For your general entertainment

I heard about this on NPR this evening. Oh, how I wish it was on mainstream radio. Make sure you listen to the snippets, they're funny :) It's so much better to hear it than to read it.

Some never learn

I've known Bo for most of his life.

I've seen the cycles since the beginning. Up late at night, looking for pussies. Putting his mouth on dirty things in dark corners. I've asked him to stop. He never does. It's like his body has been taken over and he can't help it.

Now, I see him walk in late at night. I shake my head, knowing that he won't remember meowing at me for no good reason. All I can do is comfort him the next morning, when he inevitably pays for his sins:

Bo prays to the gods.

I love this music

So tonight we went to the Blue Iguana in Lakeview to see the world's first all live hip hop tribute band, Too White Crew. They were awesome!!! They played a wide variety of old school hip hop, from Whoop there it is to Everyday People. My ears are still ringing. I would totally recommend that you see them if you are anywhere they are going to be playing. Super fun!! Enjoying 90s music with friends. Forget bacon, this must be heaven :)

What I've learned...

Since becoming the owner of our two fantastic kittens, I've learned a few things. Here they are, in no particular order, and with pictures when available.

1. Bo has a strange and odd liking of water. He is obsessed with watching us in the shower, has almost jumped into the toilet on purpose and has purposefully jumped into the running shower. (I think we all agree that pictures of that would be inappropriate, as I was also in the shower) Bo won't let you pee without coming to see what's going on with water. He has woken from a dead sleep in the living room and galloped into the bathroom to make sure he doesn't miss a moment.

2. Our cats love to sleep on each other.

















3. Andrik likes to put things on the cats (thanks Bean). You've seen that picture already.

4. Andrik will actually pose for a picture if the kittens are involved.





























5. We should never buy cat toys at the store. All cats need are toilet paper rolls, boxes and paper.





























6. Ally will sleep in the oddest places and weirdest positions. Note that ally is actually upside down in picture one.






























7. Ally is not the most photogenic cat, but when she gets drugs at the vet, she's awfully cute.






























8. We are a crazy cute family.

Attention, cat owners

Another very important article has recently come to my attention.

I suggest immediate action, and pictures please.

Susan knows best

Susan B. Anthony is credited with the following quote:
"The true republic - men, their rights and nothing more; women their
rights and nothing less."

The reason why I ever think about this quote is the "nothing less" part, as in consumer's rights and nothing less. This applies most notably to things like DRM technology. Not to mention that the whole notion of an "end user license agreement" is just despicable.

So, the latest in the battle about the digital content is that Congress is proposing a Broadcast flag for video and audio content. What this means is that Congress would be in direct control of all technology that is involved in any way with creating, distributing or enjoying digital content.

Under this law, all technological innovation would essentially cease. If this law were in place in 1970, we would have no VCRs, in 1990, we would have no TiVo, in 2000, we would have no iPod.

As was evidenced by the Abramoff debacle, the entire political establishment is in the hands of people willing to put up large amounts of money, not the average constituent. I don't really blame him for anything he did, he was following what I am sure is a very large crowd in D.C.

Anyway, back to the broadcast flag. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (which I love because it defends the rights of consumers) is asking people to write to Congressmen (persons?) to show that they don't support the broadcast flag.

I suggest that you look at the EFF site to see if you would like to get involved in the attempt to keep people's rights intact and out of the hands of the RIAA and the MPAA.

What is REALLY stupid is that all of this happens because the business model of the recording and movie industry does not support digital content, that is why they are trying to get Congress to regulate (aka stop) it the way that it did old (analog, "traditional") content. This is stupid. The whole argument of the companies akin to the auto industry saying that customizing your car should be outlawed because it takes away revenues for auto suppliers. It doesn't make sense. There are some places that are embracing digital media and using it to their advantage, like how Comedy Central has good clips of it's shows readily available online for anyone to see. Instead of trying to get people to pay for each viewing, or limiting who can view, they know that they are better off letting everyone view and enjoy. Hurray!

Don't forget to write your congressperson, because we all deserve our rights and nothing less.

Quote of the day, so far

One of my coworkers just said to me:

"It must be tough being in San Francisco, where the only treat you get is Rice-a-Roni"

Goin' West?

It's been two years since the last time I invited myself to California, so I figure it's time to do it again. Beanie and Liz, in the next three months, can I come spend a weekend with you guys? Let me know dates to avoid and I'll start looking into it.

So as not to exclude Andrik and Jen - do you guys want to have Venezuelan food for lunch with me and my parents tomorrow in Rogers Park?

And for my friend Google, to boost our viewership and my ego: Angelina and Brad baby photos.

Wow, everybody be postin' today

I just want to point a couple of things out:

Firstly, you probably already new this, but Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits.

And B) if you don't watch the Daily Show regularly, well, why not? You missed this discussion the other day.

How popular are we?

Is there a hit counter on this blog? I wonder sometimes how many people we've never met are reading this. I'm talking about folks who just surf in here for whatever reason and decide to stay. Our conversations are all over the place, so I'm willing to bet someone on Google has found us through a random search.

Let's try a little experiment and see.

Dear Google: Britney Spears nude.

That ought to do the trick.

DING!

Let's do recruiting 101 at Kellogg:
1. You talk to companies to find out who the hell they are and if you like the people you're talking to.
2. You go to company events to make sure that they like you in an effort to get on a "Closed List".
The Closed List basically means that the company likes you and they are interested in hiring you.
Kellogg's policy is that any company that interviews can only have 50% of their interviews from the closed list.
3. If you don't get on the closed list, there is an auction for the "Open List" (the other 50%).

I applied for the closed list for a certain company that we all know and love. But, alas, I am not impressive enough. We call that a "ding", just because we're all soft-skills-having liberal non-offending saps who don't like the word "rejection". We'll see if I can allocate enough points to get on the open list.

It's Still Better Than Dialup

I didn't realize how dependent I had become on the internet until my cable modem pooped out on Saturday morning. I just spent the last three days disconnected, and felt very cut off from the rest of the world.

I experienced truly Comcastic customer service this morning, when my service technician arrived for what was apparently his very first day on the job. After spending a few minutes on my computer, trying to determine what operating system I was using (after all, doesn't Windows XP look just like Windows 98?) he asked for my assistance in rebooting the computer.

All told, he spent 90 minutes in my apartment and about 45 of those on his walkie-talkie, communicating with the Comcast Mother Ship or wherever they all sit and think up bad commercials.

Long story short: I have internet again. It's Comcastic.

Guten Tag

As requested, I have returned from Austria with pictures. Though none are of scantily clad ski bunnies - they just don't exist until Easter-time. Sorry Andrik.

The whole week was fantastic. Perfect skiing conditions, perfect weather, a really cute village and great friends to travel with. I would go into detail about the trip, but I'm kinda jet lagged and sick - so I'm just gonna post a couple picts and explain 'em.


This is the village of Hopfgarten from halfway up the gondola. It's a super cute traditional Austrian village. I think it was originally a lumber town - at least there was a pretty large lumber mill directly across from the place we were staying, Gastof Shoneck. Each village is recognizable from above by its distinctive and gorgeous church.

We had most of our dinners at Gastof Shoneck (since it was included in the package), but went out twice - once in town at Gastof Post, and again when we were on our excursion to Innsbruck. The dinner here was really quite good. Mushroom soup, wienerschnitzel, and steak. mmm.



This is me on the only 1 person ski lift that I have ever seen. It went to the top of the Hohe Salve (the peak above Hopfgarten).
The skiing really was amazing. We had a pass for the entire SkiWelt ("ski world"), which covered 250km of groomed terrain and had over 100 lifts, gondolas, and a funicular.

This is officially the best way ever to get down stairs while wearing ski boots.

Ski school looks the same in any country. When we walked by, the group in the lower right was being led in some crazy-dance version of the Austrian hokey pokey that lasted at least ten minutes. That's ski instructor stamina for ya.



We took a day off skiing on Wednesday for some sightseeing in Innsbruck. I think we did a good job of looking sufficiently like silly tourists. I don't have picts yet, but we managed to find our way to Ferdinand II's castle. Castles are pretty and interesting, but damn cold!

Thursday was the first day of classes, so Stacey and I took a commemorative picture of what we were doing that day. Best first day of the semester ever!

That's all I've got for now. I think it's time to set my jet lagged self on the couch and see what's been tivoed while I was away. Hope you enjoyed the show.

Paper Moon

Today when I opened my box of 25 notepads, freshly shipped from Staples, I discovered they were all wide-ruled. Every last one.

I clearly clicked the radial button for college-ruled when I placed the order. Clearly.

Now I'm stuck writing on wide-ruled paper like a little second-grade bitch.

Somewhere in the world, there might be someone with bigger problems, but I can't imagine what those might be.

Wickedly Good Fun

So, last night I went to see Wicked at the Ford Oriental Theatre. Very very good times. For those who have read the book, the show is very different and obviously doesn't have the depth of the book. The show is funnier though, with very clever writing. Ana Gasteyer and Kate Reinders were awesome as Elphaba and Glinda (respectively). We got lucky and caught the show before the leads change at the end of January. They were fantastic singers and Kate Reinders plays a perky cheerleader Glinda, just like I imagined her to be from the book. All the music is great, although Glinda sings one particular song that is fantastic song, called Popular. The show comes totally recommended and with the Jen stamp of approval :) And there's your broadway in chicago review.

Good, old fashioned fun-poking

I've seen the Discovery Channel show, Dirty Jobs a couple of times. The host gets to do some predictable things like cleaning sewers and chimneys. The unpredictables ones include chick sexer.

When I saw this commercial, I thought it was a nice dig at Sally Struthers. What really made it memorable was that he actually states "Law" as one of the degrees! It's great.

Don't worry, Lizski, I kid 'cause I'm jealous. I'm spending several hours a day preparing for internship interviews later this month and next.

Speaking of which

Many of you may benefit from this informative guide to cat ownership. Or something like that.

It's worth the wait

So, I was waiting to take this comparison picture.
Remember when Jen and I met the kittens?
This is a picture of Ally then:

This is a picture with Ally and the same purse today:

They are both so HUGE. They are jumping all over all the furniture. At this point, the top of the refrigerator and any shelves on the walls are the only places that are safe from their curiosity. They just run back and forth and wrestle all day. I have decided that they have pretty good lives; sleep whenever, run around, sleep some more. Love it. Here's another shot just because its sickningly cute.


They have their first vet appointment tomorrow where they will get shots and we'll find out if Ally is actually sick or has an allergy or something else.
By the way, the ZipZap is a megahit. The only bad part was that they already bit about half an inch of the end of the antenna. I'll put a video up if/when I figure out a painless way to do it.

Update 1:
I just couldn't help but do this.

I Think I Speak For Everyone...

... when I say: kitten pictures, please.

Far too long...

until this clock winds all the way down. Thought you guys would enjoy it.