Frozen Light Bulb
On the back porch of the apartment, I spotted this guy. I wonder what will happen when it thaws… and whether it’ll work again, or explode.
Archive for January, 2009
Game Night at Allison’s: Ballsdurdash
Allison invited a bunch of us Logan Square folks (Chris and Leslie, Ben, Justin, Justin (aka Juicy)) over to her place for an evening of games. On the docket was either Scattegories, Charades, or possibly… Ballsdurdash. We hung out in the kitchen for a while, making drinks and munching a bit of guac and chips….
Happy (Surprise) Birthday, Darryl!
Tonight, Liz and I drove over to Indiana for Darryl’s surprise birthday party. We had gotten directions to a nearby school, and someone there was nice enogh to shuttle folks from the parking lot back to the house (it was a fairly cold, sub-zero night out). When we arrived at the house, Tricia greeted us…
Lunch at Hot Doug’s
One of the great things about being on vacation during the week is the chance to swing by Hot Doug’s for lunch. Today, not only was there less of a line than I’ve ever seen (it’s usually out the door, and around the corner with a minimum of 30+ minutes)… we also got the rock…
There’s No “I” in Team
There’s this joke that Liz and I have, where if we feel something is one sided, or that one of us isn’t considering the other person’s feelings… we’ll say to one another: “Where’s the Team? There’s no team here.” This morning, as we were talking about the day… I found occassion to use the “team”…
Vacation 2.0
My last email has been sent, my last to-do item of the day has been crossed off the list. Autoreply is on, and I’m off on vacation again for a week plus! Prior to the holidays, I found out that I had some 17 days of vacation remaining. I remembered taking some time off last…
Images of Snow
There was a great deal of snow that came down, last night and this morning. Going to work and coming home, I snapped a few photos. Heading to work, circa 8:20 AM. Heading home, circa 7:35 PM.
TJ Downloads Microsoft’s Songsmith, A Performance By Chris Ensues
In a move that can only be described as masochism, TJ downloaded a trial version of Microsoft’s Songsmith. Apparently, today was “Punish Your Coworkers” day. Next thing that happens, a ton of folks are gathered around TJ’s desk, waiting for a demonstration. Naturally, Chris rises to the challenge, and he breaks out this little ditty…
Police Search Metra Train, Mike Gets a Gun Pointed At Him
Mike always seems to have the most interesting trips in to work. Around 9:30 AM, I walked out of my office to see several folks on the Affiliate side huddled around a few computers. The speakers were up, and I heard Mike’s voice talking about how his train was stopped, and how police were searching…
David Lee Roth Vocals + Songsmith: A Brilliant Idea, A Horrific Sound
So it’s of a benefit to document how all these pieces first came to be – which thing came at the start, which things followed. To begin it all, an isolated version of David Lee Roth’s vocals from Running with the Devil emerged (here’s a direct link to the mp3). So for a while, that…
Goodbye, Ping Pong Table… Hello, New Desks
Deep down, we all knew that the ping pong table was a temporary thing… something to fill the open area near the windows until we, eventually, built out the space with more desks. Sadly, that day has arrived. It’s a good thing, in that our business is growing and we need the space. But a…
A Note to Chicago Travellers
This is for the guy I saw sitting sitting on a bench at the Damen Blue Line stop, one hand holding a phone to his ear, another hand holding his forehead, and a pile of puke by his feet. Judging by your backpack, you were like me: on your way home. And just didn’t quite…
New Section Added: Ten Best Days, 2002 – 2008
Over the last two weeks in December, one of my side projects was to get caught up on the “Ten Best Days” lists for 2006 and 2007. As I was getting those up to date, I realized that all the lists were scattered in various places, and a little difficult to find. This weekend, I…
Going Under: Fascinating Article on Drug Addiction Among Anesthesiologists
All week, I haven’t had many photos to share. The workdays have been pretty busy for me, and my RSS reader has looked more and more like some kind of odometer that won’t quit. I got caught up a bit on all the normal surfing/sites I didn’t get to, earlier in the week. One of…
Songsmith: Microsoft’s Cringe-Worthy, Singing Video Ad
Microsoft recently announced a new product called Songsmith – an application that helps users create music/songs by providing the background music. Users select a musical style, sing into their computer’s microphone, and the program detects things like pitch and whatnot… and basically does all the accompaniment. But the real delight isn’t in the application. It’s…