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El Auto Bus (El out-oh boos)

(Note: If you'd like, you can read this blog at www.urgack.com. As soon as the design is all finished, I'll be moving all my blogging over there. Until then, all blogs will be posted in both places.)

For the past couple of weeks I've been back to riding the the 'ol CTA to and from work. It's been kind of nice, actually, since it's not bitterly cold out, and it really doesn't take much longer than it did to drive. But it had been quite some time since I was a regular bus user, and it's reminded me that I live in the city. Por ejemplo.

The bus, without question, is the most diverse place I've ever been. I grew up in a town that was predominately white. In fact, Wikipedia tells me that Cary is 95% white. That's a pasty town. Rock Island, home to my Alma Mater, may have had a bit more of a diverse population with only 77% of its residents being Caucasian, but Augustana College itself was 95% white. Up until moving to the city, I had lead a very racially segregated life. It wasn't a matter of racism or of conscious decision to do so, it was just where I was born and where I ended up going to school. But no matter the reasons, my exposure to a racially and culturally diverse populace was extremely limited.

So back to the bus. The bus is an amalgamation of all the people of Chicago. I take two buses to work, the 76 East bound on Diversey, and the 50 North bound on Damen. These buses both go through numerous neighborhoods and pick up all sorts of people. It makes for a great people watching experience. And it's also good for me to get rid of some of my inhibitions, my preconceived notions.

I wouldn't call myself a racist (but who would?), but I know that because of my limited interaction with people of other races and cultures I base most of my thoughts and actions about other people on stereotypes. Riding the bus has let me be around a 'melting pot' of people and really allow me to see beyond the stereo types.

I've held conversations with the random people sitting next to me, seen the common courtesy of people giving up their seat for an older woman, call out for the bus driver to stop when they see someone chasing the bus. As dirty as some the CTA buses are, it really seems to be its own little community. We are bus riders, and we have that in common, so we can look out for each other. Even just a smile at the person who sits down next to you is more than you'd ever really get just out and about.

Once it gets a bit warmer out, I'll be riding my scooter to work mroe often, but I'll definitely be taking the bus on rainy days, and I think I'll look forward to it.

Still working on will power

This week started my "get up at 6 and go workout" week.

I did it on Tuesday, and I was very proud of myself. I felt really good. Then this morning rolled around. Alarm went off at 6, I said "holy shit it's cold out" and went back to bed.

When I did get up an hour later, I did some pushups and planks, so that's not too bad. But if I'm gonna reach my goal, I'm gonna have to actually go to the gym.

I've been working on exercising my will power recently. I had started to slip into a habit of "just one won't hurt" and all those "just one"s were starting to hurt.

Just one stop at McDonalds, just one donut, I'll just bite this one finger nail. You get the picture.

I haven't bit my nails in over a week (which is impressive for me, really). I actually busted out the nail clippers like a real human being!

So, here's to hoping I can keep up with my own ambitions.

On another note, Dave and I sat down to build my new computer on Tuesday. It was quite a daunting task, with wires everywhere and all sorts of very vague installation instructions. After four hours of plugging and screwing and securing, we were pretty sure everything was connected and in the right spot, so we plugged it in and... nothing.

After another hour of trouble shooting, we had pretty much concluded that my power supply was dead. Which, in the grand scheme of things, is probably the best component to be dead. I verified this with Raidmax tech support (the maker of the PSU) by completing the circuit with a paper clip and trying to turn it on (and not electrocute myself).

It didn't turn on, so it's definitely dead, so I ordered a new PSU from Amazon and it should be here on Monday. So keep your fingers crossed.

My parents are coming in this weekend for dinner, and my dad and I are hopefully going on the Goose Island Brewery tour (we're on a waiting list right now). I'm looking forward to it, and if we don't get in on the tour, we can at least just drink beer!

So this is the new year...

Christmas was great. I went home with Amber and Ethan to see my whole Mom's side of the family. It was a fantastic few days, with Ethan being a big hit and falling in love with my cousin Kendall, and just being around family.

New Years was fairly low key. We went over to Amber's friend's place for a kid friendly party. In this case, 'kid friendly' meant the kids stayed in the basement with a baby sitter and the adults got drunk and ate bagel wrapped hot dogs. Good times, and only a bit of a hang over the next day.

We recently joined XSport fitness and it's been good to get back to the gym (though being sick on and off for the past few weeks have made that difficult). I'm really excited to get through their little training for the climbing wall so I can go use that whenever I please.

I'm going skiing up at Cascade this Saturday, and though it's no Breckenridge, I'm still really pumped. It's just Dave and Russ and I going I think, but that should be a blast. I get to try out the new goggles I got for Xmas.

Well, that's all for now. Peace.

Technically a tomato is not a vegetable. It's a kind of dolphin.

short post now. longer post later.

This post is really just because I'm super bored at work. Half the office is in a meeting, I've been out sick for the past two days and it's hard to really do much when the boss isn't here and tomorrow is Friday. I kind of want some V8, and I'm thinking about walking down to the convenient mart, but I'm pretty sure it's fucking cold out there, so we'll see how much I don't want to be here.

Rumor has it we're in for another huge snow storm tonight. I heard horror stories about 5 hour commutes and such on Tuesday night, but I was busy laying in bed being sick, so it didn't really affect me. I just got to watch big fluffy snowflakes fall outside the window.

So I'm all moved into the new place, and it's looking pretty schnazzy. Way less bachelor pad than the old place, much more sophistomicated adult. There are nice pictures on the walls. Furniture that wasn't bought on craigslist. And it doesn't smell like rotten fruit.

The first few days we were without heat, so we didn't sleep there, but I did spend a long time there in the 43 degree living room putting various Ikea furniture together. All in all, I've put together a bed, a fancy shmancy headboard, a book shelf, another bed, and I have a coffee table to do when I get home tonight. I also still need to hang the coat rack and the guitars. It's been kind of fun putting the place together, and it already feels like home.

I'm really looking forward to christmas, going home to see the family. It'll be nice to break away from the city and work and all that for just a couple days. Although, minus the slush, the city is quite beautiful when snow-covered.

Anyway, I probably should get back to doing something productive at work. I've got a bunch to spew out in here (not unlike all the spewing I did Tuesday night), so I'll post that later... though perhaps in an interesting format...

~Bry