vegas wedding, it was not the only first for the trip... we got to see and do a lot of different things this time around. some highlights include: automatic weapons , pamela anderson , and cranky ass bitches . plus, i actually left vegas with some profit! i hope that's enough to whet your appetite, until i can muster the strength to write again (which will be later tonight). right now, it's 2:43am on tuesday, and i've got to be at work at 8:00am , so i'm going to be...

Yesterday was sahara, hilton, riviera, and circus circus. We saw vince neil at his tattoo studio. I finished the night at 23up. ooo.

Finally a moment in my life to blog, and it's in midway, where danny and i are awaiting our flight to vegas.

i had every intention of writing a real time blog tonight. it was gonna be about the wilco concert at millennium park. but i'm freaking exhausted... as usual. i get up roughly at 5:45am every morning so that i can hit snooze for 30 minutes and then get ready for work. and i guess i have no room to complain, because that's what everyone else does. but i used to sleep at 5:00am , and my internal clock is taking its sweet ass time adjusting. naps are good. so when i get home every day, i just check the web to see if anna has written me something in german ... and if she has , then i'm happy and i go to sleep. and if she hasn't , then i'm sad and i go to sleep. either way, i always forget to check my email, pay bills, and update my blog. luckily, i was able to do one of those tasks tonight.

so apple unveiled the new ipod touch and the updated ipods at the keynote today. it was a frenzy at work. it's delicious. but i think that even bigger news is that the iphone is now $399 instead of $599! a two hundred dollar price drop, in less than 2 months! if you were debating about getting the iphone, i think you have no more excuses. i had my first solo training session with a customer today. i learned a lot of new things and i had a great time. i love this place. shashi singla i went to terry's mom's wake tonight, with erin . robyn and her mom, dan, dave, and my dad , all came as well. it was rough night, but i got to talk to terry and his brothers about the taco bell thing and they appreciated it. at the end of the night, danny and i went to denny's , so that i could eat breakfast for dinner. a heartland scramble... or a heart attack scramble as i like to call it. i needed it to lighten the mood.

i just remembered the reason i didn't write a blog from november 2002 to march 2007. i was either in school or working 40 hours a week. now that i'm back from my first day at work... i'm not sure if i can keep up with this. i'll do my best, but i apologize in advance if my updating speed decreases significantly. guest blogs are welcome... michael vick chew toy if you love your doggie, get him this delicious new toy. the beautiful irony is that if this chew toy sells well, it will be the only michael vick based product sold, that doesn't pay michael vick. (his lawyers are gonna have a field day with the likeness and identity and copyright lawsuits.) the only bad part about this is that the proceeds don't go to any humane society or anti-cruelty foundation... just some greedy entrepreneur. for more information about this product, go to vick dog chew toy . oh... so about work i love it. i ab-sol-ute-ly-fuck-ing-love-it. i play with macs and i help others play wi...

i've known terry singla since junior high... almost 20 years. we went to high school together at schaumburg and then subsequently to college at champaign. when my mom passed away in 1999, he was one of the friends that got up to say something during the wake. it meant a lot to me to hear him speak and show his support to my family. this week, i am sad to say, it is my turn to do the same. this is the message terry sent to his family and friends... ❝ I wanted to let you all know that my mom passed away at 1:10am on Sunday morning (9/2). She would have turned 61 years of age this coming Saturday. For those of you who don't know, she was diagnosed w/ breast cancer in November 2006. In March 2007, it was determined that the cancer had spread into the liver, and most likely was already there prior to being diagnosed. Though she was determined to fight, the cancer was extremely aggressive, and was not responsive to 4 different chemotherapies. Through it all, she always kept a p...

danny made a good point last night... when you're so bored, that you end up at the grand vic , or the gvc as i like to call it, you've got a problem. but shit... 90% of your friends live 50 miles away, there's shit at the theaters, and the nearest bars have gotten stale. with options limited, the default solution always seems to be sitting on the river. good news is that i won, bad news is that danny didn't.

after a long and complicated pseudo-relationship, a friend of mine decided to call it quits. part of his email went like this... ❝ it was not a pretty sight. it was not easy. the last quote of the 30 minute phone call was her saying "i was nice to you, and now you're dumping me! you're an asshole!" ( click ) (hangs up the phone). ❞ damn. breaking up sucks. doesn't matter which side you're on... breaker or breakee. at one point, both (or one) feel a certain way and then, at some other point... one person (or both), don't. fuck! we've all been there. some people say that it gets easier every time, like you build up some sort of tolerance or immunity. some people say there's a formula for getting over it... something like one week for every three months you've been dating. i think it's different every time and it's never easy, unless you are a heartless demon bastard. there's one thing good about every break up. you learn a little mor...

criss angel sucks 'nuff said. thing is, i'm a big fan of magicians and magic, however i'm a huge skeptic. if i'm watching it on tv, then i don't believe a damn thing about these continuous shot cameras and supposedly random people from the crowd. but you know what? i watch him anyway... because while i think he's a half-rate magician, he is entertaining and he makes me laugh. mind freak... my ass. lost, season 2 shit. the call came in, or the email rather, and notified my father that the dvds he requested were available for checkout at the library. among them, were seasons 4 and 5 of 24 , and season 2 of lost . this is the last thing i need before starting my new job next week. i watch lost like i watch football... on the edge of my seat, screaming at the tv, and clapping after every pause in the action. when the writing and the directing line up perfectly, and the screen goes black, with the sound of strings and that trademark thump... ooo... that's my ...

so i did something that i never imagined in a million years that i would do... i woke up at 5:00am to go play a 6:30am round of golf at poplar creek . rather than reiterate my previous opinion on golf, suffice it to say that the game has grown on me like an evil fungus. i still suck at it, but shit, if i'm willing to get up at a time that i'm usually going to bed... well, i think that's enough to show my level of interest. i don't want to bore you, but here are some quick details: manny and porta set the whole thing up. they both hit a lot of fairways, and i lost like 10 balls in the various creeks around the course. porta made eagle on the 17th hole, his first ever... and the first eagle that any of us has ever witnessed. i shot a 130, my best score ever. so on the way home i stopped at best buy (this is like at 10:30am , so i'm the only asshole in the store), to pick up tiger woods 08 , because i have this god god forsaken golf addiction to satisfy. and would...

so i went back to the damn buffalo wild wings to watch the game last night. it's nice when the cubs come back to win the game, after everyone boos bob uecker while he sings the 7th inning stretch. i also beat timmo in ntn trivia, so it was quite a fulfilling night.

so i got the good news about my new job, and it was time to celebrate. what would monday night have in store? i meet up with danny and we hop in the chief and motor to home depot so that he can return some curtains. since customer service is not a priority at the depot, this fiasco lasted about 20 minutes. to pass the time, i browsed the lighting section for a couple of 3 inch recessed lights, for the kitchen. ...the party was just beginning. then we took a trek out to naperville and got caught in some traffic due to power outages en route. we made a stop at tiger direct . for those of you not in the know, tiger direct is not a strip club... it's a computer/electronic store for super nerds. danny had to return some sort of nerdy wireless device, while i played 3-d computer chess on a 42" flat panel lcd monitor. it took danny over 30 minutes to get through this mess, which gave me enough time to beat the computer... on novice. ...time to rock out. we buried some hot dogs at t...

the usual suspects: al, danielle, katie, phuc, jim, and danny . the initial plan was a 7:30pm dinner at the cheesecake factory in woodfield. the problem was that at 7:45pm the lady gave me the pager and said it would be a 55 to 70 minute wait. i held the reservation under mclovin , but we ended up deciding that we'd just drop it and skip over to chevy's for some mexican. chevy's chevy's is your run of the mill mexican joint, similar to an on the border , or if you're old, a chi chi's . the margs are delicious, but they taste like they're lacking in alcohol, the standard pre-mixed variety. but the food was good, especially the sweet corn tomalito . it comes on the side, just like the guac and the beans, but it's the best thing on the plate, no matter what you order. it's like a mexican mashed potatoes, but with corn instead. a couple of us actually ordered an extra side of the tomalito... it's that damn good. kitchen bar we left there to hit ...

holy fuck, with this rain thing! all the destruction and carnage all over the country. thoughts and prayers to those who've suffered through these past couple of days. with the flooding, the power outages, and the fallen trees, it's like monsoon season in the midwest! so my attention deficit disorder has gone nuts and i submit the following two random bits of observation... rains at lollapalooza, i noticed several women with similar style tattoos... 3 women, to be exact, none of which were friends. so three separate women all had tattooed the morton salt girl on their arms. one of the women had bombs (circa world war ii), instead of rain, but all of them had the same umbrella holding girl, spilling a fresh cylinder of morton salt on the sidewalk. i'm wondering what the significance is... it's either depressing and pessimistic, " when it rains, it pours ." or the girls just really enjoy salt. pours mates of state have been around for a long time, but i just ...

so there's this condition called restless leg syndrome , that has been described on the mirapex website as follows... " it begins as a strange feeling in your legs that seems to get worse until you stand up and move around. deep inside your legs you can feel burning, creeping, and crawling sensations that are hard to describe. " mirapex is the name of the drug that's being prescribed for those experiencing this syndrome. maybe you've seen the mirapex commercial... it's this little green and yellow stick type figure walking around, lying in bed, watching tv and then floating all around the screen, doing various things. forget for a moment the weirdness of the syndrome, because apparently millions of people have it, and who the hell am i to judge other people who are suffering. what i have been curious about or confused about, is the list of potential side effects of the drug... if you've seen the commercial, then you know what i'm about to tell you. on...

so the people at the company told me that the interviews went well. then they asked me to fill out another application for employment/education verification. they've got some third party company doing my background checks. now, i understand that companies want to be meticulous nowadays, but... eh. i'm not complaining. i shouldn't complain anyways. i'm just stressed and excited all at the same time. spring hell mall it's like your soul getting sucked out of your skull... right through your temples, walking through spring hill mall . the marketing wizards over there have made some improvements to the interior design, but the vibe is still lonely. lost. it's dark and quiet, like a museum or a cemetery. i needed to go there to pick up some shoes. and i did that, because you can never have too many red sneakers. but in the middle of the despair and sadness, on the way out, there was one bright light shining through, from the depths of the shadows. a glimmer of hope a...

i'm sitting here waiting, waiting, waiting... to see if the people at the mystery company , are gonna extend me an offer. i stopped pacing for a little while and found this... for all the superbad fans. i have a feeling that superbad is gonna be one of those movies that becomes a classic after several viewings. however, i'm still trying to figure out the appeal of napoleon dynamite . cheers congratulations are in order for erin , who is happily driving again! it's a long story... ask her about it. and happy birthday wishes to anna bean , who can now vote, buy cigarettes, watch r-rated films, and do some other things as well... but puffing the ganj is still not legal. quotables mel sent this today, " i feel sorry for the people who don't drink. when they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day. " - frank sinatra. and we've seen it a million times, but it never gets old for me. that geico caveman spot, where ...

you can only stare at a computer screen so much. you can only hit refresh so many times. the shitty part about freelance is that i don't leave the house to work. i can't fuck around with co-workers and take coffee breaks and go out for big group lunches. sometimes you just have to unwind and take a break and leave the damn house. and so, since david asked me to a while back, i went to see rush hour 3 . rush hour 3 i like to joke that this is the most widely accepted series of films, blatantly portraying negative asian stereotypes. really i don't give a shit, but just once... can the asian guy get some ass? wtf? at least bruce lee got some ass. i digress... so what do you want me to say about this movie? it's a laughable plot, with a million holes... but that's to be expected. it had decent action and fight scenes, but with jackie chan , that's expected as well. what was unexpected was the humor. instead of using the old formulas from the first two films, there...

in between working on web pages and eating, the tv is on... and for the past two days, it's been nothing but mind-numbing trash. try as i might, i have a hard time avoiding vh1 , which now, like mtv , refuses to show music videos. i got caught watching that fucking creepy show called, the pickup artist . it's creepy because of the panel of so-called expert pickup artists that they have chosen to aid the shy and awkward contestants. anyways, it's trash, and of course, i'm addicted. i also had the pacifier on in the background for a bit. you remember that movie where vin diesel is a ex-marine, turned babysitter. well i caught the last 30 minutes or so, and so i didn't really understand how he got assigned the job, but obviously, this movie was fucking ridiculous. there's a part at the end where he has to get through a booby-trapped hallway to get to a safe with the secret microchip. kind of like indiana jones iii , he recites a kids song that describes the move...

in an email sent by anna THE BALLS ARE AWESOME! DANKE!! I'm so glad I didn't try them that night because I came home and puked all over the place. That. Sucked. lol. in a comment sent by arielle hey u! thank u so much for my presents, i love them! and i can actually taste the balls and they're delicious!

brunch and shopping it started out easy enough... meet up at danny's at 2:00pm , where danielle and katie spent the night. eat a late brunch over at richard walker's in crystal lake, consisting of lots of pancakes, bacon, ham, chocolate chips, and some kona coffee. from there, an impromptu stop to target , right next door, where katie and danielle proceed to shop for housewares. danny and i roamed the store like a bunch of shoplifters, meal-tired from all the pancakes in our systems. i was feeling claustrophobic in there and had to bail outside for a smoke break. that's when it began to pour. it was just turning 6:00pm when we left the target parking lot, heading east again, toward the regal showplace 16 , to see superbad . the show didn't start until 7:15pm , so we spent some time playing video games. wow. i felt like a kid for a little bit, clutching my tokens like they were made of real gold. i also drank too much fucking cherry coke, so i felt like shit. just l...

we've been gone a while. perhaps months. on the way up from the 'burbs, i mentioned to danielle and katie that every time we go to funky buddha , something crazy happens. i believe that the exact words i used were, " some fucked up shit happens ." and wouldn't you know it... but i'm getting ahead of myself. we started at sushi station in arlington heights, for some average-ish sushi treats. sushi station it's got the old conveyor belt setup that everyone loves. something passes by that you like, and you open up the little hatch and grab a plate. but don't sit in a position where you're parallel to the conveyor, because you'll get seasick watching the sushi pass in your peripherals. but if you can sit perpendicular, right on the counter, it's fun to watch the rolls go by. the sushi is decent, but the problem with this setup and all other sushi restaurants like it, is that you can't guarantee the freshness of the rolls. if you make it ...

that's the text that i got this morning at 1:00am . " thanks for the balls. they were delicious. " danielle sent it to me. i think it's something that anna would send too, but i'm not sure that she's had one yet. and arielle had one, but after the umpteenth time sipping her drink, she lost the ability to taste. lexy received a ball, but i'm not sure what she did with it. this is how the almost monthly, ex-exp-crew reunion ended... the distribution of balls, and some hugs goodnight. it was a grand evening, but i'm too lazy to write about it.

okay, it wasn't a vampire. but i did have an interview today and it went well. i'll give you some clues, but i'm still afraid about jinxing it, so i'm not gonna tell you with what company... the job description online looks like this: Our ideal candidate: · You are an artist. · You are a natural-born teacher. Whether in front of a class or working one-on-one, when you are teaching you are in your element. · Digital art changed your life—and you communicate this passion in your work. · You know that hands-on learning is what it’s all about. · You are an expert in XXXXX's pro and consumer applications, with at least three years’ experience using tools for music and sound editing, recording, digital photography, digital moviemaking, editing, and web design. · You love XXXXX for its blazing pace of innovation, and you work hard to stay with us on the cutting-edge. · You love XXXXX products and have a knack for choosing the perfect solutions for customers. · You have an ...

the old bastards at yahoo won't let me download a larger size to show you. if you have a yahoo account, you can go make your own avatar at avatars.yahoo.com . it's me standing in a sushi bar, very angry... but i suppose i should've given him a big ass smile. good news i'm really excited about something, but i didn't want to blog about it just yet, because i didn't want to jinx it. i'll let you know tomorrow as soon as i get word...

the last thing i need in my life right now, is to be addicted to some tv show. thing is, i need to catch up. just finished season one and i'm debating on what to do about season two... season three isn't available until december 11 and season four doesn't start until 2008. but shit... i'm dying over here, wondering what happens. everyone else has tivo and shit, so they're all watching in real time. so i put it off as long as possible. but shit, you wouldn't think that lost would even be available at the library, let alone be a free rental for 7 days. so i got it, and i watched it, and now i'm fucked.

first, a quick hit and run at elgin, where danny doubled up in less than 30 minutes. he played a bet for me, so in effect, i won $10 as well. now, back to tonight's barbecue with me, dan, cj , and murph , along with some people i was introduced to, but i don't remember their names. it was the perfect barbecue, featuring the four b s... beer, brats, bags, and blunts . all you need to know is that the perfect complement to suds and buds is murph jamming on the guitar... nothing beats homemade artichoke dip... citronella does shit, keeping away mosquitoes... and 10:45pm feels like 4:00am, when you've had a little too much.

i spent all day debating whether or not to break the cardinal rule of blogging. well actually, there are two cardinal rules to blogging (at least in my book of the cardinal rules of blogging). one : don't talk about other people's shit, unless you get express, written or verbal consent . and two : don't talk about women you are together with, dating, or otherwise interested in . anyways, i was debating on whether or not to break the second rule... and i've decided that i can't do it. what i will tell you is that i went on a " date " with ariel (read the second part of this post and the second part of this post to get caught up.) and it was great. why is date in quotes? again, i can't break the rule. not this time. but i will tell that she's beautiful, smart, sweet, outgoing, and she has this sense of humor that is so endearing, i can't really explain. she has this really subtle sarcasm that is so perfect, i have wait for her to finish a s...

yesterday was phuc's birthday party at the new albovias residence in lombard. we got to eat some delicious homemade treats including ramen salad , sliders in chopped hot dog buns , and datiles con tocino (dates wrapped in bacon). it was cider kind of night, because danny is a cider fan and danielle was offering to take the dd spot. being a friday, it took some of us a little time to get there, but eventually the house was packed. little jayden got all my attention and a lot of laughs after mimicking me bowing to him. there was some lightsaber action... and no, that's not a euphemism. the night ended with some karaoke until a little past 1:00am . when we left, david was playing the theme song to super mario bros. on the keyboard in the office. a wild and raucous time.

the bourne ultimatum where the other films in this series excelled, this one fell short. whereas the other films were action packed and full of excellently choreographed fight scenes, this one focused on storyline. and rightfully so. after all, this film was dedicated to finding out how jason bourne was created. matt damon was great, as usual, and the cast surrounding him complemented his performance well. if you're looking for off the wall action the likes of transformers or live free, die hard , you've come to the wrong place. i also like casino royale as spy movie that is better than this one. but this is the last installment of the bourne series, so if you're a fan and you're ready to complete the trilogy, you won't be disappointed... i liked this film, because i have enjoyed the story over the course of this series. however, i think the average person wouldn't be so entertained. the bourne ultimatum : C+

the contract i rented this film and wasted 2 hours of my life, just to finish the clichéd ending that i was expecting to see. a majority of the film was shot in the forest and half of that forest footage was shot in the dark. films like this, where the location is relatively unchanged (think panic room or breakfast club ), tend to focus on storyline, character development, or action. at least that is what they should do, because an unchanging location just becomes an irrelevant part of the story. this is what happened in the contract . the story was poor to begin with, nothing dramatic, nothing fresh. then the characters were boring, with no depth. and finally, the action was forced, and didn't really match the tone of the film anyway. the worst part of the whole goddamn mess was that it starred two actors who are normally screen gems... morgan freeman and john cusack . someone paid them a lot of money to accept this script. this is the worst film in both of their careers. the co...

okay... after all the emails and questions about "where's the latest entries?" i'll be posting all the days that have passed by... keep an eye out. look for roy's guest blog .

so... pearl jam ended at a little past 10:00pm, and roy, cheryl, and i begin to walk west to find a place to eat some junk. after a nice hike, we get to the south loop club and eat and talk until about 11:30pm. cheryl takes a cab south to her condo. roy and i take a cab north to the sagun residence. i text tim to let him know that i'm on my way. around 11:50pm, roy and i awake from our naps to find that we've arrived. roy, amazingly coherent in his thinking, asks if he should wait until i get inside. i tell him to hold on one second while i text tim. as i hit send, the "message sent" or what i believe to be the "message sent" box, appears on my phone and my phone dies. i contemplate asking roy to stay, but he's exhausted, so i tell him to go. figuring i still have enough battery to text one more time, i head up to the back door. i peek into the door window and a light is on in the living room... perhaps tim is watching sportscenter. so i go to text ag...