Happy New Year and all that Jazz. I cooked a nice dinner, which was nice, cause I don't remember the last time I cooked a dinner. Tried out making my first chocolate souffles, but I beat the egg whites too much. I'll remember that for next time. And then watched a whole slew of movies to usher in the new year, Down to You, 100 Girls, Girl, Coming Soon. Also got some numerology done, I guess I'm a 7, have a drive and appearance of 6, a destiny of 3, and a maturity of 10/1. In a nutshell, I'm a loner, thinker, romantic homemaker wanting to be a romantic homemaker and supposed to be a bringer of joy with no karmic debt to pay off. Yeah, new year.

Finally saw Fellowship of the Rings, the first part of Lord of the Rings. Good movie. I did finish reading the book before I saw it, so my take is, it was good. Although from my first relatively cursory reading, the film version missed out on some themes and showed me other things I missed in my reading. Anyway, it was a good movie, didn't feel like 3 hours, and it makes me want to see New Zealand. Nothing too exciting in terms of trailers though. That was a little disappointing. So what did I feel was missing from the movie that I got out of the book? How helpless, or lost, Frodo was. And just exactly how much pressure and weight on shoulders type of feelings he had. They did make him choose to go over or under the mountains, but that didn't seem like a hard choice at the time. To go to Gondor or Mordor, that was a larger choice that should have been made. I also didn't realize that the ring was that expressively evil. I figured it was very sublime, very under the table, suggestive evil. At least when around "good" people. I also didn't like missing out on that fabulous elven tree city. That should have been a whole nice thing with not wanting to continue, having respite, not to mention a great visual. But I found it lacking. I liked the fight scenes. I liked Legolas, just as the archer. Archers kick ass. Green Elf Forever! Scenery was good. John Rhys-Davies as Gimli, impressive computerwork, all I can say. I knew he sounded familiar, but I was extremely suprised to see him in the credits. And Sean Astin, that's pretty cool. The sizing of characters, very well done.

Feels like I'm coming down with something, so I spent the rest of my holiday vacation, well, like I'd normally spend my holiday vacation, sitting on my couch watching movies. I finally saw the extra stuff at the very end of Fast and the Furious, Still Breathing and Beautiful Girls, which has a great soundtrack that I need to get. I did manage to get outside to at least see the sun for a bit, inbetween some napping and movie watching.

Not sure if I'm coming down with something, not sure if I'm getting any better, I'm just sort of surfing that in between point between sickness and health. Saw A Beautiful Mind last night, pretty good movie. I liken it to Shine with math, but I like Genius movies. Went to a housewarming today in Evanston, my old Nanny and daughter have a new place. It's nice. This week starts my second quarter of Grad School, with Electronic Data Exchange kicking things off Tuesday night. I'm headed down to the Apple office in the Merc for the Keynote tomorrow. Aside from the new LCD iMac, which I've seen thanks to TimeCanada, I'm still hoping for something else special.

Another Macworld keynote comes and goes. iPhoto is really exciting, iMac looks pretty good, but beyond that, nothing that pops my top. I did get to find out where Apple has an office in Chicago, which is sweet to see office doors with the single white apple logos on them. I also got fitted for a couple suits today as well, finally, oh, about 2 years after I said I was going to. I figured since I dressed up for the keynote, might as well get some suits while I'm out. And I also picked up some cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. Ummm, Oreo. Back to school and work tomorrow. For more of my words on the keynote, click more. So with iPhoto, Apple has completed the killer package. Take a top of the line iMac, a digital camera, an iPod, a digital video camcorder, and what comes out? Content. Personal, sharable, easy. This setup takes all the media that comes in, that surrounds people, that people create, the photos, the home movies, the music they like to listen to, filters it, refines it, and spits it out to share. Easily. I look forward to showing my Dad how easy it'll be to take photos, then move them to the web so family can seem them. Because that's what excites him, digital photos, making his own photos, and iPhoto makes it so easy. Apple really does get it. They brought publishing to the consumer. Of course this now begs the question of how many consumers can actual publish things other consumers will consume. But the fact that Apple has this Digital Hub figured out, well, That's exciting for me, because creativity, besides a little cash, is the only limit, not technical know how, just creativity.

But aside from the completion of the Digital Hub, the keynote wasn't very exciting, or surprising. But they did innovate. But nothing shocking. Nothing that caught me completely off guard. Nothing I hadn't read about the night before. No PDA, no new consumer digital device, no tablet, no something else.

First day of the new year back at work, back at school, and back at ultimate. Work's same as it ever was, first class on XML promises to be interesting, and indoor ultimate remains as fun as I remember it. And I am going to be sore, stupid little muscles for lateral movement.

As someone pointed out before class one day, 19 more weeks before the end of the school year. So all my classes are pretty interesting and fun. I'm liking the java, cause I get to use OSX, and the XML, cause the java tool runs on OSX no problem, and the security cause that's just plain interesting. It's taken me a couple days to stop being sore from the second night of pickup, but I'm better. I've still got a nagging type of cold something. Didn't get to see Brotherhood of the Wolf because it was sold out at Webster Place tonight, the line was too long at Piece, so we went to Abril for dinner. I'm going back to Woodstock for the weekend and hoping to check out the new iMac if they have one at the Woodfield Apple Store. By the way, 3 day weeks are killer.

So I stopped by the Woodfield Apple Store on my way back home to Woodstock, and got a chance to step in front of the new iMac they had on display. First thought, that base is really big. Going up and playing with it, well, it's fun to move the display all around, smooth and easy. It'd be really sweet if they could manage to make it telescoping. Trying to talk my parents into upgrading. I also picked up an Airport card, so now the family home is Wi-Fi compatible. I also managed to pick up all my books for the quarter, instead of purchasing them online. A lot of reading, but interesting reading. Got some good sushi for dinner, and slow web browsing over modem lines. Ughh.

Class really starts getting into the swing of things. I might actually have some homework this weekend. I also might finally get around to a slight redesign of the website, actually, more of just an application of Apple's iTools Homepage design to this site. Cheesy, and cheap. Saw the first Real World Chicago, and I get a kick out of seeing Chi-Town on TV. I've decided to watch the season, just for a chance to play where's whitney.

Another week gone. What does Friday have in store? Another trip out to the Apple Store, this time to send my old AC Adapter in under warranty. Probably a movie, most likely Tenenbaums. And probably some homework, cause I've got a decent amount this time, at least in Java. And maybe I should start some Cocoa programming, like I had wanted to over Christmas Break.

Apple Store Genius Bars are sweet. It's my new choice for doing warranty work, sending stuff back, getting replacement parts, all done on site. Very very nice. Oh, and the Woodfield store now has 2 new iMacs on display. Royal Tenenbaums, funny movie. I'm actually finished with my Java homework for the week already. Just have reading for security. Watched Die Hard 2, went to mass, got some pop, started Fight Club before falling asleep, then finished up my homework. Not a bad Saturday. And to think I still have 2 more days to my weekend.

Even though I got up at my usual time, I managed to get some stuff done today. I cleaned up some, I vacuumed, I finished up Fight Club, got some gifts for Al and Nicole, caught up on my Tribune reading, and started learning Cocoa, and also got my portable phone and answering machine plugged in and off the floor. Not bad for a Monday. Although learning Objective C and Java at the same time makes things a little interesting.

I like watching Real World Chicago. I like seeing Chicago on the TV, I think it's cool. That's why I tape it every Tuesday. And I'm going to start taping Gilmore Girls too, I admit it, I like the show. I started watching WarGames last night, in preparation for my Security Class on Thursday, but I haven't finished it up yet. Dinner tonight was courtesy of TBP2. Ummm, chicken fajita.

Another week gone. And for some reason all my profs decided to take it easy on us, having little homework due this past week, and lay it on us hard for the next week. Well, just Security and XML. Had a nice dinner at Piece with friends tonight, yummm, pizza. I looked at jobs at Apple again tonight, and I've got to get crackin' at this Cocoa programming thing. I also managed to watch the episodes of Family Ties where Alex professes his love for Ellen. Very sweet.

So I guess after this week, the quarter's half over. Crazy. I got to play some outdoor ultimate on saturday, which was fun, except that I'm still sore from it, 2 days later. I finally went out and saw Brotherhood of the Wolf. Absurd, but good. Like Hudson Hawk. I've still got lots of homework left, and a quick search of the jobsites out there find no real mac programming jobs. Disappointing. Hopefully things will change in a couple months.

Hello February. Another second month of the year, in what has been historically not the best month of the year for me. Anyway, pulled my first pseudo all nighter of the winter quarter to finish up Security homework. I also managed to get pgp up and running, so that means I have a public key now. I think I might be coming down with shin splints again, so I'm going to hold off on any lower body workouts until ultimate on Monday, so that's a grand total of 4 days off. Supposedly getting a new TV delivered tomorrow morning. I'm still deciding on the first DVD to inaugurate it with. Matrix? Phantom Menace? Something else entirely? Going to see Slackers Saturday, and of course the Superbowl on Sunday.

New TV last Friday. Big fat Sony widescreen HDTV ready. Progressive scan DVD player. First movie in? The Matrix. Had some friends over to watch the Super Bowl on it. Used the dual picture by picture to catch the Halftime Show and the Fear Factor: Playmate edition. Sat through The Mummy, Varsity Blues, Leaving Las Vegas, and now have Phantom Menace midway through. It's fabulous. Finished up some java homework, hence the late posting. Have an XML midterm tomorrow. And probably heading home to Woodstock for at least part of next weekend.

Working on my xml homework in my bedroom that previously had me doing my high school homework. Anyway, spending the weekend out in Woodstock, got a haircut, deposited some money, picked up Fifth Element Superbit. Heading back tomorrow, looking to pick up a sound level thingie, to more effectively set up my home theatre, since it really does make a big difference, especially after using video tests to get the screen somewhat calibrated. WUFF in a week, less than, which probably means I'll skip out on indoor ultimate this week, try and give my shins a rest.

So instead of getting plenty of sleep for my first real ultimate tourney of the year, WUFF Co-Ed Nationals in Wilmington, NC, I decide to add direct musing by data access, as well as direct search result musing access. Oh, and I also finished up my XML and Security homework. Java's all that's left on the plate. Sweet. Gilmore Girls is just such a great show. Very very funny. They had a joke about Harvey this week. How cool is that? Real World Chicago continues to interest me. Oh, and a special thanks to TBR for helping get my cell phone back up and visible.

Soon I'm off to WUFF Co-ed Nationals out in sunny and warm Wilmington, NC for the weekend. I'm playing with Tea & Strumpets. Should be a good time. Hopefully I won't continue down this road of a cold I think I'm getting. It also starts some consecutive weekends I'll be out of town, and should test my skills at keeping up to date on schoolwork and such. That should be interesting.

Return to Chicago, even if for just a handful of days. The east coast heavy version of Tea & Strumpets did alright at WUFF co-ed Nationals, making it to the semi's, thus moving up at least 11 spots in the rankings. Special thanks to Rachel and Bryan for organizing, and all the DC folks for playing under the Tea & Strumpet banner. Soreness however entailed, and continues to entail, as I am unable to do just about anything without some more proper amounts of sleep and rest and non-movement. I've really sore. But I've got some big homework due Saturday, which gives me a couple days to get it done before the Abando's Vegas Vacation.

Back from the family Vegas trip, with a short 4 day stint in Chicago, before a return Vegas trip. The fun just keeps coming. Aside from meals, I spent pretty much the entire weekend coding in java. Stupid threads. This week needs to see done more security homework and the project, as well as another java program. And I leave on Saturday. And I'll be happy to go back to 70 and sunny weather in Vegas because it's supposed to snowstorm tonight here in Chicago, 3-6" last I saw the newscast. Stupid midwest winter. Nice Nevada sun.

Leaving in a few short hours for another weekend jaunt to Vegas. Yup. Hoping this time to play some pickup ultimate, which should be fun. Quarter is winding down, all of a sudden. I think this is end of 9th week, 10th around the corner, and finals just after that. I must have blinked. And then spring break, and then one last quarter, and then the real world, again. Huh.

Too quick. Returned to the snowy confines of the midwest after a nice jaunt out west. Vegas is still cool, even a week later. Security project is knocking on my door, and I'm still trying to answer it. I've also got some wacky JNI homework due Friday probably, so the next three days should be filled, to the brim. I did miss taping Alias, Gilmore Girls, and the Real World this week. Stupid VCR.

Spring Break Reunion 2002 (SBR '02) WOOOO!!! is over, as Chicago finishes second at Battle on the Beach in West Palm Beach. Good times, good fun, and sun, lots of it. After spending Saturday and Sunday playing beach ultimate, Bjorn, Becky, Akira and myself spent the day playing Spring Breakers on the beach in Fort Lauderdale. Overall, just a very very good and relaxing and fun time.

Two more finals, and just a little more sunburnt skin left to peel. Not a bad start to the week. Moviefest this weekend, Friday and Saturday, and some much needed non traveling.

One left. And my ears have started peeling. And I somehow manage to get up earlier than I have all quarter long, now, during final's week. I put on American Pie in the background while studying last night, after having seen the sequel a couple weeks ago, before Vegas. Weather's nice in Chicago, not what I was expecting to come back to from Florida. Quite nice actually. But definitely different.

Spring Break officially started for me, oh, thursday night as my third final bit the dust. Looks alike a week of movie watching and resting from travelling and a little working on the side. St. Patty's Day on Sunday means a viewing of Boondock Saints. Just saw Resident Evil, which I thought was a decent movie, and dinner at Heaven on Seven.

Good thing I did my drinking yesterday. This green day ended up pretty relaxing, with just my annual viewing of Boondock Saints. I also popped in Zero Effect, as I slightly dozed off in the afternoon. I did some small changes to this website, and refound the joys of web stats. Looks like I'll be headed home to woodstock for a couple days during the week, spend some time with my mom before she heads to the philippines for a while.

Enjoying the quiet of Woodstock for a couple days, before acting as an Airport limo chauffeur tomorrow. Hard to believe my Spring Break is now officially half over. Looks like I'll finally get a chance to clean my car, do some laundry, get a haircut, all the normal things I do when I come back home to Woodstock. Went out for sushi last night with my parents, Bistro Wasabi, which is right up there in quality and quantity with Sai Cafe, where I ate with Becky Monday night. Can't ever eat too much sushi. I also finally saw Say Anything, which was a good movie.

Ahh, the first day of spring in Chicago, and I wake up to snow on the ground. Ahh. Early morning run to the airport this morning, and I find out what the commute is like to the city from Woodstock. Not something I would have liked. I forgot to mention I've followed Bjorn's lead, and got some waterproof shoes, so I too can go head to toe in waterproof gear come Paganello time. I also got some nice Bass casual black shoes. I like Bass. Take that as you will.

Well, Spring Break 2002 is almost over, just the weekend left. I should probably step outside to enjoy the somewhat nice spring weather Chicago has right now. I saw Blade 2 last night. Kicked some serious booty. Dinner at the Rock Bottom. Previous to that was some work, with my co-workers, Monica, Angela, and Ben, reading this web page and enjoying a good laugh or two or three. I've got to start thinking of packing for Paganello, a scant 4 days from leaving to make sure there's nothing I need to pick up before then. Yeah, spring break.

Leaving for Paganello on Wednesday. I think I blinked somewhere. Oh, and it's snowing again in Chicago. Which is good since I'll be trying my hand at the Film your Paga contest and need some good Chicago snow shots. Went on a blind date yesterday with June, hi. It went well. Saw Ice Age, funny movie, and ate the usual at Heaven on Seven. Watched a bit of the Oscars at Rock Bottom. As for the rest of the weekend, just watched a whole lot of movies. Ah, spring break wind down.

Off to partly sunny Rimini, Italy till next tuesday. Check out status of Chicago Scandal at Paganello standings. This year King, Marc, Adam and I get to take the long way there, via Milan. But it will be a very good time. I'm bringing a video camera for hopefully a Scandalous tape and a regular camera to once again try for the photo award. I may get a chance to update while in Italy, but nobody hold their breath.

Back from a long weekend in Italy. Scandal placed 8th, at least making quarters on Saturday. A more thorough review will follow after I get more sleep.

So I haven't gotten around to writing my long winded review of paganello 2002 yet. Maybe one of these days, if I ever get caught up from the 1 1/2 weeks of missed class. But my classes seem good, although a bit more theoretical than last quarter, but maybe a good balance, Advanced Java, Advanced Databases, and Networking/SysAdm. Actually, it'll probably end up being pretty well balanced. It continues to rain in Chicago. I made it out to Woodstock last weekend, just in time to make an airport run with my dad and cousin. I also managed to play on grass for the first time since WUFF on Sunday. And I've decided to rest my left knee for a while. Another Tue-Wed-Thurs schedule, with pretty much absolutely nothing planned for the weekends. Sounds like a pretty good Spring to me.

So it's late, and I've just finished up my homework that's due tomorrow, so I'm back on schedule. And to think I was hoping to get to bed before or around midnight during this spring quarter to more fully enjoy the hopefully better weather. Gilmore Girls continues to entertain me, and I'm thankful for the fast forward for my tape of the Real World Chicago. Sometimes they just get way too whiny.

Looks like my ISP, rcnchicago.com, is having some router issues. Makes me unable to go from home to work or school and vice versa. It's weird. So email to any uchicago accounts will be, well, a little off. Got some speaker stands for the home theatre, which now boasts a fairly even soundfield. Quite impressive. Beats folding tv trays. I actually got a decent night's sleep, but I've got more homework, due to an extension on the stuff I stayed up till 4 working on. Blade 2 again and Van Wilder on Friday, and maybe an additional DVD later.

Turns out my network problems were due to having an old DHCP IP address. So that's resolved, which is nice. I take back any bad thing I've ever said about RCNChicago. Dinner at Dublin's last night. Such a great place. Homework today, trying to get a Java based Reversi game server up and running. Exciting. Bowling tomorrow. More homework on Monday. Always exciting stuff.

Aside from the movies on Friday, there was Piece and 1056 Saturday night, and bowling and food at a place I probably won't go back to for a while, and friends and card games on Sunday. Full Weekend. Plentiful. Like a horn of plenty. So that means I should probably do some homework today. I also managed to use some of my Sony Points for the first time today. About time I guess. Chicago has managed to skip over spring and go straight to summer. And resting my knee gets a little harder to do when it's sunny out.

Looks like Chicago will definitely be home for at least the next four months. I'm going to hold off on the job search till the summer, and continue working at the Lab Schools to pay for stuff. Which means, I'll hopefully get to enjoy the good things in Chicago this summer. Maybe. Basically I'm looking forward to Beach Ultimate at North Beach, and maybe some actually Chicago summer stuff. Maybe. Again. Except there's no air conditioning at work. Ugghh.

Going to my first Cubs game. I've lived down the street from Wrigley for 2 1/2 years, and only now am I finally wandering over for a nice Friday afternoon game. I should be doing homework though. Did some laundry this morning, got to do some house clean up. I just saw the trailer for Reign of Fire and that movie looks wicked awesome. Yes, I just did use "wicked awesome" to describe something.

So much for having a productive weekend. Went to a party, first one of the year at Hammerdown, watched some caps, cleaned up. Sunday pretended to do some more homework, played some cards, and Monday pretended to do some more homework, watched Fifth Element, and talked some ultimate with friends over beer and fish. I've also decided to start doing some physical fitness, which is a little annoying since Chicago has decided to drop into the 40's again, weatherwise. But this week brings more homework, that isn't done yet, a midterm on Thursday, and my brother and sister-in-law coming to visit this weekend. All ahead full.

Ahh, so a very long week begins. Finished up some homework, due in about 12 hours. Then I'll have to do some more homework and study for a midterm for tomorrow. And then do my java homework this weekend, while studying for another midterm and doing more homework. School's Grrrrrreat!

Not quite as full as last week, but this one ends on Thursday. Homework, as always, and another midterm, this time on Wednesday. Repeated nights of 5am programming benders might take their toll on me this week, but at least things get done.

It's just a little bit off, like 9pm to 5am. I've seen the wrong side of 5am too many times in the past week, like 6. But it's good, cause things got done. Now I get a little breather, head up to Wisconsin, play some ultimate, eat some good wholesome Wisconsin food. The Complete First Season of Friends makes good background audio and video for programming.

Won my first ever ultimate tournament, even if it was a sort of chump ass pseudo college thingie. But yeah. It was cool. I'm a little sore now, mostly calves, which makes it difficult to walk. In a pleasant surprise, no homework due this week for my classes, just a smallish project due next monday. Mother's Day this weekend, a little reminder to myself. And I did see Spider-Man over the weekend. A very good comic book movie. Thoroughly entertaining. And I did get to eat a brat at the Brat Stop in Kenosha. Very good. And only a mere hour away.

At least that's what it feels like. Bob San's last night. I may have to make Monday's Sushi Night. Yummmmm, sushi. But pretty much a whole lot of unexcitingness going on this week. Very nice. Relaxing even. Even with the 40 degree temperature swings in Chicago. I really need a haircut, but that's going to wait until Friday, when I can pass by the Apple Store to drool over the new TiBooks.

After that, no more programming benders with deadlines for grades. Probably for money in the future, but not for grades. Went home to Woodstock for Mother's Day Weekend. Always good, always quiet out there. Very nice. I did get a haircut, and I also drooled over Cinema Displays and new TiBooks at the Apple Store. Finally saw Tomb Raider, not a bad movie, and also finally watched my import of Shaolin Soccer, a very funny movie. Very funny. Just more homework planned for the week, nothing for the weekend.

Well, just about anything is better than homework. Instead of doing it, I ended up playing with my new universal remote, to make the fortress of solitudes A/V setup much more under control, watched Strictly Ballroom, a lovely dancing tale, watched some Gilmore Girls, took apart my cube and put it back together again. All so much more interesting than any database homework could be. I also got my first sony point fulfillment, a sportly looking personal audio system, (boombox) that plays mp3 cdr's, which goes into the trunk of my car, which means music for every frisbee function i'll ever drive to again. Oh, and too many all nighters. The sun seems to rise earlier and earlier, and it's annoying that I see the change firsthand.

Went to Cafe Iberico with my parents and cousin for dinner tonight. Good stuff. Always good stuff. I did not take any sangria though. I do gotta love wearing my winter hat and coat in the middle of May. Oh Chicago weather. Tomorrow I might do some shopping, drool over more stuff at the Apple Store. Episode II viewing happens on Monday. I did pop in Episode I to prepare. And I caught part of the Star Wars Fan Films on Sci-Fi. I'm also hoping to catch X-Files series finale sunday night.

Went and saw it at McClurg, 7pm showing. Sold out. Long lines. Theatre 1. Digital Projection. Absolutely amazing. I hope they show many many many more films using the digital projector. Really. It's that good. Dinner at Heaven on Seven afterwards. Read on for my thoughts on Episode II, but there will be spoilers, so if you're one of the 6 people who haven't seen the movie, don't read on. So I liked Episode II. It's a good, fun movie. It's a good 2nd film to a 6 film series. It's gotta be hard to go back and start the first half of a story after the second half has been told. But I think Lucas does a good job. Odds and Ends as they come to me:

• I never game much thought to what the Clone Wars would be about or over, or why even call them the Clone Wars, but a republic civil war and using clones against droids? Satisfactory explanation for me.
• I was disappointed that the Jedi didn't kick a whole lot of ass. But that was explained away in the Mace/Yoda conversation to admit to the senate of the jedi's weakening abilities in the force. But that sucks, cause it means we'll never see the jedi at full force, at least the good jedi.
• I feel sorry for yoda, at seeing his padawan learner turn to the dark side. Probably the feeling will come across much worse when it happens to Obi-Wan.
• I thought Hayden did a very good job. It was believable that he was a grown up Jake Lloyd. And a believable teenager with very powerful force abilities.
• Darth Sidius/Palpatine is turning out to be a great character. Very much the puppet master, very much in control of everything that's going on. Everything is going his way.
• I hope Lucas decides to rerelease Episodes IV, V, and VI after III comes out, since the next one is just going to be very very dark at the end, and audiences, well, they don't like seeing the bad guys win. And the bad guys will win in the next one. Hell, they've won the past 2.
• Music they should have had: I will always Love you sung by Whitney Houston, the Hills are alive from the Sound of Music, and possibly the entire soundtrack from Beverly Hills, 90210.
• And, it's true, Yoda does kick ass. Serious ass.
• I was still hoping N'Sync made it into the film. Maybe they're just in costume.
• Good to see how Luke ends up with the Lars on Tatooine.
• Sad they didn't show Anakin's massacre.
• Why are there only 4 colors of light sabers? Green, Blue, Red (if you're evil) and Purple if you're Shaft? I'd love to see someone come with dual light Sai's.
• Hopefully the Mandalorians make a big showing in the next film, or maybe they've just thrown that "canon" out the window.
• I thought Darth Vader is the one who goes out and exterminates the jedi, but if there's only a handful and they're weak, that's not so impressive. I mean if you can take down a jedi with a blaster like Jango did, well, how hard can it be? Balance of the force.

Once again, another Tuesday passes and I ask myself, why do I watch Real World Chicago? It's definitely not because the characters are likable. Maybe because seeing Chicago on tv is nice. But Gilmore Girls was good. And now I won't have to tape any TV after Felicity tomorrow for a good long while. I've been hankering to see Episode II again in the digital screen. Yum, digital projection. But in the meantime, the dvd background as I do my database homework is Judge Dredd. Gotta love it. The warranty runs out on my iBook soon, which means a new paint job and quick possibly an overclocking deal to hopefully 600 with a 100 Mhz bus. That'll be sweet.

Felicity ended it's run tonight. And it's one of the few shows that's actually neatly encapsulated as a series. She goes to college, the series starts. She graduates, sorta, and the series ends. All works out pretty well. But the last hour, and using the spell as a means to recap the series, and the actual ending point, of making a choice, sticking with it, and saying good bye to things from college, all very poignant, very neat and tidy, very cool. I liked how they ended it, even if I only watched like the first half season and the last 4 episodes. But still, it was good. Parents are crashing at the condo for the weekend for a nice wedding of a first or second cousin that I'm missing since I'll be in Raleigh for Kudzu, along with missing Russell's Graduation. Congrats, buddy.

A lovely hot weekend in Raleigh, as Tea & Strumpets made it to quarters at 2002 kudzu, losing to eventual second place finishers, BRU. Sunny and hot all days, got some bronzing in. Some great food, as always on T&S trips. A small evening Memorial Day BBQ at Hammerdown ends the weekend, and starts off the last two weeks of school for me. Did my last java assignment and went to my last java class tonight. Networking final assignment and final on thursday and Databases final assignment and final next wednesday. And then another summer. Ah, summer in Chicago.

More cars. I took the day off work to finish up my networking assignment and "study", and decided to drive down to class in my usual 30 minutes at 4:37pm today. Well, it's pretty annoying when the traffic starts right around North and continues all the way to the south loop. It took me twice as long to get to class. Quite annoying. So as the weather gets nicer, more people come to the lake front, which means more traffic. Annoying. I'm a little worried about my sleep schedule, because despite a 2am bedtime, I was wide awake and bushy tailed this morning at 8am. Weird.

Just a final in Databases Wednesday night, and I am done. 9 months, just about the same time it takes for a child to be conceived and born, I get another degree. Let the job searching begin. In other news, I've successfully modded my Cube to a dual processor, added a fan, a new hard drive, and a better video card. Now plans include redecorating my place, rearranging furniture again. Think stadium seating. I'm making a run home to Woodstock for another haircut, and hopefully find some good cleats.

All done. Finished. Fini. I hope. At least I don the cap and gown for tomorrow's ceremony. Should be interesting. I'd have to say though, finishing up in the middle of the week, well, it doesn't quite feel like I've finished up yet. Hopefully it'll sink in more after the weekend. Family Graduation dinner at Sai Cafe, and my brother's flying in for the weekend. Old vs. Young game at Lakefill on Saturday, 1pm, again. That about sums it up.

So now the job search starts. Sweet. Some quality family time this weekend, good to see my brother, even if for a short 30 odd hours. Family lunch on sunday out in Elk Grove Village, a stop at the Apple store where the staff was very nice and helpful. I managed to pick up an iPod auto adapter and a Powermate, from Griffin. Solid aluminum knob, used for volume control and other various things. I need to start moving stuff around, and probably start with the movie area, then move into the data center. Summer league, tuesday night movie, and hopefully thursday beach pickup for the week, and Poultry Days for the weekend.

Okay, so I graduated a week ago. It still hasn't quite sunk in yet. Still part timing it at the Lab School. Playing Summer League. Watching movies on Tuesday. Going to Poultry Days this weekend. Summer is upon me, and I meet it with vigor. I'm going to end up playing ultimate often. I think. Talked to a very old friend today.

Drove to Versailles, OH and back. Lots of driving. Haven't done driving like that in a long time. Kind of nice. Anyway, Poultry Days went okay. Rained Saturday Night. Did okay in the competition. Personally, I had too many stupid drops and throwaways. I did get to play in the all star game, all 5 points for the north. Did nothing of note. The light sabres doubling as camp lights are pretty cool. Big plans for next year's compound.

Saw the Bourne Identity last night, had some pizza at Piece, drank some beer. Playing some summer league tonight. Weeks go by awfully quickly these summer days. But the Bourne Identity didn't need to be called the Bourne Identity, it could have been called anything, and it's too bad they used the Bourne Identity, because the Robert Ludlum novel would have made a great movie too.

Almost 4 days without leaving the fortress of solitude. But last wednesday, of course, during summer league, I managed to do something to my right foot. Not sure what yet, but it's difficult to put weight on the heel. Anyway, lots of ice and ibu's, and I'm at least walking on it, sort of. But watched a lot of movies, successfully overclocked my iBook to a 100 Mhz system bus and up to 597 Mhz processor speed. And now the top is clear and the battery cover as well, and all that's left is the bottom to remove paint, and then, well, got to find something to paint it. Happy Anniversary to my brother and sister-in-law, a day late. Played some of my first GameCube games. It's a fun system.

Days pass by quickly in the summer time. Work, dinner in the burbs for my mom's birthday, some quick shopping, and finally, moving furniture around pretty much sums up the last 5 or 6 days. I also managed to finish taking all the paint off my iBook. I'm thinking smoky gray. I have some additional clean up from redecorating, and to actually do some stadium seating, as well as work on getting a better than felt poker table up and running. All plans for after Mars, which I'll be playing at. I'm pretty much wearing a ankle brace all the time now, but I'm moving on it, so that's good. But time definitely flies in the summer.

I managed to play summer league today, which means I'll be playing this weekend at Mars in Pittsburgh. So that'll be fun. In other news, I managed to find out that G.I. Joe will be on the Cartoon Network at midnight, CST, except for July 2nd, when Toon will be running an Iron Giant Marathon. So that's cool. I also watched a bit of very strange sports on Fox Sports World. After getting notified of cricket being televised, I managed to catch a bit of a sport that looks like lacross, maybe, mixed with some australian rules football, and other random stuff. It had a goal like soccer, and poles like rugby? You could advance the ball, which looked like a tennis ball, by popping it up with one hand and batting at it with the other, or using the paddle. Very strange. And then I got to see a bit of a very similar sport, except played with what looked to be a soccer ball and no paddles, but same field. Weird. Going to see Star Wars, AOTC again tomorrow.

Went to Mars this weekend, brought Tea & Strumpets, the travelling co-ed team I play with, full circle, back to where it all began. And pretty much ended up where we all began, semi's of the B division. Hot as usual, and some good plays and times were had and enjoyed. Made it back to the Church Brew Works. Strange things are afoot at the Circle K, that's for sure. For this week, Mr. Deeds Tuesday Night, summer league, and hopefully trying to find a job, as well as some platform material for stadium seating and a better card table material.

So it's official, well, as of last week too, but I'm playing co-ed in the Fall Series this year. It's going to be a lot of fun. I still haven't done my laundry, but I do have stadium seating. I got Warcraft III, which looks pretty sweet. Otherwise, fairly uneventful summer. Just playing summer league, waiting for my foot to get better enough so I can start getting into shape, and watching a lot of TV and movies.

I actually got up and watched Steve's Keynote, using mpeg4 streaming, which worked just fine. Quality between that and quicktime favors the quicktime stream, but then again, the mpeg4 stream never crapped out. No real hardware announcements, updated iPod, widescreen iMac. No other hardware updates. But iSync and iCal are really really cool. Seems like Apple gets the bluetooth syncML world, which is really really cool. iCal seems like a foot in the door enterprise-wise. Good family stuff. And instead of sleeping last night I implemented a polling system for team names for the Mixed team I'm playing with. I also finally did laundry, and managed to eat at Brasserie Jo, a good french place downtown, as a farewell dinner to Keating.

Went up to Evanston Century 12 to see Minority Report finally, and it's become my new favorite place to see movies. It's fabulous. And evanston, it's not the town I left behind oh so long 3 years ago. So many big buildings, and developments, and condos under construction. It's crazy. First practice, sorta, tomorrow for the Team with no name. Finally did some paperwork clean up and general cleanup here at the condo. Did a lot of driving around today, up in the north burbs. Northbrook court is a very nice shopping mall, if a little small. Fancy schmancy. Oh, and Minority Report was a really really good movie.

My dual processor cube bit the big one, at least one of the processors bit the big one, so I'm back down to a single 500 MHz cube. It's alright. Upgrade to a GHz possible in the near future. Otherwise, still playing summer league, still working, still not getting enough sleep. Work outing today, chinese and pool. Should be a good time. Sandblast, the Chicago beach tourney, is this weekend. Looking forward to it, even if I'm sitting around with ice on both my heels and on my left knee.

So my dual proc cube isn't dead, is just needed its inductor coil resoldered. So I'm back to being double barreled. Sweet. Otherwise, I'm really tired and sore from Sandblast last weekend, where Sand Whammies made it to the semi's. Our point diff on the weekend was around +54 or something like that. I've sent out a couple more resumes, a couple more applications, and I've got to start doing some more research to find other place to apply to. A highlight from the weekend was making myself a fresh caprese salad, absolutely amazing stuff. Another highlight was dinner at Sai on Saturday. Ummmmm, sushi. Not too much on the horizon for the week.

I thought summer was filled with nothing but TV reruns and crap that doesn't work during the rest of the year. Instead I'm drawn to all sorts of things. The Great Outdoor games on ESPN, fabulous. The 3rd Tony Hawk Gigantic Skate Park Tour, also on ESPN, just rockin'. Hurling, darts, and other random sports on Fox Sports World. And now today, the first time I've seen SlamBall on TNN. That it the first real sign that makes me feel like I'm living in 2002, like I'm living in the future.

Summer. It's August, in a couple more hours anyway, and pretty much another summer in chicago has passed away. And I missed going to see Peter, Paul, and Mary again at Ravinia, along with Kodo who played Monday night. I still haven't been out to a Tuesday Night movie at Grant Park or beach ultimate pickup at North Beach. I did however stumble across a weblog that documented the end of various weblogs. Funny. I also managed to pick up the rest of Dashboard Confessional's albums/EP's from amazon. It's been on constant rotation on my iPod for the last couple of weeks.

Dinner with friends at Jin Ju, a trendy Korean place up in Andersenville. Pretty good. I also managed to finish up the Manhattan Project, a great movie. That, Real Genius, Wargames, Sneakers and Hackers, same sort of vein, oh, and Good Will Hunting, the genius type movies, the smahrt people movies. I like them. Heading home to Woodstock for a bit this weekend. Gotta get a haircut. Also do a little banking. Also going to try and upgrade my parents' iMac to OS X. Should be interesting.

Well, almost. Summer league, team 3, Orange Whip, won our last official summer league game yesterday, down to the wire in a zoney game. Wednesday is a tune up for Saturday's tourney out in Naperville. A quick shout out to some Orange Whip teammates, Jerry, Tim, David, and Shaun. In other news I got entranced by Slamball again last night, it's really easy to get into and excited about. And in a strange confluence I popped in Wargames, and later started flipping through the channels and came upon Wargames on cable.

Summer League tournament, in, well, 8 hours from now, CDT. I should probably get some sleep. But instead I'm going to burn a couple CD's for music for a day out on the Naperville Polo Fields. Managed to get to Evanston at the Century Theatres to see Spy Kids 2, an okay film, and Signs, M. Night Shyamalan film and rightly so, because it's a great movie. Just a good tale all around. Hopefully I'll get some KKD before playing tomorrow, and maybe some on the way back, and some partying at Akira and Bryan's before shipping out to Vegas for a couple days to see the family. Rough.

Right, so Orange Whip, team 3, made it to the Quarters of the Summer League tourney, losing after our captain Akira dislocated his elbow. Their party that night continued, and I pretty much spent it asleep on their recliner. Vegas was fun, a good time as usual. And now I'm back. And I've got a used m505 now, which is pretty sweet, and a WallStreet to play with. And I think it's wednesday. Word goes out to Katina and Alex, more Orange Whip teammates.

Played at Cooler with a co-ed team. It was the first hard realization that I'm playing in the Mixed Division this year. Anyway, we had a good saturday, going 4-0, and then lost on sunday to a Notre-Dame and family team. And then we beat up some other chicago team, which also did fairly well. I managed to eat some pork wrapped in pork on saturday night, but I make it better at home. And I managed to get to bed at a decent hour last night. And I ate only pork the entire weekend, having a brat at the Brat Stop in Kenosha on the way home.

Went and saw xXx last night and had some more Buff' Joe's. Good stuff. Got to drive with lightning all around, which was pretty cool. Heading back north after dropping Bryan and Akira off I drive through the front right about Oak Street where the temperature dropped and it stopped being humid. Very cool. Practice planned for the weekend, and the parents are coming out to visit, oh and Jaguar gets released, but otherwise nothing too exciting going on.

Mac OS X 10.2 was released today, but I got it yesterday, and installed it. Pretty exciting, I guess. Looks purty. But had some sushi last night, had some korean food at Jin Ju tonight with the parents. Looking forward to fish and chips wednesday at Duke of Perth's and a Hammerdown party next saturday.

I was typing up an update the other day, and mozilla crashed and the words were lost to the world forever. Well, to sum up the last 4 or 5 days: stadium run, plyo's, Oak Park, Blue Crush, Hackney's, Surprises for Kaze, tried track workout, fish and chips, practice, mongolian BBQ, teammate computer fixing. But this weekend, well, I'll let the invitation speak for itself

Workers of the World,

The boyz of 1132 N. Winchester, 
cordially invite you to: 

Labor Party '02

This Saturday Night, August 31st, 
9pm till whenever

at 1132 N. Winchester, Chicago, IL.
(located just south of Division Street, and just one block east of Damen Ave.)

We'll have beer, booze and tunes, 
You'll have a good time. 
It is after all another Hammerdown Production.

Come one, come all...and please pass along this invite.

Kaze, the Chicago Co-ed team I now play with, had a scrimmage with the South Bend Co-ed team this past Saturday, and a little BBQ at the Blanchet-Ruths', which was fun. Tony now has a very cute puppy. Practice today in the rain, which hasn't happened in a very very long time. But fun. The Hammerdown party was also fun, got started a little later, and did get to play some beer friz. Raz and I managed to go 2-0 up on Becky and Tanguay before calling the game since we just couldn't finish the deal. Also managed to do some rooting for the Viking. Tune up this weekend, some team events in the meantime. And the continuing job search.

Oak Park High School stadiums again, with AJ and Leah also this time. More this time, since we got out there while the sun was still up. And a set of plyo's to round the evening out. Managed to get some mexican food as well with my 2 teammates. Went to a cubs game Tuesday night, and then some cheesecake. Tomorrow I'm planning on finally getting molded cleats again, not that I'm going to need them for Tuneup in Naperville this weekend.

Practice and dinner at the Dixie Kitchen last night with some teammates. Pretty fun. Introduced Kaze to Brady's Blue Line game. Some liked it, some didn't. I didn't get cleats yesterday, but I'm going to try and get some today, this time from Chicago Soccer. Centrum Sports USA, not that impressive. Oh, and instead of doing laundry I'm just going to try and get a new light and dark pair of shirts for Tune Up this weekend. Oh, and I cut off all my hair last night. It's about 3/4" all the way around.

I got to string some cable through a ceiling at work, which was fun. I then got some noodles from Joy's and watched Amelie. Very good movie. I also had to explain this to a teammate, where this refers to this web site. Oh I also managed to get a new pair of cleats, Kelme Duendes with directional spikes. Should be rather interesting. I also managed to pick up some Under Armour shorts and Nike DriFit white and graphite. Love performance fabrics.

Tune up went alright. Kaze's first real showing and we ended up third behind 3 Martini Lunch and Hot Action. I did get to see JT for the first time in a long time. I also watched a bit of the finals. On the way home I managed to get some KKD, and for dinner I went out with some friends, finally, to Twisted Spoke. Good place. Big burgers. And I'm really really tired.

Dinner at Brasserie with friends again. Good food. Good company. Actually had a French 75. Hamstrings felt sore yesterday, but I'm feeling better today. I guess stadiums aren't all that great, and track might be better. Baby steps I guess. iCal is out, but it doesn't make it super easy to publish calendars, so that'll have to wait for a bit. But expect it. And I'm probably going to do a full reinstall on my cube, since it's been acting up lately with various things.

Goes the gears moving into place. Headed to Purdue this weekend to play at Sectionals in the Mixed Division. Should be an interesting section this year. Kaze picked up another woman defender to strengthen the lines. Almost thought I lost my favorite sweater, the gray heather from Eddie Bauer until Leah just told me to clean my closet, which I did, and then found it. Cut my hair down to 1/2". Pretty nice. Back of the head is a hard spot to trim. Oh, ran almost a complete track workout on Wednesday. Rough. And trying to organize rides and hotels for this weekend. Also rough.

Kaze went 7-0 and took first at the IL/IN mixed sectionals this past weekend at Purdue. We played hard D. It was fun. A lot of fun. Regionals in 3 weeks or so up at the Milwaukee Polo fields. Bonus from going undefeated were the Cool Treats from DQ courtesy of Noel. Thanks. This week I've got to do some more running and training, some job searching, and that pretty much sums it up.

Cooked Apple-Hazelnut stuffed chicken breasts with potatoes and I tried my hand at Zabaglione (sp?) for Monday night dinner with Leah. I like cooking. Got some good Brats with the boys at Hackney's on Tuesday. Workout schedule changed a bit with stadiums today and track on friday. Possibly running a 5k on Sunday. I managed to sneak in watching 40 Days and 40 Nights, a pretty funny movie. In my vein. I also managed to put Tomb Raider and Hudson Hawk on as background noise for the last couple of days.

Played Pickup at Brands Park last night. It was interesting and fun. I made some italian sausages with caramelized onions and mushrooms and Leah made a salad for pre pickup dinner. I also managed to get Leo, Tony, Becca and Leah to do AJ's plyo set at pickup last night. Track workout tonight. Also boys night out with Dinner at Angelina Ristorante down the street and probably a couple movies. Practice this weekend, LOTR:FOTR showing at my place Saturday night.

Movie night went well, with a pre showing of Office Space and dinner from Joy's Noodles. Much too much ultimate or working out in the past five days, I was really tired and also really like having this day off before the workouts begin again tomorrow. Brands again on thursday night for pickup/workout. I also really need a job. I've been having issues with my Mac OS X 10.2 install, I'm going to reinstall for the 3rd time today or tomorrow.

It was pan fried tilapia with lemon and scallion rice with asian style green beans. Dessert was, drum roll please, chocolate souffles. They actually turned out really well. Like really well. I've still got some Tropical Salsa that was supposed to go with the fish, except I forgot it in the fridge. I haven't made a cheesecake in a while, so I'm thinking of trying a White Chocolate Raspberry this weekend. I'm on my 3rd reinstall of Jaguar. The only non apple software right now is Mozilla. Everything else is stock, so I'll wait and see if anything goes wrong.

Track workout went surprisingly well yesterday. Never broke 80, but did all 11 400m's, and finally breaking 90 sec on #10 and #11. I also managed to finish up with a mile at 7:28 or so. Not too shabby. I should probably start speeding them up some. Tonight is helping out Nemesis with numbers at practice up in Wilmette, which should be fun. Tomorrow is pre pickup at Brands. I think I've finally figured out the issue with my Jaguar install, the firewire hub. Have to do some more testing to make sure.

Had a scrimmage with Ugly Truth on Saturday, and some practice on sunday, and a great brunch at Wishbone. Also finally made it out to piece again on saturday. All in all a pretty good weekend. A little tiring, but good. I plan on resting up, letting the body recover a bit for Regionals this coming weekend. Above + Beyond showing for the team this wednesday.

Congrats to Russell for passing the Bar. Thanks to Whitney for the Bar Passing dinner at Mirai. It was good. I like Sai better. But it was good. Monday night dinner was Cinnamon Mushroom stuffed Chicken Breasts with Green Pea Risotto and a cucumber salad with Chocolate Mousse for dessert. I managed to make a White Chocolate Raspberry cheesecake for A+B showing tonight. There's also a going away dinner for Matt Flynn at 5:30 at Weber Grill tonight.

Kaze ended up 5/6 at Midwest Regionals this past weekend at the Milwaukee Polo Fields. Great Jerseys, for a tourney. Had a nice prime rib all you can eat buffet for dinner Saturday Night. Had dinner Sunday night driving back through Evanston at the Davis Street Fishmarket. I'd forgotten how good of a place that was. And now, no big plans on the horizon, except rest a bit. I hurt. Sore really, but it feels like I took a beating, rather than tired.

Home in Woodstock to see the parents for the first time in a long time. Middle of the week makes it interesting. Monday Night Dinner was Chicken Parmigiana, Caprese, and a failed attempt at custard. Tuesday was movie day with a personal viewing of Strange Brew, and later watching Unbreakable, Shrek, and the Matrix with AJ. Wednesday was dinner with the 'rents, and Thursday is helping out at Machine practice. They need bodies. Friday is dinner with Jessica Jenkins, who's got a long lay over at O'Hare, and the weekend is pretty free, with Columbus Day to look forward to on Monday.

Picked up some new music and a couple new PS2 games on the way back in from Woodstock. Dido, Al Green, Etta James, Indigo Girls, Bon Jovi, Buffy - Once More with Feeling soundtrack, along with Robotech: Battlecry and Tekken 4, 2 progressive scan games. Watched Boiler Room start to finish for the first time. Good movie. Showed Leah my hometown, had some good Hong Kong Chicken from Plum Garden, which I hadn't had in a really long time.

Monday night dinner was Lemon Chicken, Special Rice and Sesame Green Beans as seen on 30 minute meals from the Food Channel. 30 Minute meal it wasn't, as it took me just about an hour to cook. Also meant I didn't get a chance to make dessert. Fairly uneventful days ahead, and maybe a chance to get back to summer projects, now that it's fall already. I managed to get Horde up, and now it's time to try Imp and Turba too. Need to write that ncurses journal reader, as well as something, anything, in Cocoa, along with getting the rest of my life pictures rescanned.

More ultimate, sorta. Helping out with the teams that are going to Nationals from Chicago at their respective practices. It's good, because I get to play. Tired a bit more, calling it a night out with friends early, only to come home and watch movies or TV or surf the web til the wee hours of the morn. Again, not much on the horizon, yet, but possibilities are arising.

Monday Night Dinner was courtesy Naked Chef, with the main course being Tray Baked Salmon and lemon rice. Dessert, which I did not forget to make this time was from Emeril, was Molten Chocolate Cakes. Pretty good. I've got pictures this time. I am managing to get down to Hyde Park to the Lab Schools for full days this week, to help out a bit. Pretty much means I get the Medici's Cinnamon Rolls in the morning. That and a cup of coffee makes it worth it. One bad thing, not necessarily about that, but I lost my left contact last night down the drain. Ugh. Always the left one.

In a little change from the normal tuesday sunday updating schedule is a friday evening news flash. Well, okay, nothing so exciting. Dinner by Leah on wednesday night, good thai pesto pasta with chicken. Dinner by King thursday night, jerk chicken, duck breasts, and some creamy jello italian dessert that looked like a brain. Fairly full days of work, at least going in for a long day, and SuperTroopers tonight. Early bedtime and an Ultimate Gathering at the Abando Home in Woodstock tomorrow. Pickup on Sunday at Washington Park. Interview at AISC on monday. Oh, also watching and reading about Nationals. Slightly depressing. Okay, very depressing.

Second Interview with AISC today. Sounds and looks like a good organization, and a good job. Monday night dinner was Country French Chicken with Butter and Herb Pasta and Sugar Snap Peas courtesy Rachel Ray from 30 Minute Meals on the Food Network. And then I tried to make Hot Chocolate Tarts, which ended up being a little overcooked, but still pretty good. I'm hoping to do a little Williams Sonoma shopping this afternoon, need some stuff for my Kitchen Aid Mixer. I've got a dinner to cook for Wednesday, and my parents are coming out this weekend, and I'm gonna cook for them too. Cooking machine, that's what I am. Tonight I have to move all my furniture around. I keep saying that, but tonight I will. And Thursday John Wesley Harding is playing the Waverly Gold Note, in Woodstock. I'd really like to get out and see his show. Because it's in Woodstock. Oh, and somehow fit in a viewing of the Frighteners for Halloween. Oh, and I completely forgot about Puck, my car, is possessed. A couple weeks ago he managed to hit Leah in the ear with the passenger side door, and last night he shoved me into the driver's side door frame. I've got a lump on my head to prove it. Scary.

Dinner was good last night. Again from Naked Chef, Seabass baked in a bag, Potato Salad with Lemon, Olive Oil and Dill dressing, and Fennel and Radish salad. Raspberry tart for dessert. Good time, first of many. Doesn't look like I'll be seeing John Wesley Harding in Woodstock, too bad. But more cooking for the parents this time this weekend, some Dim Sum, maybe some cards. I did get my furniture rearranged, at least in the living room. I did not get any additional stuff for my mixer, all special order stuff.

I didn't get the job as AISC. Moving on. Hung out with the parents a bit this weekend, and made them dinner Saturday night. Oh, Dim Sum with the Wang Brothers and their significant others and Akira Saturday morning. That was good. Warmed up some leftover steak for some of the boys at poker last night. Made some tarts, pear and blueberry and some mixed fruit ones.

So I'm updating a friend's powerbook, and get some memory from Other World Computing. It's a company started and run by one of my brother's classmates from High School, oh, and it's located in my hometown. And while checking on my order status, I come across the fact that they have job openings. Particularly, one for a PHP/SQL programmer. Something that makes me go hmmmmm. Otherwise, sushi to celebrate Big's birthday on Monday, so much fish, so good at Sai. Nothing on tuesday, but managed to finally pick up some Fin du Monde. I've heard it's good. Also going to be making Tournedos of Beef in Puff Pastry with some potato dish and zucchini stuffed tomotoes for a postponed Monday Night Dinner.

So Monday Wednesday Night dinner went really well, except for being 2 hours late. But still, it was really good. So much butter makes everything taste good. I got interviewed as part of Jessica Jenkin's security clearance this morning. I then got to play with Apple's Remote Desktop at work. Then some laundry. Worked out for the first time since the season ended, decided to run some stairs in my building. Now, a little sore. I think I'm headed back to Woodstock tomorrow night. I should be back in the city by Saturday. Oh, and also going to watch my friend and teammate Anjali rip it up in her powderpuff game as strong safety tomorrow afternoon.

So big water main break in front of my building. Nothing wrong with my building, or the garage which has my car underneath. Pretty surprising considering it is right in front of my building. So I was awake and watching, peeking out my window at the huge plume of water shooting out of the street this morning. First time I saw it was around 3:15. Cops on the scene around 3:45. Flooding eventually reached a tiny bit of northbound outer drive. But lots of water. Lots. I felt bad for the one car that was pretty much in direct line of the spout the whole time. That was the one that ended up back end in the sinkhole with the trunk open. I also saw the one person run out in pajamas and move their car. It was loud too, like an airport, with the sound of rushing water. But it finally got shut down around 6 or so. When I turned on the TV to catch the news, I was able to see all the Sky Cams in their helicopters outside my window. So if any of you wondered where I live, that's the building you saw on the news in Chicago today. Pretty exciting.

Wow. Tuesday already. To recap the weekend, Dinner by Bryan Saturday night, really good steak, double baked potatoes, vegetable medley, chocolate mousse. Sunday was some fun pickup, and hanging out with Leah and her friend Sarah. Managed to watch X-Men and She's All That. It was an Anna Paquin kind of night. Monday Night dinner was the easy way out, with Italian Beef Bake, something out of a quick and easy recipe book, but decent. Needed some more flavor though. Managed to watch High Fidelity last night as well. Got my eyes checked this morning. Only a small change in my left eye, but not enough to warrant new glasses or contacts, just replacements for the one I lost. So my eyes are all good, which is good to hear.

Dinner on Wednesday went well. Pan Seared Salmon with Miso/Plum sauce and Cilantro Vinaigrette, Wasabi (very green) mashed potatoes, Asparagus Beef Rolls, and some Cardinal Gateaux for dessert. Watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for the release of Chamber of Secrets which comes out today. Also made some Chocolate Chip Cookies from Emeril's recipe. Not bad. I've gotten suggestions to try Alton Brown's. Probably a good idea. Plans for the weekend? Might see a movie tonight, movie night tomorrow night, and Chili on sunday. Not a bad fall weekend. Oh, and on the job front, I'm applying for a Mac Genius spot at the Oak Brook Apple Store to be. Gotta keep the dream alive.

Managed to see 8 Mile over the weekend, when Harry Potter was sold out. But a pretty good movie. Entertaining. Also managed to catch up with my ex on Sunday while chowing down on some sushi, which was good. Monday Night Dinner was some Walleye with Mango Salsa and Couscous. I tried to make these baked apples in golden cages from my dessert book, but they didn't turn out that well. I'm gonna try and see Harry Potter tonight digitally projected at the new River East theater at 7pm. Gonna try anyway.

A real date tomorrow night. With Leah. Angelina Ristorante and a movie. About time some might say. Possible Movie Night on saturday, a postponement from last weekend, since I ran errands last saturday. Sunday looks like a little story time by Margie, which means I finally get to hear the Phantom Tollbooth. And I need to do some baking, I think, this weekend since I'm doing dessert for Thanksgiving this year. Right now I'm passing the time by ripping Russell's CD's with iTunes, he's a Switcher. Helped renderblender almost get off the ground today, hopefully within the next couple of days when the DNS switches over.

I got a new cell phone over the weekend. Sony Ericsson t68i with T-Mobile service. You can get my new number by calling my old number. Somethings I just don't give away on the internet. But the phone, it's freakin' cool. iSyncing wirelessly with Bluetooth to my cube. Got all my numbers just like that, started to put pictures in, it's all good. This all happened because my old phone, a Qualcomm QCP-2760 started dying on me, and it was 3 years old, so it was about time anyway for a new phone. And in this case, a new phone needed a new service. I got to see the longer edition of Fellowship of the Rings saturday night, so good. Listened to most of the Phantom Tollbooth as read by Margie on Sunday. I need to do some tart baking for thanksgiving, Cappucino and Mixed Fruit, maybe a Tiramisu for fun since I've got ladyfingers sitting in my freezer.

Out to Woodstock by way of Lake Geneva this evening. Made my tarts, finished up this morning, round 4:30. Remind me to not do that again. Hung out with Karl Nack, a college friend all night, catching up. Had dinner at Mongolian BBQ and watched movies at my place, Blade II and When Harry Met Sally. After a cooking lesson from my Mom, I think I'll be back in Chicago on Friday, and probably head out to the Apple Store Opening in Oak Brook, mostly just to see about the job. Poker with the boys on Sunday. Should be a good holiday weekend.

So my brand new cell phone started flaking out on me last night, but it's been fine this morning. I'll have to wait and see if I need to return it or not. Thanksgiving weekend went by in a blur. I did return Friday, but only made it out to the Apple Store at Oak Brook on Sunday. I managed to watch 5 movies since Friday; O, Swordfish, Rock Star, Sleepless in Seattle, and Death to Smoochy. That last one's funny. Really funny. I also ordered a pizza online Friday night. And 15 minutes later, it showed up on my door. The internet is amazing. For this week I've got another college friend passing through town, Dave Morse, on wednesday. I might go see an old college friend's new band play their first gig on Thursday night, the Corkscrews down at the Bog at IIT at 10pm. And I've got paintballing down at Extreme Park on Saturday with Cohen Financial and friends. Welcome to December.

Monday Night Dinner with Leah was Gnocchi with a tomato cream sauce, mixed green salad with romano crisps, and portobello mushroom bruschetta. I didn't have time to make a dessert, again. Crap, that's becoming a habit. I did find some time earlier in the day to make some empanadas. They're wee tiny ones, but still not bad. I gotta find a better dough to use than frozen puff pastry. I think I'll make some Lemon Lime tarts tonight, and finally get around to do some cleaning. The place needs it. Even though it only really lasted for a couple days, I miss snow falling. That definitely puts me in the Holiday mood.

I did manage to make some tarts, but they ended up a little slightly overcooked. I'm still playing with cooking time modifications on smaller individual tarts vs. large single tarts. Dave and I watched Citizen Kane, great movie, and then managed to get out to Frontera Grill for my first time. A couple blue agave margaritas, and it was a pretty good night. Walked by the empty shell of a building that will be the downtown Chicago Apple Store. Managed to make some chocolate pancakes for breakfast this morning, and dropped Dave off at the McCormick Center, my first time driving through there. Rather interesting. Also found out yesterday that the Oakbrook Apple Store gave me the Heisman for the Mac Genius spot. Understandable, but still disappointing. Next?

A full week draws to a close. Dinner last night at Grand Luxe Cafe, a nifty place that reminded me of the Venetian in Las Vegas. It was good. It's like the Cheesecake Factory in terms of menu and food portion size. I split the Buffalo Rolls and had the Crispy Caramel Chicken. Too much food. Wandered through Virgin Megastore, looking at more holiday music by popular artists that I want to get. Tonight dinner was at Angelina Ristorante. It was good, as always. I might have to start taking advantage of the 25% local discount on Wednesdays. Paintballing tomorrow. It's gonna be cold.

So a jam packed weekend also comes to a close. Kinda went be in a blur. Paintballing was fun on Saturday, not as cold as I was expecting, or even wanting really. Team fleece/non camo got toasted overall. Dinner was at Max's American Place on Division, not too shabby. I got to see Whitney's new place, fabulous. Sunday brunch with Leah and her brother Jeff at a great place called Orange on Clark. I'm definitely have to go back there again and again and again. And then dinner with the Stomp goers at the Grillroom. Yummmm, bone in filet. It was a blur, that's for sure. Not much on the horizon for the week. Last monday night dinner for about a month. Possibly a couple holiday parties on Friday the 13th.

So the weather's decent. Love Chicago screwed up weather systems. Love it. Anyway, Monday Night dinner got postponed to Tuesday Night, and was beef Wonton soup and fresh Spring Rolls. A little healthy, go figure. Got to watch Serendipity, end of Death to Smoochy, part of Glengarry Glen Ross. At work had some issues with SCSI on a blue & white G3 and OS X. Ugh, I just don't want to think about it. Looks like Drumline on Friday, nothing like a quality movie about college marching bands. Aside from a couple holidayish parties I might make an appearance at.

My little iBook, I think, has died. It's at least on it's deathbed. Probably a little too much modifications by me, the overclocking, the painting, the multiple deconstructions. Sad. Watched Reign of Fire yesterday, got my car washed, finally, and baked some cookies the other day. I actually got to buy flowers, some Gerbera Daisies, and show up on Leah's doorstep to give them to her. Went to Guthrie's last night, a nice neighborhoody bar with board games and stuff. Played, well, sorta played Dr. Laura's Board Game. Stay away from the game, it's no good. Stick to stuff like Connect Four. I also managed to get some Christmas candy for my candy bowl, and apple cider, orange and carrot juice, and Arizona Green Tea for my fridge. Liquid binge, I guess.

I put up some Christmas lights at my place, just a handful around my small tiny little fake christmas trees, and rope light randomly arrayed by the windows. It's festive. Went to a couple more bars this weekend. After Drumline, a pretty good flick, and dinner at Smith and Wollensky, a great steak place in Chicago, go figure, made it to Bar Celona for a drink with Leah and friends. After dinner Saturday at Piece where I got a handful of fake Piece Tattoos, one on my shoulder, but after dinner there with Russell, Sarah, Whit and King being seated by Raime and served by Carlo, I made it to Mystic Celt to meet Leah and friends post TFA shindig. So 3 bars, all in about 4 days. Impressive for me. I also managed to scarf down 11 Krispy Kremes for sustenance on Sunday, and managed to make the chewy chocolate chip cookies for the boys for poker. Oh, I also made it out to see some old old college friends at Bender's Shakespot Holiday Party on Friday, so a quick shout out to the Schizz. Good to see y'all again. This week I'm gonna try and make the rounds again, and see or catch up with people I haven't seen in a while before holiday break.

I just got wasted by pretty much a one day flu on Monday. I was absolutely worthless. I pretty much spent the day either asleep or watching movies on my couch. Not a bad way to spend a monday, except for feeling like crap all day. But I felt much better today, enough to do some laundry and get out and about. It looks like I've got to replace an ethernet card on my router box, so I'm either gonna do that or set up my spare G4 as a router box instead, and go All Mac All the time at the Abando Condo. Going to see the Two Towers sometime this week, and possibly even twice. And I've got the urges to watch sequels, like currently I've got Toy Story in, and will watch Toy Story 2 later. I'm also thinking about the Jurassic Park sequels too. Oh, and I did promise to watch the Godfather Trilogy before February I think.

So the ethernet card on my router box is just fine. It didn't go bad at all. But I figured out that some of my memory in my Cube's gone bad, which sucks. Probably means a whole lot of corrupted stuff on my hard drive. Damn. Computers dying all over the place. Going to see the Two Towers Twice, once tonight at 9:30pm and then again tomorrow at 5:30, same theater complex, and it'd be funny if it ended up being in the same actual theater. And there was a slight chance I could have seen it this afternoon, but that just didn't happen. I leave on Saturday to head back to Woodstock before heading to LA and Vegas for the Family Holiday trip. And then 3 weeks later I'm back in LA for Lei-Out, a beach tourney. Crazy, as always.

Got my oil changed this morning, a week late and about a 1000 miles overdue. Go figure. Dinner last night at Twisted Spoke. The first time I saw the place I never thought I'd ever go there, I mean, there's a skeleton on a motorcycle out front. But great food. I'm in the recovery period for my illness from earlier in the week. That means my sinuses are draining. Not very pleasant. Ugh. I'm stuck doing email checks and web browsing from my brother's old Wallstreet under Mac OS 9 since my OS X machines are all having issues. I miss OS X and it's lickable interface. Hard to go back. I've still got to do some laundry, packing, and shopping before the RenderBlender Christmas Party.

Spent the day with James Kennedy. Good to see him, old high school friend. Renderblender Party was fun, and holiday-riffic. I managed to walk away with a small box of Frango Mints. Managed to see Nemesis and Pumpkin today, the movies, with the latter being the better of the two. Switched my parents over to Earthlink as an ISP. That is until I someday switch them over to Direcway, the two way satellite service. This next week or so is definitely going to be a blur, with not knowing what day it is, and a major holiday in the middle of the week as well.

I was born in a small town. So hanging out with James again, and managed to see Gangs of New York, which I enjoyed. I also enjoyed the Kill Bill trailer at the start, which looks fabulous. I was a little annoyed that they had the wrong aspect ratio for the screen, wasn't wide enough. Dinner at Applebee's and proud as I am to say it, and this mean's more to the hometown readers, but I went to Duke O'Brian's for the first time ever. Then some fun time goofing off at the Borders in Crystal Lake. I tell ya, CL is where it's at. Anyway, I gotta pack, since the flight is tomorrow , Flight 873 on American. Hmmm, I wonder if putting my flight info up is a good or bad idea.

Made it to LA just fine. Plane was a bit delayed, the ride a bit bumpy, but here in the city of angels. And loving the DSL my brother has. Ah, sweet broadband, how I missed thee, even for a short 3 days. Addicting? Of course. But the family's together for the holiday, and should be a good time. There should be Abando Family Fondue for Christmas. I get to show the wonders of Mozilla to my brother, and do a little bit of tech support for a Wireless Access Point. Oh, and I managed to fix an issue with my phone not going to voice mail on calls when the phone was off. Finally got to see Scooby-Doo on the plane. It's a funny movie. Very amusing.

So Christmas comes and goes. Dim Sum for Christmas Lunch at a place called Ocean's or something in the LA Chinatown. Then got some odd lychee flavored icee with little Boba's, like tapioca but spherical. Odd little drink. A nap, and then a family viewing of Catch Me If You Can. Quite good. Very amusing. Then some veg'ing and some odd and end computer work. The gift exchange happened on Christmas Eve, which actually ended up bleeding into Christmas Day. Headed to Vegas and staying at the Paris. Should be a good time. Gonna try and hit up the Apple Store for any possible job openings. I forgot to mention that Christmas Mass was at the new LA Cathedral, a nice place. It also happened to be the first Christmas Mass there. They had kids do the readings and stuff, and this one little girl with an absolutely amazing voice did the responsorial psalm and the gospel acclamation. Absolutely amazing.

Here I am at the Apple Store at the 0 Mall in Las Vegas, Nevada. Nice store, one of the smaller styles. Yet another abuse of free internet access. Anyway, no job openings here. Vegas is crazy busy, not like last year. I realize that this is my 4th trip to Vegas this calendar year. Impressive. Eating lots of good food, some seabass, some gnocchi, some croissants. Gonna get some high quality dim sum tomorrow. Doing some shopping, trying to update the wardrobe, just a little bit anyway.

Back at work at the Lab School, after taking the red eye back in from Vegas. Good trip. Good hanging with the family, and Vegas, with no real gambling, well, is still a good time for me. Lots of people watching, Bellagio Fountain watching, and walking. Oh, and sitting in the sun yesterday. That was quite nice, getting a little dose of sunshine in December. I need to get some sleep, but I've got to watch Swingers thanks to ESPN's Page 2. New Year's Party at 935 tomorrow. Should be a good time.

So I took the hard drive and video card and memory out of my cube and put it into the spare G4 I had, and guess what? No problems. None. At all. Stupid modded cube. So at least I've got a working computer at home. Which is nice. But slow. Single 500 Mhz G4? Sloooow. Anyway, just kicking back a little this last day of 2002. Why not, a year in review. The short recap: renewed belief and faith in true love, dating, mixed ultimate, and now short hair. That actually pretty much sums up the year in a nutshell. I mean, I'm glossing over the details, but still. 2002 ended up being a good year. It ended in 2, which puts it up with 1992, which was also a good year. It was the 3rd year in my three year cycle of, well, dating life. Started cooking again. Really cooking. Monday night dinners. All in all, not a bad year at all. Let's see, any firsts?

• First time to Vegas with friends and not family.
• First time to win an ultimate tournament with the Whitewater night co-ed tourney.
• First time on a blind date with June.
• First time playing on a co-ed team for the Fall UPA Series.
• First time making it to semi's of a really good tournament with Tea & Strumpets at WUFF Co-ed Nationals.
• First good February in a long time.
• First widescreen big projection TV.
• First time using my Sony Points.
• First Cubs game.
• First time actually physically training for an ultimate season.
• First time in the All Star Game at Poultry Days.
• First time modding computers with soldering irons.
• First time winning Sectionals.

Lots of firsts. Impressive year.