Month: July 2006

First supper

1st

Finally! Stayed at the apartment for the first time Saturday night after the 80s party – but the bathroom was still not complete, thankfully TK and Dave were gracious enough to let us use theirs until ours was complete! They finally completed (mostly) the bathroom, and we were able to use it this morning! The kitchen is still a bit of a mess as the drains aren’t hooked up and so we don’t yet have running water in the kitchen. At least he hooked up the oven for us so that I could cook the first meal! Granted, I had to go to the bathroom to fill the pot – and then drain the ravioli in the toilet. Not exactly the classiest of ways to start – but at least we are in! I’ll write more when its not midnight and I’m not totally exhausted…

Thanks to Greg, Mila, Katty, Mom, Aita, Bill, Worm, Dave and TK for the help moving! More thanks to everybody who donated stuff to the apartment! Gretchen practically gave us an entire kitchen set! Thanks again!

Storm Front


click for bigger image

As I was leaving the office today I witnessed a storm front rolling in engulfing the city. I’ve never seen anything like it before, it almost looked like a scene from a movie. Its amazing how nature can surprise us…

A fierce storm Thursday evening sent tornado sirens screaming and emergency crews rushing to clean up storm damage and restore power across the Chicagoland area. In some areas, 5.5 inches of rain fell in just 90 minutes…

Kegfast multi-output tap

What do you say guys? First purchase for the apartment?!

Only $59.99 for the dually at Kegfast!

How does it work?
Thanks to the patented innovations developed by KegFast Industries our taps allow for the distribution of beverages through a multiple output manifold scientifically developed to dispense beverage with absolutely no excessive foaming or loss of pressure.

Conference call Report Card

report card
I decided to try and wrangle up the guys for a conference call to wish Fitz a happy birthday. As you can imagine, hilarity ensued! I decided to document the effort in the form of a report card. Each person was graded* on the following criteria:

Effort, Technical Knowledge, and “Other”

The highlights were: Steve’s phone greeting (sounded like a Vespa owner), Mikey pretending to be Mark and saying “Hello?” after every other ring, and Bally yelling in the background… hopefully Mark got a kick out of the messages we left!

Bally = B+

  • B for Effort – hey, its tough pulling yourself away from the cabin to participate in such nonsense!
  • A for Tech – he knows exactly how to “work” Fasana
  • A for Other – he did a fantastic job of heckling the rest of us while on speakerphone (while sitting on the couch with a beer, I’m sure!)

Dave = C+

  • F for Effort – this grade is for IBM making him work 3rd shift on Mark’s birthday – what were they thinking?!
  • A for Tech – although this is unconfirmed, my guess is Dave has a better handle than the rest of these guys on how to make a conference call
  • B for Other – for being there in spirit

Fasana = A-

  • A for Effort – though he didn’t get my e-mail, he was at the right place at the right time and was always the first to call me back when everybody would inevitably get dropped
  • B+ for Tech – though he didn’t know how to conference with his cell phone, the speakerphone more than made up for it!
  • A for Other – considering that he rarely picks up when I call (ok, so its usually 12am when I call and not 12pm) he took the call while at the cabin!

Hutch = C+

  • A for Effort – he responded to e-mails and made sure to let me know when he was going to be in the office
  • F for Tech – he had no idea how to make a conference call, even with hours of time to prep for it!
  • B for Other – for not going all BNT on us!

Mark = C+

  • D for Effort – come on man, we called every single one of your phones!
  • C+ for Tech – though he has all the tech he could possibly need to get a phone call, he somehow missed all 3 calls!
  • A for Other – ok, so it was his birthday after all!

Mikey = A

  • A for Effort = even though he never got any of the e-mails, he was still ready and willing!
  • A for Tech = finally, somebody who knew how to make a friggin conference call!
  • A for Other = for keeping us all amused – anything involving 6 guys at once, Mikey always comes out on top! errr..

Steve = C-

  • C+ for Effort = he responded to the e-mails, picked up his phone but then suddenly disappeared
  • C for Tech = he was able to conference Mikey in, though they work in the same building..
  • D for Other = though his manner of answering the phone gave us all a good chuckle, when push came to shove, he bailed

T.K. = B-

  • B+ for Effort = he was ready and waiting, and even though I’m sure it annoyed the hell out of him, he hung around during all 3 attempts
  • D for Tech = he’s got a brand new cell phone with all the bells and whistles, and he can’t make a conference call?!
  • A for Other = it just wouldn’t have been the same without TK telling everybody to be quiet and then promptly cracking up

Happy (now belated) Birthday Mark!

*grade calculator

As heard on the Red Line

This was supposed to have posted at 2am Saturday morning

“So my uncle is in hiding, but he is the head of the clan. So when he comes out of hiding, I will be known as a descendant of the dragon clan. Since my father has blood of the vampire clan and my mother has blood of the wolf clan, that would make me like top dog or something! Everybody will have to report to me!”

Umm… nuff said… Hope that Dave doesn’t hang with these clans!

Carmina Burana

Carmina Burana performed by the Grant Park Orchestra on Wednesday

We are off to Millennium Park once again tonight! Hopefully the sky holds up as they did for us on Wednesday! Things have been crazy this week, as seems to be happening on a regular basis now! The race weekend was a blast! I have posted some pictures for those that are interested in seeing them. Watching 40 year old cars wring it out at ~170mph was quite a sight! I’ll see if I can fill in some more information about the cars that I have pictured in the future. Maybe Andy, the SpeedGeek will show us what he knows!

I also got a new toy recently! Wintec WBT-100 4-in-1 GPS… sounds exciting doesn’t it? Well, it actually logs GPS data as well as sending it out to my PDA – so I can track things such as my CTA ride to work this morning!

While looking at the overlay on Google Earth I noticed that they have updated pictures of Chicago! Here is a shot of where I’m headed now!

Those with a keen eye will notice my GPS tracking wasn’t very accurate! Hopefully it won’t be big deal with Jane!)

Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin

0_m6b.jpg

We drove up to Wisconsin after work to watch Matt’s friend Jay participate in a historical race at Road America. When we arrived they had just finished looking over the day’s data. The sun had set and there was an unusual silence in the air. Each beast had been put to sleep for the night, awaiting their wakeup call in the morning. Jay’s beast is a 1960s CanAm McLaren M6B – and an incredible specimen at that! Can’t wait to hear it amongst its brethren!

BJ needs a new computer

After seeing BJ’s comment about needing a new PC – I came up with the perfect solution for him! (click on the image below)

For those of you not familiar with Strongbad he is a character on The Homestar Runner Website (now served with a side of Wiki)! Stongbad responds to a “fan” e-mail every Monday. When Andy and I lived with Mike it was a weekly ritual to see what Strongbad had to say. Hilarious stuff!

Some of my favs:
Techno (the very first one I saw)
Trogdor
20×6
Virus (or how Strongbad lost his 386)

Always a good way to pass some time