August 31st, 2006 10:16 hours CST
Currently listening to: "The House Always Wins" by The Clientele.
Yuka moves here in: 20 days
Feeling: headachey

I went to see The Clientele at Abbey Pub last night. They were fantastic. Always wanted to see them live and they were really great. The main fellow was finger picking on a beautiful Fender Tele thinline. My friend Liz was there and we stood right in front of him. I discovered that asking people to stop talking or to move while at a show works 1,000 times better than in a movie theater. We had people behind us talking and they all apologized and went to the back of the crowd if I asked them to stop talking. However, I wasn't able to pinpoint the jerk near us that kept farting during their entire set. That, plus cigarette smoke? That lingers, dude. Gross.

August 29th, 2006 17:50 hours CST
Currently listening to: "Take It Easy My Brother Charlie" by Kahimi Karie
Yuka moves here in: 22 days
Feeling: curious

I've been dealing with a woman from CTA for the past month or so who is handling my hospital bills as a result of the blue line derailing on July 11th. Of course, every person from CTA that has called me asks if I'm filing a claim, which I'm not. I'm not the type of person to sue for something that was clearly an accident. Hell, I rely on CTA trains for work every day. I know that they're under-budget and that's why the trains are loud as hell, smell like piss and look like moving garbage cans. (Don't pay attention to this, honey. Yes, the trains in Japan are quiet, clean and actually run on a schedule. But things do actually work here. ^_~ )

Anyway, I got my three bills from Illinois Masonic Hospital and even though I was only in there for a short time, they did draw my blood and put me on oxygen for a while. Naturally these two minor things put the total cost over $1,000 and CTA has graciously accepted them and is taking care of them. The woman I've been dealing with asked me if I wouldn't mind coming into the CTA office and sign a statement, basically declaring that this was it and I wouldn't be pursuing any other financial action beyond the hospital bills.

The office she directed me to is at 567 W. Lake. She told me to take the green line over to Clinton and walk 1 block south. I looked up the stop on the handy CTA Maps Site and noticed something that made me pause. The office is exactly 2 block of where we came up out of the ground during the derailing. We climbed out of that horrible, smoke-filled tunnel at Clinton and Fulton.

I asked her to just put the statement in the mail instead.

August 29th, 2006 10:30 hours CST
Currently listening to: "Indra" by Thievery Corporation
Yuka moves here in: 22 days
Feeling: excellent

What's been happening since my last update? Dead Rising, that's what. It completely took over my life. So much so that I spent 10 straight hours on Saturday trying to unlock the 5 Day achievement. Why would I do that? Well, it unlocks a lightsaber. I mean, come on. Zombies vs. Level 50 Frank West wielding a lazer sword? That's some serious good time waiting to happen.

I stopped by Jeff and Kim's on Saturday as well. It was good to see them. Met their friend Paul who just might have a terrific apartment for me and Yuka in April. We shall see. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Airiel plays New York this weekend and it's going to kick ass. Here are the details:

Show: Sin-e (150 attorney st @ stanton 10002 212.388.0077)
Where: New York, NY
When: September 2nd, 2006
Other Bands: Failed Alliance, The Vandelles and A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS
Details: $10.00 Doors at 7:30. Failed Alliance = 1st, Airiel = 2nd, APTBS = 3rd, The Vandelles = 4th

Show: Europa Night Club (98-104 Meserole Ave., (corner of Manhattan Ave.) (718) 383-5723)
Where: Brooklyn, NY
When: September 3rd, 2006
Other Bands: Elika and Sea Cat
Details: $??? Doors at 7:00. I think the lineup is Sea Cat, Elika then Airiel.

I gotta go get the new Streets & Trips software for my phone. The old version didn't work to well on it. Also going to finally get a mini SD card. Microcenter has them for about $45 for a 1 gig card. Not bad.

August 18th, 2006 16:30 hours CST
Currently listening to: "Let’s Go to Bed (milk mix)" by the Cure.
Yuka moves here in: 33 days
Feeling: good, but my right knee hurts

After sorting through hundreds of photos, I’ve finally finished my wedding journal. I think I did a better job handling the pictures in this one than in previous journals. Hope you like it. I’m so in love.

August 17th, 2006 09:30 hours CST
Currently listening to: "Bluejeans" by Ladytron.
Yuka moves here in: 34 days
Feeling: ureshi (happy)

I've been absent on this thing for a while. Things are good. Airiel scheduled 2 shows in New York for Labor Day weekend. I can't wait to get back there. Wish Yuka could come along, but she's not here yet. She has her birthday and green card interview in a week or so. I just got a good lead on an awesome birthday present. It will be waiting for her when she arrives, if I do decide to get it.

I bought Dead Rising. It's an absolutely amazing game. I could go on for hours about how complex it is and how crazy/horrible the save system is and how much fun it is to shred through crowds of zombies with a mini chainsaw. I did manage to take a break from it on Sunday and clean off my back porch. I had so much crap back there. Computer parts, a queen sized mattress, monitors, recycling, a busted VCR. It was like Sanford and Son back there. All that's left is some recycling and the ladder to get up to the roof. Oh, and that giant metal sign that says "DOUGHNUTS". Does anybody want that? The funny thing is that I got it from Jeff before he moved and his complaint was that it just sat on his back porch, which is exactly what it has done since I became the owner. Oh well.

I got my thing-a-ma-bob from Bleep Labs. Chris and I both ordered one. It's cool as hell. I can't wait to hook him up to my pedal board. Ohhhhh yeah. Yay noise!

I know I'm way behind with publishing the journal about my wedding trip to Japan. Yuka is currently uploading more pics to my FTP server. There are tons to sift through. Not sure how I'm going to share all of these with you people, but I'll figure out a way.

August 4th, 2006 09:30 hours CST
Currently listening to: "Nothing's OK: Everything's Fine" by The Helio Sequence.
Yuka moves here in: 47 days
Feeling: caffeinated

The light switch in my computer room is now fixed. The toilet is also fixed, though it sometimes takes 2 to 3 flushes to get the job done. At least I don't have to constantly open the tank to close the flap. This was day 2 of the guy working on my bathtub drain. He had left some hair and a bunch of muck all over the place on Wednesday. After taking yet another shower in ankle-deep water, I concluded that the job had not been completed and I called back. I'm not sure what he did yesterday, but I took a shower this morning with a completely working drain. I was thrilled. I can't even count how many gallons of drain-o or liquid plumber I've dumped down that drain over the years. The building is maybe 50 years old and that drain has been slow since I moved in back in 2000. The bathroom was once again a mess yesterday and my favorite part was looking at all of the broken toilet parts that had been removed and placed on the floor..........right next to the trash can. Thanks, guy. Way to go the extra mile there.

I'm heading down to Bloomington again for the weekend. Mom is going to help me put the reception invitations together. After finally realizing that Acrobat was scaling down the file to fit the printer margins, I now have a rock solid color printout to use for my color copies. I'll be able to put all of these in the mail this weekend. Awesome.

We got some serious rain on Wednesday and I was thrilled. Well, not because I was soaking wet but because it brought the temp down finally. I was sooooo happy last night with my air conditioners on LOW for the first time in 2 weeks. Stella was even happy about it because she wouldn't shut up and wanted to play while I was watching Lone Wolf and Cub.

One more thing and then I'm done. Dear CTA: the location of the new Chicago Card scanner is in the worst possible location on the new buses. I had a complete asshole of a bus driver actually yell at me because I couldn't find the scanner. You walk into the bus (run in my case because it was raining really hard), have to turn to your left (opposite the other scanners) and find this thing on a pole behind where everyone is standing. BAD IDEA, CTA. This needs to be moved to a better location. People with cash or normal fare cards are going to get pissed when people with Chicago Cards walk right past them to use their "private, exclusive scanner" and get a seat faster.

OK, I'm done. Have a good weekend, everybody.

August 2nd, 2006 14:23 hours CST
Currently listening to: "Squeeze-Wax" by Cocteau Twins
Yuka moves here in: 49 days
Feeling: good

I think I have all of the computer work done for these invitations. I already know that I'm short on paper, so I have to swing by Paper-Source after work before I go to Kinko's. I'm heading back down to Bloomington so my mom can help me with these. I'm not looking forward to that drive after having been there just last week, but I could really use the help with these things.

Despite having no money, I picked up Chrome Hounds for the 360. It had been a rough weekend and I needed to play something new. The reviewers were all correct when they said that the single player campaign is just training for the multiplayer. That's absolutely true. The game starts out with a rockin' cut scene, but you don't see anything like that for the rest of the game. Your "cut scenes" from there on out are just a panning view of your Hound and the Hound of whomever it is that is addressing you. Pretty weak, although the graphics in the game are superb, so I don't mind getting such a cool view of the Hounds. I have yet to build my own Hound. I'll do that after I've finished with the single player "training" and have acquired the free parts you get that way.

This heat absolutely sucks. I know I say this every summer, but it sucks when you have both window units running and you're sitting in just a pair of boxer shorts and you're STILL not at all cool. I'm gonna start taking cold showers at night. Stella seems miserable. She has this look on her face of "shave off my fur or I'm flushing myself down the toilet".