An Update of August 20th-22st
As was the theme of my week, I had another afternoon wasted on Friday. I went back to wait for the batch freezer inspector. Fortunately for everyone in my company, I was there when the POS system was being put into place. The POS installer was unable to fully install all the equipment because the electricity was off (yeah... I know). So it's going to mean that I get to play around with setting that all up, as no one else is actually going to take the initiative to do it. At any rate, the batch freezer guy ended up being sent on another job and, long story short, I wasted my 9 AM-3:30 PM Friday doing absolutely nothing. Son of a bitch.
But I really didn't have much time to worry about my wasted time this week. Friday evening was the forth of my performances and my family was coming. I was actually so tired from my various days of waking up early and anxiously awaiting stupid people, that I told my family I'd rather take a nap before the show than see them. I think that makes me a bastard... but I'm not totally sure. But it was good for me to rest up for the show because not only was my family there, but Andrea came with her brother, and my friend Adam Traum came, AND Amy from my improv class came. It was the biggest audience just for me that I had at my show. The show itself went fairly well... I heard my dad laughing a couple times and, historically, that has always caused me to break character on stage. Oh well... I wouldn't trade hearing my dad laugh for anything in the world.
Saturday (the 21st) afternoon my family and I went to the Cheesecake factory. Again, I had some really delicious food, but was disappointed by my cheesecake selection. We then proceeded to Nordstroms. Karen needed some new work clothes, so the fam sat around for a while while she picked stuff out. Actually, my dad and I had a lot of fun commenting on the outfits and bouncing witty repartee back and forth. We're both witty, we are. Heehee... at any rate, after a while, we decided to go upstairs and look in the men's department. After a while of having a woman tell us what would look nice, and asking if I liked this or that, she said "I think I know what you want". I followed her to a different section and was shown this beautiful black pin-stripe suit. I tried on the jacket... and it melted on. It fit me perfectly, right off the rack. And the material was so comfortable... I checked the price tag. Keep in mind, it was an Italian suit, and those Italians know their suits. The suit cost $1300. Um... yeah... I'm not even kidding. I think the weirdest part is that, if I had a real good reason to need a suit (which I don't yet) my parents would probably help me buy it. I'm certainly keeping it in mind... as it's a totally badass suit.
Speaking of badass, we then went to the Irish Imports store. I got a Guiness sweatshirt and an Ireland rugby shirt. They're both really sweet looking. And I got a Celtic symbol neck-chain thing which they'll give me for my birthday. I used to wear a cross around my neck, years ago... and I really miss having something around my neck. So there I go.
For dinner, we all went to Chipotle in Elmhurst. It was my sister's first time there, but I had taken my parents a few weeks ago, so they knew what was up. It was good, and it was followed up by a trip to the Coldstone in Elmhurst. I was, I'll just say it, disappointed. I was helped by someone who was obviously new. I didn't even finish eating what I ordered.
That night, my family and I watched The Ladykillers. And, while I thought that Tom Hanks' performance was incredible and his character was unique and interesting and humorous... the movie still sucked pretty hardcore. The ending was predictable. *sigh* Could've been a much better movie. I would like to take Tom Hanks' character and put him in something actually funny.
Sunday morning (the 22nd) my family ate breakfast at Einsteins. It was good... and it got to the point when we all didn't want to say good-bye. At that point we decided to go shopping... for groceries. Hooray for Jewel! We went shopping for a little while, only long enough to delay having to say good-bye again... and that was that. Good-bye was quick, but not painless. It meant so much for them to see my show... especially after having not gone to the first two shows because they were "too tired". I missed them.
Sunday, August 29, 2004
Wednesday, August 25, 2004
Long overdue update (because I can't sleep)
Last Tuesday night (the 17th) I had my Second City Improv level E class. We played a new and improved form of freeze tag, wherein the actors got suggestions from the audience as to what was being held in people's hands AND who the people were to each other. This was a very comforting technique, as it meant that we didn't have to worry about what we were going to do when we froze people... we just jumped right in and where told what was going on. It was also a brilliant teaching technique because we went from the audience telling us what to do and gradually moved towards doing it by ourselves again. It was so helpful... and I don't feel as angry (and hate it as much) when we play freeze tag anymore.
We also played "Jeopardy", which is a game I've never played before. The improv version is basically an exercise in characterization. It doesn't matter what the category is, our character is going to answer based on who they are rather than what is "correct". I got so into my character (Guy Richardson) during the game on Tuesday night, that I actually let fly with a racial slur (for Puerto Ricans) before I could even stop myself from doing it. Whoops! All in the name of realism, I guess?
As much fun as Tuesday night was, it was nothing in comparison to my Wednesday morning (the 18th). I basically wasting my entire Wednesday morning/afternoon at the "new" store on W. North Ave. I waited for the Electrical Inspector, the Batch Freezer inspector, AND the Health inspector. I was told in a meeting the day before (Tuesday) that I needed to be at the store at 9 AM, and I had to bring all this miscellaneous stuff. So I showed up at the store at almost nine, and proceeded to enter the store, whereupon I was met by the electrician who thought I was someone else. He asked me if I was there to open something (in broken English), and I responded that I wasn't the person he was waiting for (for whom he was waiting?). So he did his thing and waited for his person, and I sat and waited anxiously for the series of inspectors who were scheduled to come. An hour and fifty minutes later, the electrical inspector (named John) came to the store. He basically dealt exclusively with the electrician who was there, and some other dude who showed up. They both didn't speak English very well (I'm thinking their native language was Polish... but I'm not sure)... and it was interesting to listen to the inspector talk weird numbers and construction jargon with two men who really didn't speak English. Fascinating to be sure. After a quick conversation and walk-thru with the electricians, the inspector told me that he was going to pass the building, but that there was a LOT of work to be done. 1 down, 2 to go.
A very short time later, Bruce the batch freezer inspector/calibrator arrived. Remember that "LOT of work" I was just talking about? One of the things that needed to be done was a transition from a 'normal' power, to the three phase power needed to run the batch freezer. In short, the batch freezer dude couldn't do shit. He showed up, found out about the three phase power problem, and told me to reschedule when 'I' had fixed the problem. Sweet... thanks dude, I can't wait to do this again sometime. 2 down, 1 to go.
Oh but what a one to be left: the Health Inspector. I got more and more anxious and nervous as time wore on. I've heard stories about the health inspector being a humorless person, who would like nothing more than to shut your food establishment down to make you as miserable as they secretly are. But the Health inspector kept not showing and not showing... and I still hadn't eaten breakfast (or anything) and I got very irritable... and it got to be about 2:30 PM and JD, the contractor, came to the new store. He looked around and told me to go ahead and leave because he was going to cancel the health inspection. Why is that? Because we wouldn't have passed it if they had come Wednesday... that's why. Neat, huh? Um... no... no it's not.
Thursday afternoon (the 19th) I went to the North Ave store to wait for the ADs and JD. The Area Developers were going to be there at noon to do the final walk-thru of the store and approve it for open. This was made difficult by the fact that the health inspector had been called off the day before because we wouldn't have passed. There was pretty much no way in hell we were going to pass the ADs inspection. The ADs showed up and, from what they were saying, it sounded as if there was no way we would be able to open on the 28th. I quickly called Adam, because he's in charge of putting together the Grand Opening. I told him to halt anything he could as far as the GO... and we'd go from there. I then let Andrea know that we might have to reschedule the Grand Opening (again). After a couple minutes she called me back saying her father was going to the store to hear why we might have to delay the GO again. I basically had to beg the ADs to stay to talk to Mr. Johnson... but they did. And, when he showed up, they totally changed their tune. Oh... it is still do-able by the 28th... no, don't worry about it Mr. Johnson, we'll get it all taken care of. Bitches... The Grand Opening is still up in the air, but I know Andrea called Adam about delaying the GO, and he had already done everything he could because I called him first.
I felt so good about how Adam and I handled the Grand Opening situation, that Thursday evening Adam and I went to Dave and Busters. We were asked to take a "10 minute survey" for SBC and, in exchange, we'd get a $15 gift card to Dave and Busters. Adam and I both filled out the stupid survey, and they'll probably contact me (at least) about the different focus groups they're putting together. They want to know if their products will sell, before they put lots of money into marketing... so it's some kind of marketing focus group that meets 6 times a year (or something). It doesn't matter... they'd be willing to pay me $50 for an hour of work, which is almost as good as what I get whorin', but less messy. At any rate, we used the gift cards to buy dinner and waited for Chip, Adam's roommate, to meet us. We then proceeded to "nerd it out" as Adam would say. We love us some shooting games... including an AWESOME game called "L.A. Machine Guns". We called it la machine guns, because that's cleverly spanish. Whatever... the cool part about this game is that you can't run out of ammo... so just just keep shooting everything. AND the whole platform you're standing on vibrates when you shoot... so it felt all funny, and it made me feel all funny... like when a red-head stares at me from across a room. That had nothing to do with anything. And, speaking of, we went and saw Alien Versus Predator. That movie was a total disappointment. Like Chip said, "It's based on something already established... the movie practically writes itself!" Without going in to why it was so bad, I'm just going to say that most of the beginning of the movie is spent "getting to know" all sorts of different characters that you know are just going to die like stupid bitches later in the movie. The movie should've started about 45 minutes into what it actually was... and the movie should have focused on the Predators slaughtering the stupid bastard Aliens. Period.
Last Tuesday night (the 17th) I had my Second City Improv level E class. We played a new and improved form of freeze tag, wherein the actors got suggestions from the audience as to what was being held in people's hands AND who the people were to each other. This was a very comforting technique, as it meant that we didn't have to worry about what we were going to do when we froze people... we just jumped right in and where told what was going on. It was also a brilliant teaching technique because we went from the audience telling us what to do and gradually moved towards doing it by ourselves again. It was so helpful... and I don't feel as angry (and hate it as much) when we play freeze tag anymore.
We also played "Jeopardy", which is a game I've never played before. The improv version is basically an exercise in characterization. It doesn't matter what the category is, our character is going to answer based on who they are rather than what is "correct". I got so into my character (Guy Richardson) during the game on Tuesday night, that I actually let fly with a racial slur (for Puerto Ricans) before I could even stop myself from doing it. Whoops! All in the name of realism, I guess?
As much fun as Tuesday night was, it was nothing in comparison to my Wednesday morning (the 18th). I basically wasting my entire Wednesday morning/afternoon at the "new" store on W. North Ave. I waited for the Electrical Inspector, the Batch Freezer inspector, AND the Health inspector. I was told in a meeting the day before (Tuesday) that I needed to be at the store at 9 AM, and I had to bring all this miscellaneous stuff. So I showed up at the store at almost nine, and proceeded to enter the store, whereupon I was met by the electrician who thought I was someone else. He asked me if I was there to open something (in broken English), and I responded that I wasn't the person he was waiting for (for whom he was waiting?). So he did his thing and waited for his person, and I sat and waited anxiously for the series of inspectors who were scheduled to come. An hour and fifty minutes later, the electrical inspector (named John) came to the store. He basically dealt exclusively with the electrician who was there, and some other dude who showed up. They both didn't speak English very well (I'm thinking their native language was Polish... but I'm not sure)... and it was interesting to listen to the inspector talk weird numbers and construction jargon with two men who really didn't speak English. Fascinating to be sure. After a quick conversation and walk-thru with the electricians, the inspector told me that he was going to pass the building, but that there was a LOT of work to be done. 1 down, 2 to go.
A very short time later, Bruce the batch freezer inspector/calibrator arrived. Remember that "LOT of work" I was just talking about? One of the things that needed to be done was a transition from a 'normal' power, to the three phase power needed to run the batch freezer. In short, the batch freezer dude couldn't do shit. He showed up, found out about the three phase power problem, and told me to reschedule when 'I' had fixed the problem. Sweet... thanks dude, I can't wait to do this again sometime. 2 down, 1 to go.
Oh but what a one to be left: the Health Inspector. I got more and more anxious and nervous as time wore on. I've heard stories about the health inspector being a humorless person, who would like nothing more than to shut your food establishment down to make you as miserable as they secretly are. But the Health inspector kept not showing and not showing... and I still hadn't eaten breakfast (or anything) and I got very irritable... and it got to be about 2:30 PM and JD, the contractor, came to the new store. He looked around and told me to go ahead and leave because he was going to cancel the health inspection. Why is that? Because we wouldn't have passed it if they had come Wednesday... that's why. Neat, huh? Um... no... no it's not.
Thursday afternoon (the 19th) I went to the North Ave store to wait for the ADs and JD. The Area Developers were going to be there at noon to do the final walk-thru of the store and approve it for open. This was made difficult by the fact that the health inspector had been called off the day before because we wouldn't have passed. There was pretty much no way in hell we were going to pass the ADs inspection. The ADs showed up and, from what they were saying, it sounded as if there was no way we would be able to open on the 28th. I quickly called Adam, because he's in charge of putting together the Grand Opening. I told him to halt anything he could as far as the GO... and we'd go from there. I then let Andrea know that we might have to reschedule the Grand Opening (again). After a couple minutes she called me back saying her father was going to the store to hear why we might have to delay the GO again. I basically had to beg the ADs to stay to talk to Mr. Johnson... but they did. And, when he showed up, they totally changed their tune. Oh... it is still do-able by the 28th... no, don't worry about it Mr. Johnson, we'll get it all taken care of. Bitches... The Grand Opening is still up in the air, but I know Andrea called Adam about delaying the GO, and he had already done everything he could because I called him first.
I felt so good about how Adam and I handled the Grand Opening situation, that Thursday evening Adam and I went to Dave and Busters. We were asked to take a "10 minute survey" for SBC and, in exchange, we'd get a $15 gift card to Dave and Busters. Adam and I both filled out the stupid survey, and they'll probably contact me (at least) about the different focus groups they're putting together. They want to know if their products will sell, before they put lots of money into marketing... so it's some kind of marketing focus group that meets 6 times a year (or something). It doesn't matter... they'd be willing to pay me $50 for an hour of work, which is almost as good as what I get whorin', but less messy. At any rate, we used the gift cards to buy dinner and waited for Chip, Adam's roommate, to meet us. We then proceeded to "nerd it out" as Adam would say. We love us some shooting games... including an AWESOME game called "L.A. Machine Guns". We called it la machine guns, because that's cleverly spanish. Whatever... the cool part about this game is that you can't run out of ammo... so just just keep shooting everything. AND the whole platform you're standing on vibrates when you shoot... so it felt all funny, and it made me feel all funny... like when a red-head stares at me from across a room. That had nothing to do with anything. And, speaking of, we went and saw Alien Versus Predator. That movie was a total disappointment. Like Chip said, "It's based on something already established... the movie practically writes itself!" Without going in to why it was so bad, I'm just going to say that most of the beginning of the movie is spent "getting to know" all sorts of different characters that you know are just going to die like stupid bitches later in the movie. The movie should've started about 45 minutes into what it actually was... and the movie should have focused on the Predators slaughtering the stupid bastard Aliens. Period.
Monday, August 23, 2004
This is me rambling while I was waiting... aren't you glad I don't do this more often?
I'm currently sitting at the new store on North Ave... waiting. My job this past week has consisted primarily of waiting. Wednesday morning/afternoon I waited... Thursday afternoon was a meeting with the ADs... Friday morning/afternoon I waited for the same stupid guy I'm waiting for right now. I am very upset at the Icee company because it was their fault I had to wait all day Friday... and they told me at 9:10 AM that the tech would be here within half an hour. It's now quarter after 11, two hours later... and still no Bruce (the tech). I know that he knows where this place is, he was here last Wednesday... so that can't be why he's late. *Shakes head* It's so stupid that the number I'm calling for info on the tech is a California number. They have no idea where the technician is, or who he is, or who I am... for that matter.
I'm very upset at my job right now. Andrea could have gotten anyone to sit and take care of this batch freezer thing, but she chose me. She then proceeded to give me tasks like buying fucking soap dispensers. I honestly feel like she relies on me, but doesn't respect me or what I do. Giving me bitch tasks like sitting around waiting for inspectors or running out and buying a fucking soap dispenser. Fuck that. I'm the multi-unit manager, even if that's not the title that she specifically gave me. That's what I do... I'm in charge of these two Coldstones (soon to be three)... and their managers.
I guess what's really pissing me off is that I've got a hat on and haven't showered or shaved or eaten... and the guy is two and a half (now) hours late, no one can tell me when he's going to get here... and I don't even know if he's going to be here (like Friday)... so I'm just left waiting.
Today marks the first day of Albion's school year. It's the first day of the senior year for Nick, Bohne, Snoop Groggy Gogg, and many many others who I got to know what seems like lifetimes ago. I often wonder what Mr. Michael Bohne's up to. It's been a long time since we talked, and I wonder if he still wants me in his wedding. I also wonder how I'm going to pull that off next summer. It seems like I would need a weekend to do tux rental/shopping, maybe a weekend for the bachelor party and various other events of debauchery, and the entire wedding weekend for wedding events. I suppose Bohne would let me stay at his place, and now that Nick's got his own apartment, I could most probably stay up there in Albion... but who knows if he'll still be living there next summer. Maybe, when I visit Albion sometime this year, I could stay with Nick. We'll see. I'd be most worried about where I'd park overnight... as I seem to be having trouble with overnight parking lately.
Why would I go to Albion? I might come for a Euphonic's concert... but that would be about it. It would take like Bohne as a lead in a play, or Nick directing a workshop play, or Nick's one-man show thing, or something else big to get me to Albion. Maybe I'll go for Homecoming, for the hell of it. See if anyone's willing to kiss my ass. That's basically the only reason I'd ever to back... to get my ass kissed by people who should've done it years ago.
I think saying that I currently hate my job is a gross understatement. I would rather go without my phone, cable, and my car than keep working at this bullshit job. I honestly think about quitting every fifteen minutes or so whenever I'm sitting and waiting for someone. Right now, in fact, I'm thinking about quitting. What I worry about most is that it won't matter if I were to go ahead and quit... Andrea would just get someone else to sit around and wait places. I guess I wish I could say that I feel a sense of loyalty to Andrea, because I used to... but then she couldn't commit to employing me for any period of time longer than a month. All I wanted was some kind of commitment so that I would know if it was okay for me to move further away from the store. I guess one of the things that ticked me off was that I wasn't even able to speak to her during that time (a few weeks in early August). I kept saying that I wanted to talk, and she kept ignoring me or blowing me off or simply saying that we'd talk later.
But let us speak instead of positive things. POST Health Inspector/Batch Freezer guy, I'm back to enjoying life. I could REALLY use some food, and a shower... but things never look so bad when you're sitting in the back of a UHaul that you didn't pay for.
I can tell you one thing, my phone bill is going to be huge. It seems as though I'm spending all day on it recently, including all the calls I made last Friday.
Nate (the AD, not the super-cool dude whose blog you can check out by following the post above) was right: these white polos look nice, but it's too easy to get shit all over them. I've only worn this shirt four times (gross! Do laundry, bitch!) but it's already got loot all over it.
I'm currently sitting at the new store on North Ave... waiting. My job this past week has consisted primarily of waiting. Wednesday morning/afternoon I waited... Thursday afternoon was a meeting with the ADs... Friday morning/afternoon I waited for the same stupid guy I'm waiting for right now. I am very upset at the Icee company because it was their fault I had to wait all day Friday... and they told me at 9:10 AM that the tech would be here within half an hour. It's now quarter after 11, two hours later... and still no Bruce (the tech). I know that he knows where this place is, he was here last Wednesday... so that can't be why he's late. *Shakes head* It's so stupid that the number I'm calling for info on the tech is a California number. They have no idea where the technician is, or who he is, or who I am... for that matter.
I'm very upset at my job right now. Andrea could have gotten anyone to sit and take care of this batch freezer thing, but she chose me. She then proceeded to give me tasks like buying fucking soap dispensers. I honestly feel like she relies on me, but doesn't respect me or what I do. Giving me bitch tasks like sitting around waiting for inspectors or running out and buying a fucking soap dispenser. Fuck that. I'm the multi-unit manager, even if that's not the title that she specifically gave me. That's what I do... I'm in charge of these two Coldstones (soon to be three)... and their managers.
I guess what's really pissing me off is that I've got a hat on and haven't showered or shaved or eaten... and the guy is two and a half (now) hours late, no one can tell me when he's going to get here... and I don't even know if he's going to be here (like Friday)... so I'm just left waiting.
Today marks the first day of Albion's school year. It's the first day of the senior year for Nick, Bohne, Snoop Groggy Gogg, and many many others who I got to know what seems like lifetimes ago. I often wonder what Mr. Michael Bohne's up to. It's been a long time since we talked, and I wonder if he still wants me in his wedding. I also wonder how I'm going to pull that off next summer. It seems like I would need a weekend to do tux rental/shopping, maybe a weekend for the bachelor party and various other events of debauchery, and the entire wedding weekend for wedding events. I suppose Bohne would let me stay at his place, and now that Nick's got his own apartment, I could most probably stay up there in Albion... but who knows if he'll still be living there next summer. Maybe, when I visit Albion sometime this year, I could stay with Nick. We'll see. I'd be most worried about where I'd park overnight... as I seem to be having trouble with overnight parking lately.
Why would I go to Albion? I might come for a Euphonic's concert... but that would be about it. It would take like Bohne as a lead in a play, or Nick directing a workshop play, or Nick's one-man show thing, or something else big to get me to Albion. Maybe I'll go for Homecoming, for the hell of it. See if anyone's willing to kiss my ass. That's basically the only reason I'd ever to back... to get my ass kissed by people who should've done it years ago.
I think saying that I currently hate my job is a gross understatement. I would rather go without my phone, cable, and my car than keep working at this bullshit job. I honestly think about quitting every fifteen minutes or so whenever I'm sitting and waiting for someone. Right now, in fact, I'm thinking about quitting. What I worry about most is that it won't matter if I were to go ahead and quit... Andrea would just get someone else to sit around and wait places. I guess I wish I could say that I feel a sense of loyalty to Andrea, because I used to... but then she couldn't commit to employing me for any period of time longer than a month. All I wanted was some kind of commitment so that I would know if it was okay for me to move further away from the store. I guess one of the things that ticked me off was that I wasn't even able to speak to her during that time (a few weeks in early August). I kept saying that I wanted to talk, and she kept ignoring me or blowing me off or simply saying that we'd talk later.
But let us speak instead of positive things. POST Health Inspector/Batch Freezer guy, I'm back to enjoying life. I could REALLY use some food, and a shower... but things never look so bad when you're sitting in the back of a UHaul that you didn't pay for.
I can tell you one thing, my phone bill is going to be huge. It seems as though I'm spending all day on it recently, including all the calls I made last Friday.
Nate (the AD, not the super-cool dude whose blog you can check out by following the post above) was right: these white polos look nice, but it's too easy to get shit all over them. I've only worn this shirt four times (gross! Do laundry, bitch!) but it's already got loot all over it.
Tuesday, August 17, 2004
'New' format
Okay... so... basically, in response to Mr. John Sellers, I can't do anything about the STUPID Blogger scroll bar thingy. I've been looking through the html and the templates and everything, and I can't do a damn thing about that stupid scroll bar (besides change its color... ooo, the options!). I don't even think the scroll bar would be so bad, if it didn't completely block out the title of my blog. What a STUPID addition blogger made. Hey, Blogger... thanks for fucking up my page. I guess you get what you pay for, and I didn't pay anything for this website, so screw me. And, if you've got time, go ahead and screw me twice. And tell your friends.
Okay... so... basically, in response to Mr. John Sellers, I can't do anything about the STUPID Blogger scroll bar thingy. I've been looking through the html and the templates and everything, and I can't do a damn thing about that stupid scroll bar (besides change its color... ooo, the options!). I don't even think the scroll bar would be so bad, if it didn't completely block out the title of my blog. What a STUPID addition blogger made. Hey, Blogger... thanks for fucking up my page. I guess you get what you pay for, and I didn't pay anything for this website, so screw me. And, if you've got time, go ahead and screw me twice. And tell your friends.
Packers' first preseason game (Part 2)
3rd Quarter: Couch does not look good so far. They keep saying how new he is to the system and how his arm hurts... but he's not even making any passes that are in every system. The ball is short on a ten-yard out, or the ball is short on a ten-yard curl, or the ball is knocked down at the line of scrimmage. Or maybe he gets sacked. Sigh. With Couch at the helm, as Lee Corso says in NCAA 2005, "they were three and out so fast, we had to ask for slow-mo replay, just to recap it." Enough being negative. BJ Sander continues to get lots of practice punting because of how often we're having to punt. I guess that was still negative, huh? I will say that I'm impressed with the way my second defensive unit is tackling. We seem to be wrapping up and driving the offensive player backwards (except for Bhawoh Jue, of course). The second unit seems a lot 'hungrier' (I hate using that term, but it's the best one I can come up with right now) than the first unit. They're obviously fighting for jobs, but they're still not being overly aggressive... they're just tackling very well. But, what's not so very well is Doug Pederson, who came into the game at the end of the third quarter. I don't care how well he holds the ball on field goals, I think he's useless and I want him gone. On his first play, he got sacked for an almost safety. God, what a useless man. End of third quarter: Still 14-3 Seahawks.
4th Quarter: And just when I'm talking about how useless Pederson is... he leads us on the best drive we've had since Favre left the game. Cullen Jenkins, a second-year player from CMU, made the first sack from a defensive lineman I've seen in a long time. Speaking of a long time, Carl Ford, a guy we drafted last year out of Toledo, made his first couple catches of the preseason in the fourth quarter. He was in IR all last year, which is too bad, because I was excited to see him play last year. But, Pederson got sacked on a play that he should have thrown the ball away on. He's like a 80 year veteran, he should know better. Saw a pretty good tackle on a FB by Ahmad "Alex" Carroll. I continue to be impressed by the penetration that James Lee (NT from Oregon State) is getting. We seem to be getting stronger up the middle against the run, which is what we sucked at last year. However, if you want to run outside on our defense, it looks like you can. We went for it on fourth and two... and Pederson sucks. Pederson sucks. Oh... and the fun the ESPN people are having near the end of this "boring" game is that everyone's got a Cheesehead. Ha HA... right? Whatever. Suzy Kolber kind of looked hot in her cheesehead, I'm not going to lie. I'd smack her ass. Huh? I mean... let's talk football. Oh... the game's pretty much over, Seattle is kneeling. Poop on the Seahawks. Oh... did you hear? Seattle's going to the Super Bowl! Because they can beat the Eagles. Whatever. Fuckers... I hate Seattle.
End of game: 21-3 Seahawks.
And, you've heard what I want... I want Doug Pederson and Bhawoh Jue GONE.
3rd Quarter: Couch does not look good so far. They keep saying how new he is to the system and how his arm hurts... but he's not even making any passes that are in every system. The ball is short on a ten-yard out, or the ball is short on a ten-yard curl, or the ball is knocked down at the line of scrimmage. Or maybe he gets sacked. Sigh. With Couch at the helm, as Lee Corso says in NCAA 2005, "they were three and out so fast, we had to ask for slow-mo replay, just to recap it." Enough being negative. BJ Sander continues to get lots of practice punting because of how often we're having to punt. I guess that was still negative, huh? I will say that I'm impressed with the way my second defensive unit is tackling. We seem to be wrapping up and driving the offensive player backwards (except for Bhawoh Jue, of course). The second unit seems a lot 'hungrier' (I hate using that term, but it's the best one I can come up with right now) than the first unit. They're obviously fighting for jobs, but they're still not being overly aggressive... they're just tackling very well. But, what's not so very well is Doug Pederson, who came into the game at the end of the third quarter. I don't care how well he holds the ball on field goals, I think he's useless and I want him gone. On his first play, he got sacked for an almost safety. God, what a useless man. End of third quarter: Still 14-3 Seahawks.
4th Quarter: And just when I'm talking about how useless Pederson is... he leads us on the best drive we've had since Favre left the game. Cullen Jenkins, a second-year player from CMU, made the first sack from a defensive lineman I've seen in a long time. Speaking of a long time, Carl Ford, a guy we drafted last year out of Toledo, made his first couple catches of the preseason in the fourth quarter. He was in IR all last year, which is too bad, because I was excited to see him play last year. But, Pederson got sacked on a play that he should have thrown the ball away on. He's like a 80 year veteran, he should know better. Saw a pretty good tackle on a FB by Ahmad "Alex" Carroll. I continue to be impressed by the penetration that James Lee (NT from Oregon State) is getting. We seem to be getting stronger up the middle against the run, which is what we sucked at last year. However, if you want to run outside on our defense, it looks like you can. We went for it on fourth and two... and Pederson sucks. Pederson sucks. Oh... and the fun the ESPN people are having near the end of this "boring" game is that everyone's got a Cheesehead. Ha HA... right? Whatever. Suzy Kolber kind of looked hot in her cheesehead, I'm not going to lie. I'd smack her ass. Huh? I mean... let's talk football. Oh... the game's pretty much over, Seattle is kneeling. Poop on the Seahawks. Oh... did you hear? Seattle's going to the Super Bowl! Because they can beat the Eagles. Whatever. Fuckers... I hate Seattle.
End of game: 21-3 Seahawks.
And, you've heard what I want... I want Doug Pederson and Bhawoh Jue GONE.
Monday, August 16, 2004
Mah Packers' first preseason game! (Part 1)
1st Quarter: I continue to be impressed by my offense. With Favre, Green, and a bevy of receivers, we seem to fairly methodically march down the field. Ahman Green is incredible... he is simply amazing. He has the uncanny knack of being able to squeeze forward for an extra yard or two whenever he falls forward. In addition, I feel like our running back core is incredibly deep and talented. However, I continue to be disappointed with my defense. My cornerbacks (unless they have dreadlocks) suck... Barnett is the only linebacker worth anything (he's only in his second year)... and there is NO ONE on the defensive line who can do anything. As a unit, the defense is unable to stop opposing offenses from making long LONG drives. End of first quarter: 7-3 Seahawks. And, as most people who watch preseason football know, the first quarter is really the only gauge of your starters... the final score shows who has better back-ups.
2nd Quarter: Najeh Davenport cut his dreads! Noooo!!! BJ Sander, the punter we traded up to get... I don't think you heard me, the PUNTER we TRADED UP to get, made his first punt in the second quarter. It was a good punt... still not worth trading up. I also got my first taste of the Packers' first round pick, Ahmad "Alex" Carroll. He basically got screwed on a shitty pass interference call early in the second quarter. Speaking of first apperances, the second quarter let me see Tim Couch for the first time as a Packer. I liked Couch in Cleveland... I always thought he should have gotten the nod over Kelly Holcomb. I suppose they didn't like the interceptions (64 TDs to 67 INTs)... but my Quarterback is Favre, so interceptions aren't a big deal to me. However, I've seen wide receivers drop about three catchable balls from Couch... so Couch is looking pretty crappy, and I don't know if it's his fault (he held the ball too long on the fumble, but whatever). My punt returner, the Arena League star Antonio Chatman, has yet to impress me. As a Packer fan, my thoughts about the punt returner are to catch the ball and not fumble... anything beyond that is gravy. The last year that we DID have a punt returner worth anything, Desmond Howard, we won the Super Bowl... so maybe there's something to be said about getting a punt returner who actually doesn't suck. Speaking of players that suck, I want the Packers to cut Bhawoh Jue. He is terrible. Absolutly terrible. He can't cover and he can't tackle. I don't know why he's still on my team... but I really want him gone. I'm watching him missing tackles left and right... he's a terrible terrible player. End of second quarter: 14-3 Seahawks.
1st Quarter: I continue to be impressed by my offense. With Favre, Green, and a bevy of receivers, we seem to fairly methodically march down the field. Ahman Green is incredible... he is simply amazing. He has the uncanny knack of being able to squeeze forward for an extra yard or two whenever he falls forward. In addition, I feel like our running back core is incredibly deep and talented. However, I continue to be disappointed with my defense. My cornerbacks (unless they have dreadlocks) suck... Barnett is the only linebacker worth anything (he's only in his second year)... and there is NO ONE on the defensive line who can do anything. As a unit, the defense is unable to stop opposing offenses from making long LONG drives. End of first quarter: 7-3 Seahawks. And, as most people who watch preseason football know, the first quarter is really the only gauge of your starters... the final score shows who has better back-ups.
2nd Quarter: Najeh Davenport cut his dreads! Noooo!!! BJ Sander, the punter we traded up to get... I don't think you heard me, the PUNTER we TRADED UP to get, made his first punt in the second quarter. It was a good punt... still not worth trading up. I also got my first taste of the Packers' first round pick, Ahmad "Alex" Carroll. He basically got screwed on a shitty pass interference call early in the second quarter. Speaking of first apperances, the second quarter let me see Tim Couch for the first time as a Packer. I liked Couch in Cleveland... I always thought he should have gotten the nod over Kelly Holcomb. I suppose they didn't like the interceptions (64 TDs to 67 INTs)... but my Quarterback is Favre, so interceptions aren't a big deal to me. However, I've seen wide receivers drop about three catchable balls from Couch... so Couch is looking pretty crappy, and I don't know if it's his fault (he held the ball too long on the fumble, but whatever). My punt returner, the Arena League star Antonio Chatman, has yet to impress me. As a Packer fan, my thoughts about the punt returner are to catch the ball and not fumble... anything beyond that is gravy. The last year that we DID have a punt returner worth anything, Desmond Howard, we won the Super Bowl... so maybe there's something to be said about getting a punt returner who actually doesn't suck. Speaking of players that suck, I want the Packers to cut Bhawoh Jue. He is terrible. Absolutly terrible. He can't cover and he can't tackle. I don't know why he's still on my team... but I really want him gone. I'm watching him missing tackles left and right... he's a terrible terrible player. End of second quarter: 14-3 Seahawks.
Week Three... 60% done with the Level 5 Show
Madden 2005 is the most complicated and in-depth sports game EVER!
Speaking of coming out of nowhere, Rhea and Jean called me at about 6 PM Friday evening. We brought their loot upstairs and parked them in the Piper's Alley lot. On our way back to my place, we stopped at Garlic and Chili: Healthy Thai cuisine! I love that place... and I correctly referred to it as "cute" (because it is cute). I believe that both Jean and Rhea had an enjoyable experience at Garlic and Chili... thanks, in large part, to my brilliance and knowledge of what is indeed cute. I'm awesome.
I'm so awesome, in fact, that week number three of the show was fantastic. The audience was smaller than the past two (last week was PACKED!), but they were definitely laughing louder than previous shows. I felt pretty good about this weeks show, actually... and I think I finally (FINALLY) "found" one of my characters, Grant. It was a good show, and I look forward to next week when my family finally sees it.
Saturday, I took Rhea and Jean to Oakbrook. Rhea needed to buy a suit, and I needed to make sure that their car was moved from the lot before the 24 hours was "up". So it worked out for everyone! Hooray! Anyway, we went to Oakbrook Center which is a large shopping plaza. I hesitate to say 'mall' because it's so much more than that. It is a magical place. So magical, in fact, that we had lots of fun shopping for Rhea's suit. Everyone except Rhea had fun looking for Rhea's suit. We ended up at Sears... and I forced Rhea to try on this cranberry suit. Why? Because I thought it looked cute... it had a nice pink dress shirt underneath... whatever, you know it was cute. So cute, in fact, that it's the suit Rhea bought! I win!!! She bought my suit!!! Ha ha! Take THAT, other straight guys who can't pick out cute clothing!
My reward was to take the lovely ladies to The Cheesecake Factory. Mmm... the Cheesecake Factory is so delicious! I ate this chicken chipotle pasta and then, when I had absolutely no room left in my stomach, I had a piece of peanut butter/chocolate cheesecake. Mmm... do good... job well done, indeed.
After completely gorging ourselves, we split up quickly and I headed to the Irish Outfitters store. It had all manner of Guiness and Notre Dame shirts (and Rugby shirts!!!), and all kind of pictures and cute little Irish things. It was a cute store... and I think I was hardcore hitting on the young lady who was working there. Maybe it was because she was singing along with the Irish jig music the store was playing... or maybe it was that I'm an easy easy slutty man.
Sunday morning, Rhea and Jean left... and I spent much of the afternoon and evening writing and cleaning and napping (yes, even napping). It was a relaxing afternoon.
The climax of the day was a phone call from my son. Nick and I spent about an hour talking about various things. I think he'll be coming to the last performance of my show, on August 27th... and, if Laura's still coming, it'll be a fantastic evening.
Madden 2005 is the most complicated and in-depth sports game EVER!
Speaking of coming out of nowhere, Rhea and Jean called me at about 6 PM Friday evening. We brought their loot upstairs and parked them in the Piper's Alley lot. On our way back to my place, we stopped at Garlic and Chili: Healthy Thai cuisine! I love that place... and I correctly referred to it as "cute" (because it is cute). I believe that both Jean and Rhea had an enjoyable experience at Garlic and Chili... thanks, in large part, to my brilliance and knowledge of what is indeed cute. I'm awesome.
I'm so awesome, in fact, that week number three of the show was fantastic. The audience was smaller than the past two (last week was PACKED!), but they were definitely laughing louder than previous shows. I felt pretty good about this weeks show, actually... and I think I finally (FINALLY) "found" one of my characters, Grant. It was a good show, and I look forward to next week when my family finally sees it.
Saturday, I took Rhea and Jean to Oakbrook. Rhea needed to buy a suit, and I needed to make sure that their car was moved from the lot before the 24 hours was "up". So it worked out for everyone! Hooray! Anyway, we went to Oakbrook Center which is a large shopping plaza. I hesitate to say 'mall' because it's so much more than that. It is a magical place. So magical, in fact, that we had lots of fun shopping for Rhea's suit. Everyone except Rhea had fun looking for Rhea's suit. We ended up at Sears... and I forced Rhea to try on this cranberry suit. Why? Because I thought it looked cute... it had a nice pink dress shirt underneath... whatever, you know it was cute. So cute, in fact, that it's the suit Rhea bought! I win!!! She bought my suit!!! Ha ha! Take THAT, other straight guys who can't pick out cute clothing!
My reward was to take the lovely ladies to The Cheesecake Factory. Mmm... the Cheesecake Factory is so delicious! I ate this chicken chipotle pasta and then, when I had absolutely no room left in my stomach, I had a piece of peanut butter/chocolate cheesecake. Mmm... do good... job well done, indeed.
After completely gorging ourselves, we split up quickly and I headed to the Irish Outfitters store. It had all manner of Guiness and Notre Dame shirts (and Rugby shirts!!!), and all kind of pictures and cute little Irish things. It was a cute store... and I think I was hardcore hitting on the young lady who was working there. Maybe it was because she was singing along with the Irish jig music the store was playing... or maybe it was that I'm an easy easy slutty man.
Sunday morning, Rhea and Jean left... and I spent much of the afternoon and evening writing and cleaning and napping (yes, even napping). It was a relaxing afternoon.
The climax of the day was a phone call from my son. Nick and I spent about an hour talking about various things. I think he'll be coming to the last performance of my show, on August 27th... and, if Laura's still coming, it'll be a fantastic evening.
Friday, August 13, 2004
A wasted afternoon? or divine intervention?
Wednesday started fantastically. I was awoken to a phone call from Abby... the Silent Alarm had somehow gotten pulled, and she wanted to know how to turn it off. I gave her a suggestion or two and she handed the phone to the Police Officer who had shown up at the scene. He seemed to think that I was a slightly deaf person, as he kept asking me if I "hear" him. He said that I needed to come and fix the silent alarm so that it, basically, never had a false alarm again... and he said it in a fantastically condescending way, as if I didn't understand the gravity of a false alarm. In addition, he said that if we kept having false alarms, if there was ever a real alarm he would "not be so quick to respond". I was so taken aback by this man's audacity, that I didn't even think to ask for his badge number... because what a fucking asshole. He just basically told me that they wouldn't respond if we had a real alarm... no, wait, I take that back. He THREATENED to not come if we had a real alarm. When I told him that I didn't know how to fix the alarm system, and it came out that I was not the owner nor the manager of the store, I honestly think he was a little embarrassed that he was leaning so hard on me. Our phone conversation ended about 10 seconds after that revelation occurred. Too bad for me, as that's when I got the clarity to think about asking for this guy's name and badge number. What an asshole.
After the various SBC disasters of the past couple weeks, I was not looking forward to going out to the new store again. I was actually pretty hell-bent on not going out there Wednesday afternoon... telling myself that if they couldn't figure it out themselves we would just use another company. But my Catholic guilt, which controls my life in every way, prevailed, and by 3 PM, I was out at the new store waiting. The appointment was for sometime between 2 and 6 PM. So after not having heard from this dude for the first hour, I called SBC. The woman told me that we were the last stop on his route and that he would be there at 4:22 PM. "That's pretty specific" I said in my normal half-asshole jest. She did not take it as a joke, and proceeded to explain to me exactly how that time was calculated. "Okay, interesting" I responded. I then called Jeremy Johnson (Andrea's brother... and the dude who's taking Seth's old job [remember Seth? of course you don't]). I told him that SBC would be out at the store at 4:30ish and I asked him if he wouldn't mind coming then and taking care of it, as I was an hour and a half early (and, honestly, because I didn't want to have to deal with these bastards for the third time. I was very frustrated with them). He asked me if I wouldn't mind waiting. Wow... what a perfect way to spend such an already awesome day. He then said "why don't you go to that bar across the street from the store or somethin'. " I too depressed to drink (as funny as that sounds)... but the new store IS going to need a place to get groceries (like bananas), so I went for a walk to try to find aforementioned grocery store.
I decided to walk up Damon, instead of Milwaukee... and I noticed all sorts of bars on Damon. Not much else... lots of bars. I continued walking North up Damen and came across a Potbelly. It's a sandwich place... and I've been meaning to try it (as I've never been there), but I still hadn't found a grocery store so I kept walking. A couple blocks later, convinced that I wouldn't find a grocery store, and way hungry and pissed that I was going to be wasting my afternoon, I was ready to turn around. This is the weird part. I didn't turn around. I thought it would look weird to the people on the street if I just turned around for no reason... so I kept walking. I don't know why... I just did. I then came across a Chipotle... which is a totally sweet mexican restaurant (one of my new favorites). I said to myself "sweet... forget Potbelly's, I'll go in here". And I wouldn't have found it if I hadn't kept walking for no reason.
When I was almost finished eating, Jeremy called me back. He said he had made it to the new store after all, and wondered where I was. I turned around and headed back to the store (and my car). He and I talked for a bit, waiting for the guy to show up. He wanted to know if I was happy with the company currently and what I felt about the way things were going. While I was about to respond with "No, I'm not happy. I had a talk with my sister about going back to school to get a teaching degree" he said "Because I really want you to be happy." I don't know why, but that struck me. I had been under the impression (because I'm paranoid) that Andrea bringing Jeremy in meant even LESS for me to do, and that maybe he would try to figure out a way to phase me and my salary out of the equation. Hell, if I were him, I'd do it. Hmm... if we get rid of this guy we don't know what to do with, I'll be making more money. You're damn right I'd be gone. But he not only wants to keep me around... he wants me to be happy with my job and the company. Divine.
After shooting the breeze and talking shop a little past the "4:22" time, I called SBC again. This time, the man on the other end told me the guy wouldn't be there until "4:44". I did not use the joke a second time. I told Jeremy, and he had better places to be, so he left. I ended up waiting until after 5 (two hours from the time I got there) for the repair specialist. But this dude seemed worth it. His name is Roy Smith... and when he got there, brotha told me everything that needed to happen and how he was going to do it. This is a FAR cry from the first idiot they sent. I told him that if the construction workers left before he was done, I would come back and lock up.
So I left a little after 5:30 and headed back to my apartment. I had to do laundry badly (and only did two of the five loads or so I need to do)... so I waited for another two hours (to make sure I didn't have to go back to lock up) and I started my laundry. At almost nine o'clock, Roy calls me to lock the store: almost 4 full hours after he started. I had just put both loads into the dryers, so I had about an hour to accomplish this task.
In the car, on my way to the store, I got a call from Ken. Congratulations are in order, as he passed his promotion test and will be, as of early next year, a Staff Sergeant. This unlocks a bevy of nicknames for me to use (including "S.S. Kenny Hoots", "FUBAR Four Bar", and the 'token' "Sarge"). While we were talking, I was forced to take a detour as the North Ave bridge was being worked on. Thank goodness Ken's as big a computer nerd as I am, because he was able to direct my detour. It was like having On Star on board... *nods* Ken's my personal On Star. I got to the new store and was able to lock all four doors with my four keys (even though only one of the keys works... and it works in only one of the doors... figure THAT one out, if you will), and get back to my apartment in time to fold my "dry" laundry. What a fantastic day!
Wednesday started fantastically. I was awoken to a phone call from Abby... the Silent Alarm had somehow gotten pulled, and she wanted to know how to turn it off. I gave her a suggestion or two and she handed the phone to the Police Officer who had shown up at the scene. He seemed to think that I was a slightly deaf person, as he kept asking me if I "hear" him. He said that I needed to come and fix the silent alarm so that it, basically, never had a false alarm again... and he said it in a fantastically condescending way, as if I didn't understand the gravity of a false alarm. In addition, he said that if we kept having false alarms, if there was ever a real alarm he would "not be so quick to respond". I was so taken aback by this man's audacity, that I didn't even think to ask for his badge number... because what a fucking asshole. He just basically told me that they wouldn't respond if we had a real alarm... no, wait, I take that back. He THREATENED to not come if we had a real alarm. When I told him that I didn't know how to fix the alarm system, and it came out that I was not the owner nor the manager of the store, I honestly think he was a little embarrassed that he was leaning so hard on me. Our phone conversation ended about 10 seconds after that revelation occurred. Too bad for me, as that's when I got the clarity to think about asking for this guy's name and badge number. What an asshole.
After the various SBC disasters of the past couple weeks, I was not looking forward to going out to the new store again. I was actually pretty hell-bent on not going out there Wednesday afternoon... telling myself that if they couldn't figure it out themselves we would just use another company. But my Catholic guilt, which controls my life in every way, prevailed, and by 3 PM, I was out at the new store waiting. The appointment was for sometime between 2 and 6 PM. So after not having heard from this dude for the first hour, I called SBC. The woman told me that we were the last stop on his route and that he would be there at 4:22 PM. "That's pretty specific" I said in my normal half-asshole jest. She did not take it as a joke, and proceeded to explain to me exactly how that time was calculated. "Okay, interesting" I responded. I then called Jeremy Johnson (Andrea's brother... and the dude who's taking Seth's old job [remember Seth? of course you don't]). I told him that SBC would be out at the store at 4:30ish and I asked him if he wouldn't mind coming then and taking care of it, as I was an hour and a half early (and, honestly, because I didn't want to have to deal with these bastards for the third time. I was very frustrated with them). He asked me if I wouldn't mind waiting. Wow... what a perfect way to spend such an already awesome day. He then said "why don't you go to that bar across the street from the store or somethin'. " I too depressed to drink (as funny as that sounds)... but the new store IS going to need a place to get groceries (like bananas), so I went for a walk to try to find aforementioned grocery store.
I decided to walk up Damon, instead of Milwaukee... and I noticed all sorts of bars on Damon. Not much else... lots of bars. I continued walking North up Damen and came across a Potbelly. It's a sandwich place... and I've been meaning to try it (as I've never been there), but I still hadn't found a grocery store so I kept walking. A couple blocks later, convinced that I wouldn't find a grocery store, and way hungry and pissed that I was going to be wasting my afternoon, I was ready to turn around. This is the weird part. I didn't turn around. I thought it would look weird to the people on the street if I just turned around for no reason... so I kept walking. I don't know why... I just did. I then came across a Chipotle... which is a totally sweet mexican restaurant (one of my new favorites). I said to myself "sweet... forget Potbelly's, I'll go in here". And I wouldn't have found it if I hadn't kept walking for no reason.
When I was almost finished eating, Jeremy called me back. He said he had made it to the new store after all, and wondered where I was. I turned around and headed back to the store (and my car). He and I talked for a bit, waiting for the guy to show up. He wanted to know if I was happy with the company currently and what I felt about the way things were going. While I was about to respond with "No, I'm not happy. I had a talk with my sister about going back to school to get a teaching degree" he said "Because I really want you to be happy." I don't know why, but that struck me. I had been under the impression (because I'm paranoid) that Andrea bringing Jeremy in meant even LESS for me to do, and that maybe he would try to figure out a way to phase me and my salary out of the equation. Hell, if I were him, I'd do it. Hmm... if we get rid of this guy we don't know what to do with, I'll be making more money. You're damn right I'd be gone. But he not only wants to keep me around... he wants me to be happy with my job and the company. Divine.
After shooting the breeze and talking shop a little past the "4:22" time, I called SBC again. This time, the man on the other end told me the guy wouldn't be there until "4:44". I did not use the joke a second time. I told Jeremy, and he had better places to be, so he left. I ended up waiting until after 5 (two hours from the time I got there) for the repair specialist. But this dude seemed worth it. His name is Roy Smith... and when he got there, brotha told me everything that needed to happen and how he was going to do it. This is a FAR cry from the first idiot they sent. I told him that if the construction workers left before he was done, I would come back and lock up.
So I left a little after 5:30 and headed back to my apartment. I had to do laundry badly (and only did two of the five loads or so I need to do)... so I waited for another two hours (to make sure I didn't have to go back to lock up) and I started my laundry. At almost nine o'clock, Roy calls me to lock the store: almost 4 full hours after he started. I had just put both loads into the dryers, so I had about an hour to accomplish this task.
In the car, on my way to the store, I got a call from Ken. Congratulations are in order, as he passed his promotion test and will be, as of early next year, a Staff Sergeant. This unlocks a bevy of nicknames for me to use (including "S.S. Kenny Hoots", "FUBAR Four Bar", and the 'token' "Sarge"). While we were talking, I was forced to take a detour as the North Ave bridge was being worked on. Thank goodness Ken's as big a computer nerd as I am, because he was able to direct my detour. It was like having On Star on board... *nods* Ken's my personal On Star. I got to the new store and was able to lock all four doors with my four keys (even though only one of the keys works... and it works in only one of the doors... figure THAT one out, if you will), and get back to my apartment in time to fold my "dry" laundry. What a fantastic day!
Thursday, August 12, 2004
"I'm so damn bored I'm going blind and loneliness has to suffice..."
I was pleasantly surprised to see an email from Miss Chelsey Wagemaker Monday morning. And I was even more pleased that she actually asked my opinion on something. Anyone who wants my opinion on the things I think I know about (read: anything) will get a very lengthy response. I am long-winded. And opinionated. I'm long-windinated.
Tonight my writing class had been turned into a songwriting class. Sounds cool, huh? It really REALLY wasn't. My instructor seems hell-bent on having us write a song together as a class, so we started writing a song together. It was terrible. Just awful. There was nothing I could do, either. Once we started going in one direction that was it... I couldn't "right the ship" as it were. We had decided to title the song "This is how we power play"... but it wasn't a song about hockey. It was a song about using your social or political power on a micro-management level (such as your boss or manager using their status to push you around). There are lots of things I would be interested writing a song about... this is not one of those things. And the songwriting instructor was all about keeping the lyrics as simple as possible... just a boring ass night. Blah.
After class I headed to Coldstone to check up on mah store (like I do). I was sitting and talking to Brian when I noticed a two-year-old boy in a stroller being very animated and energetic (even though it was 10-something at night). So I turned my attention to him, and he saw Brain and I watching him and he pulled the cover of the stroller over his face. Cute. Then I noticed the mother of this child was a big lady. I want to say with confidence that she is pregnant again, 'but you never can tell' I thought to myself. Then I looked over to the father and I noticed his goatee. He was wearing glasses and looked very familiar to me. Then it hit me: Matt Clement. It was Matt Clement and his wife and son. So, after he had been wrung up, I made eye contact with the young lady, Jessica, who had served the Clements and we both were pretty sure that it was Matt Clement. It was interesting because I tried to get Jessica to go over to them and ask, just to make sure we weren't stalking a random person... but she was too shy. I razzed her a bit about being shy, and we noticed someone else in the store go over to him and start talking like he was someone famous (you know how that goes... shyly walking up, a bit "I knew it" when they realize who they're talking to, a very polite good-bye). Famous people are great.
On Tuesday morning, I had a scheduled meeting with Andrea, Brian, Stephan, Adam, and Robert. What am I doing at Coldstone? I still don't know. It sounds like Andrea wants me to check in with the various managers (all four of those guys) FIVE times a week. No offense to the big boss lady, but there's no way in hell that I'm making 20 calls or visits per week. I might check up on both stores five times a week... but I really don't care what Adam's doing.
My Improv class Tuesday was interesting. Ed Garza had us playing new games and one of them was as uncomfortable as I've felt in class in a while. We played a game which has a name... I which I knew the name, but whatever. The premise of this game is to show "clips" of classic sitcoms (like TV Land sitcoms) which originated in a foreign country. So, as the improviser, we play the characters from these sitcoms, except we have to have an accent of whatever country in which the show originated. I felt uncomfortable not only in the fact that my accents sucked and were highly inaccurate... BUT also in that I didn't know the shows we were supposed to be portraying. I'm coming to realize that I'm best when I can prepare... and improv games that I can't prepare for are really tough for me. Improv is tough for me. Period. Football is not tough for me... and here we go:
Terrell Owens, my least favorite football player in all of football (yes, I even prefer Randy Moss to TO), said something else stupid. What a surprise this is. When asked by Playboy magazine if his former quarterback with the 49ers, Jeff Garcia, is gay, Owens said "Like my boy tells me: If it looks like a rat and smells like a rat, by golly, it is a rat". Wait, wait, wait... it gets better. When asked about this quote, he responded "I didn't say he was gay...". Interesting change of pace... when asked about whether or not TO is the stupidest person in the history of the world, John Steeno said "Like my boy tells me: If it looks like a rat..."
I was pleasantly surprised to see an email from Miss Chelsey Wagemaker Monday morning. And I was even more pleased that she actually asked my opinion on something. Anyone who wants my opinion on the things I think I know about (read: anything) will get a very lengthy response. I am long-winded. And opinionated. I'm long-windinated.
Tonight my writing class had been turned into a songwriting class. Sounds cool, huh? It really REALLY wasn't. My instructor seems hell-bent on having us write a song together as a class, so we started writing a song together. It was terrible. Just awful. There was nothing I could do, either. Once we started going in one direction that was it... I couldn't "right the ship" as it were. We had decided to title the song "This is how we power play"... but it wasn't a song about hockey. It was a song about using your social or political power on a micro-management level (such as your boss or manager using their status to push you around). There are lots of things I would be interested writing a song about... this is not one of those things. And the songwriting instructor was all about keeping the lyrics as simple as possible... just a boring ass night. Blah.
After class I headed to Coldstone to check up on mah store (like I do). I was sitting and talking to Brian when I noticed a two-year-old boy in a stroller being very animated and energetic (even though it was 10-something at night). So I turned my attention to him, and he saw Brain and I watching him and he pulled the cover of the stroller over his face. Cute. Then I noticed the mother of this child was a big lady. I want to say with confidence that she is pregnant again, 'but you never can tell' I thought to myself. Then I looked over to the father and I noticed his goatee. He was wearing glasses and looked very familiar to me. Then it hit me: Matt Clement. It was Matt Clement and his wife and son. So, after he had been wrung up, I made eye contact with the young lady, Jessica, who had served the Clements and we both were pretty sure that it was Matt Clement. It was interesting because I tried to get Jessica to go over to them and ask, just to make sure we weren't stalking a random person... but she was too shy. I razzed her a bit about being shy, and we noticed someone else in the store go over to him and start talking like he was someone famous (you know how that goes... shyly walking up, a bit "I knew it" when they realize who they're talking to, a very polite good-bye). Famous people are great.
On Tuesday morning, I had a scheduled meeting with Andrea, Brian, Stephan, Adam, and Robert. What am I doing at Coldstone? I still don't know. It sounds like Andrea wants me to check in with the various managers (all four of those guys) FIVE times a week. No offense to the big boss lady, but there's no way in hell that I'm making 20 calls or visits per week. I might check up on both stores five times a week... but I really don't care what Adam's doing.
My Improv class Tuesday was interesting. Ed Garza had us playing new games and one of them was as uncomfortable as I've felt in class in a while. We played a game which has a name... I which I knew the name, but whatever. The premise of this game is to show "clips" of classic sitcoms (like TV Land sitcoms) which originated in a foreign country. So, as the improviser, we play the characters from these sitcoms, except we have to have an accent of whatever country in which the show originated. I felt uncomfortable not only in the fact that my accents sucked and were highly inaccurate... BUT also in that I didn't know the shows we were supposed to be portraying. I'm coming to realize that I'm best when I can prepare... and improv games that I can't prepare for are really tough for me. Improv is tough for me. Period. Football is not tough for me... and here we go:
Terrell Owens, my least favorite football player in all of football (yes, I even prefer Randy Moss to TO), said something else stupid. What a surprise this is. When asked by Playboy magazine if his former quarterback with the 49ers, Jeff Garcia, is gay, Owens said "Like my boy tells me: If it looks like a rat and smells like a rat, by golly, it is a rat". Wait, wait, wait... it gets better. When asked about this quote, he responded "I didn't say he was gay...". Interesting change of pace... when asked about whether or not TO is the stupidest person in the history of the world, John Steeno said "Like my boy tells me: If it looks like a rat..."
Sunday, August 08, 2004
No new apartment, but it sure feels like it so far
Friday marked week two of my play... and this week I actually had some people in the audience. Brian and Cherise came from work, and Jim & Katie Aumann came out to show Albionian support! That's right... Katie Aumann! Thought she was dead, didn't you? That's because she's been out of this novel since the opening chapters. But I'm here to tell you that Katie's alive and well (and looking well as well), and she at least pretended to have enjoyed the show. And speaking of the hottest red-head I know (huh?), I even gave Miss Chelsey Wagemaker a call (oh! now I get it). She was unavailable, but I left a fun message. By 'fun', I mean 'could be used against me in a court of law if I were ever on trial for sexual harassment'. Anyway... I think everyone enjoyed the show, and it was nice to have the support.
As of last Tuesday I decided to renew my lease in the same apartment. I still have yet to receive my new lease, but I'm pretty much planning on staying. With that in mind, I've decided to basically re-arrange all the furniture in my apartment. So that, even though I'm not moving into a bigger/"better" apartment, I've still got something to which to look forward. Saturday, I took a trip to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to pick some things up. I got a new CD tower and a DVD/video game tower, and I also purchased some things for my bathroom. And, after two days, my bathroom is cleaner and in better shape than when I moved in. All I'll need is another week or two and a couple more major purchases, and this apartment will be a few million times better than the apartment I've been living in for a year (yes, even though they're the same apartment).
While moving stuff around my apartment, I had the misfortune of starting to watch "The Replacements". It is a terrible, terrible movie. Not only does it consist of the most trite football movie script ever (it was basically the same movie as 'Necessary Roughness'... or at least they stole every character from that movie), but the soundtrack was atrocious. Simply horrendous. I'm also disappointed in the cast... as it's got Gene Hackman as the coach (he makes for good coaches in sports movies). And, right before it came out, there was something on Sportscenter about how Keanu Reeves had studied footwork from actual NFL quarterbacks... and his form could impress even scouts (or something to that effect, everyone was really impressed with his form). But it really didn't matter how good or bad his form was... the movie was terrible.
Friday marked week two of my play... and this week I actually had some people in the audience. Brian and Cherise came from work, and Jim & Katie Aumann came out to show Albionian support! That's right... Katie Aumann! Thought she was dead, didn't you? That's because she's been out of this novel since the opening chapters. But I'm here to tell you that Katie's alive and well (and looking well as well), and she at least pretended to have enjoyed the show. And speaking of the hottest red-head I know (huh?), I even gave Miss Chelsey Wagemaker a call (oh! now I get it). She was unavailable, but I left a fun message. By 'fun', I mean 'could be used against me in a court of law if I were ever on trial for sexual harassment'. Anyway... I think everyone enjoyed the show, and it was nice to have the support.
As of last Tuesday I decided to renew my lease in the same apartment. I still have yet to receive my new lease, but I'm pretty much planning on staying. With that in mind, I've decided to basically re-arrange all the furniture in my apartment. So that, even though I'm not moving into a bigger/"better" apartment, I've still got something to which to look forward. Saturday, I took a trip to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to pick some things up. I got a new CD tower and a DVD/video game tower, and I also purchased some things for my bathroom. And, after two days, my bathroom is cleaner and in better shape than when I moved in. All I'll need is another week or two and a couple more major purchases, and this apartment will be a few million times better than the apartment I've been living in for a year (yes, even though they're the same apartment).
While moving stuff around my apartment, I had the misfortune of starting to watch "The Replacements". It is a terrible, terrible movie. Not only does it consist of the most trite football movie script ever (it was basically the same movie as 'Necessary Roughness'... or at least they stole every character from that movie), but the soundtrack was atrocious. Simply horrendous. I'm also disappointed in the cast... as it's got Gene Hackman as the coach (he makes for good coaches in sports movies). And, right before it came out, there was something on Sportscenter about how Keanu Reeves had studied footwork from actual NFL quarterbacks... and his form could impress even scouts (or something to that effect, everyone was really impressed with his form). But it really didn't matter how good or bad his form was... the movie was terrible.
Thursday, August 05, 2004
What's up with me lately?
Monday was my first Level 4 Writing class. My instructor's name is M.T. and she seems okay. I got a pretty bad first impression... because she's got some of the same mannerisms as my mother, who should not under any circumstances be teaching me how to be funny. For example, she went through all five members of the class and asked us questions like "What do you want to work on most? What do you feel you're best at? Where do you see this going?" and so on. It's almost exactly like what my mom would do if she were teaching a class. Oh well... at least I know how to deal with people like my mother (kill her, take her place, start a motel). (That was a "Psycho" reference... did you get it? I'm not actually going to kill my mom, please!)
There's a new Chris dude in my class, and he sucks hardcore. He's the type of guy who wants to write down everything the teacher says verbatim... and he'll stop class and ask what she said like three minutes ago. He also, after I told everyone we should probably not give rewrites to actors the week they're supposed to be memorizing, said something to the effect of "can't we just tell the actors 'this is the new script... learn it'?" What an asshole this guy is.
Tuesday was my first Beginning Improv Level E class. Our instructor is Ed Garza... who used to run the Training Center. He has already given us lots of feedback... and that's totally awesome. I also was in two different scenes with Katy, who is really really good. I hadn't realized how good she was until we acted together. Again, the class was too large to really do a lot of anything, but Ed's feedback somehow makes it all okay (at least for now).
One of my friends, Adam, is taking classes at IO and they have what they call 'The Lottery'. The lottery is a randomly selected person from each level (1 through 5) who do a show together every Tuesday night. So there are five people who are in the show every week, and then they rotate in seasoned veterans... so there are 8 or 9 people in the show. This week, Adam got to be on stage with the amazing TJ Jagadowski... so I had to go see. Keith and I left after our first Level E class and headed to IO to see the show. It was a good show... and what an incredible opportunity for Adam, as in one point in the show, TJ was watching Adam intently... following his every move (as any good improviser). It was fun.
What is not fun is the fact that I'm sick. I spent much of yesterday and a lot of today sleeping and resting around my apartment. The good news is that I've got my bathroom just about as clean as when I moved in (as I decided to use my energy to clean). The bad news is that I haven't gotten much done for work in a couple days. Not that it matters, seeing as Andrea and I really haven't talked much in about two weeks. Whatever!
I saw that the Pistons traded Corliss Williamson for Derrick Coleman and center Amal McCaskill. This is presumably to add salary cap room (no thanks to the signing of Rasheed... which was LOTS of money). I suppose this trade adds size, and gives us a better back-up for the Wallaces than McDyess. But we did trade a 30 year old (Williamson) for a 37 year old (Coleman) and a guy who was out of the league from 1997 to 2001. I half expect us to release McCaskill. But now with Williamson gone we'll see this Argentinean, Carlos Delfino, as the back-up small forward behind Prince. Our team just loves players from different countries. Hooray for foreigners!
Monday was my first Level 4 Writing class. My instructor's name is M.T. and she seems okay. I got a pretty bad first impression... because she's got some of the same mannerisms as my mother, who should not under any circumstances be teaching me how to be funny. For example, she went through all five members of the class and asked us questions like "What do you want to work on most? What do you feel you're best at? Where do you see this going?" and so on. It's almost exactly like what my mom would do if she were teaching a class. Oh well... at least I know how to deal with people like my mother (kill her, take her place, start a motel). (That was a "Psycho" reference... did you get it? I'm not actually going to kill my mom, please!)
There's a new Chris dude in my class, and he sucks hardcore. He's the type of guy who wants to write down everything the teacher says verbatim... and he'll stop class and ask what she said like three minutes ago. He also, after I told everyone we should probably not give rewrites to actors the week they're supposed to be memorizing, said something to the effect of "can't we just tell the actors 'this is the new script... learn it'?" What an asshole this guy is.
Tuesday was my first Beginning Improv Level E class. Our instructor is Ed Garza... who used to run the Training Center. He has already given us lots of feedback... and that's totally awesome. I also was in two different scenes with Katy, who is really really good. I hadn't realized how good she was until we acted together. Again, the class was too large to really do a lot of anything, but Ed's feedback somehow makes it all okay (at least for now).
One of my friends, Adam, is taking classes at IO and they have what they call 'The Lottery'. The lottery is a randomly selected person from each level (1 through 5) who do a show together every Tuesday night. So there are five people who are in the show every week, and then they rotate in seasoned veterans... so there are 8 or 9 people in the show. This week, Adam got to be on stage with the amazing TJ Jagadowski... so I had to go see. Keith and I left after our first Level E class and headed to IO to see the show. It was a good show... and what an incredible opportunity for Adam, as in one point in the show, TJ was watching Adam intently... following his every move (as any good improviser). It was fun.
What is not fun is the fact that I'm sick. I spent much of yesterday and a lot of today sleeping and resting around my apartment. The good news is that I've got my bathroom just about as clean as when I moved in (as I decided to use my energy to clean). The bad news is that I haven't gotten much done for work in a couple days. Not that it matters, seeing as Andrea and I really haven't talked much in about two weeks. Whatever!
I saw that the Pistons traded Corliss Williamson for Derrick Coleman and center Amal McCaskill. This is presumably to add salary cap room (no thanks to the signing of Rasheed... which was LOTS of money). I suppose this trade adds size, and gives us a better back-up for the Wallaces than McDyess. But we did trade a 30 year old (Williamson) for a 37 year old (Coleman) and a guy who was out of the league from 1997 to 2001. I half expect us to release McCaskill. But now with Williamson gone we'll see this Argentinean, Carlos Delfino, as the back-up small forward behind Prince. Our team just loves players from different countries. Hooray for foreigners!
Wednesday, August 04, 2004
Hello August and Time with the folks!
Saturday morning, my parents called me. After not coming to my show, they decided to surprise me by heading down to Chicago anyway to spend the day with me. By the afternoon, we were headed out to Oakbrook. I had never been to Oakbrook before, and it kind of reminded me of some of the suburbs in Detroit: there were large buildings that were quite obviously the headquarters of businesses, shopping plazas, and very little grass (although the grass they have is meticulously groomed).
Once we got to the hotel, we checked in and headed to Elmhurst. Elmhurst, unlike Oakbrook, reminds me of a small town that isn't very close to a major metropolis like Chicago. It kind of reminded me of some cities in Wisconsin... just a quaint little town.
We drove around for a while, trying to figure out where we were going to eat. I saw a Chipotle, so I mentioned it, and my mom was not too into it. Like most "new" restaurants, she would just as soon eat someplace she's been before. But I eventually convinced my parents... and they really enjoyed Chipotle. I win!
Speaking of winning, we then went to see The Bourne Supremacy. I'm not sure how that segue worked, but it did... trust me. The Bourne Supremacy was good (not great), and all that stuff you've heard about the shaky hand-cam camera work is true. You want to stand up and yell for a steady shot about half-way through the movie. One thing I will say about these "Supremacy" movies that I really like is the fact that, when we as audience members know something is wrong, Jason Bourne knows something's wrong. You don't sit in the audience and think to yourself "He's a spy-type-guy... why doesn't he know that he's being followed?" or "why doesn't he know the only Russian in India is there to kill him?" Not these movies... Jason Bourne knows something's up when he sees a Russian in India.
After the movie, we went to Oakbrook Center. It's one of the highest scale shopping "malls" I've ever been to. It had only the kinds of places in which I wouldn't shop (because they're too expensive). After walking around and not buying anything, we headed to the Cheesecake Factory which was located right next to the mall. It was a beautiful building... Italian architecture... it looked like a more upscale restaurant than the Cheesecake Factory (but it wasn't). Unfortunately, the store hadn't opened yet. It actually opened Monday, August 2nd... but that was not Saturday, oddly enough.
We still had to eat, so we stopped at a Giordanos. I don't know if my parents have ever been there before... but I hadn't. I liked it more than Gino's East, but Lou Malnati's is still the best! You don't care. Speaking of stuff you don't care about...
We stayed the night at the Wyndham Drake Oak Brook. It was swanky. The hotel rooms themselves were nothing special, but they had tennis courts, an indoor and an outdoor pool, jogging trails, and probably a golf course. Whatever... it was a swanky hotel.
In the morning, my parents and I went to Breakfast @ Einstein's Bagels (which they hadn't ever been to either, but my mom was a little more open to new restaurants after the good Chipotle experience). They really enjoyed Einstein's, and even took a take-home menu so they could check the website. My parents are cute.
So cute, in fact, that we then went shopping @ Old Navy. I know... They're my parents and I shouldn't go shopping with my parents... but they were buying and they were cool about not forcing dorky clothing on me. So it was fun... and it was very good to see them.
We had a few long talks while we ate, and it appears I have to be completely self-sufficient in one year's time. That's the big news... and that's what's got me worried. Because I can't be self-sufficient right now. My bills are too large and, even though I'm salaried, I'm not making enough money. So I'm basically going to spend the next year trying to figure out how I can live and work in this city... or else I'll be leaving Chicago in a year. We'll see.
Saturday morning, my parents called me. After not coming to my show, they decided to surprise me by heading down to Chicago anyway to spend the day with me. By the afternoon, we were headed out to Oakbrook. I had never been to Oakbrook before, and it kind of reminded me of some of the suburbs in Detroit: there were large buildings that were quite obviously the headquarters of businesses, shopping plazas, and very little grass (although the grass they have is meticulously groomed).
Once we got to the hotel, we checked in and headed to Elmhurst. Elmhurst, unlike Oakbrook, reminds me of a small town that isn't very close to a major metropolis like Chicago. It kind of reminded me of some cities in Wisconsin... just a quaint little town.
We drove around for a while, trying to figure out where we were going to eat. I saw a Chipotle, so I mentioned it, and my mom was not too into it. Like most "new" restaurants, she would just as soon eat someplace she's been before. But I eventually convinced my parents... and they really enjoyed Chipotle. I win!
Speaking of winning, we then went to see The Bourne Supremacy. I'm not sure how that segue worked, but it did... trust me. The Bourne Supremacy was good (not great), and all that stuff you've heard about the shaky hand-cam camera work is true. You want to stand up and yell for a steady shot about half-way through the movie. One thing I will say about these "Supremacy" movies that I really like is the fact that, when we as audience members know something is wrong, Jason Bourne knows something's wrong. You don't sit in the audience and think to yourself "He's a spy-type-guy... why doesn't he know that he's being followed?" or "why doesn't he know the only Russian in India is there to kill him?" Not these movies... Jason Bourne knows something's up when he sees a Russian in India.
After the movie, we went to Oakbrook Center. It's one of the highest scale shopping "malls" I've ever been to. It had only the kinds of places in which I wouldn't shop (because they're too expensive). After walking around and not buying anything, we headed to the Cheesecake Factory which was located right next to the mall. It was a beautiful building... Italian architecture... it looked like a more upscale restaurant than the Cheesecake Factory (but it wasn't). Unfortunately, the store hadn't opened yet. It actually opened Monday, August 2nd... but that was not Saturday, oddly enough.
We still had to eat, so we stopped at a Giordanos. I don't know if my parents have ever been there before... but I hadn't. I liked it more than Gino's East, but Lou Malnati's is still the best! You don't care. Speaking of stuff you don't care about...
We stayed the night at the Wyndham Drake Oak Brook. It was swanky. The hotel rooms themselves were nothing special, but they had tennis courts, an indoor and an outdoor pool, jogging trails, and probably a golf course. Whatever... it was a swanky hotel.
In the morning, my parents and I went to Breakfast @ Einstein's Bagels (which they hadn't ever been to either, but my mom was a little more open to new restaurants after the good Chipotle experience). They really enjoyed Einstein's, and even took a take-home menu so they could check the website. My parents are cute.
So cute, in fact, that we then went shopping @ Old Navy. I know... They're my parents and I shouldn't go shopping with my parents... but they were buying and they were cool about not forcing dorky clothing on me. So it was fun... and it was very good to see them.
We had a few long talks while we ate, and it appears I have to be completely self-sufficient in one year's time. That's the big news... and that's what's got me worried. Because I can't be self-sufficient right now. My bills are too large and, even though I'm salaried, I'm not making enough money. So I'm basically going to spend the next year trying to figure out how I can live and work in this city... or else I'll be leaving Chicago in a year. We'll see.
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