maybe they can put a starbucks there...

so, the berghoff is closing.... if you around in the next 2 months, try to visit.

Obviously they aren't putting a starbucks there, but it would have been fitting.

xmas photos

So since we didn't do much on Christmas there weren't many photos...

Me and Connie with the Weber Grill Man at the Weber Grill

Bill and Lily Christmas morning

Bobby practicing with his monster golf club.

Me and Bill on our first Christmas together.

Me and Bobbers --we are so cool!

Us on Christmas morning doing what we did the entire time Bobby was out- Playing smash. Please excuse the thumb, lily isn't used to our camera.

And so this is Christmas...

I hope you have all had happy holidays... Bill and I enjoyed having Bobby out and sitting back and enjoying Christmas. It was a bit different to not be rushing out the door 3 days in a row to visit all sorts of family, but it wasn't necessarily bad.

I hope to post some pictures tonight.

Later.

Congrats!

Congratulations Mr. Scott Ungar.

Going Ape -My side of the story

So you can check out Bill's review here. In the end the movie was good but at intermission (we still aren't sure if that was the theater's doing of the movies doing). I was highly disappointed in the film. 1.5 hours of my life gone and most of it spent on Jack Black. However, the movie redeemed itself and I too was amazed at how real Kong was, it was as if the had taught a really ape to act and then enlarged him digitally. I also really love the cinimatography. Peter Jackson -bushman though he may be- can really direct well. I was disappointed at the role given to Adrien Brody, though he did a good job with it. I was impressed by Naomi Watts, especially considering how hard it is to act along on a blue screen/scream bloody murder over and over.

Worst part of movie... icky bug moment eewwwww!

I was also disappointed that Jack Black didn't get it in the end. Dude should have been killed by Kong instead of getting to utter "no, it was beauty that killed the beast"

Also, Bill had told me that they guy that "played" King Kong was also the one who played Gollum. But he was also a regular character --the cook who gets it from the weird ass flobber worm looking things.

Anyway over all if you are into these types of movies this is the best I have seen, and if you aren't it may even be worth a gander (if you have 3 hours to spare).

Shortest Day of the Year.

So we got up to go work out ... in the dark. We came home ...in the dark. We took showers ...still dark. Got dressed ..85% dark with a chance of sun rising. Drove to work ... finally can see the sky and a sun rising. here is what I predict for the rest of the day: Lunch cold with a chance of colder. Afternoon, sun setting. 4:00 afternoon tea, dark. 5:00 train, dark. 7:30 King Kong "free" movie, dark. 10:00 playing smash brothers, dark. 10:30 getting ready for bed, super dark.

And yet I have the irresistibly catchy "always look on the bright side of life" stuck in my head. Damn you Spam-a-lot and you incredibly hard to score tickets!

Happy Birthday Frank!

So, Bobby is at the airport right now and should arrive around 2pm today.

Yesterday I went to a new dentist... so the back story is I went to the dentist at the beginning of December and he said I have 2 cavities... This is for a person with a previous perfect dental record. So I got scheduled to do a drilling and then I scheduled a drs visit around going to the dentist... only to find out that when I thought I had scheduled the visit and when I DID schedule the visit were two different days. and of course they couldn't reschedule me until next year.... so alas I find a new dentist.

So I got yesterday to find out I now have 4 cavities... apparently they are multiplying. And then she asks me if i drink a lot of bottled water... and I initially say no... but then I remember that every thing I drink at work (where i drink 2-3 glasses of water a day) is in the big water cooler bottles. anyway she says I am not getting enough fluoride and hence multiplying cavities.

An amusing side story to this... when she went to give my the local, she but a numbing gel on my gums first... the was godawful tasting, and I asked her what it was "flavored" and she said pina colata. I think my dentist has just made me hate pina colatas for life :)

Also as this post mentions, happy birthday frank.

well...

I wasn't expecting that... Trump and Beckster seemed to be on board the hire both cadidates train, but Randal seemed to have missed the memo... oh well, and way to go yahoo trying to cover your lame demanding ass too bad google beats you hands down and everything.


EDIT: Bill and I are TiVo owners now. yea! --take that RJ's ban.

im not dead

Nope, I am still living, but thanks for asking.

Yes, I was ill for the past 5 days, but I am happy to say I am on the mend. and just in time for another weekend.

Anyway Bobby get's here in less than a week, and a week from today we will start to have a light at the end of the tunnel, as winter begins and our days finally get longer again.

I over paid for my education.

One of the small perks of my over priced education at U of C is that my college id has no dates on it, and since I am still as young and beautiful as ever I can "pass" for the same person in my old id. This leads to all sorts of benefits:discounts at theaters, museums, and Irish pub crawls. I have, however, found the most impressive discount so far: free movies on Wednesday nights! I don't know how long the will do this but the Hollywood Blvd Theater is having free movies on Wednesdays for folks with a college ID. Now as all good econ majors know the basic premise of economics is :TANSTAAFL (there ain't no such thing as a free lunch.) So yesterday, Bill and I braved to cold weather (a cost of time and gas and warmth) to go see Chicken Little (an opportunity cost, as I could have been watching Alias and Lost) at the theater (a cost because since this is a "dinner" theater you must purchase one item per person along with your ticket)

Was it worth it? Well, for 35 bucks Bill and I got a meal with unlimited refills of Pepsi (a non-substitutable item for me because Coke just isn't as good), an appetizer and two entrees
(a burger and a chicken-artichoke-spinach pizza) and two "free" tickets to view the movie. It did cost us our time at home with our TV programs (but since Lost was a re-run and Alias is just dying a slow and painful death, I would opt for a new movie). It did make us venture out into the cold and use gasoline. But the movie was cute and the food was good so I would say yes it was worth it. Plus, I gained the benefit of not having to cook.

Lied to.

If you recall I typed this yesterday:

Today's high 17, tomorrows 24, and so on until next Monday we will be a
balmy 45.

I was lied to. Today I woke up and it was a sweltering 1 degree outside. I get my butt on the elliptical thingy and the news is happily telling me that (again) today will be 17, and now the best we can hope for is a weekend above freezing (as in 33 degrees on sat and 34 on sun) Dude, this is not funny. If the weather men are doing this just because they know that if I know it will be 17 all week I wouldn't get out of bed they should all be fired.

Meanwhile I am thinking about this in my self-torture camp called the YMCA. As much as I know I needed to start working out regularly and as much as I know working out in the mornings id better for both me and Bill I still curse the man that decided gyms should open at 5 am. If they didn't open until 9 I think many people would be better off... More time to sleep and be less stupid on the roads.

Which brings me to the real winner of the day: So bill and I we at a backed up intersection trying to get to our parking lot. This particular intersection gets backed up because 95% of people want to turn left and the main road is backed up due to the trains. But we want to turn right. Now we are too far back to get into the turning lane but we signal and move as close as possible to the curve. Now there is an alleyway that feeds into the middle of this mess (think normal suburban side street with an alley cut into the middle). There are people that use the alley way to avoid the real roads and they go zooming down these things until they hit this street which is where the alley ends. There are about 3 cars backed up in the alley. The light turns green and the yellow and then red... No one can move because 95% of the cars are wanting to go left and two trains have just gone by. The light turns green again. This time cars can go and we finally can get into the right hand turn lane... except we can't. Some lady is pulling out blocking our lane from the alley trying to get into the turning lane. But the people who don't cheat and have waited at the light aren't letting her in (she didn't signal, she just pulled out, by the way). So, now she is getting pissed while we and the cars in the turning lane are waiting for her to stop blocking out lane of traffic. Then she winds up (I'm not kidding) and starts blaring on her horn and yelling at the people who are turning and not letting her in. Finally, some one is nice enough to let her in and she continues to curse and all around her waving her hand in the air. During this time, we and the cars behind us are waiting (with out horns or flailing arms) for the winner to move and as we pass she gives us a dirty look. Is it our fault you are dumb and have tried to cheat the system of the roads? Is it our fault you blocked our lane as you and your car jutted out without signaling? Is it our fault that you obviously need anger management therapy?

tree pics!

Here is Bill about to cut down the tree.

Here is me and Bill with our newly felled Christmas tree.


Bill putting the angle on the tree

Me and bill and out first Chistmas tree together.

Jolly Ole St. Nicholas

Yes, to day is St. Nicholas day, so check your shoes before you step into them there might be candy inside.

I didn't get a chance to post over the weekend --Bill and I were quite busy.

On Friday evening after work we went to the Metropolitan Club at the Sears Tower for Bill's Christmas party. There was music and drinks and a very good dinner. Over the course of the evening I met:

• A woman whose mother went to HB and who is currently dating the son of the head of admissions to U of C
• A woman who went to John Carroll University, whose husband's cousin went to Gesu elementary
• A man who was just in Cleveland to see the browns game (just cause)
• A woman and son who were driving to Cleveland the next day because she was going to be a visiting minister at a church in East Cleveland
• various people who had various relatives living in the Cleveland area

On Saturday we went and cut down our Christmas tree. It is a beautiful white pine, and I will post pictures from home. Saturday evening was my Christmas party, and Bill seemed to have pretty good luck with his bowling --he even won a prize. I was not bad enough for the DFL (Damn F-in Luck) prize and not good enough for anything else. The food was decent and the drinks were good.

On Sunday, we had errands to run, and then Bill Lily and I trekked over to Oakbrook Center and finished Christmas shopping. That evening we decorated the tree and made him b-e-a-utiful.

Now it is Tuesday and the weather forecast through next Monday looks like an exponential growth graph... Today's high 17, tomorrows 24, and so on until next Monday we will be a balmy 45. Yesterday's temp was pretty bad and the wind chill was negative nine. (yikes)

So that is all that has happened recently... I will try to get some pics up of the tree some time soon... Otherwise I should get to work here and I am sure you have better things to do.