It's been a while since I've posted. It's been a busy couple weeks, not to mention I've overextended my online persona a bit too much at one time. It happens. I go on overkill for a while, then completely give up on it. I haven't gone this far offline in a while. I've still got 19 unread emails in my inbox (no spam). [sigh] Too much email, too many pics on flickr, too much partying, too much IMing, too much blogging, too much everything. I had no time to breathe. I think my break's about over now.

So if I've ignored your email sometime in the past two weeks don't take it personally... I've been doing it to everybody. I will get back to you... maybe if I'm still up after this post.

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Great news since my last post with my pics! Night walk - playground was featured in Torontoist's Torontoist + Flickr Issue #15. I'm really excited about that. It's the first time since photography class in grade 10 (and again in 11) that anyone's actually looked at anything I've done. I'm not a regular flickr whore yet, but damn... I'm really starting to enjoy it.

If any of you have a flickr account I'd love to add you to my contacts! Here's mine, btw.

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I've got a whole series of pics to share from Chicago last weekend. It was actually a really good weekend, especially considering it's a work-related function. I went down to Graph Expo with the Graphic Arts Magazine to help cover the event, and to take pictures. I'm also looking for my main job, to see what type of equipment we might be interested in buying (don't know why I'm linking to an "under construction" page... jeez those are so 1997). Maybe get some ideas.

Phil and I went down Saturday morning at 6:25. Yeah... a little early. I figured we might as well get as much time there as we could, taking into account the time we're off work. I got home Friday night a bit late, so we just stayed up and hung out. Ate a lot. A lot of a lot. Crap.

Off topic for a sec (but on topic for the blog), I haven't logged anything on fitday for a week now, and I've actually gained two pounds! It's not bad considering all the crap I ate in Chicago, but wow. I'm going to pick it back up again, but it's hard to keep motivated. I've been eating reasonably well over the past month, but I've barely lost at all. I've gone to around 163.5ish from 165. Now I'm closer to around 165 again. [sigh] Not really good, but I'm going to take some time off to see what happens. Will I gain a shitload this month, or will the lessons I learned be lifelong ones? I mean even today, I ended up at Taco Bell after a viewing (more on that later), and only ate one burrito and a half diet cola / quarter orange, quarter root beer (yeah, I'm still a kid like that when I have access to the fountain). Big improvement over the six pack of tacos I used to eat (it's a funeral tradition).

Anyway... so we landed in Chicago Saturday morning. We were too tired to do anything so we went to the hotel to take a nap. Nope. No naps for us, it was way too early. Instead we went downtown in our Pontiac Grand Prix GT. We really lucked out with that car, actually. I hate domestic cars... mostly, and this one was no exception. But 260 horse pulling 3500 pounds? Not bad, not bad at all. 20 horse more than my car, but 700 pounds too. It was quick, but not fast. Like any other full sized American car it handled like shit though. But power... it had power.

We didn't get out of the car downtown. We were a little delerious after the lack of sleep. We took some pics, got used to the layout of the city. I'm very impressed with the size of the downtown area. I was expecting something akin to Detroit, just nicer. Downtown was almost like a Toronto-ish version of a small New York, with a little Detroit thrown in for good measure. Yeah... awesome description, eh? I instantly felt at home. I love the way the lake is right there. I love that it's clean. I could see myself there any day of the week.

Don't get me wrong, I love New York. There is no greater city in North America (that I've been to), but I'm a little lost there. It's a little too much of everything. Excessive. Chicago has a more homey feel to it. It's like a dazzling version of Toronto. I really like the transit loop, with the subways above the street. It might block off a lot of light and make it harder to drive, but it's fun, and looks great.

After taking a nap back at the hotel we went out early to see a bit of the city. The subway was actually right outside our hotel. We need this in Toronto. It's such a big deal. We were staying right beside the airport, and the subway was right there. Two bucks to get into the city. I would stay out there again (the hotels are much cheaper by the airport). I wouldn't even need a car, it's that good.

We found a huge crew shooting a commercial. They had a couple old black Oldsmobiles, and a huge crew. For a commercial, we questioned? We found out later it's for Allstate insurance. The next day they threw those cars off this building and into the river.




You can view a video someone else made here. I wish we were around to see that. What would you do if there was no intarweb? I never would have found out about that!

We ended up at a huge restaurant called Weber Grill. Not sure, but I think they have something to do with the barbeque guys. Great steak, good beer. That's where the night started to make a turn for the worse. Hehe. I had two beers. We were a bit early for the dinner rush, which worked out perfectly. Great steaks. I'd go back.

Pre-drinking. It should be banned. I don't want to get too deep into the details... it was a messy, messy night. Ask me in real life or in email, I have enough stories to last a lifetime. We drank too much, too quickly, and in the wrong places. We ended up at Excalibur.

We were a bit early, so it was a bit dead. After about 15 minutes we were asked to visit Starbucks and come back. I'm not sure where we went after that. Blah blah blah... two AM... and we were gone just as the cops pulled up. We took a $35 cab ride back to the hotel.

It was a little hard to get motivated to get to the show. We showed up around 3, took some pictures and left. We were introduced to the media area. This was the coolest part! We had access to a room with computers all along the walls and free food! Sandwiches, cheese and crackers... awesome.

Note to self - be sure to take advantage of this media designation. There's actually a lot of benefits to being a member of the media. I wish I knew about this before... I've been there for six years now and I had no idea it was that cool! It's time to start milking it... I've got six years to make up for!

The show was okay... no sense in boring anyone over the details. I mean it's cool if you're into it, but if you want that you can see it on the magazine's site when it gets updated (not for a while though). We actually need to start updating the site often, but that's another story for another day.

Phil and I were more interested in the anaesthesia conference in the hall across from us. I love medical professional women. So much nicer than the women in printing (mostly wives of printing men).

Right after the show we were invited to the Xerox PIXI awards show. They gave awards out to printers who had shown something cool or something. There was actually some pretty neat stuff there. I absolutely loved their Best of Show winner, a book called Fear. Super cool optical illusions, downright eerie pics... scary stuff, and it looked marvellous.

This is probably where I gained the most weight. The food was awesome. Shredded porn sandwiches, hand filled ravioli, some kind of yummy chicken, wowowowow! Great food. Lots of food. We hit up most of the tables, but unfortunately filled up before finding the roast beef table. Great food. I felt like I never ate before.

The show let out early, so we took a walk around Navy Pier for some pics. I got a bunch of stained glass pics inside, then we went out and took pictures of the art around the place. Good fun, but we were bloody tired and passed out as soon as we got back to the hotel.

The next day at the show was more of the same. We had a few beers to help pass the time. We had some organizational problems, so we ended up staying later than we had hoped. No time to go shopping. I really wanted to go back to the H&M to pick up this shirt I saw the night before. Maybe grab some shoes too. I need to get a couple pairs of shoes then I'll be done with shoes for a while. I need some beige chunky sneakers and some dark brown oxford or monk strap shoes. Maybe some proper black dress shoes too. Anyway...

We went straight toward the airport at 5:00 to catch our plane at 9:15. Yeah, we were early, but we didn't want to take a chance witht the 5:00 traffic. It was bad traffic. Took us an hour and a half (instead of the usual 25 minutes). The signs rerouting us around construction in the city were horrible. Absolutely horrible. The first half hour took us in a loop which brought us back to the convention centre.

We checked in after dropping the car off at 7:00. Our flight was delayed. Then again, and again. I think we left around 10:30, but it was all just a blur at this point. I ended up sitting beside this super tall women's basketball player. Cute chick... I should have talked to her, but maybe I was a little intimidated by her height. Her ass was almost at the level of my chest when she bent over to pick something up. Uhhh, not like I was noticing or anything.

Hurray for Chicago! A set of my pics is available here.

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I made a trip to H&M today to pick up the shirt I saw in Chicago (last one on the rack, just my size), and holey shit, everything looked GREAT on me! You'll have to excuse me, but it was an awesome feeling to be able to try everything on and have it all fit so well. That hasn't happened in years.

Today was the viewing for Kim's grandfather. Not the happiest thing ever. Dog... this is making me sound really petty I know. I liked him a lot, and I'm saddened by the loss for me and especially for the family. I don't want to make a big deal out of it, but I'm a little frustrated trying to find clothes for tomorrow's funeral. (if you haven't figured me out by this point, I spend most of my time engaged so deeply in the minute details that I rarely care about the big picture... works well when I'm trying to avoid thinking of something... works horrible when I'm stuck thinking of something shitty)

I got home with my new clothes and started trying them on. I figured I'd be able to throw something together for tomorrow. We're supposed to be properly dressed, which I understand means suits and stuff... but of course whatever makes you comfortable. I went home thinking I'd be able to wear one of my new sweaters under a blazer, and I'd be able to find everything else in my closet. Yeah. I stress a lot over dressing up... it's something I've never been comfortable doing.

Looking through my closet, I stared by finding a shirt to wear under my sweater. I'm trying to do that whole dress shirt under the the sweater thing I hadn't done since grade 8. Yeah, I was a geek, so what? All my shirts were too big, or had too big collars. I love big collars, just not with this. I tried and retried on this one big white shirt, whose sole purpose was to wear to one funeral one time, and put it on. It actually looked pretty good, more casual, but not bad. I think I'd actually wear it out, and for tomorrow I figured I could tuck it in and it'd work. So that was done.

Pants were another story. I thought I'd be able to wear my grey khakis with red stripes (but dress khakis, I swear)! No. I never knew there was a difference between dress pants and khakis until recently. They fit like khakis. Not cool at all. The I looked at my other "dress" pants. They weren't dress pants at all. They were all just casual pants cut like jeans but made from different fabric. What the hell?

Then there were two more choices. My dark grey casual pants (creased), with cream stripes. It actually works with my sweater quite well. But they're way too baggy. Then there were my suit pants. One charcoal and one navy with olive pinstripes. Yeah. The charcoal ones make me look like MC Hammer. I can't even get myself to try on the navy ones after trying on the jacket.

My two jackets. I figured I could get away with wearing one of them. My charcoal one is a four button. Gross! It might have been cool that one year I bought it, but I've been wearing it since. After coming back from Poland I retired it. That means it goes in the retired pile, never to be seen until it comes back one day (but will it really)? The navy one is fine. Just fine... maybe if I was 40 pounds heavier. It looks like I'm a kid playing dress up.

Come to think of it, I was probably just a bit bigger than I am now when I bought that suit. What a bunch of asstards in that store where I bought it. I paid a shitload for it too. I'm a retard. That's what happens when you're a raver who's going to his high school sweetheart's wedding and wants to impress. [sigh] So that one's a complete write off as well.

So now I'm left not dressed up, with nothing to wear. Uhhh, however that expression goes. Blame the tiredness of a post that isn't finished until after 2:00am. Oh yeah, and before anyone says "I wish I had that problem..." yes I'm complaining, but I really am happy about it!

And to top it all off, this is far too introspective for a public blog! W00 h00!