Nice sale at Gap today. Tracy went before work today, and let me know, so I stopped by after work, and yup, really good deals. Very nice. And yes, I have no problems shopping and wearing clothing from the Gap. Otherwise, pretty quiet during the week between holidays. Just finished up New Moon and starting up Eclipse. And I still like them. I made a quick little relatively healthy pasta dish for dinner tonight. Also, we're planning on an Abando Vegas Vacation at the end of February. I guess that'll be our babymoon.

Went and saw In The Heights tonight. It was good. Whenever we get out and see a show like that, makes me want to do it more often. We saw it because Ryan's friend TC is in it as Sonny, and he was great. Also heard a couple compliments on him during intermission, and I think he got the second most applause during curtain call. Tracy came down after work and met me for dinner before hand at Cosi. I also brought her over to the Chicago French Market since we had time to kill. I need to get over there more often. Yesterday just ate leftover fried chicken for lunch and dinner, and leftover ham in a sandwich made with cinnamon bread. So it was a good idea to get a salad for dinner tonight. Having an issue with the Airport Extreme Base Station today, where wireless clients don't get DHCP assigned IP addresses. I think wired clients are fine though. Maybe when I get a new computer I'll get one of those new fangled dual band base stations, or maybe even a time capsule. But hoping it holds up until then, and at least if it does go down, that the wired clients, like Tracy's work computer still remain up.

Had a good Christmas. Nice and relaxing, thanks to the weather. Christmas eve had dinner with my parents, and Joy and her boyfriend at Abando Condo II before heading 50 minutes early to the Mass of Christmas with choir preshow at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. Long, but very nice. I think we sat behind some christers, which is not enjoyable. I'm guessing providing tickets or a section for regular church goers would be a little much. Christmas day headed back over to the condo to pick up some more stuff and some paperwork and food while waiting for Tracy to get off work. Finished MetaX'ing the movies I had left, and now I have to finish off the TV Shows I have piled up, and I should probably do that before I try transcoding The West Wing for Russell. Good to see and hang out at the Argaos for the long weekend. Saturday, due to the snow, we stayed in all day, read, slept, had pizza for dinner, played Trivial Pursuit on the PS3 amongs the siblings and spouses. Sunday finally left the house for church and lunch and tried out baby registering. Need to do some research for that. I did get to play with Ella a bit, and Tracy and I managed to change her diaper while her parents made a grocery run. I think I did it right. She definitely seemed happier afterwards. Finished up reading Twilight and moved on to New Moon. And still craving another cheesecake. Maybe I'll learn how to make an personal sized one.

A nice quiet day at work. And I get to leave early. And we got our bonus as well. Which was awesome. And a surprise. So yay, Market Track! Parents are coming out to the city for dinner and Christmas Eve mass. Tomorrow heading out to the in-laws for the weekend after Tracy gets off work. Spending the weekend out there because Baniella's in town. Tracy did a load of laundry yesterday, and used some eco detergent that I think was a free sample. Makes my clothes smell hippyish. All because I put the wrong detergent (Tide Bleach) in the cart when we went home supply shopping at Target a few weeks back. I did make the White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecakes last night, plural because I don't know where my big springform pan is, so I used 4 mini ones. Turned out ok, but maybe need to do something different with the white chocolate chunks on the bottom. Oh, and I've started reading Twilight, and I'm ashamed because I like it. It's sappy. But I do like the sap. That's not really out of character for me.

I went to bed at 9:30pm last night. Slept will 6 or so. That was awesome. Felt nice and rested for a nice and quiet day at work. Also, I need to start doing this every night, to start banking hours against the lack of sleep in the future. Also, more people are pregnant and expecting. Or, just time for my age group, except for the test pilots and pioneers. Finished up reading Rainbow Six and I think I the Twilight Series is up next. Either that or the Sports Guy The Book of Basketball. Not sure if I could choose between two books on more opposite ends of the spectrum. I think that sentence structure is just wrong, but I'm not going to edit it to something better. Tracy and I are pretty much caught up on DVR stuff, and now have plenty of space available. Planning on making a copycat Cheesecake Factory White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake. I've had a craving for it for a while, and I haven't made a cheesecake in a long time, so I want to give it another shot. Coming in to work tomorrow, and it should be another nice and quiet day, fast and easy to get to work on the El, no problems getting food for lunch.

Had no idea it was going to be snowing today. Only realized when it got light enough out this morning and I saw all the snow out the front windows. Looks pretty, and happy that I'm taking public transportation. I do wonder what it'd be like to bike to work through it. Curious to see how slick it might be. Watched The Sing-Off last night, about 6 hours worth or so on the DVR, but maybe 3 hours of only the good stuff. Made me see if I could get Carleton College The Singing Knights off iTunes Store, but you can't. But they do have some CD's available, which I'm tempted to get. Also, Ben Folds was an awesome judge on that show. Very entertaining and nicely critical. It sounded like he knows what he's talking about. As opposed to the rainbows and unicorns of the female judge and the emotion and feeling of the Boyz II Men judge, but I guess it's a good to have all three kinds on the panel. Office and downtown is getting quiet as we get closer to Christmas. Will be nice. Started looking at wireless web/security cams for baby monitoring, and being able to use the iPhone to view. They even have some night vision ones. Definitely have some infrastructure costs coming up baby.

Finally finished up The Unit. Plowed through 8 or so episodes from the 4th and last season that I never got around to watching. A little disappointing how they kind of wrapped up some things, as I was thought they were setting up for an interesting 5th season. I do how like they referenced something way back from the middle of the 2nd season. I'll have to watch the episode in question (Report by Exception) again so I can remember. Also I want to watch the 200th hour about training in the shooting house and In Loco Parentis when they deal with the terrorists in the school. Good episodes. Also watched some Dollhouse on Saturday night, but part of the DVR recording was bad, I think because of the FOX HD feed was bad for Comcast because they switched to the SD feed for a bit which was find. So of course, there was a big chunk of missing dialogue between Paul and Echo that we missed, but I don't think it was that important. Almost made me go to the iTunes Store to just buy it. Cleaned out the espresso maker (CapressoBar 351), on Sunday and now I get a nice crema again. Oh, a little disappointed in the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film) because not enough Harry and Ginny time. Probably my favorite part of the book when he's that happy. Otherwise I liked the choices they made with the movie adaptation. Finally made it out to St. Mary for the Simbang Gabi on Sunday. Full house, which I was impressed by. Very cool. Got to see and spread the good news to parents doctor friends.

Duke of Perth was fun last night. That's a good bar. Good food. Good friends. Good beer. Got to see Tony too. Got the Market Track Holiday Party up at 10pin again. Get to leave work early for that. Tracy's working the weekend, so I'm planning on spamsilog and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince one morning, and chores the other morning. And of course random computer stuff.

A little shout out to Katie and Jayadev, who I found out are still readers of this blog. I'm impressed. I figured I had fallen off the bookmarks, but I haven't actually looked at my Google Analytics account at all. Nothing too interesting, except a surprising amount of traffic from the Chicago suburbs. Stir fry for dinner last night. I think I need to make Rice Crispie treats this weekend. Watched some TV. MetaX'd a bunch more movies. Have to scan in some ultrasound pics. Also edit the ultrasound video. Headed out to Duke of Perth tonight for dinner with Russell and Tall Leo. Found my wool cargo pants, wore them today, and am now itching. I don't think the flu moved to my head, but rather the dryness in the cold winter air is getting to me.

Yes, Tracy and I are expecting. A daughter no less, which we found out yesterday. We've known for a while now, and have told family and select friends, but now 20 weeks in, we're letting the world know. More like Tracy's allowing me to post finally. Took the day off yesterday for the ultrasound and doctor's appointment. Was surprised when I recognized the name on the sign of the Obstetric & Gynecologic Ultrasound, Dr. Sabbagha. Turns out it's the same one that set up an ultrasound office in my mom's old office building, and one that I used to clean for a high school job. Small world. But very cool. But Tracy's good and healthy, and everything checks out normal so far. Went looking at baby books yesterday after we found out the gender, and of course there will be a website at some point, as soon as we figure out what kind of data we want to capture. Tracy did buy her first pair of maternity pants yesterday. We did get a little movie of the ultrasound, and Tracy and I are carrying it around on our iPhones, and Tracy posted it to her Flickr account.

Tomorrow's a big day. We'll leave it at that. Stayed healthy. Got some multivitamins again and started taking them again. Not sure if that's why I got sick. Maybe it was the cold and wet weather. Or the lack of sleep. Either way I think I'm back up to speed. Got most of the Christmas shopping out of the way on Saturday out in Oak Brook. Also ended up getting dinner at Denny's. Which was good. Although I forgot that we had also passed by a Bakers Square, which probably would have also good. Also stepped into the Apple Store, and the place was pretty much packed. Place certainly had a lot of business. Although in my 2 minutes in the store, only saw one MacBook or MacBook Pro head out the door. Also, Tracy and I are addicted to Italian sodas, specifically Target's Archer Farms Peach Pear. Yum. Got some sweaters at Gap on Sunday. Gotta love the 50% off sales.

Been off the grid for the last couple of days. Got hit with the flu Tuesday night, and pretty much out of commission until this morning. Odd thing was that it was different from my usual flu. Same sort of start, body aches, but it hasn't moved to the sinuses yet, and might not ever. Body aches eventually centered on the neck and the lower back, which was odd, and even had me taking Tylenol to sleep. But I'm up and about now, and back at work. Slept that first night on the couch, since I didn't want to get Tracy sick, even though she had a flu shot. That's pretty much where I stayed for the first day. Second day did a load of laundry, since the base layer I wore the first day needed a wash, and the second set of base layers was getting long in the tooth. But even more couch time. And I got to see what Tracy's like when she works at home. Not very exciting. Watched a bunch of stuff on TV, included the first half season finale of Glee. Really love that show. Makes me wonder how Fox is gonna screw it up. Gotta do some holiday shopping this weekend. And lots of sleep and rest as well.

Magic. Remember that we were missing a love seat cushion from our deck couch? It reappeared at some point, and I first noticed on Sunday when I just wanted to check on things up there. A little weird, but maybe explainable if it blew over to the deck of our neighbor to the north. They've got higher walls so we can't really see the near side of their deck, so I'm guessing they just tossed it back over when they saw it. That's a better story than the cushion getting sucked up into the heavens and dropping out of the sky months later. Besides that good fortune, checked out the Main Street Promenade out in Naperville on Saturday, and Tracy started watching Glee so I watched and got her caught up. Yay. Vacuumed, finally on Sunday. Tracy made lasagna, which surprisingly will only last until tomorrow.

First time going to a Blackhawks game tonight, with Russell and his dad, and Colin and Leo (tall). Should be fun. Also going to Twisted Spoke for the first time since 2003 I believe, or at least that's the last time I wrote about it on Daily Dose. Hard to believe that it's been that long, and that I never went to the Clark St. location when it was open. It's been so long that the Clark St. location opened and closed since the last time I went. But looking forward to it. And the hockey game too. Maybe the food more so. Last night Tracy roasted up the prime rib that my parents regifted to us. Good, but a little dry. I don't think it was fat side up like it was supposed to be. I think Tracy and I are headed out to the suburbs for some shopping tomorrow. Sunday she's working, and I've got a ton of cleaning to do.

Rode in to work since there wasn't any snow on the ground and it wasn't currently snowing. And I was dressed properly, and riding felt great. Not sure when I'll need to start using a facemask or a balaclava. Hopefully before I get windburn or worse, frostbite. Terminator: Salvation finally showed up at a Redbox relatively close to me, and I picked up Catch Me If You Can while I could. Next up is Four Christmases. Watched the Scrubs: Med School pseudo reboot. Kind of like anything: the next generation. Today was the grand opening of the Chicago French Market at the train station. Looks impressive, and I hope it sticks around. Lots of good looking bakeries. Hoping the Korean place is good too.

Ride home today was rough. Headwind the whole time. And I overdressed, wore a long sleeve baselayer. But that alone should be good enough for when it gets colder. Given that it's supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow morning, I won't be riding tomorrow. Made pumpkin loaf and muffins yesterday. Made a little prime rib steak and mashed potatoes for dinner tonight. Trying to finish up The Matrix Revolutions tonight. I should finish up transcoding the TV shows I have on DVD. And finish MetaX'ing the rest of the movies. This and the previous post I wrote on my iPhone. So that's cool.

Now that it's December, I feel like it should be more festive. Maybe I just need to play some Christmas music. Weather seemed, once again, unseasonable. But makes biking to work not that bad. Not sure what I'm going to do for pants when it gets really cold. May have to look for something. Thinking of getting a new credit card, right now down to Amazon.com Rewards or a Barclaycard iTunes Rewards. Just guess which one I'm leaning toward. Had lunch with Jesse today at New Line Tavern. That was nice. A little annoyed with Redbox, well more annoyed with the studios, since Redbox doesn't have Terminator Salvation yet. Also met our new first floor neighbors, John and Laura, last night and again tonight as they were moving in. Odd how I see the first unit residents more than our other neighbors. I wonder how much stuff they're going to have in the garage.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Way back in May I got a couple NETGEAR WGR614L Open Source Routers for use with the iPhones for controlling whole house audio from the deck for the summer. One of them shorted out, so I sent it back for replacement. On the website the status was returned to warehouse, but not shipped. I finally decided to call and find out the status on Monday and they found the RMA order and shipped it out overnight. Apparently they didn't get that order downloaded or something. Anyway, I won't be getting Netgear stuff anymore. Then again I don't really need to. I probably should have just saved up and gotten one of those dual band Airport Extremes. Picked up mail and dropped off RCN cable box at the old home on the way home, along with a Jewel pit stop. Made a pumpkin pie last night, but wanted to make cookies, but didn't have any butter. My fridge, out of butter. This is why I went grocery shopping today. Since Tracy does most of the grocery shopping, stuff like butter and eggs and ice cream run out.

Now that I'm talking about getting a new computer, 2 things started happening. Apple stock after the run up from the earnings report has come down to pre earnings report levels, and my MacBook has frozen up on my a couple times. Sweet. Otherwise, got a nice full night of sleep last night. Really early night for me. Needed. I've been watching The Dark Knight on the El, better than reading since that was giving me a headache. It's better when I stand and read vs. sit and read. Watched more television last night, picked the resident that was going home on Grey's Anatomy from last week. And I always enjoy seeing how different shows work around a star's pregnancy. Oh, picked up a couple more movies from Redbox: Nothing Like the Holidays and The Da Vinci Code (because Tracy might be rereading it). I do need to get a couple more 2 TB drives for the Drobo but it may have to wait until the new year, as November and December as usually will be expensive months on the budget. Again, took the El to work. Maybe biking again on Friday.

Finally. You know, for all those waiting the 2 years iPhone has been out, and not having an iPhone friendly formatted Daily Dose, you can now read this more easily on the go. Or in the bathroom, or on the train. Of course, how many still read by coming here vs. just subscribing to the RSS feed. Next up is finally updating Memex, which I was hoping to roll out a new Daily Dose skin for, which also has an iPhone friendly skin, and also Musings, not that I'm all that current with that writing space anymore. After that I should crack open XCode for the first time, or maybe look into EC2 and webhosting again. Always projects on the horizon. I didn't bike in to work again today. Maybe tomorrow. Watched a bunch of shows, and I really like the new ones, Modern Family, Cougar Town, and Community. I think Community might be my new favorite of the season so far. Plans for selling some Apple stock hit a snag as it dropped below 200. Also went to bed way too late the last two nights. Another reason why I didn't bike. Definitely try and catch up tonight.

So that whole watching what I eat thing fell off the rails the last couple of weeks. Well, last week and a half maybe. Last two weeks I gained a pound each week. Exactly the opposite of what I'm supposed to be doing. But I'm getting back on, and trying it out again. But starting today, because I ate way too much this weekend. Saturday went to lunch at Crisp with Jessica Jenkins, for the annual, or bi-annual meal. Good to catch up with her. And satisfied my Seoul Sassy craving, and also picked up some vividly colored cupcakes from Phoebe's Cupcakes. Rather interesting stuff. Got a small dinner at Sai with Tracy, since I was still stuffed, and her share of the meal was much more than mine. And we figured out she shouldn't get the Tempura, because they fry shrimp in the same oil. But no Benadryl needed, which was a surprise. Watched The Proposal, and now Tracy wants to visit Alaska, even though it wasn't filmed in Alaska. Sunday we went shopping out in Oak Brook. I got to play with the new Apple computers. At some point, I think a MacBook Air is in my future, if they get updated. At some point. Also, we picked up Wii Sports Resort and an additional Wii MotionPlus since I had a gift card from Mike and Amy. Ended up spending more money, instead of just using what was on the card. Also had my first taste of Ricobene's. Not bad. Visited with the in-laws for a bit. Watched some TV when we got home. Didn't ride in today, as I didn't feel like possibly getting caught in the rain again.

Rode to work in the drizzle on Thursday, rode home in the rain. I was soaked. For some reason I decided against bringing the rain pants, or using the sandals with the waterproof socks. Both would have been better than just my travel pants and waterproof boots. Didn't ride in this morning, because it was still raining, and had to get back at a decent hour, since we had to go to April's Mom's wake. Condolences. But there was switching problems at Lake/Wells, so it tacked an extra 30 minutes to my commute. A little annoying, but I watched some Glee while waiting. Fun fun show. Put some soup in a bowl and covered it with puff pastry to make a pseudo chicken pot pie. It was alright. I think I needed to roll out the puff pastry some more. Fairly random stuff for dinner tonight, odds and ends. Supposedly my 10 year college reunion this weekend. Not attending. Plan on getting lunch with Jenkins tomorrow at Crisp, but no other plans besides that. Tracy's working tomorrow, but plans for Sunday include Uni-Mart for some egg rolls and some Ube ice cream. I'm hoping I can finally update the website/Memex with an iPhone friendly version. Still really want to do some sort of Mac/iPhone development at some point.

I think I got Bryan on Twitter. Sweet. I think something's wrong with the Trek 7000. Or I'm way out of shape from the Urbanathlon last weekend. I'm going much slower now. I did take off the toe clips late last week, thinking it was getting colder out and that I needed to start wearing big boy shoes while biking to keep the feet warm, but then, of course, it's the 70 degree October weather I was expecting. I miss the toe clips. I do think I'll be getting clipless pedals when Keen releases their new cleated shoes in January. As long as they aren't super narrow like their Commuter sandal, and more like the rest of their lineup, wide and roomy in the toe box. Would be supercool if they had a waterproof version too. But yes, I didn't think I would go for clipless, but if Keen has 'em, might as well. Maybe by then I'll have a proper bike to put them on, too. Might use some Apple stock profit, as I'm thinking of selling a little. A 1000% gain for me, after holding for 9/6 years, well, maybe I should lock in some of that profit. And get a new computer. And a new bike. And a new camera. Or just hold onto it for even longer. Eh. Got to have lunch with Tracy today on her day off. Always nice.

Didn't end up sleeping 'till late last night. Just sort of drifted along for a while after Tracy went to bed. Continued ripping/queueing up Handbrake, now I'm on the w's. Got a lot of MetaX'ing to do. Just kind of didn't want to do dishes last night. Maybe we should use the dishwasher once in a while. Like tonight. Watched some tv, some football. Oh, had to pick up some Mac & Cheese on the way home last night and tried using the bike rack at the Jewel on Broadway and Addison. And they put the rack too close to the curb, so you can't put the downtube over the top of the rack, so it's really useless. I just locked my front wheel and wandered in. I've also noticed someone who just uses a ring lock on their bike at work. Not even locked to the rack. So odd. I definitely should park my bike next to that one. Lubed up the bike chain the morning. Makes a world of difference. Also got a craving for Crisp.

Now a four day span. Saturday was a sporty day spent with Jespy. Ran the second leg of the Urbanathlon. Found an old guy to be my pacer, so that was nice. Obstacles were the best part, wish the monkey bars and the marine hurdles were more numerous. But because I didn't do any sort of training, I'm paying for it now. I'm pretty sore, calves and quads. Leg warmers help, and calf sleeves definitely help, but I'm tempted to get some recovery compression leggings. Of course by the time they show up I'll probably be recovered, but might be good to have in the future, since I apparently don't train for these things. Oh, and I decided to run in a white polo, argyle sweater vest, and khaki shorts. Been wanting to do these runs in this outfit ever since Tracy started me on them. That was cool. Weather was a little cool, but just after Jesse finished the last leg the sky opened up and it started raining/hailing. Got a ride up to our neighborhood where it was blue skies and sunshine. Had lunch at Nookies Tree. A couple hours later met up with Jespy again at Tufano's before going to our first Flat Track Roller Derby bout to see Sarah's sister's Wheels of Justice face off against the Windy City Rollers at the UIC Pavilion. Awesome. Totally want to get season tickets next year. It's fun. But Friday night was a nice quiet night at home, except for biking home into a headwind up the lake front path after picking up my race packet. Sunday was a nice quiet day as well since Tracy worked, and I recovered on the couch.

Went to a Mike Doughty concert at Shubas tonight with Russell. Awesome. Even got the live CD they burned on demand after the show. Seriously good stuff. Nice acoustic set. And love that venue. Tempted to just start seeing anyone interesting who plays there, just cause it's so intimate. Went to dinner beforehand at Goose Island. Good stuff. Last night went to Glenn's Diner with the in-laws and Mike and Amy. Ended up doing some work from home after getting home. Stayed up a little late. Haven't ridden in the last couple of days. Miss it. Also, definitely taking part in a relay team, the third wheel in the JEspy team, of the Urbanathlon. I get to do the second leg, with the monkeybars (right up my alley) and the marine hurdles, which sound like a blast. Just hope I keep a good pace. Also going to the Rose City Rollers vs. Windy City Rollers roller derby match at UIC Saturday night. Sarah's sister is on the Portland team. So that should be fun. Other than that, hoping to catch up on some sleep on Sunday I guess.

Was really really tired last night, and fell asleep on the couch. Been a little tired lately, and really need to catch up on my sleep. When Tracy works on the weekend, I get up at the same time she does, so no real sleeping in. Kind of nice because I'm trying to turn into a morning person, but not so nice when I don't go to bed early enough since it's the weekend. All the work at work isn't quite as bad as I thought it'd be, maybe since I did work from home Monday night. Which is good, since I need to leave a early today and a little early tomorrow. Which also meant I took the El in this morning. Took down the deck umbrellas and put them in the back stairwell. Should have put the cushions in as well. Tracy made stir fry for dinner, watched Dollhouse, last weeks and last season's Epitaph One. Got The Proposal and Transformers from Redbox, and having issues with The Proposal. Annoying.

Been busy. Almost feels like always doing something, or always should be doing something, and a strange feeling that something's hanging over my head, like there's something I'm forgetting to do. Friday night picked up chili cheese fries and food from Clark St. Dog on the way home. Yet another great reason to bike to and from work. Watched a bunch of TV. Saturday took a walk up to Dunkin Donuts on Broadway just south of Irving Park to get some Pumpkin donuts, since Tracy was working. Got a haircut. Leftovers for lunch. Hung out with my parents for a bit, brought some more stuff over from the old home. Finally put in some IKEA pull out shelves into a couple of the kitchen cabinets. Had those for a long time. Went shopping after Tracy got off work, picked up a replacement serving bowl for our everyday dishes, some Flor carpet tiles for the office chair to roll on, and checked out what's left of Smith & Hawken. Dinner at Las Mananitas and watched Year One at home. Sunday went to mass, walked by the craziness of the Chicago Marathon going through Boystown. Cleaned the stovetop, did more cleanup and organization, covered up some deck furniture, hung up the new full size mirror in the bedroom, cleaned the microwave, made chocolate pudding cakes, just put How I Met Your Mother on play in the background while doing housework. Picked up more junk food for lunch. Rode in this morning. Was nice since it was a holiday, pretty quiet, but with Jay on vacation, I'm pretty busy at work this week. So yeah, feels like a lot to do and a lot's getting done. Strange.

Well, I sucked it up and rode in this morning. Feel like it was milestone in my commuting, riding in to work when it was raining. I did dress appropriately, although the loudness of my rain pants was a little annoying. And I didn't exactly match all that well. But looks like I won't have to bike home in the rain, so that's nice. I do have to pick up chili cheese fries on the way home, since Tracy's got a craving. Probably saw it on TV or something. I on the other hand have a craving for some cupcakes, and the one I got today from The Cupcake Counter wasn't enough, and I plan on making some this weekend. Hopefully. Got some more sleeves for DVDs in the mail yesterday, and put away all the TV shows in the storage boxes we got from IKEA. Looks like we got enough space for a few more. I'm just saying. I think I totally forgot about the ones on display though, the ones in the pretty boxes. Finally watched The Forbidden Kingdom last night, since Tracy was working. Some pretty good fight scenes in that one. But nothing jaw dropping. Tracy made some mechado for dinner. I actually gave the Mac mini the day off from transcoding, and I'll put it back to work this weekend. Hopefully I can finish off cleaning/organizing/storing stuff in the living room. That'd be nice. Otherwise, not much since Tracy's working the weekend.

I've started waking up earlier and having breakfast in the morning before leaving for work. Got some whole beans for coffee and grind a handful for the french press, and maybe a bowl of cereal, English muffin, or this morning, blueberry Pop-Tarts. I had no idea the serving size on Pop-Tarts is one, even through they come 2 to a foil package. Annoying. But it's nice to get up, do something in the mornings. We lost a cushion from the roof sofa. At least I think so, since I one was missing when I checked on things during the high winds a couple nights ago. How does a loveseat cushion blow off the roof? And not be visible in the alley, or the neighbors roof or deck or garage? And Crate & Barrel doesn't make that color anymore and a single cushion is super expensive. So that's annoying. Decided to suck it up and ride in to work today, even with a forecast of rain. Brought my rain pants and my neoprene socks if it is raining on the way home. Worked my way through some more papers last night, only 1 more box to go, plus the filing cabinet, then finding someplace to put it all.

Had lunch with Tracy today. It was her day off, and she had to renew her drivers license, so that was cool. I like it when we get lunch, even if it means I didn't get to watch another episode of Glee. We went to Shalom Deli, fairly close, and it was good. I'm surprised I haven't been there before. Seriously good for a deli. I just love that it's run by an old Japanese couple. Picked up Year One and My Life in Ruins from Redbox last night, did only 4 rips last night, started up the Handbrake queue, then ripped a couple more this morning and added to the queue, which is cool. Thinking I might need to get a bigger disk for my Drobo sooner rather than later. Did my foot exercises last night, after making a Jewel run. Also dealing with a fruit fly infestation. Watched Dollhouse, Parks & Recreation and The Big Bang Theory. Dollhouse seems to be heading to a philosophical science fictiony direction. Interesting.

I guess I'm not really a bike commuter. I declined to ride in this morning because forecast called for rain all day, and I didn't want to be cold and wet at work. If it was warmer, sure. If it was dryer, of course. But I wussed out. And so far only rained bad for a little bit today. I could have totally rode to work. Ugh. I also managed to wear a too thick coat. Should have gone for the slightly thinner one. So the Bears game Sunday was fun to watch, better not knowing a single thing about it going in. Of course it'd be a whole different story if they hadn't won. Monday had leftover prime rib for dinner, Tracy braised some squash. Watched Saturday Night Live Thursday Update, the Packers/Vikings, How I Met Your Mother at half, then the rest of Packers/Vikings. Tried out ripping a bunch of DVDs then queuing them up in Handbrake. Seems to work pretty well. Plowed through 7 between last night and now. Better than the 2 at night and 1 in the morning. Also realized I have 3 iTunes Store season passes right now, Mad Men, Heroes, and Glee. Maybe next month I'll pick up Chuck. Watched Mad Men at lunch yesterday, and Glee today. I love technology.

Man date Friday night with Russell, and he got to try out Rocks Lakeview. And I think the food is better. Saturday hit up Green City Market and actually saw our neighbors there, shortly after we saw them packing up the car as we drove out of the garage. It was cooler out, and we ended up heading out to Woodstock after dropping off some apples and poblanos. Ok, maybe we should have rode our bikes down. On the way out to Woodstock, wanted to pick up some storage boxes at IKEA, and knew exactly what to get, but still ended up staying for an hour and a half. I do like that store, but it was pretty crazy on a Saturday. Did see a family spooning on a couch in one of the display setups watching some TV spooned 3 deep. Ended up walking out with a full length mirror. Which we needed. Went to dinner after mass at 1776 Restaurant. Cool thing about that place was that they were offering a 100 mile dinner, where everything was grown or raised within 100 miles of the restaurant. I ended up getting a nice mixed grill of game meats, and the rest of my family each got the 16 oz. prime rib. There was a lot of meat on the table. Watched Eight Below on my parents new TV, one of those fancy Sony Bravia ones. It's got this enhancement feature where movies and tv shows look almost 3-dimensional. Eight Below actually looked like a documentary on Discovery HD Theater, not a movie on ABC Family channel. Sunday had breakfast/lunch at Burnt Toast, and then took the long way home, stopping by Woodfield on the way in. And watching the Bears as I'm posting, having no idea how it ends since I managed to stay away from TVs, Radio, and Internet sites, including Facebook and Twitter.

Worked from home this morning before a meeting with Jason. Was surprisingly productive at home, even though Tracy was hanging out on the couch since she worked the evening shift today. I'd been craving some Burger King so I grabbed some for lunch on my way back in to work. Also went out and got the address changed on my Drivers License and nabbed a State Id as well. Figure it's good to have. And I was tired of having the safe renewal sticker on the back. Last night felt a little out of it, maybe a little overwhelmed, so decided to take the day/night off from tracking calories via Lose It!. Felt good to just eat. But back on the horse today, even with the BK, just meant I really couldn't eat much for dinner. Made it through another box of documents today. Finally. Also the Identity Theft continues, well, more like I continue to find out about stuff that happened that one weekend. Ugh. Would be nice to get it all squared away at some point. I need to check in with all the accounts, because I haven't received all the Affirmations of Fraud that I need to send back. And definitely happy that the weekend is close. Even if it's cold and rainy.

Ended up watching like 5 episodes of The Office in syndication last night, started on WGN then TBS. It's good background stuff. Also watched it because all the television we do watch and record is on Mondays and Thursdays, especially Thursdays. We can't even check out Flash Forward because there's no DVR tuner available. Awesome. And they didn't offer the pilot as a free iTunes Store download. Which is fine. Maybe if it continues to get good word of mouth, we'll get the entire season in iTunes and watch it all in one go, without commercials. I'm back off the Redbox wagon, picking up He's Just Not That Into You and Monsters vs Aliens last night and Speed Racer (again) and Confessions of a Shopaholic tonight. Went to Xoco for lunch with Tracy today on her day off. Pretty cool to go jetting through the city on my bike to lunch. Food was good too. Would be better if they had some sort of signage or instruction visible. Take out orders can go right up to the register. If waiting for a table, tell the hostess, and wait in line, then when seats are available, she'll give you a number placard. Use this to place your order, then go find the hostess again to get seated, and display the placard. Churros were really good. The agua fresca del dia (Pineapple, cucumber and lime) was refreshing.

Best Buy. Another one on the Identity Theft pile. Yay. Also picked up copies of the police report yesterday morning. So I've now been to Chicago Police Headquarters. Fun. So now have to send out all the affidavits as I get them. Yippee. Picked up food from Taco Burrito Palace II for dinner, watched House, How I Met Your Mother, Accidentally On Purpose, The Big Bang Theory, and did my foot exercises. I'm back on that horse again after a couple weeks off. Also brought home a couple cupcakes from The Cupcake Counter so Tracy could try it out, and she approves. So that's cool. Always satisfying to find something someone likes.

So I started cleaning out the second bedroom this weekend as Tracy was working. I brought back a few more things from the old home, and well, I think it was the straw that broke the camel's back. Finally figured we can't just keep piling boxes in her "office" anymore. And I needed to go through all the paperwork, and all the things we did move, but just put away in the second bedroom to worry about later. So it's finally later. And now it looks like we're just moving in, because I moved all the stuff out into the living room to get organized. One good thing, we finally put stuff away in the linen closet. So that's cool. Otherwise, have lots of things to find spaces for, especially paperwork. But mostly just trying to organize, then put back. Probably means we need to get some nice looking storage boxes for bookshelves and stuff. Besides that, got the Volvo emissions tested, watched Duplicity (loved it!) and some other background stuff, started up transcoding DVDs again, then father-in-law birthday dinner on Sunday night. So really have to get organizing now.

Didn't learn of any new accounts from Identity Theft today. So that's the first day since I learned of it. A little relieving. Still got some additional steps to take, start mailing things out tomorrow, since I want those store's investigation teams to start pulling video and stills of the perp. Hoping I can get a copy and post it prominently on the web. Brought home Arby's for Tracy for dinner. She's been craving them since seeing the commercials on TV, and since she works at home she can't just run out and get some for lunch. Unlike me, where I can walk the 2 blocks at work over to the train station to get some. One benefit about working downtown. Otherwise, dealing with some iTunes Library issues, with some TV Episodes showing up as movies, and cleaning up some titles here and there, and now I have to rebuild my playlists used to put music on the iPhone. Speaking of which I enabled MMS on both of our phones. Sent each other photos, and one video. I guess it's nice. Might be marginally faster than email. Figure it'll come in handy when asking Tracy if I'm buying the right stuff at the market or the grocery store. Tracy's working this weekend, and I've got a lot of chores to do. Hopefully I can actually cross some stuff off the list. But today was just a lazy Friday, watched Bones, Parks & Recreation and Community, oh, and the Saturday Night Live Thursday Update which is just an awful name of the show. Just call it Thursday Night Live.

It just keeps going. Got a credit card I didn't apply for in the mail today. When is this Identity Theft stuff gonna stop? Granted, it's all from the weekend, but I hate stumbling upon the info days later. I am getting some good tips from all the people I talk to in the Fraud departments of the various credit bureaus. So should, hopefully, be pretty straightforward. But still really annoying. I imagine though this person going to this mall, I think it's a mall, and applying for store credit cards, getting them, maxing them out, and moving on to the next store. This person, walking through a mall, bags and bags of fraudulently purchased goods, going from store to store. Ugh. Anyway, bus and el today, no bike commute. Talked with Tracy about what I need to do to purchase another bike. Probably need to get rid of one, if not both, but I like having a spare. And then wondering which one would be better to get rid of, considering what the new one would be, and repurposing the old one. Maybe turn the Sprint into more of a city bike. Or keep the mtb for the possibility of turning it into an Xtracycle. I think I've settled on a nice steel frame road bike more relaxed than racing, but a road bike. Odd to be thinking of spending money while going through an Identity Theft, but it's not like life stops.

Ok, this Identity Theft thing really sucks now. Before I wasn't having too much of an issue with it, with the criminals just creating new fraudulent accounts. But today I realized they had used my Macy's account. Worse off, they had called on 9/16 to increase the credit limit. Not sure when they used it though, but could have actually been yesterday or even today. And they used a drivers license as identification. Seriously. I don't know how someone else has a drivers license in my name. Is it really that easy to get one? What do you need? Anyway, I need to figure out what needs to be done about that. Besides that, been pretty busy at work, staying later. Good and productive. With the 2010 new bike lines out, I'm pondering what my next bike will be. And then just have to wait until both my current bikes break down. I did manage to get up to 25 mph on the mtb today. It's definitely faster than the Sprint, that's for sure. Watched some new shows today, Modern Family and Cougar Town, and the season premiere of The New Adventures of Old Christine.

Good news, Tracy isn't a victim of Identity Theft, just me. Found out they also tried to open accounts at JCPenney and Home Depot. More awesomeness. Also found out that they're providing an Illinois drivers license as additional identification. That's impressive. And I wonder how that happened since I've had the same license since 2003 on me. So that's a new piece of information. Decided to redo my iTunes library completely, so deleted everything, and started the long slow process of readding it all to the library, and letting iTunes handle the file management. It's much much better now. Especially when it comes to video files. Watched House and Accidentally on Purpose with chicken adobo for dinner. Been riding the mountain bike this week. It's a nicer ride with the bigger fatter tires. And I might go faster on it. I'll have to double check with GPSLite on the commute tomorrow. But the humidity means I need to spend some time off the bike before entering the building to dry off a bit. Gotta love that Chicago weather.

I am a victim of Identity Theft. Got a call Sunday morning from Sears Credit Services Fraud department. I get one of those free credit reports, there's a couple credit inquiries from 9/19 from Lowes and Nordstroms. So I do some research, figure out out that I probably am a victim of identity theft, and start going through the steps to get it taken care of. Perp opened accounts and used them in and around Crestwood, MO, just outside St. Louis. But was using an old address. I'm impressed with the stores and companies that have called, and so far only Nordstroms actually denied to open a new account. But the others all marked them as flagged. Of course, I wonder how many accounts were opened, and when it started, since I got a call today from Kohl's about an account opened on 9/18. Sucks, but I'm a little surprised it's taken this long, considering the online life I've lived. It sucks, but it's been fairly straightforward to start the process to get things fixed. I'm curious to see if they actually catch the perp(s) since they applied for accounts in person at stores with security cameras. Also be interesting to see how and where my info was stolen, bought, or traded for. Besides that, not a bad weekend. Friday night watched some TV. Saturday morning did the Beachathlon, which wasn't too bad. Definitely sore from it for the next couple of days. First time, as far as I can remember, eating at Castaways. Ended up napping on the beach and then back home on the deck. Stayed in and watched Yes Man. Sunday went looking for the Pumpkin donut from Dunkin Donuts, came home, started dealing with my stolen identity, then lunch at White Castle, home supply shopping at Target, watching the Bears win, and finished transferring and copying stuff from the Drobo to the firewire enclosure. The Drobo's been reformatted, and I've started the copy back. Had our first meeting as the 3535 N Reta Ave Condo Association. I'm the treasurer, which is a little funny considering. Then made fried rice for dinner and watched Dark Blue, How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory.

Completely spaced on updating last night. Maybe it was drinking wine for the first time in a while, or watching live television, 3 hours worth, also for the first time in a while. Either way, whoops. Thursday I wanted to know what my average speed was on my commute to work, and it was only 10.9mph. Top speed of 19mph, but only 11mph average? Too many stops, I'm hoping, skews the numbers. I also realized I'm much faster with less effort when I go into the drops. Confirmed that on this morning's commute. Picked up some groceries on the way home last night, and CardStar didn't work again. Kind of annoying. I just need to put one of those small preferred cards on my keychain. Tracy had a craving for Filipino spaghetti, sweet, but no hot dogs. Watched Saturday Night Live Thursday Update, Parks & Recreation, The Office, Community and The Mentalist. All live. With commercials. Odd. And not that bad. Got the Beachathlon Saturday morning, and I'm going in not having run, probably, since Muddy Buddy. Also Tracy wants to head out to the 'burbs, and we've got to go household supply shopping, and get some junk food, and watch a movie. Haven't gone to see a movie in a long time.

Riding today was much cooler, temperature wise, than yesterday. Much nicer. Maybe just because I get to use my vest. I love that thing. More leftovers for dinner. All in all fairly uneventful day and night. Tracy Skyped with Gabe, Sania and Ella for a bit after I got home. Tried to figure out how to split up the files off the Drobo back onto the firewire enclosure so I can do a reformat and repartition. Watched some odds and ends on TV, like Man Vs. Wild, some Discovery shows about shopping malls and some grub festival in the jungle. Then looked through some trailers on the Apple TV, nothing looked extremely good, except maybe Bandslam. I'll catch that on cable or Redbox someday. I did see that Sunshine is available for rental or purchase on Apple TV though. So that's tempting.

Back on the bike today. Took the Dynamic Sprint to work. Locked it up backwards in the rack to try and make more room for bikes. Might end up doing that all the time from here on out. But I took it pretty easy, and the knee felt a little funny, but not bad funny, not out of place funny, more like haven't been used in a while funny. Tried to spin more, maybe way more, since I don't have a bikeputer, so I don't know what my cadence is. Otherwise, nice and easy. Bike makes a lot of noise though. Maybe I'll take it apart again completely and try and put it back together again. Otherwise, went over on my caloric intake again today, but I was estimating my bike speed as exercise, which is probably closer to correct because of the stop and go nature of my commute. I was planning on using GPS Lite (iPhone App) to track my commute, so I can have an average speed or something. Maybe I"ll remember tomorrow. Leftovers for dinner. Oh, and finally got our wedding video. It was mailed 83 days ago through the USPS from just north of Milwaukee. Seriously. Anyway, transcoding it now to get on the iPhones and Apple TVs, since I don't have a DVD player hooked up anywhere. Guess we could watch it on a computer, but that's no fun.

Had if anything, a standard Saturday for us. Rode down to Green City Market, got some Zullo's Apple Cider donuts, some other odds and ends, rode back home, made waffles for brunch. Then headed out for some shopping, found out that Smith & Hawken is going out of business, got another deck umbrella for the lounging area. Figured out we can carry 10' pieces of stuff in the car. Got a shoe shelf at The Container Store, wandered through World Market, and checked out the flagship Whole Foods in Lincoln Park. That place is awesome. Lots of free samples, and lots of stuff that looks awesome. Made ribs for dinner, watched Baby Mama. A pretty good day. Sunday headed out to Woodstock and spent 5:30 hrs updating computers and iPhones for my parents. Brought back crab legs from my parents for dinner, and watched the Bears lose. Other than that, only other new news is I've started using Lose It!, an iPhone app to track caloriic intake. Not sure if it's gonna work, and if I'll keep up with it, as it's a little annoying to keep records in all the different places I'm keeping data.

Thursday night was going to make something for dinner, but ended up with a frozen pizza, per request. Before that I made a quick trip on bike after getting home via the El up to the Jewel on Montrose to pick up The Dark Knight and Get Smart at the Redbox there. Only one nearby that still had it. Watched Glee and more Heroes. Glee's really really good and everyone should be watching it. And after watching all that Heroes from the iTunes Store, well, fast forwarding through commercials, and having to wait a week between episodes is pretty annoying. We did just plow through the entire season in a week. Finished up the last 5 episodes tonight. Per another request had dinner Friday night at Mark's Chop Suey, my first time actually eating in that restaurant. Saturday going to the market, maybe some moving of stuff at the old home. Sunday making a trip out to Woodstock, mostly just to work on my parents' iPhones.

So I've been watching bits and pieces of The Abyss over the last couple of days. A little bit at lunch, in the mornings, and I started today during watching while on the el. It's long, but it's a really good movie. And it holds up well. The CPR scene is fabulous, the liquid breathing dive thrilling, and chase scenes using submersibles? Genius. It actually made me wonder if they just wanted to make The Abyss in space and called it Armageddon. Anyway, read up on the Apple Event today, It's Only Rock and Roll, But We Like It. (September 9, 2009). Still pludging away, finally on the Mac mini. And then I get to update my iPhone to 3.1. iTunes 9 is nice. The only thing I'm really interested in is if iTunes Extras play on the Apple TV, or for that matter if they play on iPhones or iPod touches. Good to hear Steve Jobs back, as well as One More Thing.

Last PT session today. Well, hopefully. I just need to continue to do some sort of balance related exercises and I should be ok. And my knee? Patella something or other, but nothing serious. Just ice and rest. I could probably even go back to biking too. I'm thinking twitching over to the mtb for a bit. I think my pedals on the Sprint are too narrow, and my feet placement slightly awkward. We'll see. Nothing interesting on Friday, at least that I can remember. Saturday had a haircut, which meant we couldn't go to Green City Market, and then when we tried to head out for some shopping we managed to lock ourselves out of our condo. Just the backdoor, but had to call a locksmith to get us back in, since we haven't deposited emergency keys with friends and family yet. So didn't get out until mass and dinner at HB Home Bistro with my parents. Watched Knowing and Top Chef. Sunday headed out to Oak Brook for some shopping, picked up some board shorts, some chocolate, and dinner with the in-laws at Red Lobster. Monday helped a bit at the old home with my parents. Borrowed a book from the Russells.

Yay, a long weekend coming up. On the plate is a haircut tomorrow, some shopping on Sunday, and probably some relaxing on Monday. That's pretty much it. My parents are coming back into town, so probably gonna see them tomorrow. I found this out because I noticed their computer was online yesterday, so I used Apple Remote Desktop to see what was going on. That was after Tracy and I went up to Irving Park and Ashland to get some Popeye's for dinner, and we tried saucing them with buffalo wing sauce from BW3, but it wasn't too good, probably because the wings were too good to begin with. I managed to do something with my left knee, but it might be muscle related, not connective tissue. Just feels tight, but it got a whole lot better after the ride in this morning. I need to pick up a new tube for Tracy's bike on the way home.

Up way too late last night. Spent most of the time trying to bake a peach pie, but with a crumble/crisp topping, instead of a top crust. Not sure how it turned out, since it finished baking around 10pm, and it's supposed to rest, like a steak off the grill. Anyway, not much to show for staying up late. I did take another peek at updating the MediaWiki software, hoping that there was an updated version with a built in iPhone friendly skin, and lo and behold, there is. So maybe I can get that done at some point. Maybe before the iPhone development starts, so I have someplace to keep my notes. I have started using Evernote for some things, which I think I had originally wanted to use the Memex for. So after I update the backend, I'll shift over the stuff I started using Evernote for. Main thing was recipes. Like for the cobbler topping: 2:1:1 ratio of flour:sugar:brown sugar along with butter to bring it together. Simple, but I keep forgetting, maybe because I make it like once a year. Random thought: I wish iTunes and Apple TV spit out rss feeds of what was played or watched. Would help keep track of my media consumption. Going back to the pie, the recipe from America's Test Kitchen for pie crusts is awesome. The 2 secrets: vodka and processing half the flour with the fat then adding the rest of the flour afterwards, have resulted in a perfect crust twice now. I'm impressed.

I think I want to actually try creating something. You know, try my hand at writing an honest to goodness iPhone application. I've been coming up with ideas, and have a handful, and I think I'm stagnating in my mind, and not learning, not developing. Too much passivity (television, rss feeds, forums, Facebook, Twitter, and so on). So, I'll be trying. Should be interesting. Can't actually remember the last time I tried to write a program for myself, or learned a new programming language, or a new API. Have I mentioned that I think I got sunburned from Torch Lake last weekend? At least on my face, oddly enough. Maybe it was the drive home? Either way, I'm waiting for the dead skin to fall off and new skin to come in. Almost tempted to get an exfoliant to help the process along. Or just let nature take its course. Completely forgot that Labor Day is on Monday, and I've got a 3 day weekend coming up. Kind of exciting. Tracy has to work, so not sure what I'll be up to.

Second to last PT session today. Tuckered me out. Probably because I spent the weekend on vacation and didn't do my homework. And I don't think I'm hydrated. I'd have to say my favorite exercise is the balance board. Fun to see the most progress there. Also the one legged squats, since they aren't as hard as I thought they'd be. Definitely cool out, only 64° on the way home. Also getting dark out early. Had to use the lights. Also, we had some issues with mortgage bank and duplicate payment of real estate taxes last year, and finally got around to filing to get a refund a couple of weeks ago, and we got it today. A lot quicker than I thought it'd be. Very cool. Like winning a mini lotto. Also had an iChat with Russell tonight. First time for that. Pretty cool. I've decided to leave that open along with Skype, just in case. Oh, and there was that whole Snow Leopard 10.6 release last Friday. No idea when I'm going to get around to updating to it. Probably get the Mac Box Set since I need the new iLife and iWork's.

Had an absolutely lovely long weekend up on Torch Lake with the Russells at the Johnstone Family Cottage. Drove up Wednesday night, Tracy took us to Grand Rapids, and I drove the second half. Got lost for a little bit but found our way via the iPhone and Google Maps and GPS. Just wish I had a car charger/mount to leave Google Maps running all the time. Otherwise, had to pay attention because of the possibility of animals on the highway. We saw at least one already hit deer getting pulled off the road by a cop, and a couple other smears that probably were deer. Sarah's mom greeted us, and settled us in at 2:30am. Did a little work Thursday morning remotely, went for a swim, a boat ride, ate at the cottage. Friday had adults only dinner in Charlevoix, and I was reintroduced to the glory that is oysters. During the day we wandered over to the Lake Michigan bay area. Also took my only shower of the weekend. Weather was cool, and got colder, and rainy, so Saturday took a trip down to Traverse City, lunch at Don's, saw a bit of a crit, jumped in the lake that night for the last time with Russell, even though it was a bit cold. Finished Soon I Will Be Invincible, might have talked Sarah's mom into an eReader. Very nice weekend, and lots of thanks to the Russells and the Johnstones for hosting. We left maybe 3 hours or so after the Russells on Sunday morning, and took the long way back. Stopped at a couple farm stands, Bear Lake, Grand Haven, and dinner in Saugatuck. Made it home about 12 hours after we left.

Completely spaced on updating yesterday. Go figure. Monday night had leftovers for dinner, Tracy was working, and I watched Mad Men which got cut off by the DVR. That's enough for me to go ahead and make the iTunes Store purchase. Also worth it will be watching it on my iPhone during lunch breaks. Also watched the pilot of Warehouse 13, which is right there with Eureka, which I also have to get caught up on. Tuesday picked up Adventureland and Sunshine Cleaning from the Redbox at Jewel, but really wanted Duplicity, since we never got out for a couples date with the Russells to see that one. I couldn't transcode Adventureland, so I just made a copy to transcode later, but Sunshine Cleaning was nice and easy. I hate companies that make it hard to transcode by messing with the standards. Although, right now, I'm the sort of person they are supposed to be messing with. Anyway, had to do some work from home last night. Had a good PT session, and maybe just a couple more left. My balance is so much better than before. Also tried out the new eBook Library Software on the MacBook, and find out later that it's not compatible with my PRS-500. So I just used calibre instead. Plan on using it this weekend. So headed up to Torch Lake tonight through the weekend. Not necessarily a summer vacation, but will be nice to get away with the Russells and the Johnstones.

Friday picked up Bottle Shock and Tears of the Sun from Redbox at the Jewel near the Gold Coast. Only a few blocks off my route, but there's easier and nicer places for me to go. But it was the only place that had Bottle Shock, so I had to go where the movie is, and I get reminded why I love the internet instead. Tracy made pork chops and a squash soup for dinner. And we plowed through a bunch of Top Chef Masters. We ended up finishing the series by the end of the weekend. Always watched them with and/or after dinner. Went to Green City Market Saturday morning, and ended up seeing Rachael Ray filming something. Rather odd. At least one vendor I bought blueberries from had no idea Rachael was going to be filming that day. JEspy came up to hang out, drinks at Halsted's, dinner at Twist, then checking out Too White Crew at Lakeview Music Fest. Sunday made a blueberry pie, and French toast, and went shopping. The Gap had a BOGO on t's, shirts, and sweaters. And got supplies to make a beef wellington for dinner, which worked out pretty well. Eased up a little bit on the transcoding, and need to add meta info to the ones I do have ready. Also need to put some books on the Sony Reader for the trip to Torch Lake later this week.

So I did get wet on the way home last night, but not as bad as it could have been. Didn't end up leaving until 6:30 or so, and I think I missed the really heavy stuff, at least from looking out the window before I left. I did get dirty from the upspray from the front tire since I don't have fenders on the Sprint. Really need to get around to putting those on. Because of that I took the Trek 7000 in this morning. That bike needs a comfy set of North Road handlebars. And an internal hub. And a chain guard. And then $200 or $300 later, I'd have a nice city bike. Or just get a new city bike. Or just use it as is. Tracy roasted chicken and veggies for dinner. And we started watching Top Chef Masters since Bravo had a marathon during the day before the finale. We're only 2 episodes in, and I already know who won because Green City Market spoiled it for me on Twitter. Awesome. Also found out Tracy is back into trying some fancy restaurants again, like Alinea and Graham Elliot. So that's cool.

Back on the bike today. All the questions from coworkers when riding the elevator down at the end of the day got to me, so I hopped back on this morning. Easy too. I picked a good day, it wasn't too hot, or windy. Took my time. I think I'd rather have cruiser style bikes, something to take my time, something more upright, relaxed, than the drop bar or flat bars I have now. Well, maybe just for the mtb. Just looked at the radar/weather report, and looks like it's gonna be a wet ride home. Awesome. And me with no fenders. Again. Or long sleeves. And a white t-shirt. Very smooth. Fixed another flat on Tracy's Whirlwind. Might be time to get her new tubes. Forgot to check the tire though. It was the same kind of hole, so there probably is something in the tire. Whoops. Again, a simple thing I should have checked. I still love the Crank Brothers Speed Lever. That's just a perfect tool. Leftovers for dinner last night. Watched My Fake Fiance on ABC Family channel because it had Joey Lawrence (who looks like Tony) and Melissa Joan Hart.

So I've been doing my PT homework late at night, after 10 and more like 11pm. I seem to forget to do the exercises before dinner, and then I want to wait until I digest a little before activity. Which of course means that I need to cool down so I don't end up showering and sleeping until late. Except for those days, like today, when I have a PT session. So I should get a nice full night's sleep tonight. Something I need to change. Ended up going out for dinner last night because the chicken that was defrosted wasn't good anymore. That stuff goes bad in the fridge quick. Went over to Rocks Lakeview, and was surprised they have Sapporo on tap. Seems like an odd choice. Good but odd. Tried to find something Asian on the menu, but settled for a burger with an egg on it. Figured that's close enough. Haven't been biking in a while, well, since Muddy Buddy. I've just been lazy. That's all. Maybe I'll hop on at some point this week. Would be nice. I do like my reading. Right now plowing through Executive Orders and sporadically watching The Thomas Crown Affair (remake).

I plowed through a bunch of episodes of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip over the weekend. Not sure why I started watching, but it's so good. I miss it. And I don't even think I watched it live, instead just being one of the first shows I bought via iTunes Store. But seriously, so good. I enjoy it, a lot. I wonder what it would have been like to see their take on the recession, Obama, Twitter, Facebook, privacy issues. I would have been thoroughly entertained by years and years of that show. Oh well. Back on the Redbox kick, got I Love You, Man and Fast & Furious on Friday, transcoded, and watched I Love You, Man, on the deck using the screen/laptop combo. I need to name that device, and provide pictures. Stained/waterproofed the planting bench and the planter box on Saturday, good timing. Sunday got some cupcakes from Phoebe's Cupcakes after mass, and I think I'm done with that place. Cupcakes are a little too sweet and too much frosting for my taste. Sunday was a pretty lazy day though, watched a couple movies with Tracy after she finished work.

Maybe I will go back to a morning updating schedule. Anyway, switching back from WDS also fixed an interference issue with my iPhone Bluetooth Headset. I just thought it was going bad. The MacBook still can't connect to the 802.11n network. Annoying. Tracy grilled skirt steak for dinner last night along with some vegetables. And apparently my dad lost his iPhone in Las Vegas. I scrambled, tried to use Find My iPhone in Mobile Me, which wasn't working in Google Chrome, so I thought I didn't enable it for his phone, so I called and used the automated system at AT&T to turn off service to his phone. Only after that happens to I realize that maybe Find My iPhone might work in Safari, so I load that up, and yup, works just fine in Safari, except that I had already taken the phone off the network. So no luck there. I might try getting service turned on again for it just to see if Find My iPhone can locate it, and maybe send it a message. But this was just an instance of me failing as family technical support. I should have enabled that on both my parents phones, and tested it, and known to use Safari to check. Chalk it up to experience. As for the weekend, Tracy's working, so home bound, maybe a little woodworking, some chores, and some sleeping.

So I've been all over with my media consumption lately. Concurrently watched or watching Studio 60, Minority Report, Almost Famous, Harry Potter movies, reading Executive Orders, and other random things on the DVR. It's nice being able to switch states coherently, remember where I left off, and continue with the story. I do wonder what my upper limit might be. Went out to Homer Glen via Metra for dinner with the in-laws. For all the times I've taken the train out, I've only now just noticed that it goes right by U.S. Cellular Field. Ended up driving back alone since Tracy has the day off tomorrow and will hang out with family, but I have to work and didn't have a change of clothes. So a short stint at bachelorhood. Only thing I've done is switch the home wireless network back from WDS. It was way too slow when setup as such, so now back to blazing fast speeds on the wireless. So just means I really should look into those Powerline networking devices.

I went ahead and got Prowl to use with Growl to use with Handbrake so I would know when a movie is done transcoding. Took me a while to figure out that I needed to set a preference in Handbrake to send a Growl notification when encoding was done. Whoops. Just means I'll be more efficient with my transcoding sessions, especially on the weekends. I also tried using the Hardware Growler app on the Mac mini but it was sending out repeated Ethernet connect/disconnect growls, which was annoying. So no longer using that, and I don't really need to know anything hardware related on that machine anyway. But makes me wonder if something's wrong with the Mac mini. Still works though. Also computer related, the Airport Expresses are stable now, but the rest of the network seems much slower now, both the 802.11n for the laptops and the 802.11b/g for the iPhones. Annoying. Maybe I should look into that powerline networking again, instead of using WDS. Just add it to my list. More PT today. Good workout. Weather's much cooler. I'm definitely known as the biker in the office, as I keep getting asked why I'm not biking when I'm on the elevator leaving for the day. I think that's a good thing. Tracy made dinner, some pork and potatoes and Swiss chard. Cousin-in-laws Arnold and Marylou and Bianca dropped by to say goodbye as well. Looking forward to not playing Ultimate tomorrow. Headed out to Homer Glen though. Oh, also tried a new cupcake place downtown, The Cupcake Counter. Not bad. Just opened yesterday, so have to try it out a couple more times as they figure stuff out.

My schedule for updating has gotten worse and worse. I seem to have slipped to 4 days a week, skipping Fridays, and updating later at night. Odd. Not sure if I'll be switching back to my previous routine or not. Anyway, busy weekend. Friday night took the Metra out to Lemont for the rehearsal dinner followed by the rehearsal. Odd being back at SS. Cyril & Methodius. Seems smaller now, a short 2 years later. Got to play with Gabe's camera as well. Someday I'll have a nice digital camera. Someday. Saturday had to drop off Tracy at the salon for hair and makeup with the bridal party at 10:30am, so I went shopping for a new outfit for the wedding at Macy's in the Bolingbrook Promenade. Ended up getting a completely new outfit, everything except for my underwear. Went to Mike and Amy's Wedding. Took a couple of the cousins out for a White Castle run. Reception at DiNolfo's Banquets. Oh, got to see my parents too. Got to do a little video work at the reception. Sunday headed back out to the in-laws for the present opening. Then cousin Arnold and second cousin Bianca came in to the city for dinner, and they stayed at my parents condo. And then back to work on Monday, and out to dinner at El Mariachi, since a bunch of other places were closed. So pretty busy. Full.

Did I mention my brother-in-law is getting married on Saturday? Yup, same church, but different reception place. Should be fun. Tracy's standing up in the wedding, and I got asked to do the second reading I think. It comes up because family-in-law is in town, so a bunch of them ended up coming over tonight for a relatively impromptu BBQ/dinner. Actually ended up being too cold out to hang out on the roof. Tomorrow night headed out to Lemont for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Headed out early Saturday since Tracy has to get ready with the rest of the girls. I think I also get to do some video work after the ceremony and during the reception. And then there's a family BBQ on Sunday at the parents-in-law. So it's gonna be busy. Hamstring feels a little better. Actually feels better when I don't have it wrapped. However the foot feels probably the worst since I started PT. And I don't get another session until Tuesday. Now just waiting for the dishwasher to finish up before heading off to bed. Have I mentioned that I'm watching Studio 60 again? That show is really really good. Like amazingly good.

So at my last CUSL-Competitive game managed to tweak my hamstring again. Same one. And it happened early enough, and we had only 4 guys, so I just played through it. Figured it's my last game, and I have no need for my hamstring for a while after that. Never did get a layout d. Kind of sad that way. Also had a couple really bad throwaways. Ugh. Nice to leave ultimate again with that taste in the mouth. Oh well. Probably won't be riding the bike for a week or two either. Probably a good idea. Was up way too late last night doing work. Tempted to get a netbook for work purposes, and do the hack enabling tethering on the iPhone 3GS. Just for work. And figure it'd be cheap enough, and then just relegate the MacBook to being another type of Apple TV for the deck. Or I could get another Apple TV. And if I did go the netbook route, do I get one that's Hackintosh friendly? Something I don't even have to really consider until September anyway.

So, results are out for Muddy Buddy, and the Pinoy Pipers were slower this year than the last (+3:28). I wonder how much time I lost getting caught in the net. 3 minutes worth? Probably not. More PT yesterday, and the foot continues to feel better. Tracy made roasted jerk chicken and corn salsa and rice for dinner. Watched some odds and ends on TV, House, Dark Blue and Dating in the Dark. Otherwise a pretty quiet night. I'm doing overwatch for a work data load process, so I handled a couple issues there. Not sure what to call it, maybe babysitting? But not tonight. Headed over for movie in the park. But probably have to do some work when I get home.

Got muddy again this year at Muddy Buddy. Muddier than last year even. Course was muddier, which made biking a bit harder in spots, actually had to shoulder it in one spot. Didn't walk at all on the last leg, but wasn't running, and had to walk a bit of the hills in spots. No idea what our time is this year, and hoping we did as good as last year. Wait for the results and see. Drove out Saturday night with Russell, had dinner at the Bennigan's, which may or may not have been a good idea. Didn't bring a long sleeve so was a little cold, and might be paying for it now, as I might be coming down with something. Wait and see. Sunday afterward had a farewell meal at my parent's for Bryan, and his parents, and the Russells, and Thor and Liz and Leo and assorted dogs. Good times. Nice and relaxing after Muddy Buddy. Friday night went to Rockit for dinner, since we had a coupon. Not bad. And they had Matilda on tap. Saturday did some vacuuming, made a quick trip down to Green City Market, found a spare wire shelf to use for the monitor box. Sunday after I got back went to Northalsted Days to get some festival food for dinner. That was just a little crazy. I'm a little sad that I missed out on listening to En Vogue from the roof when they played the festival on Saturday night. Sounded like fun.

So, Paul at Accelerated Rehabilitation Centers thinks the foot should be good by the end of the next month. So that's cool. Workout is good, and maybe something I should continue after therapy ends. Or at least some sort of exercise. Especially some sort foot and ankle stability exercises. Those are good for balance. I did not get caught in the rain until after therapy. So I could have totally ridden today. I will tomorrow. Dinner at Taco Burrito Palace, since I got home late, and Tracy got a haircut, so didn't eat until 8:30. Switched up the home network a bit, trying out WDS again, to see if it's stable, or at least more stable than the current setup. Wait and see. I had been rebooting the 802.11n Airport Express every couple of days. It was being used as a bridge.

Just one more CUSL-Competitive game left next week. And then I go back into ultimate hibernation. Even though I think I've rounded into decent shape. Good thing I went grocery shopping yesterday since we had frozen pizza for dinner tonight. And that's pretty much it for the last day. Realized I should have hit up the Home Depot while I had the car today, since I don't think I'll be carrying pegboard on the bike, especially since I don't have an Xtracycle. I did see the Xtracycle that parks kitty-corner to work rolling down the street. Looks so relaxing. Someday. Someday. Otherwise feeling pretty good for Muddy Buddy on Sunday. I was worried that being sore from therapy yesterday would combine with ultimate today into an injury, but I actually warmed up and stretched, so no injury. Not sure if I'm going to bike tomorrow, since there's a rain forecast again.

Put a little more work in putting together a support frame on the monitor container for the Apple Cinema Display so Tracy and I can watch movies on the deck. I need some flat stuff, maybe some peg board, so it makes it easy to mount the power supplies and stuff, and some handles to make it easy to move around, well, relatively easy to move around. Only problem is that the Macbook network connection drops out occasionally, which means we'd need to copy movies over when we want to watch something. Front Row is rather interesting, and I wish Hulu Desktop worked better, cause that'd be pretty sweet on the roof too. At some point I should paint it too, and maybe add some siding, but then I'd probably have to add a fan or two. Didn't ride today because I thought it was going to rain, and I didn't want to be all wet for therapy today. I'm not actually sure what to call it, but maybe PT is the best term for it. Did a lot of stability exercises for the foot and hips. Tired and sore. Went grocery shopping and bought a lot of prepackaged food on sale.

For what I thought would be a weekend off, ended up being pretty busy. Friday night Jammin' at the Zoo, which was really cool. I'd forgotten how good live music can be, seeing musicians play off the audience, the performance aspect. Good stuff. I just now wonder how the animals took the noise. Saturday tried watching Speed Racer, but my transcode screwed up right at the climax of the movie, so kind of left with a let down. But the visuals on that movie are so vivid, I should buy it. Only wish they offered it in HD on the iTunes Store. Hit up Green City Market as well on Saturday, went for a run with Tracy, took a nap, went to Venetian Night. I think we need to get there at like 3pm to get a quality spot on the lakefront area with no chance of people standing or putting up chairs in front of us. Setting up just behind the sidewalk is a bad idea, since people think they can just stand there walking through to watch the boats and the fireworks. Especially annoying were the two girls who stood during the fireworks just talking to each other, not even watching. Sunday watched Eagle Eye and did some wood working, making a monitor box and a garage shelf. I just hope it stays up and doesn't come crashing down at any point. Tracy grilled dinner, and we watched Eli Stone to cap off the weekend. So yeah, pretty busy.

I should go and get things looked at when they hurt more often, you know, instead of just dealing with it and hoping it gets better. Instead of waiting 5 years to get my foot taken care of, I could have had a marginally better quality of life. I walk funny. Almost a toe walker, but more of a midfoot walker. They figured that out at the PT session last night. So I'm trying to fix it. Slowly. And it's good. Apparently my way of walking isn't very efficient. Might explain why my feet hurt from extended walking like shopping and exploring. Seems pretty amazing to me, walking around and it not really hurting. Seriously amazing. There was a lot of traffic on my way up to PT, as I did the slow bike between lanes of stopped cars. Made me very happy to be on a bike. Apparently it was because of the President's motorcade last night. Funny. After PT, headed out to Piece for Bryan's going away party. Got to see a bunch of people I hadn't seen in a very long time. So that was cool. Headed out to Jammin' at the Zoo tonight, Venetian Night tomorrow, and I think that's it. It's one of the few summer weekends without any serious plans.

Not sure, but my foot might be better. Hard to tell. It was kind of sore from rehab exercises, and from CUSL-Competitive last night, and almost thought it was worse, and it hurt last night while sleeping, and then this morning, but after sitting for a little it was much much better. Still have some discomfort, but nothing like before. I'm impressed. Not sure if it'll keep up or not. Wait and see. Otherwise, headed out to for Bryan's going away party tonight at Piece. Continuing to rent and transcode movies from Redbox. Got Iron Man and Speed Racer today. Also on the list for me are The Dark Knight, August Rush, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, maybe The Bank Job, The Da Vinci Code, The International, Jumper, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Marley & Me, Black Hawk Down, and Tears of the Sun. Seriously, I have a problem. You know why I'm addicted? Online rental reservations. I love that I know what I'm getting when I walk up to one of those boxes. The slowest part is returning them, or waiting in line as someone browses the movies at the box. Annoying.

Had my first session/treatment at Accelerated Rehabilitation Centers on Fullerton and Sheffield with Paul and Jamie. Standard medical history. Took some measurements, did some musculature tests. Then they tried to figure out what was wrong with it. Not sure if they figured it out. Probably hard trying to deal with symptoms after the original injury was 5 years old. Also didn't help that they applied a lot of pressure using thumbs for leverage, so felt a lot of discomfort from their fingers. Eventually they gave a couple things I can do for treatment, or rehab, or exercises for homework. And get to go in on Thursday, then next Tuesday and Thursday again. Not sure if it's joint or tendon yet. Wait and see. Besides that I think I'm addicted to Redbox. Picked up Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, both for Tracy, at the 7-Eleven on Halsted, then saw that the one in Sears, I mean, Willis Tower, had Momma Mia!, which I got on my lunch break. And then I already reserved Tropic Thunder and The Forbidden Kingdom for tomorrow. Yeah, a bit of a problem, except that's only $9 so far. Tracy worked the night shift so I got to make dinner, fresh pasta in a sun dried tomato goat cheese sauce. I'm still not happy with my fresh pasta. I need to see either Jamie at Home or Good Eats to see how they do it, and better yet what it should look like.

Tracy's got another triathlon under her belt. Slightly longer distances than her first sprint, and a better time. Impressive. When she does another one, I need to remember to bring food for myself. Also, I'm now her sherpa, carrying her packs and food from the car to the transition area and lugging it around while she's competing so it's available when she finishes. Friday night was just leftovers. Saturday she worked so I did a couple chores, watched Wanted (I caved, and rented a couple movies through Redbox and transcoded them for the Apple TV). I found out you can view and reserve movies at each Redbox location, but I made a mistake and rented movies at both the Jewel on Broadway and Ashland. Whoops. So had some biking to do to pick them up. Dinner at Adesso on Saturday night before heading up to Waukegan for the night. Not what I was expecting. Trying to check the course out the night before in the dark wasn't working, and it was a little confusing. But a little more straightforward early Sunday morning for the Harbor Lights Triathlon. The day before I tried to do a once over with her bike, and can't seem to get the front derailleur dialed in. Still can't hit the biggest chainring. Water was a frigid 58°F. I tooled around on my bike with two bags in the baskets, before settling in after her first transition. Took as many photos as I could with a real camera, and didn't do the play by play Facebook status updates. Got a lake checkout, so after she finished and got some free food, went back for showers. Shopped a little at Old Orchard, before hitting up a BW3 for dinner, which was pretty good. Ended up walking out with a bottle of the Medium Sauce. Also, I don't think Rolling Rock tastes like creamed corn. Relatively early night ended with watching Push in bed.

Always nice when you give yourself some tasks and are able to mark them as complete, even if they aren't productive tasks, or useful tasks, just completing something feels good. Getting home last night was easy, but super busy because of the concert at Wrigley Field. Kind of glad it was Billy Joel/Elton John, and not the Jonas Brothers, or Miley Cyrus. That would be absolutely insane to deal with. We could hear some music, if we opened the front deck door, but we decided not to. I ended up doing a quick Cuban spiced pork tenderloin for dinner, which was pretty good. That's what I like about cooking as a little variety to Tracy, trying something different, something she wouldn't normally make, something completely random off a web recipe, and using spices in the cupboard that never get used. As for the weekend, Tracy's working tomorrow, and I think I've got some chores lined up for myself. She's also got another triathlon on Sunday, this time up in Waukegan, in Lake Michigan for the swim. But that's about it. Ended up riding the Trek 7000 today since I need to tweak the drivetrain on the Sprint after twiddling with it on Monday. Good thing since it rained and I still haven't put the fenders back on the Sprint.

At least there's nothing structurally wrong with my foot. Had the follow up with Dr. Natarajan this morning, and X-Rays and MRI show nothing broken or torn. Not even any scar tissue. So I got a prescription for some rehab. Which means I just adapted for the injury 5 years ago and have been using my foot wrong ever since. That's awesome. So that should be fun. Last night CUSL-Competitive was interesting. I didn't play all that well. Also seemed like a much different vibe, especially compared to the previous week. I feel like I'm moving better, but still have no endurance whatsoever. Went to Piece with Bryan afterwards and caught up a bit. First time in a long time to be back in Wicker Park/Bucktown area. Seems kind of the same, but different. Lots of bikers. And bikers wearing dark clothing. And without any lights. Which makes them hard to see. After being a driver and not seeing these bikers, makes me want to get one of those silly high visibility safety vests to wear while biking. I didn't hit or come close since I was looking out, but I could see how one could.

Spent some time on the deck last night. Tracy grilled dinner, chicken and veggies. We need to get some more charcoal, already. I still don't think we're using charcoal properly, I think we burn it too hot too fast, and don't use the vents at all to control temperature or burn rates. Maybe something to look into. It was nice though, a little cool, not too hot, and the clouds moved off so we got a little sunset. Very nice way to end the day. A little too cool to eat inside though. Thinking I should change the Airport Express setup to have control over 3 sets of deck speakers, front, middle and rear, except that volume control is hardwired into pairs of front and rear. Another thing to think about. Started up transcoding again, I'm in the middle of the L's. Still have to metainfo the Friends series. Watched Better Off Ted last night. That's a funny show. Those Veridian Dynamics commercials? Awesome. CUSL-Competitive tonight, and gonna try and make it over to Piece afterwards.

So, took a peek at my x-rays from yesterday. To my untrained eye, no breaks, no non-unions, no history of a break, no ugly healing. As far as I can tell, my foot looks perfectly normal. Haven't looked at the MRI yet, but I'm tempted to. Spent 30 minutes half into a giant and scary sounding magnet. Fun. But nice that it was walking distance from work. Not nice that I went back after the appointment to do more work. I just had to look up how MRI works again. So sad. Otherwise, greased up the drivetrain on the Sprint when I got home. Stopped a little creaking but it still does. Ugh. As much as I like the cleanliness of the shaft drive, I'm done with it after this bike. Maybe a belt drive will be next? Or just a single speed? Also changed out the shifter cable to one that's the correct length. Also finally bent the rest of the brackets so I can mount fenders to it, which I'll hopefully do tonight. Pulled Tracy's old ringtones and pictures off her old RIZR via bluetooth. It was dead simple and fast and easy when I did it on my MacBook. Not quite as simple but still pretty easy, but super slow when I did it on Tracy's Vista laptop. That was annoying. And I don't even consider bluetooth to be a first class citizen under OS X, and it was still super easy.

Another busy summer weekend. Friday night dinner at Joy's Noodles with the in-laws who brought Gabe into the city to stay with us for the weekend. Then went out with him and his friend Eric to watch The Hurt Locker, a good movie but filmed shaky cam style. And I am, from here on out, boycotting shaky cam movies. I should have learned my lesson after The Blair Witch Project, or Friday Night Lights, or Dancer in the Dark. Maybe it's just trying to watch it in the theater that causes a problem. So no more for me. If I read a review about the most amazing film ever, but it's shaky cam? No $10 from my pocket. Otherwise, the movie was great. And made me want to watch S.W.A.T., which I did the next day before we went out to Minooka to see Lisa and Ryan and little Zoe, and play in the pool. Sunday wandered around the neighborhood a bit with Gabe, lunch at Lucky's Sandwich Company, which I thought was a Pittsburgh joint, but might just be like Primanti Brothers. The Iron City 6pk cardboard holders gave me the clue. Headed out to Homer Glen to drop Gabe off at his parents, and a BBQ. Then some supply shopping at Target. Busy weekend.

So, first guess by Dr. Balu Natarajan on my foot? Possible Jones Fracture. Looking it up, sounds very plausible. Got to get an X-Ray and an MRI before hopefully figuring it out. So entirely possible I've been walking around with a broken bone in my foot for the past 5 years. That's awesome. And it's the second time I'm going for an MRI, except this time I'm so far removed from college that I won't understand the physics of what's going on, like before. That was a long time ago, trying to figure out PAI. Maybe I should have gone to the doctor 5 years ago. Would have been a good time, since I wasn't playing then. Either way I figure I won't bother with any sort of treatment until after Muddy Buddy. Since I did it last year, I figure I can do it again. And then deal with any sort of treatment, which besides a boot could mean a screw. Awesome. Wait and see. I did get to make dinner, a chile rubbed pork with pineapple salsa, which wasn't that good. A little disappointing. But that's why I'm cooking again, so I can get better at it.

Actually added something to CUSL-Competitive today, the 1-3-3. Nice to know I still have something to contribute. Also happy that it worked. Otherwise, didn't seem like a whole lot of running today, probably because men played savage, so I purposefully took it easy. Had a couple bad decision throws, a drop, and got beat on D a bunch of times. Just another game for an out of shape, out of practice old ultimate player. Looking forward to my doctor's appointment with an actually Sports Medicine specialist. Not sure what to expect though. Maybe an x-ray on the foot? Since I never got one? Started writing down the plans for the deck, woodworking, additions, and stuff. Would be nicer if I had sketches along with my list. Driving is fine, almost not that bad at all. At least at the times I've been driving. Which is nice.

Met up with Tracy after work today at the Ohio St. Beach Open Water Swim Clinic. I didn't actually swim, just showing up in time to see her get out of the lake, but from what I saw, swimming in the lake looks tempting. Something I might want to try. I was thinking of going to the clinic today, but I didn't think leaving work early again would be the best idea. Maybe the next time they offer it? Biked again today, without greasing up the drivetrain or attaching fenders. One of these days, I'll tinker with it in the garage again. Last night had an Irish Breakfast and a Guinness from Wilde Bar & Restaurant, and tonight had a polish sausage and kielbasa for dinner. Eating healthy, I know. Driving tomorrow for CUSL-Competitive. Think I finally have to watch Clue. Also saw that Push got released to the iTunes Store as a HD Movie for purchase. So it's sitting in the shopping cart along with The Forbidden Kingdom waiting for September.

Let's see, Taste of Chicago last Thursday was good, but seemed a little smaller. Nothing too new, but Tracy wants to try making gazpacho. Friday didn't have to work, but Tracy did, so I did some cleaning since we were having friends over, Jespy and Cases and April showed up with her friend Rich as well. Tracy made ribs, I got to clean. It was cool and rainy so didn't get to hang out on the deck. The actual fourth watched Live Free or Die Hard and Independence Day while waiting to host another party, this time for April and Scott as a pre wedding shin dig. Rained all day, but cleared up in time for the party, which was cool. Spent the entire time out on the deck, which was nice, but wet. Need to create some additional seating, and get some better lighting, and got to break out the Candela lights, which were cool. Should find some cheap solar lights to put in pots and plants and put up some of those string lights for ambiance as well. Sunday the weather got warm and sunny, finally, and spent a little time on the deck getting some sun before heading down to pick up Susmita and Sai on the way to the Garfield Park Conservatory for April and Scott's wedding. Good times there. Got to get my groove on, which I haven't really had a chance to do in a long time. Left work a little early today to sign a whole lot of documents again since we refinanced.

Had meatloaf and mashed potatoes for 3 out of 4 consecutive meals, only because I didn't want it for breakfast, but I wonder how it'd be in a breakfast sandwich with an egg. Hmmm, something to try the next time. CUSL-Competitive was good last night, nice and cool and the ground was soft. We lost 14-16 after being up 14-12, but otherwise I thought it was a pretty good game. Felt pretty good running. However when I got home and tried walking my right ankle was pretty messed up, couldn't really put any weight on it. But after some movement, and some ice, it's back to it's normal state today. Good thing I'm getting it checked out next Thursday. Hoping it's nothing too serious and maybe some rehab is all I need. Of course, it's possible the ankle is really screwed up from Potlatch 2004, and I've been compensating ever since, so maybe there's a whole lot wrong with it. Find out Thursday. Tried to get some Residential Daily Parking passes today, but since I placed an online order, I can't place an additional order in person. And apparently I can't make more than one order at a time. Headed to Taste of Chicago tonight. Cleaning tomorrow.

I told Tracy that I want to get back to cooking, since she does pretty much all of it since we got married. So I get one night a week. So I made meatloaf last night. I like meatloaf. It's simple, and comfy, and down home, and so good. And you can make sandwiches, and it's quite a filling meal. Of course, I didn't get around to the other things I had planned for last night, like exercising and some cleaning, but I'm putting that off until Friday, when I won't be working, but Tracy will be. Biking yesterday was good, but it was odd to be cool enough to wear arm sleeves on the way home. Definitely odd. And I'm wondering if I brought enough clothes for ultimate tonight. Which means I drove in again to work. Tried a different garage this time. Not sure when I'll try biking down again, but maybe in a couple weeks. Also, the Airport Expresses are still acting flaky, which is really annoying.

Back to exercising. Back to riding. Went for a run when I got home last night, jogged up to Montrose and did some runs up that little hill there. It's better than nothing. After that I worked on the bikes a little bit, to get them back up and running, pumped tires, tweaked the drive train on the Sprint so no more grinding or skipping, but now creaking again, so I'll have to grease it up a bit again. If it's not one thing, it's another. I still have to clean out the drive train on the mtb. Rode in this morning, nice and cool, even to the point where I might use pants on the ride home, or maybe arm sleeves. Changed the Airport Expresses back to using a switch instead of all connecting wirelessly. Hoping the new 7.4.2 firmware update on the extending 802.11n Express will help prevent drop outs. Wonder if a Powerline network would make it work better. Here's hoping. Forgot to mention that my brother lost a bunch of weight, and looks almost too skinny. And for the first time in our lives, I weigh more than he does. I'm longer the little brother.

Helped pull off a surprise birthday party for my Mom. Dad, Al and especially Joy and Mary Lou and Carmi did all the work putting it together. It was awesome. Except for Tracy and I having to drive 2 hours in traffic to get there on Friday night. Besides that, we probably could have been a little more organized, including the guest list, but we did as best we could, on relatively short notice. Aside from that, the other big news from the weekend was Tracy doing and completing her first Triathlon, the sprint distance at the Bigfoot Triathlon up in Lake Geneva. I'm so impressed she pulled it off. I wouldn't have made the decision, did all the training (by herself), and ran the race on an extremely windy day (15-20mph). Seriously awesome. She's got another, Harbor Lights Triathlon up in Waukegan on July 19. And I get to be a tri-husband again, and at yesterday's event, it made me happy that I wasn't the only one. I did update her Facebook status as she competed, and tried to take photos and videos as best I could. Got to hang out with the family for a bit, since Al and Nicole were around. Scouted out the course on Saturday and realized that we should head up to Lake Geneva for a day or weekend and not to swim, bike and run in a competition. And a couple other things I've figured out: how the bike rack attaches to the trunk of the car, so we can now take our bikes out to places that have hills for a ride; and that I need to set an alarm if I want to get up with enough time to prep for bike commuting.

Well, the 3 mile fun run on Tuesday, first in a couple weeks, followed up with some ultimate on Wednesday night, well, I'm pretty sore and tired. Might be a little much, but it's needed, since Muddy Buddy is a short 5 weeks away. So not only do I probably need to get up to 5 miles or so, I should also start looking at some hills, mainly, that one on Montrose near the lake. With the heat and my declining physical skills, ultimate is definitely on my Murtaugh list. Something I'm too old for, but I end up doing anyway. Don't think I'll be attempting a comeback. I've been gone too long. Driving makes it easier, yet I wish I biked. Even though it's so long, it's still a fairly nice ride. Maybe next week? Speaking of bikes, I need to figure out how to put the bike rack on the Volvo to bring out Tracy's bike this weekend.

Went for the south Olympic Day Fun Run yesterday, from Buckingham Fountain up to North Ave Beach. Got a free t-shirt. They had a stage with bands and music, and some Olympians pimping out Chicago for 2016. They also had a few games set up, like 5v5 beach soccer, some kayaks, basketball, badminton, and apparently archery somewhere, but we didn't see it. Tracy came down from the north, so we just met up there. Ended up at Bricks Chicago for dinner, which was pretty good. Then took the bus home. Used the CamelBak Classic Russell got me for Muddy Buddy last year. It's really useful for carrying wallet, iPhone, keys and stuff while running. And it keeps me hydrated. Monday night I worked on getting more music onto my new iPhone 3G S. Oh, and I'm still using the space, until all references to the space are gone. Drove in to work today so I can drive to Washington Park for CUSL-Competitive. The 24 miles biking, 12 of it after playing, is a little much, and I'll try it again, but maybe when it's not so hot out.

Took a while, but got Tracy's and my iPhone 3G Ss up and running. Heard about the activation issues, so waited until about 10pm Friday night, but then still had issues, and looking around online, found an automated AT&T number to call to accept terms and conditions, which then worked for activating my phone, around 3am Saturday morning, but I had to talk to someone at AT&T Wireless to get Tracy's iPhone working, which needed the data plan and the SIM and IMEI added to her account, and even then it wasn't activated, I got transferred to an Apple rep who finally had me do a restore which then worked and finally Tracy's phone activated at like 10am Saturday morning. Awesome. Phones themselves are great, and Tracy cleaned up her contacts, using MobileMe Windows control panel so she could enter them using Windows Contacts program. Calendars were easy using the Google ActiveSync setup. For me, as an upgrade, it's just faster. And location services are more accurate. That's about it. Went out for dinner Friday night during a lull in the storms, got some dirt on Saturday for planting, went out to Woodstock for Father's Day party on Sunday. Oh, did I mention I'm a little sick? Not sure the heat, high humidity outside and the cooler temps from A/C inside and lack of sleep are helping me get better at all.

Flew back in last night from RDU. Always wish my schedule was flexible enough to take up the bribes on overbooked flights, $300 voucher and hotel stay to get bumped to the morning flight. Oh well. Came home exactly how we left, except a bit warmer, via 152 and Blue Line. For more details about the trip, see Ella's Baptism Visit (June 11-18, 2009). It was nice and relaxing, with I think, a surprising amount of shopping. We of course, overpacked I think. Also, my sandals (Keen Venice H2) smelled really badly, so I soaked them in Simple Green and cleaned the feet with it and rubbing alcohol. Better, but not sure if it just covered up the smell. Wait and see. Ella's cute as a button, fun to play with. It was good to hang out with the Argaos and the Tongs. Also, have couple more Mac people in the family, which is always good to see. Got some great southern food, probably ate too much. Went climbing for I think the first time ever, which I like, but am not very good at, endurance wise. Also liked having dogs (Nala and Buck) to play with. Used Tumblr to keep track, not Daytum, so I've got some back loading to do. Looking forward, maybe some woodworking, bike work, setting up new iPhone 3G Ss, out to Woodstock on Father's Day.

I'm a little jealous watching bikers on their way to work. Definitely miss that. But will be up and about soon enough. Did I mention that I figured out how to bend the rear seat stays to cut and mount fenders on the Sprint? Had to use a vise for metal bending, but it should come in handy for future endeavors. Also, since it's summer, Tracy and I really aren't watching any TV, at least, there's nothing on the DVR piling up, that we have to watch. And if we do watch, it's stuff that's live, with commercials, and the inability to fast forward through them, or with channel surfing. I've been partial to just flipping between movies using the Apple TV. No commercials there. I finished up the last Harry Potter, again, today. So start to finish, 47 days total, to read the series. There were about 2 weeks of biking which meant reading only during lunch, and 5 weeks of the El, which added commuting to the reading time. It's still a really good series, and quite touching, just like the last time I read them all, which was about a year ago. I'll have to go through the movies next. Tracy made her eggplant parmigiana for dinner, I finished off the strawberry tart I whipped together over the weekend. Gotta pack up tonight, flying out tomorrow. I think I'll be bringing the laptop along, but not sure yet.

Yup, iPhone 3G Ss preordered as upgrades from AT&T Wireless, once for Tracy, one for me. In order to get permission to upgrade mine, I'm on a severely constrained budget until September. Granted, I should be on a severely constrained budget anyway, because I don't need a whole lot more than I already have. So should show up Friday, June 19. Hopefully. And Tracy and I will have matching iPhones. And I'm guessing she's going to get a lot of use out of the Find My iPhone. It'll come in handy, that's for sure. I guess my old iPhone will become an iPod touch, or maybe pass it along. Leftovers for dinner last night. Got a haircut tonight. Almost done with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Not sure what to read next. Maybe Cryptonomicon, or Diamond Age, or maybe the Bourne Series, or maybe Rainbow Six. Of course, this is just for vacation, since I'll be back to bike commuting.

Yup, iPhone 3G S announced at WWDC 2009. Yes, Tracy and I will be getting them. I think. Tracy for sure, and I'm actually waffling a little. I can't help but think this is an interim model, and maybe 6 months maybe a new one, with the matte back and front facing camera and maybe 802.11n might come out. So not sure if I want to gamble and hold for a bit. Otherwise, nothing too gotta have for me, in terms of announcements. Weekend was interesting, since Tracy was working at home all weekend. Couldn't bug her too much. I did buy some more wood and a miter saw on Sunday, and the first piece of woodworking? A 4" footstool for Tracy. Also want to make another planter, a box for the monitor/speakers to make it easy to watch movies on the roof, some additional smaller planters, a storage shelving unit in the garage nook to hold the saw and bike stuff. So got lots of plans. And lots of wood. And my first real power tool. It's awesome. My parents came in on Saturday, cleaned out more of the old home, and we had dinner at Jin Ju, then some shopping at Uni-Mart. Sunday Tracy's parents came in, along with Mike and Amy and cousin Gene and Scott were in town, so had dinner at our place and watched the NBA game. Leaving Thursday for a week in North Carolina for Ella's baptism.

Strained my right hamstring at Men's League tonight. I guess I need to warm up. And the 20+ miles of biking yesterday with another ultimate game probably didn't help either. I'm icing now. Figures. I don't remember straining a hamstring ever in my previous ultimate career. So, there's a first time for everything. But Men's League is over, and I'm vacation next week, so I'll get some time off to heal up, hopefully. Ugh. I really am getting older. Took the bike ride home pretty easy, didn't hurt too much, but I'll ease up on the biking as well, at least tomorrow, maybe next week too. Rode the Trek 7000 again today. Got chain grease all over my right pant leg when I tried downshifting at a light. I do need to clean the drivetrain completely, maybe this weekend. And maybe putting the fenders back on the Sprint. Oh, and making a stand for the big monitor so we can watch movies on the deck. Gotta find something to do while Tracy's working.

So played CUSL-Competitive for the first time in 5 years. Long time. Biked down to Washington Park. Had a pretty bad game. Lots of drops. Apparently I can't catch the low ones anymore. Nor can I jump at all. Yet I still bait on defense. And poach a lot. A lot. But I'm alright on dump D still. Which is cool. But I think the 7 mile ride down took what little legs I had away. And the return 12 mile ride wiped me out. Not sure how many times I'm going to do that ride. Especially when I realized while dealing with the headwind on the way home that I can just use the car on Wednesdays, since Tracy doesn't need it anymore. Last night made Middle Eastern Chicken Pot and Butter-Nut Couscous for dinner, another 30 Minute Meal that took an hour, and I didn't get started until 8:45 so we didn't eat until 10ish. I also made a couple strawberry rhubarb pies. Tracy said they're too tart, and I think they're perfect.

So Tracy went to the free injury screening at Fleet Feet last night and signed me up as well, since my right foot has been acting up lately. And apparently I did do something 5 years ago at Potlatch and other things have been compensating. But I have limited flexibility on pronation in my right foot. Maybe scar tissue. I wonder if I should finally go to sports doc to get a prescription for some physical therapy to get it taken care of. Something to file away. Also finally picked up proper sized fenders for the Trek 7000 and got those installed along with the new rack and baskets. So now I have 2 fully functional commuter and utility bikes. I actually rode the mtb in this morning, and it was nice, with the big bouncy tires providing a really comfortable ride. I was just annoyed with the inability to shift at stop signs and lights and worry about my pant leg getting grease and chain marks on it. I wonder if I need new gearing on it cause I was maxed out on the way in. CUSL - Competitive starts tomorrow night, so that should be fun, and tiring, because I'm planning on biking there and back. Went to Adobo Grill for dinner last night, since it's right next to Fleet Feet. I get to make dinner since Tracy is working tonight, but she'll just be in the other room, but working, which is odd. It will be especially odd when she's working this weekend.

Biggest news from the weekend? I don't have a place for my Mac mini anymore. Tracy took over the second bedroom since she gets to work from home now. I set up her work computer on Sunday, and finally got her VPN'd in later that day, and today was her first day from home. I'm so jealous. So that means no more commutes to Indiana for her, which is awesome. Less money spent on gas. Awesome. All good things. And it's about time. So besides that, we also managed to make a wood planter for the deck. We went out to the Argaos on Saturday, borrowed their RAV4 to pick up wood from Home Depot, borrowed their miter saw to cut the wood, and brought it all back in to the city, and I assembled it on Sunday afternoon. And despite all the work, it comes out cheaper than buying one at a store. So we'll be building more, and maybe some additional stuff like benches, bike storage racks. Other than that, nothing too exciting. Oh, got some 2XU Calf Guards calf compression sleeves. They are great, and make my legs feel brand new. Not sure if they'll help with playing or running, but they feel great now. Also finally downgraded our cable TV service to save some money. We really didn't need 3 premium channels. Going for a free injury screen at Fleet Feet tonight. I wonder if they'll have any idea what's going on with my right foot.

Well, Bike the Drive and E-Town trips last weekend took a lot out of me. Not sure if I completely recovered, but I was wiped by Men's League last night. So I'm guessing I haven't recovered. So that's what I'll try to do this weekend. Not so much biking. We are going to head out to the in-laws to use some power tools and try and make a planter box for the roof deck. Should be fun. Back to Men's League, I'm definitely slow, and the ground did seem harder than last time, and the mosquitoes were out in force, and the legs are sore and the feet hurt, but still pretty fun. Also, I'm not sure if I should be offering advice to the kids since pretty much all of them have never seen me play in my heyday and thus don't think I have any sort of respect or pull with them. But young players still play young, and play hasn't gotten any cleaner, but then again, it just might be the level I'm trying to play at. Anyway, I'll offer some stuff up here and there, no idea if they'll take any of it. I just started Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, all read on the iPhone.

Well, I thought it was going to be much colder than it actually was, and went with the Mountain Hardwear Transition Jacket instead of the vest. It might work out in my favor if it ends up being cold after Men's League tonight. Got some Superfeet for my cleats on the way home yesterday, along with checking for wine boxes at Sam's, and picked up a McDavid 441 Deluxe Calf Support from Sports Authority. The calf support was a little too tight, and I didn't realize it was neoprene, so it's going back. I'm just gonna go with the more expensive ones Tracy got. Might pick those up tomorrow. She made turkey chili for dinner last night, and we ended up watching Get Smart, which held up well to a repeat viewing. Also figured out a new way to attach the cable lock to the bike using Cable Cuffs.

Got some new bike locks yesterday, Abus Bordo 6000s. Just makes it easier to carry some sort of lock around all the time. Not as safe as the Kryptonite New York 3000 Lock we have, although Tracy lost hers, but much much easier to carry, especially since it fits in a case that attaches to the bottle cage. I still brought my cable lock with me, which was funny, because I don't have an attachment point on my new frame, and it fell off my bag and was run over by a semi this morning. Still works, without the plastic housing. Still loving my Mountain Hardwear Transition Vest which is absolutely perfect for biking right now. It's awesome. Leftovers for dinner last night. Finally watched the last episode of House. Was waiting for him to say he had a brain tumor. Tightened some stuff up on the bike. Still need to install fenders again. Not sure how I'm going to get the rear one to fit though.

Yeah, it's been a while, like 5 days. Whoops. Again. Friday night watched a bunch of How I Met Your Mother while eating Tracy's attempt at coconut chicken tenders. Not quite enough coconut flavor there. I think it needed some shredded coconut, probably toasted. Saturday Tracy worked, and I cleaned house. I did make the time to watch the pilot of Glee. On the basis of that one episode, it's on the top of my list for shows to watch this fall. It's awesome. I love it. Tracy's friend Susmita crashed for the night between April's bachelorette party Saturday and wedding shower on Sunday. So besides cleaning, I finally watched Semi-Pro on Saturday night, and hung out with my parents on Sunday. Did Bike the Drive on Sunday morning, which was fun, but tiring, followed by brunch at Nookies Tree. Ended up napping before the girls left. Monday had waffles with Tracy before she had to go to work again, and I biked up to E-Town to see Russell and Gavin and have lunch at Lucky Platter, which was awesome. And yes, we were those 2 guys with a baby. Wish we had a picture. Biked home and got caught in the rain, and stayed on the couch for the rest of the night. Lots of biking over the weekend. Probably did 2 full weeks worth of commuting in 2 days. But feels good.

Men's League is fun. And I'm still kinda an ultimate player. Still not a handler. I wonder if I'll ever get my step back. Or the ability to lay out. The ride back home was pretty tough, pretty windy. I'm also glad I threw my vest into the bag this morning, it came in handy. Cruising along was nice though, not really pushing it at all. Just enjoying the sights. And the couple places where the power was out. Odd. Bike works well, needs some grease in spots. Tempted to try out the mountain bike tomorrow, or some time this weekend. Interested to see how I am with a bigger range of gears.

Go from no working bikes to having 2 perfectly working bikes. Walked over to Lakeshore Bike with my rear wheel to get a spoke fixed, and they trued it too. Just walked up, gave the wheel over, then maybe 10 minutes later, all set. While it was worth the cost this first time, especially because I need to use it tomorrow, but not sure if it happens repeatedly that getting the tools and learning how to do it would be more cost effective in the long run. At some point I will. Would be nice to have a bench to put a truing stand on. Oh, Crank Brothers Speed Lever is absolutely awesome. So easy to take off and put on a tire. Amazing. So got Sprint back up and running. Sweet. Then finally put the new brake/shifters onto the mtb. Very easy. So now I've got 2 bikes. Still need the rack and baskets for the mtb though. So now I have no excuses for not biking. And now it's going to take a long time to finish up the Harry Potter books. Got some grub from Taco Burrito Palace for dinner tonight, mac & cheese & kielbasa last night. Ate up on the roof tonight, since it was so nice out. Men's League tomorrow night.

So, had some time to work on the bikes today since Tracy worked the night shift. Got the headset working without any play, which was great, but again, while wiping the bike down, found a broken spoke on the rear wheel. Figures. I won't even try and fix this myself, at least this time, and I'll bring it to a bike shop tomorrow to hopefully get fixed. It's only one spoke, so hopefully I can get it done quickly. I do want to know how to do it myself, eventually. Would be good to know how. But that's more tools for trueing a wheel. Also started on the brake/shifter replacement on the mtb, but had some trouble with the grips. Apparently rubbing alcohol or water works wonders. Also went for a run after work today. That was rough. Last night had leftovers for dinner, watched Smallville and How I Met Your Mother, finished vacuuming, and sent the wrong size extra cleats back to Zappos. Also today looked into what I need to get the mtb into more of a hauler, baskets and stuff. More stuff to buy, but not needed, so it goes to the wish list.

So my right foot's been feeling weird, actually, just my toes. No idea, but looking at them it looks like my third toe is swollen, but it doesn't hurt, just feels funny, just different. Wonder when I did something, wonder what I did, and wonder if it's anything serious? I think it's been like this for a while, but only started acting up recently. Oh well. Weekend was pretty lazy. Got a haircut. Half vacuumed, cleaned a little. Went for a walk to enjoy the weather on Saturday when Tracy got back from work. Trying to figure out how to do soem woodworking projects without powertools or a large vehicle to transport wood back home. Checked out the REI on Halsted for the first time, didn't buy anything, but looked at the Raleigh bikes. Interesting. Didn't get around to fixing the bike, so took the El in this morning. The ulterior motive is to finish reading the Harry Potter books, but I'm almost done with the Goblet of Fire and have 3 more left. But I should have some bike time tomorrow night.

Well, I'm still an ultimate player. Good to know. Played pickup for Men's League last night. Those UIC Fields are as nice as I remember them, and the surrounding area is completely different from what it used to be. Amazing. Found out I got drafted like 2nd round, which was a mistake. I think if I had to put a number on it, I'm really 5 years removed from the game, summer league and tournaments in 2004. Mars in 2005 and Paganello in 2006 shouldn't really count, since I didn't do anything else besides those two. So yeah, I can throw as well as I ever did, which isn't all that well. I can still move ok, no lift on jumps, not completely out of position. Cleats work ok, but they might actually be a little too big, or I need to tighten them up a little. Riding home was probably a good idea, as a means of cool down. But definitely feeling sore today. But I don't think it's any worse than the first tourney/game of the year usually was for me, even back then. So yeah, I'm a little excited. Had some frozen pizza for dinner, watched the end of Grey's Anatomy (the twist Tracy picked up on pretty early, but wasn't sure, but made sense to me) and then the Facebook episode of My Boys to try and lighten the mood. I rode in today, and the bike needs a couple tweaks, and now I get to ride home in the rain. Should be fun without fenders.

It's good to be back on the bike again. Nice. Even if I didn't get around to putting handlebar tape back on yet. And that the rear fender doesn't fit anymore. Aside from that, it's awesome. Creaks a little, and I should probably grease some more stuff up, but yeah, bike fits better, feels better, and runs well. Smoother than I remember even. Next up is getting the mtb back up and running. I spent 3 hours last night putting it back together, mostly dealing with the shifter cable, until I finally figured it out. I think directions would have helped. So I didn't actually sit and watch TV on the couch with Tracy, and just had some leftovers for dinner. I packed up a bag this morning, with my new cleats New Balance MF890, and some old jerseys and shorts, and a frisbee. Crazy. No idea if we're even playing tonight. So odd to think this will be the first time playing ultimate since 2006 on the beach at Paganello. 3 years. Wow. Should be interesting.

Orders came in, so I should have all the stuff I need to put my bike back together. Good timing too. Hoping I don't screw up at all. Also realized I already have chain degreaser, which I can use as a general cleaner. I'm supposed to be in the Men's League for Chicago Ultimate, but I haven't heard anything about teams yet. But that's partially why I need to get the bike back together, so I can ride out to UIC tomorrow night. Oh, also ordered up some cleats from Zappos, and since I finagled a VIP account when they were giving them away one day, I got free overnight delivery. Got a couple, and if they don't fit, I'll just send 'em back. So Zappos will be my new shoestore of choice. Of course, as long as I know my size. This time, I'm trying out New Balance cleats because they're supposed to be wide. Wait and see. Dinner last night was good, but I think we've got an upper limit on our food appreciation. At and above a certain level, the food is just good, and we can't appreciate the difference. Which is a good thing to finally figure out. We also didn't stuff ourselves silly, which was nice. I did get a lot of odd looks at work for wearing a tie, which just means I'll be doing that more often. Which means I need to get more ties. And shirts that fit. Made it home in time to watch an episode of How I Met Your Mother, which was rather a disappointment from the previous episode. Hopefully I'll be able to get another run in tonight before bike reassembly.

2 Years of Marriage in the bag. Yay! Both of us aren't into the cards or the giftgiving, so that works out well, but we're totally in to the celebrating with good food so we're headed to David Burke Primehouse for dinner tonight. As for the weekend, tried out F. O'Mahony's, which was ok. Odd that majority of the customers were women at the time, odd at least for an English pub. Saturday went north to Deer Park looking for the garden centers and nurseries that we passed on the way out to see my dad a couple weeks ago. Our new favorite place: Knupper's Nursery and Landscaping. Also checked out the mall up there, the erehwon. Ended up having dinner in Shaumburg at Moe's Crab Shack, which used to be Joe's Crab Shack. Again just ok. Not quite as good as I remember Joe's had been. Sunday while Tracy worked I took the Metra out to see my parents, and of course my mom made a nice spread, but an easy (for her) spread. Helped push the riding lawnmower out of the mud in the backyard, shot some hoops. Brought some food back as well, and made it in time to see the in-laws who had come over for dinner and grilling.

Still haven't gotten around to putting the bike together. I should get around to that. Otherwise, I've moved on to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Good stuff when you know the whole story. Went for another run last night. I think I've figured out a path to get a 5K in. And even just after 2 runs I'm noticing a difference, so that's good. Tracy whipped up spaghetti for dinner, and leftovers. Watched Grey's Anatomy, The Big Bang Theory, and My Boys, which was odd because it was about crazy Chicago winter weather, and it's spring outside the window, so there was a little disconnect. I think there's some gardening shopping going on tomorrow, and headed out on the train to Woodstock on Sunday for Mother's Day and to see my dad as well. And to set up their bluetooth headsets. And any other sort of computer support too.

Went for a run Tuesday night. That was rough. Not as bad as I thought, but still rough. Plan on keeping up with it somewhat. Hopefully. Don't want to drop off in training before Muddy Buddy like last year. Got to be ready. Tracy made chicken salad for dinner, and had leftovers for lunch yesterday. Watched Bones, Private Practice, and How I Met Your Mother. Last night got the headset tools, so started putting the Sprint back together. I really should name the bike something. Anyway, I need to redo the shifter cable, but I've only got one cable kit and I was hoping to save that for the mtb. I do have a new derailleur cable kit coming though, so maybe I'll just wait a little bit longer to get the bike back together and commuting. Also means I can keep reading the Harry Potter series. I also haven't gotten degreaser yet, so I didn't clean the parts before reassembling the bike. Maybe I should do that too.

Walking home from the Addison Red Line stop, and I hear a "Eric Abando" from a voice from the past. It's John Groden, going to the Cubs game with some coworkers. Awesome. Haven't seen that guy in forever, like 7 or 8 years, and even then, the last time I saw him we just ran into each other in front of the Flat Top Grill on North Ave. So, quick catchup, and he had to go, but would be nice to sit down with him again. One of those guys I look up to. I was actually on my way to the old place to see if I still had my cleats, which I don't. Called my mom to make plans for the weekend and asked her to check around to see if I had sent my cleats out to run around in the open fields in Woodstock. Hoping that's true so I don't have to buy new cleats to try and play a sport I'm not sure I can still play. Anyway, finally watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall over a dinner eggplant omelette and rice. Good movie, and it's growing on me. Thinking I should take up some form of running again.

Well, I'm somewhat officially signed up for Chicago Ultimate Men's League. Somewhat because there's a draft, but I think this means I'll be playing ultimate soon. Which means I need to find out if I still own cleats or not. Which is actually very funny. Also a little scary. Maybe I should touch a frisbee or go out for a run sometime between now and then. Maybe. Recapping the weekend: Friday night walked over to where April was having a birthday party, ended up having dinner at Papacito's Mexican Grille because the wait at Las Tablas was an hour, then headed over early to the Grand River thinking we'd be calling an early night because of my eye appointment on Saturday morning. But that wasn't the case, as we stayed out pretty late, and Tracy now has her own Murtaugh List. Saturday my eyes checked out and we did some shopping afterwards, spending way too long at REI and checking out Arhaus as well as CVS and Autozone. Grilled chicken and veggies for dinner, and watched the Bulls lose. Sunday, thanks to Tracy, put my old pedals back onto the mtb and went out for a ride, hitting up some garden shops. More grilling for dinner, and watched the Dollhouse. That's some good stuff. Still having some issues with the Airport Express whole house audio system. Trying some things though.

Apparently I can just use a large flathead screwdriver or a copper pipe with 4 cuts as a tool to remove headset cups and a bolt with washers to press the headset for install. I may just do that since the tools I ordered won't ship till next week. But I'll probably just wait, which means more El riding, which is good and bad. Good because I do more reading (almost done with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) and bad because I'm not riding, oh, and maybe because of the swine, err, H1N1 flu that's going around. Oh well. I'm definitely jealous of the riders I see now. Got some more plastic drawer storage units from the old place and put them in the garage and filled them up with bike stuff. It's not really organized all that well, but if I can't ride might as well do something bike related. Skipped dinner last night, had a late lunch. Watched the overtimes of the Bulls - Celtics Game 6 last night. Good stuff there. Got April's birthday party to go to tonight, eye appointment and some shopping tomorrow.

Took apart my bike last night since the new frame got delivered. Everything went smoothly except for one side of the bottom bracket and the headset (which needs a tool to at least be installed, but also got a tool to remove). So biking is in a holding pattern until the tools show up. But taking it apart was fun, and hopefully putting it all back together again will be straightforward. Definitely will be good to clean most of the parts, which means I need to invest in some degreaser. And some paper towels. Also need to clean up the general bike are in the garage, and bringing over some plastic drawer units from the old place to help out with that. Also ordered up some parts to get the old mtb up and running. Should have done that before so I could still be riding now. Probably headed out to see the parents on Saturday after my eye appointment. But probably just for the day. Otherwise, same old same old, dinner by Tracy, watched some TV.

So it's back to feeling like a Chicago spring, I think, but of course there's 80's forecast for next week. Love the 40 degree swings. Good times. My replacement frame got delivered today, and I'll be dropping by the old place to pick it up. Maybe I won't need a car and can just carry it back. It is just the frame. Might try putting it together tonight, or just wait for tomorrow night, since Tracy's got the evening shift tomorrow. And I do need a bucket to do some cleaning during dis/reassembly. Fun. Still feel like I'm a little behind on sleep. Not really worried about the swine flu. TV's getting good, as seasons wrap up. Looking forward to House and Dollhouse, wondering if any hooking up will happen on Bones and The Big Bang Theory.

Forgot to mention the strange dream I had Sunday night, while only sleeping like 4 hours: my family had all taken jobs at a tech company with an office like Great Wolf Lodge, except I thought we were going on vacation and was surprised by having to go through new job orientation. Very odd and weird dream. Anyway, the lack of sleep made me a little worthless on Monday, and got a pretty good night's rest last night, so I'm a little better today. Really looking forward to getting my replacement frame for the Sprint tomorrow, and getting that put back together again. Also started looking into what it would take to get the old mtb up and running, and it's not too bad. But I'll probably just wait on that for next month, need to reset the allowance counter. Also, refinanced down a little over a percentage point lower, which means, according to the math, we'll recoup closing costs in about 6 months and start reaping the benefits. Always seems odd to do that having not lived there for a year yet. whole house audio means I'm listening to music, but the Airport Express setup needs rebooting every day or so. Which isn't good. Not sure if it's the same Airport Express that's blinking amber, or they rotate being fussy.

Tried the evening updates last week, now trying an earlier morning update schedule. Well, was going to try an earlier morning schedule. Friday night went out for dinner at HB Home Bistro. BYOB, so wandered down to Kafka and picked up a Pinot Noir with a bicycle on the label. Of course, didn't finish it, but that's ok, since it was about the same price as 2 glasses of wine if they sold any. Saturday went back to the old place to prep the old DVD changer and beer fridge for Russell to pick up that night, and then a couple trips to the grocery store after doing a little cleanup, since the Russells came over for dinner. We were hoping to grill, but the weather didn't cooperate. Burgers were good, even if it left fat splatter all over the stove top, which I had to clean on Sunday. Sunday Tracy worked so I got my spamsilog, Rick dropped off some Mountain Hardware stuff I'd ordered, which are awesome, watched G.I. Joe: Resolute which was also awesome, and took an awesome nap. Did some more cleaning as well. Went for a walk with Tracy after work down to Diversey and back, ended up at Rocks Lakeview for dinner. Disappointing because they ran out of sweet potato fries. Maybe next time. The turkey corn dogs were good though. Just found out my new frame from Dynamic Bicycles shipped out today. Again, awesome. I'm getting the next size up, too, so now I don't have to get a longer seatpost. Should be fun disassembling and then putting all the components on the new bike. I should probably invest in some cleaning supplies.

So, decided to finally wipe my bike down after the wet riding from earlier in the week and last week, and lo and behold, the frame's broken. No idea when it happened. No idea how long it's been like that. But the shaft drive has been keeping it together. Impressive I'd say. The frame has a lifetime warranty, but Dynamic Bicycles no longer sells that model, so I'm not sure what's gonna happen. I'll find out tomorrow when I get in touch with them. If I can't get a replacement frame, I'll work on getting the old mtb up and running and use that for commuting, and then wait until the end of the season for the clearance sales for a new bike. And to think I had my bike legs back. Also dropped by Village Cycle Center on the way home to get some cross levers for Tracy's bike and a longer seatpost for my bike, but they were way too busy. I should have gone in last week when it was raining. They would have been nice and quiet then. Guess I'm on the el tomorrow.

The future is now. Finally set up whole house audio. Of course, it's an Apple setup. 5 zones, Master Bedroom, Master Bath, Second Bedroom, Front and Back Deck. I've got 4 Airport Expresses, one of them is the new 802.11n one, which is on the network, and they're all plugged into a Netgear hub. Output runs to a HTD MA-1235 Multi-Channel Amplifier which powers the speakers in those 5 zones. So basically, through iTunes you pick where you want to send audio, and it just works. Right now Tracy's listing to Michael Buble from her laptop to the master bedroom speakers while I sit in the second bedroom sending Counting Crows to the in ceiling speakers. And best of all, I can use an iPhone to control it all. And use Apple TVs to control the audio as well. Seriously, it's the future, and it's now. The only problem is getting enough 802.11b coverage to use the Remote.app on the iPhone. I don't think there's any more tech stuff I need to do at home now. As for a dad update, he's doing well. Got a bit of a cough, but that's about it. So that's good. Russell dropped by after going to the Cubs game to say hello.

More drizzle on the way in to work, and a little bit on the way home, but not really. But windy. Took it nice and slow, again. Thinking I might actually be wearing my sandals for biking in a couple days, with the 40 degree upswing in weather coming our way. Dropped by the old place to flush toilets and look for my old Netgear hub, which I didn't find. And picked up mail. Wish we didn't get so many catalogs there. As for the hub, I looked and looked and couldn't find it, and wondered if I had brought it home to Woodstock maybe. But I finally remembered that I did the desk declutter thing, and mounted stuff to the underside of the desk, and lo and behold, there it was, snug underneath the desk. With only the Mac mini plugged into it, and the Airport Extreme. Anyway, now that I know where it is, I'll be using it to network up the Airport Expresses for whole house home audio. Sweet.

Trying to get some things done that have been sitting on the todo list for a while. I tend to let mail just pile up, figuring anything important I do online, but that's not completely the case. There's still a few things that have to actually have checks written out, envelopes sealed, and stamped. Which means I had to go out and get stamps. Kind of annoying actually. Had a little drizzle on the way in to work, didn't see too many bikers out this morning. No rain on the way home, but it was windy, so took it nice and easy. Needed to grease up some gears by the time I got home, but my grease gun is all out. I need to track down the spare I should have at the old place. I still need to really wipe the bike down, it's getting pretty bad. Tracy made chicken teriyaki for dinner, watched Bones and My Boys and watched the Bulls - Celtics game. Exciting stuff.

Dad update: discharged and at home.

Managed to bring one of his bags back with us to the city when Tracy and I drove back in. Whoops. Good thing it wasn't anything important. Also brought back some food that my parents won't be eating anymore. Vacuumed, and finally cut out the back of the AV square and put the whole house receiver in. Not plugged in though yet. Watched what's probably the end of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: now that's a pretty good cliffhanger. And an episode of The Office.

Dad update: not quite home yet. Also I've been holding off on sharing a small complication from the surgery: he developed afib the day after. They've been trying to convert via drugs, and did a cardio conversion yesterday, and he converted for about 40 minutes before reverting. And last night he was getting in and out of sinus rhythym, so that's good. Hoping he get's discharged today. Just heard at 11:15 am that he's stable in sinus now.

Otherwise, not much going on. Watched some tv Friday night. Drove out Saturday, filled up on White Castle and Dunkin Donuts. Church with mom and Joy. Dinner at Krystal Thai. Slept in. Breakfast at brunch cafe.

No additional updates on dad. He's set to go home from the hospital on Saturday, that's all.

Legs are fine. Ended up going over to Mike's for dinner last night to meet up with Tracy's cousin. It's funny though, I pulled up just as they were coming back with pizza from Gino's East and while I was locking my bike up Tracy rolled up on hers. Impressive timing. But ended up not watching anything on the DVR. Headed out to Goose Island for dinner with the boys. Wondering if there will be any more empty wooden wine boxes to nab at Sam's. Also, my eating schedule is completely off from the long weekend at home. Also we were eating 3 full meals a day, and it's been a while since I've done that. And lunch always got pushed off to the afternoon, which I usually do, but dinner went even later. So I'm readjusting.

Another update: dad's been untubed, and went on a walk today. So that's good. That's all for now.

Tracy and I didn't need to eat dinner last night, and watched some TV to relax a bit. Watched House, Dollhouse, Samantha Who?, 30 Rock and My Boys. I thought we had missed an episode or two of Grey's Anatomy, but I don't think we did. Getting on the bike again this morning was nice. However, I had that thing again, where my quads hurt walking down the stairs. Odd. Last time I remember it happening was at the old place, again, going down to get the bike. I wonder if it's just residual soreness that spikes after a couple weeks of bike riding. And it's only going down and walking. Going up stairs it feels fine. Anyway, it'll go away in time, just like before. Possibly seeing one of Tracy's cousins and parents tonight.

I'm back in the city for a couple days, so any information about my dad will be relayed from Al or my mom. Latest news, he's still got the chest tube. And actually, he's still only 1st day post-op, considering how late he had the surgery on Monday.

Tracy and I will be headed back out on Saturday. Nicole flew in this morning, and leaves tomorrow, and Al will be leaving Friday, and dad seemed pretty stable, so I headed back in with Tracy. In other unimportant notes, we've been doubling up on restaurants more, hitting Brunch Cafe in Barrington two consecutive mornings. Also ate at Portillo's one night, so been eating a lot, relatively. And drinking a surprising amount of coffee, when I stop to think about it.

Dad's extubated and speaking. He's sitting up already, and will be going on his first walk soon. This all less than 24 hours out of surgery. So that's good. Next step I think is getting the chest tubes out. That'll probably happen sometime today.

Dad's out of surgery, which went well. He's still under and intubated, so we'll know more after he's awake and extubated tomorrow.

We're at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital waiting. He was originally scheduled as the second case around noon, but got bumped due to an emergency case. He'll go in for pre-op around 2:30. We'll know more later. He looks good, up and about.

Thanks to the four readers, Tall, Russell, Bryan and Katie, for all the good thoughts and well wishes. And to the family members reading as well.

As for the inconsequential stuff, took the Blue Line out on Saturday to meet up with Al. But forgot my ring, so Tracy had to bring it out last night. Felt naked without it. Ate at Three Brothers a couple of times. Brought dad in last night. Also managed, I think, to make the Time Capsule workable by downgrading to the 7.3.2 firmware.

Just found out my dad's going in for open heart surgery on Monday. He won't be going in to the hospital (Good Shepard Hospital in Barrington) until Sunday night. If I get permission and more details, I'll post.
So that means I'm headed home at some point this weekend. Al's coming home too at some point.
Just kind of shocking, still kind of trying to process the information. Definitely scary. And whenever something like this comes up, the mundane every day description of life seems so unimportant. But I'll continue on. Made mac & cheese helper last night, as directed by Tracy, and watched Bones and little more of Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Tried a new route to work this morning, all the way down Halsted, but that goes up a couple inclines, which I'd not rather do. But it's a bit of a more direct route. And that's it for now.

Before heading out to Starved Rock State Park last week, stopped by erehwon for hiking shoes and got turned on to Superfeet insoles by Russell. And now I'm addicted. The green ones worked great for hiking, so I dropped by on the way home last night to get some more. They didn't have any blues in my size stock, but got some orange ones with the toe spreader action. It's different, but it feels good. I've got the blues coming in, and I'm tempted to try the blacks as well. Yeah, I'm a little addicted. Took an early shower last night, since apparently I didn't smell all that good after the ride home. Hope I don't smell that bad at work. Finally watched the episode of House that everyone's been talking about, and episodes of Dollhouse and Scrubs with the chicken quesadillas Tracy made for dinner. Weather's definitely making a turn towards spring, which means more bikers out. Wondering when the bike rack at work will fill up more.

So Smith Optics is my forever supplier of sunglasses. I broke my Smith Toaster Sliders a couple weeks ago, sent them in because of the lifetime warranty, but full expected to have to pay to get them fixed, because it's not that the glasses failed, it's that I broke them. But what arrived in the mail yesterday? A brand new pair, replaced no charge. So, whenever I need new sunglasses, that's the brand I get. Ended up getting carryout from Cozy's Noodles & Rice for dinner last night, and watched Never Back Down on Comcast Video On Demand. Makes me wish I could do training for MMA. Also raised my saddle a bit on my bike, and it makes a world of difference. Of course I knew that already. I do have to get around to getting a taller seatpost, as soon as I figure out what size it is. And I checked out Xtracycle stuff online again. So tempting. Maybe I should just get around to getting the mtb up and running again first. Also need to get some cross break levers for Tracy's new bike.

So the forecast for this week was pretty bad, at least the first couple of days, and I had decided to take the El to work instead of biking, especially since it had snowed Sunday night. So out the door Monday morning, about a block from home, and it's not that bad out. So I walk back, redress, pack up and shoot out on my bike. Much nicer. Not to mention of all the stuff I've gotten for colder weather commuting, I should be biking in anything but a snowstorm. I think recycling pick-up schedule is not what I thought it was, as the bin was empty yesterday, instead of on Thursday which we though pickup was. Watched some Mr. & Mrs. Smith while folding laundry, and it's one of my favorite movies. I think it holds up really well, and is very very funny, with lots of little quips. Also watched last week's House, and wanted to watch this week's, especially since I've read about something shocking, but didn't know what it was, and tried to stay away from any spoilers in Google Reader, but stumbled upon it anyway. Ugh. It was kind of a sneak spoil, since I was just reading about political aspirations of an actor. Tracy made steak tacos for dinner, but I'm on my own for dinner tonight since she's working.

Starved Rock State Park on Thursday was nice, as was the Matthiessen State Park on Friday. It was nice to get away, if for a little bit. Stayed in a hotel, played a little bit in the pool. Actually did some real hiking, well, as much hiking as you can do when you can see highways or farm houses or a golf course. But still, it was nice. I think we're adding hiking to our list of activities. On the way back in on Friday stopped off at the Chicago Premium Outlets in Aurora. Saturday ventured out again to Oak Brook to check out the REI Garage Sale, which was a little pointless. I really wonder where my tent is. Stopped by the Argaos to pick up a bike rack for the car. Ended up having lunch at the Old Town Restaurant in Lemont. Nice old world eastern european. Good stuff. Met up with my parents and Ate Joy and finally took them to Crisp, which they enjoyed. Had some dessert back at their place from Ambrosia. Sunday did some house chores. Watched the last couple episodes of ER. Enjoyable. I have no idea if Jerry was around much, but I was wondering if he'd be one. Oh Kubiak. Also, Daytum is now open to the public, so if you're looking to track any sort of data in a nice relatively easy to use web site, it's pretty cool. The hard part is remember to record things, and what type of metrics to record.

Ugh, that time of year again. Can't stand April Fools. For a guy like me who is addicted to news and information, all the fake news stories and press releases is annoying. Monday night had some langonisa and tocino from Woodstock for dinner, watched a couple Smallville episodes, some How I Met Your Mother, and The Big Bang Theory. Tuesday I took off and played with Tracy who had her normal day off after working the weekend. We slept in, had brunch at Orange, then did some more shopping, seeing Russell at erehwon, getting some pots at Smith & Hawken, and some dry/sweet vermouth and Matilda (didn't have any Juliet) and an empty wooden wine box from Sam's, then up to do some grocery shopping at UNI-MART and finally checked out Gethsemane Garden Center, which I loved because they had bamboo for sale. Awesome. Watched Private Practice and What Happens in Vegas. It was a nice day, even if it did rain most of the day. Back to work today, and out for the rest of the week. Headed down south to check out Starved Rock State Park tomorrow and Friday. Then checking out the REI garage sale out in Oak Brook on Saturday morning. And watching the Cases on HGTV on Spice Up My Kitchen on Saturday night 11:30/10:30pm Central.

I can't wait until Chrome comes out for Mac OS X. I just had a whole entry typed up but hit the keyboard shortcut for Search Snapback instead of submit in Safari. If I had Chrome, I could have just hit back, and my entry would still be there. Ugh. Retyping. Busy weekend. Sai Cafe on Friday night with Akira in partial repayment for Amazon Associates linkage. Good catching up. Saturday did some cleaning before heading out to Woodstock the long way via Brown Line and Metra in order to get a seat. Got some Burger King with mom for lunch. Mass and dinner at Bistro Wasabi, which meant sushi two nights in a row, and actually the restaurant participated in Earth Hour. Did some tech support for Ate Joy before settling in for a long night of dealing with SyncServices under my dad's account on the Library iMac. Airport Express that was used for a b/g network for the Kitchen iMac had a failed power supply, so I'll try and hack that back to working order for myself, and in the meantime set up the Time Capsule for as a slower n/b/g network. The TC also does a lot of rebooting, it seems under heavy loads. Tried to get Time Machine backing up, and it's working on the kitchen iMac but not the library one. But at least they're back up to speed. Sunday had family breakfast before heading back in via Metra and Brown Line. Tracy made chicken marsala for dinner and I made pasta again. I think I'm getting better, except for the cooking part. Always seem to overcook it. Watched Dollhouse, The Office, and 30 Rock.

More economic stimulation last night. Stopped by erehwon on the way home, picked up some hiking shoes Keen Targahee II, some replacement sunglasses Smith Factors, and some socks and inserts and a water bottle. Yay. I also sent off my Smith Toaster Sliders back to the factory, hopefully to get repaired or replaced, but we'll wait and see. If so, Tracy will have a pair to use for biking. After spending money with Russell, ended up going out to dinner at Las Mananitas for dinner (no meat was defrosted). That was good and easy. And we're running out of space on the DVR. Volume IV of Heroes is just waiting to get started. And with Samantha Who? back and In the Motherhood starting, Thursday nights 7-8pm has 3 parallel blocks for recording, which means Bones, Smallville or the aforementioned shows have to get skipped. And I don't get to record a couple new shows, like Castle and Cupid 2.0 and Better Off Ted. Oh well. It's not like I need more TV to watch.

So Tracy's been using the Google Calendar part of Google Apps for scheduling and stuff. She's shared all her calendars with me, so I can see all of them. It's nice. However, I use an Apple centric infostore, MobileMe, iCal, iPhone. I have a lifetime subscription to SpanningSync back when MobileMe wasn't around. So I got around to trying it out again. And it's like magic. SpanningSync is syncing up my iCal calendars with my Google Calendars once an hour on my Mac mini. I added a couple things via Google Calendar this morning. I got around to checking my iPhone, and presto, there the appointments were. So it went from Google to Spanning Sync to iCal on Mac mini to MobileMe to iPhone. Convoluted, and probably prone to failure, but still pretty cool. Now to see if it goes back the other way. Had a meeting with Jason last night. Need to branch out to some tax advantaged investments. Leftovers for dinner, and watched Grey's Anatomy. Also, the battery on the MacBook lasts about 10 minutes now. And the 802.11n networking is having issues. 802.11b/g seems ok though. So a new laptop may be in the works for sooner rather than later.

So yesterday there was a forecast of bad weather. I contemplated not riding in to work. But, no rain, and didn't seem that windy, I figured if it's ok on the way in, it doesn't matter how bad it is on the way out, since I'm coming home, so I biked in anyway, despite the 90% precipitation and 40 mph gust forecast. Did I get either of that on the way to or from work? Nope. Actually, it ended up being one of my most pleasant commutes since I started again last week. Still waiting for a spring snowfall though. I added an exercise to my Urbanathlon routine, using an elastic cord exercise device as boxing resistance. That's a tough workout. Got in touch with my parents and made plans to see them this weekend while Tracy's working. Besides seeing them, I also have to do some tech support, especially reestablish remote desktop access so I can do support from home.

So, I had ordered up the whole house amplifier, since it's spring, and we'll need to be able to pump music up to the roof. But, no one was home to take the delivery yesterday. So I just shifted the address over to the old place, which has a receiving room. I guess I'll just send stuff that-a-way from now on. Just easier and safer to deal with. I do like how I was able to do that via the InfoNotice UPS number. Very slick. Of course, now I have to haul stuff from the old place back to the new place and up 4 flights of stairs. Did a couple more loads of laundry last night. Still got to fold it all though. Watched some season 4 of How I Met Your Mother, which I got a season pass for, then Bones, The Office, and 30 Rock with and after dinner. I'm trying to get the metainfo for Alias squared away before tackling Friends, but it's annoying because some of the episodes were out of order. And I'm on Season 4 when I noticed, so I have to go back to the first 3 seasons and double check. It's hard scrubbing through an episode to try and match up the description with the action.

We definitely did our part to help stimulate the economy this past weekend. Spent most of Saturday at REI in Oak Brook after going to Chicago Premium Outlets in Aurora. Picked up a couple things, nothing too interesting until we got to REI. Spent like 2-3 hours there, Tracy was looking for some hiking shoes, which I need to find as well, cause we're thinking of going to Starved Rock State Park soon for a couple days. Also hiking or at least trail walking might be something we'd be interested in. But on the way out, we saw a K2 T:Nine Whirlwind women's bike for more that 50% off, but it was dark, so she couldn't take it out for a spin, so we had to come back on Sunday, first thing in the morning. Did some test loops in the parking lot, and shifting if definitely something to get used to, after only having an internal hub to worry about. But good thing we showed up early, since someone else was there to get it, but we got the only one. Went for a bike ride when we got home, and she's a whole lot faster than I am, and makes me want to get a new bike, with gears and chains and stuff. Although, if I remember correctly, if I take all the commuter stuff, rack, fenders, off my bike it's much more nimble. Oh, and also got some plane tickets for Ella's baptism in June. Grilled for the first time last night. Sai was amazing on Friday night, and biking home is hard with a belly full of sushi and beer and a headwind. Otherwise, some laundry, dinner at Mon Ami Gabi on Saturday night, watched some TV.

So Comcast is back to working perfectly. No idea what happened, or if someone else on the block complained, or what. But it's back to working. So that's good. Ended up watching How I Met Your Mother on Apple TV instead, since Thursdays are busy nights for the DVR. The ride home was a little tough, windy and cold. But doable. The only thing I might need for cooler weather commutes is some sort of windstopper pant, or legwarmers. But since it's spring, I shouldn't need any of that stuff anyway. Tracy and I both made stuffed peppers for dinner. Watched House. I did get excited about HD movies available for purchase from the iTunes Store, except there's nothing I actually want to buy in HD yet. Hopefully soon. Specifically Speed Racer and Wanted. And the Pixar movies. I'm on my own for dinner tonight, since Tracy's headed out to her parents since they're back from the Philippines and so she doesn't have to deal with Friday traffic back into the city. I'm planning on dropping by Sai Cafe for dinner, whether to eat there or carry out I haven't decided. Otherwise, maybe some shopping this weekend, a long bike ride, and some cleaning. Nothing too exciting.

Having some issues with Comcast cable TV. Starting last night, since we didn't have any problems watching on Tuesday night, there were digital artifacts in the signal, blocking and audio breakups. So I rebooted the DVR, thinking that maybe it was because we have episodes of Heroes from last fall on there. But no, the problem didn't go away. I then checked on the TV in the bedroom, since that's plugged directly without a cable box, and the same problem there. At some point I go down and check the cable where it enters the building. Nothing loose, but part of the cable was tucked under the pipe leading to the electricity meters. So maybe that was causing the signal degradation. No change. Also, the DVR guide has been slow to repopulate. It was annoying enough that I started calculating how much it would cost to purchase all the shows we watch from iTunes Store, and it actually comes out to being cheaper than what we're paying for cable. Except that not all shows are available via iTunes, or actually, available online at all, specifically The New Adventures of Old Christine and The Big Bang Theory. It's pretty tempting. I'm waiting until tonight to see if the problem is still ongoing, and then probably scheduling a service call via Live Chat if it is. Tracy made Golabkis for dinner last night, we watched a couple old episodes of How I Met Your Mother, and The Big Bang Theory off the DVR, and I watched Castle, which I'm liking.

And it's back to feeling like March again. Went out for dinner last night to Halsted's Bar and Grill. Nice because I didn't have to do dishes then. Before that watched Good Eats episode about frying. Maybe I should try that some weekend Tracy's working. All in all a quiet night. I did have a beer on the deck when I got home, since it was warm enough. It was nice. Tried to figure out where I need to put extra Airport Expresses to get good coverage on the roof deck. Also think it might be time to order up the whole house amplifier so we can get music up top. And I think I'm getting my bike legs back. Going a little bit faster now.

Crazy. It's warm in the office. All I had that was green was a sweater. Not a good choice. Also not necessarily looking forward to the ride home, because I'm sure it's gonna be windy. The 30 degree drop tomorrow should be nice too. I got to make dinner last night, lemon chicken. That was nice. Watched Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Flight of the Concords. Oh, paid a little attention to the Apple event today, the iPhone OS 3.0 Software (March 17, 2009). The accessories integration is going to be impressive. Otherwise, not sure how the other things will affect my usage. Not looking forward to MMS at all. Copy & Paste, I don't miss it now. Well, maybe occasionally. I am looking forward to Notes syncing. Which means I might actually start using Notes again. If it could sync with MobileMe that would be awesome, but I don't think that's happening. Maybe push notifications. I wonder if I can talk work into trying it out. You know, instead of emails. System monitoring. Hmmm. But that's all I'm looking forward to when it gets released this summer, in September. But it should be reason enough to upgrade, since a few of the features won't work on the original 2G iPhone. So when new hardware gets released in June, Tracy and I can get a matching set.

I think Tracy brought it up that St. Patrick's Day isn't really until tomorrow, but everyone celebrates it over the weekend. Because people really can't get that drunk on a weekday. Also noticed on Saturday that bars in Boystown were fairly quiet, while the ones in Lincoln Park were busy. Noticed this after I got my bike back in running order so I could pick up race packets at Running Away Multisport on Saturday. So, I'm back to biking. It's good, if slow, to be back out there. Nice and relaxing. Friday night cooked up some rainbow trout Tracy brought back from the grocery store. Saturday had a haircut, then worked on the bike. Snuck in a viewing of Eurotrip. Tracy made corned beef and cabbage for dinner. Sunday did the St. Paddy's Day 5K Run/Walk & Leprechaun Leap. First time for use to use the timing chips, so we'll actually see how fast or slow we went. Went out for some odds and ends on Sunday afternoon: got a thrift store bookshelf for a garden bed on the roof, checked out an open house at the old place, then went down to Fleet Feet to look around. Got a pastry at Twisted Sister Bakery. Had corned beef hash for dinner, and watched some TV. And I biked in to work this morning. So I'm back to biking, which means not as much reading.

So my switch back to the Brown Line for the trip home? Last night I get up to the Brown side of Washington/Wells just in time to see a fairly empty Purple Line roll up and away. Awesome. Played a little Wii Sports, no exercise, again. Watched Bones with dinner (Tracy made steak and haricot vert and a salad). Not necessarily the best show to watch while eating steak. Got in an episode of Grey's Anatomy and The Office before bed. I started transcoding Friends, finally. Takes roughly 40 minutes an episode, and around 240 episodes, which means it should be done next Thursday around 3pm. That's awesome. Got the St. Paddy's Day 5K Run/Walk & Leprechaun Leap to run on Sunday morning, have to pick up the race packets tomorrow at Running Away. Most likely means I'll get my bike back up and running as that's the easiest way for me to get over there. And it's a pretty good excuse. Tracy's planning on corned beef and cabbage for Saturday night so we can have corned beef hash for brunch after the race on Sunday. That'll be sweet.

So I tried using Safari 4 on Windows at work, but it just didn't cut it. Back got Chrome. And it's so much better. Maybe after Safari comes out of beta, it'll be better. Didn't do any sort of exercising last night. Tracy made enchiladas for dinner, watched House, Castle and The New Adventures of Old Christine. I was still a little sore from the first run of the year on Monday night, so I extended my recovery period. I should be good to go for some Urbanathlon exercises tonight. I also think I'm going back to taking the Brown Line home, as waiting for a Purple Line at Washington/Wells can just get annoying. Last night watched 4 Browns go by, skipped the first Purple because it was packed, then got a seat on the next purple that went by. Annoying.

Wow, didn't even realized I didn't update yesterday. Weird. Tuesday Tracy had a flat tire in the morning, which she realized about 2 blocks away, so she came back, and I changed it out for her. I think I've changed a spare tire one other time in my life? But it was pretty easy and straightforward. She got it replaced after work, so that's good. Probably due to all the giant potholes around Chicago right now. She brought me back a burger from Steak n' Shake, which was surprisingly fabulous. I don't remember their burgers being that good. Had the leftover ribs as well. Played some Wii Sports, lost my pro status in bowling again. I still can't do a fast serve in tennis. Just don't have the timing. Watched and caught up with Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles finally, and The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother. Now we've just got 6 or so episodes of Heroes to plow through. Finished Soon I Will Be Invincible, which immediately vaults to the top of my favorite book list. I really liked it. I'm hoping it'll hold up to repeat readings, like my other favorites. Next up: Snow Crash.

Let's see, Friday night stayed in, as usual. Played some Wii Sports, watched Sydney White and some Dollhouse. Saturday trekked out to Muvico Rosemont 18 with Tracy and Russell to watch the Watchmen. I really do like that theater, but we need to bring a footstool for Tracy. Dropped by Old Orchard, then home to make some noodles for a stir fry. Sunday was a lazy day in, the whole weekend was with all the rain, but with no leaking anywhere, so that's good. But watched Dodgeball, The Family Man, took a trip down to Fleet Feet and ended up at Fireplace Inn for dinner. Oh, picked up my Keen Bandon Boot WP from erehwon in the morning as well, and made waffles for brunch. And Monday, went for my first run since I think last November, since I'm running a 5K this coming Sunday. Figured I should get my first run in before then, but I probably could have pulled it off without a problem. Actually felt kind of good to get out and running again. Just need to try and keep it up. Watched Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Doing some web development for work, been a while since I've done that, but having a virtual machine to test old web browsers for compatibility is pretty convenient. Makes it super easy.

Completely lost track of time yesterday. Figures. Wednesday night made some pasta dough for some ravioli for Tracy's mushroom and pork filling. Turned out better, no egg this time. I think I need to start the dough wet and then dry it out with flour, instead of the other way around. Also, I'm still not sure of proportions yet. I finished The Twenty-One Balloons on the way home that day. Quick read, but still intriguing. Watched House after playing some more Wii Sports. Yesterday tried out Starbucks VIA instant coffee since I had a free sample from earlier in the week. It's not bad. Did some Urbanathlon exercises before having a gyro special for dinner. Tracy had to work last night, so I was on my own for dinner. Got to go see Watchmen (movie) tomorrow and probably some shopping as well. And the weather's awfully nice. Wonder when the next snowfall will happen though. Should have a couple more left before summer shows up.

Played Wii Sports last night, and if possible, I'm getting worse. I lost my pro rating in bowling, and almost lost in tennis to an opponent I had 400 skill points on. Also did some home exercising. Good times. Watched The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother, after Tracy watched NPH on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and a little bit of Alec Baldwin on Saturday Night Live while I prepared our taxes. That took a while. But finally got that squared away and mailed off this morning. Also found out that Paul Rudd and Jason Segel attended a screening of I Love You, Man at the Brew & View at The Vic last night. Heard it was a good time. And it's in my neighborhood. Maybe next time. Oh, got tickets to Watchmen (movie) for Saturday at 12:40pm at the Muvico Rosemont 18. Yay for reserved seating.

I've changed my commute a little. Still walking to Belmont in the mornings, and walking home from Belmont in the evenings, but now I've taken to standing at the south end of the platform in the mornings, and taking the first, Purple Line or Brown Line that shows up. Before I'd be on the north end and wait for a Brown Line. If it's Purple, I end up getting off at Merchandise Mart and walking, otherwise, just at Washington/Wells. On the way home, I'm waiting for the northbound Purple at Washington/Wells. So that means I ride the Purple a lot more than before. And the thing I've noticed? More people talking on cell phones on the Purple. Like at least 1 every trip. Last night Tracy made her Italian eggplant dish, which was good. I had a Negroni with dinner. Also before dinner played some Wii Sports. Did a little Skypeing with Gabe, Sania and Ella. It's no iChat, but it works. I stopped by the old place to pick up mail as well, and picked some groceries up. I'm planning on making sandwiches for lunch this week, and seeing how that holds up.

Friday night had some scallops for dinner, and some asparagus soup, all by Tracy. Ended up watching most of Superbad, since it was on. Saturday, Tracy worked, and I watched some TV (most of Ratatouille and Redbelt). I also vacuumed a bunch, and finally took some photos of our place for my brother to see. After Tracy got home, we jetted up to E-Town to see the Gavin, and the Russells, and Marla. Tony showed up as well. Gavin's a cute little guy. And I continue to be slightly awkward with babies. Got dinner at Buffalo Joe's, which was a little disappointing. Not quite as good as I remember it. Sunday, Tracy wasn't working, but it was snowing, so I ended up staying in until mass at 4:30. I did manage to make grits and bacon successfully. And a couple loads of laundry, and watched a bunch of stuff, August Rush, the rest of Daredevil, Flight of the Concords, the start of Face/Off, and most of Knocked Up with dinner of pork and homemade pasta, which was chewy. Definitely have a lot of trial and error to do to get the pasta in a good spot.

Weekend. Here. Yay. Got the pumpkin off the upstairs deck. Only 4 months late? It was actually frozen in place the last time I tried, so with all the warmup and the rain I figured it was a good time to get it off. So that worked. It's in a bag, along with the garbage that's been sitting up there since October, but I think that was mostly ashes from the grill. Tracy's working this weekend, so I've got some chores to do at home. Still chugging away on DVD transcodes, up to Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Hoping we'll actually get up to E-Town tomorrow to see little Gavin and the Russells. Otherwise, can't think of anything, or anywhere to go for the weekend. Should be nice and quiet.

Played Wii Sports last night. Almost a pro in tennis and bowling. Still not all that consistent in bowling. Kind of annoying. As much as I prize consistency, I can't perform physical motions consistently. Definitely annoying. Oh, and went to mass for Ash Wednesday. Showed up 30 minutes early, service took an hour and a half, so I didn't get home until 8ish. Kind of surprised at how busy it was. Ended up eating cucumber sandwiches and some cream of mushroom soup for dinner. Watched Mythbusters: MacGyver edition. Got to put the closet back together. Today got to wear my waterproof socks on the way home, since I still don't have my waterproof boots yet. Worked like a charm. Closet is definitely fixed, no leaks there, but only one window seems to have a leak. So that's good, and just a little bad. Did some Urbanathlon training, watched Dan in Real Life, Tracy made skirt steak, asparagus and guacamole for dinner. Also going to scrape the pumpkin off the roof deck.

Looks like our closet is all fixed. So that's good. Lent arrived. So it's all about finding non meat stuffs to eat on Fridays. Last night worked out after a couple week hiatus. Of course I'm sore today. Watched Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice. Also made some phone calls to family members. Also cleared out that closet for the workers today. Also tried out Safari 4 Beta. I'm a fan. The only thing I still don't like? Using the keyboard command 'v' in Google Reader opens the link in a new window, at least on Windows, and you can do a single window trick on OS X so the link opens in a new tab, except the tab comes to the front. There's options on Google Chrome and Firefox that make it a lot more usable. I like to go through Google Reader opening interesting items up in the background, and after finishing, go through the opened links. Oh well. But it's good enough I think. So I'm using it.

Happy birthday to my brother and a happy anniversary to my parents! If you can't figure it out, February's always been a pretty busy month. But at least now most of the family holidays are out of the way, except for my mom's birthday in June. Picked up a couple more bottles from Kafka on the way home. I think I'm done until we need more. Picked up the Wii again, first time in a couple weeks again. Not good. Leftovers for dinner, watched Bones. Also noticed a little dripping from the ceiling in the closet by the kitchen. Jerry's gonna come in tomorrow to take a look. He thinks it's probably from where they added the gas line to the roof. Hopefully that's all it is.

Metra'd it out to Orland Park Friday night, got picked up by Tracy, picked up one of her parent's cars, convoyed up to Lisle to drop her car off for service, then headed over to Red Lobster for dinner. Got home, watched Babe. Saturday Tracy went to the gym, I had breakfast, started watching Daredevil Director's Cut, then after she got back, we went out to pick up her car, return her parents, and then went shopping at Orland Square. Finally got a pair of brown shoes, Keen Austins. Also got another birthday present, the KitchenAid Pasta Roller Attachment Set. So I got to make fresh past for dinner. Which was a little plain, and a little too thin. But it's really easy to do. Wonder how many times we'll have to have pasta in order to recoup the cost of the rollers. Also, next time have to add a little flavor, since I don't have access to farm fresh eggs or super awesome Italian flour. Watched Eagle Eye after dinner. I liked it. Sunday after mass lounged about, watched Fool's Gold, then headed out for a boys night dinner at The Publican. Awesome. Need to go back and bring the wife. Didn't make it out to Woodstock Saturday night because of weather travel advisories.

Just found out there's an easy way to add comments using Facebook's Connect technology. Intriguing. Of course, what would be the point if no one comments. Which is entirely possible, considering an average readership of 14 per day. Well, take myself out of that, maybe both home and at work, and that goes down to 12. Which I think is still a little surprising. I'll just throw it on the list of items. Another web site I'm trying to use is Daytum (my displays). A little annoyed at the limit of 6 data sets, and tempted to just roll my own, but it still takes an effort to remember. At least I can use Twitter via SMS to update it. See how long that sticks around. Speaking of Twitter, just found out that @hotdougs is on there. Of course, reading the specials just makes me sad that I don't go there nearly as often as I wish. Tried making Shepherd's Pie for dinner last night, failed blandly. Not enough seasoning, not enough cooking, removed too much fat from the pan. Disappointing. Ended up watching Top Secret! since it was on, and amusing to see Val Kilmer's first feature film. Headed out to the 'burbs tonight so Tracy can drop off her car, then we can catch dinner out there. We'll come back in and head back out tomorrow to pick it up hopefully, and also make a run out to Woodstock to see my parents. Mom heads off to the Philippines next Thursday for a while. Also got a boys dinner on Sunday at The Publican, looking forward to that.

Still February. Cold this morning on the walk to the Belmont El stop. Should have gone with the leg warmers, but didn't remember. Caught the Purple Line down, got off at Merchandise Mart because I wanted breakfast from Specialty's. More walking. In the cold. But worth it. Last night had the meeting with Jason and after then watched The New Adventures of Old Christine.

Today's my dad's birthday, so a Happy Birthday to him. Yesterday, on my birthday, I got langonisa and tomatoes and eggs over rice for dinner, watched part II of the Grey's Practice/Private Anatomy giant crossover. Seriously, it's getting to be a little difficult figuring out which tv show I'm actually watching, with 4 characters jumping from one show to the other. Wow. Slightly entertaining, and odd trying to figure out how that group of doctors know each other, I think there was a college reference, but if that's true I'm surprised they all ended up as doctors if they didn't go to the same medical school or do residencies near each other. Maybe it's just a New York thing. Eh. Went out for lunch at Poag Mahone's for a belated birthday work outing. Good burger. And it's snowing again. And it's still February.

Stopped by Gap on the way home from work last night. I was having second thoughts about the v-neck sweater sale they were having, and wanted to check them out. And since they didn't have any orange ones left, I decided to pass. I did manage to pick up another 2 bottles of wine at Kafka, since it was a Monday. Maybe 1 or 2 more weeks and we'll be good for a long while. Threw in a load of laundry, Tracy made chicken marsala, watched Dollhouse and House, got a birthday call from Jenkins. Tried to do a little more work on rewriting musings. Still have to gather information for our meeting with Jason tomorrow. Turned off my wall posting on my Facebook account for the day, as I didn't want it getting cluttered. I'll turn it back on tomorrow.

Completely missed an update on Friday. Oh well. Thursday night watched some Scrubs, Tracy made chicken adobo for dinner. Friday nothing too interesting. Finished Debt of Honor and started Heat (book). Watched 30 Rock and a couple episodes of Smallville. Saturday got a haircut, tried to get tickets online to the Elton John/Billy Joel concert at Wrigley this summer and failed horribly. Went shopping, stopped by a Dick's Sporting Goods so Tracy could get some swimming gear, then up to Old Orchard. Got some socks, a jacket on sale, and a French press. Then dinner, and I got to make dessert, a chocolate souffle with Earl Grey custard sauce. Souffles were overcooked, but the sauce was pretty good. Tracy made a rack of lamb for dinner, braised leeks, roasted grape tomatoes and mashed beans. Sunday she worked, so I was on my own. Cleaned the kitchen, folded some clothes, did some work for work. Fairly uneventful. French presses are awesome. I did manage to break one of our bowls when it slipped and I hit the counter with it.

So not so much with the headache today. I think it was sinus congestion related. However, I did have an achy neck today. Interesting. Pretty low key last night. Ended up watching Definitely, Maybe, had some leftovers for dinner. Upgraded to a new version of eReader for the iPhone. Has themes now, and I use the Aluminum one, makes it look like a paperback. And now Debt of Honor is getting to the good parts. The economic activities from the book are very apropos for today's financial situation. It's rather interesting. Ride in to work was ok. Had to wait for the 3rd train, since the 1st was taken out of service at Belmont due to defective equipment, the 2nd had all the passengers from the 1st, and the 3rd had empty seats. Love the El.

Struggling right now with a monster headache. Wondering if it's caffeine related, since I skipped having coffee today. Hope I'm not that addicted to it. Last night there were some Loop switching problems on the El, so it took me a while to get home. Of course, announcements weren't all that helpful. First announcement maybe 5 minutes after I get onto the packed platform at Washington/Wells: There was a switching problem that's been fixed but all trains are running normal. Packed Purple Line goes by. Trains take a long time leaving the station, and stand waiting to get into the station. And then at least 2 Purple Lines go by on the outer track. And still no announcement. Maybe 30-40 minutes later, a Purple Line comes by and they start making announcements about Purples on the outside track, and that there's a backlog of trains that they're working on fixing because of the previous switching problems. Nice. Anyway, Tracy made a grilled chicken and asparagus salad for dinner, and we sat and watched the first part of the Grey's Practice and Private Anatomy crossover two parter. Oh, and stuck a load of laundry in. So I've got socks again.

Got official versions of Tom Clancy Debt of Honor, Executive Orders, and Rainbow Six. I was reading an OCR'd version, which was annoying in spots. The official legal version? So much better, and so worth rebuying it as an ebook. I think I'll have to rebuy some of my physical books that I had rebought as Sony Reader DRM ebooks. Of course, if the new Whispersync part of the new Kindle means a Kindle reader for the iPhone because available, I might have to rebuy again as Kindle books. DRM is just awesome. Almost forgot yesterday was wine Monday, until I walked by Kafka on the way home. Picked up another red and white, and just have 2 more reds before we're pretty well stocked. Of course, I can't remember the last time we actually drank some wine at home, but it's good to have some handy, just in case. Watched Bones and Scrubsx2. The ukulele player (Kate Micucci) was absolutely adorable. I'll probably end up getting her EP off iTunes Store at some point. Need to do some laundry tonight, since I'm out of socks. I could just buy some, and I need to, since I have to throw out every other pair because of the holes that form.

Another weekend in Vegas down. Good food, good family, good times. I think I did an ok job updating Brightkite. I do not like how there were multiples of some locations, so on the way back I checked in at 3 different McCarren Airports. Thought there was a women's college ultimate team on the flight out with us on Thursday, but not sure. One had a backpack with a frisbee, another had cleats on her backpack. I think there was the Notre Dame ultimate team at the airport throwing around in camo, while we waited for our bag. Line for taxis wasn't so bad. Checked in, nice suite at The Venetian, chatted with the parents for a little, then searched out some food. A bunch of places were closing the kitchens for the night around 10, but we snuck in to The Grill at Valentino under the deadline. Not much going on afterwards, got some gelato at Espressamente Illy, where Tracy got some peanuts in her hazelnut, and we had to track down some Benadryll for her. Friday, slept in, met up with Al and Nicole after they arrived and had lunch at Enoteca San Marco. Played a little family craps at The Palazzo, the Tracy and I went shopping at Fashion Show Mall, since I needed an outfit for dinner at Morels French Steakhouse & Bistro. Finally saw why they call it Fashion Show Mall. After dinner, played some slots with the family at The Palazzo, before heading out to watch the fountains and have a drink at Bellagio. Tracy was tempted to smoke a cigar, but we never got around to it. Maybe next time. Saturday wandered around Wynn Las Vegas for a bit before brunch at Bouchon, then mass, then going down the strip. Family gambled, Tracy and I walked around. At Bellagio, got drinks at Fix, then dinner at the buffet. Over to Paris Las Vegas, then back to The Venetian, attempting to find other places to have some cocktails. David Burke, not so good. Didn't want to venture outside anymore because it was warmer and drier in Chicago on Saturday than it was in Las Vegas. Sunday, Tracy got a massage, checked out, and lunch at Canaletto with Al and Nicole, since my parents had already left. Arrived at the airport 3 hours early, and with no long lines to check bags or in security, had 3 hours before flight. UIC softball team was flying back on the same Southwest flight. Got some White Castle on the way home from Midway for dinner. So busy. And now back to the grind.

First off, congrats to the Russells on the birth of their son, Gavin! Nice job! Next to that news, I've really got nothing. Went over to the old home after work yesterday, just to check on things. Leftovers for dinner. Watched House and The Big Bang Theory before packing. Ended up using the bigger suitcase, since we don't have multiple smaller ones. So I was "that guy" on the El with the bright blue suitcase. Headed out on Southwest 347 this afternoon to Vegas. Staying at The Venetian with the family. Again, not sure if I'll get around to posting while I'm gone. No laptop, just the iPhone. I will try and check in at Brightkite. And post photos to Flickr.

Had a nice quiet night last night. Needed it. Was a little out of it. Did some chores that have been building for a couple days, dishes and folding laundry. Tracy made salisbury turkey steaks and mashed beans and green beans for dinner. Watched Private Practice and How I Met Your Mother. Thought about packing. Because we're headed to Las Vegas tomorrow night for a long weekend with my family. Hard to believe, but I think the last time I was there was for my bachelor party in 2007, and the last time I was there with just family was in 2006. So the Abandos in Vegas is long overdue. So gotta pack for that tonight. Just about time too, as the weather in Chicago got a lot colder after the weekend.

Went out for our first date anniversary last night at Angelina Ristorante. Bottles of wine where half off, which was nice. Dinner was good, and brought leftovers for lunch today. Of course, wasn't in any condition to gather more financial documentation, so we pushed up the meeting with Jason for a couple weeks. Kind of slacked with cleaning the last couple of days. So I've got to work on that. Oh, and Comcast doesn't carry The Travel Channel so I couldn't record the episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations Chicago that aired last night. I'll just have to buy it off iTunes Store. I did read a little about it and seeing some photos of the restaurant makes me want to go to L2O.

Groundhog day. Again. Weekend was mostly full. Friday night went and picked up some Crisp carryout for dinner, even though I went there for lunch on Saturday with Karl. Caught up on Heroes. Saturday morning had breakfast with my parents and friends at their condo, and sat and talked for a bit, before heading down for lunch. Ended up at Red Hen Bread for coffee and met up with Bender and Sara. And then over to erehwon to pick up Tracy's boots and some gloves and say hello to Russell. And then I came home. So for a Saturday when Tracy's working and I'm usually couch bound, I spent the whole day out and about. Leftovers for dinner and watched Smart People. Sunday was a usual weekend day, spamsilog for breakfast, watched Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Went to mass, went shopping, looking for shoes, didn't find any, got some t-shirts on sale at The Gap. Got home, leftovers for lunch, watched Death Race, which I really liked. Vacuumed. Watched the Super Bowl with the white bean chicken chili Tracy had made the night before and finished up with The Office that had me, at times, rolling on the floor laughing. And yes, I typed the entire phrase out. Best/most memorable commercial for me: the one where the insects steal the Coke bottle.

So, saw that a few Tom Clancy books are going digital on February 3rd and 10th. That's awesome. The only problem is that there are multiple eBook vendors with different DRM that will, or probably will have it available. I know Fictionwise in multiple formats and Amazon for the Kindle, and I assume The eBook Store from Sony will also have it for the Sony Reader. But I'll probably go with eReader from Fictionwise, since I now use my iPhone to read. Wish either the Sony Reader or some other eInk reader would do eReader DRM. Annoying, stupid, DRM. Superbowl weekend coming up. Tracy's working, so nothing really planned. Lunch with Karl tomorrow at Crisp. Looking forward to that. Otherwise, movies on the Apple TV to watch. Last night did an Ab Workout. Watched House. Tracy made pork chops for dinner. Had a Gibson, been a while, and first time cracking open the cocktail onions.

Tracy's coming down with something, cold, flu, bronchitis, lupus, sarcadoisis, some other disease that's shown up on House. Basically just coughing and phlegmy. I assume whatever it is I'll catch it soon enough. Did my Urbanathlon training exercises again last night. Not upping any weights, but increasing reps. Did that while watching The Cable Guy, which I caught probably the last half of. It's interesting, with lots of funny people in it. Dinner was comfort food, noodle soup and frozen pizza. Watched Private Practice and Scrubs. I tried working on the Phantom Display on Macbook issue, which I can't seem to fix. Still plowing through DVD transcodes, up to Blade this morning. Also started rewriting the css for Daily Dose development. Hopefully I can find some layout tricks to make it easy to do this time around.

Well, on my off days I've decided to do some sort of Ab Workout. That's a moving spec though, things might get added, or switched around, as I find that some things work, and some things don't, and other exercises I like or don't like. But it's something. Also worked on a little side project from Tony, Randy Capp. You can check it out here until Tony gets real place to put it. Nice to actually bring one of his ideas to fruition. He's got a bunch. I did figure out how to serve up iPhone specific css, at least on the dev site, and realized I can debug that using the iPhone Simulator part of the SDK. Had some frozen chicken tetrazzini for dinner. Ended up watching Office Space because it was on. And a pretty early night since Tracy had to get up early to go to Lafayette to check out some new hospital and do some administrative stuff.

We don't have any wine at home, in either of our 2 beverage fridges, so I think until we have a supply, I'll pick up a couple bottles at Kafka on the way home from work, on Wine Mondays. Don't really drink all that much, but it'll be nice to have a stash around. Just in case we get the craving, or want to cook something that might call for it. Anyway, played some Wii Sports tennis last night, vs. the CPU, in order to increase my skill level. Had some nice rallies going on. Even lost a game. Then did some Urbanathlon training. Decided I should try and do something on the off days, and looked up some medicine ball ab workouts, which then reminded me of the Spartan Workout and floor wipers, so I'll try and do some of those too, the wipers, not the whole workout. Watched Starship Troopers while exercising, then Grey's Anatomy with dinner (french onion soup) and then an episode of United States of Tara, which is rather interesting. It's good, intriguing.

So, went back to the old home on Saturday afternoon to do a little work on the stuff we still have over there. We started reminiscing about the stuff we missed, like the master bedroom closet, the heat in the winter, the receiving room, elevator, and instant hot water. Do not miss the lack of humidity though. That's pretty nasty. But we've put a little dent in it, and planned out our next steps. So coming along, slowly. Friday night Tracy whipped up crab legs for dinner, I did some Urbanathlon training using a medicine ball picked up on the way home. Watched Bones, 30 Rock and The Office. Saturday made crepes for breakfast, watched Hancock while Tracy was at the gym, went over to the old home, and Tracy made roast chicken and we watched WALL·E after dinner. Sunday Tracy wanted waffles for breakfast, and bacon, I did some MediaWiki work while she was at the gym, ended up sticking around at home for the day, but ended up at Las Mananitas for dinner after mass and a trip to Whole Foods. Was going to get some scallops, but they didn't look all that good, so we'll wait until they do.

So apparently Thursday nights the gym classes that Tracy takes run late, which means I get to cook dinner. Now that I know, I won't wait for her to come home to tell me. Last night I made beef & broccoli. A stir fry is super easy. Of course, I had to do the dishes too. Also, too much to record on the DVR last night, especially since Bones decided to have 2 episodes, so the second episode got skipped in favor of Grey's Anatomy and The Office. I'll just download the missing Bones episode from iTunes Store, but still, pretty annoying. Since the DVR was busy, we watched While You Were Sleeping instead. Also did some work from home, since I don't have Visio at work, but have OmniGraffle at home, trying to document image transfer processes. Confusing. Also, trying to figure out how to get on the wireless network at work with either my MacBook or iPhone. It's WEP, and pretty annoying. Maybe I should bring in the PSP and see if it can get on the network. As for the weekend, gonna try and figure out what to do with the old home.

So I've been trying to eat healthier in the new year, somewhat. No more breakfast pastries, croissants, and the like for breakfast. Instant oatmeal. And snacking when I get hungry, instead of a giant lunch and a giant dinner. So a granola bar mid morning, or a breakfast bar, or fruit. And water. But you know, it's getting tiring. I miss the sweet stuff. And I treat myself once a week, on Fridays, to something sweet. No idea if it's working, but I think it is, feeling a little better and stuff. We shall see if I can keep it up. Oh, and it's also a whole lot cheaper. I do miss coffee in the mornings though. Also started taking the Purple Line home instead of the Brown Line all the way around the loop. Definitely different. Also changed my walk to Belmont and back, just straight Belmont and Halsted from here on out. Played some Wii Sports, mostly training in tennis, baseball, bowling and golf, did some more Urbanathlon training. Had the ribs Tracy cooked yesterday for dinner, and we watched House and The New Adventures of Old Christine. Also installed the SDK for Google App Engine, to give it a whirl.

Tried searching for a Chicago Tribune on the way home yesterday, and none were available. Eventually got a Tuesday afternoon Inauguration special edition, and picked one up this morning, not sure why, but Tracy asks for it. Leftover soup for dinner last night. Watched Private Practice, The Big Bang Theory, and How I Met Your Mother. Finished up vacuuming. Tracy also slowed cooked some ribs last night that we'll have for dinner tonight. And someone stole her mat when she was at the gym in a class. Didn't watch any additional coverage of the inauguration yesterday. Weather's warming up a bit, to the point where even though it's below freezing, it's still pretty warm out. Funny how it's all relative. I'm kind of thinking I need to update my wardrobe. Definitely wearing the same things week in and week out.

Ok, I'll admit it, I listened to the Barack Obama 2009 Inaugaral Speech live at work. Was ok. I think he set the tone well for what's to come. My Facebook Friends' status updates have been pretty probama all day so far. Expected I guess. I am impressed with the White House Website. Except that I think it runs ASP.Net. That we will be able to read executive orders and proclamations and non-emergency legislation online, that's impressive. In my sphere of influence, nothing much. Started up the Urbanathlon exercies again after a couple weeks hiatus. Tracy made soup for dinner. Watched Scrubs and The New Adventures of Old Christine. Got to bed at a decent hour.

So spent some time this weekend setting up the MacBook for web development again. Tried doing a MediaWiki upgrade, and of course things fail. Stuff like username not found, which I thought was a database upgrade issue. I got stuck on that for a while, until I figured out it was capitalizing the username on login, which I don't like, but something I would have known right away if I just read the Memex entry for MediaWiki. Whoops. But should have that upgraded soon, if I can figure out the CSS issues with the Daily Dose skin, and maybe get an iPhone CSS set up as well. That'd be nice. Friday night had some pasta, watched some TV. Saturday Tracy worked, so I made a Jewel run early for breakfast, and the shelves were stocked, and there were more staff than customers. Got a haircut, then waited 3 hours for an RCN tech to go to my parents condo so they can have cable again. Sometime between 11-2pm, and they showed up at 2pm. Awesome. More leftover pasta for dinner and ended up watching Juno. So cute. Sunday, Tracy didn't have to work, and so we went shopping, dropping by erehwon and Smith & Hawken. Tracy made lamb chops for dinner, watched Grey's Anatomy, did a little vaccuming. Fairly productive, and I can't sleep in at all anymore. I can take naps, just can't sleep in.

Yay, above zero temperatures! Yippee! Made it home no problems yesterday. The facemask makes a huge difference. Huge difference. Helped make dinner last night, since Tracy was tired from her second gym visit of the day. And she's an official member of a gym again, and actually my old gym, which I finally last month stopped being a member of. Sweet. Watched Private Practice, How I Met Your Mother, and The Big Bang Theory. Started playing with ec2 and s3 again. Might be time to revisit hosting my own services. And time to start some long gestating web services. Tracy starts working out, I start working on the computer more. Awesome. Got a haircut tomorrow, and getting cable boxes for my parents condo. Exciting. Sunday might drop by erewhon to pick up some boots and maybe a new pair of sunglasses. Or, might just stay indoors and watch TV Shows and Movies. And finally kick off the giant Friends transcoding.

It's cold outside. Yup. Wore the facemask today. Totally worth it. Not so much with the windchill on the way in to work this morning, just plain cold. However, my sunglasses broke, more like a screw came loose, but then I lost the temple that was no longer attached. Awesome. So I need new sunglasses. I mean, it's been over 2 years since I got the old ones. Huh, I thought it was longer. Oh, took the Purple Line and the 97 Skokie bus up to the Russells yesterday to redo their wireless network. Hopefully it holds up this time. Got a milkshake from Steak n' Shake on the way down in Sasha. Watched a couple more episodes of What I Like About You and booked our flights to Las Vegas. Staying at The Venetian, hopefully, with the entire family. Haven't been there in a while. Flipped on The 40 Year Old Virgin before bed last night. Funny stuff there.

Definitely still winter. I'll have to take some photos of the deck at some point with all the snow up there. That and make a fort. Or an igloo. On the roof. Planning a Vegas trip with my parents for February. They've got a conference, Tracy and I just want to go. Right now there's some deals on the Wynn that are pretty good, and it sounds like an absolutely fabulous hotel. I could add it to my list of Vegas hotels I've stayed in. Headed up to the Russells again tonight to try and fix their wireless network again. I don't think Airport Base Stations and Expresses like being part of WDS. Kind of annoying. Hopefully, things will go smoothly. Hopefully. Just watched more What I Like About You after dinner. Finished transcoding Airplane and moving on to the Aliens quadrilogy.

Ok, so took a vitamin before bed last night and dreamed of a vast underground theme park uncovered by brother spelunkers, but not really, because their friend, who disappeared down a chasm early in their explorations, had friends who went looking for him, and that's how they found this amazing cave, with a giant water slide. Seriously good dream. I'm definitely sticking with vitamins before bed, unless someone lets me know that it's not a good idea. Had some langonisa last night for dinner. I went grocery shopping on my way home, and managed a couple impulse buys: grocery store sushi and a small Black Forest cake. Awesome. Watched some more What I Like About You. Otherwise, made a little more headway on the Automated DVD transcoding, and started transcoding Adventures in Babysitting. Also had a craving for ramen.

So vitamins don't seem to cause me to remember my dreams the next morning, at least in my limited tests. No controls. But I should take my vitamins anyway. Haven't had a remember dream in a while. Nothing exciting over the weekend. Lots of couch time. Did some laundry. Watched some TV. Transcoded some DVDs. Still haven't started the giant Friends trancoding of 2009, as I'm rewriting my shell script to automate the process. But in my alphabetical transcoding I'm on The Abyss. I did step outside briefly to shovel the alley behind our building, at least a little bit, so that it's not so hard to get out of our driveway. Still sore from that. Went to mass at 4:30pm on Sunday, and they have a nice choir at that service, more contemporary. Younger crowd, too. Then headed up to the Russells to hang out, and setup their wireless network, and get dinner. Felt very grown up. Also good to see Marla. Oh, and lots of snow over the weekend, and even more tonight. It was pretty fun romping through the drifts on the roof deck.

So the whole dream thing? I started thinking about what's changed in the new year, or what I've done differently before bed lately, and I wonder if it's related to taking vitamins before bed. I took one again last night, and I think I had a dream, just not as vivid or memorable as the previous nights. I won't take it tonight, and find out if I can remember my dreams tomorrow, although I should make Tracy find a placebo, and make a blind experiment. That might be tough. Did a couple errands after work yesterday, picked up breakfast and snack food for work. Gonna try the smaller meals spread throughout the day, instead of just 2 big ones. Had some pesto pasta with chicken for dinner, and there's been a What I Like About You marathon on The N which Tracy has been recording, so watched a bit of that. Going full bore on the DVD transcoding, season 9 of Friends, and overnights and daytime in the meantime doing DVD transcodes on the Macbook as well as the Mac mini. Just started going alphabetically. Should be done by June. As for the weekend, headed up to the Russells and E-Town on Sunday, but that's about it.

Seems to be getting colder out. After the holidays, winter weather just doesn't seem as exciting. I didn't mind the snow or the cold as much before Christmas, but now, in the doldrums of winter, it's just annoying. I know, wrong use of the word doldrums. Whatever. In-laws were in town yesterday to see Wicked, so they came up afterwards and we had dinner at Joy's. After Tracy and I got home, watched The New Adventures of Old Christine, and I actually showered before her, since she didn't have to get up in the morning (day off) and I'm still feeling like I might be coming down with something so I'm playing prevent defense. Since the new year I've been remembering my dreams when waking up. That's kind of cool. Thinking I need to start a dream journal. Still plodding along on the Friends ripping, now Season 8. I wonder how long the transcoding of those 40 discs will take.

Did one load of laundry last night. Keep forgetting that I can't wash wool sweaters in the washer. Whoops. Again. Walking home from Belmont down Roscoe, past the first place we put a bid on, 907 W. Roscoe. Didn't have any lights on in Unit 4, and they still had one unit for sale in the building. Also went online and checked out another place we looked at, 3504 N. Fremont, and that actually ended up selling maybe a month after we bought, for a little bit more. Always interesting to see what could have been. But moving on. Good to see Scrubs back on the air last night. Good stuff. Also, watched an episode of my new favorite HGTV show: My Big Amazing Renovation. Tracy made those naan pizzas for dinner. I'm up to Season 7 on the Friends ripping, and started transcoding single movies on the Mac mini again. Really tempted to start watching Leverage, and will probably eventually get it via iTunes Store at some point.

Tried to keep abreast of the Macworld San Francisco 2009 Keynote. Nothing too new going on. iLife '09 and iWork '09. 17" Macbook Pro. iTunes Store music DRM free and tiered pricing at $.69, $.99, and $1.29. All in all kind of boring. Nothing shocking. And no more Macworld Keynotes by Apple. Just special events. I've decided to walk to and from the Belmont El stop instead of just going to the Addison Red Line stop and transferring at Belmont. I think the brief walk is good for me, a little fresh air, possibly some sunshine. Did some Wii Sports training last night. Been a while since I got on the Wii Fit too, but just weighed myself and found my Age. Not so good. But it's a new year with resolutions. Tracy used the leftover brisket to make a beef stew which turned out like minestrone. Watched Eli Stone with dinner. Still ripping Friends, up to Season 4. Only 6 more to go. The DVD drive on the Macbook seems to be going though.

Friday night, Tracy whipped together a lime marinated flank steak and some guacamole for dinner. I put away some liquor bottles from the party. I'm sure we watched some TV as well. But a relatively early bedtime. Saturday had some breakfast, Tracy went with hashbrowns, I went with leftover steak and eggs, and eventually the rest of her hashbrowns. Then we actually left the house, walked down to Threadless and CVS before heading out to Minooka for Lisa's baby shower. On the way out we dropped off the old RCN DVR box at their payment center. Really easy. Got back late. Sunday, while Tracy worked, I watched Live Free or Die Hard with breakfast and lunch of English muffins and spamsilog. Did some chores. Leftovers for dinner while watching Vantage Point and threw in a load of laundry. Started ripping Friends and got While You Were Sleeping onto the Apple TVs.

One more year to the future. Had some people over for New Year's Eve. I always get confused as to whether New Year's gets an apostrophe or not. But it makes sense to be possessive, since the Eve belongs to the New Year. Anyway, I digress. Got to leave work early on Wednesday, ran a couple errands to pick up stuff for the party. Made cookies, started warming stuff up, and partied a bit. Some Wii action going on, some Comcast Hollow orchestra, err, karaoke, and some talking. Made it I think a couple hours after the stroke of midnight before nodding off. Lisa and Ryan and Bonnie and Ray and Missy slept over. Waffles to break in the New Year. More Wii action. Barely got Missy to the Irving Park Metra station on time for her train. Visited April and Scott before a late dinner at Nookies Tree. And back to work today. Lisa's baby shower tomorrow out in Minooka, and Tracy works on Sunday.