August 26th, 2001

Well, let's see now. Work has kept me VERY busy. I've been working up to 12 hours some days. Luckily I get the overtime. Thank the heavens for that little blessing. I've been able to make it to the gym as well. I'm glad I live so close to the blue line. I can just take that straight up to Irving Park after work and then come back to my place. Speaking of, my living room is now covered in patch cords and gear. I'm finally getting my lazy ass around to doing some recordings. I'm probably going to buy Christians digital 8-track from him, which is what I'm using right now. I'm really frustrated right now because there is this hideous amount of bleed over on all of the tracks. Gotta figure out what's causing that.

I got to play guitar for Xio over the phone a couple of nights ago. It was so much fun. I was going through all the Cure songs I could remember. She even sang along. It was adorable. I made a phone call to Rianon for the first time and completely woke her up. Not exactly the first impression that I had planned on leaving with her. Ouch. I called her back (much) later, and she seemed pretty happy to hear from me. I was with Jeff, Kim, and Eric at the time. Eric was visiting from San Francisco. It was great to see him again. I got two great pics of Jeff and Kim together. One, and two. We ate lunch at this place called Piece, which is in Wicker Park. It's right across the street from the house where they're filming for the next season of MTV's the Real World. That house is ugly as hell from the outside. Anyway, the pizza was good, but expensive. People, pepperoni is NOT a "premium topping". That's just pathetic. After that we went to this little arts fair in Bucktown. We saw one of the girls from the Real World there getting filmed walking around and talking about how it was about to pour. Which it did. The three of us got drenched. It was kinda fun though. When Chicago gets that much rain that quickly, you get to see some serious flooding. I could barely get my car to my apartment. Water was up to the doors and my engine started steaming.

August 22nd, 2001

Yeah, I'm definitely in one of those every-two-month-male-depression cycles. It's weird. Things don't usually get me down, but lately I just get moody. Not pissed per se, just really emotional all around. I spent a wonderful evening with Linsey last night. We rented "Almost Famous" which I had missed in the theaters. It was a great movie. I was drinking beer. She was drinking cider. It was just a nice time to have someone hanging out in my apartment with me. But then it also gets me thinking about my completely inactive romantic life. It's just funny that the people I'm really interested in are unavailable by current relationship or that they're living on a distant coastline somewhere else on this continent. I need to meet some Chicago girls! This is too depressing. Oh, and why the hell is everyone 18 or 19 years old? 24 just seems to fucking old all of a sudden.

Emily = drama. But at least I finally got my drill back from her. I was finally able to put up my new star lamp in my living room. It's beautiful.

I've been slacking off big time on the Aegis web site. Now that I'm back to a 9 to 5 schedule, I'm so freaking tired in the evening (or if I actually make it to the gym) that I have no energy to put towards it. I swear I'm going to finish it THIS weekend.

I put the webcam up in my office. I'm a little hesitant to put it on broadcast because I'm not sure if Dave likes it or not. He and I get along really well, and I would hate to cross a line that would bring up a new "no webcams" office policy. It's not like I'm broadcasting sensitive material. Although Dave was really funny when he noticed the thing. He was standing by my desk talking about the laptops I have to re-image and he suddenly said "that thing isn't broadcasting my crotch all over the world is it?!?!?" I laughed. It wasn't even turned on, but still. Kinda funny.

August 19th, 2001

Well the job is going well. I'm really very happy. Jeff, who by all accounts got me this job, stopped by my desk Friday morning. I couldn't help giving him a big hug. I love my office. Every one there is wonderfully nice, and they've all welcomed me with open arms. I finally feel like I'm living the Chicago experience. This is what I moved here for. The rush of the downtown pedestrians, riding the trains every day, having that amazing view of the lake also helps a great deal.

I want to fall in love again. I don't even have a crush on anyone right now. Not really anyway. At least, not with anyone I have a shot at. It's weird. I'm very used to living alone, and not being in a relationship. Yet there are times like tonight where I really miss that life. I need to write more music. That might help.

August 16th, 2001

Alrighty then. An update is long overdue, considering all of the cool shit that has been happening to me in the last few days. My new job at Getty is very, very cool. Everyone in that office is so damned nice! My manager Dave, shown here while removing foliage from his desk, is a really great guy. We get along really well. It's going to be a close, tight IT group, I think. The office is extremely cool inside. Very cool design aesthetic, considering that the office is primarily sales. You'd think it would be a bunch of cubicles, but there are cool splashes of color, weird ergonomic curves in the walls and ceilings, and my coworkers have decorated the living hell out of their cubicles. I've already started that as well. Speaking of aesthetic, check out the view from my window!!!! pic1, pic2, and pic3. That first one is the front entrance to the Chicago Art Institute. The only thing I CAN'T see of downtown is the Ferris wheel at Navy Pier. I'm sure if I have to stay late on some nights that I'll see the fireworks from the pier as well. It's all very cool. I get to take the El to and from work everyday. We'll have to see how long that remains pleasant. It's so crowded in the morning. I finally feel like I'm really working in Chicago. I get to walk a few blocks to get to my building, and the rush of people is so cool. Well, that's it for now. I'm tired as hell. I need to somehow get a new schedule for going to the gym. The idea of going there at 5:30 in the morning is a little shaky.

August 13th, 2001

Interesting weekend. Jeff called me on Thursday to give me an update on the possible PC/LAN Technician position at his office for Getty Images. He had dropped my name to them the day before. They swung by his desk and they asked him for me to get my résumé in ASAP. Within an hour of me getting it to them they called me. They had me in there the very next day (Friday) for an interview. It went AMAZINGLY well. I was really, really happy. I took the El to get down there and happily realized what a trip that would be, to have to take the train downtown everyday to get to work. Very cool. When I first moved up here, I was working in the suburbs, and I wasn't getting much exposure to real Chicago. This office is RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE ART INSTITUTE. Now I ask you, how cool is that? Exactly. The office is really cool. Besides Jeff, I already know two people who work there. There is virtually NO DRESS CODE. I came in looking "rather dapper" as Dave put it. The two IT guys that interviewed me were wearing cargo shorts, t-shirts and sandals. Sweet. When I arrived at the building I changed into my shirt and tie in the bathroom of a nearby bagel place. Just as I was about to walk into the elevator, Jeff stepped out. That was very cool. He ushered me outside so I could talk to him during his break. After the interview I called him from the street and he came down and we had lunch at Zoom Kitchen. I can't wait to have a steady paycheck again. That office even overlooks the lake. I can't wait!!!

The Pharmaceuticals had our first practice Friday night. It was interesting, to say the least. I'm not happy with the way things turned out at all, but it WAS really good to play out again. Getting pedal happy with white noise all over the place was refreshing.

Saturday I cleaned the hell out of my apartment. I'm thinking of throwing my plants away. I just can't keep them healthy. I don't really have a good location for them to get good sun exposure without getting burned. I dunno. It's not like I'm throwing away a live fish or something. To quote Kim: "Sorry Fluffy. Mommy's tired of ya. And black just isn't in this year." (flush).

I met up with Linsey and Christian around 7 to go get food before seeing the Ocean Blue at the Metro. I forgot how loud and obnoxious Wriggleyville can be on a weekend. Huge, drunken jocks talking as loud as they can, hooting at girls, and trying to say fuck and dude as many times as they can in their conversations. We got food at Pick Me Up and I spent $5 on the jukebox. I LOVE those things. Selected highlights included "William, it was really nothing" by the Smiths, "In-between Days", "Jumping Someone Else's Train" and "The Love Cats" by The Cure, "Barabas" by Hooverphonic, and "Gone Daddy Gone" by The Violent Femmes. The show at the Metro was pretty good. The crowd was almost nonexistent during the first few opening bands. I can't recall the name of the first group. They weren't exactly not worthy. The 3rd group was called The Owls. They were from Minneapolis. Good band. Two librarian girls, a sexy as hell bass player, and a guy who was the spitting image of Gary Oldman. They sounded like Stereolab meets, I dunno, Bunnygrunt? The Orange Peels were 3rd. Pretty good stuff. San Francisco power pop. The Ocean Blue opened with "Vanity Fair". It was magnificent. We were up in the balcony the whole time and I was bouncing in my seat like a child with a sugar high. They played a lot of new material, which sounds really good. When they changed their sound around on their 4th album, I was a little worried, because they had lost their reverb heavy, guitar sound. But this new stuff sounds like their older stuff, and that's alright with me. The songs they played that I DID know included, Crash, Marigolds, Slide, Mercury, Drifting/Falling, Ask Me John, and Ballerina Out Of Control. They brought out the sexy guy from The Owls to play saxophone on "Drifting/Falling," and it went over really well. During "Ask Me John" David broke into the first verse from the Loveboat theme song. Major laughs. They had two encores. The first one included a duet with the guitar player from The Orange Peels where the played some song I'd never heard before called "Golden Gates" and then the band ripped into "There's a Light That Never Goes Out" by the Smiths. The 2nd Encore was when the played Ballerina Out Of Control. I was so happy.

After the show I ended up at Jeff's place. He and Josh were throwing simultaneous coordinated parties at both of their apartments. Josh lives above Jeff and across the hall. I missed the bulk of the crowd due to the fact that I rolled in around 2 AM. Oh well. I woke up a bit hung over the next day. Not from being drunk, but from just drinking too much beer. Kim, Jeff, DJ, and I went over to Lincoln for some late breakfast medical treatment. I stuffed myself. It was great. I am so going back on my diet starting today.

*****UPDATE******

I just got off the phone with Tracy over at Getty Images, and I got the job!!!

August 6th, 2001

Had a good weekend. It's Monday and I just got back from Bloomington. I went down there Friday and met up with Flip and some other folks. After dinner at the Irish Lion, we went to see Sexy Beast. Flip had recommended this movie to me the last time I was down there and I really liked it. On Saturday, Flip and I went to see Rush Hour 2. I'm not sure if I liked it as much as the first one, but this one had Zhang Zi-Yi in and that more than made up for any shortcomings. Good grief, she's so amazing. I melt every time I see her.

Saturday night I went up to Indianapolis to have dinner with my friend Cathy. We went to Bazbo's which has some bad ass pizza. Although it wasn't so great this time. Oh well. We went to Heather Lock and Shawn Delaney's new house for a party. I bumped into several people, including my dear friend Leslie, who is now sporting a kick ass motorcycle. She gave me a ride around a few blocks. I was a bit scared. I'd never ridden on the back of a motorcycle before and I wasn't wearing a helmet. Plus I was wearing shorts. I would have normally insisted on wearing a helmet, but my overtly large head wouldn't fit in hers. Ahem. Anyway. The party was great. I ran into Heath and talked to him quite a while. Rayna was there as well. It was also the Eve of her 24th birthday. I didn't really get to talk to Shawn much. He was airiel's bass player back when we both lived in Bloomington. They bought the house that they're living in now. They did a fantastic job decorating. They did what I wanted to do with my apartment; have each room a different color. Since my rent is going up and I've already signed the lease renewal, I may as well paint the place. Who knows.

Now for the pics: pic1, pic2, pic3, pic4, pic5, pic6, pic7, pic8, pic9, pic10, pic11, pic12, pic13, pic14, pic15, pic16, pic17

I remember at one point seeing a moth land in one of the candles on a table, and in my drunken state I decided to pour beer on it to put it out, as it was getting out of control. I thought to myself "Beer doesn't have enough alcohol in it to burn, does it?" Guess what Mensa? It does!!!! Heather got a huge kick out of it. Luckily nothing got burned. Josh stepped in and snuffed it out with his wallet. Go Josh!

I got to hang out at my parents place quite a bit. I love that house. I got some pictures of the back yard. pic1, pic2, pic3. Mom and I ate breakfast a couple of times out there this weekend. The mornings were fine, but the heat really kicked up around noon. Mom and I made Nestle tollhouse cookies on Sunday night before making dinner. I made out with a giant bag of them. Hehehehe. Damn my lactose intolerance. Anyway. I also picked up some movies. Best In Show and Unbreakable. Dad was busy with work in the study, so it was just me and mom. She loved both movies. I hadn't seen Best In Show before and didn't stop laughing. Neither did mom. It was great fun.

August 1st, 2001

Went out with the boys last night. Matt Bennet is in town. He's looking for a place to live in Chicago. He's finally out of Philly for good. Bill, Jeff, Matt and I went to the Twisted Spoke, which is this restaurant in the middle of what seems like nowhere. It's filled with motorcycle parts and motorcycle pictures. It's a cool place. The waitresses are always very cool. We then ran off to the Lincoln Tap Room. This is a very cool bar. Unfortunately the clientele is now a bunch of yuppie business folk, but oh well. On a Tuesday night it wasn't bad at all. I got some funny pics of the boys. Jeff drunk, Matt and Bill, Jeff, having a party in his pants, Bill, assuming the position, Jeff and Matt arguing about the jukebox, Jeff at ringside, Jeff sinking a shot? I really like that last one. The funny thing I noticed was that I only got pictures of the back of Bill's head. [Insert punch line here].

We ended up meeting DJ at his place. (No photos. Sorry.) We went to some bar close to his apartment. Bill had already left, so we were back to 4 again. We ended up having depressing conversations about jobs and the fact that DJ and I are having a growing level of angst between us over the fact that I prefer subtitles in foreign moves and anime, and he prefers overdubs. I kept making jokes like "just because you're a slow reader" and he was honestly getting irritated. But I must admit it was all because he's worried about work. As we all are right now. Jeff is at his work right now where they're laving off 14 people. He's fine, but he doesn't know who all is being let go. They have a relatively small office and a tight group of friends. It's gonna be difficult. The three of them suggest I go on unemployment. I'm researching that right now. I'll probably have to get in touch with Ed, my former employer. That's gonna be tough, seeing as how he already owes me for 53 hours of work and he won't return my calls.

It's REALLY hot out today. It's supposed to be a high of 97 degrees, which means the heat index is up in the 100's. I'm not going to the gym. I'm staying inside all day where it's cool. I need to get a new banner done for the Aegis web site that I'm working on right now anyway. The one I put up there was just temporary. blah blah blah work blah blah blah boring.