So as you have read I recently lost a pretty nasty cat fight between myself, Northwest Airlines, and Mother Nature. Needless to say I have been a little disgruntled lately because of it. But it seems that its starting to look a bit better out there for me. In fact I even stepped up and took one for the team for a complete stranger last night. That sounds way more mysterious than I mean it to be.
Last night, standing outside the bar smoking with my friend W, our conversation was interrupted by the all to familiar Midwestern sound of car tires spinning uselessly in the snow. Turning, we saw a guy either trying to get into a parking spot or get out we couldn't tell. I looked at W - "We should help him shouldn't we?" "Yeah" he replied. And we stared a bit longer.
But we finished our smokes and trudged over to the car. Coming around to the drivers side I asked if he was trying to get in or out of the space. He motioned that he was trying to go backwards so I said we would help push.
Attempt One: We got absolutely nowhere. Walked around to back of car to see if there was a way to dig anything out with my boot. Tried again.
Attempt Two: Pushed so hard that I pretty much fell into the car and then into the snow. Not a face plant kind of fall, just a slow descent onto the knees. But at the end of attempt two we found success! The guy was able to get back on to the road and on his way.
W and I brush off our hands and head back into the bar pretty nonchalantly as though we do this kind of thing all the time. And if you live in the Midwest, you kind of do.
Because see, it's all about the karma. I don't own a car, but I did at one point and I might one day again, and if I stay in this area I guarantee I'll get stuck at some point. I'm not that big and I'm not that strong but if I'm around I will always at least try and help. It's what being in the Midwest is all about.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
Why I am in Chicago Right Now
So, since I don't really want to keep telling this story over and over again, I figured I'd hit up my last few friends who are readers of this insanity I call a blog and just do a post about it. Some of you may have known I had a trip out to Oregon planned for last weekend. It was going to be a whirlwind adventure in which one of my best friends drove down to Chicago, we were to jump a plane Friday and hop, skip, jump around the country (Chicago to Minneapolis to Seattle to Redmond, OR) until we landed at the feet of a third very close friend in Bend Oregon. There we would hide indoors, meet her new baby (3 months oldish) and celebrate the Solstice together such as we haven't been able to do in over 3 years. Then it was back on a plane Monday night to do the reverse trip with a redeye flight (I've never done one before!) that landed us back in Chicagoland Tuesday morning, into the car we would pour ourselves with gallons of coffee to get us back to the homeland of Madison, WI for some family Christmas time. A bus back to Chicago on Friday would of wrapped up the adventure. Get all that? Now here is what actually happened.
Tim (friend and travel companion) gets into Chicago way earlier than I expected Thursday night as he left responsibly early to beat the incoming storm. I, however, being buried in last minute work (I told them this would happen!) got out late and he actually beat me to my door. This was okay as he had a nice warm car and good coffee to keep him occupied while I raced from the train to meet him. We hung out, I got to show him my favorite local bar and second home and we went to sleep at a relatively decent time (Oneish?) to prepare for the next day.
Friday: Up by 8 we were out the door by 9. We were flying out of Midway so we did the Brown line to downtown and the jumped on the Orange line. Got to Midway around 10:30 which was just what we wanted for our noon flight. As we walked into the hustle bustle of the weekend before Christmas Tim looks at the flight arrivals and departures screen and says "Wait, Cancelled?" To which I, in all my splendid wisdom reply, "Huh?" "Flight 1287 says cancelled, that's our flight to Minneapolis" How the hell he knows our flight number has bogged down my distractable mind more than the end result of the flight being cancelled. "Lets just get in line and we can figure it out."
What feels like an hour later we get to the front of the line and begin the descent into hell that comes with holiday travel and dealing with airlines. I could give you a long, drawn out play by play of our conversation with the man behind the curtain, but that seems exhausting so I will try and sum it up instead.
Our original flight to Minneapolis was cancelled due to weather (in Chicago apparently). The guy behind the counter could find no other flights that would get us to Seattle in time to catch our connecting flight to Redmond. In fact, he could find absolutely no flights into Redmond for the rest of the day Friday. None on Saturday. None on Sunday. Since we were to fly home on Monday this basically means we are fucked. The closest he can get us is Portland. What the hell we think, we can jump a bus or rent a car. Let's go for it.
So we take the Portland option - which by the way will route us first through Detroit, and then to Minneapolis and then into Portland at 11:30 at night - and head towards our gate. But as we wait we overhear the guy with the laptop next to us talk about how Detroit is getting worse and worse. We strike up a conversation and learn that Milwaukee is closed (which has nothing to do with this story but gives you an idea of how crappy the weather was in case you know, you live in Australia and it is summer) and Detroit's wait time is getting longer and longer. As we examine our boarding passes we see that we have exactly half an hour in Minneapolis to catch our connecting flight to Portland or we are stuck in the twin cities. I did not pay $600 to hand out in the land of 10,000 lakes all weekend. Plus we talk to our friend in Oregon and learn that the pass through the mountains that we would have to take to get from Portland to Bend is pretty much shut down.
So here we are in Chicago with no way to fly to Redmond and no way to drive to Bend. What the hell are we supposed to do.
What we did was spend forever on hold with Travelocity to see if we could get our money back if we cancelled. After forever the woman said yes - minus a minuscule service fee. And after heart wrenching deliberation and some honesty that trying to get from Portland to Bend just wasn't safe we said yes.
So I spent the past weekend in Chicago where it has been negative 4 degrees as a high (before wind chill of course). I spent Solstice curled up on my couch wearing about 5 layers. And I am back at work on this chilly wintry morning explaining to my coworkers why I am not on vacation.
So that's the story. I wish all of you better luck with your holiday travel plans. And I am going to head back to work now. Cheers.
Tim (friend and travel companion) gets into Chicago way earlier than I expected Thursday night as he left responsibly early to beat the incoming storm. I, however, being buried in last minute work (I told them this would happen!) got out late and he actually beat me to my door. This was okay as he had a nice warm car and good coffee to keep him occupied while I raced from the train to meet him. We hung out, I got to show him my favorite local bar and second home and we went to sleep at a relatively decent time (Oneish?) to prepare for the next day.
Friday: Up by 8 we were out the door by 9. We were flying out of Midway so we did the Brown line to downtown and the jumped on the Orange line. Got to Midway around 10:30 which was just what we wanted for our noon flight. As we walked into the hustle bustle of the weekend before Christmas Tim looks at the flight arrivals and departures screen and says "Wait, Cancelled?" To which I, in all my splendid wisdom reply, "Huh?" "Flight 1287 says cancelled, that's our flight to Minneapolis" How the hell he knows our flight number has bogged down my distractable mind more than the end result of the flight being cancelled. "Lets just get in line and we can figure it out."
What feels like an hour later we get to the front of the line and begin the descent into hell that comes with holiday travel and dealing with airlines. I could give you a long, drawn out play by play of our conversation with the man behind the curtain, but that seems exhausting so I will try and sum it up instead.
Our original flight to Minneapolis was cancelled due to weather (in Chicago apparently). The guy behind the counter could find no other flights that would get us to Seattle in time to catch our connecting flight to Redmond. In fact, he could find absolutely no flights into Redmond for the rest of the day Friday. None on Saturday. None on Sunday. Since we were to fly home on Monday this basically means we are fucked. The closest he can get us is Portland. What the hell we think, we can jump a bus or rent a car. Let's go for it.
So we take the Portland option - which by the way will route us first through Detroit, and then to Minneapolis and then into Portland at 11:30 at night - and head towards our gate. But as we wait we overhear the guy with the laptop next to us talk about how Detroit is getting worse and worse. We strike up a conversation and learn that Milwaukee is closed (which has nothing to do with this story but gives you an idea of how crappy the weather was in case you know, you live in Australia and it is summer) and Detroit's wait time is getting longer and longer. As we examine our boarding passes we see that we have exactly half an hour in Minneapolis to catch our connecting flight to Portland or we are stuck in the twin cities. I did not pay $600 to hand out in the land of 10,000 lakes all weekend. Plus we talk to our friend in Oregon and learn that the pass through the mountains that we would have to take to get from Portland to Bend is pretty much shut down.
So here we are in Chicago with no way to fly to Redmond and no way to drive to Bend. What the hell are we supposed to do.
What we did was spend forever on hold with Travelocity to see if we could get our money back if we cancelled. After forever the woman said yes - minus a minuscule service fee. And after heart wrenching deliberation and some honesty that trying to get from Portland to Bend just wasn't safe we said yes.
So I spent the past weekend in Chicago where it has been negative 4 degrees as a high (before wind chill of course). I spent Solstice curled up on my couch wearing about 5 layers. And I am back at work on this chilly wintry morning explaining to my coworkers why I am not on vacation.
So that's the story. I wish all of you better luck with your holiday travel plans. And I am going to head back to work now. Cheers.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
And so quickly it is gone
I closed the window by accident, tried to go back and it is already gone. I wish I could of gotten screen shots of all of it. It was pretty damn funny.
Silly, silly G Rod
Just in case it gets taken down I have to share this screen shot with everyone. Check out the actual link here so you can see all the Q&A. It's borderline amazing. Thanks to Will for the share.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
No time
No time to blog. Instead I'll just share this from a random link a friend sent.
Cheers.
Cheers.
My emo band's name is Physical Immaculate Romance.
Take The Emo Band Name Generator today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Name Generator Generator.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Random Wrap Ups
I'm swamped at work so of course I would like to take this moment to blog about the random things filtering to the top of my brain. I warn you now, I feel this is going to be a random configuration of one line statements that make no sense.
First: Changing ones relationship status on a social networking site is by far the most humorous thing one can do to get the word out. I got more comments on that update than any status change, blog, or twitter feed. But to be fair, it is the easiest way to share this stuff without having to call 90 of my close and not so close friends. And when I show up with a redhead in tow at an upcoming wedding I won't have to explain who the hell he is.
If I ruled the world (oh how scary that would be!) I would make it one of my first executive decisions to outlaw the words "Lake Effect" and "Wintry Mix". I would also make it illegal to be colder than my age. You would have to pass a test to have babies, and smoking would be good for you.
I don't like to give up on books but I just had to put down "What's the matter with Kansas?" It's interesting but seems to be getting repetitive (and reading it on my morning commute was putting me to sleep). I think I've got the general gist of what's wrong. I've moved on to Dracula.
The failing economy has sent another harpoon into someone I know. My second close friend has recently found out that they will be unemployed in 4 months. At least they had warning I guess. The first one was an immediate layoff. This shit is starting to get scary. And from all conversations I'm overhearing, it's nothing to what is going to happen next year. Anyone want to help me build a bomb shelter? My construction skills suck but I come with a pretty nifty book collection.
People leaving sucks. I know it has to happen. I know it is not forever. I am still not ready. And no, world who wants to know, I am not quitting smoking just because my twin is gone, did you people really pay no attention to me before she was here?
Blogging on two sites is getting slightly exhausting. Though my count for who is reading in the myspace world has gone up so I either have a new friend out there paying attention or the same person is reading my posts over and over. Either way it's weird.
Work. Ah, glorious work. Blind leading the blind down an alley filled with sharp, sharp rocks. That pretty much sums it up.
Some how my winter has gotten as filled socially as summer usually is. Every weekend between now and mid January has something going on. How does this happen? I really am not that sociable, or at least I didn't think I was. Since I'm still spending most weeknights holed up in my apartment I feel I can still consider myself not that busy.
I am going to go now and drink lots and lots of coffee because it's Friday and Friday allows me to indulge in these things that I love. Have a great weekend.
First: Changing ones relationship status on a social networking site is by far the most humorous thing one can do to get the word out. I got more comments on that update than any status change, blog, or twitter feed. But to be fair, it is the easiest way to share this stuff without having to call 90 of my close and not so close friends. And when I show up with a redhead in tow at an upcoming wedding I won't have to explain who the hell he is.
If I ruled the world (oh how scary that would be!) I would make it one of my first executive decisions to outlaw the words "Lake Effect" and "Wintry Mix". I would also make it illegal to be colder than my age. You would have to pass a test to have babies, and smoking would be good for you.
I don't like to give up on books but I just had to put down "What's the matter with Kansas?" It's interesting but seems to be getting repetitive (and reading it on my morning commute was putting me to sleep). I think I've got the general gist of what's wrong. I've moved on to Dracula.
The failing economy has sent another harpoon into someone I know. My second close friend has recently found out that they will be unemployed in 4 months. At least they had warning I guess. The first one was an immediate layoff. This shit is starting to get scary. And from all conversations I'm overhearing, it's nothing to what is going to happen next year. Anyone want to help me build a bomb shelter? My construction skills suck but I come with a pretty nifty book collection.
People leaving sucks. I know it has to happen. I know it is not forever. I am still not ready. And no, world who wants to know, I am not quitting smoking just because my twin is gone, did you people really pay no attention to me before she was here?
Blogging on two sites is getting slightly exhausting. Though my count for who is reading in the myspace world has gone up so I either have a new friend out there paying attention or the same person is reading my posts over and over. Either way it's weird.
Work. Ah, glorious work. Blind leading the blind down an alley filled with sharp, sharp rocks. That pretty much sums it up.
Some how my winter has gotten as filled socially as summer usually is. Every weekend between now and mid January has something going on. How does this happen? I really am not that sociable, or at least I didn't think I was. Since I'm still spending most weeknights holed up in my apartment I feel I can still consider myself not that busy.
I am going to go now and drink lots and lots of coffee because it's Friday and Friday allows me to indulge in these things that I love. Have a great weekend.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Boyfriend?
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v1.1) defines "boyfriend" as...
1) a frequent or favorite male companion; beau.
2) a male friend.
3) a male lover.
while supposedly American Heritage Dictionary (though the info was on the same site) defines it as...
1) A favored male companion or sweetheart.
2) A male friend.
Whatever the definition is, I think I may have somehow gotten one. I know, I know, I write this as though I randomly found a $2 lottery ticket, or picked up ringworm, sorry it's just still a little weird.
I am terrible at labeling my interactions with people and usually avoid it at all costs. I don't need to know that you are my "boyfriend" to have sex with you. I just need to know that you are not having sex with lots of other random people. Or if you are, that we both know it and are cool with it. And, on a side note, though I'm not sure it's your business or you even care, since there is no actual sex in this story yet I don't see why all this freaking matters. However, it has been pointed out to me that apparently this living a non-labeled existence makes other people slightly insecure. Whatever. So in order to be a better, more caring person, I have been trying out the term. Ironically though, if you behave like a teenager I then apparently follow suit, because I am lightly using the term with everyone but the actual boy. (insert exasperated sigh here).
Seriously. Is this stuff always this complicated/ridiculous?
But to be fair to the internet world I figured I should at least share a bit of what is going on. Met boy. Like boy. Spending quite a bit of time with boy. Boy seems to like me. In fact, boy tells me this almost all the time. This is good. That is where we are at.
However, as with all things dramalicious, it doesn't even come close to ending there. As this is 2008 the internet has of course infected my social interactions. It started with MySpace. I had a MySpace page a long time ago and abandoned it quickly after discovering the interface sucked. Since then I have become a dedicated Facebook addict. The boy though is still a MySpace user, so I booted back up the old page, updated it, and actually started blogging on it. But since he is the only one I think reading it the posts are pretty much centered around him or things we do. Mostly I do this to amuse him and to share with him things I want to say but can't figure out in actual conversation.
Then his roommate built a fan page for him on FB. So of course, I had to go and become a fan of his. It seemed only fair. On his fan page is a link to his Twitter account. And here is where the downward spiral begins. I am also on Twitter but use it only rarely (though I'm trying to update it more now). So I decided not to follow him publicly and instead type the feed directly in my toolbar so that I can keep up with his not so innermost thoughts without him knowing. Sound dangerous yet? Just wait.
Introduce into the situation a friend of his, we'll call Jane. There is a long, convoluted story about why I think that I don't like Jane and why I think she may be trying to date my new boyfriend (wow it even feels weird to type) but I will keep that for in person story telling time. Lets just say I have a pretty strong gut instinct that this girl is no good.
So the other day I decide to see who is a follower of his Twitter feed and lo and behold there is her mug shot smirking out at me. Obviously the next step is to then go see what she has to say, right? Well even if you think that is not the logical next step, that is where this story takes us. And to make it even more ridiculous, I decide to page back through the history to the night when all these untrusting feelings about her started and begin to try and dissect her updates. Way over analyzing. I know. I still freaking did it. And know I'm stuck with the knowledge in my head. Though to be fair it isn't even actual knowledge. It's fucking Twitter updates.
But in the end all that really matters is I met a boy. We went to the zoo. We are spending Thanksgiving together with friends. I like this boy. This boy likes me. Life is good.
1) a frequent or favorite male companion; beau.
2) a male friend.
3) a male lover.
while supposedly American Heritage Dictionary (though the info was on the same site) defines it as...
1) A favored male companion or sweetheart.
2) A male friend.
Whatever the definition is, I think I may have somehow gotten one. I know, I know, I write this as though I randomly found a $2 lottery ticket, or picked up ringworm, sorry it's just still a little weird.
I am terrible at labeling my interactions with people and usually avoid it at all costs. I don't need to know that you are my "boyfriend" to have sex with you. I just need to know that you are not having sex with lots of other random people. Or if you are, that we both know it and are cool with it. And, on a side note, though I'm not sure it's your business or you even care, since there is no actual sex in this story yet I don't see why all this freaking matters. However, it has been pointed out to me that apparently this living a non-labeled existence makes other people slightly insecure. Whatever. So in order to be a better, more caring person, I have been trying out the term. Ironically though, if you behave like a teenager I then apparently follow suit, because I am lightly using the term with everyone but the actual boy. (insert exasperated sigh here).
Seriously. Is this stuff always this complicated/ridiculous?
But to be fair to the internet world I figured I should at least share a bit of what is going on. Met boy. Like boy. Spending quite a bit of time with boy. Boy seems to like me. In fact, boy tells me this almost all the time. This is good. That is where we are at.
However, as with all things dramalicious, it doesn't even come close to ending there. As this is 2008 the internet has of course infected my social interactions. It started with MySpace. I had a MySpace page a long time ago and abandoned it quickly after discovering the interface sucked. Since then I have become a dedicated Facebook addict. The boy though is still a MySpace user, so I booted back up the old page, updated it, and actually started blogging on it. But since he is the only one I think reading it the posts are pretty much centered around him or things we do. Mostly I do this to amuse him and to share with him things I want to say but can't figure out in actual conversation.
Then his roommate built a fan page for him on FB. So of course, I had to go and become a fan of his. It seemed only fair. On his fan page is a link to his Twitter account. And here is where the downward spiral begins. I am also on Twitter but use it only rarely (though I'm trying to update it more now). So I decided not to follow him publicly and instead type the feed directly in my toolbar so that I can keep up with his not so innermost thoughts without him knowing. Sound dangerous yet? Just wait.
Introduce into the situation a friend of his, we'll call Jane. There is a long, convoluted story about why I think that I don't like Jane and why I think she may be trying to date my new boyfriend (wow it even feels weird to type) but I will keep that for in person story telling time. Lets just say I have a pretty strong gut instinct that this girl is no good.
So the other day I decide to see who is a follower of his Twitter feed and lo and behold there is her mug shot smirking out at me. Obviously the next step is to then go see what she has to say, right? Well even if you think that is not the logical next step, that is where this story takes us. And to make it even more ridiculous, I decide to page back through the history to the night when all these untrusting feelings about her started and begin to try and dissect her updates. Way over analyzing. I know. I still freaking did it. And know I'm stuck with the knowledge in my head. Though to be fair it isn't even actual knowledge. It's fucking Twitter updates.
But in the end all that really matters is I met a boy. We went to the zoo. We are spending Thanksgiving together with friends. I like this boy. This boy likes me. Life is good.
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