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July 1, 2008

Liz's Fourth Fondant Cake: Floral Design

Liz spent the evening working on a fourth fondant cake. She had extra batter left over from Jake's birthday cake, and made an extra one to "practice" on. Needless to say, the notion of "practice" cakes is something I wholeheartedly encourage. A table full of tools. Rolling, rolling, rolling... Icing [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 1, 2008 9:05 PM | | Comments (3)

July 2, 2008

32 Needles: Allergy Tests at Northwestern

Over the past few years, my allergies have gotten progressively worse. I used to have hay fever as a kid, but then it sort of went away as I got older. In the past 5 years or so, I'd say my spring/fall allergies started to flare up again. For the [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 2, 2008 2:35 PM | | Comments (3)

July 3, 2008

Drinks and Daylight

Met up with Justin and Dave after work for a few drinks over at Rodan. There's something to be said about having drinks while there's still sunlight out. Tucked in a booth at the back of the bar... I snapped the photo (above) looking out onto Milwaukee. The feel [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 3, 2008 6:07 PM | | Comments (0)

July 4, 2008

Happy Birthday, America!

Liz and I had originally planned to go back to Indy to visit my family (and to help celebrate my sister's birthday). But we were both feeling a little run down lately, and decided to stay in/home for the weekend. We made some dinner, and as we were cooking we [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 4, 2008 9:02 PM | | Comments (0)

July 5, 2008

Liz's First Crochet Project

Something that I haven't been up-to-date on is posting all the various things Liz has been doing, in terms of knitting/crochet. She got into this a few weeks back after talking with some of her coworkers, and she's been working on projects ever since. I took a few photos prior [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 5, 2008 1:46 PM | | Comments (2)

July 6, 2008

Upgrading to Movable Type 4.2 Beta

It's been a little over a year now that I decided to recode/import all my entries, and switch over to Movable Type. And quite honestly... I coudn't be happier. I love that comments exist now, and that there are so many options/plugins for me to use. Compared to what [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 6, 2008 2:08 PM | | Comments (0)

Bob and the Frankfort Brass Band: Frankfort, IL

To cap off the patriotic weekend, Liz and I travelled to Frankfort to attend a Concert on the Green. Today, in addition to the Joliet American Legion Band... the Frankfort Brass Band was also playing (featuring Bob on percussion). We got to the concert early, and set up camp [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 6, 2008 5:04 PM | | Comments (0)

July 7, 2008

Showbiz Pizza Place Nostalgia: The Rock-afire Explosion

"The Rock-afire Explosion" is the story of a small-town car salesman, an inventor, and an animatronic rock band, that quickly becomes an eccentric portrait of childhood memories, broken dreams, and the resilience of the human spirit. With the closing of Showbiz Pizza Place in the early nineties, and the [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 7, 2008 12:46 PM | | Comments (0)

July 8, 2008

Hot Asian Buns

Justin is back in town visiting, and tonight I finally got a copy of a photo he took, almost half a year ago. Prior to his leaving for India, a bunch of us at work went out to lunch with him downtown. We went to a place called Wow Bao, [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 8, 2008 10:03 PM | | Comments (3)

July 9, 2008

Managers Meeting: Smith and Wollensky

I attended my first off-site Managers Meeting tonight, meeting up with Brian, Chris C, Mike, Rey and Deb over at Smith and Wollensky. On walking in, we got taken to a private room, which I expected to be some kind of conference room. The guy walked us downstairs, past [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 9, 2008 9:10 PM | | Comments (0)

July 10, 2008

Shudder to Think: Reunion Tour

I'm a few days late on posting this, but a few days ago Justin noted that Shudder to Think Announced a Reunion Tour. Looks like they'll be in Chicago on September 5th. Weirdly, Shudder to Think is a band that I didn't get to deep into. But I really, really [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 10, 2008 7:37 AM | | Comments (0)

July 14, 2008

Sick

I've got a ton of photos/videos from the weekend, but haven't had a chance to update. Feeling a bit under the weather today, and actually called in sick to work today. A sore throat/cough has been progressively getting worse for me. Didn't sleep all that well last night, so hopefully [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 14, 2008 8:41 AM | | Comments (3)

July 11, 2008

Getting Things Done Organized

After work, Liz and I went and did a bit of shopping. I stopped at the local office supply store, and picked up some file folders, and general organizational gear... hoping to get my sprawling desk area under control a bit more. Currently, I just stuff every important document [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 11, 2008 8:42 PM | | Comments (0)

July 12, 2008

Working with Bob: Frankfort

This weekend, we woke up early to go hang out in Frankfort. I had planned a day with Bob, looking to learn a bit more about woodoworking and overall home repair. Liz and her mom were off to visit with Tricia and family. My interests in hanging out with Bob [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 12, 2008 12:17 PM | | Comments (0)

July 13, 2008

Wedding Reception Recon: Lincoln Park and the Notebaert Museum

Went out exploring Lincoln Park some more today with Liz, looking to see if we can find a spot for the wedding ceremony/reception. We've looked at the Lincoln Park Zoo before, but today we focused on the public/park areas, just outside the zoo. On heading out, I spotted this out [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 13, 2008 2:18 PM | | Comments (0)

July 15, 2008

Calling the Kettle... Black

Still feeling a bit under the weather, I put the kettle on the stove with the hopes of making some tea. And then promptly forgot about it. About 45 minutes later, I walked back in to find... this: It's Liz's kettle that I ruined, and to make things worse it's [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 15, 2008 6:23 PM | | Comments (6)

July 16, 2008

Good Intentions, Bad Communication

When I met Liz on the walk home yesterday, I saw that she was carrying a bag in her hand. When I asked about what she bought, turned out she had gone to Macy's and actually found the kettle in the store. She had looked online yesterday at Macys.com, [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 16, 2008 6:14 PM | | Comments (0)

July 17, 2008

The Blurry Line Between Darwin Award and Awesome Award

[via] [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 17, 2008 7:58 AM | | Comments (1)

July 18, 2008

Kay Ryan is the New Poet Laureate

Just found this out via MetaFilter, and I'm pretty excited. Although... not a lot of other folks around here who I could tell this to, or who would even care. I first came across her work while in grad school, and it's still fun stuff for me to read. Her [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 18, 2008 4:46 PM | | Comments (2)

Good Bye Bryan, Good Luck Peabe

With great sadness, this is something I've known for a while now... and something that many of us knew at work: Bryan is saying goodbye to Emmis Interactive, and heading out to the West Coast. He's going out there with Jamie, and will be pursuing his artistic career full-time. While [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 18, 2008 5:20 PM | | Comments (2)

July 19, 2008

Late (and Foggy) Night at Wilmette Beach

Lisa was back in town this weekend, and Liz, Jake, Alexandra and I met up with her for dinner over in Wilmette. We had dinner and drinks outside at C. J. Arthur's, and watched the sun set. Unfortunately, there were a lot of sad circumstances all around. Lisa's back in [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 19, 2008 9:30 PM | | Comments (0)

July 20, 2008

BBQ in Niles: Goodbye Bryan and Jamie

Liz and I headed out to Niles, to attend a going-away BBQ for Bryan and Jamie. We rounded the corner, and immediately saw a ton of people and tables, all spread out. The BBQ was a mixture of friends and family, and hosted at Jamie's parent's house. And apparently, [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 20, 2008 4:04 PM | | Comments (0)

July 21, 2008

Office Construction: Cube Buildout

Lots of changes today! We had a small crew in to the office, installing a ton of new desks/cubicles near the Affiliates, they built out the remaining open offices, and brought with them a little furniture. At long last, we have a seating area near the front desk. Gone are [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 21, 2008 5:10 PM | | Comments (0)

Everyone... Meet Baby Audrey

Liz's sister Tricia has been expecting her baby the past week or so, and today was her due date. Liz got the call in the late morning that Tricia and gone in to the hospital (around 11AM)... and within an hour or two, the baby had already arrived! After work, [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 21, 2008 8:45 PM | | Comments (0)

July 22, 2008

Remembering the Vending Machine Challenge™

Anthony and Cathie stopped by the office today, to say hello and to share their good news (they're expecting, and about 4 months along). The pic (above) is old, as I didn't have my camera on me at the time. It was great seeing them, and catching up a [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 22, 2008 1:05 PM | | Comments (0)

July 23, 2008

Flash Games Trifecta: Totem Destroyer, Pandemic II and Fantastic Contraption

I've been meaning to post these games for the past week, but something else always came up. So now, I'm going to combine all three into one. I've lost a lot of time between each, so I hope you'll lose a little as well. Totem Destroyer is a really fun [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 23, 2008 11:52 PM | | Comments (1)

July 24, 2008

Hey... Nice Rack!

Jeff, installing the new server rack that just came in. We're upgrading our local environment, particularly our local staging/testing environment. In order to have a true staging environment for us to test on, we needed to purchase a new set of servers to more accurately mirror our production environment. [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 24, 2008 1:10 PM | | Comments (2)

July 25, 2008

Grillable Dessert: Blueberry Crumble

In addition to grilling out for dinner tonight (Porterhouse steaks), Liz and I made Blueberry Crumble (a la the recipe from Steven Raichlen's BBQ University. I made this once before, a long while ago for a Fourth of July cookout... way back in 2005. Can't believe I've waited 3 [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 25, 2008 9:31 PM | | Comments (0)

July 26, 2008

Saturday Managers Meeting

Today was a Saturday. And I was part of a 7 hour meeting for work. Above is what the conference room and table looked like, at the end of those 7 hours. To clarify: there were good and bad things about this. The bad things, obviously, was that it [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 26, 2008 3:54 PM | | Comments (0)

July 27, 2008

Merlin Mann: Inbox Zero

Though I don't follow his 43folders.com site religiously, I'm a big fan of Merlin Mann. In fact, his talk on Living with Data was a pretty eye-opening thing for me, and helped me look at my job (and my approach to work) in a totally different light. Below is a [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 27, 2008 12:36 PM | | Comments (2)

July 28, 2008

Logan Square Farmers Market

Liz and I have made it a habit to swing by the Logan Square Farmers Market on Sunday mornings. On the last trip, we picked up some fresh flowers, fresh eggs, and got a nice, early breakfast in at Lula's to start off our Sunday. We may have to [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 28, 2008 7:13 AM | | Comments (4)

July 29, 2008

Storm and Blackout

Around 10PM, Liz and I were finishing up dinner and washing dishes in the kitchen. As we were talking, the lights flickered once, and the entire apartment went dark. It's been ages since I've had to scramble for matches and candles, but it was kind of fun in a [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 29, 2008 10:20 PM | | Comments (0)

July 30, 2008

Bleh

I'm swamped. And pooped. The past few days I've set my alarm to wake up early, and just end up turning it off and rolling out of bed around 7AM. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves, but sadly... it's been a little busy/hectic lately. I've got some interesting pics to [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 30, 2008 9:22 AM | | Comments (2)

July 31, 2008

Wedding Reception Recon: Maxim's

During lunch earlier this week, Liz and I had an appointment to check out Maxim's, a potential spot for our wedding reception. The location is actually underground, and the entrance begins with a winding staircase. We learned that they're currently re-upholstering everything... which is good news for us. The main [read more...]

Posted by avoision on July 31, 2008 8:34 AM | | Comments (5)

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