Ahhh! need a flurry of posts to push those pictures off the front page! They're screwing up my widths... that's what I get for not doing a fluid template using CSS :(

A picture is worth a thousand words, so here is that 3,000 word essay that was due today.

This is my empty T.T

Here's a view of LSD while I was driving back towards downtown.

And finally what the drive back may have looked at had I actually been on LSD.

Enjoy, and send me some emails during the day... I need something to look at during my two paid water breaks while I'm at work.

(Oh, and my apologies to the person whose bandwidth I'm leeching... If you need compensation, or if my traffic crashes the server please let me know)

I found this story off of google news while I was on my dinner break at work this evening. (Therefore, it should be work-safe)

Whatever may be said about this fellow's skills of an artist, you can't deny he's a great publicist.

Still, it is nice to see realism making a comeback... ... ... ...

O M X ! ! !


I totally forgot the most exciting part of my trip to Chicago...


I um.... called Brandon's parents' house, since I didn't have his cell number, and I was hoping against hope that he just might through some friendship miracle be in town. I got his mom, who, despite her being taken aback by my asking "is brandon there" recovered nicely and recognized who I was. We chatted briefly and I said goodbye, but then Roger alerted me that he had Brandon's number...

So, I gave him a call.

He was busy at lab as usual (despite it being saturday)... we talked briefly, he adroitly sidestepped my gf questioning, and then... then I asked him if he had published anything yet.

I wasn't really too serious, since he's only at 2.5 years in grad school so far, but... he's got an article submitted to Nature.






NATURE people!!!

I just feel privledged to have been able to live with a genius for two years.

Ah, twas a glorious weeke-ende!

Saturday -- after three mis-starts on the journey south, and inspite of construction induced traffic jams in the western suburbs -- I arrived on the shores of Lake Michigan, at or around 54th Street. Frankly, I was surprised at how nice the neighborhood seemed to be... while evidently a few blocks north was prime drug dealing territory, I got a affluent, law-abiding vibe from the area.

I was met in the parking lot by Roger and Adrianna, and much celebration ensued. What is interesting in retrospect was how natural the whole thing was... despite having essentially not seen each other since graduation, it seemed to me that we just picked up where we left off. That level of comfort was present the whole weekend, and just served to underline to me how lucky I am to have so many great friends (If you're reading this, I probably mean you too :D).

Adrianna's building was a old-style hotel converted to apartments, but despite certain indications of age, it was actually a pretty nice place, and I was actually surprised at how much she was paying for it... it seemed lower than I would have expected for what was essentially lakeshore property.

We ended up heading up to Old Orchard to meet up with Janet, which was a wonderful surprise, since I hadn't expected her to be in town. A very late lunch ensued at the mall, complete with med school war stories to aid digestion. We said so long to Janet to let her go join her parents for dinner (feeling sorry for stuffing her so close to dinner time) and headed back down 94.

Now might be a good time to point out how much I even enjoyed being back on the pavement with Chicago drivers. Adrianna was a consumate Chicago driver, keeping tailing distances a fraction of two seconds long, yet never being in danger of having an accident. The freeways of Chicago are almost like a living organism, with moods, and a certain circadian rhythm. While no doubt I would have few good words for Chicago's roadways if I commuted on them every day, it as certainly fun to drive them for a weekend.

Saturday night saw a kemper-esque moment, as Roger cooked up some Baltimore style crab cakes for us. Now, I'm not a big seafood aficianado, so my opinion likely means nothing, but these were some good crab cakes. (Although I think they could have used a tad more pepper, but that's just cause my tastebuds are mostly burned out)

Sunday morning saw us off to Fullerton for church at New Community, Roger's 'home' church during our college days. I had been there a couple times before, and it was much as I remembered it. We got the great surprise of seeing Sandra there (with her fiance!) and I was surprised after the service to be bear hugged by Jeremy (who I hadn't thought I'd be seeing till dinner time. Anyhow, despite having a rather young-sided congregation, NC is worth a visit if you're in Chicago on a sunday morning.

We had intended to catch an ESO concert on campus, but in the end we just headed to Pheonix for dimsum, which was good, despite getting there on the late side... and I avoided eating any large talons, so it had that going for it. A visit to the Chinese bakery for pork buns was accomplished without incident, and then we wandered the mall area for a while. That was rather melancholy for me, since I remembered the last time I had been there was with Di, and in addition KTV had disappeared!! All that was left was a faded listing on the directory board. Pity.

After saying my goodbyes to one couple, I headed up to Evanston to meet another (again in this case, since we'd met at church). It was surreal being back on campus. So much was the same, but there were differences too, and I could tell that I was no longer one of the 'regulars'... all of them looked so young. Jeremy and I talked for a while, then met up with Arwa. I was hoping for Joy Yee's, but they were just as packed as ever, so we went to a new Thai place called simply Cozy.

Now with Thai you might expect Buddhist statuary, oriental masks, and other generally Asian-looking decor. This place was like walking into the secret storage room of someone who spends way too much time on Ebay. One wall covered by shelves holding the largest pez-dispenser collection it's ever been my privledge to see. Another wall was covered in old-style children's lunchboxes. A half-size Elvis greeted us as we entered. Everything was bright colors and cheesy pop culture... it was great.

And the food.... I didn't think it was possible to do a better panang noodle than Thai Sookdee, but... but... this was at least as good... and I'm really leaning towards saying it was better. The noodles were not as crunchy, but the curry was de-lic-ious. If Carl ever visits Evanston I'll want to hear his opinion on it.

After dinner we grabbed boba at Joy Yee's. Perhaps the best part of the trip :P There seriously needs to be a bubble tea shop opened up in Madison... I don't understand why there isn't one... I think it would clean up... heck, even one of those little carts on the library mall... (Anyone with investment capital, contact me to talk)

Swung by their apartment, and talked music with Jeremy for a spell. They had an incredible view of downtown and the southside of campus from their living room... truly spectacular. I was glad to see that despite insane e-town rents, the two of them were doing well, and no longer working at Clark's.

With joy in my heart at the time I'd spent in good company the whole weekend, I headed out of town once again along the old familiar route.

I have this great idea for a new photo-centric blog project I want to do... it's a unique idea, one that I haven't seen anywhere else on the web, and yet I think it remains just barely short of being so obscure as to insure no one at all is interested in it, but (there's always a but)... I'm really not sure if I have the photographic prowess to really nail it the way I'd like. So... I will try and get started on it anyway (with my paltry equipment) and hopefully if it catches on I'll develop the skills as I go. (If anyone wants to donate bandwidth or digital camera(s) better than mine, please go ahead)

Link will arrive after I've got at least a couple posts up... which cannot possibly be before this weekend, since I'm certain I shan't have time to shutter-bug till then.

Full run down of the weekend and site redesign coming soon to a URL near you.

(which, given this author's tendencies, means both will arrive sometime in June... of 2007)

Safely bedded down near 55th Street near the lakeshore for the night. Day One back in Chitown has been a rousing sucess. Will post more details in the future, but suffice to say it's nice to be back with friends among the old landmarks.

Musings from the lanes:

While going without sleeves may serve to establish a certain milieu, it does not guarentee your sobriety...

Ever need a temporary tattoo that resembles yellow highlighter? Have I got the recipie for you...

Step 1: Get your hands on some concentrated nitric acid.

Step 2: Using an eye dropper, turkey baster, or other similar implement, draw up some volume of acid.

Step 3: Have some psuedo-tribal pattern, poorly written kanji, lesbian fantasy creature triptych or death metal band album cover in mind which you wish to tattoo.

Step 4: Apply acid liberarlly.

Step 5: Enjoy for the next 1-2 weeks.

This helpful home style tip brought to you by my new job.

In case either or both of the pair of young ladies in front of whom I made such wild claims about the content of my weblog ever get to the point of actually seeing it, it would appear I need to start cracking on putting to html my... proclivities if you will....

Kumquats... kumquats, dryer sheets and a copy of J.S. Mill's On Liberty. Oh, how I rise just thinking of those three together...

Ahhhh! the weekend is going way too quickly!!!!

When do I get to retire again?

I worried for a moment that it would be hypocritical to say "God is good" after such a long period of neither saying or particularly believing those simple words.

However, there is no hypocrisy in simply declaring the truth. The truth of God's nature isn't changed by my thoughts, or condition, or actions...

So, hear it folks, the God of the universe is good.







I start work on monday.