June 2007 Archives

June 30, 2007

I've been looking around for a car for some while now, and finally got out to look around today. Liz and I went to the Chicago Auto Show a while back, and while we saw a ton of cars... only the Mini Cooper really caught my eye. We called around... (read more)

Gapers Block Get Together

June 29, 2007

Met up with the Gapers Block staff tonight, and hung out for a bit over drinks at the monthly GB get-together. The regular location (Black Rock) got overrun with softball players, so we all relocated to Xippo down the street. I was a bit shy about whipping out the... (read more)

Will the REAL Bryan Odiamar Please Stand Up?

Today, we had another try-Bryan's-stuff-on day. This time though, Allison was using her new camera and getting a bunch of us doing our best poses. Full versions of these photos up on Allison's Flickr account. The hoodie and the bling make all the difference. Very silly, very fun.... (read more)

Dark Helmet

Liz got a new helmet yesterday, and when she put it on this morning... I already had my camera out. If you look closely, you can spot me in the reflection.... (read more)

Goodbye, Liz and Steph

June 28, 2007

I've been out of touch the past few weeks, and found out very recently that Liz and Steph are leaving Chicago and heading to Baltimore. These photos are from last night - the eve of their move. I swung by after work to help load up the U-Haul for... (read more)

Let the Games... Begin

June 27, 2007

Trophy detail. Dubbed "The Pingmaster," this trophy takes its name from a bit I mentioned ages ago by Neil Hamburger: a phone prank entitled Hijinx. The Pingmaster now joins our Lord and Master Stein™ as one of the many coveted in-office awards. There's a round-robin tourney in the works,... (read more)

Bryan Was Out of the Office Today...

It started with me seeing Allison wearing Bryan's new hoodie (because she was cold). Seeing those ears from the back cracked me up, so I snuck a picture. Next thing you knew, we were all trying on Bryan's stuff. Fact: when you're away from this office, everyone else in... (read more)

The Grocer

June 26, 2007

The Grocer has been doing some pretty fun stuff around town, pasting up original paintings of fruits and veggies. He's even gotten a recent nod from Juxtapoz. Submissions are currently being accepted for new painting subjects, so if you've got a fav... send a note his way. The cool... (read more)

Well, Now I'm Not Sure How I Feel

June 25, 2007

Met up with Justin and a few other folks last night over at Rodan. The lighting is generally low here, but I've had better luck with photos here for some reason.... (read more)

A New Sign for the New Office

... (read more)

On the Way to Work

Some mysteries can't be explained. I wonder what doors these go to. In particular, that fancy looking key up top... does it open just one, or all of the Doors of Perception?... (read more)

The Day After

June 24, 2007

Lazy, lazy day. Ever since I moved in to the apartment (with Liz moving in shortly thereafter), it's been a pretty non-stop whirlwind of activity. We've been unpacking, cleaning, painting various rooms, alphabetizing books, and buying new furniture. Today, the day after our housewarming... we washed the dishes, swept the... (read more)

Housewarming Party

June 23, 2007

Among the many treats that were made for our housewarming party. Liz and I spent most of the day running errands, cleaning and getting ready for the festivities. I got my camera out around noon to take some pics, and this is all I got. During the party, I... (read more)

Literago Launch Party

June 22, 2007

Justin's back in town this week, and Liz and I made plans to meet up for dinner at Rodan. Allison ended up joining us for a quick meal and some catching up in Wicker Park. Afterwards, we made our way over to the Literago launch party, which was happening up... (read more)

They're Multiplying Like... Some Kind of Animal

I've seen a bunny here in this yard before, and I've heard rumors that these might actually be pets instead of random wildlife. I wonder if these two are responsible for all the bunny tags I've seen around town.... (read more)

Joining the Gapers Block Staff

Last week, after sending off a note to Gapers Block about Matt serving drinks at Intelligentsia, GB Editor Andrew Huff and I exchanged a few emails. I've kept things under wraps a bit, but... long and short of it? I got offered a spot with the GB Staff and... (read more)

Care ~~Bear~~ Bryan

Bryan, sporting his new hoodie. He looks like he's going to give someone a hug of some kind.... (read more)

Nerd Factor++

This was the first time I ever saw Chris wearing glasses. Who knew? Something about it... I dunno. He just looks more intelligent. Smarter, somehow.... (read more)

Guess What We Got Today?

June 21, 2007

... (read more)

Emmis Interactive, Offsite

June 20, 2007

A ton of us (there are a ton of us now) gathered at Rey's house for a birthday celebration / meeting. As we've grown, we no longer go out for each person's birthday one by one (we used to), but rather celebrate birthday months in one big group. We've also... (read more)

Note to the Overweight Man Wearing the "Hooters" Tank Top

June 19, 2007

I understand that you're trying to make us aware of the fact that you're a manly man - the kind of guy who likes his beer, and likes to have it served by girls with big boobs. I get that. I hear you. But in reality, all that that shirt's... (read more)

Unexpected Peace

... (read more)

Literago: Launch Party

June 18, 2007

This Friday, there's a launch party for Literago - a website that Gretchen and Genie started up, and that I built for them. Their friend Nicole did all the design work, and I stitched everything together via Movable Type. Having only been up for a short while, the site's... (read more)

Father's Day in Frankfort, IL

June 16, 2007

Drove down to Frankfort today, to spend Father's Day with Liz's folks. As always, there was plenty of good food to be had. Jealous? I know you are. Hell, I'm the one who ate this and... looking back at it now, I'm jealous. After dinner, we walked down the... (read more)

Mysterious

... (read more)

Nezhukumatathil-tastic!

June 15, 2007

I'm a bit late with this news, but my friend and MFA alum Aimee Nezhukumatathil just had her latest book released: At the Drive-In Volcano. I've known Aimee a long while now (we met when we both attended OSU for our MFA's), and while I've had the good fortune... (read more)

Once There Was a Girl

June 14, 2007

Once there was a girl. Her name was Luba. She loves Pie. She has it for breakfast.... (read more)

Drinks at Intelligentsia

June 13, 2007

Around 3PM today, a few of us headed over to the nearby Intelligentsia to see my friend Matt (the 2006 United States Barista Champ), who was there with his coworker Amber, serving up some signature drinks. Matt, prepping a few drinks for us. On first hearing about this event,... (read more)

New RSS Feed (via FeedBurner)

June 12, 2007

I've added a nice new RSS feed, over in the right column. Actually, it's the same feed... but hosted through FeedBurner. I'm still futzing around with things, and learning a lot as I go (I didn't really even mess around much with feeds until a few months ago). But I'm... (read more)

Human Tetris

Why do the Japanese always come up with fantastic game show ideas? This is genius!... (read more)

A Moment of Silliness, Captured via PhotoBooth

June 11, 2007

... (read more)

Come Get Served, Intelligentsia Style

Last year, my friend Matt won the 2006 United States Barista Championships. He then went on to compete on the world stage, and placed third (the highest placement for an American to date). This year, he placed third in the nationals and his coworker Amber was among the finalists. The... (read more)

Bong State Recreation Area, Day 3

June 10, 2007

Breakfast, 6:20 AM. Campsite, broken down. Jake (good Eagle scout that he is) had us all form a trash line, and we patrolled the grounds. I'm happy to say that we left our camp site better than we found it. Our neighbors (Kelly and Dale) were kind enough to... (read more)

Bong State Recreation Area, Day 2

June 9, 2007

A view of the camp site in full daylight. Cleaning up the dishes after breakfast. There was a nice bathroom/shower area, just up the road a ways. It was new and everything, complete with individual shower stalls. Near the bathroom area, there was a camp site where the "host"... (read more)

Bong State Recreation Area, Day 1

June 8, 2007

After work, Liz, Jake, Lisa and I all loaded up my car and headed up to Wisconsin to the Richard Bong State Recreation Area, for a weekend of camping. I should note that, at the onset of our trip... I was not at my best. I had come down with... (read more)

An Old Story

June 7, 2007

by Bob Hicok It's hard being in love with fireflies. I have to do all the pots and pans. When asked to parties they always wear the same color dress. I work days, they punch in at dusk. With the radio and a beer I sit up doing bills, jealous... (read more)

New Bookshelf

June 6, 2007

I put this guy together last night, and today Liz and I re-arranged her bookshelves in the dining room to make way for this monster. We then proceeded to move all my books from the office, and put them out here (just barely had enough room). It sucks, but... (read more)

Random Images From the Office

... (read more)

Triple Monitors

June 5, 2007

Here's my current office setup, as of this evening. On the far left is my old PC, which I'm wiping with DBAN and planning on donating; in the middle is my iMac; on the far right is a monitor that Justin loaned me, after his move. After setting this... (read more)

Everyone, Meet Alex

Alex joined us today, one of our newest hires on the dev team. He's our first official hire at the new space.... (read more)

Summary, Day One

June 4, 2007

1) A website I was working on (through no fault or oversight on my part) got hacked momentarily, and redirected to a gay porn site. 2) Jane and Bryan got stuck in an elevator for 15 minutes, and ended up having to pry the doors open and squeeze their way... (read more)

New Chairs in the Sunroom

June 3, 2007

Liz, setting up the chairs in our sunroom. In hindsight, the white covers that we bought look pretty bland and clinical in the room. We talked about maybe buying a different cover, or painting the room a different color. We experimented with a few different layouts, and I think... (read more)

Here There Be Dragons

June 2, 2007

While walking around Ikea, I spotted a pretty cool display of all these dragons, dangling over a bin. Liz and I made the trek 3x today, back and forth today. We were originally going to try to catch Dave's show... but wound up traveling back to Ikea, renting a... (read more)

Emmis Interactive: Moving Day

June 1, 2007

Well, today's the official moving day. A bunch of us showed up bright and early to help get all our boxes loaded up for transport. Here we are, circa 8:30 AM, with a line of crates near the service elevator. Mike and Kashif, setting the groundwork. Chris, with the... (read more)