November 2008 Archives

November 30, 2008

A few days ago, I noticed a very large tree branch in our apartment, situated in the office. For some reason or another, she actually brought this INTO our home. I soon found out why. Note: in the bag there is my Halloween costume. Still haven't thrown it in... (read more)

Everyone Loves Brussels Sprouts!

November 29, 2008

All the cool kids (and especially the cool bunny rabbits) love Brussels sprouts. While we were out today running errands, we picked up another big batch of these veggies. It's now safe to say that this is one vegetable the entire household really likes. Plus - we have to... (read more)

PC Troubleshooting, and the Biggest Printer Ever

November 28, 2008

Went back down to Frankfort today, to help do some home computer installs/troubleshooting on Bob's machine. He recently got a souped-up PC, and also got new DSL service at the house. One of my initial tasks was to setup a wireless receiver on the computer. But in order to run... (read more)

Thanksgiving in Frankfort, IL

November 27, 2008

The dinner table, early in the afternoon. The Thanksgiving meal - complete with turkey, gravy, dressing, green beans, potato pie, cranberry sauce, escarole salad and pumpkin soup. Delicious stuff, and a pumpkin pie with coffee followed later in the evening. After dinner, we spent most of our time in... (read more)

Recipe for Sage and Rosemary Pork with Brussel Sprouts

November 26, 2008

Based on my previous post about dinner, Phil mentioned wanting the recipe for the Pork Loin that I made. Here it is, in full: Filling 2 tablespoons chopped parsley 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage or thyme leaves 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary 3 cloves garlic, minced 3 tablespoons... (read more)

Jamie Foxx Sings "The Brady Bunch Theme," and Makes It Good Enough to Make Love To

November 25, 2008

[via]... (read more)

New Recipes, Old Pie

November 24, 2008

Last night, I cooked two new dishes and I think they turned out particularly well. For our main course, I tried a Sage and Rosemary Pork Loin recipe which ended up being delicious. First time using kitchen string for anything, which was a bit awkward... but made me feel... (read more)

CSS Scoop

November 23, 2008

While looking around my blogs, I discovered that TJ just launched a new site/project entitled CSS Scoop! The site highlights the 500+ sites TJ's bookmarked, and It looks pretty fantastic, and combines a good number of features - ranking, threaded user comments, and a CSS/Design resource area entitled The... (read more)

Dave Leaves Chicago - Goodbye Party, The Whistler

November 22, 2008

With a heavy heart, I'm sad to announce that Dave is officially leaving Chicago and heading out to New York. His plans to move have been in the works for some time now, and his official goodbye party was tonight. A big factor for him was the fact that his... (read more)

Friday Collective Mixtapes - Now Available

November 21, 2008

Two new installments of the office Friday Collective Mixtape are up and available for your persual. Check 'em out: FCM #16 - Songs I Loved In Elementary School FCM #17 - Songs About Buildings & Food... (read more)

Auditorium: Relaxing Flash Game involving Space and Sound

This felt like a necessary chaser for the last post. Auditorium is a great Flash game that combines space and sound. Haven't had a chance to get too deep into it yet, but it's beautiful and relaxing and, best of all, very entertaining. [via MetaFilter and JayIsGames]... (read more)

The Lives They Left Behind: Found Suitcases at Willard Psychiatric Center

In 1995, Willard Psychiatric Center closed. In the attic of an abandoned building, hundreds of suitcases were discovered - all of them belonging to former patients who had been at Willard. And, as the presence of the suitcases suggests, never left. These images and stories have haunted me since... (read more)

Songs That Get Better When Sung Poorly

November 20, 2008

On my way in to work this morning, I heard one of the downtown musicians singing a rendition of "What's Love Got to Do With it?" by Tina Turner. Let me be clear on this though - he sang it, poorly. But the thing is, because it was sung rather... (read more)

Elevating Radio: Emmis Interactive on the Cover of Radio Ink

November 19, 2008

Earlier this week, Deb and Rey were featured on the cover of Radio Ink - one of the bigger trade publications for the Radio industry. In addition to the cover, there was a pretty great feature article done on them, and on our company, Emmis Interactive. And in addition... (read more)

Kaninhoppning - Bunny Show Jumping

November 18, 2008

Looks like it's time for Baxter to get some training in... More videos and info than you think exists on this, over at MetaFilter... (read more)

Toddler Leads Crowd in Celebration

SO fantastic. I've watched this a few times, and it cracks me up each time.... (read more)

And the Hippo was Allergic to Magic - Ridiculously Cute Kid's Story

November 17, 2008

The story is fantastic, and the little girl's eyelashes are just absolutely ridiculous. *explodes from cuteness* [via BB and MetaFilter]... (read more)

Merlin Mann - Google TechTalk on Time and Attention

November 16, 2008

I've mentioned this before, but I just saw a post on Lifehacker that reminded me of Merlin Mann's excellent talk about Time and Attention. The video is 35 minutes, and taken from a Google TechTalk from March of 2008. If you're someone who gets pulled in a lot of directions... (read more)

Happy Birthday, Leslie!

November 15, 2008

Liz and went to Leslie's birthday celebration, held this year at Rodan. Sadly, though the atmosphere is always great at Rodan.... it's also pretty dark, and none of my photos turned out. A fun evening out, despite the fact that we were waiting for a large area to clear out... (read more)

4:45 PM - High Fives for Everyone!

November 14, 2008

A recent trend started up over the past week or two: daily high-fives. It began, innocently enough, as something contained within the Design Team... but it gradually grew, and spilled out beyond our rows over into the Affiliates. Here's Brian's description of how it all started: I believe it was... (read more)

Ronald Mallett - Physics Professor, Son and Secretive Time Traveller

November 13, 2008

A few days ago, I came across a pretty fascinating article that I simply couldn't stop thinking about. Ronald Mallett is a UConn physics professor who has kept a pretty big secret his entire career (and his entire life pretty much). Afraid of being ridiculed by his colleagues, he only... (read more)

Liz's Latest Project: Crochet Bunny

A few quick picks to show off Liz's latest creation - Mr. Pink Eared Bunnyrabbit. Rear view. It's a little hard to tell, but there's a big sproing-y tail there. Closeup of the face. Cutest nose ever!... (read more)

Liz Passes Her Exam!

November 12, 2008

So you know, Liz passed her big exam. Apparently, they don't tell you scores or anything - just whether or not you passed. She's got another big cumulative exam in the Spring, similar in nature to this one. The one she took covered all the material she learned last... (read more)

Vince the Cat: Looking for a New Home

My friend Chelsea is, sadly, looking for a new home for her cat - Vince. Chelsea is planning on moving in with her boyfriend Rob, and he's super allergic - so much so that the option of keeping Vince really isn't something they can reasonably do. I went through... (read more)

So... How YOU Doin'?

November 11, 2008

Most mornings, I'm up fairly early... surfing the web, checking up on the few blogs I frequent, and making posts here to my own blog. It's part of how I start my day, and I generally update with photos or stuff that I found the day prior. Lately though, I've... (read more)

Zilch: Addictive Skill/Luck Game with Dice

November 10, 2008

Zilch is a pretty addictive, dice-based game of skill and luck. It took me a little while to really get a hang of the rules, but it's pretty much something like this: You can score points a few ways, primarily by rolling a 1 (100 points) or a 5... (read more)

New Disney/Pixar Trailer: Up

Awesome trailer for the upcoming Disney/Pixar movie, Up. [via] I've made mention of balloons a lot on here, so this trailer seems pretty on-topic. For some past blog post fun, check out: Balloon Outside My Door Unbearably Happy Black Balloon Releasing Leftover Balloons Oh Shit, the Light Pole Frankfort... (read more)

Dim Sum in Chinatown, Phoenix Restaurant

November 9, 2008

I met up with Justin and Stuart for breakfast/lunch - Dim Sum at Phoenix, in Chinatown. There was to be a larger group, but a lot of folks ended up not being able to make it, and so it was just the three of us. Which actually turned out in... (read more)

Audrey's Dedication Ceremony, Bethel Church

November 8, 2008

Tonight we trekked back out to Merrillville, IN to be with Liz's family for Audrey's dedication ceremony. Similar to the dedication ceremony for Paige, we attended a service at Bethel Church and got to hang out with Darryl's family afterwards. At Tricia's house afterwards, all the women snuck away... (read more)

Liz Finds Her Wedding Dress

November 7, 2008

I got a call from Liz mid-afternoon today, and she was very excited. She had gone to a Sample Sale, and had found a wedding dress she really, really liked. And got quite the bargain on it, too. When I got home, I saw the dress hanging from the... (read more)

Photos from Aimee's Reading

On Wednesday, I attended a reading by my friend (and MFA alum) Aimee Nezhukumatathil. It was a little odd trying to sneak a photo during the middle of a (fairly quiet) poetry reading. I'd never been to the Music Center Concert Hall at Columbia before, and it's a nice, intimate... (read more)

Texas Holdem Tourney, Post-Work Poker Game

November 6, 2008

After nearly 10 months since the last game (where Eddie was the winner), and nearly a year since I last played Holdem in the office... a bunch of us got together for a post-work round of poker. Above, it's Eddie and Phil, with the coveted Lord and Master Stein... (read more)

Sandra Gets Her Desk Decorated

November 5, 2008

This morning, near the Client Services area, there were a series of small, cut-out footprints that began over at the kitchen area. They created a path from the kithcen... ...over to Sandra's desk... ...which was covered with notes and balloons... ...because it's her birthday! Well, not today - technically... (read more)

The 2008 United States Presidential Election

November 4, 2008

Showing up early in the AM to vote. This was taken around 7:30 AM. Inside, I was able to use the touch-screen, and wanted a record of it. Partly because this was such a big election... and partly because I had never used one of these machines before. The... (read more)

More Photos of Halloween Costumes in the Office

Adding a few Flickr links to some more office photos from Halloween. Taken by Masha, this photo of me (talking with Jose about a Flash project) is my absolute favorite. It's Zombie Boss Felix, micromanaging from beyond the grave! Heh. Masha has a fun collection posted, and Jane's got a... (read more)

Upcoming Poetry Reading: Aimee Nezhukumatathil

My friend (and OSU MFA alum) Aimee Nezhukumatathil was scheduled to read here several months back... and her reading recently got rescheduled for this week. If you're downtown, definitely swing on by. I can't say enough good things about Aimee and her writing. Come listen to her read, if... (read more)

Halloween Pub Crawl (Sorta)

November 3, 2008

From last Friday (Halloween) - To celebrate All Hallow's Eve, Liz and I had plans to hang out with Jake and Jessy. There was some sort of pub crawl that Jessy heard about, which involved $20, all-you-can-drink-beer, and a trolly service that took you from bar to bar. Liz, dressed... (read more)

Opening and Preparing a Pomegranate

November 2, 2008

Thanks to a well-positioned bin, along with a well-designed informational brochure, Liz and I picked up a pomegranate while shopping at Strack last weekend. Neither one of us had really had one before, and Liz wanted to try one out. First step in opening up a pomegranate: cut off... (read more)

Taking Isabelle and Jackson to Shedd Aquarium (aka "The Fish Store")

November 1, 2008

Today Liz and I went to visit Liz's dad, who's in town for work. He also had Isabelle and Jackson with him, and we ended up babysitting for a few hours. Our plan was to take both of them over to Shedd Aquarium for the afternoon. Or, as Isabelle called... (read more)