Day After Yesterday

So Rebecca and I have determined that Wednesday night is thenew ‘date night’. First we went to flying saucer for dinner, on California just south of Division. This was where I went for breakfast with Chad and Bob and Jeff when they were in town. It has a good vegetarian selection and the food has been really good both times. Prices are also decent. We had pierogis as an appetizer which were good (although not homemade, but that is fine). I had the vegetarian tacos, which was seitan chorizo and mashed potatoes with normal taco stuff. Quite good. Rebecca had the special which was some chicken and stuff. Total bill was $27 with tip (I am a heavy tipper). Great food.

Then we went over to the AMC River East and saw Proof. It was recommended to me by my Audi friend Alan, who worked on the film as the Director Of Photography for the Chicago Second Unit. He said he worked on lots of the exterior Chicago footage (the interior work was done in the UK) and worked directly with John Madden.

Overall I thought the movie was very good. I would give it 4 stars. To me that means I enjoyed it a great deal, but not so much that I would buy the DVD or anything. But I rarely buy DVDs or rewatch movies, so 4 is pretty good. I would recommend it to my family and friends. It has math humor, which I like. The time line moves around a bit, and you can see how it was a play in its original form, but the adaptation to screen was fine. The acting was good, although I am not sure I would have cast Jake Gyllenhaal based on his appearance and that I think of him perhaps in Day After Tomorrow and Bubbleboy, but whatever. He did fine. Gwyneth Paltrow did a very nice job as well, as did Anthony Hopkins. Overall a good movie, and a nice date night.

So I was driving out to the burbs on saturday afternoon to go visit Rebecca’s family… rebecca was already out there… and the motor mount on the jetta broke. I think it broke a bit before that, but it was just sagging (it kept pulling the wires tight) and it finally gave out… I got the her towed to our garage, and I will need to start working on it sooner rather than later. I am excited. I have big plans…. I would eventually like individual throttle bodies….

Chad was in town today for all of … 12 hours or something… He had a zefer reunion thing last night… we were all able to grab breakfast this AM though… me, chad, bob, lisa, bob’s brother Joe, and fellow Ex-zefer jeff. It was nice to see everyone again. It was a nice group. It is nice to see old friends and hang out. Then I drove Chad to the airport and we chatted. He is a good guy. We differ on a few points, but overall, a great guy.

We ate at Flying Saucer, on California south of Division. It was really good. Way Veggie. Rebecca and I will need to go back.

I drove the jetta around all morning and to the airport and shit. It is a fun car, and I will be happy when I have it all done. I enjoy driving it. I will enjoy it more when I fix the things that are broken, but man, it is a fun little car.

The weather is super nice. I turned off the AC and opened all the windows. Cosby is thrilled. I set up all the accounts and bill pay stuff at washington mutual’s site. Now I gotta go get working on the basement. I need that floor done so we feel more moved in.

It will be nice…

So we had an autox on saturday… while I thought the weather was going to suck, the clouds and rain kept the temps down. it was very nice. The computer timing went perfect. This was the first time this season that I have actually drove MY audi at an autox. It was kinda of nice to get back in the groove. It was also nice to get back in and kick some ass. You can see the results here. I was the fastest Audi, and only lost to the likes of a viper, miata, STI, etc. Not bad company. It was nice to prove to both myself and the rest of the group that I wasn’t that rusty. Sometimes it is really nice to win.

Even though it was hot as hell today in Chicago, we moved a bunch of stuff into the new house. Thanks mom, dad, and kevin. I still need to get my stuff packed and ready to go, but nearly all of rebecca’s stuff is over there. It is nice to know we have it in the place.

We also went to the place to get the hardwood. Mind you, the price is really really good, and so there is some ‘too good to be true’ kind of thoughts going on, but I should know more tomorrow when they call me. Hopefully I will have the flooring before the weekend. It will be really nice to get that in the house and we can finish the move.

the weekend was nice… But this is a long post so read on. Brief recap: Scott’s birthday, projector, video games, prenatal appt., baby registry, fireworks…
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So I am at work, and my boss has some people in the office from out the town… so I am dressed a bit nicer than usual. Around 11:45 or so, my boss’s personal assistant comes up to me and asks me if I want to go to the cubs game today, and I assume she means to accompany my boss. I told her if he wanted me to, I would. She then tells me she has 4 tickets, not sitting with my boss, and if I or my friends can use them that would be great.

So basically, here are 4 tickets, free parking, and I would like you to leave work to make this 1:20 game. ummmmm sure?

So I hit up harper and michael on IM and we are off. Now non of use are huge baseball fans, but you can’t beat the price (free) and the seats were great. So we had nachos and pretzels and smoothies and peanuts with the shells and shit as we watched the cubs lose to the Brewers. And we weren’t at work. The weather was great too. Can’t beat that.

Thanks Boss!

so we were going to go to the flooring place on saturday… but I decided that we didn’t have enough time to make it there and then back before we had to get ready for the wedding… even though that was clearly not the case. Instead we slept in and I made pancakes. They turned out super super thin, so I have to get my mix ratios down, but I think it was good to learn something… although it was the easiest thing ever.

so we went to Al’s wedding saturday night… and it was nice. Mostly in polish, but we met some new people (who knows if we will ever see them again) had a good time drinking and dancing. And drinking. and drinking…. unfortunately I drank too many vodka shots and really didn’t feel as it grew time to go… so we made it home, went to sleep, then I awoke 4 hours later to go to the autox… it hurt… but it was a still a good time… I didn’t drive, but I did help out a new person get the hang of it… I also got WAY too much sun, and it was hot, and I was hungry.

And now, the weekend is over. I am still not feeling perfect. I am sunburnt. But I get to sleep. It will be nice.

So last night Rebecca and I went to dinner with robs and Scott at La Creperie on Clark across from Century City… We had been there a number of times before. I had the Rattitoulie or something crepe… and I guess, after having been there a number of times… I like it. But it isn’t as good as I hope. I can’t tell if it is a result of my preconceived notion a crepe is supposed to have strawberries on it… or that there isn’t enough food for my growing body, or what… but it just isn’t as good as I want it to be. The food is good. The patio is great. Good location. They have Orangina. But it just isn’t amazing to me.

I need to learn how to make crepes. Can’t be that hard. It would seem like I need a machine for that. I want one of those 2 sided gridles on a hinge like we had at Cornell for the grill cheese sandwiches or like chiptole has to make the tortillas warm. The new house has a nice big kitchen… perhaps I will investigate that…

But it was nice to see robs and Scott.

So we went to a Semester At Sea friend’s wedding in the mountains of North Carolina. We drove down on friday, wedding on saturday, and drove back sunday. The drive was fine, but the south is weird. I had never actually BEEN to the south aside from the Audi trips to APR in Alabama. Confederate Flags, lots of white white white people. And just overall weirdness. I am not sure I can place my finger on it, but I didn’t really feel comfortable. The landscape was really quite pretty, but I can’t handle a dude in a tshirt with a confederate flag on it with the words “preserve our heritage” below that. To me that just screams racism. I am so glad I didn’t have to live there or through that in my life. I don’t think I will take too many other trips to that part of the country. I mean the primary reason I hadn’t been there in the past was my impression that it was going to be weird and I wasn’t going to like it, so that was supported by my time there. Perhaps one could argue it was a self fulfilling prophecy… Perhaps. But I don’t care to explore it much more at this time in my life.

Last night Rebecca and I attended lifeline Theatre’s production of Queen Lucia. It was directed by Frances Limoncelli, who is the wife of friend and co worker Ben. Thus we got to see it before the official opening. Knowing people is cool.

We went because we wanted to support our friends, we got a good price on the tickets, and theatre is fun. I will admit that at first, a musical about 20s English society by a small theatre group had both great potential (my love of Virginia Woolf spiked my interest in this topic) and, at the same time, potential to be boring. No offense intended, I just wasn’t sure I was going to like it. Just being honest. I was very pleasantly surprised. It started quickly and held my attention all the way.
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