Snow hits, and it's December. Good times. Huge dance class last night, as some social group called Hi Life, I think, invaded for the week. Odd having so many people there. We tried to learn some sort of swing, but no swing that I've learned or seen before. It was ok. We ended up going to dinner at Nacional 27 again. Menu didn't seem as good this time, and we tried out half tapas/shared a dinner plate. That was a good idea, as most of the tapas were great, and the braised lamb was awesome. The 2 mojitos probably helped in that regard. Good stuff though. And I played with Tracy's new phone some more, and got jealous some more. So tempting. Had some trouble sleeping because of the sound of sleet hitting the windows. Need to find some new waterproof shoes as well. Either that or go back home and dig out the old waterproof shoes I foolishly gave away. Found out about a new beta of Parallels Desktop for Mac, which I'm tempted to try, and at the same time finally try out Boot Camp, because the beta allows use of a Boot Camp partition. Which means a single XP install for both Boot Camp and Parallels. Win win.

Friday night finished off The Unit. Apparently I did not miss any episodes from last season. I didn't feel like venturing out in the bad weather to the grocery store, so I did what I'll be probably doing all winter long, logged onto GrubHub.com and ordered up some delivery. Got some Philly's Best Cheesesteaks. Good stuff. So instead of a nice homecooked meal for Tracy when she got off work, she got cheesesteaks. She worked on Saturday, and it was cold, so I stayed inside, painted a wall in the bedroom, went running, watched a lot of Jack & Bobby, and went to dinner at Cocoro with Karl. Man, sushi's good. We also got a drink at Wildfire afterwards. Good to hang out with him. Also, Jack & Bobby? Great show. So glad I was able to find it on bittorrent. Love it. Sunday had a late brunch, more couch time, watched the Bears defense and special teams win the game, got Tracy to watch the pilot episode of Cupid, which was great, except for the VHS quality of the transfer. Dinner was tocino. Then we did some clean up, cause it had gotten pretty bad. As for this week, just trying to stay warm.

I've forgotten to mention that I've discovered, or rediscovered, the joy of a scarf to keep oneself warm on these cold Chicago days. From Tracy I learned to do the knotting thing, specifically, the European Casual method of scarf wearing. It's awesome. I'm totally bundled up, don't have a cold neck at all, heat's all staying inside my coat, except all the heat eventually leaves through my hands, cause my gloves aren't that good. That should be on the list of things to get. Tracy made pot roast last night, which was pretty good, but the mushrooms she made for the side dish were stunning. Really really good. Simple too. She also made some Italian dish we saw on Road Tasted. It was prosciutto, basil, and mozzarella flattened and rolled, like a jelly roll or a yule log. Really good too. Watched some more Kitchen Confidential, and keep hoping for the iTV, whenever that comes out.

Dinner was leftovers last night. Watched Gilmore Girls, House, and My Guys. Yes, I watched My Guys. Why? Because it's set in Chicago. Why will I keep watching it? Because the dialog references places that actually exist in the Chicago-land area, but probably don't by name because of rights issues. But actual places! Geographically correct places! Tonight headed out to Tracy's via the train again. Makes things easy, for me anyway.

Took the Metra out to Tracy's last night. Got stuck at some point, waiting for a freight train that wasn't moving, and didn't move for 40 minutes. Awesome. Dinner at Fox's. Had to help shovel her driveway. That wasn't fun. Either sore from it today, or coming down with the flu from working in the cold last night. Either or. Or could be both, just have to wait and see on the flu part. But I'm drinking my Vitamin Water Defense. Caught up on Heroes last night as well. I keep forgetting what HD looks like. So good. Another dance class tonight. Definitely not going back to Nacional 27, not that it's bad, but 3 weeks in a row would be a little much. Oh, and it's freezing out. Really really cold. Like biting bitter cold. Not so much embrace the cold and it's okay, cause embracing this cold brings frostbite and hypothermia.

Learned basic salsa at dance class last night. Fun. Might be something we pursue going forward. And it really is all about the hips. For the first time more guys than girls at class, and I'd say roughly 25% of the people I saw at the first week are still there. Afterwards, we went to dinner at Cafe Iberico. Looks like they had a nice little renovation, as it seems slightly bigger, a little more space. Definitely still loud and hard to have a conversation. Food was OK, not as good as I remembered it though. Got home, took a while to get Tracy's RIZR to recognize the 1GB TransFlash card I got her. Apparently it isn't plug and play, I had to reboot the phone. For all it's style, I'm still pretty happy with whatever OS is on my cell phone. Just my way of talking myself out of a non Sony Ericsson phone. Headed out to Tracy's again tonight, on the train. Headed out to RWIP for a Pajama Party tomorrow afternoon. Oh, got a couple Wedding contracts yesterday as well, for DJ and the Florist. So checking those out, too.

I like taking the train out to Tracy's. No traffic. Not a designated driver. No worries. It's quite nice. Friday night we spent in, got some food from Dominick's (paninis! and they had pizza carryout, when did grocery stores turn into actually restaurants?) and watched some TV on the couch. Just some of The Office and How I Met Your Mother. Saturday morning, had some breakfast, then headed up to the pajama party at RWIP. Interesting. Good to see Peggy and Brady, who're leaving for China on the 30th. Haven't seen those guys in forever. Had some hot buttered rum, lounged about, had some cookies, chilled. We left around dinner time, picking up ribs from Gale Street Inn, which is relatively close. That's the place we liked the most from the RibFest earlier in the year. Great ribs. Awesome. Maybe next time when we aren't in pajamas we can actually eat there, cause it seems pretty homey. We ate on the couch while watching Love Actually, another holiday movie. We had watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and Elf over at RWIP. Sunday was a nice lazy day on the couch. I did get some shopping in after mass, and tried to cook Chicken Kiev. I say try because it didn't stay closed. That's the biggest problem with my stuffed chicken breasts, they don't stay shut. Also had some email issues with my home account. Mail.app, not so robust.

Seriously? Thunderstorms in December? Proof of global warming? Maybe, just maybe. What happened to the glorious Chicago Winter that was freezing my bones last week? Anyway, I wonder if my theory of calendar shifting might apply, that the seasons are slipping later and later in the calendar year, but the calendar year is staying put. So the weather we expect for the date is actually the weather from weeks, months in the future. If that's understandable at all. Watched more Jack & Bobby last night, while doing laundry. Does having an in-unit washer dryer increase the occurrence of doing laundry? Hope so. Finally going to try and get HD set up at home. Finally. We'll see how long it might actually take.

Tracy picked me up from work and we went to dinner at Fox & Obel, walked around there marveling at all the fancy and expensive food stuffs before heading over to River East to watch The Holiday. And that sums up my Tuesday night. Fox & Obel was busy, we didn't even get a table to sit at, and ended up at one of the wall counter seats. I got a turkey, brie, and cranberry sandwich, quite good. Tracy went with soup and salad. We had some more time to kill so we walked around the store, I was looking for truffles, she looked over the cheeses, we drooled at the pastries, chocolates, Kobe beef and Snow Crab claws. Such good stuff there, expensive stuff. Anyway, the movie was good. Romantic comedy, and I'm a big fan of those. Been a while since I've seen one in a theater, so the 10-1 ratio of women to men shouldn't have been surprising but it still was. I'm thinking of heading back there to see Casino Royale, since I haven't yet, but then again I've got more Jack & Bobby to watch.

On the phone with my brother last night for like an hour. I don't talk to that guy nearly enough as I should. Hence, the hour long phone call. But then again, I'm not very good on the phone, so, whatever. Next time will probably be around the holidays. Didn't go running yesterday, decided to sleep instead, and went this morning. Good times. Watched Studio 60 and Jack & Bobby, again, great TV. I am plowing through the Wild Cards anthology again, currently on book 5. The whole Heroes thing got me started on it again. I'm surprised it hadn't made it into the Memex yet. Dance class tonight, supposed to learn the tango, which I'm not all that looking forward to. Oh, finally made a dentist's appointment. That's a good thing. Haven't been to the dentist in years. Big time. Hopefully it won't be that long, my teeth won't be that bad. But the office is like 3 blocks away, so that's cool. And, finally getting my hair cut for the holiday season tomorrow. Definitely getting a little shaggy these days. Again, not sure what the deal is with the weather, in the mid 40's this week, some more rain today. Odd. Even with that snowstorm, doesn't feel like winter, at all.

Learned the Tango last night. Tracy and I stuck around for Dancing for Every Occasion II, which is right after Dancing for Every Occasion I, since she had a couple make up classes to take. So we got to learn a couple additional steps. Much better time learning the Tango compared to that college class at Norris. Dinner this time was at Zocalo, just a couple blocks south. Pretty good fancy Mexican food. Got myself a tequila flight as well. Not bad. Hanging out with Russell tonight, headed over to Vessel Ideation. Tomorrow headed out for a cake tasting and maybe some tux selection. Finally got myself a haircut this morning. Definitely glad that happened. Amazing how much a difference a haircut makes to appearance. Oh, and found out that This American Life has a free podcast available, and NPR and PRI have also free podcasts, so I'm subscribed, and using the iPod a little bit more these days. Just a thought, but why can't TV do free video casts with commercials? Yes, you could just fast forward, but that's just like having a DVR. Would advertisers go for something like that?

More things to cross off. Didn't do anything Friday night, as it felt like the start of the flu, so couch time, delivery from Chen's and Jack & Bobby. Saturday was a trip out to the 'burbs, for a cake tasting at Creative Cakes. Totally worth it. Good stuff. Decided on a cake to get. Check. Cool thing, maybe, about Creative Cakes? They provided the cake for the My Fair Brady wedding. That's awesome. I think anyway. Then we had lunch at Panera before checking out tuxes at After Hours. Done. Another check. Then spent some time at Tracy's house, watched some The Office, dinner with the future in-laws, got Windows Movie Maker on their home computer. Sunday we went out to Schaumburg to Brides by Demetrios, so Tracy could pick out her bridesmaids' dress color. Done. Awesome. We got linner afterwards at Shaw's Crab House and then caught Apocalypto before heading home. Stopped off at Jewel to pick up some supplies, mostly milk, since we had a craving for real hot chocolate. Also popped some apple turnovers into the oven for a treat as well. A nice productive weekend. Not bad at all. Also, had a dentist appointment this morning, still have all my teeth. No decay or rot. Still no cavities. However, I am gonna have to go in for a deep scale cleaning. Makes sense since I haven't been to a dentist in forever. But that should be exciting, since I get to go slightly under. In the meantime, I've got to get a waterpick. Next up, a complete physical from a real non-related doctor.

Why didn't someone tell me that Veronica Mars is available from the iTunes Store? Guess what's gonna be my Christmas present to myself? Definitely moving towards the whole TV on my demand, with no commercials. I'm loving it too much. Yes, it's no HD, but I'm dealing, and have been for the past couple of months. Almost thinking of not even signing up for any digital cable. Again, we'll see. If the iTV works, and there's a video iPod, I might have to get a Mac mini to use with the old EyeTV 500 to record the shows that aren't available from the iTunes Store, like The Unit and How I Met Your Mother, stupid CBS. I think that's all hinging on the iTV. So come on Jobs, do your thing, and make the magic happen. Got a WaterPik WP-60 last night, per dentist's orders. Gets messy, that's for sure. Tracy had leftovers waiting for me, some chicken and dumplings from a box, which was really good. And watched a couple more episodes of Jack & Bobby. I'm on episode 18 or so and it's starting to lose it's luster. Maybe it's a good thing it got canceled, and likewise the other shows, because maybe they would have gone downhill, and been tough to watch (looking at Alias).

Russell was kind enough to let me know that the feed for Daily Dose doesn't get updated in Google Reader as often as it should. Which makes sense, cause I don't think I'm currently blog pinging Google now. I'll fix it soon. Of course, I have no idea who reads this in Google Reader, but whatever. You're welcome. Silver Cloud was good last night. Had to have a Bell's, since that'll be unavailable in the new year. Got a sloppy joe, which was fabulous. Headed over to Home Depot with Russell before getting a ride back to my place and a rock star parking spot. Went ahead and got Veronica Mars Season 3 on iTunes Store. Of course haven't started watching, but will soon enough. Maybe I'll plow through the episodes on Christmas Day. Hard to believe that's just 5 days away. Market Track Holiday Party tonight at 10pin. Should be fun.

Google Reader users should now get updates when they happen. Also just realized that MediaWiki has been upgraded a bunch of times, most recent is 1.8.2, while I'm stuck at 1.6.7 for the Memex. Probably not good, and I wonder what new features might be available. Gives me something to do on Christmas day. Apparently it gets updated on a quarterly basis. I'll have to look for an RSS feed of updates for that. Also have to get Daily Dose running on PHP5 instead of 4, so more tech gobbledygook. Maybe I should even rewrite it? Or use some other back end for it? Hmmm, all good questions. Maybe finally switch over to Wordpress? Whatever. Bowling was fun last night, even if I was the worst one in the lane. No consistency. Never got comfortable, never found a ball I liked. But a good time. Tonight last dance class in the session followed by dinner at Le Lan. That should be good. Tomorrow night getting sushi with Karl up at Sushi Luxe. Finally, according to the calendar, it's officially winter. Whatever that means for another rainy December day in Chicago. Seriously, whatever.

I think I'll try out the UK version of Merry Christmas this season. I mean, why not? Last night had our last session at Dancing for Every Occasion I where we learned the cha cha and the merengue. Good time. We also signed up for the sequel, Dancing for Every Occasion II, so we keep the instructor, Kelly, and location, River North, and move back an hour to 8pm. That starts on January 4th. Afterwards, we had dinner at Le Lan, a pretty fancy Asian fusion place. I think it tries to be fancy, but just isn't fancy enough. Good food, expensive, but nothing seems too over the top to need to go back. Desserts were fabulous though. Maybe that could be a reason enough to go back. But signing up for more dance classes means finding more restaurants to eat around there. And also going to a semi fancy restaurant makes me want to go back to Tru, so that'll happen sooner rather than later, probably around my birthday. Tonight headed up to Andersenville for sushi at Sushi Luxe with Karl. This weekend headed out to Tracy's on Saturday, my parents on Sunday. And that's pretty much it. So Happy Christmas everyone!

Ah, that low period between Christmas and New Years. Bus was pretty much completely empty this morning, lots of empty seats. Very nice. Also, very quick. Christmas went well. Friday night sushi with Karl was good. Got some drinks after at a bar up there. Took the 22 home. Saturday headed out to Tracy's, had some breakfast, did some last minute shopping. Traffic was really annoying. Found my new favorite Christmas song, The Christmas Waltz. Didn't really listen to all that much Christmas music this year. Instead, on the drive out to Tracy's, listened to the NPR podcasts I'm subscribed too. I just feel bad that I don't take more time to listen to it, because I can only do it in the car. Can't read and listen to it at the same time. So with all the driving, put a big dent in the unheard podcasts. We rented The Break-Up and My Super Ex-Girlfriend, made some spaghetti, and watched them on her dad's projector in the basement. Pretty nice setup. Movies were OK, nothing too special. Didn't realize until the end that the kid from A Christmas Story was Joey Lauren Adams's husband, until the credits. Peter Billingsley. That comes into play Sunday night, after coming back in from Woodstock and lunch and mass with my family, we watched A Christmas Story with the turkey dinner my mom sent back with us. Christmas day I spent on the couch, watched Die Hard and Die Hard 2: Die Harder and the rest of Jack & Bobby, did laundry which got surprisingly busy, made pancakes and sausage for myself, flipped the switch to PHP5 on the website, and headed out to the Argaos for their family gathering. All in all a good long weekend.

Something like 4 1/2 months or so till our wedding. Crazy. That realization comes from Joy at Christmas. Thanks. Anyway, still got lots of stuff to start plowing through and finalizing. It'll feel like a whole different ballgame once 2007 rolls around. Which is in 4 days. Crazy. With that out of the way, I started watching Veronica Mars Season 3 last night. Good stuff. However, I'm not that big of a fan of the opening montage redo. Too slow and monochromatic. Kind of a downer. Also managed to go running last night, and increased my distance to a couple of miles. I figure I'll just increase it by a mile every month until the wedding. Not sure what number I'll stop on. Eventually it'll just take too long, so that might end being the limiting factor. Headed out to Tracy's tonight.

Totally blew off updating yesterday. Well, actually just completely forgot. Remembered when I was getting a ride home from work with Tracy, and forgotten until this morning. Wednesday night went out to Tracy's, watched My Guys, had some prime rib made by her mom, registered for a Pre Cana session. Oh, and synced up Motorola MOTORIZR Z3 with her iMac. Totally easy. Found a widget that does a countdown, so I've got one for the Wedding, like 134 days or something. I'm gonna modify the one that counts down to Steve Jobs's MacWorld Keynote to countdown to the wedding, because the keynote one includes hours, minutes, and seconds. I figure that's something I should know. Last night, more leftovers, more TV watching. Realized I also like My Guys because the main character when to Northwestern and lives in Chicago. Sounds familiar. More couch time tonight. Might paint the rest of the bedroom this weekend while Tracy's working. Only New Years Eve plans is to make a fancy dinner for my fiancée. Otherwise, not much.