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Friday, February 2, 2007 / 4:39pm
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Baby's Everywhere
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I did not have a baby. Okay, here's that alleged "major" announcement. To
those of you out in the non-seeing-Brian-regularly crowd, the announcement
was, in fact, made on Tuesday. Fine, fine, enough stalling... here it is:
Primary Camera Operations shifted from Advantix film to 8.0 Mpx digital
capture effective Tuesday, January 30 at 12:50pm. The last roll of film
was due back from processing earlier that day, and, with no pictures on the
current roll of film and my almost committing to blow $200 on travel to go
to Miami for the Super Bowl anyways, I decided to go buy a digital camera.
How exciting is that? As the last one to make the transition in both the
primary family and primary friend circles, it marked the end of an era. I
bet the guys over in the Photo Department at the campus Walgreens will be
sad to see me go. They saw a lot of business over the last ten years or so.
I will miss the days where they ask if I'm getting the usual and they pull
my orders out for me without any asking. In other news, I still have not
decided where I will be when the Bears win the Super Bowl. I can say that
it's been a productive week, and, like usual, I've been kept busy. Going to
the men's basketball game against Michigan State on Tuesday was fun, too,
especially since they actually won... and the tickets I used were ones I'd
won from a radio station last Thursday. Anyways, to close, here's a little
sampling of things I'm looking forward to this month: Super Bowl XLI, more
Beauty and the Geek (even though Mario and Nadia were eliminated), my
not-so-secret vacation day on February 20, and the start of another season
of the Amazing Race. Mmm... travel. I'd like to go somewhere. (As usual
and always, I'm taking suggestions... now, especially for Spring Break.
It's awesome that I can still get a Spring Break vacation if I really wanted
to.) One place I'd like to go to, one day... is a little place in
Pennsylvania. Strike up, the music, the band has begun, because, like
always, the equinox is six weeks away. Happy SM, y'all.
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Sunday, February 11, 2007 / 12:28pm
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the two thousand six that twas
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So, what happened this past year? It's really bizarre. Not the year, but
actually going through the process of looking at records and the like, and
reading my years in review for 2004
and for 2005.
I say bizarre because it's always interesting to look back and see where
you were and to go back and reflect on all that's happened. It started on
the side of an Indiana country road... or was it at an Illinois rest area?
Let's find out how that worked out...
I don't know exactly how you want to say I started 2006. That's because it
started twice. Fulfilling a life-long dream, and by "life-long" I mean "two
year", I celebrated the start of a year in two time zones. Work, well, was
work, but it was more exciting. After being there for a few months, I was
finally doing what my job is supposed to do: facilitate facility rental and
do what is necessary for smoothly run events. And it was good times indeed.
I went to the dentist. Used insurance. It was a good time. Then, I had my
wisdom teeth pulled. And, to the world's surprise, I recovered very quickly
and without real pain or drugs afterwards. Illinois didn't do so well in
the bracket, and, while that was going on, I trained my way to
Charlottesville for a spring break trip. A trip where I was there for about
fifteen hours before heading to Washington for a four hour visit, then
taking the train back. I attended my earliest-ever-in-a-year baseball game
while taking a random day off work. I attended a Roger Ebert's Overlooked
Film Festival for the first time, and showed a student film at the Museum.
In May, I threw out a first pitch, enjoyed more baseball, and co-organized a
group trip to see Wicked in Chicago. The organizing was in May, the
performance was in June, which was immediately followed by a trip to see
some relatives in Seattle. A milestone of feeling old happened to take
place, and, no, it wasn't a birthday... it was a high school reunion. It
was a definitely pleasure to reconnect with people from back in the day, and
by "back" I mean "way back". I made a few "one-nighters" at my interim
summer housing location in Champaign to squeeze some work in, as I was out
and about for a lot of summer. There was a wedding (and, no, not mine), a
surgical science museum, a non-Major League professional baseball game, and
a day of Jury Duty! The 3rd of July Chicago fireworks were enjoyed in
person, and a baseball filled summer (with stops in Milwaukee, Pittsburgh,
Cincinnati, and St. Louis) kept the travel train chugging along. Then, the
fall semester arrived, and I (once again) was in a new residence. I moved
from being a bus ride (or two) away from work to being a "casual six minute
stroll" away. I hired more people, bought some DVDs, and completely caught
up on all the Grey's that was available. Oh, and before being "The Ugly
One" for Halloween, I went on a CTA tour. And it was Grand! (Actually, it
is no longer "Grand", it's "Grand and State" or "Grand and Milwaukee", a
change in the CTA voice that took place when the Pink line was added...
which I rode on the first day of its service back in June.) Four months
after mysterious-skin-thing-that-went-away, I casually went to the ER for
the unrelated and magical "Atypical Chest Pain". Then, three weeks later, I
was enjoying my "Thanksgiving of a Lifetime 2006" vacation in sunny, warm
Las Vegas. I'll do the same next year, too, and you should be there. I
particularly enjoyed being at a TV show filming and answering voice mails
poolside. December meant I made my annual United Center visit for Illinois
basketball, and, for another year, I set a new record in holidaycards sent
(which all had special Brian postage). And, we end by standing in the
middle of Times Square once again, ending a year full of travel, adventure,
and fun. And, of course, I won my share of random contests, scored some
free stuff, and attended random movies, sporting events, gatherings, and
the like. It was good times... good times. Definitely, not bad, even if
there were the occasional times where it felt that way. (No year is ever
completely perfect.) I can only hope that 2007 (or anything in the future,
really) doesn't suck. Okay, 2007, bring it! Next year is this year.
Funny how these start and end uneeriely similar to that of previous years.
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Sunday, February 11, 2007 / 11:53pm
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"the list"
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four
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Tuesday, February 13, 2007 / 5:09pm
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Not the Dairy Queen Variety
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At 8:40am, the University of Illinois cancelled all classes for the day. I
went down my buddy list and instant messaged all the UI students that were
online to spread the word, and many did not believe me. I was unable to
find confirmation on the main UI web page, but I did manage to call UI
directory assistance and they just received the official word when I called.
(I originally heard it on the radio, then received a mass email... it must
have taken a while to get to all 30,000+ email accounts- some people didn't
get the message until 20 minutes after I did.) The weather did not suspend
overall Brian operations, though...
I made it into work... the walk was
not as cold as it could have been... it was just more of a trudge-your-way
sort of thing. Side streets had one dedicated path that cars carved, so
they were essentially one-laned. Traffic was minimal and it was eeriely
quiet, save for a few students with dining hall trays in tow. Like the rest
of the University, we were closed. I had the pleasure of putting a sign up
on the door. I took a few pictures from out on the quad before heading out
to campustown for lunch.
Half of the businesses were closed; signs of life still existed. After some
soup and a burger from Legends, I hopped on some buses to tour the area.
The Market Place Mall parking lot was like a desert. Except it was snow.
There were a few cars stuck even traversing the ring around the mall. The
entire area has pretty much shut down... some areas were unreachable by bus
this morning, and at the end of daytime service, the buses will suspend
operations until tomorrow morning. The local airport was running this
morning, but closed around lunch, just like most all other businesses that
bothered opening today. Reportedly, the mail is slowly making its way to
homes, if you've cleared a path to your mailbox and they can get down your
street. All county roads in the four counties around here are officially
closed, and, my plot to sit at the Beverly Cinemas all day to watch movies
on Tuesday night 50-cent bucket night has been thwarted, as they're closed,
too. The Vince Gill concert, performances at Krannert, and almost anything
else is cancelled... except for the men's tennis match against Florida.
They made it in last night, so they're going to play. I may go, but we'll
see. Now, I await word on what it will be like tomorrow... once I get the
official word, I'll pass it along to anyone who may be interested. The
blizzard warning continues tonight, and the street says we're getting
another foot of snow. Anyways, all is well, and I'm safe and warm. In
unrelated news, yes, it's "Suckmonth". A google search showed that there
were no matching documents (other than me using it once last year), so it's
quite possible that I'm the first person to use it. You may think it may
have to do with the non-holiday. And, yes, that's just one contributing
factor. It was very disappointing to have the Chicago Bears lose in the
Super Bowl, and, as fun as a snow day is, the weather is sucky. And, our
basketball teams (both men's and women's) are alright; they just can't
finish games and win. Alas. At least I can look forward to my unannounced
field trip on the 20th and the release of a DVD on the 27th. I'll write
more as I continue to be bored. (Lucky you!)
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Tuesday, February 13, 2007 / 11:05pm
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32 Conversations and Then Some
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At 6:19pm, I began my second round of notifications to the world of people I
know at the UIUC campus. I'd heard it through two different sources, and
within minutes was able to confirm it by telephone: there would be no
classes again at the university on Wednesday, February 14. It was nice to
be the bearer of good news once again. Twenty-two and a half hours into the
day, I've got 32 instant messenger windows open, and my cell phone is full
of logged calls to campus information and text message weather alerts. I
opted against going to the one remaining thing I knew was going on tonight,
the tennis match so that I could relay the info and maintain operations.
(If you were wondering, they won 6-1.) I stayed in the warmth of the
residence and enjoyed a lovely night of Pop Tarts. Now, what does the
cancelling of classes mean for the non-holiday? Firstly, I volunteered to
be the "warm body" tomorrow by hanging out at work, in case anyone calls or
whatever. The Museum will remain closed. Also, the annual "Brian will not
openly shun the non-holiday by dressing in non-holiday supportive attire and
possibly hand out candy" event will not take place on Wednesday; it has been
postponed to Thursday. So, if you would like to schedule a visit or reserve
your share of free candy, let me know so I can set some aside! I'd like to
take this opportunity to thank Rachel and Kim for serving as my honorary
Valentines in 2006! Candy will be available until it's all gone or set
aside, so don't delay, act now! Supplies are running out! (Additional
note: while I will not be appropriately "red" on Wednesday, some deliveries
will continue to take place as scheduling and weather allows.) In other
news, Beauty and the Geek 3 ends Wednesday night (I hope a certain someone
doesn't win) and... there's a new
Teen Girl Squad
(#12) on the web... and it was delightful and funny. So, I hope all
y'all's fourteenth day of the second month goes well. Stay warm, stay cool,
and, you know... find me if you need me.
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Wednesday, February 14, 2007 / 12:00am
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"the list"
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four
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Wednesday, February 14, 2007 / 10:10am
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Holding Down Snow Forts
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I hiked my way over a parking lot of a foot of snow and arrived at work
safe and sound. And tired. So, if you were to call us up, until this
afternoon, I'll be the one that tells you, "yep, we're closed." From the
looks of things, roads here in Urbana have a layer of snow, but they're
travelable. Cars parked through the blizzard are surrounded and covered in
snow. The MTD reports that there is no
campus route service by the 21 Quad, 22 Illini, 26 Pack, and 27 Airbus today
and other areas in the community that are non-drivable will remain without
service (which includes more remote areas, North North Prospect, Parkland
College, and, UI's super parking lot E-14). And, seen around 8:45am on
Brian's alleged, wide "the street"...
The CITES Operations Center is now located in my apartment.
The staff member on duty is so totally nude.
So far, I've changed the "closed" sign on the door and fielded one
phone call about if we're open. If I ended up snowed in, I have some
DVDs and some pop tarts to keep me entertained and filled until I'm
rescued. Oh, and the Valentine's Day candy. The candy, indeed. More
reports from the field, or rather, the street, as they're available! In
other news, I returned all "pokes" sitting on my facebook main page. Every
other hour or so, my phone would ring telling me I've been poked! I feel
so loved! And finally, here's something fun for today. Big Ten Wonk gives the world a
link that shows us that every day is
Valentine's Day!
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Wednesday, February 28, 2007 / 5:31pm
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"the list"
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same
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