Update from August 27-28
Friday (the 27th) morning started with errands to Office Max. Stephan's store needed lots of loot and I'm the man to get it. I went to the store with around $700 on me. I had to buy a printer/copier/fax machine, phones, a filing cabinet, and miscellaneous office products (staplers, pens, velcro [what?], and so on). I'm so good, that I ended up with only about $4 left... I even calculated for tax! Hey... I was impressed that I almost hit this nail right on the head. That's awesome financial planning... I was almost and actuary!
I then went to Taco Bell by myself. I used to do it at Albion, where I would drive to Marshall (the Jackson one was Laura's) and sit and eat by myself. It was nice... and it gave me a few minutes to clear my head.
And it was good that I got those few minutes because Friday Laura came to Chicago! It was very nice to see her again, but we only had a couple of minutes together before I had call for my performance.

That's right, it was my final performance of the level 5 show. And the odd thing about final performances at the Second City is that they all sell out. From what I hear, they all sell out and then some. My show was no exception. We not only sold out Friday night, but there was a waiting list of 35 people. For those of you who don't know, Donny's Skybox is about half full with 35 people... so we probably could have put on two shows Friday night, both fairly full. The show was great... the audience was very responsive, and even most of the actors decided to add a few things because of the amount of laughs we were getting. We were getting so many laughs that we cut one of the scenes near the end of the show. That's laughs. It was a great experience and something I hope I can do again soon.
Friday night, after the show, Laura, Jim, and I went to my apartment and hung out for a bit. Laura was very tired from her long day, so we called it a night after an hour or two. After Jim left, I got ready for bed and lied down and then my phone rang. The rains had come and Jim's bus had not. I got up, dressed, and headed to Lake Shore Drive. I actually drove past Jim at first, because it was raining so hard I couldn't see him. Once I found him, we headed to his apartment through, at points, lakes of water. Water does not drain very well here in Chicago... so there were plenty of places where we were wading through water in my car. It was an interesting drive... but the rain had let up by the time I got back to my apartment, about an hour later.

Saturday morning, Laura and I woke up (in separate places. Come on! Mommy and Daddy are separated, because mommy makes daddy want to kill himself) and had a nice lazy conversation. It felt really nice to wake up and talk to someone again. Don't get me wrong, I love living by myself. But I sometimes miss waking up and talking with someone first thing in the morning.
I planned on taking Laura to Garlic and Chili (yes, I know Thai food is weird first thing in the morning... but we're weird). Oddly enough, the Thai food restaurant was closed. We then headed towards Coldstone and decided to eat at Einstein's. I paid for breakfast with a "Happy Birthday" to Laura... and we had a pleasant breakfast talking about how awesome I am (Laura would never have that conversation). We then walked back to Coldstone and got ice cream almost first thing in the morning. Nothing says that you're going to have a great day quite like getting ice cream first thing. I, unfortunately, had to deal with something that I'll get more into later... but it was good for Laura to see where I work and how awesome I am (so that we could actually have that conversation).
That was pretty much all of Laura's visit. And, for some reason that I won't get into because it would be talking about my feelings, saying good-bye was difficult. It was difficult because it was very good for me to see Laura again. And not just because it's nice to see a good friend again... but for reasons I won't go into. Let's just say that it's nice to know things are good for someone you care about.

After saying good-bye to Laura, it was time to go back to work. Saturday was Coldstone's grand opening at North Avenue. I really didn't have much to do, but make sure everything ran smoothly. Adam and I stuck around just long enough to see that the face-painter and the magician (I know... shut up), and then we left.
Once the grand opening was under control, Adam and I to Dave and Busters. We had dinner and shot a bunch of stuff... nothing says a job well done quite like pulling the trigger and ending a computer generated life.
After that, Adam and I went to see the movie 'Garden State'. I think it was a very good movie... the kind of movie that Nick would love. Hey son, go see Garden State if you haven't seen it. You would love it.