Work's busy. Really busy. Crazy busy. But Friday was a nice quiet evening for the first time that week. Picked some stuff up at the grocery so Tracy could make Chicken Parmesan and I could make some chocolate chip cookies. Watched some TV. Saturday went to the last outdoor Green City Market for the year. Really windy and kind of cold. We took the bus down and back. Went to Brown Elephant to maybe find a Halloween costume but came back empty handy. Went on another grocery run for the fixings to make sweet potato gnocchi, which turned out ok, but still no fluffy pillow texture. I wonder if I ever got the fluffy pillow texture in all the times I've made it. Gotta keep trying. Watched Monsters vs Aliens. Sunday went shopping down Broadway. Watched more TV, including the NFL game between the Packers and the Vikings. I started rooting for the Pack, while Tracy's for the Vikes. Just trying to create some drama at home. Also did some work at home for a bit. Crazy. I've been slacking in the life documentation, not so much with the Budget, LoseIt!, Daytum, even Memex. Gotta get back on that horse, or maybe it's time to get with the living instead of the writing.

Back on the bike today, specifically, the Dynamic Sprint. Took the rack and baskets off, since I rocked the messenger bag today. It feels like a completely different bike. And it was nice, to be light and sprightly, but I missed the stability of a weighted bike. So I'll put it back on tomorrow. But biking's nice. Even took a trip out to OnShore to return a DSL modem during lunch. And seemed to be moving pretty well, although I do actually feel sore already. And I think I only took like 2 weeks off. Also, the Sprint is so much more quiet than the Trek 7000. It's nice. Also, yay to toe clips. And yay to not having to use an ankle strap on the drive side pant leg. Otherwise, still continuing to be busy at work. But not having to stay late is nice. But getting to work from home at night is not so nice, but nicer than staying late. Managed to get to bed at a decent hour last night. Watched Mad Men, How I Met Your Mother and Parks & Recreation.

I missed biking. It is really nice riding, even when I get caught behind a slower rider. Then I just relax, go a little slower, and take my time. Didn't get a chance to put the rack on, maybe this weekend I'll do some bike work. The list of things to buy in the month of November grows. I don't think I can wait on the 2 TB drives or the Drobo. And then there's the birthday presents for Tracy. And we're going with Keurig and K-cups for a single serving coffee maker, instead of something fancier. Seems like it's the winner, with Senseo's being recalled and Nespresso being a little too single purposed. Worked a little on Memex layout while watching Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice and The New Adventures of Old Christine. And I've switched to Google Chrome on the Mac.

Parents were in town, and had food for us for dinner. So dropped by, picked some food up, chatted for a little. Did I mention they got to play the Wii while visting Al and Nicole recently? They like it so much they're going to get their own, specifically Wii Sports Resort. Still loving the bike riding. Work's still busy. Glad it's Friday tomorrow and the weekend. Tracy's working, so I'm home bound. Haven't done laundry in a while. Still have the bike work on to the todo list. And all the computer work. I brought in some halloween candy last week to fill the candy bowl at work. It's all gone already. I think it just means it's time for a cupcake tomorrow.

Got a Gefen DVI Detective N on Friday to basically put the Mac mini into fullscreen when I use the MacBook to Remote Desktop into it. Works with one of Tracy's HP Work monitors, but not with the Apple Cinema Display of mine. But eventually, with help from SwitchResX I get it working. And it's pretty sweet. And then I go and setup the MacBook to use the display instead, so now I'm rocking out on 1600x1024, with no need for the 1280x800 resolution I worked hard to get working. Oh well. The next computer will have that resolution, so it won't be completely for naught. But the bigger resolution worked great while I was working from home this weekend. 1280x800 is almost unusable when I VPN to work, especially since I'm used to 1280x1024 dual displays. So spent a surprising amount of time doing some bug finding/fixing this weekend. Which was actually a little fun. Especially building the testing tools. Played National Treasures, Spider-mans in the background, and Tomb Raider and Hackers. Did some laundry. Some ground espresso. Oh, went to Mrs. Murphy and Sons Irish Bistro Saturday night for dinner. Got a carry out pizza from Pie-Hole on Friday night, which was pretty good, and might be our new pizza place.

Going back to The Publican for dinner tonight since that's where Bryan wanted to go. Oh yeah, he's in town for a couple days, and making the rounds. Which makes me wonder what places would be on my list if I left Chicago and came back for a visit. Leftovers for dinner last night. I just went with whatever was in the fridge. Tracy had a hankering for chili, so she picked some up from Whole Foods before I got home. She did get me a slice of pie, so that was nice. Watched Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice and some NFL. I need to drop by the old home to pick up some packages, including Tracy's birthday presents. And just in time for the new HD movies available from the iTunes Store, some new hard drives. I should do a backup, but I'm tempted to just pop in the new drives to the Drobo to see what happens. My last backup to the firewire enclosure was when I reformatted the Drobo back in September. If only Mac OS X did incremental copies. But definitely getting Ratatouille in HD from the iTunes Store. Maybe Dan in Real Life too. Maybe Wall-E and Up as well.

I love The Publican. Tracy loves it too. Pork is good. Pork is better than good. Also good? Pork rinds. Also good? Oysters. And suckling pig. And country ribs. And the frites. And the oatmeal stout. Oh, and probably best of all? Pork belly. Yum. Hoping it'll become a regular spot, but probably only affordable on a bi monthly (the one that's every 2 months) basis. Also good to see Ultimate friends I haven't seen in a while, Leo (tall), Bryan and Sally. Oh, the days of dinner out. To be young again. Had some computer networking issues last night, and my on board Airport card is no longer even visible on the MacBook. Awesome. Almost started thinking about having to get a new computer today, but then I got it working again (reinstalled drivers). After the doctor's appointment this morning dropped by the Apple Store to try and help decide between a MacBook Pro 13" or MacBook Air. I know the first is a much more utilitarian machine, but I can't get over the sexiness of the Air. Still hoping the Air gets an update before I have to get a new machine, with at least the glass trackpad. And AAPL rises a bit more to help cushion the blow.

Picked up packages from the old home when I got home early enough yesterday. Drove over in the car, cause there was a lot to pick up. Finally got a paper shredder, although it's one of those shutting the barn doors after the cows have left things. Also got a new coffee maker, a Keurig B70 Platinum Home Brewing System, which I actually haven't used yet. That was a birthday gift to Tracy, even if she can't really use it. Also got a Dirt Devil Kurv, which was on the list for a long time, and finally got one. Just needed something to do little cleanups around the kitchen/living room. Another gift for Tracy was a nice shiny pepper mill. And I finally got a couple 2 TB hard drives to upgrade the space in the Drobo. So I started that process last night. First do one drive, wait for the system to finish processing, somewhere between 40-61 hours. Then after that's complete, have to do it again to actually increase available storage. So that's awesome. Otherwise, worked a little bit more again from home. And rode in to work this morning.

Ended up falling asleep and drooling on a throw pillow on the couch last night. Like at 9:30pm. Awesome. It was my turn to make dinner, and I chose a stew, which of course meant when I started it at 7pm last night, we'll be having it for dinner tonight. Whoops. Leftovers for dinner last night. Also tried to make it in early for a training session at work this morning, and came close, only 12 minutes late or so. Wondering if I can get better at that. Rode in with a nice headwind this morning too, no matter if I was going South or East. Fun times. Probably headed to Green City Market tomorrow. Maybe hit up the 'burbs too. Otherwise, got a lot of boxes to break down, and papers to shred. Still waiting on the Drobo to finish doing whatever it's doing. Also looked a little into VirtualBox with a Debian build. Also took my first steps with git. About time for that.

Out and about this weekend. Saturday went out to Oakbrook before going to see Couples Retreat at the Village Roadshow Gold Class Cinemas at the Bolingbrook Promenade. Great idea, ok execution. I think it's relatively new at that location, so I'm assuming they're still working out some issues. For example, our dessert (beignets) came out with our appetizer. Projectionist had aspect ratio issues with the previews and with feature film, which was only corrected after I actually complained. Which was easy since you just had to press a button and someone comes to you. Otherwise, the seats were great, power recliners, food was pretty good. Would be much more interesting if I didn't have to drive home. Sunday took Tracy up to Northwestern and showed her around, all so we could pick up some Papa John's for dinner. Also, loving the new coffee maker. And it's my week again for work data loading supervision. So staying late again. No bike today, since rain was in the forecast, and I still haven't got the fenders on the Sprint, and I don't feel like riding the mtb anymore.

I finally got some additional parts so I can put the fenders back on the Sprint, but not sure when I'll get around to it. Not really in the mood to be riding, but I know if I just got on the bike I'd feel differently. But it rained a little today, which justified me not riding. But still, I should probably start riding again. Picked up Ratatouille in HD from the iTunes Store. As soon as I see Speed Racer I'm all over it. I've been watching it on the El recently and it's such a fun movie. And I watched last week's Glee during lunch, and that's such a good show. I'm not sure yet, but I think it has high rewatchability. Don't think I've mentioned it yet, but Tracy's been using my Sony Reader to read the Twilight series of books. The trailers for New Moon caught her eye, so I found the books as a torrent and she's plowing through them. She's on Eclipse now. And I just picked up the Twilight movie from Redbox, along with Star Trek, which I'm guessing I'm going to end up buying in HD from iTunes. Also trying to find a restaurant for Tracy's birthday dinner on Saturday, hopefully something with a view of the fireworks.

Totally turned my alarm off this morning at 6:15am and didn't wake up until 7. Whoops. A little wet out today, but nothing too bad. Finished up watching Speed Racer. Such a good movie. I realized that it's like a sports movie like Varsity Blues and Summer Catch about being in the moment of play, instead of the business of sports. But it's so good. And to prep for Ninja Assassin I've also started watching the Matrix movies again as well. We finally picked a place for Tracy's birthday dinner on Saturday, and will be trying out graham elliot. Broke down all the shipping boxes from the goods we got last week, so we can walk around again. Started shredding too. That's fun. Oh, another gadget I'm thinking of getting is one of those SATA docks with USB connectivity. Basically I could keep naked drives around to do backups and stuff. Good use of those now currently unused 2x1TB HD's. But maybe I'll actually wait until December, and sneak it into the Christmas shopping. Ugh, not looking forward to that.

I actually won something. I'm on the list for a preview screening of Ninja Assassin next Monday! Awesome! Pretty perfect timing considering I just finished up watching Speed Racer and I'm plowing through The Matrix. But seriously. I won. I had to describe which movie, for me Five Deadly Venoms turned me on to Kung Fu movies. I just remember watching it on Samurai Sunday on Channel 66 growing up. And now I'm going to a free screening. Awesome. Can't wait. Just have to get there early enough to get a good seat. But seriously, I can't remember ever winning, getting selected, or anything like this. It's pretty cool. Remind me to play MegaMillions tomorrow. Still not biking yet again. Have a line on a possible discount on Xtracycle stuff. Uh oh. Also, I need to learn how to get to work earlier when I have meetings in the morning. Like leaving at 6:45, instead of 7. I'll try tomorrow. Maybe pick up breakfast instead of eating at home.

Tracy's birthday tomorrow. So far, all we've got are dinner plans at graham elliot. Thought about trying Sixteen to see the fireworks from the lighting of Michigan Avenue, but couldn't get a reservation. Otherwise, not sure if we're doing anything. Might not even make it out to Green City Market. Tracy's working on Sunday, so not sure what I'm gonna be up to then. I should probably do some more work though. It's the crazy season for us, Black Friday, Holidays, and all that. I should try and finally get some work done on the bikes, and get back on them next week. Well, actually, scheduling might not work out that I'll get a chance until Friday. Random thing today: I follow @clint and @ejacqui on Twitter because they work, write, or edit Ars Technica and they live in Chicago, and today I actually saw them in the Argo Tea a block from work. I thought introducing myself would be weird, but I do enjoy their tweets and their work. Odd to be an internet fan? Micro celebrity? Odd. Maybe next time.

Trying out updating from my new iPhone friendly site admin. Hope it works well. It's awfully nice. It does need a bigger font for text input type elements. Anyway, went to the free screening of Ninja Assassin about an hour and a half early, and the line had already started. Kind of crazy. Males me wonder about free screenings, since instead of people willing to pay to see the movie, you get people who just want a free movie. They had an action booth to take photos in front of the movie stand and someone was giving away t-shirts and mini posters. The movie itself was ok. Not good enough to want to see again, which I think is my criteria for a good movie. What it is is really really gory. They don't shy away from the effects of bladed weapons. But I'm fine with just paying to see movies in the theater after the release date.

Went out last night with Lisa and Ryan (in town for Thanksgiving) and April and Scott up at Jin Ju. Good food, good company, good times. Walked into to Hopleaf afterwards, but too busy to find a seat, so wandered next door to the much emptier Konak Restaurant to grab a beer. Got to do a little drinking since Lisa was driving. I do like me the Soju. I had no idea it was going to rain yesterday, so I was wearing khakis. If I know there's going to be precipitation, I trend towards darker pants, since they don't show when wet from rain. Thanksgiving plans: headed out to Woodstock tonight, then back in tomorrow night since we've got to work on Friday. I do have to bring the MacBook home though, just in case. I also will try using XCode for php development for this website, and maybe finally integrate it with Subversion, instead of Mercurial and TextWrangler and vi like I've been for the last week.

Another great Thanksgiving at the Abandos. 2 adult tables, 2 kids tables (of which I was at one). Lots of appetizers, lots of food, and lots of take home. Good times. And a relatively earlier night than usual, which was good only because Tracy and I got home at a decent hour. Great to see all the Walls again. Been too long. Did the iChat thing with Al and Nicole, except this time did it in the library and just shuffled people in and out of there so it was a little quieter, not to mention it's a much faster machine. And today was a nice quiet day at work, not many people on the Brown Line, or at the food court. Probably going with Thanksgiving 2.0: The Leftovers for dinner tonight while Tracy's working. I did catch some episodes of The League, and I'm adding it to my list of shows to watch, a) because it's funny, and b) it's set in Chicago. Maybe we'll get to see Lisa and Ryan and Zoe again before they leave this weekend. Otherwise, no plans. Oh, and congrats to Jess and Julio on the birth of Wolf.

So I hate to admit it, but I think I'm going to read the Twilight series. Tracy just plowed through them in the past couple weeks, and we watched the first movie last Wednesday and we ended up seeing the second Saturday night with Lisa and Ryan. The first movie didn't really draw me in, but the second did, with it's melancholy, it's tortured love. Really it's the melancholy that somehow gets to me. And I admit the mythology is rather intriguing. So I'm going to read them. There. I said it. Might as well admit to it. Saw Zoe as well on Saturday, after making a Target supply run. She's a cutie. Sunday I finally did some work on the Dynamic Sprint, and commuterized it all up again. Fenders are on, put the rear rack back on, and I raised the handlebars so now it's roughly even with the saddle. And it makes a huge difference in ride, even with the broken spoke on the rear wheel. It was nice riding again today, if a little chilly. And I got the spoke taken care of on the way home, stopping by the Village Cycle Center, which was nice and quiet. Checked out the Gore Bike Wear Arm and Leg warmers, which I don't think I'll be getting, mostly because it's just windproofing, with no insulation. Tempting, but maybe only after coming into money.