Keep on Rockin in a Free World

So thanks to my earlier post about Guitar Hero, I received it for my birthday, which was yesterday (Thanks AmyMom!). That's right, so after a wonderful steak at Al Capone's Hideaway spent a few hours with Mrs Waj rocking out with my sweet new guitar. It even came with stickers to create your own punk rock weapon. No thanks, I've got plenty of stickers saved up to make mine way cooler and different than anyone else's. Don't worry their will be pictures... Let me just say that I hope this controller is sturdy enough, because I am totally going to destroy this game. It is so much fun, and I haven't even started. I'm really going to miss sleeping 7 hours a night.

Waj

On a side note, I just realized that I went to Al Capone's for my birthday dinner and dressed up as a gangster the same year...

[Edit] - picture updated for all to see with stickers.

Destination Success

Wow over a week back from vacation and no Spain Trip post. Man I probably forgot most everything about the trip, and I didn't take any notes. Unfortunately this post will not be about our European Vacation, but the more recent trip to the city of Chicago to see the Smoking Popes last Friday night.

The show was sold out, 36 minutes according to the Smoking Popes website. Since the show didn't start until 11:00, we decided to eat before the show at the Wrigleyville Goose Island Restaurant a few blocks from the Metro. I absolutely love Goose Island Honker's Ale along with most of the beers that they make. The restaurant also has beer choices that aren't available in the liquor dept of the local Jewel Osco, so I had to try the Red they had, I can't remember the name, but it was delicious. The fish and chips were OK, not as exciting as I thought they would be, but they also weren't too pricey, average for a Bar and Grill. I really wanted another Red, but didn't want to fill up and get tired for the show. We decided to head to the Full Shilling, next door to the Metro. It used to be called Fuel and was more of a Rock/Punk Bar until they recently redecorated to be more attune to the sports fans which pile in during the baseball season before, during and after Cubs games at nearby Wrigley Field.

A few PBRs later, it was time to head to the show. We didn't want to get there early as we had never heard of Bella Lea. Wow was the line long. I couldn't see the end of it, and the Tribune reported it being around the block - and its a long block. Luckily we had our tickets mailed to us - and a high school friend of Mrs Waj was pretty close to the front of the line. I noticed that two lines were forming near the doors, one for Will Call and the other for people that already had tickets. Most people (not sure why) decided to get Will Call tickets, even though the show went on sale a few months ahead of time so there was plenty of time to get your tickets. After finally catching up on recent events, I tried to persuade my group that we could go to the front, since we had tickets in hand (it was pretty windy and cold). They didn't want to lose our place in line, and a few minutes later a Metro rep yells out that people with tickets could come to the front. Finally we could get it.

We walk in and try to go to the balcony for some good seats, but somehow the seats were reserved, and the standing room wouldn't allow us to see the stage, so we headed back downstairs. We decided to take our normal spot stage left, although a little closer than normal, since it a heavy crowd (even with half the people still not in the theater yet). By the time we made it to our spot, Bella Lea was finishing up their set. Barely 20 minutes, great! I thought, the Popes will have plenty of time for a good set. Unfortunately they didn't start until 40 minutes later, to let more of the crowd in I believe.

Finally the lights go out, and the show begins. An amazing set, spanning all three original full length albums. Of course there was the obligatory tall/annoying/distracting people that always seem to be in front of you, which took away from the show. Also from the side angle we couldn't really see the drummer and barely see the 2nd guitarist Eli, even though he was right in front of use (damn tall people and beams!). The sound wasn't as full as it could have been, since we were pretty much right in front of the stage left speakers. Overall it was really great to see them again, and I hope they follow through with their announcement to play more shows!

And for Dave... the ride home was pretty nice as well...

Waj

[edit] so I decided to publish this a few weeks after I started, which is why I kind of ended it so quickly.

Welcome Back Kotter

Well I'm finally back to online civilization. Amazing what 8 days without looking at a monitor can do for you. More about the trip later, but while catching up on some of my emails while gone, I read this funny article about Guitar Hero - a video game with a guitar controller. Its something I'm definitely putting on my Christmas List this year. Along with Eyetoy Play 2; these are 2 things I really want for my playstation 2. Not only for myself, but these look like super fun party games. I'm really bad at making my Christmas list...

Waj

International Traveler

We will be leaving to Palma de Mallorca tomorrow!  We’ve had this trip planned for months and I’m so glad it is tomorrow, it’s been a long summer and I am ready for a vacation.  We’ll be back Sunday November 6th, so don’t expect an update for at least a few months.  

In the meantime I have to put my fantasy football team on Autopilot and have made my Pick-Em picks for next week without even seeing the spread.  Not that it matters when you use the “What city would you rather visit?”  method to pick the team.  I’m sure I’ll have plenty of work when I get back, plenty of bloglines, and emails as well.  Fortunately I also have Smoking Popes on Friday at 11:00 PM of Nov 11th to look forward to upon my return.  I’ll probably still be on Spain time by then anyway, so it should out pretty well.  

Until I return, keep me updated on what I have missed with those blogs!  I may be without a computer for a whole week (unless I happen to stumble into a web café).  It should be interesting…

Waj

The old bastard left his ties and his suit

Mrs Waj and I went the the infamous "Chicago Theatre" last night to see Ben Folds in concert. It was a sold out show - roughly 1300 people fit into this classic downtown Chicago entertainment venue. It was my first time visiting the the place, although I have seen the very famous "Chicago" sign in the heart of the Loop shopping district on State ST, mostly from going to countless shows at the quality House of Blues a few blocks away. We broke our new rule for concerts - "Drove to the city on a weekday after work when we have to work the next day", which was broken faster than a New Years Resolution.

Strangely enough, this is the second "seated" concert I've been to in as many months. While Duvall wasn't assigned seats, it did have rows of immobile chairs, which I don't normally see at the "smaller" shows I attend (HOB, Metro). The design of the place was immacullate - huge paintings above the stage and all around the seating area, framing every doorway and the stage were intricately carved trim, gigantic chandeliers and strange "faces" all around. Some of the faces were angelic, while others were very sinister (if you look at the celiing there is a row of jeering jester-ish faces looking down at you). Kind of creepy in a way, but very cool. I haven't been to any "newer" theaters (do they even make them anymore?) but the crazy amount of detail in this place was amazing.

We arrived almost exactly at 7:30 - after quickly grabbing a bite to eat at Cosi - a sandwich shop a block and a half away. After finding out the opening band was The Fray - whom I'd never heard of, and checked out their website for only a sec, I decided that I didn't really care if we saw their entire set. Turned out there was an opening act before the opening act, and the show was a part of the Yellow Umbrella Tour. Google it if you want, but unless you are a female, I wouldn't recommend it. I'm not going to say much about the opening acts, they really didn't impress me, so if you have nothing good to say - "I was glad when they were both done playing". I really shouldn't be that hard on them, they artists seemed like good musicians - but a little too slow for me. If my 16 year old self were to see that my 26 year old self was at a concert with 3 bands that could be played on Mix 96 (old local soft rock radio) I probably would have kicked my own ass. And I don't like to fight.

As the title of this blog represents my favorite song of the latest album, it coincidentally was the 1st song he played (and 1st song on the disc). Ben Folds sounds really good live - I'm sure you've heard the Ben Folds Live album, if not pick it up (or the new album bundled with a different live album). While we sat down after the first 30 seconds of the song with most of the balcony audience, the group of 8 teenage girls in front of us decided they were going to continue standing through the song. OK I thought, they will just stand for the 1st song, then sit down. The next song came and went, meanwhile the clan in front of us were still standing. I felt like I had Deja Vu - then I remembered an old Saturday Night Live skit with Melanie Hutsell as a teen girl standing through a seated concert. Man I felt old asking them to please sit down - for a few songs. The girl I asked in front of me immediately did, while tugging on the girl next to her to sit as well. It wasn't until the "Leader" of the group sat down that the rest of them did as well. Throughout the show this went on - they would all look at each other at the beginning of a song - waiting to decide whether or not to sit or stand. Until the "leader" either stood up or sat down nothing would happen. It was pretty funny actually, but really took away from the Chicago Theater "intimate" experience. It also shows the wide range of audience that Ben Folds has - from our group of mid-late twentysomethings, the teens in front of us, to the gray haired woman and bald man couple in front of them. Also for the first few songs - the girl behind me clapped her hands so loud to the beat in her head and sang louder than Ben playing through the speakers - I was really annoyed. Good thing she decided to take the first row of seats in our section 10 feet closer - enough so that I couldn't hear the singing - although the clapping was still pounding in my head.

Overally the show was good - not quite worth the $42 paid because of the annoyances around me interrupting the view - we were dead center of the balcony, amazing view when standing (just didn't feel like standing the 2 hours Ben Folds played). He did play for almost 2 hours - I would say the "girls" stood for at least an hour of it, which for a few songs, I decided to stand, simply becuase I am still young enough to be able to and wanted to see. The lighting was really cool - they had some high-powered lights going on the stage that was reminicent of 70's club (or the Austin Powers version anyway). Once in a while the 2 backlights would be directed to the balcony and were blinding, I've never seen such powerful beams, almost laser like, but white/blue instead of red. Also the $6/12 oz bottle of beer price was pretty crazy and considering they didn't take debit/credit cards, I imagine 75% of those sales weren't being accounted for. Another rant for another day.

If I knew when I ordered the tickets what I know now - I would have definitely purchased them again - but maybe tried for the first row instead of 4th row. I don't know if I would see him again for that price and venue, but it was a very cool theater, and cool to "see" him perform. The last 2 times I've seen him it was at Ravinia - nowhere close to the stage to see anything (or just catch his last 2 songs the 1st time). The time before that was the first time - at Horde Festival in '97, the year Whatever & Ever Amen was released, but before "Brick" really caught on. There was only like 30-40 people watching them, but it was really cool to see. Through the next few years of college, I listened to my roommates Ben Folds Five albums, but never really thought about seeing them again. Until recently, after getting a hold of the last few solo albums and actually listening to them, did I really want to see him play. Ravinia was fun, but less a chance to "experience" the music and more of a chance to picnic and hang out to live music.

The drive home was great, I kind of actually know my way around the loop somewhat and was able to get on 290 with no problems. Traffic was very light (it was around midnight) and there were no lane closures on the west bound 290-88 highway, not true for Eastbound - cut down to one lane between Naperville RD and 53 - so glad I was not going in that direction!


Waj

Allergy Update

I guess I should update the finals of my allergy testing. The last round of testing was for food allergys. Only slight reactions on all the popular allergens (wheat, egg, soy...).

So the doc prescribed Zyrtec, one pill daily and suggested immunology (allergy shots). Luckily immunology is covered 100% by insurance, not so much for Zyrtec. $50 a month! You know what I could do with $50 a month? We've been saving our money paying off student loans and equity loans and any other loans we have accumulated over the years, and now, instead of using that $50 for something fun, I get to use it for medicine. GAH! Either that or somehow avoid my cat, dust, mold, and pretty much every other common outdoor allergen in the world.

I'll probably start the allergy shots after we get back from our "Holiday" in Spain. Woo Hoo, one more week until we leave!

Waj

Octoberfest

What! How did he update 3 weeks ago and I'm only getting the RSS feed now?! OK, so I'm backdating this post to the beginning of the month, and hopefully finishing my review of Duvall. Its been one heck of a month, even though I don't feel like I did much. Maybe I'll post about it, maybe not. No more guarantees.

Anyway more on the show. After meeting HIM we had enough time to head for dinner and a few drinks at a local pub. Downtown Naperville on a Friday night. Wonderful. After finding a parking spot a few blocks away - (damn the evil parking garage!), we walked into an emty bar to get some grub, since most of the fine restaurant establishments in the area would have a nice wait.

After getting our stomachs full and a good pre show buzz (no drinks on campus), we head to the theater. A very small venue, with theater seats - I would say about 20 rows total. The opening band is finishing their set and we grab seats stage left/center - about 12th row. While waiting for John Davis to start, they announce the benefit show and how they are raising money to support Katrina relief efforts. Man Katrina, seems like so long ago. Finally John Davis of "Superdrag" fame come out and sits down at a nice grand piano. It doesn't look like the singer I remember from the "Sucked Out" video - bald head, maybe put on about 30 pounds or so, but it definitely sounds like him. I didn't know he was from TN, the South as we like to say here in Chicagoland, and his drawl was pretty thick. His songs were really slow, don't think I would ever buy any albums, but the music wasn't bad. After 5 or 6 songs on the piano, he stands up, picks up the guitar and starts rocking. A nice Souther Rock sound and a little higher tempo - much better for a "Rock Show".

After another announcement about the Hurricane Relief a short slideshow and speech Duvall was ready to rock. We were lucky to have the original lineup with Eli Caterer on Bass (quit the band after releasing the cd to focus on family). I was hoping this meant they would play a few Smoking Popes songs considering Eli was also in that band. Unfortunately, the only Smoking Popes music was inserted into the middle of a Duvall song, and a few acoustic songs by Josh. It was really cool, but I say unfortunately because I don't think Smoking Popes songs (most anyway, there are a few that could be done) can sound great acoustic. They have a really hard sounds with amazing solos which can't be duplicated on an acoustic guitar. The overall sound was great and Josh sounded really good. He has a very distinct sound and I wasn't sure how close to recordings he could sound live. He sounded very close the recordings live, he did not disappoint. Seeing this show made me wish that Nov 11th was tomorrow. I can't wait to see a full set of Smoking Popes songs live!

Until next back dated Post...

Waj

5th Sentence meme

OK, since everyone else is doing it, why can't I.

The Rules:

1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post (or close to it.)
3. Find the fifth sentence (or close to it.)
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.

I've never believed I had allergies, let alone get tested for them.

Brief Encouter

Last night we ventured to downtown Naperville, to the North Central College campus for a hurricane Katrina benefit show. An offshoot of The Smoking Popes, a band called Duvall was playing with John Davis (former frontman for Superdrag). The Smoking Popes are another of my favorite bands (how many is that now?!) and Duvall sound is very similar. While we weren't sure what to expect at North Central College, a private Christian college, at a Christian rock show, we really like Duvall so we decided to check it out. While picking up our tickets before the show, non other than Josh Caterer, the singer/guitarist for Smoking Popes/Duvall walked outside the side of the building by us. We didn't know if Duvall was headling, since no one at the Box Office seemed to know anything about the show, and John Davis was more pronounced on the web site, we went early to get the tickets and find out the lineup. I recognized him from the pictures I've seen on the web and in their CD inserts, but had never seen him in person. We almost just walked by without saying a word, then I had a weird feeling. I always get this feeling when I see someone famous, or that I respect privately, notably musicians. Most of the time I would have walked by, getting all giddy, saying "We just walked by (insert semi-famous name here)!" Instead, for some reason, I stop, turned and said "Do you know the lineup for the show tonight?" He looked at me and said "Violet Burning, John Davis and Duvall.", kind of like he wasn't really in the band. So I smiled and said "So you guys are headlining?" He gave me this big smile and said "Yeah". I wanted to say so much more, how excited we were to see Duvall tonight and Smoking Popes in November. How much I loved his music, voice and amazing guitar solos. Instead I just stood there for a few seconds, in awe, of this amazingly talented person in front of me, before turning around and heading into the building to get tickets. I'm almost glad I didn't say a bunch of stupid things, but I do wish I could have said more.

More on the show later...

Waj

Screamo, Emo and Hardcore

I guess after the second show in a week I should post my reviews.

Sunday we went to the UIC Pavilion and saw our FAVORITE BAND OF ALL TIME Alkaline Trio, along with Reggie and the Full Effect and My Chemical Romance. We had never been to the UIC Pavilion, but had heard some pretty bad things about it. After arriving early and pregaming in the parking lot (no alcohol served) we decided to enter the ARENA. Yeah, its a Basketball/Hockey/All purpose arena on the campus of University of Illinois at Chicago. I don't really like big rock shows, but it was our FAVORITE BAND OF ALL TIME, so we couldn't pass up the chance to see them in Chicago. Very similar to Assembly Hall (Although it seemed much smaller), although the show we saw at UofI was Bush/Moby and the stage was actually on the side of the court, instead of at one end.

Reggie and the Full Effect played a short set, mostly new songs, which seemed more on the hardcore side. In the large arena, the sound was a little hollow and echo-y, plus many people didn't really care to see Reggie, so many seats were empty and the floor was about 1/4 full.

Next up, Alkaline Trio. With the explosion of popularity of MCR on MTV, Alkaline Trio was actually supporting MCR's tour. Very weird, considering the Trio have been headlining their shows pretty much since they started. Their sound was very full, the vocal were excellent and they played an amazing set. I love when bands just get up there and play, one song after another, no uneasy silences, or trying to get audience participation. Either you rock and the crowd gets into it, or they don't. Fortunately, being in their hometown, most people were into it. After playing a few new songs from Crimson (latest album) they played a few songs from just about every release they've had. It was really cool to hear some classics from "Goddamnit", easily my favorite album. Definitely worth the price of admission, their sound and set was excellent.

Finally, My Chemical Romance took the stage. You could tell that many of the teenage audience had come just for them. The piercingly high screams from many of the females in attendance was enough to make you deaf. MCR had a pretty cool stage backdrop and stage presence, but it seemed like they tried harder on their image than on the music. The singer took too much time to get the audience waving their hands, lighters and cell phones (although that was kind of cool to see) than to concentrate on his vocals. Most of his screams and higher notes were lost in the excessively loud guitars. The feeling of the larger arena really took away from the music. I think they would have been a lot better in a smaller venue, although the stage antics and preaching to the audience did nothing for me. We eventually left early, to get a beat on traffic, and to keep from falling asleep. I thought it was strange that Alkaline Trio had such a full sound, and the headliner couldn't match it. Still well worth the ticket, but unless its a must see band, I don't think we'll be back to UIC Pavilion anytime soon.

Next Post: Duvall rocks out with John Davis...

Waj

First Day of Autumn

Well, summer has officially ended! The title link on my post is to a band called Screeching Weasel, for those of you that don't know, the band has written a song for the first day of Summer, Autumn and Winter. They broke up a long time ago, but have been rumored to reunite for a tour, and most of their old albums have been re released recently. The have been a very influential band for many local and national punk rock bands. I like them, although they are very rough, so they definitely aren't for everyone. Their release on Fat Wreck Chords, "Bark Like a Dog" would have to be their most "Pop-Punk" release, which incidentally was their most popular cd. I would recommend that one for the non-punk people out there. First Day of Summer is on that release and probably my favorite. Set Phasers on Kill is a funny one, with references to Star Trek and Capt Kirk. I just checked Fat Wreck Chords website and they are releasing all 3 Weasel records on one disc in October, called Weasel Mania. Sweet.

Anyway, I had the 3rd round of scratch testing this week. And as forecasted, Ragweed is definitely not my friend. Today, 3 days after testing, my arm is almost looking normal. The swelling and redness that usually goes away the night of testing, was actually worse Tuesday and even bothered me yesterday. Its pretty amazing that a little drop of the allergen can cause that much of a reaction on my arm. Sure does explain where all that mucus came from, and the itchyness of the eyes. I usually do a pretty good job of not "itching" my itches, but I would wake up in the night and start "massaging" my arm (not ITCHING OR SCRATCHING IT, PROMISE!) because of the tremendous joy that scratching that itch would bring. I'm not sure how that works, but that relief you get from scratching an itch is mind boggling. Although with my arm, it would only last 2 seconds before the stinging itch feeling would come back, only with 5 times the feeling to urge to scratch again. Doh!

A lot of season/series premieres of show have taken place the past few weeks. I've stopped recording shows that end up taking too much space on my DVR (daily show, Simpsons and family guy daily reruns) to make room. Already though I think I have watched more TV the last 2 nights that I have in the past month (besides sporting events). Prison Break is a pretty good show, but I'm not sure how they can make the show more than 1 season. Although they did a good job with 24 (from what I hear - never watched the show), so I'm sure they'll find a way, if its popular enough. Head Cases wasn't too bad, kinda weird seeing Chris O'Donnell in a TV series, but Adam Goldberg fits nicely into his "weird guy" typecast role he seems to have been in. While "The War at Home" isn't as good as "Arrested Development" in the Sunday night lineup, it does have its good parts. "My Name is Earl" was a funny show, with one of my favorite comedy actors Jason Lee. Anyway, just a rundown of the new shows that will keep my DVR busy this season, along with the old favorites: Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, Arrested Development, Scrubs, The Office, That 70's Show, Will and Grace, Joey, Malcom in the Middle, etc. Anyway, better wrap this up. Until next time. Lunch break over!

Waj

A puppy is just a puppy, but Nintendo, now that was a Revolution

Nintendo was the company that brought video games to the mainstream back in the 80's (OK Atari did it first, but Nintendo did it better!). Now they are trying to do something that hasn't been done since. They want to change the way we play video games. Check out the link to an article about the new controller setup if your interested, its actually pretty amazing. The controller basically is a modified "remote" control that we use for basically all of our normal audio and video electronic devices. Sounds like it actually might work. Who knows, maybe in a couple years I'll look back at this post and remember that video games actually had their "own" style controller.

Reading about this new style controller reminds me of being 8 years old, opening up that present with the famous Nintendo Logo. And the HUGE 19" color TV that we also received so that we could play video games while the parents watched "Thirtysomething", or whatever crappy show that they watched that year. For those that don't know me, Nintendo really changed/shaped my life. I spent way too much time playing video games growing up, it even cut into school so bad I had to be limited to my playing time. Even though I played a lot of video games, I still did a lot of other things, like read books, play sports, etc. What it mostly cut into was studying and sleeping. Have a homework or a test, oh well, I'll just play one more game. Time for bed? OK 1 more game. I really don't think I could count the times I played video games until the sun came up. But then again, I've been playing video games for almost 20 years now, so I guess its not...that....many.

Wow, I could go on for hours, but I'm at work, I'll keep this one short. HA.

Waj

Fox Fantasy Football

Wow, its already here. Fantasy Football season has started. It has been a crazy few weeks for me. I've spent most of my spare Internet time trying to win a couple Fantasy Baseball leagues (made the playoffs in both - lost in the first round of one) and getting started for Fantasy Football. I really didn't do any research this year for football. Normally my baseball team is pretty much destroyed by now, and I'm just barely making the playoffs with no really Championship in site. This year, I had 2 decent teams, 1st place in one league, 3rd in the other. Just trying to stay ahead of injuries and worn out plaers, how was I to study for the football season? Well one way was to join one Football league, not 2 or 3. Also, no money involved this year, which helps ease the mind before draft day.

This year the league I joined decided to try out Fox's new fantasy football format. Promising a few extras for free that Yahoo! usually charges extra for (live scoring) and powered by MSN, it looked like it might be worth a shot. Boy were we wrong. Signing up for the league worked out pretty well. We got all 12 teams joined into the league and the draft date was set. A few weeks away so we had enough time to get ready for the draft. All of a sudden the date was quickly arriving and we noticed a few bugs in the Fox system. I guess they weren't ready for all the last minute leagues getting set up the week before the draft. Timeouts while logging in, pages not loading, randomly getting booted to the main Fox Sports site, were just a few issues we were dealing with. The day (or 2?) before the draft we get a nice reminder from Fox with our draft time and reminding us that the draft was going to happen, although the time had changed, one hour later. 9:30 instead of 8:30. Wow getting late I thought, but then I realized we only had 30 seconds to make a pick. Should go pretty fast, 12 rounds of 15 players, 180 picks, 90 minutes. OK, guess I'll be in bed by 11.

Draft day arrives, and it appears that the site is running better than most days, and everyone (that remembered) the draft was able to get into the draft room. Soon the draft starts and right away number 1 pick loses connection. Then the picks start rolling along. Fast, really really fast. 30 seconds isn't long, especially trying to track who has been picked, what positions you need, bye weeks, other teams, etc. Then, if a manager fails to make a pick (or isn't drafting) they get set to auto pick, which makes their pick in 5 seconds. I think we only had 6 people drafting live, so 5 second picks coming ahead of you weren't good. I think we went halfway trhough the draft in 20 minutes. Sure enough, 15 rounds in 40 minutes is where we ended up. So fast and so not prepared.

So the draft was over and we notice that one of the players that couldn't make it somehow received 8 running back and 7 wide receivers! I'm not sure if he changed his predraft rankings, but if he didn't, he really got screwed. My first natural instinct is to check the waiver wire, see who didn't get drafted. Of course, I ended up drafting 3 Vikings and 3 Washinton Redskins, although one is the kicker and the other is defense. Both expendable if needed for a bye week. OK so the site is displaying teams drafted, but the free agent listing isn't quite working. OK, time for bed, tomorrow will be better (or so I had hoped).

Well its been 2 weeks since draft day, and one week of football has been played. The Fox Fantasy site is still having major problems. The transactions aren't being displayed, and now no roster adds/drops are being allowed. Insane. Also no message board to trash talk or communicate with the other teams, which takes away from some of the competive nature of Fantasy Football. I'm hoping they get everything cleared up in the next week, otherwise this may be all we can take and give up on the league. MSN and/or FOX really screwed this up big time. I'm sure they are going to miss out on a lot of would-be returning fantasy football registrations next year.

On a side note, my first round draft pick scored me 0 points this week, while my backup score 24 points. Yes I lost by less than that. That really hurts, worse than my stinging itchy eyes.

Waj

/* EDIT - Had a spam comment as soon as I published, wonder if it could be a bot checking all new blogger blogs? May have to add word verification... We'll see */

End of Summer update

Hey, 3 weeks between posts. Not bad. I'm sure everyone is wondering - Where did he go? Well for the past 3-4 weeks I've been struggling with Allergies. I've never believed I had allergies, let alone get tested for them. Sure I would sneeze and have a runny nose, but it would last a day or two and be gone, just the common cold. Or so I thought.

I have now had 2 stages of testing for allergies. And the results aren't pretty. (Phase 1 - Indoor Allergies, Phase 2 - Spring Allergies, Phase 3 - Late Summer/Fall Allergies, and finally Phase 4 - Food Allergies). Results from Phase 1 - Indoor: Dust!? Is that even possible? I know I've heard of people being allergic to dust, but dust is everywhere! How can your body decide - you know what this dust isn't working out, I need to produce vast amounts of mucus, swell my nasal passages to where I can barely breathe through one nostril at a time, and finally make me sneeze at least 3 times every 10 minutes. OK, so on with the testing - surely dust can not be causing all these miserable symptoms. Luckily the mold tests was negative, along with dog (although a little reaction did appear, but not enough for concern), but the biggie. Yeah, if you've read this blog you know, CAT... POSITIVE. And not just positive, but 5 times worse than anything else on the indoor allergy test.

I love Cats, especially my cute, cuddly, LONG HAIR domestic, Estrella. Allergic to cat? I had a few cats growing up, and my step father was allergic to them, but no way I was. Cats are great, they are so independent you can leave them for a day or two and they are fine. They clean themselves, use a litter box, and don't eat a lot. OK so once in a while you have to clean up a hairball, or comb out a mat in the fur. No way am I allergic to cat, nor getting rid of mine. They suggest keeping the cat out of the bedroom right away if you can't part with your pet. Its hard to kick someone out of the bedroom, especially when they sit right outside the door and cry non-stop until you let them in. But I guess its worth a try. Or deny it... Yeah there is something else out there that is causing this, not my beautiful cat. That's it.

Phase 2 - Spring Pollens, grasses and trees that bloom in the spring. OK so a few more positives - Birch, Oak and Hickory. And Birch was worse than Cat. Even all the grasses were slightly positive. As you have read, I like to mow the lawn. Allergic to grass and trees? WOW.

So next week, Fall Allergies - Ragweed, corn and other late summer/fall pollen. These must be what are bothering me so bad right now. Can't wait to see how this turns out. Even the nurse is excited, kind of sick, but she likes to see the reaction and even cheers when its big. Weird lady, but I guess you have to have something to get excited about working in a doctors office.

So yeah, I'm still alive, but struggling. OH yeah, I can't take anti-histamines during the testing process. Although when I had taken them, they didn't seem to help much anyway.

Waj

New Busch Stadium

Here is a view of the 1st base/right field corner of the new field during construction while we were there. The current stadium is pretty much in dead center field. Looks like it will be a nice stadium, just hope it isn't dubbed "The Hottest Stadium in Major League Baseball."

St Louis Day 2

Edit: OK so its a little late - some people only get to sit at a computer while working and don't have fancy mobile phones where they can type blogs while listening to concerts (I haven't spent a lot of "free" time on the PC). WARNING: Extremely long post ahead, after typing every exquisite detail, I thought about shortening it. Then I thought "since I spent so much time on it, I might as well leave it." So for those of you with a short attention span, try reading one paragraph every hour.

Edit: So my edit is basically a post in itself, I just had one more update (can I update a post before I publish it?), in honor of the Cubs vs Cards series in Chicago with a victory for the Cubs ending a skid of 8 losses in a row, I will publish this post!


Sunday we had all day to waste, since the game was changed from 1:15 to 7:05. We had to be out of the hotel by noon, so we got up with enough time to sit by the pool for an hour or so. It was hot by 10AM, and sunny so we decided to catch some rays and dip in the pool (barely big enough to swim). After checkout we went to Galleria (shopping mall) - it was a half mile from our hotel, and there was plenty of AC. We had about 6 hours to kill, might as well make a day of it. We ended up going to the Cinema and watched "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." It won by 1 vote over "The Wedding Crashers". The movie was a little darker than the original, but I wouldn't say it was any better or worse. This version had a little less of a "musical" feel to it, and the oompa loompa songs weren't done nearly as well as the original. I would have to say I liked the original a smidgen more, more so because of the nostalgia than anything else (countless pop culture references - Family Guy).

After the movie we did a little more shopping and decided to head to Union Station. This one time, in college, we drove to St Louis one night and went to the Arch and Union Station and drove back home. It was kind of a daze, we spend an hour or so at the Arch and a few hours at Union Station, then we drove home. It was about 5 hours in St Louis and 10 hours in the car. We were smart. Anyway, getting back to this trip, Union Station was very different. The layout was generally the same, but I remember different restaurants and stores. Also my head was a little more clear this time around. We didn't really shop, just kind of took in the experience and "tried" to find a place to eat. Of the 10 choices we had, we narrowed it down to 3. After an hour of checking out the menus, walking back and forth between the 3, we decided on the cheapest one that had a table available. I guess there is a reason this place was cheap and had a table... it was a "Jimmy Buffett" style cafe with a VERY LOUD jukebox and very bad service. Oh well, at least it was cheaper (<$8 for our sandwiches). My BBQ tuna was pretty good though.

After our wonderful dining experience, it was time to head to Busch Stadium. We didn't want to get there early because of the heat - but we still wanted to get into the parking garage close to the stadium (same price as our 4 block walk the previous day, but getting out was a little tougher). We brought 2 coolers full of water for the game. I never knew you could bring water - good call by my bro - so we saved a ton of money. We got a couple of pre-game beers down in the garage, after a big party foul by yours truly. Unpacking the van, there were 6 beers in a six pack, which happened to be soaked from condensation. While I erroneously grabbed them by the handle, each one (separately) fell through the bottom of the pack, bouncing off the bumper and falling onto my bare feet (flip flops). Strangely only 3 of them broke after hitting the concrete and/or bumper. The damage was done, one of the bottles landed squarely on my big toe, giving me a nice deep cut. Nothing a few high quality Band-Aid brand adhesive bandages couldn't fix. Luckily, or coincedentally, my bro had blisters on his feet from the previous day wearing his sandals, he had the bandages on hand.

Now for the final game of the series (which is my 2nd and last game at Old Busch Stadium). This time we were up in the upper deck, right in the sun. A skycraper in the distance teased us with the shade it could provide, had it been 30 yards to the left. The game started off bad for the Cubs, as Prior gave up 3 solo home runs in the 1st inning. This seemed to happen just as 4 ladies (3 off them had to be 70+ years of age). The all had matching shirts, visors, and the hand-held fans with spray bottles. It definitely was one of the coolest things I have witnessed at a baseball game. Too bad they were Cardinals' fans, but you could tell this wasn't the only game they've been to this season. Unlike many fans, they toughed out the heat, and came to a good ball game. I was suprised at how many empty seats there were for the Cubs/Cardinals matchup for both games. When the announced the attendence, they announced "paid" and not actual, so I'm guessing either the scalpers bought many tickets they weren't able to sell becuase of the heat, or many people had tickets but couldn't bear the heat. So after the disasterous first inning, Cubs are down 3 runs. Prior settled down after that and the Cubs chipped away at the lead over the next few innings to make it 3-2. Not much happened over the next few innings, pretty good pitching dual until the 8th inning. After walking DLee for the 3rd time in the game (and what seemed like 10th in the series) Aramis Ramirez smashed a homerun to take the lead 4-3! Our section (mostly Cubs fans - except for the lovely ladies in front of us) went crazy! By this time is was getting late - very late. Most of us had to work at 8 or 8:30AM the next morning, so we were hoping for a quick inning and a half and get on our way home with a couple wins for the Cubbies! For the most part, we got our wish... until 2 outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. Suprisingly many fans left before the ninth inning (yes even the 4 ladies in front of us). Ryan Dempster went through the first two batters, bottom of the order, with no problem. Two outs and my friend Tim sends me a text message "Get On Your Feet!" Of course I didn't need the instruction, everybody was one their feet, Cubs fans hoping for the final out, Cards fans hoping it wasn't the final out. Dempster then gave up a walk to a pinch hitter. This is where things went bad. After putting a pinch runner in, who then "stole" second (from the replay, it looked as though the throw and tag, he was out. Unfortunately, instead of being game over, lets go, it was, OH NO! Not this, not with the top of the lineup coming... Next batter Eckstein singles in the tying run. Ouch - now all we could hope for was extra innings (what time is it? who cares, we're not leaving this game!). Dempster gives up another hit to Nunez, bringing up slugger Albert Pujols with 2 outs, runners on First and Third. BIG TROUBLE! I had all but given up on this game - surely Pujols was going to win this one for the Cardinals. Dempster then got Pujols to ground out to second base for the final out! So we make it extra innings! You could really feel a momemtum change though, after the Cubs lost the lead. Luckily we had the higher part of the order coming up - Walker, Lee and Burnitz. The inning started off good - Walker cranked a double, followed up by another walk for DLee (4th this game). Burnitz actually sacrafice bunts (whah?) in order to avoid the double play and move the runners up to 2nd and 3rd. Looking good, we have 2nd and 3rd, one out, and here comes Aramis Ramirez. With the pitcher spot on deck, the cards actually load the bases, intentionally walking Ramirez. The Cubs bring in Barrett to pinch hit (Blanco was cathing). After a couple of swings, Barrett strikes out swinging! 2 outs, bases loaded, and its up to Neifi Perez. with a .265 batting average, I wasn't expecting much. A hit would be great, score a couple runs, gets some up on the board and hope that we can hold them for one more inning. Lo and behold, Perez rifles the ball into right field, barely fair, into the Cardinals Bullpen. A GRAND SLAM! It had to be one the most exciting moment I've ever felt at a baseball game. Our entire section went crazy, my heart was beating so fast! All the Cubs fans high fiving everyone within 5 rows of you, screaming and celebrating! During which, many Cardinal fans walked silently toward the exits with their heads down. With a 4 run lead, you definitely felt safe, it was just a matter of getting the game over with. We decided to stay, even though the time was nearing midnight, and there was work in the morning. The bottom of the tenth finished without much excitement and we could finally head back to the Burbs!

Luckily I slept most of the way home (thanks bro!), so I got about 3 hours there and 2 more after getting home at 4:30 before waking up for work the next day. I don't really remember that day of work - just that I didn't feel like working. I think Tuesday was a little harder to wake up than Monday though, probably after the excitement wore off.

Hope you enjoyed my extremely long post. WHEW!

Waj

Here it is, in all its glory!

Interject

Bet you were expecting the 2nd day of my trip to St. Louis eh? HA! I wrote most of that post, but didn't get a chance to finish it... and like most things, I've started a new project before finishing the last.

I went to my 2nd Kane County Cougars game tonight, and had to post my fresh thoughts (thought maybe not the clearest about now). This time sat in the Center field deck thanks to a nice vendor of ours. Can't pass up a free baseball game (er free food and beer). Good game, although very slow - Eddie Kim hit a 2 run homer to put the Cougars up by 1 in the 5th inning, but the bullpen couldn't contain the QC Swing. Reminds me of a local National League baseball team doesn't it? There were supposed to be fireworks, but after 10 innings of minor league baseball, fireworks weren't about to keep me from getting to my nice comfortable bed. It was Dontrelle Willis Bobble-Leg night... Yeah you read it right (picture to come later). We showed up too late to get a nice mint freebie, but I prayed that one of the 30 kids would leave one behind, just for me. Someone was listening to my prayers, because the 8th inning a family left a broken leg Dontrelle on the picnic table in front of us. Luckily with a little operation, Mr. Willis was back in shape to sit next to my Sosa Bobble-head and Fergie Jenkins autographed baseball. Whooo Hooo! Don't know if the Cougars won or lost the game, listened on the way home and it was in the 12th inning by the time we got home.

Waj

St Louis Day 1

So this past weekend we took a trip to the Gateway to the West. That's right, we ordered our tickets for the best rivalry in Baseball - at least as far as Cubs/Cardinals fans are concerned. We bought our tickets when they went on sale - oh about 4 months ago. Little did we know then, that we had purchased tickets for the most exciting and HOTTEST (literally) baseball games I have ever been to. Don't get me wrong, I've been to many exciting, come from behind/walk off/blowout games at Wrigley Field. None of them were quite as exciting as these two games.

Let me reflect on the weekend as it happened...

I received a call from my brother last Wednesday while eating pizza at Al's Pizza (Warrenvilles finest pizza!). He just wanted to let me know that the Sunday game that he bought tickets to (he bought 6 tickets together so we could all sit together - The 3 brothers and their significant others) was changed to the Sunday Night Game of the Week! We had to choose - Do we watch one game this weekend in St Loius, try to sell the tickets, and drive home early Sunday - Or WATCH BOTH GAMES AND GET HOME EXTREMELY LATE SUNDAY NIGHT/EARLY SUNDAY MORNING. For me, there was no decision - we had the tickets, we had to watch both games. Most of us didn't have the option of taking Monday off work, so we would have to sacrafice.... After a few days of pondering and checking our options for selling the tix, we all decided to go for it!

So we get up at the crack of dawn, pack up the car and go! We get to St Louis with about an hour to spare, just enough time to do a little tailgating under I64. Good thing my bro forgets the grill - we get to have a liquid lunch, not the best thing for a 100+ degree day. Luckily our seats happened to be in the shade, because it was seriously the hottest day I can remember. We stopped at a gas station on the way, a man told us that Busch stadium was the hottest stadium he had ever been in "It holds the heat well". Wonderful! We were sweating as soon as we stepped out of the A/C'd van, now we had to sit in "the hottest stadium" for an afternoon of Cubs/Cardinals baseball. Now history has told us that the Cubs had little chance to win either of these games we were about to enjoy. My siblings went to a game last year in St. Louis and after the Cubs lost the game, they said the walk back to the car was one of the worst experiences ever. "The Cardinal fans were brutal". Not sure why they wanted to go back, but here we were. The game was hot, very, very, very hot. The shade was great, I don't think we would have made it in the sun. The beer was good, although I did have to walk a few sections to get a Budweiser. Guess people really like their Bud Light down there. The game was great, the Cubs took an early lead and kept it after the Cards would battle back every time the Cubs would score. Derrek Lee hit a home run and Aramis Ramirez hit a home run in the 6th inning to put the Cubs up by 2 runs;the bullpen allowed 1 run and Dempster closed the game with a save.
Excellent close game. Final play - Albert Pujols hits a hard line drive to Neifi Perez who then tosses to Todd Walker for a double play to end the game! Very close play, Cards would have tied the game had the hit gone through the infield. AWESOME!

We drove to the hotel checked in - unpacked and cleaned up for dinner. Went to Show Mes for dinner, based on a recommendation by a friend. Probably the biggest Hooters rip off ever - its a wonder how they can even get away with it. The wings were very similar to Hooters too, can't really say I liked them better, or say they were worse. Seriously, I think whoever started Hooters had some background in starting this place. Finished off the night playing cards - no poker - but a fun game called "Hand and Foot" or something like that. Pretty fun game, we played until we were too tired to carry on.

End of Day 1. Not enough time to finish this up today. More to follow...

Waj

Emo-Core?

Went to an awesome show on Friday. Bands: The Get Up Kids - Straylight Run - Lucero Venue: House of Blues Chicago (HOB).

HOB Chicago is one of my favorite venue's in Chicago. It is big, but also intimate, almost anywhere you stand, you can see the band pretty well. Unless of course those 6" 5' fatheads stand in front of you (which pretty much happens at all standing room only shows, doesn't it?). For being a good venue, they really jack you for drinks though. $4.50 for a can of beer? Thats right we paid $27 for a six pack. Ouch. Luckily, no fatheads on this night! Now for the good part (very long review ahead):

We drove downtown right after work. 5:00. That is right, for all those people that know, 5:00 is not the time you want to be driving in Chicagoland, anywhere. The doors opened at 6:00, show at 7:00. We figured, OK if it takes us more that 2 hours, we'll just miss the first band, Lucero, who I have never heard of before that day, and listened the 5 songs that you can stream on their website. The drive was as perfect as a rush hour drive could ever be. There was little traffic going through the I88 construction, and even the Hillside/Oak Park traffic wasn't horrible. It was stop and go for a few minutes, but it was less than 10, so a trip to downtown was actually close to the 50 minutes a 40 mile drive should be!

We arrived about 10 minutes to 7:00, driving by the HOB, we can see that the sold-out-show was a little late opening the doors to let people in. It was about 15 minutes to showtime and there was still a line around the building. We parked nearby (parking garage) and stood in line. 10 minutes or so later, we found a nice cozy spot at the bar and waited for the show to begin. The curtain opened and the band played. I wasn't too excited, after listening to the 5 songs, and reading their bio, I kind of thought they were a mix of Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Nirvana. Kind of different for sure. Their bio was something like "Lucero was started by someone that wanted to play country at a punk show". I have never liked country, and this wasn't something that interested me. They were very slow and I wasn't that impressed, but I can say it didn't hurt my ears, so it wasn't bad either.

Next up Straylight Run. My brother is a pretty big fan of this band, and he even let me borrow the CD. I think I listened to it once or twice, but never gave it a chance. I can tell you this, if you are a fan of The Get Up Kids, or any other emo band, you should definitely see them live. I have a ton more respect for this band after watching them, and am a little disappointed that I didn't give them a chance so I could "sing along" with them (I try not to sing aloud, ask anyone who has heard my sing). They put a lot of EMOtion into their music, which I felt, and it made me all warm inside. I have since listened to their CD, which is now much better!

And finally The Get Up Kids. I have seen the Get Up Kids and one of their various side projects before. They have announced this as their final tour, 14 shows, 2 of them in Chicago. I guess they have a connection to Chicago, recording one of their CDs here, and playing countless shows at The Fireside Bowl, the Metro, and of course HOB. I was very excited to seem them, even if for the last time (reunion?!). They did not disappoint. I was so glad we decided against our new theme of not driving to Chicago for anything during the week, i.e. Cubs games, Concerts, etc. They played all the old favorites and 2 songs off their latest CD that I had not heard (but have now!). They played for over an hour without delays, and finished with the Favorite "Don't Hate Me". Amazing performance, great stage presence and the crowd was great. I haven't been to too many EMO shows, but it wasn't smokey, and there weren't a lot of crowd surfers (allowing the Body Guards to stand in front of the band so you can see them), quite impressive. Guess I am getting old, but it was a great night, except for the vast amount of money we spent, but we came home with 2 T-Shirts that I'll get some use out of and a CD full of music that I'll definitely get some enjoyment out of!

Well that ends the review... Not sure what is next, nor when it will be. Thanks for reading until the end!

Waj

Fantasy Baseball

A little update on the fantasy front. Vladimir is down and the Corked Bats Squad is not longer corked. I'm on the verge of losing 2 weeks in a row, after not losing a week yet. Some good things must come to an end. Even though I was winning the margins weren't enough to keep me that far ahead in my league.

In my other league on the other hand, there is no competition. I'm destroying every team that I play, and am well ahead in the standings. I had to post about it, because it really can't last much longer. I'm probably jinxing myself royally, but if I don't post about it now, it will be lost forever, long forgotten as I lose the rest of the season. Right now I am 23.5 games ahead of second place. I'm playing the team in second place right now, and am winning 11-2, which may not end up that way on Monday, but even so, it will take a few shutouts for anyone to make ground.

Have a happy holiday weekend, I'll be relaxing, drinking some brews and playing a little cornhole. Too windy for disc golf, still haven't been out yet, but I will be very soon.

Waj

I can see my house from here!

Google has done it again. First their search absolutely destroys yahoo and msn. Then their maps system (although still in Beta) is by far much better than mapquest or yahoo maps. The clean interface, dragging of the map, in my opinion, is way better than mapquest or yahoo. Now they have a link where you can actually view a satellite image of the address you are looking for. Some addresses you can zoom in further than others, but still amazing. I'm not sure if all images were taken at the same time, but judging by the buildings in our area, we estimated they were about 5 years old.

Hey there's my house!

Waj

Obligatory 60 day post

What can I say, who has the time? Went on a fishing trip this past weekend in MN, near Wynona if anyone knows MN. Its walleye country up there, but out of our group of 10 people, only 2 were keepers. We also caught a few Northern, big suckers too.

I've been pretty busy so far this year, can't believe we're going on the 6th month already. Summertime is here again. Weekend gatherings, daylight until 9:00, and of course the evergrowing grass that needs to be cut.

The new job is going great, though its really diminishing my IT skills. I piddle around on the server a few times a week(next up SBS SP 1), but the day to day troubleshooting I am used to doesn't happen when you have 10 PCs to support, and even though some aren't the most PC saavy people, they are smart enough not to cause problems. Speaking of support, I had an offer to support a side project of our graphic designer. She was thinking about hosting a web site and setting up a mini network. Any of my faithful readers that host their own sites have any suggestions on firewalls? I don't know much about hosting a site, as far as the incoming Internet traffic and how to keep it under control. I would be mostly in charge of the hardware, but I'm sure I'd be doing most of the initial setup.

That's about all I have time for today, but I'll try to post more often.

Go Cubs. Beat Valley!

Waj

Home Improvement

Warning: Long post ahead.

Well were going on two years in our house and its amazing the difference in owning your place than renting (for me anyway, not sure about anyone else). If you are a fellow homeowner, you should be able to relate to this post, if not, you might be bored.

For one, those chores you used to do when you were a kid don't seem like chores. Namely, mowing the lawn. Yes, I live in the burbs. Yes, all the houses in my neighborhood look similar. I've also turned into an obsessive compulsive when it comes to mowing my lawn. Since spring is fastly approaching, it will be that time of year again, I guess it can be OK to blog about it. I think mowing my lawn is FUN. Its no longer something I dread, something I put off until my parents force me to do for that all important allowance. My step dad would mow the lawn if whoever's turn it was to mow hadn't cut the grass in two weeks. Then you were in trouble. I now can see why. Something I never thought would change me, but if my lawn needs cut, I don't hesitate, I get the mower out and get it done. Granted my lawn isn't very big, so I can cut the grass and trim it in less than an hour. But as a kid, I would put it off as long as I could.

Another thing about being a homeowner that has changed me is how everything works. From the clothes washer, to the sink, toilet, furnace, pretty much all of our appliances. I always took it for granted how they worked, just knew that they cleaned your clothes, made water come out and heated the house. Then all of a sudden it doesn't work. Then what do you do? Either call a repairman or fix it yourself. Of course being a male, you have to try and fix it yourself first. And if your like me, the first thing you do, google search. I tend to search the Internet for as much information as possible before starting a project. There is so much information available, usually I can find what I need within a few tries. Sometimes it takes a little digging, but after fixing the washer, sink and toilet, I think I can fix anything. OK maybe not the furnace, yet. We had to call in for service a month ago, but it was well worth it. Turned out to be the flame sensor, a small part, not too complicated looking, but quite expensive. $100 for something that probably can be made for a few dollars.

I guess maybe I should have a point to this post, but oh well. Point is, I guess I'm growing up. Weird huh?

Waj

Account Deactivated?

Actually, it is still active. Over 60 days and no posts, I don't think it should be allowed. Much to my dismay, most of my readers (all 4 or 5 of them, OK 1 or 2) have mentioned to me about my lack of posts. Seriously this one is short.

I've been really busy lately, in a good way. I finally landed a full time job, even though it is with the company I've been working for part time the past few months. Turned our really well, I love the company, my commute is 3 miles and I work with family.

Recent purchases include the Rockford Fosgate Ominifi bundle from Woot, a new HTIB system (damn Koss system fried after less than 18 months, but well worth the $150 paid for it), and a treadmill. Yes, I know I don't look like it, but I am really out of shape. Plus the WWDN post regarding the 5K run was inspiring.

Waj

Vegas Baby, Vegas

Well I'm back from my first ever trip to Las Vegas. Weird eh, been all over the place, to 4 other countries, but never to Vegas. Guess its because I'm not really a gambler. I do enjoy the occasional poker game, but more because it gives me a chance to hang out with friends and enjoy a little competition, and feel like I'm a good poker player, even though its mostly luck (for me anyway). I also live 2 miles from a casino and have never been there. I've actually only been into a casino one time before this trip, stopped in Reno and played $20 in slots a few years ago on a cross country camping trip.

So I guess I've never been too excited to go to Las Vegas. Even though I've had plenty of people tell me how exciting it is, I haven't taken the time to plan a trip to Vegas. I was a little excited when I found out I was going with my wife to help her company set up their booth at the world of concrete. She found a few tickets were still available for the flight out their with them, and get a return flight for Monday (flight out was Saturday) for a decent price (since I'm not working, we had to be cheap). Even if it was only for a couple days, at least I could get the whole bright lights and big hotel experience.

Most of time out there we had to work on setting up the booth for the World of Concrete. It really wasn't that easy, as nothing seemed to go our way. First off we didn't start until 3 O'clock on Saturday because one of the people on the trip had an allergic reaction on the flight, we had to meet him at the hospital. Once we finally got started on the booth, we had to unpack the two large crates and start putting it together. It was like a giant tent, only without the canvas cover. There was no specific way it went together, so we had to rely on the memory of those that were there last year. Soon we were missing pieces and had to take a few things apart and put them back together a certain way. By late Saturday we finally had the base down and were ready to lock up for the night. We all were very exhausted, and went back to the hotel to clean up before dinner. We didn't know where we were going to go, just take a walk and find someplace. Joe's Seafood was across the street at Caesars so we found ourselves there a short walk later. The food was excellent, I had the red snapper, probably one of the best pieces of fish I have ever eaten. Although the service wasn't what I would expect from a restaurant like that. After dinner, around 11:30 PM, we decided to walk around and check out Vegas. We checked out the Flamingo, walked into the interior where they had the live pink flamingo and African penguins. Pretty need to see a life pink flamingo, although it was late and they were all sleeping. They had coi fish in the water, they had to be 25-30 pounds, they were gigantic. After checking out the Flamingo, we decided to get one last drink before bed. We went to Tequila Joe's, the bar right in front of the Imperial Palace, a nice little walk through the casino and up the elevator to our room. It turned out to be a karaoke bar, which I am not a fan of, but since we were going to have one drink we decided to hang out. Like most karaoke nights, there were one or two good singers, and the rest were so annoying most people walked out. Also too much country music. We also waited 20 minutes to get $1 Coors Light drafts, the only thing that kept us from walking to the casino bar. So ends the first night in Vegas. Very tired from all the traveling, work and food!

We woke up early the next morning to get a good start on finishing up the booth Sunday. Still tired, we got the large coffees from the donut shop on the way to the car. Things started off pretty well getting the booth set up when all of a sudden an electrician drives by on her little cart and is eyeballing the lights we were setting up. Turns out that Halogen light fixtures were banned the previous year, due to the local fire marshal's regulations. If we didn't fix it now, the booth wouldn't be allowed to be open. So two of us went to the store while the rest of us worked on getting the rest done. Things would have been done really quickly had all of us been there. We still worked hard to get as much done. I hadn't eaten anything that morning, just the coffee but it didn't catch up to me until about 1:00. Had some lunch and went back to work. Finally we had everything close to where it would be and it was time to go. We had put in nearly 9 hours of work and all of us were ready to call it a night. The few things that were left could wait until the plasma had to be delivered the next morning. This also ends my duties working on the booth, and again I was rewarded with another excellent meal. We decided to get steaks, and asked the information about cheaper steak houses. She said we would have to go off the strip, and mentioned Mortons. We drove by it a few times going to and from the hospital the previous day and I had heard that it was a nice place, although I thought it would be pricier than she had made it sound. She didn't really give us any other options though, so we were on our way. Turns out she was dead wrong about the price and our meal turned out more expensive that the previous night. I had the New York Strip and it was the best steak I have ever had (also the most expensive). Our server was a little more friendly than the previous night, but still not what I would expect from a restaurant such as that. I guess I'm used to the Midwest where most places have decent service most of the time, plus I couldn't imagine what it must be like to work in Vegas, I'm sure the customers are a lot more inebriated and tough to serve. After dinner, still early, we all were still tired from all the work that had been done, we went back to the hotel. I was thinking we could just take a little nap and go out around 11 or 12 O'clock, since it was my last night in town. We fell asleep fast and there was no waking up.

The next morning I woke up early, hoping to get something out of my last few hours in town before my flight left. We didn't really know what our priorities were, so we talked about where to go, I packed up all my stuff so we could just grab it and go to the airport and soon we were walking the strip. It is strange how everything is so big, so close together and yet take so long to get anywhere. We walked through the Venetian, a block north of our hotel. It took about 10 minutes to walk there, and 30 minutes to walk through! It is truly amazing how everything is built there. You walk into a shopping area inside, and its made to look like you are outside. It is basically a mall, with stamped overlay (thin layer of concrete) everywhere. The stores look like building fronts with apartments above them and the ceiling is painted sky blue with clouds. The lights shine up from the tops of the stores and it is so bright, it seems like daylight. They even had a canal and gondola rides. Truly amazing. Walking the strip in the daytime isn't much different than the daytime, although there are a few less people handing out stripper/hooker advertisements and less people drinking. The lights are on, but you don't get the same feeling as the night time. The weather was absolutely beautiful too, upper 60's and sunny. I guess it was about 10 degrees warmer than average. It was about perfect. There were people sun bathing at the Mirage, in the middle of January. Definitely different than the sub zero temperatures back in Chicago. We then walked by the Bellagio, no fountain show during the day, big bummer. Walked to Bally's looking for a restaurant, we heard an advertisement for tapas, but couldn't find the place. Ended up in the Paris at an Italian place called La Provencal. It was in our price range and again the service wasn't very good. The food was on the other hand, which I prefer over good service and bad food.

After dinner it was back to the hotel to get my bags, jump on the monorail (every time I say or read that I get the monorail song from the Simpsons in my head, I'm sure that will stick for the rest of my life) to the Convention Center to meet up with the rest of our group and catch a ride to the Airport. Timing was almost perfect, I didn't have to check any bags and they had an easy check in machine open right when I walked in and made it to my gate 30 minutes before boarding. The flight back was nice, I had a window seat and the seat next to me was unoccupied, very nice. The movie Collateral was playing, decent movie, although they edit the movie of curse words, even though it is a very violent movie. I don't get it, everyone can see the violence even if they aren't listening to the movie, but those who chose to listen have to hear edited dialogue?

Well just like most of my posts, turned out to be longer than expected, but I had to get as much in, so I can read this later and remember the first trip to Vegas.

Happy New Year!

Can it really be a New Year and a new post? I have really been slacking lately, not really because of a lack of things to blog about, but because I wasn't in the blogging mood I guess. A lot of people have been updating their blogs lately, so I thought I would take time to put in a post also.

I have been out of a job for over a month now... Really strange feeling considering the last time I was unemployed it was when my wife finished college and we moved to the suburbs, less than 4 years ago. So I spend most of my days emailing resumes, talking to HR/recruiters, and web searching for the next "perfect job". I have seen many opportunities available, yet haven't been lucky. I did have an informal interview on Thursday that seemed like a good sign, small tech firm, very casual environment, almost too good to be true, and I've heard the saying, if it seems to good to be true, it probably is. I'm sure I'll find out soon.

Well that was just a quick update. I think I would like to put in backdated posts, the story of how I became unemployed, the Christmas and New Years gatherings, and date them when I should have posted them. I guess its kind of cheating, but it will make more chronological sense, instead of me telling all the stories in one complete boring post, that will take the readers (so many of them) way too long to read while they are working (or should be working)! Ha work. I can really talk.

Anyway, I finally got to use the Best Buy gift card that I received from my overly generous in-laws to get some really need tech stuff I've been wanting to get, but couldn't really afford. I also had the time to set them up too! Funny how I had planned to buy a few things and ended up with 2 bags of stuff (Damn you Best Buy and all your fancy gadgets!). DVD burner, 2 port KVM switch, flash drive, 4 port AV switchbox, CD-Rs, and DVD-Rs. the KVM switch opened up some much needed room on my PC desk, the AV switchbox is saving me precious gaming time (and energy) by not having to switch the AV inputs on the back of my TV whenever I need to change from the PS2 to the GameCube or Cable. It is so gratifying to make my "office" a little neater. So a big thanks to the P's for the gift card! Also a big thanks to my wife for understanding when I went a little over the gift card limit!

Anyway, check back for my future(past) posts when I get back into the BLOGGING mood.

Waj