Josh

Again I've neglected my journal for far too long.  I've thought about deleting it because I don't think there is anything worthwhile about what I've posted over the past years.  I always decide not to, as it is a way to keep in contact with friends.  That is what I'll be using it for tonight.  I do feel like I've lost touch with some of you.  I do want to retain the friendships that have been so important to me.  I hope we can get together and do something soon, because the last time I feel like I've hung out with my buddies was Christmas or before that even.

That said, some of it is my fault.  I'm not really used to being busy.  I was always the one waiting around for something to do, but now my life have taken a divergent course in a different direction.  Seems like there's been a whirlwind of changes and I don't really feel like I'm in control.  I'm just handling one thing at a time, as best I can.

I've been focused on a few things...First, my health. 

After what seemed like an unending string of doctor's appointments, I ended up seeing one of only 6 neuro-oncologists in Illinois and I finally feel that I'm in good hands.  I am taking a chemo treatment called Temodar for my brain tumor.  It's pretty simple...I have to take a pill for 5 days out of the month.  That's it, aside from some periodic blood tests and stuff.  I just completed the first cycle about a week ago, and I am happy to say that I experience very little side effects.  This is good...seeing how I'll be doing this for 2+ years.  Hopefully this stuff, over the course of treatment, will shrink the tumor and reduce the side effects of having it.

As for my relationship, I can say that it's going well.  Summer is an amazing, supportive person for going through this with me.  She's moved in now, and Frank as moved out, as most of you probably know.  (And I truly hope there are no hard feelings about that).  As much as I regret that happening, I think it will be for the best.   She's taking care of me, and I her...mostly the latter, because...well, she's pregnant.

...another turn that took me by surprise!  I was always iffy about whether I wanted to have children, and I decided that one day, yes...I would.  Turns out that time is now!!!  Holy shit.  Once the shock wore off, I felt good about it.  She's 9 weeks pregnant now, so by the beginning of October, I will be a father.  This is rather timely, actually, because having children on chemo and for a period after is NOT recommended.

In light of that news, Summer and I are getting married legally in April.  We were already engaged (see my last post in November).  We still plans to have the ceremony in April 2010.

Aside from all that, work has been driving absolutely insane.  I should feel happy that I have a job, I know, but I'm criminally underpaid and my workload has increased tenfold from 6 months ago.  I sure hope Obama's plan to stimule the economy works, because I have to get out of this shitty job and into something better.  Within a year.  So I need to start looking, but nobody's hiring, so...(shrug).

Well that's my update for now.  Hopefully I will remember to do this more often.

Peace.

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." -Douglas Adams

Wow, so a lot has changed for me in a short time.

First, the brain tumor thing.  Tomorrow I'm going in to find out what the doctors plan to do about treatment.
Second - Last week, I was given no choice but to move to a more stressful team at work, due to the fact that people are quitting the place.

Last...I'm now engaged. 

I've been thinking about it for a while, and finally decided to take action.  We've been dating for a short time by most standards, but I don't care, and neither does she.  It just feels right.  It's pretty cool being engaged to a girl I knew in high school.  She knew me at the most awkward time in my life, pretty much...

Summer and I had been planning this trip to Chicago for some time, and we finally got to go this weekend - an excellent way to celebrate.  It was a good time overall!  I highly recommend Ruth's Chris steakhouse.  Un-fucking-believable place to have a steak and some wine.  It's expensive, but definitely worth the money!

We also went to what I am now considering the best place in Chicago to get coffee - A little place called Intellgentsia.  It seems like they do a good job of recreating the Italian cafe experience, and the espresso is damn good! 

We also went to Peet's a couple times, which is a cool place as well, and definitely blows away Starbucks and Caribou in quality.  Good thing Summer is a coffee nerd like me.

Chicago was BUSY despite it being pretty damn cold.  We swam through the crowds to visit Watertower place, have a drink on the 96th floor of the Hancock center.  The Christmas lights on Michigan Ave. were really cool to see.  We went to the Lego store, which was absolutely insane...fortunately I was among the biggest kids in the place so I could push my way through the insanity.  ;)

It was a good weekend.

Yesterday I got my T-Mobile G1.  It will take a few days before I really know what I think about it, but my first impressions are very good.  Since I use Google for a lot of stuff (email, calendar, IM, etc) it is great for me.

A few things:

• I am surprised that I get 3G here in Lombard.  I mean...T-Mobile's 3G coverage is worse than pathetic.
• It came with a carrying case that has no clip.  That's annoying, but I guess it's better than nothing.
• My biggest concern is battery life.

Two weeks until camping!!!

So, I am addicted to this game I bought on Stream for $4.99 this weekend.  It's called Audiosurf.  Anyone around here that reads my posts knows that I'm into games and music.  The combines both into a fantastically addictive little racing/puzzle hybrid.

The concept is simple, pick a song you have on your computer (any MP3 or other supported format) and it dynamically generates the track based on the music.  I was skeptical about how well it could do that, but it turns out it's pretty good on a variety of different music.  I'm sure it responds well to electronic music, but I'm having a blast trying different songs from my mostly rock and metal collection.

Anyway, I don't mind pimping stuff when it's this good.  Normal price is $10 on Steam and it's worth easily that, so I highly recommend it for some cheap and unique entertainment.

http://www.audio-surf.com/

I read today that Louisiana is the last state to ban cockfighting.  Huh??  I didn't know that was still legal anywhere!  Welcome to the modern world, Louisiana, where animal cruelty is frowned upon.

From MSNBC:

"The culture, the custom of the Cajun people, it's gone," said Chris Daughdrill, who breeds fighting roosters in Loranger (lor-AHN-zher), a community about 50 miles north of New Orleans. "It's another one of the rights that big government has taken away from the people."

Really?  The right to be cruel to animals was a fundamental tradition of the Cajuns?  Culture and traditions do sometimes evolve/change as the are seen to be barbaric.  Public executions, for instance.  Or is death by stoning still legal LA as well?  He's probably just upset that he's out of business, or a criminal after Friday.

There's reason for him to take heart, however: Daughdrill said he's attended many illegal cockfights in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi and expects they'll be held in Louisiana, too.

"In all these other states," he said, "I can go up there on any given weekend and go to a rooster fight and it's wide open — like it's not against the law."

WHY is this so important to him?  This is the equivolent to a 5-year old poking an animal with a stick.  The difference is, the 5 year old usually grows up.

In other news, my pay was just cut 5% percent.  I call dibs on that sweet cardboard box, by the Shell on Roosevelt.

Happy Monday!

It's come to my attention (at work) that a refresher course is need in men's restroom etiquette.

Decide for yourself.

Seriously, people.  If you fall, crash, or die because you're too busy "texting", you are an idiot.  I can't feel sorry for anybody except innocents that might have suffered because of such an amazing display of stupidity.

Yep, I'm an uncle, as of today!  That will take some getting used to.  My sister and her husband had a little girl, which they named Eliana Sophia Cipriani.

I'll have to grab my camera and go visit this weekend.

More people are riding bicycles.

This is great. but this report does mention "a shocking amount of  aggressive driving" around people on bicycles, which is sad, but true.  I've experienced it personally.  Many people who think "the street is for cars, the sidewalk this for bikes."  Umm, not really.  SIDEWALK.   Side....WALK.  That's not the same thing as a bike path.

The article also bring up a good point that cyclists pay attention to stop signs and traffic signals.  That is a common mistake, but the fact is that the rules of the road apply all vehicles.

I think this trend will only increase.  Personally I won't be cycling to work any time soon...not on Roosevelt.  I'm just a moving target for the assholes around me.  My fellow Chicago suburbanites know what I mean.  Plus I have no good place to store my bicycle where I live.  I would to bring it up from my parents' house for casual riding and exercise, if I could store it.  :(

When it's no longer affordable to drive everywhere, there will be a lot more bikes on the road.  I still thing a bicycle-like form of faster transportation is possible, too, but I haven't seen any progress there.  Hmm....   HMMMMM...

I always get this Amazon spam suggesting things to buy and what not, and usually I don't even look at them.  This time it was announcing pre-orders for Fallout 3, it is a product I'm actually interested in!  So I took a look and saw something made me pause for a second.  No, I'm not talking about the $129.99 version of the game that comes with a lame clock...In the advertising of the game, it says

"See the great monuments of the United States lying in post-apocalyptic ruin!"

This made me think.  The Fallout games have been maybe a statement on how much it would REALLY suck if mankind managed to survive nuclear war.  Fallout 3 takes place in Washington DC, as opposed to California as in the previous two games.  Does advertising this as a feature reflect the attitudes of the people who made the game?  Who are advertising the game?  Or are they targeting consumers who will buy the game?

I just wonder if they intended to make a statement about the current political climate, because most good sci-fi does have something to say.

Or, it's possible that I'm reading into this like a tabloid journalist.  :-)

"Bethesda hates freedom!  Bethesda hates America!"

We like to be told the truth.  Ladies, don't jerk us around - say what you mean, and mean what you say.

Thanks.

Not too long ago a PC game developer called Iron Lore had to close their doors.  These guys made a very good game in Titan Quest.  Excellent, polished, and just very very fun.  I just came to find out that one of the reasons they attributed to their inability to continue was piracy.

I've railed and ranted against piracy before, even though sometimes I've contradicted myself.  I've downloaded classics that I either owned previously (on floppies and such) or can't be purchased anymore (otherwise known as Abandonware), but I am wholeheartedly convinced that it we want to see new games on PC that are exclusive and not console ports, we need to support these developers.  Otherwise the whole PC gaming market will become derivative ports of console games.  Why?  It's quite a bit harder to pirate console games, so these guys will turn that direction for the sales they desperately need to stay in business.  It's already happening.  

MMOs don't have this problem because of the subscription model, but producing a multi-million dollar game without a subscription fee is a big investment.  If there's no return because slack-jawed stoners won't get a job and BUY their games, it'll be the death of foward-reaching, PC exclusive titles.

My friends like me!

...is boring me.  I've trying to make it through the middle of the 7th book and it's not holding my interest.  It DOES get better right?  Man I hope so because the middle is dismally boring.

Meanwhile I'm reading The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan (which is keeping my interest, despite some whiny characters).  I started The Eye of the World and made it to this this one, the 3rd book, and only read maybe 20 pages of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows during that  time.  Anyway, before I get too far into it, I'm going to put The Dragon Reborn on hold and push through to the end of Harry Potter.  I'm just surprised, because for the last...4 or so Harry Potter books, I've been totally engrossed by this point.

Also, it's kind of depressing knowing that Jordan's The Wheel of Time goes downhill at some point.  It seems like this epic story is going to unfold, but I already know that as the series goes on the pace turns glacial, and never will be fully finished now that Robert Jordan has passed.

It makes me wonder how mush time I should invest in the series.

Imagine that.

Michael Vick is an asshole.

Well, my car is acting up and I'm home from work for the day.  I really should be pretty thankful that I've gone 111,000+ miles without any major problems...pretty good record for an American car.

I guess I'll just hang out today.  Hopefully they can get this fixed today and I won't need to get a rental car.

Rules:

1. Take your answer to each question and type it into Google Image Search
2. Post one of the images from the first page of results.

So my family name going back a ways is Blood. Kinda morose, but it is what it is. I've always known that I was related to a infamous scoundrel who attempted to steal the Crown Jewels of England.  I thought was a pirate, but here's the point of confusion...

Captain Blood - a movie starring Errol Flynn

After some brief research when I was bored a couple weeks ago, I found I was related to Colonel Thomas Blood.  Wikipedia has a short and amusing article about him here.

My favorite part is the eulogy:

"Here lies the man who boldy hath run through
More villanies than England ever knew;
And ne're to any friend he had was true.
Here let him then by all unpitied lie
And let's rejoice his time was come to die."

Obviously he was well-liked.

I finally got my latest Starved Rock pictures up.  I was disappointed overall with most of I took, so I only posted decent ones.

Note to self: Lens flare sucks.  Use a hood next time.

 

Starved Rock - Autumn 2007