Logan Square Times

Livin' in the 'hood

2009-10-12T17:22:00.002-05:00

Ever since Logan Square Times moved to East Garfield Park last year, I was asked by everyone why I'd want to live there. My response: it's cheaper and has greater potential for growth, with open lots and plenty of room for new construction.

Plus, EGP is close to the interstate, the green line and the blue line (a 6 block walk from home). Living twenty minutes by CTA or bike from the loop for the price is next to impossible anywhere else in the city.

Turns out, I really like living here. There aren't a lot of shopping choices, but that's fine, since it means I have to cycle that much more. But if I can't or don't want the exercise, the green line can take me to Jewel, Target, and Sam's in a matter of minutes. I'm closer now to Washington Park for summer league, pickup and other leagues are a bike ride away, and I'm easy to pick up for rides out to Naperville.

Heck, even when I had to go out to stupid Schaumburg for training in late September and rent a car* the drive out there was way better than I remember when I lived in Logan Square.

*I meant to take Metra and cycle most days of the training, and really wanted to bike the whole 26 miles back home one time, but I got injured at fall league the weekend before, and all the walking involved in taking two hours of CTA and Pace buses made it much worse. By the end of the week of driving, I was perturbed and remembered why I hate driving and should never drive, but I was also healed enough to play league that weekend.

Last Wednesday, I finally discovered the downside of the neighborhood, though I think this could have happened anywhere. At around 11am, I went out to pick up a bike from the shop, and when I got home, a bunch of my stuff was lying on the grass inside the front gate. Brandon, the first-floor neighbor, was walking around, and told me there was a break in.

Yikes! Turns out I just missed them running off. On the lawn was the flat-screen TV, my macbook, work laptop, digital camera and a bunch of cords and stuff. The police pulled up seconds later, and Brandon told them he was taking out his garbage when two guys ran down the stairs. They had trouble getting the gate open, so they dropped what was in their hands and fled.

Brandon gave to the police what little info he had on the suspects, and we carried everything back upstairs. The doorframe was busted in, but aside from what had been taken outside, nothing looked to be damaged. Turns out, the work laptop screen was broken, but the employer got that fixed the next day.

Anyways, the police came back later that day and dusted for prints, but I'm guessing that not much will come of it. They were all very nice and very quick to respond and seemed concerned, so that makes me happy. I'm sure it doesn't hurt that in each of the three houses to the west of mine, a police officer lives. In fact, Nora next door had stepped out for lunch, and she told me on Thursday how sorry she was that she wasn't there to look out for things.

I also met Alberto later in the week, and he seemed genuinely upset about the incident. Louis, who's been in the neighborhood for years, was as well. It's nice to know that my neighbors will be keeping an eye out, and I'm sure if there's a next time for anyone in the area, whoever they catch for it will learn a harsh lesson.

I'm guessing that the guys who did this were the same ones who had rung the buzzer a couple of time over the last few days. When I'd answered, they'd had a bogus story ready. On Wednesday, they must have assumed I wasn't home when I didn't answer the buzzer. Funny thing is, most of the time I don't even look out the window or answer the bell unless I'm expecting someone, so the biggest question I have after the incident is what would have happened had I been home and on the phone or otherwise ignored the bell?

Probably it's best to not think about it.

So now the door frame is replaced, with a new door, a stronger frame, and no longer a way for anyone to get a crowbar in between the door and the frame around the deadbolt. I still need to do some work on the wall and frame to make it look like it used to, but I feel just as safe now as I did before last week. Having ADT helps, of course, as do the wonderful neighbors I have.

I'm sure I could do more to secure the place, but I don't want to live in fear or be overly ridiculous about something that probably won't happen again. What I do know is that it could have been worse, and that I still really like living in East Garfield.

Ultimate update

2009-07-29T18:30:00.003-05:00

I'm skipping league tonight, and instead going to Schuba's for some kind of hip-hop event that a friend invited me to. Actually, I'm not skipping league tonight for that, since two of my right toes are still quite purple from the head-on collision they had with a defender's leg last weekend. Biking is no trouble, but wearing shoes makes them hurt a bit, though today it looks much better than the last few days.

When I last wrote, it looked like I'd be playing with Off in the Morning a few times this summer. Instead, it will be only this Saturday and then a couple of times in September. But, July has made up for that with two straight weekends of Ultimate on the beach. Let's not discuss summer league, in which our team has three wins in sixteen games. Ouch.

SandBlast was held here in Chicago on the 18th and 19th. Though we didn't get any returning Brits or Canadians from last year, we stuck with the Empire Strikes Back team name while recruiting players from Boston, Denver, Las Vegas and Chicago. Only a few of us had really played together before, and we started the tournament seeded 14th of 16 teams.

Pool play was disappointing, as we lost all three games, by a total of eight points. If not for some easy drops and mis-timed throws, we could have (and probably should have) won all three. Our last game of the day, the first of bracket play, ended with an 11-7 loss to the # 3 seed. In all four games we were down no worse than 7-9 but couldn't finish it off.

But, the Star Wars bobbleheads, Pimm's and strawberry gin and tonics were a big hit, and we could really tell how much we were improving throughout the day.

On to Sunday, and after a sluggish start against my old team, we went up 9-6, but proceeded to give away three straight points before finally winning on a bladey hammer. With the "learning how to win" part out of the way, we proceeded to win 11-5 in game two of the day, and suddenly we were playing for ninth.

This game was against the overall #1 seed coming in to the weekend, but we played like veterans and despite a furious comeback from MHC we held them off for a clean Sunday sweep. Ninth place didn't seem so bad at that point, though maybe our final opponents were more impaired than we were from the halftime apple pie shots.

Coming away from the weekend with only one jammed finger and one jammed toe (it got quite purple, too) plus an overload of dessert (yummy lemon bars and a blueberry birthday cake) from Cathy for the place to stay for the weekend, it was time to go to New Jersey for the Wildwood beach tournament.

(Also fit in before and after the SandBlast weekend: dim sum in Chinatown, a visit to the Field Museum to see a pirate ship, my first visit to the planetarium just in time for the moon landing's 40th anniversary, and my first trip to the botanical gardens in the north suburbs. Whew! Very tiring but lots of fun.)

SandBlast is 48 teams in two divisions. Pretty big, no? Not really. Wildwood had 380 teams across, uh, more divisions. SandBlast is 5-on-5, Wildwood 4-on-4. Four of our team had played together in Chicago, and others on the team at least knew each other, mostly.

In our division, we were seeded around 15th of 32 teams. Saturday had us playing three pool games and the first of bracket play. Our first game was close, but we pulled away to win late.

Game two was a blowout, 23-4. At Wildwood they play games to a time limit, not a score, so we just kept piling on. Our opponents were good sports about it, though. Game three was another close one, but we took the pool 3-and-0.

I forget how close our last Saturday game was, but we won that one as well, so we headed into Sunday in the top eight of the division. Unfortunately, given flight schedules, we'd be down to four guys in game one, three in game two and then just one in the finals, if we made it that far. We had enough ladies, but if we had a game three, the three remaining would have to play all game, with no subs, and one would have to match up against a guy.

Anyways, our first Sunday game was at 11am, and we still managed to almost be late. We won again, though we nearly managed to give it away. Up 9-3, we gave up six straight points before getting the last three.

A note about the rules at this tournament: any throw from one endzone to the other for a score is worth two points. If the horn blows, you play through the end of the point, and if neither team is up more than two, you play until one team is winning. Only then is the game over.

Semi-finals. Our opponents were rather jerky. Lots of iffy calls, contesting everything. And all the while, they keep saying, "it's only Wildwood", like we're the ones making the crappy calls and getting into it. One guy on their team pulled the disc so that it came straight down and tacoed. When I asked to get a new disc, they wouldn't allow it. I asked later if we were playing on grass what they would have done, they admitted they'd allow a new disc to be used. I don't get it. So they intentionally taco the disc but it's "only Wildwood."

It was a back-and-forth game, and we were down a couple when they did the taco thing again. While I was trying to get a throw off, the over-aggressive defense must have pivoted the same time I did, and I jammed my toes into his. F**k! That hurt. I hobbled off the field, and we were temporarily down to two guys. (Actually, this was the third team injury of the game. Amazing that we didn't really have any trouble until this game.)

After sitting a couple of points, I made my way back in. Down 12-9, the horn blew (okay, they were out of air horns, but we decided to cap it), and we scored to make it 12-10. Still alive! But we needed a two-pointer.

This meant that we had to intentionally move the disc backward if we weren't in our end zone, and then huck it to the other end of the field for a score. After we quickly got the disc back, I passed it backward and took off for the endzone. I'm open. My defender is a few steps behind me, and only a poaching girl is between me and the disc.

It flies over her head. I'm in the endzone. I jump and reach out for the disc.

I drop it.

Crap.

We got the disc back, and moved it forward to the endzone line, but I yelled for BK to not score. He managed to stay out of the endzone and throw it backward to me. Unfortunately, it sailed, and I didn't know exactly where I was, and it went out the back for a turnover. One throw and the game was over, but it was fun.

It's probably better the way it turned out, since we wouldn't have had much of a team for the finals, but third place out of 32 is pretty good.

After a long trip back to Chicago (only a two-hour delay on the tarmac - BK didn't get back to Vegas until the next day), it was nice to get home, even with swollen, purple toes.

Other highlights: jumping in the ocean after every game, seeing jellyfish watching shells dig into the sand and being given a disc with a laying-out Homer Simpson (to match my tattoo!). It was great fun meeting and playing with everyone, so I hope that we can do it all again next year!

Back to India

2009-07-01T15:17:00.002-05:00

This morning I booked a flight to go back to India for a week for work. Our group is off-shoring some work, and once the team in Baroda is hired, someone has to train them. Since I've been there already, I got volunteered. Not that this is a bad thing at all; I'm looking forward to going back, but it means I'll have to miss Cooler.

Add in that Hoosier Hoedown is looking less and less likely with Off in the Morning, and that makes for less Ultimate. Boo! There's still SandBlast and Wildwood coming up, though. Maybe I'll just have to take up my sister on her offer to come watch me play the weekend they visit. We'll see.

Today it's 60 degrees outside. Sweet! It's gray but not rainy except for some drizzles earlier. I'll be biking down to summer league, wearing my leggings to stay warm. It's July 1! It's supposed to be more seasonal for the holiday weekend, so I guess that's good. It can stay away from the 90s for the next few weeks, though.

I'm wondering if I should shower before I go to the park. I didn't yesterday, but I didn't go anywhere. If I do, I'll just have to have another one after I get home, and I don't think I'm all that stinky anyways. Of course, I wouldn't be able to tell, right? Maybe I'll just make my team suffer.

A couple of other random thoughts:

Mmmm, snickerdoodles
I really dislike spiral notebooks. Too often the spirals get bent out of shape, making it impossible to turn the pages around. Plus, when you pull a page out, the confetti gets everywhere. If the pages are perforated, it takes too much work to get the page out cleanly - fold along the perforation or it doesn't work. But getting it to fold just right never seems to take the first time. Ugh.
I think I'm about ready for an iphone. With the India trip upcoming, I think it would be nice to have internet access, especially for the long layovers on my return - 4+ hours in Mumbai, almost 6 hours in Frankfurt.
I might try to hook up with some friends in Frankfurt that day, though they'll be in Darmstadt 30km away for a tournament. Maybe I can get there for a game and get back in time for my flight back to Chicago. Yes, Wayne, it is very tempting. Let's see if we can work it out.

Off in the Morning

2009-06-28T11:14:00.003-05:00

We're quickly nearing the opening of tournament season, and I finally have a team to play with. Gambit tryouts didn't work out, but I didn't really expect to make that team. I didn't get picked to play with Skyway, either, but I think they pretty much knew just who they wanted to play with, and the "tryouts" were just a way to get people out there for scrimmages and maybe to fill in the last couple of roster spots.

I don't know that I wanted to play with Skyway anyways, as their "tryouts" weren't very well run, and it seemed more like they'll be kind of lazy with practices and drills and such. I say, either do it all-out or not at all.

Which brings us to Off in the Morning, a last-minute conglomeration of random guys and girls who aren't with another team but want to play at some tournaments. I don't think we'll be practicing or anything, and we may or may not get jerseys.

I could have gone with a men's/open team, but I much prefer mixed/co-ed since the open games are much more intense and competitive. Too much testosterone in one place.

Anyways, so the tentative schedule looks like this:

Bloomington, IN (July 11-12)
Rockford, IL or Madison, WI (August 1-2)
Delafield, WI (August 15-16)
Chicago Heavyweights (September 12-13)
Sectionals (later in September)

Around those are SandBlast July 18-19, Wildwood in NJ July 25-26, a visit from my sister August 1, and summer league tournament on August 8. Plus league on Mondays and Wednesdays.

The first summer league game I went to discouraged me, since we made a very poor showing. Since then I've been back twice, and we improved some, even if it was against so-so competition. But it should still be fun, even if we won't win much.

So it seems that after the long holiday weekend coming up, it's an Ultimate summer for me. And I won't be complaining about that.

Finally summer

2009-06-25T11:49:00.002-05:00

As expected, after flirting with record low temps all spring, we jumped straight into summer this week, reaching the 90s with humidity. Hey, if I wanted St Louis weather, I'd move there. I really don't like it this hot, for many reasons:

running the A/C all day - this isn't so bad now that I don't have west-facing windows, but to keep it comfortable, the air needs to run almost non-stop. Not only is it costly, but it's loud and sometimes sounds like it's going to break. At least in winter I can just put on an extra layer.
sleeping - can't sleep when it's hot. The ceiling fan helps, but it's kinda gross waking up in a full sweat just before the A/C kicks on again.
you can't go outside without sweating - if I'm going for a bike ride to run errands or to an Ultimate game, no worries, I don't mind. But what if I need to go to the office for work (rare occurrence these days)? A bike ride is a workout even early in the morning, but even taking the train in work clothes and walking a few blocks gets you all sticky. Gross.
riding in a car - I don't do this often, but the first few minutes after getting in a car? Awful.
being sick - I can't shake a cold I got a while ago, but to do so would mean taking it easy, not playing Ultimate, not biking and being lazy. So it hasn't gone away yet.
bananas ripen in minutes - looks like I'll have to either fill the freezer with old bananas, throw them out or make a lot of bread, but having the oven on at this time of year makes it even worse
rain doesn't help - it poured yesterday for about an hour. The temp dropped about 15 degrees, but quickly found its way back up to 90-something, and it was much more humid. Ugh.

I know it's early, but I can't wait for autumn.

Tons o' Ultimate

2009-05-29T14:42:00.003-05:00

Wow, it's been a while since I wrote anything. I've got a full slate coming up, mostly filled with Ultimate. Since the surgery in December, my foot and ankle have healed wonderfully. For a while, I had some soreness after running on it, but it hasn't lasted, and it always seemed more like the muscles down there being tired than anything structurally wrong.

So good news, no? Three weeks after surgery I was back on the bike, sometimes inside on the new trainer I bought (nice!). As the weather slowly warmed up, there were more opportunities to go outside, play some Ultimate, run in the park and bike more.

Through early March, I was out getting about 30-35 miles cycling per week. Funny, that seemed like a good amount a couple of years ago. Since then, I've doubled that. Even last week, fighting off a cold, I got in 45, and I felt lazy. You know how every year, athletes come to camp and say they're in the best shape of their lives? Well, for me that's 100% true at age 37.

The last couple of years I haven't been at full strength, with minor foot, knee, hip or other injuries. None has been a problem yet this year, so I've decided that I'm going to play as much Ultimate as I can. That means going out for a couple of club teams, too. Club teams practice a couple of times per week and go to weekend tournaments throughout the summer in preparation for the fall series of sectionals, regionals and nationals.

There are quite a few teams in Chicago, but I really don't like playing open (men's), so that leaves just two mixed (co-ed) teams to try for. Gambit is likely the best mixed team left in the area (others have folded), so I have my sights set on that one. A fallback option is the new Skyway team.

Gambit tryouts started a few weeks ago, with some pickup games. I didn't really know what to expect, but it went fine. I think I showed off my strengths (running, getting open) well enough. Then came two days of actual tryouts, with drills and training for specific skills. The first round of cuts came on Tuesday, and I made it to the next round. Hooray! That's really all I expected or wanted going in, but now I want more.

Over the first four days of pickup and tryouts, I think there were about 40 guys going for 15 spots on the roster. Figure that at least five of the spots are taken by the captains and guys that don't really have to try out, and that leaves 35 men for 10 places on the team.

Last night I counted 25 guys there, and with the next round of cuts coming on June 8, I'm guessing I have about a 40-50% chance of getting to the final tryouts, and then maybe cut those odds in half for making the final roster. I'm fine with that. Really, it depends on what the team needs. I am reasonably fast, can play good defense and can run all day, plus I have decent to good throws. But there were plenty of others with speed, too, and they're mostly taller than me. However, I might have better throws than them, so maybe that gives me an edge.

Anyways, I like my chances, and if nothing else, I'll have learned something about my game and how to improve it. Already I'm working on at least four small adjustments, so I should be much better by the end of the summer.

Here's a question: if I don't make the Gambit squad, do I take a spot on their practice team or still go for Skyway? Skyway's talent levels will be lower, but they'd be tons of fun to play with, and it would be weekend tournament Ultimate. We'll see what Gambit says first.

In addition to all of this, summer league starts next week, and I'm playing in a men's league the next couple of Thursday nights. Add in some pickup on Saturday, Skyway tryouts on Sunday and maybe a surprise trip to Ohio the 13th-14th for Poultry Days (with Russ and Lori!!), and that means I could be out on the field 14 of the next 18 days. Wow. Looks like I'll need to be in the best shape of my life to take this on.

Tell me if this solution makes sense

2008-12-30T16:03:00.002-06:00

So I'm guessing everyone knows about the mortgage crisis and the bailout by the federal government? I have what I think is a perfect (okay, mostly perfect) solution to much of this mess, but I haven't heard anyone suggest it yet. Here goes:

Let's say you bought a house (or two) in the last few years, when lenders were giving away money and selling loans and basically making up new rules and guidelines so that anyone could buy a million dollar home without a job. (I know, that's stretching a little bit, but not much.) Anyways, during this time, property values were skyrocketing, in large part because people were speculating and buying for investments because no one needed any actual equity or collateral to get loans.

Once the bubble burst, and this seems so easy to see in hindsight, these same investors and interest-only borrowers had no out. They can't sell for profit anymore, since property values are down and no one's buying. Or at least, it's harder to get a loan and you will likely need to have cash to put down before a bank will give you money. Imagine that.

So, defaults and foreclosures are a-comin', no? Makes sense, since the adjustable rates will be adjusted upward, and at some point people will have to start paying down the principal on their interest-onlys. And this is why Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac needed $700 billion dollars of our money, right?

(Note: I may have some things not quite right above, but the general ideas are right, I think.)

I have no idea what these institutions are going to do with the government's money, and it sure seems like the government doesn't have a clue, either. I'll guess that nothing good gets done, and that they'll through with the foreclosures and end up with worthless real estate that they won't be able to sell.

Here's my solution: make some guidelines, based on location, purchase date and whatever other factors, and simply change the loan amounts downward by the appropriate percentage.

Say I bought a house in Indianapolis two years ago for $150,000. (I didn't.) Also imagine that for my neighborhood in Indy, it's determined that the bubble increased values by 30% on average over the studied time period (whatever that is). Whatever my principal value left on my loan would then be reduced by 20%, with payments adjusted downward but without refinancing. So if I still owed $115k, my new balance would be $92k.

Why not adjust it downward the full 30%? I think at least some of the blame for the bubble needs to be put on the buyers. But the bulk of the blame should go to the lenders, who were making money by selling ghost money. Want to take this loan off my hands? I'll sell it to you...for a price.

Anyways, why would this not work? It would keep people in their houses, so many fewer people would default. It would keep banks from having to foreclose and resell at a further loss, which would likely keep the real estate market in a downward spiral.

It would salvage a bulk of the loans that they gave out, so the banks would be getting a large proportion of their expected return. Plus, coming up with the guidelines and determining how much to devalue each loan would give them something constructive to do.

In addition, this would likely save the government a shitload of money. Rather than giving financial institutions almost a trillion dollars, we wouldn't have to give them anything. Sure, these institutions would cry bankruptcy, but they'd be fine after a while, especially seeing as more people would be able to, you know, make their payments.

So how would this not work? I'm sure I'm missing something, so let me know what it is.

Recovery update

2008-12-30T15:57:00.003-06:00

It's been almost two weeks since foot surgery, and things seem to be healing quite nicely. The boot they gave me is helpful when I go outside, but I've able to get around at home without it. There have been two bad parts so far.

First, for the last week, I've kept the foot elevated, as instructed. It felt fine like that, but when I had to get up and walk around, it started throbbing and pulsing. And ouch. For a couple of days it lasted 5-10 minutes, and now it's mostly gone, but I did cave and use the crutches so I could ease into full de-elevation.

The other bad thing? I haven't been able to shower since the morning of the surgery, and the doctor says I should wait until the stitches come out. In 10 more days. Sure, I can do the sponge bath thing, but I never feel fully clean. And being at home for work is convenient, since I can be stinky without worrying about offending anyone.

Still, it sure would be nice to actually get clean under a hot stream of water. Alas, I'll just have to wait a little while longer. Heck, I'm more than halfway to the end, and once the stitches come out, I should be able to bike and get full range of motion back. I can't wait.

Sold

2008-12-21T14:04:00.002-06:00

I was looking at my CD collection this morning, wondering when was the last time I played any of them. I think Richard and Lori put some in the DVD player last month, but that's been about it since a long time ago.

With all of my music on iTunes on my laptop, as well as on the iPod, the only reason to have CDs seemed to be for use in a car. Of course, I no longer have a car, so what was the point?

So, more or less on a whim, I posted a Craigslist ad this morning, and I found a buyer almost right away. Who knew there was still a market for all of my discs? Ben came and loaded them up in his truck in about 20 minutes. He brought a big roll of shrink wrap, so that helped, but he did all of the work, and I have a bit of spending money.

I'm sure I didn't get what I could have for them, but it would have been much more work to maximize whatever profit there was to be had. The only other downside is that I'll have to find a new place to put the pictures that I had on the top shelves this morning.

Blank dance card

2008-12-19T10:39:00.002-06:00

Overnight we got a few inches of snow and sleet and rain and whatever else can come down. No matter that I'd swept the stairs and walks to clear the weekend snow, and now they're all buried again. It might have been timed just right.

I got home from the hospital yesterday afternoon, and since it won't be easy for me to get around anyways, it's probably best that the snow hit now. That will give me extra incentive to stay in and rest with my foot elevated, rather than walking to train stops and slipping on the ice.

Dr Toney offered me a couple of different prescriptions for pain, but I haven't filled them. The first choice was Vicadin, but I've never taken it before, and I generally haven't used other pain meds prescribed to me in the past. She then asked about Tylenol 3 (with codeine) and I remembered that I still have some from my oral surgery in July.

The one scrip that I did take home (but haven't filled) is for ibuprofen. But again, I have anti-inflammatory meds here, so why bother getting more, when I won't use all of them?

I did take a couple of T3s over night, but I still didn't sleep all that well. Something about being aware of and having to think about where to place my foot every time I moved. Plus, the sleet and rain made enough of a racket that it kept waking me up and making me think about how if I lost power this weekend I'd probably have a lot of trouble finding somewhere to stay.

Anyways, I think today it's regular doses of naproxen (Advil) and as little walking around as possible. I have the boot on, so my ankle is immobile, and I'm trying to keep it elevated, though it's tough sitting in the same position for so long.

Other notes from yesterday:

I'm glad they gave me two gowns to wear...one opening to the back, one opening to the front. I thought for sure I'd only get the one.
I had lots of free time before actually going to the OR - about 90 minutes without a book to read or anything to do aside from answer a few questions from a couple of docs here and there.
How many words can you find in "outpatient"? I can't remember the other words I tried, but that's how I had to pass the time.
There was no "count down from 100" until I went under anesthesia. One minute I was awake, the next thing I remember was waking up in recovery about two hours later.

I have a followup appointment with Dr Toney on Tuesday, when I'll get the bandage off and stitches out. Until then, I can't take a shower, so it's either sponge bath or stinky time for the next few days. That will make Tuesday a busy day - aside from the followup, I have a dentist appointment, too. I hope the forecast for snow on Tuesday is wrong. Maybe it can hold off until that night or, better yet, Wednesday.

Prepped and ready

2008-12-17T20:53:00.002-06:00

Surgery is set for tomorrow. It seems that my insurance will cover it, or at least part of it. Apparently, if they wouldn't, the surgery would not have been scheduled, though I couldn't get an answer on how much I'll have to pay for myself. Let's hope not much.

Today was spent getting ready for recovery. I know that this won't be all that bad, since I'll be able to get around without crutches and won't need anyone waiting on me like I would if I had, say, torn my ACL, but still, I wanted to make things as easy as possible.

Little things: laundry is done, garbage is out, the house is clean, the fridge and freezer are full, I can work at home of Monday. I'm told I should be relatively mobile, so I'm sure I can go out if I want, but now I don't have to worry about anything while I'm at home.

The only question, really, is how terribly bored will I get? With lots o' books to read and movies to watch, there shouldn't be a problem. I'm sure by the end of the weekend, so I know that things could be worse. Really, this is elective surgery. I'll keep my fingers crossed that I don't have to have anything more serious done in the future.

More to come tomorrow, maybe, when I get home.

Put away for the year

2008-12-16T18:02:00.002-06:00

Today I had to get to the library to return some books. I had planned to bike the short trip to drop them off, but weather didn't permit. It started snowing around noon and hasn't let up since, so I had to take the train.

This wasn't all bad, as I always get some reading done on CTA, but it means that I'm likely done cycling for the year. Assuming, of course, that I actually have my foot surgery on Thursday. I still haven't heard anything about what insurance will cover, and if the answer is "nothing" then I'll have to postpone it until next year and see if Blue Cross will do what UHC won't.

If surgery happens as planned, I should be able to start up again in early January, with a goal to top this year's mileage by about 150. I made it to 2107 miles this year, and considering that I will end up with eight weeks off due to injury, rehab and traveling to India, I'd say I did rather well. I'll shoot for 2250 next year, only about 45 per week.

I probably shouldn't have even relied on weather.com for the forecast anyways, and just gone to the library this morning. If the website says it's 15 degrees, it means anywhere between 10 and 20. Forget wind speed and direction, I think it's just random. Too often I've checked the site and been completely surprised at how wrong it is. West at 15mph? Could be. Or South at 5. Or NE at 20. Unless you go outside to actually check, it's a crapshoot.

Other notes:

It's amazing how slowly people move getting on and off trains and up and down stairs. Until they see their train coming and think they might miss it. Then suddenly everyone is Jesse Owens*.
I'll be in Germany in February, though Mother Tongue didn't get into the Ultimate tournament for Valentine's weekend. I'd prefer to play, of course, but still I'm looking forward to seeing friends. Usually by that time of year I'm just starting to get really tired of the cold and snow (yes, it takes that long), so getting away will be nice.**
Now that I'm (probably) done with my CSA veggies until spring, I can start emptying out my freezer. It's a side-by-side, and there's nowhere near enough space in it. Probably by March it will be cleared out.
Predictions: MU will blow out Northwestern in their bowl matchup on Dec. 29: 52-21. And the Tigers will break a long drought in hoops by beating Illinois next Tuesday.

* Too dated? I've been reading up on the Negro Leagues, so maybe 30s and 40s references are floating to the top of my brain more easily.

** Wait, it will probably be cold and possibly snowy in Germany, too, right? Weather.com says the averages are milder than in Chicago. But do I trust them? No, I sure don't. Whatever.

Wintry mix

2008-12-15T14:20:00.002-06:00

This morning I had to go out the front door of my building, and I couldn't take the garbage cans out for pickup, either, since both my back door and the garage door were frozen shut.

I wonder if my downstairs neighbor (who drives to work, I believe) was able to get out and not have to take the day off because of some ice.

Banking technology

2008-12-15T13:12:00.002-06:00

I just went to the bank to deposit a check and some cash, and there were no envelopes to use. Turns out, I don't need them, at least not at the branch in our office building. The ATMs now scan checks you insert and determine the amount automatically. Same for cash.

I did get a receipt at the end, so it didn't save quite as much paper as it could have, and it did take a few seconds longer than it would have with an envelope, but hooray for technology!

notes before a trip to STL

2008-12-11T20:16:00.002-06:00

Today I picked up what I think is the last of my weekly veggie boxes for the year. Next week is my foot surgery, so unless someone wanted to make the pick-up for me, that's out. Then come the holidays, and I'm unsure if there will be delivery those weeks. If there are, I'll surely go get the boxes, though I'll have to take the bus/train to do it.

About halfway to the restaurant I realized that I didn't have my helmet on. What a dope. Rather than turn back to get it, I just kept on, keeping an extra eye out for idiot drivers (most of them, really). Turns out I needed it, as some doofus pulled in front of me and nearly slammed on the brakes, double parking outside the post office.

Okay, he didn't slam the brakes on, but he certainly could have waited the extra five seconds it would have taken me to go past his illegal spot. Instead, I had to stop quickly, though I only skidded for a second (I have yet to wipe out). Luckily, the bike lane was clear of ice and snow, and the car behind the dumbass seemed to be aware of me.

On another topic, I now have a new mobile phone strictly for work, paid for by the company. Working at home most of the time means eating into my rollover minutes, so it's nice to not have to think about that.

The problem is the phone. It's small, so that's good. It's a flip phone, which is a must (I don't like having to turn the buttons off and on and inevitably forget and end up making a phantom call to some unsuspecting person). So far so good, no?

The buttons are too small and close together, so when I've tried making a call one-handed, I get the number incorrect. Ugh. Not convenient at all. Or maybe I need more dexterity in my fingers. But that's never been a problem at all in the past, what with my experience in Vegas on the dice tables.

I also don't like the ring tone, and there are only a couple to choose from. I could download some others, but I'd rather not even bother taking the time to do that. Gosh, am I old and cranky or what?

I actually got two work phones delivered, but one is going back. AT&T accidentally double shipped.

I'm off to St Louis tomorrow for a quick holiday visit. In on Friday, out on Sunday. Then three days to prep for surgery and the rest of the year to recuperate and limp around in the boot they give me.

Cheers!

CTA karma

2008-12-11T18:01:00.002-06:00

Actually, I don't believe in karma at all, though I do like My Name Is Earl. But maybe I've been living right, because the last few times I've taken the Green Line anywhere, I haven't had more than about a three minute wait. It helps that I can hear the announcement of its impending arrival, but I don't about that until I'm almost to the station anyway.

It has been far too long since I had a 15-minute wait for a train, then a ride through a slow zone, followed by the train stopping and waiting for some unknown reason.

I'm sure the next time I ride, it will take an hour to get to the loop.

Bookmarks

2008-12-09T19:41:00.003-06:00

Just wondering: when you read a book, how do you mark your place? I use business cards, which have virtually no other practical use, especially when your office address and phone number change every few months.

Other options exist, of course. Buy a fancy-schmancy bookmark at the store and use that, fold the page you end on (dog-ear?), even mark your spot with a pencil. These last two should only be used on your own books, I think.

A majority of the books I get from the library have been, dare I say, damaged by readers who can't find a better way to mark their spot than folding or marking pages of a book that they don't own, didn't pay anything to read and have been given for three weeks for free. Oh, yeah, and if you're late bringing it back? It only costs 15 cents. Go ahead, mark the pages all you want.

I don't know why this bothers me so much. It is kind of interesting to see where people take their breaks from reading. So many times, there's only a page (or less) left until the end of the next chapter. Instead of taking a few seconds to get to what would theoretically be a better stopping point, they took the time to find their pen, mark their spot and put the book away. Sheesh.

A couple of picks

2008-12-08T19:06:00.003-06:00

Fair warning: this post is about baseball. Feel free to not read if you don't care about the 2009 season.

So the last few years, in December, I've picked two teams, one NL and one AL, that could be viewed as sleepers or longshots, teams that I felt were undervalued and would be better than people thought. This might seem to be an easy task, but I handicap myself in a few ways.

First, of course, is that I don't pick a favorite. That leaves out the Yankees, Red Sox, Braves (most years) and pretty much any team that was good the previous season. I also wouldn't want to repeat a pick too quickly, though this year a couple of my past choices look good. And of course I'd never, ever wear a Cubs hat, so they're out. Finally, I make my picks in December, far earlier than most would, given that there are still plenty of moves for teams to make.

How have I done in the past? Let's take a look:

2006:

AL pick: Oakland A's. They'd won 88 games in '05, then won 93 in '06. This was my first time through this process, which was really started as an excuse to get a baseball cap to wear for Ultimate season. So, the A's were probably too good to pick, but they did improve nonetheless.

2007:

AL pick: Cleveland Indians. Winners of 78 games in '06, they came through nicely with 96 wins and a playoff spot. They even came within a game of the World Series before losing three straight to Boston.

NL pick: Arizona Diamondbacks. Up from 76 in 2006 to 90 and the NLCS.

2008:

AL pick: Tampa Bay Rays. Perennial losers, they'd lost 96 games in 2007 and opened the season at 150-to-1 to win the World Series in 2008. Sure enough, they made it there but couldn't beat the Phillies. However, 97 wins is quite an improvement.

NL pick: Cincinnati Reds. I might have been a year too early on these guys. My second choice in the NL in '07 was Milwaukee, and I'd have been a year ahead of schedule there, too. Of course, they were too big of favorites to pick last year. Anyways, this one didn't work out as well as the others, but they did add two Ws, going from 72 to 74. I don't remember what their odds were or the over/under wins, but either way, they weren't a great pick in hindsight.

2009:

This year my choices are already limited. Some of the favorites include both New York teams, Tampa, Boston, both LA teams, both Chicago teams, Philadelphia, maybe Milwaukee.

Also, I stay away from the Cardinals, since they're already my hometown team. I need to branch out and be different.

Not repeating picks takes away Cleveland (16-to-1 for '09), Tampa, Arizona and Cincy (50-to-1), all decent choices this year.

Finally, I'd not pick a team that I don't think has a real chance to win, so that means we're dropping Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Toronto, Seattle, Detroit, Houston, Washington, San Diego.

Here's who we're left with:

Atlanta (30-to-1 to win '09 WS): 72 wins in 2008. I've always hated the Braves, partially because Tom Glavine has never actually thrown a strike but still wins, partially because I wasn't astute enough to see their rise coming almost 20 years ago (!!!). Also, the Tomahawk Chop sucks. However, their division is winnable, and they've made some moves already this offseason.

Florida (30-to-1): 84 wins last year might be too high, but their odds say they're a sleeper. Plus, if previous patterns hold, it's time for them to win again (they did so in '97 and '03).

Cincinnati (50-to-1): I don't think I can do the same team two straight years, so they're out.

Colorado: (35-to-1): I just don't feel it here. Out.

LA Dodgers (14-to-1): Well, that's higher than I'd have thought. Still, they won 84 last year and made the playoffs. Pass.

Arizona (14-to-1): They'll probably rebound from a disappointing '08 in which they fell to 82 wins. But, two years isn't long enough to repeat picks.

San Francisco (50-to-1): No Barry Bonds is a bad thing, really, but the Giants pitching is really good. They'll need to come up with some offense, but this is looking like a good early play.

Minnesota (25-to-1): The Twins always stick around the playoff race, but they're just not a very exciting pick. Pass.

Cleveland (16-to-1): They're my pick for the AL Central, but can I go back to them after two years?

Kansas City (100-to-1): Looking for a value play? Bet them on the over for wins. I don't have a clue what their total is right now, but they'll beat it. The Royals are probably not quite good enough yet to make it interesting. Let's talk in '10 or '11.

Oakland (50-to-1): The AL West is surprisingly open, with the Angels being overrated and losing talent. The A's have already traded for Matt Holliday, and they might make some more moves soon. This is my AL pick so far.

Texas (50-to-1): Again, the AL West is there to take, but 2009 is one year too early. By this time next year, the Rangers may be too well regarded to pick them for 2010, but just remember that I told you so.

The National League clearly has more good choices. I'd bet the over on Atlanta (assuming Vegas doesn't bump them up too high), Cincinnati, Los Angeles, Florida and San Francisco.

The AL leaves us fewer options, coming to a choice between Cleveland and Oakland. I think I'll have to skip the Indians, since they were mine in 2007. So here's to the Oakland Athletics in 2009! Go green and gold!

I can't bring myself to wear a Braves cap, the Reds are out, the Dodgers are in LA, and the Marlins have a tough division to overcome. That leaves the Giants, who play in a very winnable division. This makes it a Bay Area season for me coming up.

I won't be making any bets on any of these teams, but mark it down so I can say I told you so in about nine months. I'm off to buy a couple of baseball caps.

Catching up

2008-12-04T18:21:00.002-06:00

Isn't the interweb a wonderful thing? Yesterday I was able to catch up with two friends, one of whom is in Germany.

I hadn't spoken with Julia in a few months, and Skype lets us make free calls through the internets. Plus, there's a video feature, so we can even see each other like we're in the same room (though it's kind of like being on the opposite sides of a pane of glass or something). I walked around my house and showed Julia the place. How cool is that?

Earlier that day, I had found an old friend on facebook, and when I signed on in the evening, Gary was online - in China! Apparently he moved there a while ago, is engaged, adopted a daughter and wrote a book. Wow, it's been a really long time, I guess. Anyways, we IMed* for a few minutes before I had to take off, but it was nice to chat.

* Yes, I realize that just yesterday I noted how much I hate instant messaging, and here I am the very next night IMing. When someone's halfway around the world, though, a phone call is not quite as easy as it is for work. Unless they have Skype**, which I've already mentioned. Gary, everyone, get Skype!

** I'm sure you've seen the news at some point where they're conducting an interview with someone in the Middle East or some far away place. There's always a delay between the end of the question and the beginning of the interviewee's answer. Plus possibly some awkwardness thrown in when the interviewer is not sure whether he was heard, so both parties end up talking at the same time. On Skype, the video and sound was almost instantaneous. Maybe a half-second delay (you can see your own video feed, too). How is that possible?

Anyways, then I went to a movie with Megan. We saw Quantum of Solace. I can't say I'm a huge James Bond 007 fan, but it was entertaining enough, even if I hadn't seen the previous one, which probably would have helped. The previews lasted about 20 minutes, but even including them, we were out of the theater in two hours. Just about right.

So on the way to the show, I told Megan about Gary and his book. Megan was in China earlier this year, so she asked about the book. Turns out, she had seen Gary's book and picked it up at Borders the other day. Weird.

One final, totally unrelated note: I'm pretty bad-ass. Today I rode 17.5 miles in single-digit wind-chills. I can't fully explain it (aside from being a little crazy, maybe), but it's exhilarating to finish that much cycling in adverse conditions. Truly a biker's high. Plus it makes a 64-degree house seem balmy by comparison.

Worse than Cap'n Crunch

2008-12-03T14:06:00.002-06:00

The last couple of days the roof of my mouth feels like I burned it on something, but I can't remember what I had that was overheated. Instead, I think it's the Go-Lean Crunch cereal I opened recently. I'll have to let the milk soak in a bit more, maybe that will keep it from tearing up my gums and such.

I got another request (not quite a demand...yet) from my boss that I use the company's instant messaging system. I've refused so far to log in to it. I simply hate IM for numerous reasons, the first being that I respond to emails and answer my phone. It might be that I can't say no any more and I'll be forced to be on Communicator while working. Ugh.

A ghost in the garage

2008-12-01T18:36:00.002-06:00

For some reason, whenever I try to close the garage door and walk away before it's all the way closed, it stops and reopens. But, if I stand by the button and wait, it closes all the way the first time.

We got our first snow of the season this morning. The only bad part is that there is a coating of ice underneath it. I'll have to use the front entrance until I sweep off all the steps in the back. Metal stairs + ice + carrying a bike = treacherous.

I don't understand why people carry umbrellas at all, even when it's raining, but I'm even more puzzled why anyone feels the need to use one when it's very lightly snowing.

I really wanted to be bad-ass and bike to work today, but I'm still getting over a bug, and it was probably best to take it easy. Maybe next time.

Thanksgiving dinner for me: home-made oxtail soup. The bones in the tail look like vertebral bones, though that might not be surprising. It's pretty good soup, and the slow-cooker works great.

Only 17 days until foot surgery.

More good eats and good friends

2008-11-24T17:42:00.004-06:00

Has it really been over a month since I've written anything here? What a slacker. Lori and Richard were in town over the weekend, and while we didn't get out to see much of the city due to Lori's coming down with a cold, it was nice to meet her fiance and spend some time together.

We stayed in on Thursday night and cooked smothered pork chops, using the fresh thyme I got in the week's box, which was double the normal size due to this week's holiday. Also included in the box: beets and turnips (now in the freezer for later), onions, four giant Rome apples, some tiny yellow apples, salad greens, brussels sprouts and two pumpkins.

Actually, we're not sure if the second squash was really a pumpkin, since it wasn't a bright orange, but the pictures I found online said it was, and it tasted like one. Two small-medium pumpkins yield a lot of puree. We made a pie, with a topping of brown sugar and butter. Yummy, but ridiculously fattening, I'm sure. Nevertheless, it was gone by Saturday night.

Now I have plenty more puree to use, so I can freeze some pumpkin bread, and with the last bit I think I'll make some apple pumpkin butter. Mmmm.

I don't think I've ever really liked brussels sprouts (should that be capitalized?), but they came in the box, and it would be a shame to throw them out without at least trying to do something tasty with them. It was so easy. Actually, this is the second week in a row that they've been included. Really, it was simple: cover the sprouts in olive oil, salt and pepper and roast them in the oven for 20-25 minutes. A good replacement for french fries.

We did get to the Field Museum on Saturday afternoon, and it's good to know that my membership is worth something. Three free entries plus all three in to the special, fascinating Nature Unleashed exhibit. Oh, and free coat check, which normally runs two dollars.

At the House of Blues the night before, checking our coats cost $15 (total), and they even had a tip jar out. Really? The place was packed, and while I don't know how many high school and college kids were there, I'd guess the place raked in about $3000-$5000 for the night just to keep jackets in a closet. Never mind the tickets for the show and the $7 beers.

But it was fun anyways, and the music turned out to be okay, too. I hadn't heard Matt Nathanson before, but Lori hadn't heard the New Pornographers last October, either, and that turned out nicely.

All in all, a nice relaxing weekend with "old" and new friends. I even got invited to go to the north 'burbs on Thursday, though we'll have to see what else is going on.

Until next month...

Some of my favorite words

2008-10-22T15:37:00.002-05:00

...are ones that contain all five vowels:

facetious
abstemious

These both have them in alphabetical order. Cool!

sequoia

I actually used "sequoias" in Scrabble once, but the Q was a blank, and it was only through a double word score. Nice play but could have been way better with the right placement.

equation
euphoria
auctioned
cautioned (anagram alert!)
education
emulation
equivocal
housemaid
inoculate (alternates vowels and consonants)
nefarious
pneumonia
tenacious

Just thought you should know.

Other notes from the weekend

2008-10-20T18:01:00.002-05:00

So I went to St Louis for a couple of days and got home last night. Quick in and out - the best way to go to avoid wearing out the welcome.

I have to say, I don't know how parents do it. I get worn out after about an hour with the nieces and nephews, and I'm not even in charge of them at any point. Oh, to have their endless energy again.

The bonfire at Mom's was fun. I got to see some family that I haven't in a while. I didn't stay all night, though. Instead I drove back to STL and slept in a bed...the alternatives were camping in Ed's tent with his entire family or the floor inside. No, thanks, especially since Ed's kids were up far too early on Saturday and I didn't want to get up that early again.

I had been watching the MU-Texas game, with the Tampa-Boston LCS game on the internets. Both were going badly, but I figured I could listen to the end of the baseball game on the drive back to town. The Tigers started out awful but played better in the second half. Unfortunately, they were down 35-0 before they started doing anything right. Ouch. So much for the national title hopes. The Big XII north is still theirs to take, but they'd better pick it up.

I had the baseball game on for a little while, but then it faded out as I get farther from its signal. No worries, let's hit the scan button and find it on another station. Nope, sorry, it's nowhere to be found. What? It's supposed to be on ESPN radio. Are you telling me that St Louis doesn't have this? Maybe the hockey game or the football game preempted baseball, but I couldn't find the game anywhere else.

Didn't matter, really, since the Red Sox won, and I really didn't want to see that. The Rays should have won in five games, but they gave up the biggest comeback ever in postseason play on Thursday, and then Boston won game six.

I was dreading having to listen to how great the Red Sox are at coming back from down 3-1 (they had to do it in '04 and '07 on their way to World Series wins) and how the inexperienced Rays choked and couldn't handle the pressure. But, it was on to game seven, with Boston's best pitcher starting.

Ha-ha, I guess playoff experience and momentum don't mean all that much after all. The Rays win the pennant! The Rays win the pennant! Okay, it's not as exciting as '51, but it's a good story, and I'd rather have that than the same old Fox-favorite teams playing for a championship.

The Series starts on Wednesday. The Phillies have exactly one more title than the Rays, and they've been around for 116 more years. Heck, they have won one fewer championship than the freakin' Cubs! So, we'll either have a team with its first or second World Series crown.

I'm still on the Rays bandwagon, of course, since I've been touting them since last year, but a Phils win wouldn't upset me. You see, I have a confession to make. At the check-in counter at the Tropicana in June, they had some kind of promotion going, where you rolled five dice, and if they came up in the right combinations, you would win something. I think they gave everyone at least a little something, but the other prizes were a room upgrade or $25.

So, in my one-roll Yahtzee! game, I somehow won the $25 prize. Free money! That night I was watching something at the sports book, looking over the futures odds. I decided to invest my "winnings" into what I thought were value teams. Was this gambling? Nah, it's not like I was going to chase anything I lost. Heck, by the time I'd know the bet had lost, I'd be long back in Chicago.

I'm sure you can guess by now the two teams I picked. Yup, how about Philadelphia (15-to-1) and Tampa Bay (18-to-1). And here they are facing off this week. The Rays odds had begun the year at 100-to-1, at least, but even at the current price, they were still a bargain - in first place halfway through the season, I'll take that.

I have no earthly idea how the Phillies were still at 15-to-1. They, too, were in first place at the time, and the Mets weren't exactly showing everyone how great they would be. All I needed was for them to make the playoffs, and then anything could happen.

And happen it did. Maybe I'll donate half of my winnings to charity as penance for "gambling". At least I'll get to watch the games with the sound muted. MLB GameCast is fine, but actually getting to see the action is better, I think.

How's this for a cliche? I'm just hoping for an exciting series.

Soaked

2008-10-20T17:52:00.002-05:00

I knew it was supposed to rain today, but I biked to work anyways. It was nice and clear this morning, a brisk 45 degrees, but when quitting time came around, a band of rain was still making its way through the city. What to do?

Wait it out at the office? I suppose I could do some more work, but that would be dumb. I could sit and read while the precip passes through, but I can never concentrate doing that, always re-checking the radar like it's going to clear up any second.

Or, I could get wet. One website said "light rain", but the radar was mostly yellow, meaning probably a little heavier than "light". Heck, it's only 4 miles, just go.

Another question: what do I wear? It's about 55 degrees, which is fine when it's sunny, but with some wind and water, that can get cold. So I put a cap on and even gloves, though I probably didn't need them. The cap was smart, though, since it could soak up some of the rain and keep it from dripping into my eyes.

The elevator downstairs wasn't working, so I had to walk outside and around to the back, and "light rain" was about right. However, I go west to get home, and that's just where the wind was blowing from. It took about five minutes to get completely drenched, but only on the front. I think my back was mostly dry when I arrived at home.

I did get yelled at making a left turn, but I was in the right spot, yielding to oncoming traffic well out of the way of cars making the same turn. I think the guy was trying to make his own new turn lane and get around the other left-makers, but I don't know why he would have been upset with me. He said something I couldn't understand and then took off. At least he wasn't dumb enough to waste time yelling at me for making him late.

Changing expectations

2008-10-16T12:02:00.002-05:00

A few years ago, the Missouri Tigers football team was a joke. They were never a contender for any kind of title, not even for their conference. Seven wins in 11 games made for a successful season and a surprise bowl appearance a few times.

Then something happened. Last year, they started winning in places and against teams that they hadn't in a long time. At Kansas State. Vs. Nebraska at home by a large margin. Sure, they lost at Oklahoma, but they were supposed to lose that game, and darn it, they nearly won. Some might say they outplayed the Sooners on that day.

So when the Tigers lost in the Big XII title game to that same OU team, there was still much rejoicing in Columbia, since an 11-2 record was simply unheard of in Missouri. After walloping Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl and knowing that much of the team was returning for 2008, expectations were much different for this season.

Fast forward to last Saturday. Hosting a surprise team, # 17 Oklahoma State, the Tigers could win and move to the top spot in the polls after the Sooners had lost to Texas earlier that day. Unfortunately the Cowboys were up to the challenge and beat MU. Missouri played its worst game in a long time, only their third loss in 20 games. They might have been the only team in the country to have not lost a game they should have won in those previous 19.

I don't live and die through my favorite sports teams any more. If the Cardinals win the NL East, that's great. If they end up in fourth, I won't be upset. It's nice to see my teams do well, but in my old age I've found that it just doesn't fire me up as much as it once did. After all, I'm not really part of the team. I don't affect the outcomes one little bit.

It is funny, though, how after one loss and facing another one this weekend - on the road against the new # 1 team, Texas - Tigers fans have begun to think of this as a lost season. Okay, let's say MU loses on Saturday, a distinct possibility, and very probable, really. That's two losses, with five games to play.

Sure, with two Ls they won't have a shot at the national title, but the Big XII north is still theirs to take, and a win in the conference title game puts them in a BCS bowl. The road after Austin in two days is much easier, with not a game on the schedule that they should lose (of course, they still do have to play the games). That's a 10-2 record and conference championship game appearance. Not bad, eh?

Am I disappointed that the Tigers crapped the bed last weekend? Of course. Am I upset? No way, I can sleep at night despite the crummy outcome. Who knows? Maybe MU will collect themselves and focus on the Longhorns and get themselves back in the national title hunt with a big upset win. It wouldn't surprise me. I'll be watching, but I won't be crying if they lose.

MLB.tv and surfthechannel

2008-10-06T18:36:00.002-05:00

With the first round of playoffs wrapping up, I'm ready for round two. At least I'll be able to watch on FOX. I don't have cable or a dish any more, so I don't get TBS over the air. I did purchase mlb.tv for the last couple of months of the season, but for some reason, the playoff games are not available except for their radio feeds.

During the season, the FOX Saturday games and all national ESPN games are blacked out on mlb.tv too. Plus, I can't watch Cubs or White Sox games. I almost kind of understand this, since there are no commercials shown on the internets, but when the Cardinals played the Cubs recently, I only got to watch one game, the one on WGN.

So, basically, I have to have cable to watch Chicago teams or nationally televised games. But the whole reason I got mlb.tv was because I wasn't getting cable or a dish. I had the Extra Innings package through DirecTV! Color me confused.

Whatever they're doing, they're pretty smart, though. While in St Louis, I could get the Cubs, but not the Cardinals. It's all zip code-based, I think. Thank goodness I don't live in the wrong part of Iowa, where I would be blacked out from Minnesota, Milwaukee, Chicago, St Louis and Kansas City games. If none of those teams were playing each other, that would limit me to nine of fifteen games. Not fair!

Anyways, it seems that I will end up with three of four LDS picks correct, and the one I got wrong I wanted to be wrong. Sorry, Cubs, maybe in 2108.

You might think that not having cable would mean I'd have to sit and watch TV when it was aired instead of saving it on the DVR. But you'd be wrong. You see, there's a great website, www.surfthechannel.com. This site has links to a slew of shows, many with episodes from years past. So, if I want to watch last week's Smallville (which I do, of course), I can do so on Friday. Kind of like the DVR, except I don't have to set anything.

Sure, I can't watch on a big LCD TV with surround sound, but the laptop screen is fine for me, and I can watch anywhere I have an internets connection. Pretty cool, no? One downside, though, is that now I have a longer list of shows I want to see. Anything on HBO or Showtime that wasn't available except through Netflix (and having to wait until the latest season is released on DVD) is now a mouse click away. Hooray!

Subtitles, TV and other randoms

2008-10-06T18:23:00.002-05:00

Another flat tire (the inner tube, really) this week, and I had to give in and get a new tire. At $40, they're more expensive than I would have thought. In fact, pound-for-pound, they might be more costly than car tires.

I haven't been able to find Orbit gum in the lemon-lime flavor any more. Did they discontinue it? That's too bad, it was my second favorite flavor. On a totally unrelated note, I think I'm going to go cold turkey and stop chewing Orbit or any other gum. Pray for me.

What kinds of food do you always add salt to at the table? French fries, eggs, green beans. I think that's it for me. Green beans automatically get pepper, too.

Whenever I'm chopping vegetables, I always think "chefs do that". It's a line from The Long Kiss Goodnight, two hours of mindless, over-the-top, wildly entertaining action. Rent it.

Does vinegar go bad? I had some Vons brand vinegar in my cupboard. Vons is a supermarket on the west coast. I lived in Nevada in 1997.

Have you ever watched a movie in English with English subtitles? It's very difficult to not read them. Try it, I bet you can't look away.

Playoffs 2008

2008-09-30T15:25:00.002-05:00

The 2008 baseball season is almost over, with one more game tonight. The White Sox host the Twins to see who gets to face the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALDS. I really don't want the Sox to win. Did you see yesterday's game? I had the sound off because I despise Hawk Harrelson, but I heard he went crazy. I do not need to hear how great the White Sox are. Besides, isn't one Chicago playoff team enough? The last time they both made it was 102 years ago!

So with the postseason set to start tomorrow, I wanted to get my picks in so I can be ridiculed later. Or maybe I'll get lucky and pick them correctly.

Chicago Cubs v. Los Angeles Dodgers

Who I want to win: Dodgers, duh. The Cubs are a good team, but c'mon, they're the Cubs. What fun would they be if they won anything? No, they're already annoying enough with their yuppie fans who go to Wrigley to drink and be seen instead of actually watching the game. Plus, I gave up my season tickets a couple of years ago, and I could have made a killing this year.

Who will win: The Cubs. Los Angeles is better with Manny in the lineup, and they've been good down the stretch. Big Z might implode for Chicago. The Dodgers bullpen is solid. But the Cubs are just better.

Fun notes: The Dodgers title-less streak is 19 years and counting. For this franchise, with their history, that's an eternity. Of course, you could have said the same thing back in '65 with the Cubs. The Dodgers have won six World Series. The rest of the NL field combined: three.

Philadelphia Phillies v. Milwaukee Brewers

Who I want to win: Either team, really. I like the Brewers, especially since they made the bold trade of their best prospect for CC Sabathia (gosh, he's good). They have great talent in some areas, but not so much in others. They're flawed, really, but fun to watch. Philly has terrific core talent, though I don't think Ryan Howard would deserve the MVP this year, despite his numbers. I like the Phillies for a different reason, which I'll tell you later if they make it far.

Who will win: Philadelphia. The Brewers are done. Their bullpen is awful. Sabathia won't be pitching until at least game two. They've won all of three games with other starters this entire month. They'd have to win not only CCs first start but one of the other three just to get to a game five to have CC start yet again on short rest. I don't see it happening.

Fun notes: The last time Milwaukee made the playoffs, I was 11 years old, the Brewers were in the other league, and I went to game seven at Busch Stadium to see the Cardinals take them down. Philadelphia has exactly one championship in over 100 years of play. That's fewer than, yes, the Cubs.

Los Angeles Angels v. Boston Red Sox

Who I want to win: Boston. I just don't like the Angels. They're like the Dodgers ugly step-brother, always looking for more attention than their handsome, charming older brother. Their closer is overrated. Plus, I want to see the Rays beat up on the Red Sox in the next round.

Who will win: Boston. They have the pitching, they have the hitting. LA has played a bit over their heads, and the Red Sox did play a tougher schedule and still had almost as good a record.

Fun notes: Dustin Pedroia, the Sox second baseman, will probably win the league's MVP, despite being small and not hitting a lot of home runs. That just doesn't happen these days.

Tampa Bay Rays v. Chicago White Sox/Minnesota Twins

Who I want to win: Tampa Bay, naturally. I picked them way back in January to surprise people, and I know I recommended a value bet in Vegas for them winning the World Series. How would you like to have $50 at 75-to-1 right now? Seriously, this team is a great story. Terrible since their inaugural season, never more than 70 wins, and this year they almost got to 100. They have a wealth of young talent, and more on the way. They've really done a great job of building their team in the toughest division in the game.

Who will win: Tampa Bay. They're much better than either the Sox or Twins, and they haven't had to play this week yet. Pitching? Yep. Hitting? Got it. Defense? One of the best in the league.

Fun notes: Each of these three teams has been great at home this year, so home field advantage could help decide it. The Twins traded away the best pitcher in the league over the winter, to the Mets, and if they win tonight, they'll play into October while the Mets watch.

LCS and World Series

Just so it's here in writing: I'll pick the Cubs over the Phillies in the NLCS and the Rays to beat Boston in the AL.

In the World Series, I have to stay with my team. The American League is (still) way better than the National League, and the Cubs are (still) lovable losers. Their streak reaches 100 without a championship despite making it here for the first time in 63 years.

Go Rays!!!

Mr Fix-It

2008-09-29T15:59:00.002-05:00

I am not much of a handyman. Usually, when something needs to be fixed, I get on the phone to find someone to do the work. The internets help with this, especially Angie's List, which includes reviews. That way I'm not just randomly picking a company, and I don't have to wade through all of the AA, AAA, and AAA-1 listings - you know, the ones that pick their names so they're first alphabetically.

Anyways, this works most of the time. In a few instances, my stepdad has been able to help, but they live about 350 miles away, so it's not very convenient. So I save him for big jobs.

Sometimes, though, I just have to do it myself. It's not that I can't do these things. I can follow directions reasonably well, and figuring out how things work is not all that difficult. In fact, it's usually pretty intuitive. It's just that if something is going to get broken or screwed up, I'd prefer someone else do that, and then it's on them to make it right. If I mess up, then I just have to get someone to clean up my mess anyways.

So, last week, I had to resort to getting my hands dirty for a few jobs. First, I caught a flat tire for the second time this month. The last time I was near a bike shop, so I just took it there. It needed a tuneup anyways, so that was a no-brainer. This last time was a Sunday afternoon, and I was almost home (only a two-mile walk), so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

I kind of wanted my first time to be with the front tire, since the chain and gears aren't attached to it, but no luck. This will teach me to inflate more regularly. I think what happened was that I had been carting around heavy stuff for a couple of days, the air got low, and the tube got pinched when I hit a bump or something.

Did you know how dirty bike chains are? It took two days before my hands were fully clean again. Or maybe I just need better soap or to wash better.

Amazingly, it wasn't nearly as hard as I had thought to get the tire changed. I have a big pump here, so inflating was easy. The hand-pump I have attached to the bike would take a lot longer and wear me out if I had to start from nothing.

Riding on the new tire for the first time, for some reason, the gears wouldn't change for a few seconds. Downshifting was fine, but going up was a surprise. Nothing for a beat or two, and then it would go. So what did I do wrong? See, this is why it's better to have a pro do it, right? Well, it was pretty easy after all. A little oil on the chain and gear shifter, and we're back to like new.

I think I mentioned a while ago that the water line to the refrigerator leaked into the floor? I talked to the floor guys who were working downstairs, and I was surprised by his answer - just put an area rug over it. I was actually pleased with his answer, because he could have suggested that he fix it, and that would have cost quite a bit. The damage isn't so bad, and I'm bound to spill something at some point later anyways.

But that's not the point of the story. The water line that was installed was copper, which, when the fridge was pushed back into place, bent and turned, opening up a small drip. Apparently, the plastic lines won't do this, so I got one and installed it. Now, there wasn't much to it, since the connections to the refrigerator and to the building's water supply were already there. All I had to do was connect the thing. But, still, with the potential for further damage to the hardwood, I had reason for concern. The floors are still dry, so it looks like I did it correctly.

Finally, the dryer started having an awful burning smell that permeated my clothes. Heck, it's still under warranty, so getting someone to look at it was easy. The cause? The exhaust line was set up to go up over the top of the water heater, then down to get outside. The hot air wasn't getting out, instead just collecting at the back of the dryer and causing the burning.

The solution? Take out the exhaust line and install a new one, with flexible tubing. It's working much better, thank you. I hate foil tape, by the way. Each connection that had been there previously was taped, and it doesn't just peel off.

So I did it. Maybe next week I'll put up some drywall and add a wet bar.

How about this weather?

2008-09-18T18:54:00.002-05:00

Yep, once the weekend rains finally stopped, the weather turned beautiful. Perfect, maybe. How can you complain about low 70s and sunny days, 50s at night? Windows are open, the A/C is off, perhaps for the season. It's not too cold to turn the heat on at night, but just cool enough to put on a long-sleeve shirt (like I need a reason).

The first time it gets this cool, though, can be confusing, at least in what to wear. Sixty degrees is plenty warm to bike in Under Armour and shorts, but what if it's 50 and sunny? Do I wear cotton (say, my work clothes) instead? Lesson learned on Monday and Tuesday: wear the Under Armour. Long pants are okay in 50-55 degrees, but any warmer than that and I sweat through everything.

How cold is too cold? When do I wear a cap under my helmet? I think we'll have some time to figure that out, but it's coming. Hooray!

I know that Chicago wasn't alone in getting drenched over the weekend. Lots of baseball got postponed, and the Cubs even got to play a couple of "away" games in Milwaukee thanks to Ike. But, boy, was that a lot of rain. From Friday afternoon through Sunday afternoon, it was nothing but gray skies and water. Sometimes it drizzled, others it poured. I don't remember any thunder/lightning, and mostly the rain was coming straight down, with little wind. It just never stopped. Until Sunday.

That means I'm catching up on cycling, after going the entire weekend without. Yikes! How ever did I survive?

The rain also led to some flooding in the suburbs, including Schaumburg, home of the Chicago office's servers and data. The parking garage behind the building was under water at the first level, and they closed the office Monday and Tuesday. This also meant we couldn't access our systems on Monday. After about three hours of sitting around and catching up with everyone in the office, I went home. Free day off!

Oh, I learned another lesson today: always make sure that you have your keys clipped to your bag on your way out the door. That, or don't flip the handle lock but use the key instead. On my way out to get a box of organic veggies (and pears this week) I brought the bike out the back door like I always do. Whoops, the wind blew the door closed, and my keys were still inside.

A couple of calls to people with the spares got me back inside in about 30 minutes, but that sure was dumb of me. At least Boris was in the neighborhood and could pop over to let me in.

Free shipping

2008-09-11T17:22:00.002-05:00

So I saw that this book is coming out in late October, and I just had to buy it. The writers and analysis at Baseball Prospectus is very insightful, witty and most definitely not mainstream (so it's actually informative!), and last year they started writing about hoops.

College basketball is definitely my second favorite sport to watch, and isn't it nice that its season is just about exactly opposite of baseball season? There's almost no overlap!

Anyways, I know that I could get a copy in November at a Borders, but I know I'll forget, and besides, the baseball edition is monstrous and heavy, so I figure it would be better to pre-order it from Amazon, and it will get here when it gets here. Done.

Ah, but it only cost $15. Good price for so much info (and space taken up on the coffee table or book shelf), no? Of course, the good folks at Amazon offer free shipping with purchases of $25 or more. What's the catch, right? Well, it takes a little longer to get to you, or at least that's what they tell you. Five to nine business days after shipping is the quote, but the delivery is almost always quicker than that. Except around the holidays, then you could be waiting a while.

What does shipping cost is you don't choose the super saver? I don't remember...it's been a while since I did it that way. Hold on, I'll check...

...$3.99, and it will be delivered in five business days. To get it in two days, the cost goes to $13.97. Overnight/next day? $22.97!!!!

Well, clearly the two-day or one-day options are ridiculous, since I don't need this book the second it comes out. Really, if that was the case, I'd go stand at Borders at 6am and wait for the doors to open. So, five days or 5-9 days?

Every time, and I mean every time, I add more books to the cart, and end up with free shipping. Why wouldn't I? As you probably already know, I'm a big geek (or nerd, or dork, I'm not sure)...I have a spreadsheet (surprised?) containing all the books in my wish list. There are 319 of them in that list currently. I'll never get to all of them, I know, especially since there are 22 unread books on the shelf, more getting added to the list every week, and the library within an easy bike or train ride from here.

So, I just open Excel and find a book that's not at the Harold Washington branch (big place, by the way, and lovely architecture, too) and then check out the prices to see if I can get to exactly $25 or just slightly over. Usually I'm able to stop at just that limit, but other times I go nuts and end up with a half-dozen books that I won't read for months.

You know how you can get banned from a casino? In Missouri, at least, I think you can voluntarily put yourself on the banned list so you won't be tempted to lose your life savings. Well, that's what I should do for bookstores. Seriously, if I walk in a Borders or (god forbid) a used bookstore, I can't walk out without buying something. So I try really hard to avoid that.

Maybe that's a good reason to order the Prospectus from Amazon. Sure, I ended up with a second book to read, but if I went to Borders, I might have ended up with ten. Plus, the one I get to make it to super saver limit is four dollars off! How can I resist saving four bucks off a book?

Good eats

2008-09-08T16:43:00.002-05:00

I used it all. Well, some of the food in this week's box went into the freezer, but otherwise I found a way to use all of the other veggies and fruit.

This was the second time I got a watermelon in the box, which weighed nearly forty pounds. The five-mile bike ride home made for some good exercise, and tons of fun, since the melon wasn't in the middle of the box. I had to try extra hard to pace myself with the lights, because starting and stopping were a bit unstable.

But I made it home in one piece. And over the weekend I made some food. What to do with cucumbers, beets, jalapenos (lots of them), eggplant and a spaghetti squash?

Why is it called spaghetti squash, I wondered? It's just a yellow gourd, looks like the rest of them. The internets told me that when scraped out with a fork, the meat of the squash comes off in strings like everyone's favorite pasta. Huh, they were right.

Anyways, the fridge and freezer are now bursting with tasty treats: cuke salad, beet salad, spicy salsa (used six of the peppers...haven't actually tried it yet, since I have no chips here), baba ghanoush (I prefer hummus, but maybe I need to try again) and a squash casserole. Mmmm.

I also got pictures put up on the walls this weekend. Dave finished up painting early last week, and now I can officially say that I have nothing more to put away here. It's home. The walls look really nice, too. Anyone need a painter? I can give a good recommendation.

And it seems that I might have a neighbor soon. I think the second floor is under contract now, but I have no idea how long it will take for him to move in. I'm assuming that it's the same guy that came by with the realtor a couple of weeks ago to check out the finished look of my floors. I heard that maybe he was trying to get a second parking spot, so maybe that will hold things up. If he can't do that, I could rent him mine.

Rainy here in Chicago, rather chilly, too. The heat broke last week, and it's been super great ever since. I'm hoping we don't get a late taste of summer like last October (though I was out of the country and didn't actually experience it like the marathoners did) but can roll right into fall with a nice, easy transition. It's going well so far.

random thoughts, September '08 version

2008-08-28T20:46:00.004-05:00

My electric toothbrush died this week, so I got a new one. It seems to be faster or more powerful or whatever, so that's good. The problem has been that it only has one speed instead of two, so I inevitably hit the power button twice, and it turns off and then on. I'll get the hang of it soon. I hope.
I hate automated phone menus. I especially hate the ones where you have to speak instead of punch in numbers. Even when I know what I need to say, I have a hard time interrupting the machine while it's talking so I don't have to sit through all the options.
The water line to my refrigerator started leaking, but I didn't notice. Dave the painter did, though, and got the floor drying. It's buckled a bit in one area, but I'm told that the wood should settle back down once it's dry. The dumb thing? I won't drink the water from the dispenser and I never use ice, so the water line is basically useless to me.
The Comcast internet connection is faster and better than I thought it would be.
Most of my Netflix DVDs just have a gray face with the movie title on them. Occasionally one has some artwork or pictures or something, but mostly not. Is this a new thing, or am I just getting the wrong movies?
Should I have gotten on a team for fall league? Every time I think my foot is ready for running, it's not. But I bet I miss playing before March and spring league rolls around.
September 1 marks ten years at my job. I got a gift for my five-year but nothing this time. Either ten years isn't as important as five, or they're really dedicated to cutting costs. Or, neither, since it just arrived in the mail over the weekend.
Until recently at work we had a reward system that allowed us to get gift cards for dollar amounts from a long list of vendors. Apparently now we only get to pick from a list of gifts. I haven't seen what's offered, and it's not like I get these things all the time, but that really sucks.
Anyone need some Metra 10-ride passes? I have six of them that I'll never use, plus two in my wallet that I could be talked into selling at a discount. They don't expire until the spring.
Wait, they expire? Why?
ComEd finally got the meters installed recently, so it looks like I actually have to pay for electricity now after having it for free for about six weeks.
I just finished reading a few books. By chance, four of them were set in about the same time period - late 19th to early 20th century. I learned about a young Stalin, Harry Houdini, McKinley's assassination and the Chicago stockyards of Upton Sinclair.

India

2008-08-28T20:29:00.003-05:00

It ain't happening. I talked yesterday to the guy that's heading up this project, and he couldn't get my requested bonus approved. It sounded like what was offered wouldn't have amounted to much, after expenses, so I turned down the offer.

I do understand the need to keep costs down, and this trip would have been expensive without the bonus, but in the big picture, the money wouldn't have made a real difference to the company. Plus, the long term benefits would have potentially led to more revenue next year and beyond.

Anyways, I would have liked to go. Being in India for three months would be quite an experience, and it would have helped the company and maybe my career, who knows? Living in that culture for so long would have been fascinating, and I'm sure I would have met a number of wonderful people.

However, I'm also glad that I'll be staying in Chicago. I'll get to be here for the fall and winter, and I won't have to sweat through December and January like I would have in Baroda. There's always a long list of things to do here, things I never get to but mean to, and now I can get back to them.

I made an appointment with an orthopedist, so maybe I can get my foot all better soon. I would have had to wait until early 2009, or even until spring if I'd gone away.

I can enjoy my new home. The painting will be done this weekend, and it's looking really nice. I should have a downstairs neighbor in a month or so, and it might be nice to get to know him/her/them without being away for a long stretch. And now that I have internet access, I can work here a few days a week for the first time.

Going to India would have meant getting a property manager for the rental unit I have, and how would that work? Now I don't have to deal with that, or finding someone to housesit. I can keep getting my weekly food share and not have to back out again at the end of the year like last year.

It didn't even sound like the company had thought about any of the logistics of my being in Baroda. Things like getting me a phone or a place to stay. Would there be a place to cycle or at least a stationary bike somewhere? I'd asked these questions long ago, but no one had answers yet. If I was to go, I would have had to deal with all that.

So, in the end, it will be good to stay home. It's too bad that we couldn't come to an agreement, but maybe it's for the best.

Ticketing bikers

2008-08-28T20:16:00.002-05:00

I'm the type of cyclist you drivers probably hate. At red lights I snake my way through traffic and get up to the front of the line, right in front of the first car. Too bad if he wants to turn right on red. If the light is red when I get there, and if there are no cars near the intersection, I go through. Same for stop signs - if there's not a car about to go through across me, there's not a chance I'm stopping.

That said, I always keep both eyes in front of me, peeking to each side and even behind me when I can. I'm very aware and usually know what the cars are going to do and what I can get away with.

I'm not sure where I heard it first, but it's come from a few different sources. Apparently, Chicago police are going to start cracking down on moving violations by bikers. Now, this makes absolutely no sense to me. I think their reasoning is that with high gas prices, more people are biking, and there are more violations.

I can't imagine that this will actually happen. First, the police would actually have to start caring about moving violations by cars. Until this afternoon, when I saw two cars being ticketed, I can't remember the last one I saw. Everyone, and I mean everyone, speeds or rolls through stop signs or makes illegal turns, and it happens right in front of the cops. Are they really going to take the time to pull over cyclists and give them tickets?

What happens if I was being pulled over and I tried to evade them? I could easily get to a high traffic area and make a few quick turns and be gone in a flash. There is no license plate to track, and there's no bikers license to rack up points against. Sure, there would be a fine, but is it the same amount as for a driver of a car?

I've always thought of my bike being the best of both worlds. I'm on the road like a car but can go through lights and the wrong way on one-way streets like pedestrians. Say I was at a red light and walked my bike through the intersection against the light. Is that okay? If not, you'd better start writing tickets for jaywalkers, and there are millions of them. Take a look at any intersection in the loop any morning. No one waits if they don't have to.

I think it's all a PR ploy. Drivers aren't happy that there are more bikers out, they complain about running lights and stop signs, so the police announce that they'll start ticketing people. What will it amount to? Nothing.

I figure that if you're stuck in your car and you don't like that I got up in front of you and now you have to wait, maybe you should get off your butt and get your own bike. Then you wouldn't have to watch us ride past you and get places faster than you.

So there.

Ahhh

2008-08-25T12:25:00.004-05:00

That's a big sigh of relief now that I have internet access here at home. Comcast showed up today, fifteen minutes into the two hour (!!!) window they gave me. It took a bit of time to get hooked up, but that was mostly because the building is new. The installer was pleasant and courteous and got everything working. It's amazing how that can happen!

Anyways, now I can finally put a baseball game on the computer and use my mlb.tv account. The connection is fast enough to support the best picture I can get, and even in full-screen mode, you don't lose much.

Now all I need to do is remember to call Comcast before six months is up and get the same rate as I have now. I think I can get the indignant, I'm-going-to-switch-to-whomever attitude simply by remembering how awful AT&T was this month.

Painting started today, and the second bedroom looks great. Tomorrow Dave starts on the kitchen and living room and will work his way back down the hall before finishing up in the big bedroom late this week or early next. I had to take the bookshelves down, and now that part of the wall looks bare.

Once Dave is done I can get pictures up. I should probably add some photos from SandBlast to the collection. Where should I hang the banner we won for third place in Spirit?

I also have to decide about India. The ol' employer finally got back to me about it, and I'm still kind of unsure. I'd like to go, but they didn't quite meet my reimbursement expectations. Maybe there's still a way around that. Even if there's not, I might still decide to go. Maybe I'll know more for sure next week.

A big shout out to anyone who played at Copa Cabana this past weekend. I wish I could have been there and seen everyone again, but it just didn't quite work out. Maybe if I go to Baroda I can get to EU to visit for a few days. If not that, then we'll try for the spring.

Is it really already September next Monday? Mizzou football starts on Saturday, with a thrashing of Illinois. I can even watch it, since I'll be in St. Louis for the weekend. Go Tigers!

Bike rack

2008-08-18T13:03:00.002-05:00

So my mom and stepdad came up for a visit a couple of weekends ago, and Glen was able to install the bike parking rack I had bought. Great idea, now I don't have to carry the bikes upstairs every day and night.

Unfortunately, you can see the rack and bikes from the sidewalk. My bad. I should have picked a different parking spot, so that the bikes would be out of sight. Actually, I don't know that it would have made that much difference, since they'd be visible from neighboring buildings or from the alley when the garage door is up.

It took all of four days. One day last week, I was heading out, and the gate was unlocked and open. Uh, did I forget to lock it? Did the builder/developer come in and forget to close it?

Let's see, the bikes are fine and still locked up. Wait! The wires to the lights on the Novara are not hooked up to the generator any more. And the odometer sensor is on the ground! Someone must have gotten over the fence and fiddled around with it before deciding they couldn't get past the locks.

Well, it was worth a shot, no? I'm not at all happy that someone (probably someones, really) got over the gate - and really, the lock isn't all that hard to reach if you're especially tall or had a boost. However, I do know that if I had a bike locked up on the street, just about anywhere in the city, it would get a few looks and maybe some tinkerers to see if they could snag it.

That afternoon, the gate was open again - there was still one bike parked there in full view. Of course, I brought both cycles back upstairs, and amazingly, the gate has been closed ever since. I talked to my soon-to-be next-door neighbors, and they weren't surprised. It's like leaving something on the seat of a car parked on the street. Chances are good all you'll have to show for that is a broken window and a bill for new glass, no matter that what ever got swiped was entirely worthless.

Another lesson learned.

Access?

2008-08-18T12:39:00.003-05:00

In July I tried out AT&T's mobile internet. I had a USB plug-in device that got me online anywhere I could get a cellular phone signal. The problem was two-fold. First, the cost was rather high - $60 per month. This was actually less than I was paying for DSL and a phone line, though I could have easily gotten a lower price for those by calling and asking for it, with the possibility of having to threaten to cancel service.

The bigger issue was the speed. I work at home a couple of days (or more) each week, so I need a reliable, fast connection. Getting dumped offline or having a maddeningly slow connection is no way to work all day. For some reason, I was only getting two bars on the mobile internet, even though I got all the bars on my mobile phone.

Besides, I either had to sign up for a year-long contract or cancel it, so I decided to drop it. When I did so, the customer service rep said that the connectivity could maybe be fixed or enhanced, but given that I may be overseas for a few months (nope, still don't know anything definitive), I thought it would be easier to just get DSL set up again.

Boy, was I wrong! One good thing is that I can get the DSL without having to have a phone line, and for only $39 per month (plus taxes and fees that will likely push it up close to $50). Unfortunately, AT&T's customer service is so terrible, that 11 days after I first talked to them, I still am not online at home.

I made sure to ask two Fridays ago if someone needed to get inside the yard or the building to get everything up and running. No, I was told, they just need to get the service turned on. That will be done by next Friday. Great, thought I, it's only a week, I can deal with that.

Now, why does it take a week to make this happen? I don't know. But working in the office for a week in a row wouldn't be too bad, I suppose.

Friday, nothing was on by mid-afternoon. I call AT&T and am assured that service will be on at 8pm. Before 8pm? No, at 8pm. Now, this really confuses me. It sure makes it sound like all they're doing is flipping a switch and giving me a connection, and if that's the case, why couldn't that happen earlier?

Well, anyways, I'm given a number to call if, after 8pm, I'm still not connected. I decided to call the number before 8pm, but guess what! It was after business hours, and they don't reopen until Monday! Geez, now I have to call back. And sit on hold for twenty more minutes.

I have an account number, yet each time I call I have to give them my call-back number. And all of my other information. You would think that this would be included with the work order or whatever they're pulling up on the screen, right?

Finally, I get to talk to someone, and she assures me that I will be called back on Saturday by 11am to get things going. I'm told that they'll get someone out to my house to hook it up. As you might guess, they never called. So it's on hold for another hour on Saturday, trying to find someone who knows anything.

But this is impossible, since there's clearly not one single competent person in the entire company. On Sunday, I eventually talk to someone about canceling the whole thing, and she offers me a free month. I tell her I want two, and I want someone to CALL ME BACK with the order status.

She agrees to both, but of course I have to call again on Monday to get an update. I'm absolutely sure I'll have to call back to get my two-month credit, but at least I have a time window on Tuesday during which an actual person will come out to my address to do the hookup. I won't be holding my breath, though.

Honestly, can customer service be this difficult? I wouldn't even mind delays and problems if I was kept in the loop about it. When I ask specific questions about what will be done, and I'm essentially lied to, all that makes me want to do is not do business with them. A simple phone call and explanation would go a long way toward making me happier with their service. I would still like to actually be online, but being completely in the dark just adds to the feeling that AT&T doesn't give a whit about their customers.

Pay your bills and fees and all the other BS, that's all it seems they want. Never mind making your customers happy so that they'll continue to be customers. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of options. Comcast? I thought they were worse, but AT&T sure is giving them a run for the title of worst service ever. RCN? Not available in my neighborhood. Dial-up? Yeah, right.

I'm this close [holds fingers 1 mm apart] from just doing without broadband service all together. But that would mean working in the office every day and either going to the library or a Starbucks or somewhere just to read email and stuff. Could I get accustomed to that? Probably, but it sure is nice to have it at home.

We'll see how Tuesday goes. Wish me luck.

Dodging lightning

2008-08-04T20:54:00.002-05:00

This morning it rained. Hard. We've been getting a lot of that the last few days, but by the early afternoon it was done, meaning we'd get to play our summer league game tonight. It was supposed to heat up into the mid-90s, but that never happened, so I biked down to the park.

We got almost to half, having played the worst game ever. I mean that everyone stunk. Terrible passes, dropped discs, giving up break throws. Ugh. Lee. Then the lightning was sighted, so the games were finished, so ours doesn't count. It's like we didn't get through five full innings, though we don't get to reschedule a double-header later in the year.

Anyways, so now I have to get home. Luckily the green line isn't far from the park, so I got there and could see the train waiting to leave. Alright, I'll get the next one. It wasn't raining yet, and it was still early, so no worries. Up the stairs, and somehow the train is still there. Lucky.

By the time we got to the Loop, the rains hit. Hard. Just like this morning. Lightning everywhere. From my exit I have just under a half-mile to get home. What are my options? Walk. Wait it out at the station. Or bike. Either I'm getting soaked or I'll be sitting a while. Guess what I chose?

There must have been a dozen lightning strikes on the way home, but few cars, so it wasn't really dangerous or anything. Who knows how close the lightning really was? It didn't sound particularly loud.

A half-hour later the rain is slower but electricity still fills the air. I love a thunderstorm, and this one might be the last for a week or more. It's supposed to be nice for the next few days, and in the upper 70s on Saturday. Sweet! That's almost perfect for the tournament this weekend, where I'm hoping Splitting Aces can shake off their poor performance tonight and win four straight. Go team!

That's better

2008-08-03T19:29:00.002-05:00

How nice is it to just sit and do nothing for a day? Well, nothing is not exactly true, but now I'm finally just about caught up. Most everything here at the new place is put away, the garbage is out in the alley (in cans, no less!) and the renters are moved in to the old condo.

I did have to go out today to give them the keys, but that's pretty much the extent of my activity. The rest of the day was spent catching up on some reading, so now I know all about what happened this week in baseball, especially regarding the trade deadline. Very exciting! Now I have the Cardinals game on the internet radio and a beer in hand. Nice!

I would normally have just turned on ESPN to watch the game, but I didn't get cable or a dish here. It's surprising how much time I spend in front of the TV, even if I'm not actively watching anything. During baseball season, I have had the Extra Innings package, so I can watch just about any game that's on, though I rarely have the volume on. Instead, it's more or less something to keep an eye on, and if events warrant actually watching, I do.

In the offseason, I can put on college basketball or some other sporting event and ignore it as much as I want. Having the dish meant Family Guy on the Cartoon Network, The Daily Show, and good reception. I'm not normally one to just flip through channels and never find anything, but the TV has always been there for background noise or corner-of-the-eye activity to occasionally look at.

Now I have only local, over-the-air stations. It's kind of liberating, since there's not usually much to choose from. Family Guy is on WGN at 10pm, so there's still that option, but no baseball aside from Cubs or White Sox (and, really, who wants to watch them?) and the picture quality varies wildly.

The LCD TV reception is nice, but the HD channels come in and out, as you might expect. That's annoying, so I keep to the analog versions. I'm actually surprised by the quality of the picture so far. It's a good thing I'm not really a TV junkie, though I suppose if I was I would have simply had a dish installed here.

I did buy the MLB.tv package for viewing games online, but my internet connection is terribly slow. I'm trying a mobile internet device through AT&T. For normal browsing, there isn't much of a difference from the DSL I used to have. Video, though, needs a better, more consistent signal. When I've tried to watch a baseball game online, it re-buffers every few seconds, and that will drive you crazy.

So, if I don't go to India in the next few weeks, I'll just have DSL installed and then I can "watch" games again. If I do go away for a while, then I'll have to cancel the mobile connection anyway, so no harm done. I think there was a 30-day trial period anyways, and I'm only halfway through that.

The to-do list here is growing smaller by the day. Blinds get installed tomorrow, a painter starts his work on the 11th, and I need someone to install a bike parking rack in my parking spot. Anyone know how to do this? I have the rack sitting here waiting for you.

Finally, I don't have to run around all day for the move. It really is nice to be here in the new neighborhood, almost all settled. I'm off to Seattle on Tuesday morning, and then the summer league tournament is Saturday (go Aces!!), and by then I probably should know about India (though I've said that once before). Thankfully it's been reasonably mild this summer, though biking 50 miles a week in 85 degree weather still makes for a lot of work.

I would say I'm looking forward to fall and winter, but if I'm in Baroda I might miss the entirety of them. Maybe tomorrow I'll find out for sure.

Moving day

2008-07-30T14:39:00.002-05:00

Normally I'm relatively organized. I can prioritize pretty well, meet deadlines, and prepare for upcoming events. With this busy July, I've fallen behind in a lot of things, but I did end up moving Tuesday to a new neighborhood. I'll be living in East Garfield Park, about four miles directly west of the Loop. It's an area with a lot of potential, though I've heard that there can be some crazy happenings sometimes.

The morning of the move I had everything in boxes and ready to go. Anything I needed to keep in Logan Square was in a closet somewhere (I still need to go back to clean up the place...it's amazing how much dust and dirt accumulates in corners and behind furniture).

The movers arrived a few minutes late but quickly got to work. If I was moving my own stuff (perish the thought...I did bring over some things last week on my own...books, food, CDs, pictures...since I had a limited number of boxes and packing material, and that beat me up pretty well), I would have simply loaded it on the truck as it was. But these guys (five of them) brought along blankets and tape and proceeded to wrap everything up like it was fine crystal.

They used so much tape that you would think they were getting paid by the roll, which, as it turns out, they were. Loading the truck took 90 minutes, with at least half of it spent protecting all of my stuff. Unloading took about the same, and they did just as fine a job in disposing of the tape, too. Giant balls of it wadded up on the floors. Don't try putting that into a plastic trash bag, either.

When they left it was lunch time, so I went off to explore the new neighborhood. Well, explore isn't really the right word, since I knew just where I was going, about two blocks away. Then I set to work in unpacking. I had already installed shelves and stuff, which I highly recommend for any new place you move to. This way, I wouldn't have full boxes sitting around unpacked, and I wouldn't have to wonder how to find something a week from now while it sat in oblivion waiting to be put somewhere.

Nine hours. That's how long it took to get mostly settled in. I still have all the empty boxes to break down and take to the garbage (by the way, city of Chicago, let's get those cans out here so I don't have to just pile it up out in the alley), but I was able to sit and watch the news and check email before catching some sleep.

Next up: cleaning up the LS place. Luckily for me, the renters aren't getting the keys from me until Sunday, so that leaves me with some time to clean it and get the rest of the junk out of it. I had thought they would be moving in Friday, which would have meant postponing some other things, but it worked out nicely.

No word yet on whether I'll be heading back to India for an extended stay. I think they're checking with HR on some questions I had, so this might take some time.

Can it be August on Friday? Really? I've barely played summer league this year, and the season-ending tournament is next Saturday. Our team has been pretty good, only losing a few games, and mostly only because of a lack of subs or to teams just as good as us. I hope we can put together a nice run next weekend. I guess I should find a ride out there some time.

On a completely different topic: did you see who's in first place in the AL East? Should I remind you who told you to bet the over on number of wins for them?

The doctor's hero

2008-07-25T11:24:00.003-05:00

I'm back at home, waiting for the bleeding to stop where my last two wisdom teeth used to be. I can almost feel my tongue and lips, but there's not a lot of pain yet.

Apparently, most people who get teeth pulled like this go under full anesthesia, but I elected to just use a local. That's what I did when the first two came out, so how bad could it be? That was a long time ago, so I didn't remember how things went, just that I went to work that night.

In addition, I biked home, though the staff made me promise I wouldn't go too fast or work too hard. They were all impressed that I'm such a tough guy, I guess, but I really didn't want to be groggy all day or get sick from the anesthetic or have to have someone check in on me all day. No, thanks.

Anyways, once he got started actually pulling the teeth, I don't think he was in there for more than five minutes total. I spent more time waiting to start. The local took a few minutes to set in completely and the only thing I felt was the pressure when he pushed and pulled. About 10 seconds of drilling, and then yank! and it's out. He didn't show them to me afterward, so that was disappointing.

I stopped at Jamba Juice on the way home and found that it's very difficult to bike one-handed. It didn't spill, though, so that will be lunch. I tried to have some of it at the store, but I was still very numb and didn't want to make a spectacle of myself, with Banana Berry junk all over me. When I tried to drink water instead, I nearly drowned myself. Much of my mouth is numb, so swallowing actually takes work. I have to remember how to do it. Weird.

By now I'm getting some feeling back, and I imagine that it will be mostly worn off in another couple of hours. I wonder how much pain will come with it. I have some Tylenol with Codeine in case it's bad, but remember, I'm a tough guy, so I can handle it. I think a nap after lunch will help, too.

Some firsts from the weekend

2008-07-22T20:48:00.002-05:00

SandBlast made for a great experience. Here are some things I'd never done before:

Partied at the Cubby Bear...why would I go there if not for Ultimate?
Keg stand after the first game on Saturday
Flambongo of Pabst after the game with Grass
double-shot of Peppermint Schnapps after another game (I guessed the "right" number)...Hotel got the cherry-flavored vodka, so I might have gotten off easy there
breakfast at Golden Nugget...waaaaay too much food, but waaaay good
hosting eight teammates for the weekend
forgetting to put sunscreen on my feet on Sunday (didn't need it on Saturday, was wearing sand shoes most of the day, and it was raining)...it was so bad I couldn't wear shoes on the walk home from the restaurant that night. They're mostly better now, but still red.
jumping in Lake Michigan (okay, I've done that once before, but I went all the way in a few times, and it felt glorious)
playing on the playground at the park down the street on the way back from breakfast

I'm also surprised at how well my ankle feels. It was getting sore on Sunday, but it might have been more my feet in general. Running on packed sand for two days will do that. I'll try to play in tomorrow night's league game.

It's weird. No real injuries, but a lot of soreness, and not in normal spots. That's expected, since running barefoot on sand is completely different from cleats on grass. But my arches are fine. Instead, I ache a bit in my chest/abdomen, a lot in one (and only one) calf (very tight but nothing serious, and mostly better today), and surprisingly, in my triceps. The backs of both arms hurt way more than they should. That's never happened before, and I wasn't the only one to feel this.

Oh, well, it was so worth it. So much fun, great teammates, how can you ask for more than that?

No time for recovery

2008-07-22T20:07:00.003-05:00

Where has July gone? The week in India was nice...even the extra-long trip home wasn't all that bad, considering I ended up on Chicago time by Saturday morning. I suppose the 13 hours of sleep I got that Friday helped.

Then a short visit from sister Jenn, her friend and my niece Emma. We went to the Sears Tower (first time!) and then Navy Pier, and we got to take four different types of public transportation on that round trip.

That gave me a few days to get ready for SandBlast. On Thursday, most of the team arrived. We met up at a bar in the Loop. I almost never hang out down there late at night, but I did find one that was open late and had food (even if it was just bar food). It was even centrally located between O'Hare and Midway. Of my fourteen teammates, I only knew three, so it was nice to meet everyone that night.

Only seven of them stayed with me the first night, but we added another two later on, so the house was pretty full. Friday they all went out while I got some things done at the new place, and then we met at Beth's cousin's for a barbecue of sorts (Mexican food and beer). Free, too, so it was a big hit.

Next came the SandBlast welcome party. I had to attend for the captains meeting, but the team all came out and we made it a relatively early night (around 12:30). Oh, our team was made up of six Brits, a few Canadians and some Americans. The team name was The Empire Strikes Back. Tat made a nice logo for the team jerseys, and they got here just in time for games.

Saturday morning came early, and with it came the rain. It was coming down pretty hard on the drive to the beach, but at least there was no thunder and lightning. And it wasn't terribly cold, even being soaked before even getting to the field.

About the field. Yeah, it was under water. Not much water, but anywhere up to six inches at various places on the fields. Of course, the sand was nicely compacted, so it wasn't exactly what anyone was expecting. Being in the Spirit Division, I didn't expect nice fluffy sand to play on, but this was rather amusing. It was soft enough to lay out on, and once we got running, we had no troubles.

In fact, the first three games we breezed through, on our way to the # 3 seed in the 16-team bracket play. So what happened in round one? Of course we laid an egg. The 0-3 team we faced played well, and we just couldn't get anything going. So Saturday ended with a 3-1 record and us playing for ninth place on Sunday. The rain let up after a while, and the afternoon turned into an okay day.

How much sand did we bring back to my house? At least a hundred pounds of it. We left most of it on the deck, but it was everywhere. No worries, I'm moving next week, so I can clean it all up after the movers take all my stuff out of here.

We had a heck of a time getting cabs to Logan Square to get over to Wrigleyville for dinner, which was at Goose Island Brewery. This was a last minute thing, so I didn't think we had a prayer of getting 12 people in somewhere at 7:30pm on a Saturday. However, if we could get there by then, they would get us in. Much stress in getting cabs, of course. The company we called said they'd be here at 7pm, but by 7:15, nothing. But they were trying, they said. Why don't you just say that when we call? Next time I'm calling a bunch of them and whoever gets here first wins.

The party rocked, in large part due to The Empire. We closed the Cubby Bear down at 3am, along with a few dozen others from the other teams. I think our 14 greatly outnumbered any other team's total. Only "Bob" didn't make it to the end. "Bob" is really Christine, and I think she's keeping the nickname. Nobody knew her before the weekend (though it turns out I'd played against her a few times), so when asked who was missing, Russ said "Bob". It stuck all weekend.

Gosh, Sunday morning came way too early, too. Up on about four hours of sleep, we all were groggy to start, but we made it to the fields long before our first opponents. Only Tat felt mildly off, but she held her own and we went on to win all three games. So how did we end up with 15th place out of 16 teams with a 6-1 record?

Well, we could have played a team a second time on Sunday, but we didn't want that, so we switched into a lower part of the bracket. It was well worth it, since we got to beat my normal SandBlast team. I even scored the first point by skying over two defenders for the catch. We switched matchups again for our last game, too.

I normally don't stick around for the finals of the Game Division (that's the competitive one), but it was worth it. First, the teams played great. Very close all the way, with a tie at 14, playing one point for the championship. Second, one of the teams had the guys wearing white speedos...yep, that's it. Not a pretty sight on Saturday in the rain, but they're good enough to pull it off. I still don't understand why the ladies on their team got to wear normal jerseys and shorts, but whatever.

At halftime, they made announcements, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that The Empire Strikes Back won third place for Spirit! Sweet! We got the party banner, so I'll need to find a place for it. Not much, but hey, it's something.

So really, we were ninth in the standings, third for spirit, and we won the party (I know, not officially, since we didn't follow Twirly all around after 3am, but really, we rocked the house).

Did the Empire really Strike Back? I think our team was a smashing success. Everyone had a blast, meeting old friends, making new ones and playing Ultimate in the "sand". It's too bad we played so poorly in our last Saturday game. I think we could have ended up in the semis at least. Who knows? Everyone on The Empire was talented, we had no glaring weaknesses. We could have done it. Maybe next year.

So, to Russ, Biscuit, Tat, Dani, Helen, Sam, Chris, Ashley, June, Beth, Jeff, Hotel, Ben and "Bob", I'll host again if you want to do it all again. Next year, maybe we really will re-take the colonies.

Follow up on Rachel

2008-07-09T07:42:00.000-05:00

So I checked out Rachel Steven's wikipedia page, and it turns out, surprisingly enough, that she has two solo albums, and one of them has a nice high rating on allmusic.com. Who knew?

Here's what the reviewer had to say about "Come and Get It", her second release:

"Come and Get It might be the definitive album of 2000s U.K. chart pop"

"it's a collection of 13 thoroughly excellent electronic dance-pop songs"

"a decent indication of the album's riches, but it's just the tip of the icy synth pop glacier"

"is a marvel of pure pop craftsmanship, boasting inventive, fresh, engrossingly detailed productions, gorgeously layered vocals and synths, huge hooks, and infectious melodies"

"comes across as a true labor of love"

"it's deceptively easy to overlook Rachel Stevens' role in all of this, to write her off as little more than a faceless, er, pretty face"

Wow. And here I figured that any fake pop group like the Spice Girls or the Monkees or any boy band didn't really have any talent in them (Justin Timberlake excepted, of course). This album almost sounds like something I might like.

Almost done

2008-07-09T06:55:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow after work I start making my way back to Chicago. This will involve almost 24 hours to get home. First we have to drive to Ahmedabad, and then I fly to Delhi, enjoy a short layover, and then the long flight to Chicago.

I haven't really seen much of Delhi or Baroda yet, and I might not at all, but I have enjoyed it so far. Last night we went out for Korean BBQ, though I don't even know if was supposed to be Korean. Let's just call it BBQ. If you've never gone to a Korean restaurant, you're really missing quite an experience.

There are grills in the tables, and you're given a big plate of raw meat, and you cook your own food. Meanwhile, you're also give dozens of tiny plates containing various side dishes and appetizers. Everyone shares, of course, and it can be quite fun.

The restaurant we went to was slightly similar, in that the glowing charcoal was brought to the table and inserted into place. Then the waiters brought out skewers of food, already cooked, so the BBQ is really just to keep it warm. Since there are so many vegetarians here in India (maybe half the population), skewers and plates are different colors - green for vegetarian food, brown for non-veggie.

The BBQ food is called "starter" or appetizer, and then you can go to the buffet for the rest of the meal. The buffet is mostly Indian dishes, with plenty of dishes to offer (and of course I don't remember what any of it was or what it was called). Dessert, too.

Gujarat is a dry state, so everyone else (Kerstin, Sumeet, Gourav, Simran and Riddha) had fruity non-alcoholic beverages. I stuck with water. By the way, how many women and men did we have at our table? If you guessed three each, you'd be right, but who's male and who's female? I can't tell just by looking at the names.

It gets dark earlier here than I expected, but after thinking about it, of course it makes sense. There's no daylight savings time here, so that takes away an hour right there. Because we're much farther south than back home, the tilt of the earth does less to change sunrise and sunset every day. So, it's pretty much dusk at 7pm, about two hours earlier than in Chicago for early July. Kerstin is accustomed to a 10:30pm sunset this time of year.

I noticed this on Monday, as we were in the office late, and I had to use the restroom. Uh, why is there a giant window in the restroom. We're pretty much on the ground floor, and there's a building going up across the way. Maybe that's normal here?

It finally rained last night, but only after I got back to the hotel. It might have rained during the day yesterday, too. It is wet season here, but I haven't felt it yet, though the humidity did go up quite a bit today. Gosh, who doesn't love hot, humid weather? It's comforting knowing that it's about the same back home and I'm not missing out on 70s during the day.

Whether at the hotel or at a restaurant or even in the office, there are always more people than seems necessary to serve customers. I think it has something to do with low wages and such. All day at work, guys are sweeping and mopping the floors, and there's even one man who fills and refills water bottles for everyone. I still think it's a bit much, but who am I to argue? Actually, today I filled my own, since I was here before him. I almost felt bad for taking away his job for the morning.

The other night I had HBO on. It shows commercials and the movies are edited for family viewing, but it's still HBO. I saw part of episode of Entourage, which I had never watched before. Later, a horrible, horrible movie (really, check out its IMDB rating) called Seeing Double (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0362107/) was on. I only caught the last few minutes, but everybody's favorite early '00s British teen pop stars, S Club 7 (http://www.sclub-usa.com/), starred in it. Seriously, there used to be a syndicated show, I think "S Club 7 in Miami", aired on Saturday mornings, and it was mildly entertaining in a "what the hell am I watching and why can't I change the channel" way. That Rachel Stevens (http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42315000/jpg/_42315612_gall_rachelpa.jpg) sure is hot.

On another station, I watched the entirety of Domino (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421054/), with Keira Knightley. Not terribly good, but Keira's easy on the eyes, too, and there wasn't much else to do.

I actually got some good sleep last night and had to be awakened by my alarm. (Usually, I just sleep until I wake up and don't need an alarm.) Turns out, I can have my phone turned off, and the alarm will still go off. Did you know this was possible? I was clueless, but I sure wish I'd been told about that wonderful feature two days ago. I'm still not caught up yet (but I don't think you can ever really catch up), and with the overnight flight and my near total inability to sleep on planes (though right now the two seats to my right are open on the way home), I figure it will be another few days before I'm truly back to normal.

Sorry I don't have pictures of anything here. I never remember to take out my camera, and I haven't really walked anywhere, and I don't like trying to take photos in a moving vehicle (especially the way people drive here)...maybe a movie. Or maybe next time.

Looking forward to a loopy Tuesday

2008-07-07T19:44:00.002-05:00

Someone I talked to before I left for India mentioned something about the malaria pills and nightmares. I don't remember who I was talking to, but boy were they right. I wouldn't say nightmares, really, not in the sense that my dreams have been frightening or eerie. No, it's more that they're just very vivid and odd. Normally I remember much of what I dream, but I haven't been able to recall much of them this week.

Now, I don't know that the Malarone is actually the cause of this. It could be the increase in curry consumption, or the weird smell of the bedding (not a bad smell, just unexpected and I can't get away from it without sleeping on the floor without a pillow or blanket) or just about anything.

But I'll bet it's the malaria medication. In addition to the weird dreams, I've had a slight headache just about every night this week. It's not that I don't sleep well, either, because once I'm down, I'm mostly out for a while. Could be that the Tylenol PM helps get me into a nice state of unconsciousness, but tonight nothing worked.

I got to sleep for a while, and then my phone rang. It was on vibrate, but I have to keep it near the bed, since I use it for an alarm, since there's no clock in the hotel room. Odd that a nice hotel like this doesn't have a clock in it, but the electricity is linked to a card-key slot, so when I leave the room with the key, the power goes out and everything shuts off. However, this was true in Delhi, too, and the Radisson had a clock that didn't plug in.

So, the phone rings at 1:30am. I've been out for a couple of hours, and I have to answer it. You see, I don't have voicemail here, so the phone could just ring until the caller gives up, and then there's about a 93.7% chance they'd call right back. Besides, it was my lawyer, calling about the status of the new condo.

Wouldn't you know it? About a minute after hanging up, I get another call. Now, I can't really be mad at anyone for calling. My lawyer didn't know it's the middle of the night here. Neither did the second caller, who was from some recruiting company in Chicago. I get these types of calls from time to time...it's usually a Nielsen competitor trying to figure out who's working for us. I danced around her questions and ended up giving her a fake email address where she can contact me.

By now, I'm mostly awake again, so I try to read for a bit. Nope, not getting tired. Take a PM tablet, thinking that I can still get four more hours in before I have to get ready for work. Nothing. Is there anything worse than trying to sleep but not being able to? I'm sure there a billion things worse, but when you're just lying there waiting for Mr Sandman to come and take you to Sleepsville, and he's not in the neighborhood, it just gets worse.

I tried all of my tricks (the equivalent of counting sheep), but to no avail. At 5am, three hours from alarm time, I finally decide to just get up. Sure, maybe I could still have gotten some rest, but what's the use now? Why would I suddenly go from wide awake to out cold after nothing worked for the last four hours?

Instead I'll wait to get extra tired in the office tomorrow, probably right after lunch. I think the group will probably go out to dinner tonight, since my host manager is leaving town tomorrow, so it will be a long day if I find myself lacking for things to do even for a few minutes.

Well, at least tomorrow night I can catch up a bit. I think I'll take my malarone with breakfast instead of dinner, so maybe some of its stronger effects will have worn off a bit. I'm still assuming that this is the cause, because if it's something else, it might be out of my control, and I don't want to have to take sleeping pills to get more than three hours of sleep regularly. One night is easy to do, but string a few together...no thanks.

Anyways, I am looking forward to meeting with the team more tomorrow, even if I'm sure I won't be able to remember names.

Alright, I'm going to try again. If I reset the alarm for 8:30 I can still get two hours in and be halfway to a normal amount. As long as Freddy Krueger isn't waiting for me.

Notes from the trip so far

2008-07-05T22:51:00.003-05:00

Every time I travel I encounter something new...and without even doing any sightseeing. I'm talking about airports and planes and the actual traveling part of a trip.

I remembered to not bring water through security at O'Hare this time. I still don't understand this rule.
I had packed a toothbrush and (a small enough) toothpaste in my carry-on, since 15 hours can make for some foulness. The lady actually rifled through my bag, found the paste and said that next time I had to keep it in a plastic bag. Oh. My. God.
We took off late, after spending 20 minutes on the runway waiting for planes to land on a perpendicular runway. Uh, shouldn't that have been worked out when they planned the construction of the airport? No wonder why O'Hare is the airport with the most delays.
I had figured that we would head east from Chicago and just keep going that way. Nope. North through Canada, east through Greenland over Scandanavia and then south through Russia.
It was light outside for most of the flight. The sun went down for an hour or two, but then all the shades had to be down since the sun was coming up. We landed in Delhi just after sunset.
Every seat had its own TV screen, with choices of TV shows, music movies, even games like blackjack and poker. The best option? The flight path.
The shoes I wore here are a little bit big...they fit perfectly if I wear two pairs of socks, not that I do that to get them to fit. For much of the flight, the shoes actually got tight.
Someone had Addona breath (if you work with me, you know what that is) and that didn't help me sleep at all.
At the Delhi airport on the way to Baroda: carry-ons get an address tag stamped with the approval of whoever checked it at security. I don't think that would work in the US.
I was able to bring water through security and on to the plane. What a concept! The world didn't end, no one tried to blow us up. Imagine that! Water!
I did have to buy a bottle at the airport...it cost less that $1 for a liter. Nice.
On the two-hour flight to Baroda, they served us dinner. With metal cutlery. Again, the world did not end.

I'm not too cynical, am I? Hey, the line at customs did take a while, so at least that was normal. Some other notes:

We left Chicago out of gate K19. This got Steely Dan stuck in my head until I walked by a store that had "Waterloo" playing. Abba is infinitely worse on an infinite loop than Steely Dan.
I'm not a big fan of curry, but I might have to just suck it up for the next few days.
I still have 1100 rupees in my wallet...that's about $25.
At the bar at the Radisson Friday night, the background music was Muzak, and I got to hear Eddy Grant's "Electric Avenue". Awesome.
The little soaps and shampoos they have here are quite nice...I've only put a couple in my bag, though I did leave the comb where it was.

Okay, it's probably time to go find Kerstin. Maybe later I'll watch some cricket.

The other side of the world

2008-07-05T22:12:00.002-05:00

Greetings from India! I woke up this morning in Baroda, in the Gujarat state in northwest India. I'd gotten here last night, flying from Delhi, having stayed one night there after the long flight from Chicago.

It was quite early when I got up today, and it was surprising to see that baseball games back home were still being played. Wait, it's morning, what's happening? Oh, right, it's still yesterday in the States. It didn't take long to get on local time, seeing as how I slept for what I'll guess to be about 5-6 hours on the way here. I imagine that the Tylenol PM helped quite a lot, since I basically had to sleep sitting up in economy class of a completely full plane.

That still left about nine or ten hours to kill during the flight, and that doesn't even count the time spent getting to O'Hare and going through security and such. All told, it was 20 hours from the time I left home until I got checked in at the hotel in Delhi. Thankfully, work had booked me at the Radisson, which had a driver waiting for me after I made it through a long wait in the line at customs.

I'm not accustomed at all to the level of personal service here. Maybe it's just the hotels I'm staying in, but it is disconcerting. The driver actually wheeled my bag out to the car, then someone opened the hotel door for me and wheeled my bag to my room. I didn't actually get a key to the room until the door was opened for me. This happened both in Delhi and here in Baroda.

On one hand it's nice, but on the other, it makes me uncomfortable. Really, I know how to find my room and can carry my bag. I can't turn down the service, though, can I? Everyone is exceedingly polite and seem genuinely happy to help. Quite unlike the majority of places back home. It might help if I knew more about the customs here. Am I supposed to tip? Everyone? If it's expected and I don't, then I'm an awful guest. If it's not expected and I do, then I might offend. I'll definitely ask about this at the office on Monday.

Speaking of, we have a driver to get us there and back each day. I say "we" since a colleague from Hamburg is in the hotel this week, too. I didn't actually meet Kerstin while I was in Frankfurt, but she did introduce herself when she came to Chicago a few months ago. Odd that we will work together here but not in Germany. Later today I'll try to find her and have a chat.

I haven't seen much of either Delhi or Baroda yet, and I don't know how much I will. Yesterday I just didn't have much time to do anything, since by the time I had breakfasted I only had about three hours before I would have had to get to the airport. Having done no research on where I might like to go or what I might like to see, I thought it best to just hang out at the hotel. After all, they could get me back to the airport with no trouble. Besides, Delhi was hot (96 degrees when we landed in the evening!), and I think very crowded, so maybe next time.

I don't know that there's much to see in Baroda, but at least here I'll have Kerstin or Prashant to ask. The drive from the airport to the hotel here gave me a glimpse of the city, which looks interesting, with masses of people and shops lining the streets. The roads are pure mayhem, with lanes marked but only as a suggestion, I think.

Cars share the roads with motorcycles (thousands of them!), bicycles, people and cows. That's right, cows. Yep, they just walk across or down the street, or sometimes just lay there, and everyone makes their way around. Everyone somehow gets where they're going, sharing the road without running people over. I think I would do fine driving or even cycling here, since as you know, I am such a terrific driver, but most Americans would simply freak out.

There is a constant din of honking horns, which it seems is done not to say "get out of my way, you jackass", but more for "I'm here on your left (or behind you or whatever) so don't move this way". It seems to be helpful for everyone so that you don't have to look in all your mirrors at all times. Instead, you can look mostly straight ahead and to the sides and move with the flow. Truly, it's fascinating.

Both hotels serve a buffet-style breakfast, complete with pastries and fruit and plenty of western options. But I'll admit that most of what's offered, while very tasty and flavorful, I don't have a clue what it is. You can tell me what the name of the dish is, and of course that doesn't help either. Chickpeas and lentils. Isn't that what's in all Indian food? I kid, of course, really the food is great, but I'll have to find out more about it.

Not exactly as planned

2008-06-24T18:42:00.003-05:00

This weekend was supposed to be when I moved, but the finance company has this funny idea that I need to have a renter for my current condo before they give me a loan. I can't imagine why. There have been a few people who've come to look at it, but no one has wanted to actually sign anything, so we wait.

It's not all bad, really, since I'm not exactly in a hurry to move. It's not like I have to or anything. This is more of an investment thing than any urge to move out of here. So it looks like we'll now shoot for an August 1 lease start, assuming that the sellers are okay with a delay into July.

The trip to India is still on, at least. Over the last couple of weeks I've spent a bunch of time and the company's money (well, mine for now, but I'll get reimbursed soon enough) getting my visa, a few immunizations and some meds. One more shot to go, and then I'll be immune, or mostly immune, to hepatitis A/B, typhoid, measles, mumps, rubella, polio, diphtheria and tetanus. Many of these I've received long ago, but the boosters are recommended. I was born too long ago to have been given the hepatitis shots...what did the nurse say, early 80s they became standard? Something like that. Maybe next year I'll go to Africa so I can get a yellow fever inoculation.

One thing I don't have yet is a place to stay in Delhi the first night I'm there. Apparently the accommodations will be taken care of by someone on the Baroda team, but it would be nice to know I wouldn't have to find something when I get there.

We'll have to see, too, about the EU trip in August. Much depends on my ankle and whether Julia will have the cash to get to Copa. There are alternatives, of course, but for now things are a little less determined than they were a few weeks ago.

Why I don't and can't gamble

2008-06-13T12:23:00.002-05:00

Visiting Las Vegas is a strange experience for me. For a full year, I lived in this town, so I know all about how and why it was built (with the losers' money and to attract more of it). I've seen all the different types of gamblers, been there, done that.

As many of you already know, I quit gambling over eleven years ago. There were many reasons for going cold turkey, and I haven't had any real temptation to start back up again since my last wager on the Green Bay-New England Super Bowl in 1997. The only reason I even made that bet was to hedge against the Patriots 15-1 shot I made before the playoffs had started that year. Fittingly, the bet I made on the game ended in a push.

You might say that living in Chicago makes it easy to not go to casinos, especially since I don't have a car now. But I lived two miles from the Elgin boat for four years, and that was never a problem. Besides, I visit St Louis a couple times a year, and that city is becoming Vegas of the midwest.

No, there are plenty of other good reasons to keep me away from the tables. First, I'm just not very good at gambling. Sure, I know all the rules and which are the best and worst bets to make. I can play basic strategy blackjack with the best of them (quick: you have A-7, dealer shows a 10...what do you do?), and I even can keep a very rudimentary count of the deck/shoe if I concentrate hard enough. If I was to play, I could maximize my chances quite well.

When I say I'm bad at gambling, I'm talking more about when to stop. Back in the dark days, I could lose a couple hundred bucks and talk myself into pulling another c-note out of my wallet. Oh, they're all gone? No problem, there's an ATM around the corner! It's funny that when I was winning (and I did have my share of good days), I never broke the bank. It wasn't because I didn't put more on the line. Instead, I would get up a certain amount and decide that was enough. If I had known how to set a loss limit and stick to it, I might have been able to keep playing occasionally.

But that assumes that it was a fun thing to do. If you're out in Vegas or at a casino with your buddies, and you're all at the same table having a great time, drinking and joking around or whatever, then sure, I could understand. After all, what's the difference between dropping $100 at a casino with your friends and going out for a nice dinner and drinks...or to a ballgame...or anywhere else and spending about the same amount?

Too often, though, you might start at a table with friends, but then the group splits up. Soon, you're there by yourself or with one other guy from the group, and you're more intent on playing the game than having fun. How much are you up? Gosh, Jim is kicking ass, I wish I had his luck. That dummy on third base just doesn't know how to play. He cost us all a win on that last hand. And so on.

Years ago I read an op-ed article in the STL paper about how casinos were good for the community in that there was always a wide variety of people there. Whites and blacks interacting together! Hooray, race relations are fixed thanks to casinos! Uh, not so fast. Have you ever stood back and watched people at a blackjack or craps table? How about the slots? Some people actually try to talk to their neighbors, but it's mostly just about the game, how the dealers are killing them, how bad their luck is. There's no *real* friendships being formed here, and unless your tablemates are especially smart, dumb, hot, stinky or otherwise, you'll never remember them.

Can't you have fun just playing the game? Maybe, but I've all the stereotypes and don't want to be one. I'm sure people gamble for any number of reasons, but I just can't find one that makes enough sense. You can't win, so don't even try that excuse. Sure, you might win today, but you'll give it back tomorrow, or next week or next year. And then you'll give back some more.

Others gamble for the excitement and thrill. Understandable, sure, and if you can afford to lose, then go right ahead. I won't pass judgment or tell anyone not to play if that's what they choose. As long as you're not risking the rent or food money or your kids' college fund, then go have fun!

How about this? When you're at a table, you can feel like a big shot. Dealers pay some attention to you (especially if you tip...tippers are called "Georges"...you want to be, you should be a George when you play), the pit boss might give you a comp, the waitresses are hot (sometimes) and flirty, and it's easy to make "friends" by talking up the game, even more so when you're winning.

But in being the big shot, most people don't realize how obnoxious they are. Loud, smoky, demanding, insulting, telling bad jokes, it never ends. Go ahead, flirt back with the waitress, sure she'll give you her number. Of course you're the best looking, greatest guy she's ever met. And no, it's not because you have a bunch of black chips in front of you and you give her $5 every time she walks by.

I'm sure there are dozens of other reasons to play, and that people talk themselves into it without a second thought, just like it's easy for the alcoholic to say "it's only one drink." But for some reason I just can't do it.

Another reason I'm bad at playing is knowing when to start. That seems like a really dumb notion, but perhaps I'm just too analytical. Say the table is hot. Isn't it ready for some bad luck? Gosh, I don't want to ruin it for the other players. Of course, I know that there is no such thing as luck, and that certainly it doesn't depend on when I start or stop. By sitting down at a table that had an open spot, I don't change the luck. But, still, it's something that comes to mind.

I stood and watched a dice game last night. It was a nice long roll that had been going for what looked like a while before I strolled up. Most of the players had a long row of green and black chips in front of them, and there was much in action on the table. How easy would it have been to plunk down $100 and go $64 across? Or $10 on the line with full odds? Had I done that when I got to the table, I would have walked away with a few hundred dollars more than I'd started with (remember, I always knew how to quit when ahead). Of course, I can look back in hindsight and know this. It's just as likely that the second I made the wager, the dice would have come up one of the many combinations of seven, and it all would have been gone.

How about going up to an empty table? Nope, I can't do that either. See, I've been a dealer, so I know how nice it is to be standing there with nothing to do, no customers to kiss up to, no mundane payoffs to make to idiot players who most likely won't be tipping anyways, what with their $5 bet on the field and their taking insurance when I have an ace showing. So I can't bring myself to make them deal when they're just standing there so peacefully.

A final reason I shouldn't play is that I just tip too much. If I start with $100 and win $100 along the way I probably wind up giving $30 to the dealers. Sure, tipping (toking, really) is nice, and the dealers love it, but that's a bit extreme. I don't think there are any real guidelines, but if I got $5 for every $100 won by the players, I'd have made quite a bit of money.

Anyways, I think this town has seen its best days. The newer hotels are nice and glamorous, but that just makes the older ones seem more run down. The Tropicana is a dump, and Excalibur (my old stomping grounds) is not much better. Even MGM, the gold standard when I moved here, had some $5 tables running this morning.

It has been nice running into a few old friends, though. A couple of them are *still* at Excalibur, like they have been since the mid '80s. Yikes. They're in suits now, so they don't have to worry about the toke rate, which apparently is worse now than when I left in '97. And it wasn't all that good then ($80 a day, I think, in addition to the minimum wage I made...you figure out how much I made for the year).

One story I heard is that the new Wynn casino is really raking it in, with dealers making upwards of $100K per year. Nice! But the floor bosses wanted a piece of the tips, so when they got it, the dealers got upset. It's not even a full share, so I don't understand the problem. After all, if the boss gets part of the tips, that's a license to hustle and steal from the players all day long. Gosh, if I could have gotten away with that back in the day (and kept my own instead of sharing on a daily basis) I might not have left.

So, in the end, it turns out that I left Las Vegas at just the right time. Best. Decision. Ever. It's nice to visit, if only to remind me how nice I have it in Chicago.

It happened again

2008-06-10T19:08:00.002-05:00

Every summer, the Chicago league starts up in early June, running through early August. Two games per week, one each on Monday and Wednesday. Assuming weather permits, of course. The first week is usually for drills and getting to know your team, and then the "real" play starts. Last Wednesday we had our first game. Well, actually, it didn't count, and we only played to three after running a box drill and a basic cutting drill.

As is normally the case, we have a number of college kids on the roster, and they're filled with endless energy. A group of them even biked down to the game, about a 10-mile ride for them. I'll have to join them at some point later in the season.

Anyways, someone once said that your team is never as good as they look when they're winning and never as bad as they look when they're losing. I should try to remember this for summer league, since every year I tend to think, "This year we have a good chance to win the league." Why do I fall into this trap? The only time I've won a season-ending tournament was when French Lick swept the B pool a few years ago. And B pool isn't something you're supposed to brag about, right?

Well, last night reminded me why I should wait to pass judgment. We actually do have some good talent on our team, and we were missing some good players, but we got stomped, 15-7, by a team that had to play savage. Granted, six of the seven players that showed for them are their six best, but we didn't look good.

I did have a sweet layout score on a throw I wasn't expecting, so there's that. My ankle even felt great after the running on that point, though it caught up to me later on. Today it's much better, after applying some Arnica (I hadn't done so in a while, maybe I should get back to using it) and ice. It's rather frustrating to get so sore after one game, but what's the alternative? Besides not playing, of course. I know that's what I should be doing, but what fun would summer be without Mon-Wed games?

It was almost eerie at the game last night. All weekend and all day Monday we had storm fronts passing through, with heavy rain and gale-force winds. Late afternoon yesterday another front dropped a bunch of rain and cleared out in plenty of time for the games. We had clearing skies and absolutely no wind at all. I can't remember the last time I threw a disc outdoors with so little breeze. Maybe that's why we played so badly.

Other news: I don't have a renter yet, so we have this week to get one, or the closing will have to be postponed past next Monday. I really hope the guy from Kansas and his signif. other sign something this weekend when they come for a second viewing. They were supposed to come this past weekend, but plans changed. Someone else did look at it and liked it, but they work on the South Side, so it would be kind of a hassle to get there and back from Logan Square. I'll keep my fingers crossed for something good to happen in the next few days.

Piling on

2008-05-28T20:33:00.003-05:00

Today I drove out to see the dentist. Nevermind that I have a cleaning appointment in three weeks. Turns out I need to get my last two wisdom teeth extracted. Fun! Good luck trying to squeeze it in, though.

My dentist wants me to have the surgery done before India, but the surgeon isn't available for the initial consultation until June 17. If we could do the procedure that Friday, it would work out, assuming I don't get laid up for days feeling the after effects. So instead I made the appointment for late July.

Only after I had rented a car for a few hours did I think that it would have been wiser to take a train out to the suburbs. More and more often, my first thoughts about getting somewhere involve trains, buses or bikes instead of cars, cars and cars. Here's how my thinking went: normally I work at home on Wednesdays, so renting a car would be easiest. Unfortunately, the ZipCar location nearest my house didn't have anything available today.

Oh, but one near the office does, let's do that...then I can bike to work, drive out to the dentist and bike home. Everyone wins. Uh, sure, unless you forgot about the possibility of using Metra to get close to doc's office and biking there. Turns out, there's a station not two miles from them, and bikes are allowed on the trains both ways. Next time, for sure.

The last time I had driven anywhere was...gosh, I can't remember. January? I don't think I've had to drive since I injured my ankle. It was kind of fun, but also it reminded me of all the reasons why I'm better off not getting behind the wheel.

The Mazda 3 was a peppy little machine. It has some kind of hybrid transmission, so you can drive it as an automatic, with an option to manually switch gears somehow. I really didn't look that much into it. Anyway, it could really burn when I pushed it, which I'm inclined to do.

Driving through the Loop, even with little pedestrian traffic and only for a few blocks - not fun. A lot of waiting to turn right while the slowest walkers in the world amble across the street at a leisurely pace. It's funny that when I'm walking the cars always seem so pushy and in such a hurry. Traffic was mostly fine, but I missed my exit on the way there, so I was about 20 minutes late. Whoops.

Coming back to the office was amusing, as one guy was just so impatient (going 65mph, mind you) he had to pass on the shoulder. Luckily for him he didn't wait another second or two to do that, since there was a stalled car a few hundred yards down the road on that same shoulder. A very small part of me, for just a second, wished he'd not been so fortunate. Maybe he at least had his heart skip a beat or two, and maybe he'll think twice about such a dangerous move the next time.

The thing is, I see a lot of myself in all those terrible drivers. Well, actually, I'm a very good driver, an excellent judge of relative speed, able to weave skillfully through moderate traffic without putting anyone in danger or making people slam on their brakes. I'm sure there are others out there as good as me, but not many. It's like I'm in the majors, and everyone else is in A-ball. And I just don't trust others to actually know what they're doing and not crash into me.

Anyways, at least for short periods, when I'm only driving for the day or something, I'm perfectly calm on the road, in no real hurry. But if I had to do it every day, especially in anything but super-light traffic, I'm sure I'd go right back to being stressed and angry and hurried. And angry. Grrrr.

It will only be another three weeks until I get to (have to) drive again, to go back for a cleaning and to go around and pick up some junk and move it to the new house. After that, though, maybe it will be best to take another four month break. There's really no downside.

Oh, one thing I do miss, kind of: singing in the car. Don't even ask me to do it when there are others around...it won't happen.

The schedule

2008-05-27T18:09:00.003-05:00

Today I booked flights to Baroda. That's in India. Work has asked me to do some training there at our new modeling hub, a stint that would last three or four months. Since India is a little bit different from western Europe, we decided that I should go for a short visit to get a feel for the city before I decided if a longer stay was something I want to do.

Baroda is a smallish (by Indian standards) city in the northwest part of the subcontinent, so as you might imagine, there's not a direct way to get there. Instead, I'll be flying to Delhi for 15 hours, then staying a night there and seeing some sights the next day before traveling to Baroda that evening.

The options for returning for some reason didn't include the same route in reverse. By searching for the flights separately, I found them, but there was only a 110 minute layover in Delhi before the long leg home, so instead I'll be leaving from Ahmedabad and getting an extra 45 minutes or so at the Delhi airport.

The way we've planned it allows for me to work in the Baroda office four days, with my first flight Thursday night not leaving until about 8pm. Other options included leaving a bit earlier and going through London, but there was only a 70 minute layover there. What do you think the chances are of not getting stuck at Heathrow for an extra day?

What will I be looking for during my stay? Could I really choose to live half a world away from Chicago for three or more months? I'm most concerned about the safety of the food and water and, of course, mosquitoes and malaria. I do wonder about the heat there, too, as it will probably be in the 100s for the week I'm there in July, but even in the "cold" season, the high temps are in the 80s. Yesterday, here in Chicago, we reached 82, and I was uncomfortable sitting inside, waiting for it to cool down (today it didn't even get to 50 degrees, but I digress). How would I fare in a climate where it might never seem to cool down enough?

Anyways, so that's why I'm going. If I can make it through a week without catching malaria or food poisoning or heat stroke, I would strongly consider a longer stay. A little extra incentive from work would help, too, although I was told that I would have a driver to cart me around as needed. Nice, right? But I might feel weird "having a driver." We'll see.

The fun parts about this trip will be that five days before leaving I'll be moving into the new condo, and the day after I return my sister and her family will be visiting. Then the following weekend is SandBlast, for which I'll be hosting some Brits for an international entry to the annual beach tournament. We still need a team name and (we hope) a sponsor to get us t-shirts, but otherwise, we should be ready to have a, uh, blast and win the spirit division!

Closing date for the new house is June 16, with moving set for the 28th. In the 12 days in between I hope to move some stuff in - some of the more fragile things - TVs, pictures, anything that might need to be wrapped in padding by the movers (yes, I'm hiring movers...there's not a chance I want to ask friends to help lug a bunch of my junk down and back up three flights of stairs...trust me, it's the best money you'll ever spend). I'd also like to get the bedrooms and kitchen painted something other than white, closet shelves installed, and blinds put in all the windows. I think a week and a half should be enough to get all that done, but it sure will keep me busy.

Just before closing, I'll be in Vegas for a couple days visiting old friends. I reluctantly signed up to facebook, and really only did it so I could keep in touch with everyone I met in Europe last year. It turns out that some old co-workers are on facebook, so I able to catch up with them and make plans for a visit. Good times! (great oldies)

All this means that I have two weeks before things really start to get hectic, and that will last at least through August, since I have plans to go back to EU that month. I spoke with Julia from Frankfurt yesterday for about an hour and a half. We met last year on the way to Nottingham to play in Copa Cabana, and we'll be playing there together again. I asked her what she was doing after the tournament, and we ended up deciding to go to Prague for a night and then taking a train back to Germany, possibly through Dresden to see Julia's hometown before getting Frankfurt. By then, April and Wayne will be parents, so it will be fun to see them and the baby.

So, for the trip in August: fly to London Tuesday-Wednesday, train to Nottingham Friday, play Ultimate for three days and camp out (someone please bring me a sleeping bag this time!), then to Prague, Dresden and Frankfurt, probably for a day or so each, and then fly to London and then back home on the second Friday. I'm really looking forward to it.

After all that, I imagine that a long stay in India would begin some time in September, so I might only get a couple of weeks to prep for that. Wow.

Morning snack break

2008-05-22T10:59:00.002-05:00

Almost every day I take a quick break in the morning to snack on some fresh fruit. Through the winter this means a lot of apples and pears. Now that summer is supposedly almost here, the selection is much greater - strawberries, blueberries, grapes (red are better, but green are fine, too), oranges, and today's choice - cherries. Mmmm.

These are perfect, too. Just about every one of them has been just ripe enough, not too soft, no infestations or anything.

For some reason I expect the pits to be red, but no, they're a light brown color instead. I usually spit out the pit after eating the flesh, but the couple times I didn't do that, my first thought before reaching for the next cherry was whether I swallowed the last seed. Maybe I should just stick to routine.

Busy, Busy

2008-05-19T18:44:00.002-05:00

There's nothing like planning to move to add to an already long to-do list. Now that we have a contract, it has to go through attorney review, while I line up financing and fill out a bunch of paperwork. It's interesting that after all these years, my dad's credit info still sometimes shows up on my credit report. At least he pays his mortgage on time every month, so it doesn't hurt anything.

This week I have to get some estimates for work that might need to be done on the roof. Ugh. Not good timing. Last year I had some leaks, causing water stains on the ceiling, though it never got worse than that. Last Sunday during the big rainstorm, I got another nice stain, so that will need to be fixed so it doesn't get worse. I think the problem is that there's no flashing in the walls at the front of the building, where the leaks have occurred. So a small crack in the mortar allows water to get in there when the wind blows just right.

Until last Thursday I would have been worried about whether the association would "be willing" to pay for it, even though it's clearly an association issue. The meeting we had went relatively well, and our insurance premium even fell a bit, so we might have a bit of extra $$ to cover this. I'll hope that we can get it done with minimal problem and expense.

Meanwhile, summer league signups are in full swing, so soon I'll have to help with assigning players to teams. Others do more work than I do in this, but it's always fun to try to balance rosters and finalize everything in a matter of a few days. Usually we end up staying up late one night to finish it, but supposedly someone has written a program to do that for us this year. I remain skeptical.

Spring league is now done, with the tournament having been held in Naperville on Saturday. How about a 25mph wind all day? It stayed dry, and of course it was much fun, but we lost our second game of the day. That's probably for the best, since we were down to two women after Lisa got injured. I was hobbling noticeably during game two, and I don't think it would have been wise to play more.

I really liked our team this spring, they were a lot of fun. We had some new kids that showed great improvement and will be signing up for summer, too. That's always good to see. Now I have more than two weeks to not play, in hopes that my ankle improves dramatically. It's not that I can't play on it, but I do miss being able to run around like I used to. Most of the time for the last year or so I've been relied upon as a handler, though I do enjoy making cuts and running harder than I've been able to lately.

Worst case is that it continues to bother me through summer and fall, and I can rest it all winter. Kind of like my hip flexor injury two years ago. It got sore after playing for a while and brought on a limp during the week, but by the next game I could try again. I haven't had trouble with that in well over a year now.

It wasn't all that long ago that I would be able to recover from injuries much more quickly. Ah, the days of my youth. They're long gone, I think.

My boss comes back to work tomorrow, and I might be able to talk to him about some work-related travel that needs to be done. Details to come, maybe...

The contract

2008-05-12T21:30:00.003-05:00

So it seems that I'm buying a new condo, since I agreed to the seller's last offer tonight. I'll sign it tomorrow and make it official, and then I'll have a ton of things to do in the five weeks until closing and the two weeks after that before I move.

The first to-do item? Make a to-do list! I have an idea of what needs to be done, but I'd like to get it a bit more organized so I can know when I need to do everything.

Other news: another win and a loss on Saturday. I had to sit out the last few points of game two (the loss...we were winning 11-10 but fell 13-11) because my ankle acted up. That night my right foot started to hurt, too, though I don't remember doing anything to it. Plus, my thumb was sore, but there's no reason it should have been. Both are mostly better today, adding to the mystery.

This weekend is the spring league tournament. Walk of Shame is in 7th (of 20), but I don't think we've beaten anyone ahead of us. Most all of our games have been close, and they've all been fun, so maybe we'll come through and string together a few wins out in Naperville.

We'll have to do it without Monica, who (maybe) tore her Achilles tendon late in the second game. Ouch.

Thursday is our next association meeting, so I can't wait to have the other two owners tell me how we can't spend any money for preventive maintenance or building up the reserves. I've done some work in getting estimates for the jobs that need to be done, so let's hope I make a good case, even if I shouldn't have to.

I got some bacon in my last meat-share pickup, so I thawed it this weekend. It's really good, of course, and also way too much for me. Tonight I tried to give myself a heart attack by making a sandwich of bacon, cheese and mayonnaise. Yummy. And I lived to tell about it (so far).

Keeping busy with random thoughts

2008-05-05T18:07:00.003-05:00

So today I put an offer down on a new house. Crazy. My current place will be listed for rent soon, so I guess I'd better hope that someone likes it enough at the price it's listed. Suddenly the to-do list is about six times as long as it was a week ago. I'll have to figure out how to finance the purchase and get moved and everything livable. And all before early July, when I'll start to have visitors on weekends.

A win and a loss on Saturday at spring league. There's only one week of games left, followed by the tournament on the 17th. Can that be? We haven't had weather warm enough to not wear leggings. Well, I could have done without, but it still hasn't been all that warm on the weekends.

Summer league prep is in full swing, even though we should already have opened registration. Chalk it up to being on Ultimate time. I'm on the committee, charged with recruiting captains. I try to get enough people to lead teams so that I don't have to do it. Unfortunately, response is down this year, with some having moved or planning to play in the competitive league or injured. Ugh.

I'm writing this on my mac, which as you know I'm a big fan of. The one thing I don't like about it is Excel. I'm so accustomed to the Windows version, and it's just not the same. The worst part? Formatting dates. I like mm/dd/yy, not dd-mon. It really bothers me that the latter is the standard unless I specify, and it's not easy enough in mac-land to change it, like in Windows.

Colleen will be moving in for a couple of months, starting Memorial Day. She has a cat. Hmmm.

I listen to my iPod alphabetically. Dumb, maybe, but if I didn't do that, I'd just cycle through the same 20 albums all the time. Going alpha means I get to hear everything and remember that it's good and that I should play it more often. I'd try random, but I always end up skipping through to something "better".

I'm almost caught up with updating the characteristics of the new music I got. It's all in iTunes, so now I have to add it to my iPod. Should I just merge it with the rest or test out all the new stuff at once? These are the tough decisions I have to make.

Is anyone else geeked to see Baby Mama? I'm totally in love with Tina Fey, and Amy Poehler is pretty hilarious, too. I'm not convinced that the movie will be any good, but I did really like Mean Girls, and anything with Ms Fey can't be too terrible. I do have a question, though: how do movies get ratings on Netflix and IMDB before they come out?

Where can I get boxes for moving? Normally I'd go to the supermarket and load up, but that's much easier when one has a car. Maybe Colleen will let me borrow hers.

I saw this the other day: as he was leaving the restroom, a guy pulled out an extra paper towel and used it to open the door on the way out. Really? I think washing your hands is enough, kind of like the five-second rule when food hits the floor. I did used to know a girl who refused to put her bag or purse on the seat or floor of the bus or train. Yeah, she was odd - thus, the "used to know".

If you know me at all, you know that I almost always have a Nalgene bottle with me. In fact I have many of their plastic bottles for use at work, home or Ultimate. Turns out, the plastic can cause cancer. Deb mentioned something about this months ago, but I didn't listen to her. Will I change my ways? Heck, no. You have to die of something, right? If I stayed away from everything that might kill me, I'd never leave the house.

I'm shocked (and appalled) that yesterday my ankle felt as good as it did on Friday. For the last few weeks, I've played spring league, and it got sore for a few days, improving through Friday until I played more Ultimate. Today it feels like Saturday morning. I'm hoping this means that by summer league I'll be back to almost normal.

I had my first two layout catches and Ds on Saturday. Felt good...and looked good, too. We scored on both points.

What do you do with the mutant Cheerio? You know, the one that looks burnt? I always throw it out. I don't want it to ruin the rest of them.

Another couple random thoughts

2008-04-30T21:42:00.002-05:00

My real estate agent referred me to Kristine, who I talked to about financing, pre-approvals for loans and all that fun stuff. She emailed me some info, and at the bottom of the email, there's here picture. Nice picture, too. Good smile, attractive. When I responded, I almost felt like I was supposed to include a picture of myself. I don't think I'd want to do that to anyone, though.

At our team meeting today, Larry, who we work with on process fixes and coding, reminded us that he is our Practice Area Liaison. If we need anything, we can just go talk to our PAL! For some reason, I got a big kick out of this new TLA (three-letter acronym).

Cub at Cardinals this weekend in St Louis! They're tied for first place at the end of April. Count me as a skeptic on the Redbirds. I still think they won't top 75 wins, as they've had a very favorable schedule so far. The three games starting Friday will be a big test, and it will give a better indication of how good they might be. I'll figure on Chicago taking two of three and extending their lead as May continues.

Speaking of May: how is it that April is already over? Summer is just around the corner! If you're reading this from across the Atlantic, enjoy your day off on Thursday!

Random links

2008-04-30T21:12:00.003-05:00

In a NYT crossword I just finished, three of the answers were:

Zmed: As in Adrian Zmed, of T.J. Hooker fame. I need to figure out how to embed YouTube videos in a post, but click on this link for a sweet inf0-video on this great, talented actor.
Navy Pier: Hey, a Chicago reference! The Pier is a touristy nightmare, and of course you have to go with all out-of-town visitors. Just try to make it during the off-season, or at least a mid-week afternoon.
Maxwell Smart: Who's fired up to see the new Get Smart movie? Here's the intro/theme for the show. I seem to remember that he gets his nose caught in the closing doors at some point. Was that on the closing credits? There's a Speed Racer movie coming out, too. Is Johnny Quest next?

I saw an ad for this dating site during a Cincinnati Reds broadcast. It's an interesting idea, for sure, but is that really their target audience? I suppose there are plenty of farmers in Kentucky that watch Reds games. Years ago, living in the midwest, every summer we got inundated with TV ads for weed killers and pesticides for crops. We lived in St. Louis, far enough away from farms that it was a day trip to visit cousins who actually lived on one, but I imagine they saw the same ads that we did.

I also saw an ad for Reddi-Wip. We did some work on this brand a while ago, and I don't remember if they had done any TV recently, but the commercial I saw (and I can't find it online anywhere) was just odd. A girl was sitting at the table with mom, and she wouldn't eat her dessert until it got smothered in whipped cream. Fine, that's an okay message, but some random guy, not mom, knew the magic secret. At the end, he's there and says, "Ready!" and the mom and kid yell, "Whip!" Hmm.

Middle of the night

2008-04-24T18:55:00.002-05:00

I drink a lot of water, all day, usually right up to bedtime. This means that virtually every night I have to make a visit to the loo. Last night was no different, except this time, on the way back to bed, I cranked my knee on the bedframe. Ouch. That woke me up right quick. You'd think I would know better, since the bed hasn't moved in over two years. I should climb back in instead of walking around.

I ended up not getting back to sleep for a while, though it wasn't the new bruise that did it. I've been under the weather for a couple of days, so maybe that's it. I'm not sure why I've been so susceptible to bugs this season, but I'll be sure to get a flu shot in the fall this year. I missed my chance last year, since I was away on some crazy work trip.

With the windows open, then I usually end up half-awake when the birds start their ruckus at 4am, but the little window fan I have can drown that out. Should I close the windows at some point during the night, or just deal with it? I like the cool morning air in the spring, so it's hard to decide to close the windows during this season.

One other random thought: what do you do when shaking hands with someone who holds on too long? I've always thought the quick pump and release makes for a good greeting, but when you meet a holder, it can get awkward. If you just let your hand sit there, that's creepy, almost. Or you can make it worse by restarting the grip after trying for the release. Then it becomes like a bad high five, with neither person knowing what to do. Ugh.

Jealous?

2008-04-23T18:27:00.002-05:00

Today we had absolutely great weather, and I wasn't stuck in the office. Working at home twice a week certainly has its perks, and one of them is having the windows open all day and getting some fresh air while plugging away in front of the computer.

I did get out a bit this morning, too, taking a second look at a few houses in East Garfield. Two of them went under contract, and one is just way too small, so that leaves one to think about. I can always hope that one of the contract-ed units opens up again, but I'm not in a huge hurry to buy, so it's not a worry.

I think it can be a good thing to miss out on a place that you really like a lot, since at that point you probably know what you want, and you have something to measure against. Maybe if I was selling my current house and had to get out this would be a negative, since it could force me to make a hastier decision, but for now, I can think about the one remaining condo that I've seen twice and is still available.

Finally

2008-04-20T10:58:00.003-05:00

Week five of spring league. Second weekend that I was able to play. That isn't a good ratio. Twice the weather has forced cancellations and once I was out of town, but yesterday turned out rather nice. The forecast all week called for rain on Friday and Saturday, but it mostly held off, except for a bit over Friday night. Not enough to call off our games, and it was almost warm, even for a 9am start.

One win and one loss puts Walk of Shame at 4-2 for the season, though all of our games have been close, and all the ones I've played have been fun and spirited. I guess that's how it's supposed to be, especially in our division.

I wish I could play better, though. I'm still slow on my ankle, going out of my way to match up against the slower or less experienced of our opponents. The couple of times I tried against someone better I just got beat. Maybe that would have happened anyways, but it could be that I'm just talking myself into playing lazy and slower against the less talented players. When I've needed to go hard and run, I've been able to do it, so maybe this is all a mental thing. I'll try to do better next week.

After the games, I had to bike back home, drop off my stuff and get to Provenance to pick up some more CSA food. For this one, the farm people were supposed to be there from 12:30 to 2pm or so. Unfortunately they had car trouble, so I didn't get home and cleaned up until a quarter to two (though I did have some lunch next door at Sai Mai...tiny place, there was a sign that said they're moving soon).

This would normally not be a problem, but I was supposed to meet a realtor in East Garfield Park at 2:30pm. So I got ready very quickly (I wasn't all that dirty, despite the muddy conditions...remember how I'm not really running all that hard? That also means no layouts, and on soft ground I should be laying out all day long) and walked to the bus stop just as the bus got there. I made it to the first showing just on time.

We saw about a dozen places, only two of which were any good, but that gives me about four units that I might like to see again, so we'll see what comes of that this week. Even fast showings wore me out. I'm sure a morning of biking and (some) Ultimate didn't help, but I think it's more than that. It can be exhausting going from place to place and checking out all the details and trying to remember them and keep everything straight. Next time I'll be sure to bring a camera.

Today is another beautiful spring day. No clouds, supposed to get to about 65. Perfect. Not even much wind, so I'll try to get to pickup later and enjoy it. Even just going to the park to read and people watch sounds delightful. After all, we might not get another one like today until June.

Earthquake

2008-04-18T07:45:00.002-05:00

When I turned on the news this morning to check the temperature outside, the big story was an overnight earthquake in southern Illinois. Hmm, so that's what I heard at 4:30am. At the time, I'd heard a noise and felt the building shake a little bit, but I'd immediately written it off as strong winds, since those will make for some movement, too.

I'd even had a quick thought that it was funny that there weren't any storms in the area, and that it didn't sound like windy conditions. I was tired enough to fall right back to sleep, though. Now it all made sense.

This is actually the second earthquake I've felt in the last four years or so here in Chicago. For the last one, I just happened to be up at about 1am, and it sounded like my downstairs neighbor was either leaving or coming home through her garage. That would have been odd, because she was definitely not a night owl. More like my sister, asleep by 10pm.

Last night's was a bigger story, I think, and early reports are that family definitely felt it, and they had some furniture move across the floor a bit.

Good times! (great oldies)

Lesson learned

2008-04-10T19:49:00.003-05:00

Today is veggie pick-up day. The first box was delivered last week, so for the rest of the year, every Thursday I have to get to Cousin's to pick up my food. Good times (great oldies).

Last week I got some greens and beets; this week a bunch of carrots, some radishes, fresh rosemary, red potatoes and some greens. It's fun to figure out how to eat all of it, without wasting anything.

Today, the forecast called for rain. Lots of it. Perhaps some thunder and lightning, just for kicks. All day and night, plus some for Friday, too. When would I be able to go to get the box? Remember that I have no car, so I have to either bike or take the bus.

Guess which I picked today? Does it help if you know that it took 90 minutes to get back home (the restaurant is less than three miles from here)? Yep, I used CTA this evening. Not a wise choice.

Why not? First, the rain wasn't all that bad, though I figured that it could erupt into something heavier and more dangerous at any moment. Also, there was surprisingly little wind, which would have made cycling much easier than expected. The biggest reason, though, is that riding the bus (actually, one bus wouldn't be so bad, but I have to take two to get to Cousin's) is torture. Pull my fingernails out, make me listen to sports-talk radio, anything other than waiting for a bus when I could bike instead.

Waiting for the bus (and walking to the stops) I got just about at wet as if I'd biked, it was just as cold, and it took about three times as long as it would have otherwise. If the bus schedules were predictable, maybe I could put up with it, but it never fails - wait around for 15 minutes with no buses in sight, and then see two or three of them in a row. Then they play the game - one takes the lead while the others draft off it, and then they switch places for a while. It's maddening.

I have to wonder, too, why they have bus stops at every single block. This makes the ride excruciatingly slow if the bus is anywhere near full or there is any kind of traffic at all. I'd happily walk a few extra blocks to the stop if it meant we could go twice as fast on average throughout my ride. I wonder how many others feel that way. I'd love to get a job working for CTA or the highway department to help fix traffic in the city and suburbs. It seems so easy, but there must be something I don't know about.

Anyways, no worries, I made it home, soaked to the skin, but I have my organic food now, and we'll see what I can make with it. Next time, regardless of the weather, I'm not taking the bus.

Hoops

2008-04-08T20:15:00.002-05:00

Did everyone watch the Kansas-Memphis title game last night? Throughout, I couldn't make up my mind about how I wanted it to end. On one hand, the Jayhawks are my natural rival. As an MU alum, I'm obligated to hate them, kind of like how I have to hate the Cubs. On the other hand, the Memphis team just didn't appeal. I think they're more thuggish, more prone to yapping and bragging, and that's a big turn off. If you can bring it, bring it. If all you can do is talk, you may as well just go home.

It was a great game to watch, if not listen to. Is it remotely possible to get new announcers? Billy Packer is just atrocious. There may have been five times all game when he said something positive about a player or team. Too often, it's "they're not doing this..." or "why aren't they doing that..." or "he needs to be better at..." All night, he criticized the offenses of both teams, never mentioning that both squads ranked very highly in the nation on defense. Maybe crediting a solid D would be a better way to describe the game than criticizing the offense.

Anyways, when the Chickenhawks were down nine with a couple minutes left, I was kind of glad, since no Tiger would want KU to win a national title in anything. Heck, even the fact that Bill Self got to the Final Four was painful. Also, I wouldn't have to hear from a couple of KU-grad Ultimate players about it.

Kansas did come back nicely, though. The steal on an inbounds play was a big part of it, even though the three Memphis missed free throws got more press. The tying shot was just phenomenal, with a guy in his face. Swish. At that point, it was over, with Dorsey out due to fouls.

I just can't bring myself to be unhappy about the result, though. This KU team was just plain good in every aspect. Plus, just about all their players seem to be unhateable. Did you notice after the win that you didn't see any chest-thumping or jersey-grabbing? Just a team happy to have made it to the pinnacle. I can respect that. I did turn it off very soon after the buzzer, though, so maybe they turned into big jerks after that.

I'm not looking forward to seeing and hearing about the defending national champions when they play Mizzou next season, but I can hold out hope that the Tigers can challenge for the football title in the fall, while the team from Lawrence was probably just a one-year wonder.

Go Tigers!

Other notes from St Louis

2008-04-07T13:36:00.002-05:00

It was "warm" on Friday in Chicago. I mean, it was warmer than it has been for a while. I think it got up to 60 degrees. Warm enough to wear shorts and a t-shirt? How about a sundress?

I'll answer with a maybe, dependent upon what time it is, where you are and what you're doing. Outside, in the sun, in the middle of the day, you can get away with the summer wear. Any other time? Forget it. Well, I'd not do it.

Every spring and fall, at ball games or Ultimate games, or at the bus stop, I see people dressed for the high temp of the day. By nightfall, those that came dressed for 65 and sunny are shivering in their shorts and tank tops in 50 degrees. Even if you're traveling somewhere warmer, who knows how they'll be setting the t-stat in the plane? I think it's funny when someone asks for a blanket on a flight in the middle of May because they dressed for July.

Once again, I spent the weekend at my brother's place. They're always a lot of fun to hang with, and I get a double bed to sleep in. Sure, nephew Nicholas gives up his bed for me, but he's fine with it, and the kids actually have a place to crash in the basement and seem to enjoy my being there. They can be a handful, but as long as I'm not the one in charge, it's fun to be around them.

Saturday morning, though, I got handed the reins, "babysitting" Nicholas and Sophia for a couple of hours while Ed and Karen went to do work. Oliver went with Ed, so at least I didn't have three of them to watch. Really, it wasn't even that bad, since Sophia slept for the first hour. Just like Ed promised, she was easy. Once she got up, set her on the couch with a sippy cup (I don't remember having these…I think we just spilled a lot or got really thirsty all the time) and a banana.

About 15 minutes before the parents got back, though, it was time for a change. I mean, Sophia needed a change. Well, I think that can wait for daddy, seeing as how my next diaper change will be my first. Let's just say I intend to keep it that way.

Saturday night, watching the KU demolition of UNC, I found out that Ed and Karen's house might be haunted. That's what they think, anyways. I'm unconvinced, but they tell a good story. Put me in with others that need more definitive proof. (I'd say that I'm a doubting Thomas, but that would be far too religious a reference for me to make about myself.)

From a distance, it's fun to see how kids grow up. A cousin's son, who used to be almost painfully shy, told me all about his soccer games on Saturday at Mom's party. I see Chase about once or twice a year, and I'm unsure if he ever even remembers me, but once he started talking, he just kept going. I'm glad to see that, and it sure is easier to be amongst 7- or 8-year-olds (who can carry on at least something resembling a conversation) than kids much younger than that. Heck, until they get to be about three or four, I can barely understand the majority of what they're saying, so I just nod or play along.

I had a few different choices on how to get back home Sunday. One I had to cross out because of potential personality clashes, so that left me with the choice between (A) staying with Dad after the game Sunday, getting up at 6am and to the airport three-plus hours before my scheduled flight, or (B) getting on Amtrak and home by midnight (assuming that we weren't two hours late like last time getting to Union Station).

The first option is normally fine, but on my day off, I wasn't so sure I wanted to get up so early. Who would, right? Besides, I have a summer league meeting (!!!) Monday night (note: changed to next Monday while I was on the way home), so that would make for a longer day than I had wanted. I can usually get an earlier flight, but I don't think I've ever tried it on a Monday morning, when business travelers might be taking up all the seats.

I tried calling American to change plans and get on a plane Sunday night, but you can imagine how that went. I have to wonder why I can freely switch to something earlier (or later, I suppose) in the same day, but if I want to fly a different day, I have to pay the switching fee. Years ago, sure, the airlines had to do a lot of paperwork and such, but now it just seems excessive. Maybe the fee is just to avoid so many last-minute changers. But if there are seats available (and the gal I talked to assured me there were), wouldn't it make sense to get me on the Sunday night flight and open up my Monday morning seat? What am I missing?

I suppose it's immaterial now, since I chose the train. The return plane ticket will just go to waste, too, since the change fee is about as much as the fare itself. Maybe I might get a few dollars credit, but then I'd have to call AA instead of booking online, and it involves getting a voucher to mail in, and I don't think it's worth the trouble again.

Besides, the train ride gives me plenty of time to write these entries and read and relax, even if I don't have both seats to myself, like I usually do. The guy next to me is nice enough, so that's good. No little kids in this car, either, at least not where I'm sitting. Pretty peaceful, especially compared to O'Hare on Friday. Maybe I'll even try to catch a nap later on.

St Louis weekend

2008-04-07T13:33:00.000-05:00

For some reason, getting out of O'Hare on Friday took longer than expected. Why, when there was no severe weather between Chicago and St Louis, should our flight have been delayed 45 minutes? The shuttles back and forth should not depend on planes arriving from other cities at all, so I'm more than a bit surprised that it took us so long to get going. Our plane didn't arrive at our gate until 10 minutes before our scheduled departure. I just wonder why and wish information was shared more freely.

Even sitting in the terminal at the gate was more annoying than normal. People seemed to be more talkative and louder than usual, so I found it hard to concentrate on the book I was trying to read. Or maybe I just wasn't interested enough in the subject. Either way, the wait to leave seemed longer than normal.

Aside from that the trip was trouble-free. Pickup at Lambert is always smooth, especially in the evening, and there was no traffic. Getting back to Chicago, I decided to take the train after the Sunday baseball game. Dad got me to the station down the street from the stadium, and I was on my way.

In between, I got to see some family, some of whom I hadn't actually talked to much in a while, and attend a Cardinals game at the new stadium for the first time.

The home team won for the fifth straight time, though I'm unconvinced of their ability to stay anywhere near first place (tied with Milwaukee!). A couple of easy-ish opponents to start the year, at home, certainly helped. We'll see how they hold up over the next 157 games.

New Busch is a nice place to see a game. I still believe the old one was just fine and didn't need to be replaced, even if it was a typical cookie-cutter from the 1970s. Well, '60s, I guess. I understand the reasons why they tore it down, but the team had turned it into a beautiful place, ridding the world of one more Astroturf field, and adding a wonderful hand-operated out-of-town scoreboard, some more greenery in the outfield and different colored seats.

Anyways, the seats Dad got were indoors, one of those all-you-can-eat-and-drink deals, with TVs and such. I think the reasoning behind the decision was sound, due to the potential for early-April foul weather. In fact, before Sunday, it had been consistently cold and rainy in the area, so getting in and away from that would be nice.

Unfortunately, I think, the day was perfect, about 62 at game time, full sunshine, little wind. By the middle of the afternoon it had warmed another few degrees, making it the warmest I've experienced in over six months. I'm sure seats in the shade were still somewhat chilly, but it would have been nice to enjoy the sun, even if I hadn't brought sunscreen and had just finished peeling my nose from last week's Ultimate games.

Aside from being inside on a beautiful day, our seats just didn't meet the standards of the ballpark experience. The windows don't open, like they do in the press box or in the luxury suites of some parks, and the outside sound is greatly muffled. This means no crack of the bat or roar of the crowd. It was rather nice to not have to get up every time someone wanted to leave the row, and there were no problems at all with sightlines and fans walking or standing in front of you.

Of course, the company was great, so I hope I don't sound like I'm complaining. The game was fun, with a good result, and hey, free food and beer (even icky Bud Light) is nothing to cry about. I think I left a couple of stolen oatmeal cookies in Lois's car, though. So much for my snack on the way home.

I was kind of disappointed, though, with some other aspects of the park. I like the open-end architecture, with no seats above the first level from left-center to right-center, but from our seats, the view was of a parking garage, mostly. Maybe from other angles it was better. Apparently, the plans for Ballpark Village around the stadium have been abandoned, so the lot across the street is empty and has filled with water, leading to the locals calling it Lake DeWitt, after the team's owner who hasn't fulfilled promises of building up the surrounding area.

I don't think I liked the out-of-town scoreboard, either. I always keep an eye on other games going on, and I especially like the inning-by-inning detail. New Busch didn't have more than the scores, but for four games, the base-out situation was added. I'm not sure how they decided on those four games, and there was even one in-game switch, with the Cubs game getting added detail and the Pirates relegated to only their score.

I'm not sure why, but the graphics feel of the scoreboard is not as nice to me as the simple lighted numbers. Maybe I just haven't been to enough games outside of Comisk…er, U.S. Cellular, or Wrigley lately. However, PNC in Pittsburgh does a great job of summarizing results, with base-out data, too, without seeming overwhelming or too flashy.

Some plusses and surprises: Every time an announcement was made or anyone was talking on the PA system, one corner of the scoreboard had closed-captioning, I assume for the hearing-impaired. Okay, it's for deaf people, because even if you can only hear a little bit, there's almost no way you can miss what they're saying at just about any modern-day stadium or arena.

Getting to and from our seats was surprisingly easy, with very little congestion on the stairs or streets. Much better than trying to squeeze your way out of Wrigley after a Cubs loss.

Even our parking was easy. Dad's brother George recently retired from the police force, so he asked the lot officer if he wouldn't do us a favor. Sure enough, we got the first spot in and didn't have to pay. Sweet! George used to work at the stadiums for security and parking, so his family has gotten these types of deals for years, but it looks like this will continue for at least a little while.

One other nice thing about sitting inside is not getting too over-stimulated from the between-innings entertainment. I can remember just being happy to be at a game, watching warm-ups or talking to whomever I went with. Have we really gotten to a point where we have to be entertained every second? It's too much like the NBA now, if somewhat quieter.

Overall, I'd give Busch III a grade of C+…not as nice as some new ones I've been to, but modern enough to draw crowds and not turn anyone off. Next time I go, I'll be sure to brave the elements, no matter the time of year.

Baseball season!

2008-04-02T20:01:00.002-05:00

You know what's great? My DirecTV Extra Innings package. Multiple games every day (well, except for the FOX Saturday and ESPN Sunday night games), and this year many of the games are being shown "twice" - you can choose the home or away team's sports network (and announcers).

On Monday I biked to work in the rain - it wasn't much more than a drizzle in the morning, and I missed the storms on the way home - and that night I started to not feel so well. I'm absolutely sure that I didn't "get" the bug from the rain or cold, but it probably didn't help. I wish there was a way to track it back to the person that I caught it from. Just to know. Was it someone at Saturday's games, or on Friday at the bar? Maybe it's just going around at work.

Anyways, on Tuesday I got to the office with a headache and a cough, so I took the laptop home and worked about a half day. Same thing today, but there were afternoon games today. So, I got to see the Royals beat the Tigers for the second straight time, in what started out as a really quick-paced game. Reminds me of the only time I saw a game in Detroit. Royals-Tigers, July 2002. Dad and I were on a trip to Cooperstown and planned to see a few games on the way.

So, we didn't have tickets and decided to get the best seats we could. Turns out, we were about 10 rows from the field, behind home plate, just at the edge of the protective screen. Great seats, absolutely fantastic view. Paul Byrd was pitching for KC, Jose Lima for the home team.

Now, Byrd had a good year in '02, with 17 wins and an ERA well below league average. He made 33 starts! It was best season, by a decent margin. Lima, on the other hand, was just awful that year. His ERA was almost twice the league average. He'd had a couple of good years with the Astros in the previous century, but since then...not so much. Amazingly, Lima would improve enough with the Dodgers in '04 to win 13 games.

Lima had made a few starts prior to this one, and he didn't fare particularly well. Only once did he make it through five innings and/or give up fewer than three runs. For all practical purposes, this game should be a Royals win, right?

You know what they say...that's why they play the games. Against all odds, not only did Lima toss a gem, but so did Byrd. After five innings, the Tigers were up 1-0 on a Randall Simon home run (this was before he started attacking giant running sausages), and only an hour had passed. It seemed that every hitter was swinging at the first pitch, and any strikeouts that did happen were like a Bugs Bunny cartoon - "one...two...three strikes, yer out!"

Out of the ordinary things will happen from time to time, but usually things even out in the long run. Maybe the Brewers win thirteen in a row to start the season, and everyone is sure they'll win the World Series. Maybe the # 16 seed leads the # 1 seed eight minutes into their first-round matchup. Play out the rest of the game or season, though, and things revert to normal. It just happens that the surprising string happened at the beginning of the season or game. No one would be surprised that a team could win a bunch of games in a row in August, but do it in April, and it's a story.

Anyways, so the first five innings were really quick, right? Still, it's JOSE LIMA pitching. There's no way this will keep up. The Royals will start smacking him around, there will be a half-dozen pitching changes, and the game will be close to normal length.

Nope. Lima ended up throwing seven shutout innings, the Tigers scored two more quick runs, and the game ended in an hour and 41 minutes. In 2002, this was unheard of. It still is. An average game is about three hours. I think at the time, this was the fastest game in the last dozen years or so. Since then, there's been a faster one (Mark Buerhle was probably involved), but I wasn't there. And I wasn't sitting in prime, expensive seats (thanks for paying, Dad!) for what amounted to a half a game.

After three days of games (almost three days, there are still numerous games happening right now), here's what we know: the Cubs will not win a game, the Royals, Nationals and Rays will make the playoffs, and the Cardinals will not.

Okay, what we really know is this: nothing. It's just a couple of games.

I will be rooting for #24 of the Cardinals this year, though. Here's a guy who started out as a pitching phenom, lost all command of his pitches, went to the minors, gave up pitching altogether and started playing the outfield. Now he's a starting center fielder with power and an improving batting eye. He already has two hits, including a home run, tonight, to go with a really nice diving catch. Rick Ankiel first came up to the bigs nine years ago, but he was only 19 at the time, so he's still in his prime hitting years. Great story.

Schadenfreude

2008-03-29T16:29:00.003-05:00

With the upcoming baseball season opening in two days, the Cardinals chances don't look so good this year. In fact, the hated Cubbies are probably the favorites in the central division.

This series of short articles might help, though. Ha-ha.

Have you seen this sign across Sheffield Avenue? For those that don't know the pairs of numbers indicate the number of years since a Cubs division title, NL pennant and World Series title. The pic was taken a couple of years ago, since it should read 036299. What will they do after this year, when that 99 becomes 100?

Success! Hurrah!

2008-03-29T15:52:00.002-05:00

No snow, no rain, but plenty of wind today. The fields were deemed good enough to play, so my spring league got under way this morning (our schedule got changed...afternoon games next week, when I'll be out of town, and then mornings for the next four weeks...sweet!).

The bike ride to the park was easy as pie, with a semi-strong wind at my back (unusual and unexpected, since I have to go west to get to the park), and by game time we had enough players to field a team. I was very tentative before the first game, jogging gingerly, with what turned out to be a noticeable "limp". Can you have a limp while jogging or running. Let's just say that I was favoring the left leg and not running hard at all.

Then the game started. I made sure to match up against what looked like slower guys or against guys I knew wouldn't be running that much. A funny thing happened. Once I started playing, I forgot about the injury. Sure, it got a little sore as the day went on, but when I had to run harder, I did, without thinking about it, and (surprise!) I didn't fall over, and my foot didn't fall off.

So, while I will continue to wear a brace and be extra careful with it (let's not run into traffic or try to grab a floaty disc amongst six other players), I'm very happy with the way it responded today. Ten weeks off from running or playing is an eternity, or at least it seemed so. Healed? Not completely, but with the weather getting better by the month, it feels good to be back to about 80% of normal. For now that will do just fine.

more random thoughts

2008-03-27T19:55:00.002-05:00

while waiting patiently for baseball season to start (no, the two games in Japan earlier this weeks don't really count as Opening Day).

Google Reader rocks. I recently finally added blogs and websites to my subscriptions, and just about everything I want to read online can be accessed in one place. No more checking a bunch of sites to see if they're updated. No remembering URLs for when I'm on a computer without my bookmarks. Why didn't I do this earlier?
I missed Paganello this year, but I'll try again next year. I heard from some friends who met each other there. It always surprises me how small the Ultimate world is.
I've been watching "Mythbusters" on Discovery Channel lately. I can't decide if Kari is hot or not.
The best part of Frosted Mini-Wheats? The very last bowlful, with all the crumb-y sweetness.
I think the NCAA tournament has gotten almost overrated. Everyone wants to see upsets, but really, only the big schools have a real chance at winning the thing, and when a George Mason gets to the final four, it's a nice story but almost in a "isn't that cute" kind of way.
Would the tournament be as big of an event if there were no such thing as bracket pools? I'll ask the same thing about the NFL...would anyone care about it without gambling?
What do the commercials cost compared to the Super Bowl? I have to think that more people actually watch the game and ads, and not in a "let's all laugh at the funny spots" way. Plus, CBS forces you to watch commercials at every single opportunity, switching to games "coincidentally" just in time for yet another TV timeout.
Because there are so many commercial breaks, the advertisers need to come up with more varied ads. Seeing the same ones dozens of times in a weekend is enough for me to never consider buying their product. Ever.
I finally got to clean the house a few weeks ago after getting some mobility back. I was amazed at how much road salt (and water stains) I had to mop up. One would hope that there won't be much more of that for about, oh, eight months or so.
I'm always amused at work when, in the elevator, someone gets out earlier than everyone else, and another rider pushes the "door close" button, usually multiple times. Maybe they're just in a big hurry, but the elevators in our building are actually quite quick (unlike in the Schaumburg office...ugh).
Even better is when, with the elevator almost full already, someone holds it for another person rounding the corner. Hey, genius, there are five other cars that will be down in about 15 seconds, and we're already suffocating in here. Let 'em wait.
I borrowed a friend's hard drive and copied some music from him. Now I'm in the process of renaming folders and putting it in iTunes the way I like it (Lastname, Firstname...or...Bandname, The). Does this make me OCD, or is it normal?
When learning ESL, are students taught the word "gonna"? Is it even really a word? I'm gonna try to not say "gonna" any more. It's gonna be hard work, but I'm gonna do it.

Morning games this Saturday...let's hope we don't get rained or snowed out again. Then on to St. Louis next weekend to celebrate (belatedly...she was out of town) Mom's 60th birthday. And go to see a Cardinals game in the new park for the first time. Good times! (great oldies)

Today was supposed to be the day

2008-03-22T14:51:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was odd. It's NCAA tourney time, and I decided to work at home on Friday instead of Wednesday so I could have the TV on during office hours. Okay, that in itself wasn't odd. What was strange, though, was looking out the window and seeing big, blowing snowflakes coming down heavily most of the day.

When it was all done, we had about five inches of new snow on the ground, and this just after all the other stuff had melted. No matter; it was going to be warm enough today and in the next few days that, despite the call for more snow and wintry conditions in late March, whatever precip had accumulated would melt from the streets and sidewalks in short order.

I don't think the city saw it that way, since the salt trucks and plows were out this morning. I understand that the night brought another dusting, but if you're not clearing the snow by 10am and it's going to get to 35 (and sunny), you probably don't need to waste the resources.

Indeed, even the side streets that don't normally get cleared until last were smooth sailing biking home from the shop after getting a new saddle. Hooray! Sure enough, it only cost about $45, plus a small fee for the guy to install everything, so I still have to wonder why someone would take my old one. The shop guy took off the quick-release and put on a bolt instead, so the next would-be thief will have to bring along some tools.

With a new seat, clear streets, a ton of sun and a left ankle that felt its best since mid-January, the plan was to go to Schiller and try to play some Ultimate. Yes, spring league started today, so it's time to meet the new teammates and improve on my rusty throws. I was all set to jump in on a few points to test the strength of said ankle and hope for the best. If it responded well, I could keep playing, but I was really only hoping to toss on the sidelines and play a few points.

In the snow, too! What could be better?

It's almost time to leave, so I should shut down the computer. Oh, there's an email, I have time to read it, I guess. Afternoon games cancelled? What? The fields were okay to play in the morning but not now? The email mentions muddy conditions, so I suppose I understand that they don't want us to tear up the fields. We do have the rest of spring, summer and fall leagues to play.

It is difficult to fathom not playing Ultimate when there's a game scheduled and the weather is nice. Bright blue skies, only a little wind, melting snow to remind us of the coming (maybe? some day?) spring. I think many cities that run leagues cancel games due to field conditions despite the weather, but this is a first for Chicago. It's too bad that the notice came out so late. I bet that whoever was going to be there today ended up going and being told to go home. Or at least not stay there.

It's doubly disappointing because not only did the morning games get played, but it's always better to play in the AM. Afternoon games don't finish until after 5pm, and getting home can sometimes take a while. Plus, what do you do with a couple of hours before getting ready for and going to the games?

It reminds me of when I worked the night shift at a casino in Kansas City. Work started at 6pm or so, and we'd close the place down at 2am or 3am. Something like that. Back then, I didn't realize that the best thing to do is change the sleep schedule to wake up just before work. Instead, I 'd sleep until noon, eat breakfast and have a few hours until I had to get ready to leave. Afternoons could be spent doing whatever, but I always had to be home in plenty of time to clean up, get my uni or suit and not be late.

Sometimes this meant an hour or two to kill, and I'm sure I got more than my share of bad afternoon TV (no Oprah for this kid, though). Inevitably, I'd hit a serious lull less than halfway through the night and start counting down the hours until we got to kick out all the customers. "Last shooter" was always music to my ears.

Anyways, next Saturday we're scheduled for late games again, so let's hope that the fields are good enough to actually use. I'm excited to see if I can run (and how fast!) and throw.

Spring league kickoff

2008-03-16T15:52:00.002-05:00

It's nice out today. Well, nice compared to the last few weeks. The sun is out, and it's above freezing. So why did I not go out to the pickup game that kicks off spring league? If I could run on my almost-better ankle, I surely would have gone, but it's just not quite ready yet, and I couldn't bring myself to go all the way out there just to watch pickup.

Next week the season starts, so I'll at least have a team to cheer on (and one to heckle), so the ride out to Schiller will be well worth it. I'll be able to throw with my teammates, instead of those eagerly waiting to run in for the next pickup point.

It sure seems like spring league is beginning earlier this year than in the past. I remember the kickoff game and teams draft were on the second weekend of the NCAA basketball tournament. But March Madness doesn't even start until Thursday. Maybe the hoops tourney is starting later. Or maybe it's both. Could be that we moved the first game weekend up because daylight savings time is earlier now. Why did they change it? I don't understand why we even have DST any more.

So, instead, today, I caught up a little bit. Some reading, some bill-paying, a trip to the market. Life is often so mundane. One fun thing I did was make flight reservations for an August trip. Copa Cabana in Nottingham last year was great fun playing with Team Deutschland, and I'll be playing with them again this year. The plan is to fly to London, hang out there for a couple of days, get to the tournament and then go to Frankfurt and/or other places before coming home. This time I'll only be away for ten days or so, but it will be nice to see everyone again.

I wanted to go out to get a new bike seat this weekend, but I never worked up the energy to do it. Can I just go buy one? Or do I need to bring the bike with me? There's a shop down the street...this is on the list for this week. Turns out that I didn't even need to be parking the bike outside at work. When I asked on Tuesday morning if there was by chance a camera outside, the guard asked my why I didn't just park downstairs.

Um, because no one told me about it when we moved our office downtown? A $15 deposit for a key and a bit of paperwork was all it took. Now I can come in the back entrance by the loading dock and take the freight elevator down a level and park in a caged room. Nice.

The elevator is a giant monstrosity, with the kind of double doors that slam together and that you can see out of while you're moving. There are a couple of nooks in the concrete structure that now contain empty pop cans and garbage, I guess because someone thought the lift was taking too long and they just had to get rid of their trash. After a few times using this room, I do have the elevator figured out. Keep the "door close" button pressed until both doors are shut. Only then can I press the floor button, or the alarm sounds. For some reason, I press "1" to go down and "2" to go up. I think an "LL" or "0" would better indicate the basement, but what do I know?

Does anyone know about running Windows on a Mac? Mom called earlier this week after having had tons of trouble getting iTunes to run on her PC, which is just painfully slow and old (kind of like me lately). Of course, I told her to just buy a Mac, but her Money software won't transfer. Someone mentioned windows emulator or something like that, but I don't know anything about it. It's probably time for Mom to get a new system anyways, so if there's a way, I'd like to let her know. Don't think that this is all about me helping her, though. If she had a faster computer, I could actually use it when I'm there instead of staying away from it because I'll get too frustrated with how slow it is.

Speaking of that, my DSL connection seemed slow lately, so I called AT&T (SBC? what are they called now?) and was on the phone for over an hour while they checked the line. They did something, and suddenly the connection was back to normal speed (we're talking about downloading at about 30% of normal speed...very noticeable).

My question is this: would I be too paranoid in thinking that this was just a ploy on the part of AT&T to have me pay for the fastest connection speed but not receive it? There are a few different levels that you can choose from, so what's to stop them from changing some people here and there without them knowing? Only if someone called up to ask about it would they have to fix anything, and they'd get free money.

Okay, it was probably just a freak thing, and there's no way that a big company like that would be able to keep something like that secret, but I still wonder. And whenever I'm on hold, listening to the bland music, interrupted periodically by the mechanical voice: "please hold, your call is very important to us", I always think of this one time (and I can't remember what company I was calling) in Kansas City, when the recording said something like: "do you ever wonder if someone is listening to you while you're on hold? Well, we don't have time to do that...or do we? Really, we mean it, someone will be with you shortly."

To the $#&%! who stole my bike seat

2008-03-10T18:15:00.002-05:00

Dear sir or madam:

I have a few questions. The first one is Why? Did you really need to take the seat off my bike while it was parked in the Loop today? What is the market rate for a two-year-old Trek seat? It's not like it's even a fancy seat. Run of the mill place to put my ass while I'm pedaling, really. It's comfortable, sure, but no more so than any other.

Does your bike not have a seat? Maybe someone stole yours, so you needed a replacement. Perhaps we're all just playing a giant city-wide game and I'm "it" now. If so, I'd prefer not to play, thanks.

Or maybe you don't even ride a bike and wanted or needed the money. I can't imagine you got much more than $20 for it, though. I hope you enjoy the syphilis you get from the whore you paid. No, that's not what you used it for, right? You got high, didn't you? We could all use a rush from time to time. You should try dodging trains on the third rail next time.

It's possible you did it not for the money or to have a new bike seat, but just because you could. Well, that's true, you're going to get away with it, but I don't think anyone will think you're cool because you stole my seat. You won't be getting any girls (or guys) because of it or what little money you scored. I can see you bragging about your daring, and all of your mentally-challenged friends laughing and clapping like you're Sammy Sosa or something.

I didn't even notice that it was missing right away. I unchained from the post and went to grab the seat to turn the bike around on the sidewalk, and, whoa, it wasn't there. So what do I do now? Get on the bus and put the bike on the front? No, it would take two hours to get home that way. I can't ride it...well, I could, but I know at some point I'd forget there's no seat and I'd all and get run over by a truck. That's no good.

I can't take the bike on CTA during rush hour, so that's out. Metra, neither. The first train that allows bikes going out of the city isn't until 7:35pm. Well, now, that's an option, but I'd have to either sit at Union Station for two-plus hours or go back to work. Nope, too hungry, too tired and too tired of work after a long day of staring at a computer screen.

I decide to walk the bike to Union Station and lock it there, to come back and get it later. Boy, I must look strange walking a bike with no seat while wearing my helmet. No matter, at least I can get home and eat and then come back later, when there aren't a million people running around. I'm on my way soon.

So, mister or miss whoever you are, I hope you slip and fall while you're carrying my seat and it ends up in a rather uncomfortable spot, perhaps upside down of how it's supposed to go. Little do you know that I have a second bike, and the seat doesn't come off that one as easily. So you may have won this day, but I win tomorrow.

I'd suggest actually getting a bike and riding around town, so that you know what it's like to not get shuttled around by your mom and how it might feel to not be able to ride home. I'm sure if you actually had a bike, you wouldn't have stolen someone else's seat.

Have a nice life...or not.

Sincerely,

Joe

Can't do it

2008-03-08T15:28:00.004-06:00

Watching some hoops today, trying to finish off a couple of books that I've been reading. It's been slow going lately, as I haven't had much time to get any momentum with any of them, but today I realized that I just don't like the books. For some reason this bothers me.

First, I did pay for them, or at least, they're not from the library. I think I used a work award to get an Amazon gift card, so it's not really my money I spent, but still, I could have gotten something I liked better. Maybe that's the only reason.

But why should I torture myself and make it a chore to read something? That makes it like work or homework, and I can't help but let my mind wander as I "read", and while I can get through the pages, the words don't really register. So now I have three books in the "postponed" category, sitting on the bookshelf in hopes that I'll get back to them. I probably won't, since I have another two dozen or more waiting to be opened, but the to-read list I keep has around 300 items on it.

I started The Freemasons a few weeks ago, thinking that it would talk about the secret group and how it wields its power. But through the first half of the book, all I got was some European history, with some comments thrown in about what royal was or wasn't truly or rumored to be a Freemason. According to the author, the American Revolution was not really started by the masons, since many masons were loyalists instead of rebels. There didn't seem to be much documentation to back this up, though I'll admit that I didn't go through the footnotes to see what they had as proof.

I wouldn't say I'm a foodie, but I do belong to a couple of co-ops to get organic meat and vegetables, and I refuse to eat fast food unless it's a dire emergency. A friend recommended The United States of Arugula, which goes through some of the history of food in the US in the last 100 years or so. Nowadays we can eat just about anything at any time, while 50 years ago, our choices were blander and less varied. The author writes well enough, so reading it wasn't work, but I guess I just don't care enough about the personalities of the TV chefs to finish it.

The third abandoned tome is The Origin of Species. I don't know when I picked this up, but it was there, so I started it and got through about a third of it. Actually, it's a good read, even at 650 pages. The problem I had was that the ideas presented I've read up on through numerous other sources. Back in the 1850s, evolution and adaptation were revolutionary ideas. By now, everything in the book is accepted as fact (well, unless you're stupid and still think that the earth is 6000 years old and some god created everything just as it is and planted fossils in the ground to make us think otherwise), and well known to most of us, so there's no new news here. Besides, Darwin, as may have been the style of his times, writes sentences that just go on and on, with numerous subordinate clauses, to the point that you have to re-read sometimes to remember where he started.

I did finish a couple of books last month, so I haven't been totally unproductive. For the first time in months, I read some fiction, devouring two Michael Connelly novels in ten days. It seems that it's easier to read mystery writing on the train than it is to read something heavier. Who knew?

Aside from those, though, I did enjoy reading By Bread Alone, the account of an Auschwitz survivor. Mel Mermelstein was only there for less than a year, but even so, he barely survived. His descriptions of the conditions of the camp, the suffering of the prisoners and the cruelty of the German officers are heartbreaking. In addition to his words, the book also include photocopies of newspaper articles embedded to show his sources explicitly. It was an interesting change of pace.

Back in the 1920s and 30s, the St. Louis Cardinals won four World Series and lost two others. One of those teams, the 1934 edition, was dubbed The Gashouse Gang. Full of wacky characters with funny nicknames (Dizzy, Ducky, Ripper, Pepper, Dazzy, etc), the team finished strong to win the pennant and then beat the Tigers in the Series, which went to seven games and included their leftfielder getting garbage thrown at him after a hard slide into Detroit's third baseman.

The book named after the team, unfortunately, contained a number of errors, which kind of turned me off. At least twice, the author noted that Babe Ruth retired after the 1934 season, but he neglected to mention that Ruth played in Boston for the Braves in 1935. Misspelled names and incorrect stats added to the problems.

However, I did learn a couple of things. First, the Gashouse Gang was only the team's nickname for the one year, and it was only after the season that the tag was affixed. Second, the term is of unknown origin. Apparently a gas house was an outdated term for gas station, though the term had not been used in a couple decades at least.

It's almost baseball season, so it's time to read Baseball Prospectus 2008. Every year, this one gets bigger, with notes, stats and projections on just about every player in the majors and many from the minors. It was an indispensable source when I played fantasy baseball, but now it's strictly a pleasurable read. I think it will be nice to not have to take notes and have a deadline for finishing it to get ready for the April draft.

Back from nowhere

2008-03-02T16:44:00.002-06:00

So it's been a while since I've posted, no? I couldn't seem to find the time to sit and write anything, and maybe I just didn't have much to say. I do have some new things to note, though.

First, I was finally able to get out and bike last weekend. Leah and her collective were hosting a vegan potluck, so I brought some bread and enjoyed the food I ate, even if I didn't know what it was. Every dish had a card by it, so you could read the ingredients, but what little light was in the apartment came from candles. This is because for a few weeks every year, they go on an electricity fast and don't use appliances or lights, phones or computers, anything that's not powered manually. I think it's a pretty cool thing to do, even if I don't know if I'd be able to last a month.

That night it was "warm" here in Chicago, getting to about freezing for the first time in a while. Biking around, I noticed how many people I saw just standing outside talking or walking, and without being bundled up against the cold. It's amazing how a day like that can seem warm, but the same day in October would get everyone crying about how terribly cold it is. We're a very adaptable species, I think.

On to Kristin's house-warming party from there, where I ran into some folks I haven't seen in a while. Katherine runs a volunteer organization dedicated to tutoring and mentoring area middle school and high school students who wouldn't normally have an opportunity to go to college. I've tutored there the last couple of years, but for various reasons I haven't been back since last school year. Seeing Katherine reminded me that I should stop by, especially since they moved the office, and it's only a few blocks from home. This week, for sure.

I still can't run at all, but it is nice that I can cycle around again. I'm hoping that I'll be able to run and cut and play Ultimate by mid-April, though of course I'll try for sooner than that. Spring league starts in a few weeks, though if the weather doesn't change, the first few weeks might be snowed or colded out. It's really been a very wintry winter. Much snow, and never more than a couple of days in a row approaching normal temps. I can't wait for the sudden change to summer, when temps go from 30s to 70s and 80s, skipping spring altogether.

For a few days I had to wonder if I'd be able to play spring league at all. We're way shorthanded on women for every league here, so recently, the board started limiting the number of men who could play. If you sign up with a woman, you're in. If you don't you better pay early or you might have to wait until summer. Sarah at work and I had decided to buddy up, but then more than a week after registration opened, she changed her mind so she could play with her team from last year. I didn't quite follow her logic, but I didn't really try that hard.

Anyways, by now, it's way too late to sign up solo. The league sent out an email about this. Basically, there were 70 guys that wouldn't be put on teams if the gender ratio didn't change. Good luck with that, right? Luckily, a friend happened to not have a partner, so she and I will be playing together. Ugh. Maybe I should start recruiting new players now for summer league.

Something else that's new: for the foreseeable future, I'll be working at home on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Being here for work so much lately got me thinking that I could do it more regularly, and the company wants to allow this more, so I asked and it was approved. Hooray! Two days to not have to take the train or take a shower! Eeeww, that's reblastive.

And, I might have a roommate for a few weeks later this spring. Colleen is moving away for grad school, but her lease and her moving day don't coincide. I suppose I'll have to work in the kitchen again those weeks, since she probably wouldn't appreciate my waking her up and kicking her out of her room.

The sun is still up, if only for a little while longer. The days get longer, if not warmer, and soon it will be spring for real, with snow-free sidewalks and blooming trees. And daylight savings time - spring forward! Baseball season starts late this month, and even if the Cubs are the favorite to win the NL Central, it will still be fun to watch games and check out boxscores. For now, my front windows are open for the first time in months, so I can hear birds chirping and loud car engines (though surprisingly little thumping bass). They'll have to be closed soon, of course, and stay shut another couple of weeks, but it's nice to have some fresh air in here for a day.

Cash Cab

2008-02-20T17:55:00.002-06:00

Have you seen this show on the Discovery Channel? I just happened by it while having dinner tonight. It seems that a cab driver in Manhattan serves not only as chauffeur but game show host as well. Correct questions are worth from $25 to some larger value, and you get three strikes before getting kicked out of the cab and losing all their winnings!

The gals in the back seat on this edition used a "shout out" to ask some stranger on the street help them get the right answer. It looks like the driver is doing a nice job or using his mirrors and checking for other traffic, so there's no real danger (despite it being Manhattan!).

Fun!

Still limping

2008-02-18T18:07:00.002-06:00

It's amazing what four days of not too much walking will do to help heal a sprained ankle. And it's just as amazing how much it hurts the healing process to walk three miles a day on one. Today I finish up another long stint at home, hoping to get to the point where I can bike soon and play Ultimate some time in the spring.

I didn't exactly stay at home all weekend, but when here, I didn't have to walk far to the bathroom or to the kitchen for food...or five blocks to the train station to get to work. I even did some cooking and baking on Sunday, something that is hard to do when on crutches or hopping on one foot. So now I have a batch of oatmeal cookies, another batch of sugar cookies and a loaf of cinnamon bread. Mmmmm.

In addition to that, I got out to run some errands yesterday. On one hand, it was a good day and time to it, since the weather warmed up a bit (40 degrees!!!) and it wasn't windy like it has been all day today. On the down side, not all of the sidewalks and intersections were clear of ice, so trekking all the way to the rental car and back was a bit treacherous.

The worst, though, was getting everything out of the car and into the building. There was no good place to park, with plenty of ice patches to block the way. The ice would be bad enough for most people, but when you can't put much weight on one foot, balance is very tough to keep. Slow and steady win the race, or at least that's what they say.

Did everyone have a wonderful Singles Awareness Day last Thursday? At work, people were giving out roses to everyone who got past security. Uh, no thanks, I'll let that thing die somewhere besides my desk. I think flowers are a pretty dumb idea in general, since they usually only last a few days. Sure, they're pretty and might brighten a room, but I can think of better ways to spend money on a girlfriend. Besides for fake February holidays the prices go way up, so it becomes even more of a waste.

On Thursday a group of us went to Lou Mitchell's for lunch. Paul owed me one from our team's bowling outing last month, and Lou's is always a good choice, with plenty of good options, including one of the daily specials, an open-faced hot turkey sandwich with mashed potatoes and cranberries. One of my all-time favorites, I must say.

I passed on that, though, to get breakfast. I always order too much when eating out for breakfast, probably because it all sounds so good, it's usually inexpensive to add things, and most mornings I just have a bowl of cereal. At Lou's ordering two eggs means you get four. We have yet to know exactly why this is, but my theory is that the eggs are small instead of the large ones you usually buy. So, the "equivalent" volume is what you order, while the actual volume is what you get. Make sense?

When I asked for the turkey sausage to go with, I expected the usual two links but got more than that. Three? Higher. Four? Keep going. Try six! With toast, hash browns and a pancake thrown in for "dessert", I kept dinner light that night.

Given that I haven't been able to do much exercise, and that it was on display at Target yesterday, I bought a bathroom scale. I'm so vain. Fully clothed, with no shoes, I weighed in at 143. That's about five to eight pounds over my fighting weight, but I don't know how much my clothes weigh. Regardless, it shouldn't be too difficult to take off a couple pounds once I get back to biking (soon? I hope).

I'm loving this macbook and my new ipod. The battery life for both is much better than I got before. My work laptop gives my about two and a half hours unplugged, and that's if I'm not doing anything on it. On the mac I have almost four hour left before I need to charge it again, and I unplugged it about two hours ago. The new ipod is amazing. I went all last week at work without charging it, so I'd guess that the battery lasts 12-13 hours, about four or five times longer than the old one.

I'll leave you with another annoying observation: I have subscriptions to a couple of magazines, and every time a new issue comes, I have to take out the subscription cards they include. I can understand that when someone buys an issue from a newsstand, the cards make it easy to get more issues, delivered to your home, even! But as a subscriber, do I really need to have six different invites to a publication I already get every month? Isn't it possible to send subscribers a copy without the cards?

Happy President's Day!

Boarding airplanes

2008-02-15T19:23:00.002-06:00

Perhaps it was coincidence that I stumbled across this paper online about how to best load an airplane full of passengers just before my trip to St. Louis. In fact, I read it while waiting for boarding to start. As you're probably well aware, it can take quite a while to get everyone seated on a plane before takeoff. You know the drill: passengers are called by group, typically from back to front (aside from the snooty first class people who look upon in disdain as all the commoners walk by).

Half the time you stand in the aisle while the dummy in front of you tries to stuff his oversized carry-on into the overhead. Of course, there's a good chance he'll forget to take something out of it and he'll sit and stand a couple more times, never once thinking that the people standing there might want to go past him.

So what did Jason Steffen's study find? First, front-to-back boarding is the worst way to do it. That's probably an obvious conclusion, even to the airlines. However, the back-to-front system may be the second worst way to do it. Steffen assumes that loading luggage is what takes the most time, followed by people needing to get up and let others sit in their seats.

So, the conclusion is that seating passengers separated by multiple rows, preferably window-to-aisle, could cut down on boarding time by 75%. That would be a huge savings, no? Of course, you'd have to consider families getting on the plane together. Friends, too. Plus random people who show up late and hold up everything (in Amsterdam, I think it was, there was an announcement about one guy delaying his flight and that he should get to his gate immediately. Ten minutes later, same announcement. Then again about three or four more times. Why didn't they just leave without him?).

Turns out, randomizing here and there from an "ideal" order does cause times to increase, but even a completely random assignment is still considerably better than the back-to-front method. Another option could be to let ten people board, wait a little bit, and then send the next ten on. This would be like the stair-climb races I did a few years back, where they sent a runner off every ten seconds, making passing a little easier and the stairwells a lot less congested than if everyone just got in line and started walking.

I'm kind of surprised that no airlines have done a study like this. Especially on commuter trips, say, between St. Louis and Chicago. Time savings could lead to the adding of another flight every day. Or, fewer gates would be needed, and the airports might be less crowded all at once. It's possible, though, that the status quo is just too easy and that the long waits and late departures are simply all too common and have become expected.

That's too bad. I can't imagine any of the big airlines even thinking about trying something as radical as this, but maybe Southwest would. I might even fly Southwest if it worked well.

more random thoughts

2008-02-12T20:02:00.000-06:00

while exploring my new Macbook. I even got Excel on it, but I haven't had time to find the keyboard shortcuts that I really like on the PC. So far, I'm a big fan of the Mac, even if the layout is a bit foreign to me. It sure is nice to have everything working as it should, with no worries about viruses and spyware and firewalls and all that rot.

Overheard on the train home from work: "I just found out that riding a bike on the sidewalks in Chicago is illegal. I can't believe that. What if I suddenly wanted to change lanes while I'm driving and there was a biker that I didn't see?" How many things wrong can I find in this? All I'll say is that if you think we bikers should stay off your road, I'd advise you to just try to cycle on the sidewalks, weaving around pedestrians and trying to avoid ice patches. Keep you eyes open for us, please.

I really like the Sonic commercials. You know, the ones where people are sitting in the car at the drive up, eating their fast food? The dumb guy and his girlfriend are amusing. Too bad there are no Sonics in Chicago. I do remember enjoying their Cherry Limeade back in Kansas City years ago, though.

I have some handsoap that smells like watermelon bubble gum. Always reminds me of being ten years old.

On the way home from dinner last Tuesday, I lost my Arcteryx glove. I'm pretty sure I left it in the cab, but I have no idea what taxi company I took or what number car it was. These gloves were a gift a few years ago, and they're nice, the only pair I've ever owned that allow me to tie my shoes while wearing them. Most gloves are too bulky, and I lose the feel. So, online I went to buy a new pair. $60! Ouch, I guess dinner wasn't free after all.

I had my eye on the Kansas-Texas game the other night. Normally I would never watch the Chicken...er, Jayhawks unless the Tigers were playing, but this year's team seems more likable than others. I still don't like Bill Self, and the big white dude, Kaun, is kind of ugly and annoying, but the team plays well (despite losing to the Longhorns) and has no real hateable players, Kaun aside.

I'm renting a car on Sunday to run errands, only the third time I'll be driving since early August.

Spring training is starting soon! Hooray for baseball season! This year, I've bought Tampa Bay Rays and Cincinnati Reds caps to show that I think these teams are sleepers that could surprise people. I don't honestly think either will definitely contend for anything, but with a few breaks, they might. I'm probably a year or two early on the Rays, and if they didn't play in the AL East, I'd think more highly of their chances. Go to Vegas and put some money down on the over for their season win totals (no, I don't know what they are at the moment, sorry). You can thank me in October when you collect your winnings.

A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines

2008-02-12T13:36:00.000-06:00

The characters in Janna Levin's novel are real people, Alan Turing and Kurt Gödel. She takes some liberties in the details, but most of the story is true.

Alan Turing helped break the German Enigma machine code in World War II. He dreamed of artificial intelligence, thinking machines. Gödel, meanwhile, devised his Incompleteness Theorem, which states that there exist statements that can not be proved either true or false using only known rules and axioms.

Levin never tries to explain the ideas behind the theorem or the machines, making her book a good read for anyone with a math background or not. Instead, she describes thoughts, feelings and senses in ways that engage the reader to the point of forgetting about the technical details behind her two main characters. At 220 pages, it was over in a flash. Levin proves that physics professors can write just as well as they think.

Mobility

2008-02-11T20:17:00.000-06:00

Three weeks after my injury, I'm finally able to walk almost normally. Hooray! I went almost all day without the brace on, with only minor discomfort, so this weekend I'll try to get on the bike to see how it responds. I'm even hopeful (for now) that I'll be able to play spring league, which starts in mid-March, only about five weeks away.

I looked at the weather channel website today, since it's been so cold lately, and it seems that we've been well under average for about a month. This morning it was below zero, and it started snowing again this afternoon. I love winter.

I was down in St. Louis for a night to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday, and the weatherman was all dramatic about how cold it was going to be. Ooohhh, a low of 15! How dreadful! The five-day forecast showed highs in the 30s and 40s. Geez, do you think they'll be okay? That's not winter, that's late March!

We had a nice, laid-back Saturday evening, with a homemade dinner and a few rounds of Rummikub. My sister Jenn really likes that game. Too bad she didn't win. Ha! I got to sleep on an air mattress, too, a special treat at my dad's, since the last time I was there, I enjoyed the living room floor.

Coming home I had yet another set of new experiences at the airport. I got there early and noticed that the American flights until 12:30 were cancelled in and out of O'Hare. Ugh. So, I went to the AA counter to see what they knew about the 12:30. Amazingly, the counter attendant was a friend of my aunt's. Nancy lived around the corner from us when we were growing up, small world, no?

Anyways, Nancy called and found out that the next non-cancelled flight was "iffy", so she then called United and got me the last seat on the 10:30am flight. I'm not sure why UA was able to take off and land despite high winds and AA was not, but hey, I was on my way.

Or, at least that's what I thought. We boarded the small plane and waited...and waited. Finally, they told us that maintenance had to come fix something, but it turned out that they couldn't help us. So we had to change planes. Back to the gate, where the bridge wouldn't connect to the plane, so we sat again. It took a little while to get the stairs ready for us, but we did eventually take off at around noon. Other than all this and that another passenger had the same seat assigned as I did, it was smooth sailing.

I did get asked if I wanted a wheelchair ride out at STL, but I declined. Is it just me, or are the people at Lambert nicer than the ones at O'Hare? I'm talking about the TSA and airport personnel. Maybe I just go in with the wrong attitude in Chicago, expecting big crowds and long lines, while in St. Louis there just aren't those hassles.

I do have a question about the security line. You can't bring a bottle of water through, right? Well, they let me bring an apple and a pear through, and I've heard that juice boxes for kids are okay. My question is this: what's to stop someone from injecting fruit with flammable or hazardous liquid and boarding with them? My friend Megan put it well: they do just enough to make the idiots out there fell safe, but most of what they do is pointless.

Back soon with some more thoughts...

Super Bowl

2008-02-04T19:04:00.001-06:00

Okay, I had the game on yesterday, but I wasn't exactly watching it. Instead I read a book and kept my eye on the score, with the sound off. This is normal for me, since I can't usually put up very long with the announcers' yakking. Some basketball announcers are good, but that's because there's always a lot happening in hoops. Football and baseball just have too much down time to fill.

I did notice during the halftime show that the crowd on the field, in the mosh pit, whatever, seemed very excited to see Tom Petty. I don't believe for a second that kids that young were pumped up to see him. What are the chances that they got paid to act like that? Not that I care about halftime shows of any kind, but is Tom Petty really the best they could do? Does he have any new albums worth listening to? If not, do we really need to hear "classic" rock from the 70s and 80s again?

Another thing I tend to ignore about the Super Bowl are the commercials. When did this jump the shark? Years ago, it seemed that it was fun to find the best ads, but now it's almost an industry to itself. Answer this: for how many of the ads do you remember what was being sold? I recall a project we did at work a couple of years ago, maybe for Frito-Lay, and they did a Super Bowl commercial. I don't remember how well it helped sell their brand, but I do remember that the ad itself barely mentioned the brand at all. Instead it was made to get a laugh. Is that the best way to spend a few dozen million dollars? Sure, people think it's funny, but if that's all they remember, aren't you just flushing money down the toilet?

I think this aspect of the game used to be underrated, but now it's gone to the other extreme. It's always a bit sad when something you "discover" and know about (whether a favorite band, a route to work, certain clothing or hairstyle, etc) becomes the new thing. Where once you had a secret, now you have to share the wonderfulness with everyone else, and in that, the wonder gets watered down and overanalyzed and eventually can go away.

Back in the early '90s I started following the Cleveland Indians, thinking they would turn soon turn around their losing ways. It wasn't long before, sure enough, the team started winning with their young club. In '95 they made it to the World Series (lost to Atlanta), and it was great to have seen the potential of the team for five years result in such a fantastic team. Unfortunately, by then, everyone (it seemed) was and Indians fan. Lofton, Belle, Thome jerseys, even far away from Cleveland. At some point, I had to change allegiances, simply because too many people had gotten on the bandwagon.

Or maybe I'm just and old crank.

Guns, Germs and Steel

2008-02-04T18:48:00.000-06:00

This is the third Jared Diamond book that I've read, after Collapse, and The Third Chimpanzee. Here, Diamond tries to answer the question of why Europeans conquered "primitive" peoples in the Americas, Africa, Australia, etc., instead of the other way around.

The author's answer is that it has much more to do with geography than with the types of people that lived in different parts of the globe.

Hunter-gatherers lived everywhere in the world at some point, but food production (farming, herding) arose in only several smaller areas. Geographical settings and available plants and animals made it easier in some places (Eurasia) than others (most everywhere else) to make the move to farming, leading more quickly to inventions, writing, tribes, chiefdoms and governed states.

In the "primitive" parts of the world, circa 15th century, the setting just didn't allow for the production of guns or the development of disease. When explorers met these natives, it was easy for them to overrun them and take their land and resources.

Diamond, as always, is deliberate in his reasoning, countering potential arguments before they can be raised. His case is convincing, and his writing is easy to read and absorb. At 440 pages, it's not a quick read, but one that comes recommended.

One interesting argument made is that maybe invention is the mother of necessity, instead of the other way around. I'll leave that for you to think about.

Random thoughts

2008-02-02T13:00:00.001-06:00

while "watching" the MU Tigers game on Yahoo!

my doctor's name at the urgent care center was Dr Bark. I wonder what kind of name that is. Kids named Bark probably wouldn't get teased at all in school.
I successfully avoided the temptation of donuts when in the office on Monday. Three different people brought in some food, but I just walked right past all of it. That's hard to do, and most all of the snacks got eaten, but if I'm not running/biking, then it's probably not a good idea to have donuts.
Chris was sitting next to me in a meeting on Monday, writing in pencil with a big pink eraser on the table. I remember having those way back in elementary school, and I thought only kids were allowed to use them.
At the meeting, we had food delivered and ate in the conference room. When we wanted to get started again, we had to wait for everyone to get quiet. One part of me waited for someone to flick the lights off and on, but more than that, I expected to look around and see someone wearing the FreezeMaster hat. Gosh, I miss that. I should make that a part of our next team meeting.
Being at home for couple of days in a row, knowing that I'm not going anywhere, I've tried to see how long I can go without showering. Ick, right? Two days in a row without is as long as I can stand it.
On Wednesday morning, the temp was 45 degrees. That night, it got down to zero, with winds up to 50 mph. Including wind chill, that was a change of about 70 degrees in less than a day. I was indoors the whole time, so I didn't get to experience it, unfortunately.
To go one city block on crutches? 160 "steps".
When you turn on the faucet in winter, the water is usually very cold. Duh, right? Does it warm up faster if you turn it on full hot? Or is it the same as just having it run on warm?
My doc recommended something called Arnica for the swelling and bruising in my foot. Russ from Berlin gave me some advice on getting better, and he also recommended Arnica. I'd never heard of it before, but maybe that's just because I haven't been injured enough.
The cab ride to work on Thursday cost $19. We took the interstate, which wasn't moving terribly slowly, but we never got up over about 30 mph. The ride home, though, cost $31. Of course, it did take almost 90 minutes on snowy side streets, but I always thought the rides were based on distance. At least it wasn't as bad as my taxi ride in Paris, in which we sat in traffic while the meter just kept rising at the same rate, even if we didn't move at all.
Whenever someone at work describes the resulting output of a program that runs, they say that the program "spits out" a file. I hate that phrase.
I never say "bless you" when someone sneezes. I just think it's a dumb thing to say. Or maybe it's because I don't believe Millhouse's explanation.
Another dumb phrase? "You're welcome." You're welcome to what? I'm a much bigger fan of "de nada".
The mail didn't come yesterday. I don't think they even stopped on our block anywhere. Okay, sure, there was a foot of snow on the ground, but that's not supposed to stop them, right?

After work on Tuesday, I'm heading to the Apple store to buy a new laptop. All the commercials (and some opinions from some friends and family) have me convinced that they're better than PCs. After that, I'm meeting some co-workers from Europe at their hotel. They're in town for some training, and it will be nice to see them again.

I'm not the world's biggest football fan, but I do hope the Patriots win tomorrow. A perfect season in this age would be pretty impressive. Plus, that Tom Brady is just so cool. We're supposed to have an indoor Ultimate game during the Super Bowl, but I think many people are going to be skipping our game and watching football instead. If I wasn't injured, I know where I'd be.

Cascades

2008-01-28T19:45:00.000-06:00

No, I'm not going to write about the Pacific NW mountain range. Instead, let's talk about cascade injuries. If you don't know what I mean by this, try putting a rock in your shoe and walking around for a day. All the injuries that you have from that - those are cascades. By compensating for one injury, you create new ones.

How many non-ankle body parts are aching now because of the sprain? Well, none too seriously, but I do notice them occasionally when hopping around or using my new crutches. Here's a short list: right knee, shin, and quad (all my weight is on that leg for the last week); lower back, from having my foot elevated at odd angles that I'm not used to; wrists and armpits/shoulders (from the crutches...I think I'll try to add some padding, since what's there isn't much).

I think I should have just taken the crutches when the doctor offered them to me last week. I did think that I would be fine walking, but I underestimated (a) how hard it is to get around and (b) how much of a wuss I am. So I made it back to urgent care this morning, and of course, it turns out that there's nothing out of the ordinary with the injury. I don't know why I'd expected it to be so much better after seven days, but I guess I don't remember very well back to 1995 when I last had a sprain, when I was on my feet at work all night and couldn't take days off without going bankrupt.

I even had a pair of wood crutches from that injury, but they're long since gone. I can't wait to see how much it costs, even after the insurance kicks in. I don't think I'd be able to sell them for $20, but I imagine I'll get billed way, way more than that. It was fun walking through an empty(relatively) Union Station this morning, listening to the clang of my keys against the metal framework after every step.

By the way, walking a mile using them is not fun. It's more work than you would think (I was sweating heavily after three blocks, and it was 40 degrees and windy), it's slow going, and you have to watch every step. Don't go too fast, or you'll get lazy and not get the crutches far enough and then stumble and almost fall. It's funny, I don't seem to recall seeing anyone ever walking around the loop on crutches before. Maybe I've just ignored them.

Anyways, it sure does make me feel grateful that normally I have full use of my legs, eyesight, hearing, etc. There are always ways to make do with disabilities, but it's sure nice to not have to.

Recovery

2008-01-26T12:22:00.000-06:00

I caved. After talking to my mom on Monday, I did go to get x-rays taken on my ankle. I really didn't expect that they would find a fracture, and they didn't, but I suppose it was a good idea to go to the urgent care center anyways. I got an air cast, which helped me get around without hopping on one foot, too. I can't wait to see what all of this will cost, even with insurance.

Andrew pointed out in the comments from my last entry that things could be worse, and there's no doubt about that. ACL surgery doesn't sound like any fun. I know quite a few people who have had that procedure done, and it's a lot of work to come back from. However, I still don't know if there's a tear of any kind in my ankle.

The swelling went down after a couple days working at home, and I was able to walk slowly to the train on Thursday and Friday, but since Wednesday, there's no improvement. In fact, it seems a bit worse, as now when I don't have it elevated, the throbbing starts. There's quite a bit of bruising, too,which will soon turn all different colors, I'm sure. The doc at urgent care said to come back in a couple of weeks if it's not better, so I guess the best I can do is wait it out and stay off of it as much as possible.

That's easier said than done. A day or two is easy, but not having the option to do much of anything for a week or more can be frustrating. As much as I try to plan what I need here on the recliner for the next few hours, I always forget something, so I have to get back up and find what I need. Or maybe I don't really need more than the laptop, the DirecTV remote, a book and some water.

Changing subjects: has anyone else ever wondered if mobile phones really need to be turned off during flights? I came across this article yesterday. I'll admit that I don't always turn off my phone, and not one of the planes has crashed! I think it's easy for airlines to state what they think is the cause of something without real proof. I don't think any crash has been proven to be caused by someone forgetting to power off their blackberry.

Of course, I most certainly do not want to allow people to actually use their phones in-flight. The blabbermouths that have to be in touch all the time are completely oblivious to those around them. To them, it seems, they are the only people in the world that matter. I would compare them to someone who smells bad. Everyone in the vicinity can smell it, but the stinker can't. And it might be considered poor form to actually tell them to go take a shower. Or if you do, they'll be offended.

Certainly, people should be able to go a few hours without talking about business or gossip or your plans for the weekend. It wasn't all that long ago that mobile phones didn't even exist. How did we all manage in those dark days? Now we can get email, listen to music, surf the internet and watch TV on our phones! Geez, is it that important that it can't wait five minutes until you get home or to your desk at work? I hope I never get to the point where I think having a BlackBerry is a necessity.

On a lighter note, I also saw this article. Don't some airplanes have outlets to plug into? Maybe I dreamed that. Trains have them, and if you can now charge gadgets through the audio jack, I wonder why it's never been an option to have a wall-like outlet to plug into. Maybe it has to do with it being easier to just have all those devices off during takeoff and landing. I still don't get this, though, since if the biggest hazard there is someone not holding on to it and injuring themselves, that should be their own fault. If you're dumb enough to not know that acceleration might cause you to drop your iPod, then you deserve to have it break.

No big plans for the rest of this weekend, especially since I'd like to get my ankle some much needed rest. I did get out to dinner last night with newlyweds Maneesha and Damian. Dinner at Cavanaugh's was fun, and it's always nice to catch up with them. When I left, it was snowing lightly, a nice Chicago winter scene.

Another week at home?

2008-01-21T12:32:00.000-06:00

I don't even know who I collided with or landed on, but I did hear a sickening crunch or crack or popping noise. We were in set number three of last night's indoor game, and I had to try to make a D on my guy running to the goal. The disc thrown to him was just floaty enough that I could make a play on it, and I did get the D, but when I landed all I knew was pain.

Left ankle, probably a high sprain, I'll probably be out of action for a few weeks. I can't put any weight on it at all, though I don't think it's broken, since I can wiggle my toes, mostly without pain. It had swelled up nice and big by the time I got home (thanks for the ride, Ben!), but it wasn't discolored. I slept surprisingly well on it, having it elevated under the blankets.

This morning the swelling was down but that only lasted a few minutes while I got cleaned up and ready for a day of sitting around. It sure it tiring hopping around my house on one leg. I think it took about five minutes to get up all the stairs after Ben dropped my off. At least my right leg will be in better shape for a while.

So, I think I'll have to stay at home for work at least Tuesday and maybe longer, even though I've already worked at home most of last week. I suppose I'll just have to keep it elevated and iced for a couple of days to see how things go. Maybe I'll be able to walk slowly on it later this week. I'd go to the hospital, but all they'll do is take an x-ray and tell me there's no break, maybe give me a scrip for pain medication and tell me what I already know to do.

This probably puts an end to my winter league play, though I would hope that I can get back for at least part of spring. High ankle sprains can take a long time to heal, though, so perhaps I'll just shoot for summer league. Ugh. I wonder how hard it will be to bike on it and how long it might be before I can cycle again. At least not having a car isn't a problem, since I wouldn't be able to drive a manual transmission anyways.

I did make it out to the Schaumburg office on Tuesday for a team outing, though. It's review time, so we did that before heading out in the early afternoon for bowling and then dinner. We had debated having an outing, just in case any poor reviews would cause people to not want to be around others. Fortunately, those that we were thinking of left the company late last year, so all was good.

Twelve of us made it to the alley, and the random teams we put together were surprisingly well matched. The same team won all three, but they needed career highs from a couple of them to do it. I was right on my average (from fewer than a dozen games per year, surely) with a 129, 141 and 139.

For dinner we went to Rosebud, which just happened to have my favorite wine on the menu. The food was good and our waitress very friendly, but I think it was overpriced. The company was paying, so what do I care? I just probably wouldn't choose to go there if I was picking up the tab. Just a bit too pretentious, like so many other places like it. Conversation and company is just as important, and you can get that just about anywhere without spending your paycheck.

Friday I went to pick up a chair at the upholsterer. Kate is right down the street from me, and after numerous times going by her place and seeing her sign, I had finally written down the number last month and made arrangements. She did a great job on it, even made an effort to clean up the wood armrests. So now I have grandma's rocker to go with my La-Z-Boy (which I'm sitting in now because I can get more elevation for my foot).

Later that night, I met Leah out at Alice and Friends for dinner. It's strictly vegetarian, with almost everything on the menu vegan. My Don Ka Su was very tasty. The jasmine rice was better than I expected, especially after Leah made a point to avoid the dish because she didn't want white rice.

Afterward, we walked down the street to see a show at the Annoyance Theater. "Love Is Dead" is described as "a necromantic musical", about a mortician who has a certain fetish at work. He meets an actual living woman, and they fall in love, but they don't live happily ever after. Turns out the killer is not who you might have thought. The show was good fun, even if the plot was somewhat macabre.

What else? It's supposed to be warm today, maybe getting up to the high 20s, though I think it's supposed to snow and then get cold again. This weekend we got below zero, with the wind making it feel about 15 below zero. Almost as bad as it was in Green Bay for last night's football game, but I didn't see anyone walking (or running) around in short sleeves. On TV they even showed at the game a group of girls in bikini tops!

Finally, I think it's about time to get a new PC. I think this time I'll be getting a Mac laptop, so if you have suggestions or helpful hints, let me know. Suddenly on my desktop I'm unable to load .pdf files or watch YouTube movies. I know that even having the technology to do things like this and even get online in the first place is a kind of luxury, but it sure is frustrating when it takes ten minutes to be able to work on anything after hitting the power button. Then, applications just stop working? Yep, time to switch to a Mac, which supposedly is better, at least in terms of spyware and firewalls and not having to get constant updates of everything every other day.

Oh, and happy Martin Luther King Day!

Feeling like a slacker

2008-01-16T20:07:00.000-06:00

It seems like so long since I've written anything here, and there are always excuses to put it off. It's another short week for me, having taken my last 2007 day off. It's a holiday weekend again coming up, but it doesn't look to be very pleasant outside. I have to go out to Provenance on Saturday to pick up food from Cedar Valley Farm, so I'll have to brave the cold and (apparently) wind. If I didn't feel like I'm coming down with a cold, it wouldn't be a big deal at all.

Speaking of CSAs, it's been three weeks since I last got a box of fresh veggies, and I miss it. Why don't I just go down to the store and buy some? I kind of like not having to choose what food to get, and then meeting the challenge of cooking with it. If I go to the market, I'd have to make a conscious decision to pick something and not let it go to waste. Who knows if I'll be in the mood to eat it tomorrow or over the weekend? It's hard to explain the difference, but it's just easier to motivate myself when all I have to do is go pick up a box.

I did just send a check to Genesis Growers for this year's share, and it's only, what, ten more weeks to April? Heck, spring training starts next month, the days are getting longer (even if it's slow going), and we should soon be through the worst of the cold. Theoretically. There always seems to be a stretch in February or even March where it gets overly frigid for a week or so, usually shortly after a warm spell. Those are the worst. You think it's almost spring, and then winter comes back to show you how little you know.

Over the weekend I went back to the Field Museum to check out their special exhibit on maps. It was kind of cool, with a lot of old ones on display. There was one world map on display, made around 1610, and it showed North and South America reasonably close to what they look like on modern maps. The northwest area, around present-day Washington and British Columbia, was kind of distorted, but the effect was good. It had only been a little over 100 years since Columbus' first voyage, and already, they knew where they were going, just about anywhere.

Another display showed a map of Chicago streets circa 1857 (I think). It was interesting seeing the familiar street names. Where the Sears Tower now stands was a two-story house. In fact, there were no tall buildings, so it was somewhat disconcerting in trying to orient myself. North of Division Street, there was virtually nothing but open fields. Strange to think of that as being very far north in Chicago.

I can remember way back in grade school, our social studies teacher, one of two nuns that taught us through those years, had a big box of map exercises. The first sets were all very basic, in which you were asked to find a place or something. As you progressed through the series, the maps got more complicated, and the questions more analytical. I think for the most part, this was "free time" work, so if you'd finished your work, that's what she gave you to do. (Yes, I was a big nerd and had plenty of free time.) Anyways, I don't know what has fascinated me so much with maps, but I could stare at one all day and find any number of interesting (to me, at least) things on it.

The other fun thing I did last week was have an association meeting. By "fun" I mean decidedly unfun. The two other members of the association came up, and I tried to talk to them about planning on getting some maintenance work and regular inspections done on various parts of the building. Minor things, like painting the rusting back stairs, making sure there are no more new leaks forming on the roof, re-sealing the decks, brick and stone, and getting some shared storage outside (currently, the snow blower and other equipment is in the bottom unit, so only they have access to it, meaning that it never gets used because you can't call too early - too late and you have to get to work or they're already gone).

Of course, getting the neighbors to actually spend any money on preventive maintenance here is like asking them stick an ice pick in their eye. I want to ask them if they would spend nothing on maintaining their cars, but I don't think they would get it. Does anyone know anything about painting wrought iron stairs? Ours are rusting a bit and need to be redone. I wonder about how long it has to be dry outside and how long it takes to dry. One lady thinks we can just do it ourselves. Right. Good luck finding a time when we're all available (she's just sooooooo busy) and weather will permit. Somehow I got permission to get a FREE estimate for a pro to come and do it. Like they'll actually approve it. Ugh. So, it looks like I'll be doing some legwork in the next few months to get some quotes and figure out a budget and schedule for work that will need to be done regularly. Hooray!

I tried to kick my Orbit gum habit, to no avail. It's just so addictive! Of all the nasty habits I've quit over the years - smoking, drinking, gambling, crack, Smallville - this one's by far the toughest. Okay, I still watch Smallville, but there won't be any new shows for a while, so that's fine.

Our Sunday night Ultimate game was fun again, even though we lost on the last point. I like the way the league is set up - three 25-minute "sets", each worth one point in the standings. If you win all three, you get a bonus point. We won the first, lost the second, were winning the third, gave up the tying score, and as time ran out, our opponents scored. Rats! Lousy Vijay and Bill, I guess I had to lose to them for the first time at some point. This week we play at 10pm, so it's a good thing there's no work on Monday.

Lori, if you're reading this, did you know that this is the last season of Scrubs? You're probably far behind anyways, being in Greifswald and all, but I thought you might like to know. What ever will you do?

Indoor Ultimate

2008-01-08T18:37:00.000-06:00

On Sunday, I finally got to play some more Ultimate. Since early November, I'd only gone to pickup once - the day after Thanksgiving. I'd tried at least once on a Thursday night, but Sundays were either very windy or icy, or I had too much other junk to do. And new year's day I had to skip because of the MU Tigers bowl game (they finished # 4 in the country, their highest ever finish!).

It's kind of tough to decide in the winter what to do about pickup. On the one hand, I'd like to play, but I don't want to go and then stand around. Unfortunately, it never starts on time, so if you're too early, you have to wait for everyone else to show. If it's warm at all, you end up with far too many people wanting to play, and there's a lot of waiting for the right opportunity to jump in.

When the chance arose to play in a Sunday night, indoor game, why wouldn't I do that? It cost a bit more than the other Chicago leagues, and the games start somewhat late - 7pm, 8:30pm or 10pm, meaning I'd be getting home late before the start of a work week, but hey, it beats not playing, no? It's only a seven-week schedule, but it will take us to just a few weeks before the start of spring league, so maybe we'll all be in better shape to start that season than all the others.

In game one, we only had 7 players (of 13) show up. That means two subs, but only one for the guys. A couple of guys who stayed late after the 7pm game subbed in a bit, but it was pretty tiring. I'm still sore two days later. We didn't play very well, but maybe our no-shows will be the difference this weekend. Of course, win or lose, it's Ultimate, so it's fun no matter.

Tomorrow it looks like the weather might finally cooperate to allow me to cycle to work. It's been especially warm for a few days, but I won't ride if there's lightning, and there's been some storms the last couple of days. Monday the rains came while I was on the train home, and there were chances of t-storms all day today. Unfortunately, the forecast isn't all that specific or always accurate, so if it looks like it might rain heavily near either rush hour, I have to leave the bike at home. Wednesday is supposed to be clear all day, though, and a March-like 40 degrees, so the new bike might get its first workout.

I went to pick it up on Saturday, and Deb drove me back to the city. I nearly missed the train to the western suburbs because the Metra to downtown was 15 minutes last. Ugh. Luckily, my blazing foot speed got me from one end of the station to the other with seconds to spare. I now have a lock and computer affixed to both bikes, so I'm ready for anything.

Coming up on Thursday: our first association meeting in months. Can't wait for that. These things aren't scheduled and it always seems like a big hassle to decide on anything, but maybe this one will go better. If only my neighbors would listen to me (since I'm so smart - S-M-R-T).

Feels like a different day

2008-01-03T21:25:00.000-06:00

Having a holiday on a Tuesday throws the whole week out of whack. This is especially true when you spend that day doing Sunday things - watching football (college instead of NFL, but still), shaving your head (this is a Sunday activity, but I was out of town on the 30th, so it had to wait), sleeping late. So, it's kind of weird for it to be Friday tomorrow, and it's also strange to have only two days off this time. My only two day weekend since mid-November was Dec. 1-2, and even the next couple of weekends are long ones for me.

I did get to see family last Friday to Sunday, and that's always nice, for at least a little while. Having to see everyone, at about four different places, can get to be a pain at times, but getting in and out of town reasonably quickly makes it bearable. Not that I don't like spending time with relatives, but making everyone happy by balancing my time with all of them can be stressful.

But, I made it through. Friday was at Dad's, and then I was up late at Mom's debating with her about numerous things. Let's just say that she's a bit more conservative about some things than I am, and I'm no bleeding heart liberal to start with. Saturday morning all the kids (save for Kate/Brian, who weren't travelling due to the imminent birth of child # 2) were at Mom's, and then it was out to St. Charles to my uncle's.

There, I saw some cousin's that I haven't seen in a while, plus all their kids. It amazes me how old we're all getting. My youngest cousin, Caitlin, is 22 and almost done with school. She's at Mizzou, so she's gotten to see the rebirth of the football team (yes, rebirth, they were consistently good...about 30-40 years ago). I remember being at school when no one went to the games and they won 3 games per year. Just about all of my dad's siblings showed up, and they're still a ton of fun.

I did get lost trying to find the house, so I suppose I should have printed out the directions. I had borrowed the Cadillac from Mom, and I had to fill it up on the way to the gathering. I didn't really need a reminder of why driving sucks, but filling up for $45 is kind of ridiculous. I'm so glad I don't have to do that any more. Of course, traveling in St. Louis by bus, train or bike, especially over long distances, is nearly impossible, so sometimes you just have to suck it up.

On Saturday night, I stayed at my brother (okay, half-brother, former step-brother...you figure it out) Ed's house, and played some Scrabble and Yahtzee with them and their neighbors. Loreen accidentally blurted out that she and Steve used to get their dog high, and their two daughters immediately picked up on it, so they were busted. Good times (great oldies). Then on Sunday, I got to play some more games, this time at sister Jenn's house. She and her friend Kerri (L) weren't much of a challenge in Scrabble, but we had a good time drinking margaritas, and then the Rummikub was a pretty even match.

It's always nice to get back home, though, especially to sleep in one's own (big) bed. Ed's son Nicholas is always nice enough to give up his bed when I stay there, and it is a double, so it's not exactly tiny (like the twin at Mom's), but it's just not home.

Actually getting here, though, was a bit of a headache. I was almost late for the train, last to board, but I had a minute or two to spare. So we left on time, with a scheduled arrival in Chicago 5 hours and 45 minutes later. What time did we actually get to Union Station? Turns out, it was 6 hours, 40 minutes after we left St. Louis. How does this happen? The weather wasn't a factor, but it seems that every time there was a train going the other direction and every time there was any chance of waiting for any reason, we did.

We left at 8:30am, so we were riding through lunch time, and didn't arrive until 3:10pm. Around noon, I went to find something to eat. The dining car was closing, to my complete surprise. Uh, it's lunch time. Okay, try the snack bar. Nope, he doesn't have anything, either. Again, what? Luckily I had a couple of apples packed, so I didn't starve and die, but am I the only one that finds this rather incredible? If I had known there would be no food, I could have at least planned to have something with me.

Anyways, by the time I got home, I was pretty cranky, understandable with the little I'd eaten all day, so I called Amtrak and complained - and got a $20 voucher sent to me. That almost covers the cost of the trip home, so that makes it better. Really, I wouldn't have even called to complain, but not once did any attendant or announcement apologize for anything. Like this is normal procedure? Ugh.

On the 1st, I got to do something that I have never done on New Year's Day - watch the Missouri Tigers play a football game. And they routed Arkansas, of the best conference ever (at least to hear SEC fans - and Razorbacks players - say it). It was nice to see them play well and walk away with a big win. They could end up this season and start next season in the top five. Nice!

So now it's back to work and normal stuff. I did get to the Art Institute with Sarah after work today, to see the Jasper Johns exhibit. There are some interesting works there, but it seems like he did a lot of the same piece over and over, in very slightly different ways. I'm not sure if that's genius or lazy. Oh, and the wind chill this morning was -5, so we've hit a new record biking to work. Only my feet got cold, and only in the last mile or so. Getting home was a bit tougher, with a headwind and the wind chill still less than 10.

Tomorrow will be nicer, though, with highs into the low 30s. I made a couple of batches of cookies to bring to a vegan potluck after work. Should be fun!

Out of butter but plenty of Cranberries

2007-12-25T10:02:00.000-06:00

On Friday I take an early train to St. Louis to spend the weekend with family. I'll be coming back on the 31st and heading back to work on January 2nd. I still have a few days to take off, so I'll have some more long weekends next month. I'm about 95% caught up and settled back in after my Europe trip, so I'll have to find things to do on those days off.

Last week I had Friday off, and I had Deb's car to use, so I ran some errands around town. I had to go pick up some framed pictures that wouldn't be a good fit if I was cycling, so I figured to get a bunch done all at once. And I did, finishing up just in time to get down to the Field Museum to see the Darwin exhibit. Much of what I saw I already knew, but it was good to see anyways, and besides, it was free, since I have a membership that I rarely use.

On my way there, I got to thinking about the differences between life at home and three months in a Frankfurt hotel. Here, I get to the Field Museum about twice a year, despite the fact that it's free. I've taken family there a couple of times, but it's easy to take for granted (not "for granite"), since there's always next weekend. Traveling around Europe, I made sure to see as much as I could every weekend, since I didn't know when I'd be back to take advantage. The problem is that putting things off for a week usually leads to months and even years before you actually do what you had planned.

I've been in Chicago for over ten years, and I've still never been to the planetarium, despite a fascination with stars and planets (though I can't make out constellations to save my life). The sheer vastness of the universe is amazing, and it's a quick trip to the museum campus, but I just haven't made the time. Neither have I been to the top of the Sears Tower, even though I work across the street from it. Some of my procrastination stems from my dislike of touristy, crowded places, but I should be able to put that aside for a short period to see a sight or two from time to time.

Luckily, Sarah at work wants to see some places around town, too. I met her at Field at 4:30pm, but the museum closes at 5pm (who knew? and why so early?), so we really didn't get to see much. That just means we'll have to go back. After the new year, we're planning to go to the Art Institute (another one I've never visited), and Sarah has a list of places to see in the city, so I might mooch off of her and use her list.

The night before, I went to dinner at Yen's with Megan. Good dumplings and ginger chicken. Then we went next door to the Landmark to see Juno. I haven't seen many movies lately, but it moved near the top of my favorites list (I don't actually have a list like this on paper or on the computer...it's all in my head and subject to change at any time). Plenty of laughs and still touching in the right doses. Ellen Page is outstanding as the lead, and while Michael Cera plays the same character he always does, he does so to perfection. Go see this movie.

On Saturday, Sarah and I went to Andrew's welcome home party/tailgate in Wilmette. On the way, we stopped at the Baha'i Temple. We didn't have much time to look around or learn about it, so we planned to bike back for a return visit in the spring. It is interesting to me that the Baha'i faith reveres the books and teaching of all major religions and preaches tolerance. Interesting, and quite different from just about every other religion in the world.

On Sunday, I finally got around to hanging pictures and art on my walls. For two and a half years at this house, I haven't really hung anything. It took much of the day, but now the place feels homier. There are mementos from my trip, team pictures from the tournaments I played in, and some prints and art I picked up from some museums around Europe. The side of the refrigerator holds some more postcards that I had no other place for. It's nice to see reminders of my trip when I walk into the room.

With my last food box picked up last Thursday, I had to come up with something to do with the veggies. Plenty of apples this time, plus some broccoli and carrots that I can steam for a quick meal. What to do with four sweet potatoes? How about some biscuits? Mmmm. While I was at it, I made a couple of breads, too, and I can freeze them until the new year. Unfortunately, I ran out of butter at the end, so I can't do much else today, since the market is probably closed. Rather than try to decide on what to listen to, I just hit play on the iPod, with the Cranberries next on the alphabetical list. Beats holiday music any time, not that I have any to listen to. I'll get more than my share of that this weekend anyways.

Next up: enjoy the day off, catch up on some reading, bike to work Wed. and Thurs. and then head to Missouri for family stuff. I'd say that's a fine way to end the year.

Just another Tuesday

2007-12-25T09:47:00.000-06:00

After working a shortish day yesterday here at home, I find myself with yet another day off today. Okay, I know it's a holiday, and I even know which one it is, but I just don't see what the big deal is. It's supposed to be all about family and giving, but that's not really how it ends up, is it? For weeks, months even, we are bombarded with advertising and pleas to buy the latest gadgets and games and gear. In addition, if you go anywhere after Halloween, all you hear is holiday music, the same junk you've heard for years. It's enough to make me stay at home and ignore the whole thing.

Which is just about exactly what I did. Well, it happened to work out this way. Every year around this time, I travel to St. Louis to see family, but the gatherings this year will be this weekend. So, I'll get to see everyone and give them some gifts I picked up abroad and catch up on stories and goings-on since I saw them last. I always enjoy the time I spend in my home town, but the planning and running around can be too much at times, especially when it's all expected. With extended families and limited time, it can get to be a big headache. And it's just me. If I had a family of my own to deal with, it would be doubly stressful.

Anyways, I'm not a total Grinch or Scrooge, but I don't see why everything has to happen at this time of the year. Family and friends should be treasured, and we should all make time to spend time with them and give them gifts and just tell them how much they mean to us. But why don't we do these things all year? I know, everyone is busy, but the supposed real meaning of this time of year has long been lost to the overwhelming majority of people, who are just going through motions because that's what they're told to do.

So, everyone, enjoy the holiday season, have a good time with friends and family, but also try to not get caught up in the commercialism and the feeling of responsibility that goes along with this time of year. It can be a wonderful time, but it shouldn't be just for a few days every December.

A new record...

2007-12-17T19:56:00.000-06:00

...for low temperature that I've cycled to work in. It was 18 degrees this morning, with a wind-chill of about five. Still, by the time I got to the office, I was sweating, so I still have some work to do in figuring out how to dress for this. Too many layers and it's too hot, but I don't want to freeze myself out either. I don't think I was stinky at work today, though, or at least no one complained.

The roads were mostly clear, though still wet, after the foot of snow we got over the weekend. The only rough spots were where cars had been parked and the snow scattered when they finally pulled out of their spot. Sunday I spent two hours sweeping off the back steps and shoveling the walks. I even cleared out some of the parking spots, since Deb was coming by later in the day to drop her car off for the week. I have a key, so some of the errands I still need to run, I can use her car for. Thanks, Deb!

That two hours of work yesterday was very tiring, and my back is still a little sore today. I don't think we're supposed to get much precip this week, and the forecast is even calling for rain, so there shouldn't be much shoveling to do for a while. Or maybe that's just wishcasting ($1, Christina Kahrl).

Flyin' by

2007-12-15T15:47:00.000-06:00

Gosh, the days pass so quickly, is it just me? I meant to post earlier this week, but I never found the time. On Tuesday, I rented a car to work in the Schaumburg office and go to the dentist. All seems well with the teeth, but the doctor wasn't there (something about not being able to fly out of Iowa with all the ice and snow), so if I don't hear anything back soon, then I won't have to return until June. I did get the full-mouth x-rays, which numbered 18 times biting down on the metal and paper and waiting for the buzz to signal that the film was shot.

The drive to the suburbs went surprisingly well. I was unsure of whether ZipCar would provide an ice scraper, so I bought one at a dollar store down the street. I must have left the ones I had in the Toyota, which is now in St. Louis, hopefully getting put to good use. Turns out, I didn't need to worry about this, since there was a scraper in the back seat, and a shovel in the trunk. But also, the forecast turned out to be more hype than truth, as the freezing rain never materialized. Instead, it was just drizzly all day.

In any case, traffic was fine going to Schaumburg. When I used to make that drive every day, I was always impatient, and I worked very hard to avoid sitting in a jam. When it couldn't be avoided, I didn't do very well at just taking it in stride. Tuesday, though, I had no problems, even in the few instances of heavier traffic. I wonder if this was simply because I hadn't made this trip in four months, or maybe being without a car made me realize that it's a luxury, not a necessity. I think the real reason was that I had expected to be in the car for an hour, and with the rain not freezing, the trip was shorter, which made me happy.

While I had the car, I ran a couple of errands and did a little shopping. I went into an REI to look at a bike, but they didn't have either of the two I wanted in stock. The staff was extremely helpful, and they said I should order online and if I changed my mind, I could get a refund. Nice! So that's what I did - the Fusion should be getting to Oak Brook Terrace late this month, and I can go pick it up after the New Year, and maybe Deb can help me get it back home. I like that this bike is much like the one I had in Frankfurt, with generator lights, fenders and disc brakes. Do I need a second bike? Maybe not, but I can always get rid of one later.

Wednesday I stopped in to Piece Pizza on North Ave. and met Colleen and Katie from our summer league team. I had a couple of souvenirs for Colleen, and Katie had made me a duct-tape wallet that's really cool. She even included a clear plastic window for easy viewing.

We actually had four on our party, as Joel, Colleen's friend and a professional poker player, joined us. We were stars at deciding what kind of pizza to get (sausage, bacon, mushrooms and half with spinach), and my suggestion of including bacon went over well. I think my favorite combo is just what we had (the girls ate the spinach half), and Piece is just fantastic pizza. A little pricey, maybe, but well worth it. The only problem is that the slices are longer than the plates are wide.

Aside from the pizza, Piece brews its own beer, and I noticed that they had a dunkel hefeweisen on tap this time. I don't know if it's always been on the menu, but I really liked what I had in Germany, and I wasn't disappointed in Bill Jacobs' version. I thought of getting a growler and taking it to go, but I just didn't know when I'd be able to drink 64oz of beer before it would go bad. Maybe next time.

On the ride home, I tried to make a light and pushed the bike up to almost 23 mph, but it wasn't quite fast enough. I really like having the computer to tell me how far I've gone and how fast. Previously, I'd had to estimate my distance and keep a running total in my head. I try to get in 30 miles per week, thinking that if I do that, I don't have to go out to run for exercise. Of course, Ultimate and any extra cycling are always welcome, but I'd like to put in a minimum every week so I don't get lazy and fat.

The penultimate food box of the year I picked up on Thursday, and it included more apples, beets, potatoes, parsnips, turnips, cabbage, kale, onions and red carrots. What would I do with all of these? A quick internet search found this recipe, which just happened to include just about the exact ingredients of this week's share. Very fortuitous, no? It ended up being pretty tasty, too, and I have plenty in the freezer to last for a while. Isn't the internet a wonderful thing?

It's snowing again today, and supposedly will until the morning, but then I think we might get a break for a while. Maybe tomorrow I'll try to clear the walks, or maybe it's best to just let it melt eventually. There's pickup to consider, too, and I haven't played in a while, especially in the snow. Plus everything else still on the to-do list (which is getting shorter, if slowly). I can't believe it's already been over a month since I got back to Chicago.

The year is almost over

2007-12-09T19:06:00.000-06:00

I can't believe we're only three weeks from a new year. The past few months have just flown by, and of course the old saying is true. Life never seems to slow down, and with the holidays quickly approaching, there's always plenty to do. Most years, this one included, I don't do holiday shopping. Instead of taking the family out to dinner, though, I do have gifts for everyone this year. It's just that I picked up everything in Europe, so I won't have to go to the malls or anywhere near a shopping center, as planned.

I still need to get out to play some Ultimate in the snow, though I was at the park on Thursday night. Unfortunately, no one else showed, or at least they weren't there by 8pm, so I went home. I know all about Ultimate time, so when they say 7:30 start, that really means closer to 8:00 or 8:15, but usually at least someone is there within a few minutes of the start. Not on Thursday, though. Turns out, the Bears were playing that night. Who knew?

I would have gone out today for pickup, but there was a fine sheen of ice over the city this morning. I did walk around the neighborhood a bit to run a couple of errands, and the streets weren't too bad, but the sidewalks are brutal, and I had to walk in the now-crunchy snow. Playing on that may have been okay, but I didn't want to take the chance. I do plan to ride to work tomorrow, however. The streets looked fine today, and they'll be even clearer in the morning.

Tuesday I have to go to the Schaumburg office for work, because I have a dentist appointment. This means driving, so I got a ZipCar for the day. The weather forecast isn't pretty, with more freezing rain called for that day. As fun as it is to drive in snow, it's not so much to drive on ice. Even I get a little nervous in those types of conditions, so staying late at work for dinner or something might be a good option.

Dinner on Friday for Sarah's birthday was nice. We went to Irazu on Milwaukee, where I ate too much, though the food was very good, as was the banana shake (with milk, not water or soy, the other choices). Walking around Logan Square the last couple of days, I've noticed quite a few places I'd like to try, so I think I'll have to put that on the list. Maybe a new place every week or two? That might be better than just going to same old places or popping a frozen pizza in the microwave.

With Deb gone, I have a goal of trying to cut my gas bill in half. I don't know if it will be possible, so we'll see if setting the thermostat at 66 all day helps any. That's when I'm here. Overnight and during work days, it's 64. Pretty chilly at times, but then I just put on a hat, and it warms up nicely. I put up some window insulation - the plastic sheeting - but I have absolutely no idea if it helps or not. It's only up on the windows on the east and west of the building, so the six northside windows and both sliding doors have no insulation. I'd like to do something there, but I'd also like to have the option of opening and closing the blinds. For now, I'll let it go, and we'll see what the January bill says.

One more note: congrats to Lori for finishing her novel during nanowrimo. I can't wait to read it!

Snow!

2007-12-05T19:29:00.000-06:00

This morning, Chicago woke up to about six inches of fresh snow on the ground. It started late yesterday late afternoon and continued most of the night, apparently. No blizzard, not a lot of wind today, though we did get another inch or so this afternoon. This could put a damper on my cycling plans, since the roads probably won't be all clear. Plus, I don't have a wheel guard, so I'll get sprayed with all the gray muck from the road.

Take a look at the ice on the road on the walk to the train this morning. That's not dangerous at all. I saw quite a few parking spots open, but not a single one "saved" by the strategic placement of folding chairs or cardboard boxes on the pavement after shoveling the car out. I think this is just a Chicago thing, but I am surprised I didn't see any saved spots this morning. Maybe I wasn't looking hard enough. It couldn't be that some kind of law was passed, right? I hardly think people would pay attention to it.

Anyways, the snow caused a bunch of delays on the Metra this morning, but that's not really news. The train I wanted to catch was about 20 minutes behind schedule, and then they announced that it wouldn't be stopping for us. The next one was even more behind schedule, so I ended up waiting outside in the cold for 45 minutes. Good times! (great oldies) I could have gone to catch the bus, but that might have taken even longer, so I just toughed it out.

By the time I got home, the snow was done, but most sidewalks hadn't been cleared, including ours. Three of the four people in the building work every day, and the other is just plain lazy, I think. Maybe he finally got a job, who knows? Anyways, we have a snow blower, but it resides in the ground-floor unit, since we don't have a common storage area (who builds a 3-flat condo building and doesn't have shared storage in the basement?). I could get up early and use the blower (or shovel, I guess) to clear our walks, but I'd have to call the neighbors and wake them up, and they'd get pissed about that. So, I sleep in.

Of course, after a full day of the neighborhood walking over it, the snow gets to that compact, icy stage that makes it impossible to shovel or clear at all, so now we'll just have to wait until it warms up. Last year we had some salt we threw down from time to time, but I haven't heard about anything that was done to prepare for winter this year. I think the whole time I was in Germany, the other owners were reveling in the fact that I wasn't around to hound them about association meetings or spending the association's money on worthless things such as salt, an extra shovel or saving money to repaint the stairs or reseal the decks.

So instead of shoveling the walks, I swept the snow off the stairs in the back. Really, it's a selfish thing, since I need to be able to carry my bike outside, and the bylaws state I can't take it out the front (something about marking up the walls with tire treads). Now I have a path, and even the annoying neighbors can take the back steps without falling.

Aside from the shoveling, I love snow, even driving in it. Years ago, I learned the fine art of snow driving by going to empty parking lots and practicing. Many people get scared and tighten up in slippery conditions, and there's no question you need to be more careful and alert. Don't fear the fishtail! They say to turn into the skid? I'm not even sure what that means. I like over-turning and correcting it before the tires catch. Then you're going straight, right where you wanted to be.

You know what else is fun in the snow? Ultimate! Of course! You have to play on a new snow, though, since you don't want it packed and icy, like the sidewalks. Soft snow makes for easy layouts, and if you can keep your footing better than your mark, you're open all day. Throwing with gloves on? Not so easy, but some just don't wear gloves. There's a pickup game tomorrow, so I'll definitely try to get there for a few points.

Check out Julia's latest blog post on why life should be more like Ultimate. I especially like the first point. I think the problem is worse here in the States than in Germany, but what do I know?

New arrangements

2007-12-02T15:04:00.000-06:00

Here it is Sunday afternoon, and life is much different for me than it was just two days ago. I am now without a roommate and without a car. Deb moved out yesterday, packing starting at 8am and ready just in time for the truck to get here at about 2:30pm. She still has some stuff to pick up here, and she'll have to bring me back some luggage she borrowed, but her room is empty and I suddenly have a bit more space.

She'll have to take all of the Miller Lite in the fridge, since she bought it for her friends, and I won't touch it. Ick. Then I'll have plenty of room to put all the food I won't eat! Actually, I did make some rice and potatoes using the farm food, though most of it is in the freezer, which is just about full.

Really, the open space that will get used is her bedroom, since I can move some furniture in there and not have to take a long walk around the couch in my room to open the blinds. Should the computer go in there, too? It's probably best to do that, since I could make it office-like and work at home in there instead of in the dining room or my bedroom.

This morning, my sister flew up with a friend to come get my car. I picked them up at O'Hare and took them to my favorite restaurant for breakfast. I ate way too much, especially since I'd had a bowl of Mini-Wheats before leaving for the airport. I couldn't resist having a cinnamon roll and a side of veal sausage in addition to the eggs benedict. Mmmm.

We got back to my place, and I signed the title over, and she gave me a check for partial payment. I'll get much of the rest at tax season, and then maybe monthlies to finish out the rest. I suppose this will cover some of the lost rental income, so that's a plus. I walked to the bank to deposit the check, and couldn't get in. I even lined up the stripe on my ATM card with the arrow, as indicated, but the door was stuck. There's another branch a few blocks away, but it was already raining, so I skipped it. I even had the quickest of thoughts that I could just drive to the other...oh, yeah, that's right.

The rest of the weekend didn't quite go as planned, since I haven't been able to shake my cold. Maybe biking in 30 degree weather had something to do with it? I'll never believe that. Anyways, I had to skip the concert on Friday after leaving work a bit early. I had been kind of excited to see the show, but I did feel better Saturday after a decent sleep. Besides, it turned out that the show didn't start until 11pm, though the website said 8pm. I suppose I should have known that the listed time was when doors opened or something, but I wasn't really thinking that clearly. So, staying out until 2am would have probably been a very bad idea in my condition.

Then, last night, I watched the MU Tigers get dismantled by Oklahoma. I'm not exactly surprised by the outcome, but it was a little anti-climactic in the second half. I was hoping at least for a close game into the late stages, but it wasn't to be. At least in the polls that came out early today, Missouri is in front of Kansas!

For a fleeting moment, though, I wondered if last night's game was just a bad game against a great opponent, or was it indicative of a program that hasn't really turned the corner? Do Michigan fans see the world ending after a particularly ugly loss, or do they comfort themselves that their school will always be very good and sometimes will be great and usually mentioned as a title contender? For us Tigers fans, it's a new world. We don't really know how to react to having a great team, so we'll have to wait to see what happens in January before judging this team. A loss could send fear racing through the masses that 2007 was all just a fluke and more changes need to be made. A win might calm everyone down and get us ready for a big season next year.