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October 1, 2007

Chris' New iMac Arrives

After many weeks of waiting and foot-tapping, Chris' fancy new iMac arrived today. This thing is sweeeeet! I have to admit, I'm getting some iMac envy overhere... and am contemplating upgrading the home machine. It's been a little under two years since I made the switch to Mac, and [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 1, 2007 10:15 AM | | Comments (0)

La Esmeralda: The Most Expensive Coffee in the World @ Intelligentsia

Last week, my friend Matt (aka Tha.Riddla as well as the Best Barista in the US 2006) told me about a special event: a tasting at Intelligentsia for the most expensive coffee in the world. A few months ago, last May, Intelligentsia purchased 100 pounds of La Esmeralda for $130 [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 1, 2007 7:36 PM | | Comments (3)

October 2, 2007

Intelligentsia Esmeralda Coffee, Revisited

Today at work, I brought in the fancy Esmeralda beans that I got last night, at the Intelligentsia tasting for the most expensive coffee in the world. My initial reactions that night were mild, and I was curious to both try the coffee again, and to see what my [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 2, 2007 10:05 AM | | Comments (0)

October 3, 2007

Japanese Table Cloth Challenge

My GOD I love Japanese television. When, America? When will you catch up? I started the whole YouTube account thing a few months back, and am trying to make better use of the "Favorites" section. I've added most of the Japanese TV show clips from the blog over there. [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 3, 2007 9:34 AM | | Comments (0)

Jib-Jab Can-Can

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Posted by avoision on October 3, 2007 2:29 PM | | Comments (0)

October 4, 2007

Dave Fischoff's New Remix Project: Spoolwork

Dave has started a new remix and production project called Spoolwork, and has just posted his first track this morning. From Dave: to kick things off I’ve put together a remix of Jens Lekman’s "I’m Leaving You Because I Don’t Love You." The original version of the song appears [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 4, 2007 9:40 AM | | Comments (0)

Sony Bravia Play-Doh Ad

It's only been a few days since I mentioned it, but the new Sony Bravia ad is out - in all its bunny Play-Doh goodness. Gorgeousness. And the full version/ending is as fantastic as I hoped it would be. Official site (and higher res version) here. [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 4, 2007 10:01 AM | | Comments (0)

Deb Dons the Teddybear Hoodie

Deb was in the office today, and while she was wandering around... noticed Bryan's teddybear hoodie. Soon after, we all insisted that she try it on because... you know, that's the natural next step. [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 4, 2007 3:12 PM | | Comments (0)

October 5, 2007

The Grocer, Solo Show at Foursided Gallery

Liz, Chris and I headed out to Andersonville tonight to check out the (first) solo show by the Grocer. This piece (which I saw at the Pilsen Art Walk) was visible from the street, and was the first thing I saw when looking around, trying to find the gallery. [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 5, 2007 6:12 PM | | Comments (3)

October 6, 2007

Guitar + Trampoline = Win

It's pretty slow at the start. It gets good at about 1:39. It gets great at 3:00. You might be asking yourself "Why? Why would you do this?" It's best not to ask these sorts of questions. [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 6, 2007 7:19 AM | | Comments (0)

October 7, 2007

Installing Parallels on Liz's Mac

Spent a good chunk of the afternoon looking over documentation and installing Parallels on Liz's laptop. She needs a program for her grad school classes (called SAS), and that program requires a Windows environment to run. In looking around today, I learned a fair amount about how Parallels works, [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 7, 2007 3:04 PM | | Comments (0)

October 8, 2007

Ladybug, Blue Balloon

After seeing this today, I was reminded of my own encounter. [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 8, 2007 1:54 PM | | Comments (0)

October 9, 2007

Found Magazine: The Crime Issue

On Tuesday, October 9th, Found Magazine will be at Heart of Gold to celebrate the release of Found #5: The Crime Issue (more details here). Davy Rothbart is a great reader, and seeing the Found material live is a fantastic (and oftentimes hilarious/moving experience). I can't recommend it enough, [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 9, 2007 7:35 AM | | Comments (0)

Launchball

I'm really digging the great icons and crispness of Launchball, to say nothing of the gameplay. Go lose a little time. [via] [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 9, 2007 12:07 PM | | Comments (0)

October 10, 2007

Late Night at Work

Work, circa 1:00 AM. Home, circa 3:30 AM. [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 10, 2007 1:07 AM | | Comments (0)

Another Late Night at Work

*INSERT GRUMBLING HERE* [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 10, 2007 11:09 PM | | Comments (0)

October 11, 2007

Exchequer Decompression

After a few very stressful days, the Design team winds down over at Exchequer Pub. L to R it's Ben, Jane, Chris. L to R, Chris, Masha and Allison. [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 11, 2007 6:20 PM | | Comments (0)

October 12, 2007

Star Wars Trumpet Solo (and Interpretive Dance)

Slow day for me, so I'm including this because it's making the rounds. That, and it's just painful to watch, as I'm cringing through pretty much every single moment. [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 12, 2007 10:20 AM | | Comments (0)

October 13, 2007

Drinks and Pool at Rose's

Went out tonight with Liz to meet Jake and his girlfriend Jessie over at Rose's. It's been a long while since I've been here, and this was only my second visit to the bar. At first, I was a bit uncomfortable (I don't know why, new places just tend [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 13, 2007 9:26 PM | | Comments (0)

October 14, 2007

Pretend and Play Office

Spotted this while going through the Target toy aisles. And as though the concept wasn't bad enough, the thing costs $32.95. Yeesh. [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 14, 2007 7:41 PM | | Comments (2)

October 15, 2007

Cooking with Spaghetti Squash

Last weekend, Liz and I happened to be watching TV on a Saturday and saw an episode of Everyday Food. I've seen this show before, and was a fan of it (the recipes are all pretty straightforward and easy, and they tend to walk through many of the steps with [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 15, 2007 9:52 PM | | Comments (0)

October 16, 2007

Turn That TENORI-ON!

Yamaha's TENORI-ON musical interface. I'm not sure I fully grok exactly what's going on with this thing, but it's absolutely mesmerizing to look at. I would love to get my hands on one, just to play around with it for a few hours. [via] [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 16, 2007 9:24 AM | | Comments (1)

My Roommate is Such a Dick!

This, my friends, is passive-aggressiveness at its finest. And some awful, awful stories to boot. If there was ever a sister site to hotchickswithdouchebags.com, this is it: My Roommate is Such a Dick! [via] [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 16, 2007 10:26 PM | | Comments (2)

October 17, 2007

Alexandre Orio: Reverse Graffiti

Check out Alexandre Orio, who makes some fantastic graffiti through... cleaning. Next time you're tempted to write "Wash Me" on someone's car, remember this guy. More info here. [via] [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 17, 2007 12:40 PM | | Comments (0)

October 18, 2007

After Challenging Jennifer Lee to a Fight (by Aimee Nezhukumatathil)

My friend (and OSU MFA alum) Aimee Nezhukumatathil is a great poet, and just had a poem of hers read by none other than Garrison Keillor on The Writers' Almanac. The poem is entitled After Challenging Jennifer Lee to a Fight; you can listen to the reading (RealAudio), and read [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 18, 2007 9:25 AM | | Comments (1)

Five Minutes After Saying "Doesn't the Sky Look Weird Right Now?"

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Posted by avoision on October 18, 2007 5:29 PM | | Comments (1)

Dave Gets a Cellphone!

For the longest time, Dave and I were the Luddite holdouts who refused cellphones. Neither one of us were on the phone all that often, and we didn't see the point of always being "reachable." Yeah, yeah, you can always turn it off. All that jazz. But I feel we [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 18, 2007 10:30 PM | | Comments (1)

October 19, 2007

A Game of Cat and Your Mouse

A fairly straight-forward (albeit frustrating) game, Chat Noir is a game where you are trying to keep a cat from leaving the screen. It took me a few tries, and I found myself really hating this cat after about 5 minutes. [via] [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 19, 2007 5:20 PM | | Comments (0)

October 20, 2007

Spring Fall Cleaning

Three guesses what we did today. [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 20, 2007 10:22 AM | | Comments (0)

October 21, 2007

A Roomba With a View

A few weeks back, I was talking with some coworkers over lunch about the Roomba. For some reason, I was half-contemplating getting one... and Eddie mentioned wanting to purchase a Scooba. Lo and behold, it turned out that Katie actually owned a Roomba (she won it at a Q101 [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 21, 2007 12:32 PM | | Comments (0)

October 22, 2007

Trying to Get "Getting Things Done" Done

Recently while I was perusing 43 Folders, I came across mention of an application called iGTD. I went ahead and downloaded the (donationware) app, and started messing around. So far, I'm liking it and it's proven to be pretty useful as far as helping me manage my tasks. I [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 22, 2007 12:52 PM | | Comments (1)

October 23, 2007

Spot the 5 Differences

5 Differences is a classic game, executed really well in Flash. And actually a bit harder than you might think. [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 23, 2007 12:23 PM | | Comments (0)

On the (Long) Way Home

Tonight was a crazy evening of travel. On the Blue Line heading back home, we were at a standstill for about 20+ minutes at the Chicago station. No reason, no announcements - just stopped. After waiting as long as we could, me, Chris and TJ got off the train [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 23, 2007 6:35 PM | | Comments (1)

October 24, 2007

PostSecret Presentation, DePaul Bookstore

Today, Frank Warren from PostSecret gave a brief talk at the DePaul bookstore (literally across the street from where I work). It was slated for around lunchtime, and I headed over there with Ben and Chris. The event was held in the atrium area, on the lower floor - quite [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 24, 2007 1:00 PM | | Comments (0)

Poker and Charades

With all the new folks and the new office, a bunch of us decided that we were overdue for another big poker game at work. And any organized evening of Texas Holdem isn't complete without... The Lord and Master Stein™. We had a total of 11 people playing, and [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 24, 2007 8:20 PM | | Comments (0)

October 25, 2007

"It Was Incredibly Funny... the First Time."

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Posted by avoision on October 25, 2007 10:45 AM | | Comments (0)

Amazing Scrooge McDuck Money Bin Miniature

This doesn't sound all that amazing, but... it actually is. Some guy has created (from the blueprints, mind you) a mini-replica of Scrooge McDuck's fabled money bin. This is some amazing stuff. I love it when obsessiveness gets taken to this level, because invariably something awesome like this ends [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 25, 2007 3:57 PM | | Comments (0)

October 26, 2007

Matt the Viking

As is tradition, Matt dressed up for Halloween today. The dreads fit in nicely with the beard. The best comment he heard today was someone asking him if he was a wookie. Just another day in the office. Fore more past Halloween office pics (and more of Matt's great [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 26, 2007 10:42 AM | | Comments (0)

October 27, 2007

Pinball Expo: Free Play Heaven

A few days ago, Chris mentioned that he and Leslie were going to this Pinball Expo - a big event held up at the Wyndham hotel near O'Hare. To be more specific: they were heading up to play on the multiple pinball machines set on "free play" at the expo. [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 27, 2007 1:08 AM | | Comments (1)

October 28, 2007

Move Along

Work stuff came up this weekend. Lots of time in the office. Nothing to see here. Move along. [read more...]

Posted by avoision on October 28, 2007 12:10 PM | | Comments (0)