Full Metal Lunchbox

Enjoying a fish taco

It's 1:30AM Chicago time and the White Sox just beat the Astros to win Game 3 of the World Series.  

Read about the longest night in World Series history here.



I was surpsied about 20 minutes ago to hear chearing across the production floor at work as the Sox broke out of a five inning tie in the top of the 14th inning.  I didn't even know that the game was still going on--I had thought it ended hours ago, so I wasn't even paying attention.

I'll be watching Game 4 tonight at Wise Fools Pub before (or perhaps while) taking in a concert by Double Fortune.  See you there!

My birthday came a few days early this year when Justyna surprised me with a birthday party at Bite!  In attendance were Shea, Kathleen, Dave, Darryn, Jeanne, Kathy, and Steve.  (The previous version of this post forgot to mention that Jim and Kelly joined us late, by which time I was already too drunk to take photos or clearly remember anything.)  It was a good group and we had a lot of fun.

     Darryn

     Jeanne

     Justyna -- my surprise hostess!

     Justyna, Kathleen, Dave, and Darryn

     Kathy

     Me and Shea

     Steve




After Bite we went to another bar to have Jager Bombs and then ended up at a nearby Polish bar.  I don't think any of us caught the name of this place, and the sign out front simply said "zimne piwo" (cold beer).  I like these old ethnic neighborhood bars, and they are a dying breed in Chicago.

     Dave

     Justyna

     Kathleen

We spent a long time at the Zimne Piwo place because it was a fun hangout and the drinks were cheap.  I started out drinking tatankis (Zubrowka and apple juice) and eventually moved on to krupnik, which the bartender had a big container of under the bar.

Everyone -- my friends, the bartender, and even some strangers -- kept buying me rounds and I got more than a little carried away.

     This is what happend to me by the time we got to Dave's house around 2:30AM.  I passed out shortly afterwards and missed the last three hours of my party, which I hear involved long conversations and tacos.

I consider myself lucky that I got sick and passed out.  Two of my friends also had a lot to drink and didn't fare so well.  They ended up back at our place, where they remained incapacitated for a couple of days.

     Here we are parked in front of Walgreens at 6AM.  We stopped to pick up some jugs of Pedialite.

Dispite (and somewhat because of) the rampant alcohol abuse, I had a great time.  Thanks, Justyna, for exactly the birthday party I wanted!

On those rare occasions when I travel by airplane, I invariably find that the inflight entertainment is either Fox Sportsnet or the previous week's episode of CSI.  To make these shows more bearable when I am a captive audience, I like to tune my headset to monitor the cockpit communication with air traffic control.  Many airlines now offer this as part of their audio entertainment programming, and it has made many a bad flight go quicker.

But sometimes, I admit, I listen purely out of pure geeky fascination.  And I know I'm not the only one.

Now, thanks to the Internet, we can enjoy listening in on tired commercial pilots in the comfort of our own homes and workplaces.


Passur Airport Monitor 2.0 is a real-time visual monitor of traffic in and out of Kennedy Airport in New York.  You can click on any airplane for detailed information on heading and altititude.  I suppose this would come in handy for the wireless-equipped laptop user waiting to meet someone at the airport.


While monitoring traffic at the airport, listen in to air traffic control and monitor radio communication between the tower and the flights you see on the Passur screen.

The purpose of my overnight mid-week excursion to Champaign was the annual Piccadilly Wine Tasting.  Here you see Shea and I comparing tasting experiences toward the end of the evening.  (Shea is trying to figure out how to pay for the 26 bottles of wine him and Kathleen ordered.)

I had a lot of fun sampling dozens of great wines from all over the world, taking copious notes on my experiences with each glass (notes which would make less and less sense as the evening progressed). I will post my reviews later in this space.

Brief summary of experiences:

1) You can still buy a good bottle of German white for under $6
2) Fuck California (except for the 2002 Wild Horse, Paso Robles)
3) Australians like to mix it up
4) Real wine is still produced in Tuscany
5) Spain is still the undiscovered country.
6) I still don't understand Sherry.  Bile, anyone?
7) Really good dessert wine can still make a grown man cry (and compose poetry)
8) Why smoke cigarettes when you can drink tawny port?

After getting really wasted one drop at a time, the bunch of us went out for dinner at Timpone's.  I had a terrific ribeye--my first meat in nearly a week.

Will be back to sober reality tomorrow.

Kathleen and Shea strategise for tonight's big wine tasting.

My department of about 30 people provides operational support to the hundreds who work on my project.  But at night I have only one co-worker.

Her english skills are not so good and our boss has insisted that she make improvements.  So every night around this time Wei sits at her desk, headphones on, working on her english program.  Not wanting to disturb me or be seen by anyone out on the production floor as talking to herself, Wei whispers her way through her exercises.

Some moments it is very surreal, when all I can hear around me is the air rushing through the ventillation system and the sound of a continuous whisper that seems to be coming from all around me.

CSI.

I think it's the lamest show on TV.

Nobody agrees with me.  Everyone likes it.  Almost everyone watches it.

Why?


Please someone tell me why.

It's about 6:30AM and I just finished a late dinner / early breakfast of Tasty Bite brand "Jaipur Vegetables" (navratan korma), washed down with a Hansen's Diet Ginger Ale, and followed by an apple for desert.

I am pleased to announce that I have reorganized my blogspace in order to more clearly present content to my 8 or 9 regular readers.

  My regular blog will continue to report the routine details of my daily (nightly) existence.  Think you spotted me the other night hobnobbing among the rich and famous at the Stork Club?  Look for juicy details in my blog first before turning to the tabloids.



  Left Outer Join remains the best source on the Internet for irreverant pseudo-political commentary.  Even better than Fox News!  (And much like the politicians themselves we are always looking for more contributors!)





  Everyone should have a blog that contains nothing but gibberish.  It's very therapeautic!  How am I doing?  Five By Five!



  I didn't create the art.  I just find it and make it available to you at Net Found Art.



  And for everything left over... Random Crapola.

I was awakened from my nap this afternoon by the sensation of the bed shaking.  I was able to rule out the end of the world when I noticed that my dog Sadie was shivering.

It's thunderstorming outside and Sadie is absolutely terrified of lighting.  I have her on my lap now as I type this, and she is still shaking with fear.

I encourage anyone reading this to comment and let Sadie know that there is nothing to be afraid of.  Sadie is a regular reader of this blog and I know she will appreciate your reassurances.