Happy Holidays

Christmas is over, New Years is on its way, and I have some fun ahead and behind me.

I want to call it "Christmas Break" like back in school, but really it was just a long weekend. I was all too aware of this when I went back to work this morning...

This past weekend was a great one, topping the charts of recent weekends past. Oooo, I need some tea... back in 5 minutes.

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Ok, I've got some nice Rooibos Tea now. So, Friday night I headed home after work. Traffic wasn't too bad, surprisingly, only taking me an hour and a half to get home. I hung out at my parents house for a while waiting for Katie to get back from...place. My sister was the only one home, and she left shortly after for work, so I just putted around playing with my iPhone (see how I slipped that in there?)

Then I went over to Katie's and hung out with her fam for a bit before Gina came over and we went out to see some guy she has a crush on playing at an Irish bar in Naperville. I got in a bit of a grumpy mood, but it cleared up around the time we got taco bell at 2:30 in the morning. That resulted in stink.

Saturday was pretty lazy for the first half of it, but Saturday night was a freakin blast. It started out with Dave, Chris, Josh, Matt, Schubchub and Katie coming over, where I finally gave Chris his birthday present (now an early Christmas present) the Green Man suit.

We hit up the hot tub, and then all went out to Sarah's holiday party to say our hellos. Then we headed out to the Onion Pub for a few beers, and Gina and Little Mills met up with us there. When they kicked us out at 1am, we went out to Sideouts and drank some beers and played some video game golf till 3 when they closed. Then it was off to Steak & Shake.

Katie was an amazing DD through all of this, enabling the fun and performing like a champ at 4am when the snow was coming horizontally!

Sunday was super lazy, hanging out with the fam, watching a few movies. Monday was more of the same, and then my mom's side of the family came over for Christmas Ever dinner. Good to see all of them as I don't see my family, let alone my extended family, that much these days.

Christmas was near perfect. Everyone had a smile on their face, and I loved everything I got and gave. Dinner was at my Aunt Bean's house, and it was all warm and snuggly and filled with family again.

It was a very satisfying drive back into the city last night, and I must say that it really felt like I was coming home when I saw that skyline.

Now I have just one more day of work before I get to go on a cruise with my mom, dad, katie, liss, and her boyfriend brian. Bahamas here I come!

The Sparrow

Less type-thinking this time, I promise.

I went out with my parents and sister tonight to see a play at the Apollo Theater. It was called The Sparrow, and it was one of the coolest performances I've seen. I'm not going to really try to describe it, or summarize it, because who wants that? Instead, I'll just link here and here. And I'll say that it really was a fresh and invigorating take on theater. If you have a chance to see it, I highly recommend it.

It's nearly Christmas, which is exciting. It'll be good to be home a few days and see the family. Hopefully I can get some friends together to hang out at my parent's place. Not for me, because I see most of them frequently, but for my mom, who has missed my friends. She's my mom... that's for sure.

We move to a new, twice as big office next month. I'm pretty pumped for that because it feels really good to grow with the company. I've only been there a few months, but I find myself really hoping that my stay there is perhaps longer than while I'm just in school. This is the first time in my short professional career that I've really enjoyed what I do and who I do it with, and I think that's pretty cool.

That's all for now. Peas Owt.

UPDATE:

There doesn't really seem to be a web developer degree. That's probably because HTML, CSS, XHTML, XML, etc really aren't full languages. They're markup languages and are easier to learn. The closest there is seems to be a Human Computer Interaction (HCI) degree, which is what Dave will be starting on.

However, DePaul does offer cirtification in all sort of web stuff through classes. It seems like you would take these like normal classes, but you'd be a non-degree-seeking student.

So basically, I finish out my masters in graphics (I'm sure it will get better as I learn more). I keep working at my job in web development, I read more books, I teach myself and learn from the other developers we bring in to do things. I get a job that makes me happy.


Sound good?
Good. ok, goodnight.

You know what I haven't done lately?

Posted a blog, that's what. But after this, for a week or so at least, I can't say that anymore.

I'm gonna go with the highlights, as that seems like it would be more entertaining.

Last weekend was the Sandstorm Design holiday party. Katie came in for the weekend, which was awesome because (anytime I get to see her is awesome) everyone else I work with has a significant other that was attending as well. It's kind of nice being a part of a small company because the holiday party really just feels like a group of friends getting together.

We went to Café Ba Ba Reeba, a tapas place on Armitage and Halsted. We ordered a crap load of food and all of it was really good. Tapas is the perfect place for a party meal like that because it's just a very social thing. It really cemented how much I like my new job and the people I work with.

After dinner, Katie and I and a few of my coworkers (Amber and Holly) and Amber's Husband Mike and Holly's friend (her boyfriend is a bassist and was playing a show that night) Taylor(?) went out to a bar called The Store. Holly knew the bartender and she ended up bartending for a bit and well... yea. We'll just leave it at that. I definitely feel comfortable around my coworkers.


Hightlight #2 I got an iPhone this week (all praise the mighty Chris). It's freaking amazing. It really is an incredible piece of technology, and every time I use it I think ,"How did I not have this before?!"


Today on the brown line ride home from work, I started thinking about school. Classes start up in about 3 weeks, and that means I'm back to C++ coding for graphics crap. I'm really starting to double guess my choice of masters program. I figured, I like video games, computer graphics would allow me to work in a field I like, I already have a C++ background, so why not?

But I didn't enjoy my classes much last term. Well, I definitely liked one less than the other, and that one was the C++ class, the type of thing that this degree seems to be preparing me for.

I've also realized that I really enjoy web development. And now I'm thinking to myself, "Maybe I should have found a path that would allow me to do more web stuff. Learn more, get better." Is it too late? I'm only one term into it. But that's just more loans I'll have to take out, longer time in school... I don't know.

The whole reason I want my masters (I've gotten away from that whole 'highlights of the past week' thing and I'm just typing out my thoughts now)... any way, The whole reason I wanted to get my masters was because I felt my undergrad degree didn't provide me with enough to really succeed. It was a very good base; it gave me a great understanding of how programming languages work; and it really enabled me to pick up new programming languages quickly.

However, I wouldn't say it really made me a good programmer. And I think there are two things you need to be a good programmer: (1) to have sufficient knowledge of the language, (2) to genuinely enjoy programming.

Now, I realized a while back that I didn't really like programming, but I figured it was because I didn't like the programs I was building. Hence my move towards computer graphics. I also didn't like it because I wasn't great at it, and when you're not really good at programming, it just makes everything more difficult.

So back to school I went. But I'm still programming in the same language and it's basically the same type of thing. I guess my graphics stuff isn't software engineering like my job at Motorola was (which I hated), but it's still really low level programming.

My new job at Sandstorm though, that I really have been liking. I bought an HTML book and read it cover to cover. I don't think I ever read my programming books in college, and that's because I wasn't actually interested. I'm interested in this web stuff.

So now I'm stuck wondering if I need to reevaluate the direction of my life again. Weigh pros and cons, find out if there even is a direction I could go that would get me where I think I want to end up now. Maybe I'm just indecisive and should see how I feel after this next term. But maybe that's another term wasted.

Fuck.

Life is hard.

I've been staring at screens too long today

My head kind of hurts, and I think it's because I've done near nothing but watch TV, play video games, and surf the web. It's probably not good for me. I had plans today, but the weather didn't want me to go anywhere. I did make it out of the apartment to go shopping downtown with Steve and Kels for a bit, but that's really it.

I'm about a week behind, but last weekend was really fun. It was thanksgiving, and spending some time with the family was fun. But the highlight was the actual weekend. Steve and Kels were both gone for the weekend, and Katie came in, so it was just the two of us, and for maybe the first time since moving down here, I feel like we really took advantage of being in the city.

We got into the city early Friday evening, probably around 6 or so and headed out to the Kristkindlemarket down in the loop. It was perfectly chilly out and everyone seemed content. Frosty breath leaped out our lungs as we devoured some tasty snausages and delicious potato pancakes. We then indulged a little in some hot spiced wine. It came in these cool little boot mugs that we got to keep. Very successful night.

Saturday we slept in all warm and snuggly and then headed downtown for a little shopping. Didn't find much, I got a nice sweater, which is good because it's getting pretty darn cold out here. I'm having trouble remembering what we did the rest of the day...so I'll skip ahead to that night. It was Chris and Josh's 21^st b-day, and they had rented out the back room of a bar called Flounders. It was a little place up on Clybourn, but it was nice. $25 and all you could drink, and trust me, we got our money's worth.

Sunday was a very lazy day of being hung over. We went and saw Beowulf in 3D at the IMAX, which was freaking amazing. Monday at work, Amber asked how I got Katie to go along with me to that kind of movie. I told her that Katie just likes that kind of stuff, to which she replied, "Wow, you got the perfect girl." Yea, I did.

Now it's this weekend, and it's snowing/raining and pretty nasty out. My dad is coming in tomorrow and he and Steve and I are going to see Modest Mouse at the Congress theater, which should be a blast.

Fighting In A Sack

I know I know, I haven't updated in a while. It's been longer than I said I'd let it get, but I have good reason...sorta. This term is wrapping up and thus I have final projects to complete and final exams to study for. I've had some free time in there, but most of it I've used for things other than blogging, which you will read about here.

This past weekend, my poor little Katie pookywoo got her wisdom teeth out. I went back out to the suburbs Friday evening to wait at her beck and call. In this case, her call was a small stuffed chipmunk that Gina gave her. It squeaked. One squeak for yes, two for no. Kid of like Paul Revere and the Red Coats, but a little different. The pain meds made her all sick and I got to watch her vomit 100% organic vegan soy chocolate icecream into a garbage can at 6 am. I am truly the luckiest boy in the world.

Ok, I just took a 10 minute break from writing this blog and went downstairs. Steve was making a smoothy and he decided it would be a good idea to slap me in the crotch with a peeled banana. In retaliation, I sneaked up behind him and smashed a raw egg into his chest. Now I'm not wearing a shirt and I've washed my hands/arms twice because he rubbed his eggy body all over me.

I couldn't imagine living with anyone else.

I was just testing out some HTML to put that text box in there. Good times.

So it's Thanksgiving in a few days. I'm looking forward to it, and not only because I get two paid days off work. It's been a long time, too long, since I've seen my dad's side of the family. Thanksgiving is usually a pretty good mini-reunion too. Everyone has a few drinks, eat good food, watch a dog show or maybe some football. Hopefully we'll get to take the 4-wheelers out on my uncles farm. Oh yea, that reminds me, thanksgiving is out in Savanna, IL. Let me put it this way: Me Savanna It's a difference, that's for sure. But it'll be nice to get away for a bit. I think one of the things I'm looking forward to the most is the ride there (and maybe back). My mom and dad will be in the front seat. Iska, Melissa, Radar, Addison, and I will be in the back seat. A nice snuggly two hours.

Well, I guess that's about it for now. Wish me luck on my final tomorrow. You know, the one I should be studying for now...

Psalms 137:9

I'll Taste Your Blood Tonight

'Ello there blog readers. Lemme tell ya, Jack Daniels is a good man. Not only is he immortalized on a metal poster in my kitchen (with a killer mustache) but he is also in my belly...er liver...somewhere.

I found out recently that I have the entire month of December off from school. Yea, that's right, class ends Nov 21st and starts up Jan 3rd. That's awesome. I'll probably just work more during that time, but it should give more more freedom to finish up some videogames, learn a bit more about Flash (as I've been trying to), and get down to visit Katie more often.

So, I understand that the images I've been providing haven't been that enthralling, but you gotta understand the effort that goes into them. So, this week, I have a new image. I also have the code that goes along with it (just open it in a text editor). That's all hand written code (no... not with a pencil dipshit).

I also have a new song for all of you. (yea, sorry, it has to be opened in iTunes...I'm an apple whore). I wrote it because of an article I read in the Red I on the way to work the other day about the suicide rate of US soldiers returning from Iraq/Afghanistan. The lyrics can be found here if you're interested.

That's pretty much what I've been up to recently. Enjoy.

Spooooky

It's a busy life I live these days. You'd think with doing so much, I'd have more to write about... but I can't even really remember what I did last week. Maybe I just need to update more often.

I went down to Augie last weekend for some good Homecoming fun. Katie ran a 3 mile homecoming run and finished strong like a race horse. Yes... I said it.

I saw alot of old friends who I hadn't talked to in a long while. A few of them are living in Chicago, turns out, so hopefully I see more of them.



I did that for class this week. Next week's assignment could be interesting... and then time for the final project, which hopefully is cool.

Work is still going well. I bought myself an HTML book today, because I really don't know it all that well, and I need to know it better for this job. However, I did do some good updating today. I work on this page. I know, I'm pretty impressive.

Ok, need sleep, another long day tomorrow.

Oh yea, and some guy had a seizure on the El today on my way to work. Crazy.

4 hour meetings were created by George W.

Today for work, I had to sit in a big conference room on the 10th floor of some building in the loop and take notes for a 4 hour meeting. It was part of the bitch duties of my new job. It's not the perfect job...cos it contains bitch duties, but the other side of it is really cool, so I can deal with it.

However, 4 hour meetings are fucking retarded. And yes, I mean mentally handicapped. Just like our president. I'm just gonna offend everyone I can here and say they are gay and probably dark colored as well.

This meeting was about discussing the navigation for a webpage we are doing for James Hardie, a siding company. Siding may not sound too exciting, which it isn't, but this shit is pretty impressive. Check it.

Unfortunately, there were 5 people in the boardroom and three more on the conference call, which made it really hard to figure out who the hell was talking. I'm pretty sure my notes don't make a lick of sense, but oh well. I wasn't hired for my note taking skillz. They had lunch for us though, which was some kick ass catered italian food and it was crazy delish.

There is this world boxing thing going on at the UIC Pavillion this week, and boxers from all over are competing. They also happen to be staying at a hotel on Wabash, right by DePaul. So the past two nights as I've walked to the bus stop after class, there have been groups of very intimidating men in windbreaker suits wandering about. Most of them appear to be Russian or Slovakian or Polish. You know what I mean, strong jaws, shaved heads, scars.... THIS

I'll post some new images I've made soon. They're pretty cool, and starting to look a bit more realistic. I'm really pumped because I just enrolled in next term's courses and they are both animation courses. So instead of still images, you will be getting fun little short movies to download!!! I know, I can't wait either!

I'm going down to Rock Island this weekend to see Miss Katie as well as everyone else who is gonna be there for homecoming/halloween. I really need to get my homework done so I can just party like a mofu'in rockstah this weekend. Cos that's what I want. I need to find a good costume. I was thinking of trying to find some way of going as either Link or Mario... I'm gonna try and hit up a costume shop after work tomorrow. We'll see how that works out.

That's all for now,

You like what I do

First off, here's a new 3D image I made for class a few weeks ago (sorry it took me a bit to post)

I've got some cool stuff I'm working on right now for that class, and I think they'll be much more fun to look at since I'm learning how to use the software better.

So I started the new job on Wednesday. So far it's pretty cool. It's alot more responsibility than I thought it was going to be, but I guess that's a good thing. The biggest thing is that I really like the 7 other people I work with. The office is just a relaxed place where we chat while we work, and there's actually laughter. I know, laughter in the work place, how new age.

Anyway, that's life these day. Work, school, work, school, with some video games and drinking thrown in there when I can make time. It's what I asked for though, and it's getting me places. Busy is good, I keep telling myself.

The Environment

Sometime in the recent past, perhaps yesterday, it was blogger activism day. Everyone who writes a blog was supposed to write about the environment in some way or another. My guess is they assume all bloggers are hippies and save trees. I dunno. Also, only 5 people read this blog, and I'm guessing it's the same for alot of other bloggers out there. Oh well, maybe it had an effect... maybe it ENVIRONMENT!!!!!!!!!!!

Last weekend I tried to throw a party. Back in the college days, you could send word 24 hours in advance, and your house would be full. Well, I don't know about your house, but our house would be full. We were awesome, and people knew it. This time, I gave people about 5 days to figure their shit out. No one came. Some people said they were coming, but didn't. Everyone else just didn't. I mean, Dave and Chris, and Mike, and Rich came. And Steve and Kels were there for a while... but it was just hanging out. Not a party. I still had a blast, but it was all "This isn't college anymore Bryan, in yo face biatch!" (<-- that was life talking).

ENVIRONMENT

Monday was my last day at Motorola. They actually worked me pretty hard, tying up loose ends, finishing all my projects, doing everything because no one else knows what to do... I pretty much just damned my team, mayhaps the whole company, to bankruptcy. I will not be held responsible though, because they should have seen this coming. I guess there's another few thousand being laid off this week actually. That puts the total since I started working there around 10,000 or so. Yea...great company. It's not their products, Motorola phones, headsets, cable boxes, modems, are all pretty good products. The problem is, we suck at getting them there. Wait, not we, they suck at getting them there. They lose tons of money in their poor procedures for doing everything. It takes them too long because it's a clusterfuck in there, and when they miss ship dates on products, they owe those companies money. And when companies lose money they end up ENVIRONMENT!

I just finished a midterm for my hard class. It wasn't bad. But I'm smart, so that makes sense.

ENVIRONMENT?

I start the new job tomorrow. I'm nervous. I also need to go to a dentist and look into new insurance...but the Moto insurance covers me through the month, so dentist it is.

Peace out.

ENVIR...nevermind.

Sometimes...

Soemtimes, when you have a mustache you get boogers caught in it. And then I have to sit in a two-and-a-half hour meeting with you staring at your snot coated lip-wig.

Sometimes, your ear hair looks like a blue tooth ear piece.


Sometimes...

Blue Dragon Review

My guess is, you're not interested, but I play alot of videogames. And when I'm done, I usually review them on Gamespot. So I finished Blue Dragon yesterday, wrote a review today, and now you get to read it, if you want.

Blue Dragon has some serious clout behind it, being crafted by the very hands that began Final Fantasy, my favorite game series of all time. But despite all that genius, Blue Dragon turns out to be a rather uninspired, yet solid, JRPG.

The game is graphically gorgeous, as is expected, though the depth of field trickery actually takes away from the environments. A little blur to items that would normally be out of focus might add realism in a realistic setting, but in the cartoonish and fantastical world of Blue Dragon, it is a hindrance. The story, penned by Sakaguchi of FF fame, takes pretty much the entire first disc to launch into anything of substance. And from there, it builds and builds to an almost climax, but then dithers into nothing as the story ends. The twists and turns add no drama, but rather another boring cut-scene.

The battles are monotonous, but not unenjoyable. They offer little in the way of challenge, except for sparse boss battles. I only died once in the entire 40 hour game, and that was on the final battle (and I quickly saw my error and beat it the next time around).

The music was composed by Nobuo Uematsu, famed composer of much FF music. His style was very apparent in Blue Dragons sounds, but most of the music faded into the background, leaving me without toe tapping or whistling later.

Overall, the game wasn't bad. I enjoyed my time with it, but I wasn't left with a feeling of accomplishment, or really even anything satisfying. I only finished it because it would kill me to leave it unfinished. That said, for any devoted RPG fan, Blue Dragon is worth playing.

Come On, Feel the Illinoise

Good day readers. How are you? That's good to hear. Blog time. (can't touch this)

I've added a fun little thing to the side bar of this blog, my last.fm recent tracks. It lets you know what music i've been listening to, and it's very very up to date. I checked it, and it pretty much has the one-before-current song on my iTunes listed. Pretty nifty huh? Enjoy.

Ya know, I realized today that I really love Illinois. It's a pretty damn good state. It's not in the south (+), it gets to fully experience all four seasons (+), I live here (+), and there are many other great things as well.

I think the Chicago suburbs are a near perfect place to grow up. I'm sure I complained a lot as a youth that Cary was lame, there was nothing to do (or maybe I didn't.. but probably at least once or twice). But really, it was pretty awesome. The city was close enough that I got to go live out some punk rock fantasies there; the education system was pretty stellar; and the town itself was just a good place.

I drove across the state twice this past weekend. Once down to Rock Island to visit Katie, and then back. I love driving across Illinois. Sure, it's flat, full of corn, and boring as hell, but it's a perfect boring. It was uncharacteristically warm for October on my drive, and drove with all my windows down and the music blaring. The smell of fresh bailed hay blasting into my nostrils was invigorating. I even kinda liked the smell of the farm animals, when it wasn't too overwhelming. The monotony of the seas of corn is really a great way to clear your head.

And the city. Living in Chicago is more than I could have imagined. It's amazing how quickly this has become Home. Coming back from Rock Island, heading north on 55, I could see the skyline through the haze, the Sears thrusting its antenna into the air. When I moved here, I told myself never to take that view for granted, so I make sure to look up every now and again, even if I look like a tourist, gawking at the skyscrapers.

I feel like I'm on some sort of Illinois Tourist Board.

Anyway, this past weekend was a good one. It was parent's weekend down at Augie, and there were lots of parents (imagine that). Katie's came in shortly after I got there Friday, and we went out to dinner at Olive Garden and then came back and chilled with her roommates and polished off a bottle of vodka (I made some really really bad jokes...). Saturday, we went out to brunch with her parents, and then we went to see 3:10 To Yuma, which was a really freakin cool movie. I highly recommend it.

The rest of the weekend was pretty low key and relaxing, which was good. I needed one of those.

I have my first midterm tomorrow, but I've done some good studying, and I'll get some more in tomorrow, so wish me luck.


Did you wish me luck?

Ok, thanks.

Bye.

Oh no he di'nt

Oh yes... I did.

I'm leaving Motorola, because I got a new job at SandStorm Design. I'm super excited for this new job and I can't wait to get away from Motorola. Woo. I start on the 17th.

Um, I've been way too busy recently, with the whole new job thing plus school, plus going out of town for the weekends.

Last weekend I went to Cincinnati with Dave, Cassie, Sarah, Erin, Schubchub, Russ, Pat, and Christian to visit Jeff. It was a blast! Even the 5 hour car ride, which really isn't all that bad. We went to a cubs game and just hung out. Really good to see everyone. I got a bit of a head cold and had to go to bed early Saturday night, but it was still alot of fun.

This weekend I'm going down to Rock Island to visit Katie, which is good because I was starting to miss her.

Short and sweet update for now, cos I need to actually be doing things.

~Bry

It's not rocket science

Yeegads life has been busy. Between work and school and whatever else there is, not alot of down time. But I have a little today. Why? Well, because instead of doing homework last night, I got drunk and played videogames and called in sick to work. And today was the most productive day ever. Work != productive.

Here's what I did today.

1)mailed out the computer bag I sold on eBay
2)went to bumblefuck (yea, exists around Chicago too) to pick up my new computer bag from the fedex place.
3)finished all the homework due Tuesday for GPH436 (which only leaves a handful of stuff due monday)
4)wrote a new song (actually did that while drunk last night... you can hear it...read on)
5)recorded the new song
6)got myself an interview monday as a part time web admin at a graphic design firm here in chicago (I REALLY want this job)
7)went on a walk to get a donut with steve and kels
8)played some metroid prime 3

So yea, productivity comes from not going to Motorola.

Anyway, I had said I'd be posting some of the graphics I made in my classes, so here's a couple from the first two assignments. They may look simplistic, but each of them required about an hour to assemble using only text... yea, that's right, I pretty much make them in a text editor using a scripting language.

Here's how to make a sphere.

sphere { <3, 1.25, 4>, 1.25
pigment {Red}
finish {
ambient 0.15
diffuse 0.75
phong 1
phong_size 100
reflection 0.6
}
}

so, here is the song I wrote. here is the first project I did. And here is a bishop I made.

Enjoy.

It for requirements I congratulations best.

And now the moment you've all been waiting for (really, you said so in the comments, you need it, you want it): My weekend.

To begin, the subject of this post is simply the first word of each line on this piece of paper at my desk. Make of it what you will.

Second, I've installed Google Analytics on this page, which lets me see all sorts of data about the visitors of this page. Don't worry, it doesn't tell me your secret fantasies or how many oreos you ate last night. Just computer stuff.

And now, the weekend.

Katie came into town Friday, the beginning of her birthday weekend extravaganza. (If you by chance did not wish her a happy birthday, feel free to do so here in the comments and I'll make sure she gets them). The plan was simple: Go see a free concert put on by the fine people at Threadless in celebration of the opening of their new Chicago store. The lineup was Freer, Anathallo, and Hey Mercedes. Now, some of you might be saying, "But Bryan, Hey Mercedes broke up four years ago..." Indeed they did, reader, indeed they did. But HARK, they re-converged for this one time only show. And oh how glorious it was. But let's start at the beginning.

Being a free show, we figured alot of people would show up. The deal was, you go to the Threadless store and they give you two free tickets. They gave away way more tickets than the capacity of the Metro, but added a disclaimer that once you had your tickets, it was first-come-first-serve to get in. We showed up about a half hour early... and had to wait in a line that went over a block down Clark, wrapped around the corner, and went almost an other block back. It was very intimidating, and we worried that we wouldn't get in...

But we did.

Freer was a good band. The guys had good stage presence, and the music was enjoyable. While we were listening, I mentioned to Katie that they sounded kind of like Elton John meets The Police, but obviously not up to that caliber. Stylistically, I think it was pretty accurate, and they put on a good little set.

Anathallo was unexpected. Yes, that is the term I choose to use: Unexpected. They were a 7 piece band with instruments ranging from the traditional, to the..well, untraditional. For a rock band anyway. Lots of extra percussion, some brass, some other things. What resulted was a pretty amazing live show. Unique time signatures permeated most of the songs, and delicate voices rose above them. They played with alot of passion, which made it a pure joy to partake in. Unfortunately, I went to their website, and the recorded stuff didn't strike me as much. Oh well.

Hey Mercedes was amazing. They played everything I wanted them to, with the exception of Oh Penny, but I was ok with that. I'm not sure the exact reason the band had dissolved, but it was obvious that it was on good terms. It was sort of like a reunion for them, all having a good time. They passed around a bottle of Jack and looked like they had a blast playing. Katie and I had taken in the first two bands from upstairs, as there was a bar with no wait, and a really good view. Plus, I'm an old man now, I can't be down in those mosh pits... Well, the old desire to throw some elbows and lick other people's sweat kicked in, and I took off downstairs to thrash about a bit. I later found out that Katie had wanted to join me... and I'm sad she didn't. That brought me back though, I mean, it has probably been over 5 years since I've been in a pit. It really made me want to see more shows.

Anyway, I've probably already put many of your attention spans to the test, so I'll not embark on such elaborate journeys for the rest of the weekend.

After the show, we wanted sushi. And when Katie wants sushi, Katie gets sushi. I knew there was a place down Clark, but it was all the way down by Belmont. We started walking anyway, and stumbled upon some classy looking Chinese place with a sushi bar. It ended up being really good. Like, really good. Typing has no vocal inflection. Like, really good. There, italics = inflection.

Then we went back to the apartment and crashed. Exhausting evening.

Saturday, we headed out to State St pretty early and did some shopping. For once, I walked away without needless purchases, but Katie found some pretty cool stuff. When we got back, Gina and Nick were just about there, so we scarfed down some Taylor St pizza (and salad), then jumped in with Gina and Nick as they drove by and headed to Shred's Inferno.

Katie and Gina both got tattoos, Gina on the back of her neck, and Katie behind her ear. Gina got three stars, shaded all cool, and Katie got a small lily. Both of them turned out really cool, and I was impressed that neither showed much pain.

By the time we got back from that, it was time for dinner at Rosebud with Steve and Kels joining in on the fun. It was delicious, as I knew it would be. Our server was a squat woman with a demeanor to match, which was amusing to say the least.

We topped off the night with Doug Small coming in from Rockford and a night of a little too much booze and alot of fun.

If you're still reading by now, I'm impressed. You can sign your name in the comments and put the words "is a ball licker" after it to prove how loyal of a reader you are.

Sunday, Katie and I embarked on an interesting adventure to find in Chicago. We went kayaking. It turned out to be really cool, and a perfect day for it. We started maybe a mile north of the loop, and leisurely paddled our way down to Wacker, and then out towards Lake Michigan. The city looked gorgeous from on the river, and aside from some choppy water/hangover blues, it was an excellent trip.

That was pretty much it for the weekend, definitely one of the best I've had since moving to Chicago. Lucky for you, I don't have huge plans for another week or so, so you can just read my clever, but brief, updates until then.

Ciao,
Bry

PS. If you're confused by the 'Bry' posting in the comments, that's Poole. I'm not so vain as to comment on my own blog... yet.

The only reason why we ask other people how their weekend was is so we can tell them about our own weekend

I will tell you about my weekend, but not now. Later.


No really, like I'll probably update this tomorrow when I need a break from homework.


But now you're drooling and want to know what I did.


It was cool. Really cool. Lots of fun. You're dying to know.


There were beavers and ice cream and about 6 or 7 dozen Eskimo love songs.

You'll find out more later.

Finally Living Up To Its Name

I think grad school should be called "Harder than those other schools you were in before school" because that would be more accurate. Though, I suppose Grad School is accurate...

Either way, I have now had oen of each of my classes for this term: CSC 425 and CSC 436. See those 4's? That means "Hard". Don't worry, I get to take some with 5's later.

CSC 425 is gonna be really fun. It's a 3D modeling class, but there's no point-and-click interfact, like in Paint, where you click the circle button, then draw a circle. Nope, it's all done in a scripting language, which is kind of like computer coding, but a little different. I won't get into it. Either way, the prof (who is really cool, and interesting, and into it) showed us some stuff some people in the class have created in the past, and they look amazing, and I'll be posting stuff I make on this blog.

The other class is gonna suck ass. It's all 3D vector math, understanding exactly how the computer draws all the stuff you tell it to. I don't like math that much anymore...at least not when it's taught by a monotonous overweight guy who starts every sentence with "So...". Ugh. That class is gonna really take some work.

That's all for now... I need to watch some Flight of the Conchords to unwind.

I propose a new rule

I'd like to add something to the "Scooterer's Handbook for the Road" (which would technically be the first entry to this nonexistent book).

~Don't scoot when you have a stuffy nose. This results in breathing through your mouth, which leads to you eating things you don't want to.

...And then a Dragon comes

This is what I did today. Just me, my iMac, and a Casio keyboard.

(Let me know if you can't download it... not sure how reliable that file hosting site is. I changed the host... though it would appear it sometimes doesn't work. Sometimes it does though, so keep trying!!!)

The Real World

Walking from the café back to my cube here at Motorola, I overheard a phone conversation between a father and who I assume was his son. It went like this:

"Well you've done something wrong so you have to be punished. Welcome to life. I know you're 12, but welcome to life."


It was awesome.

This Place Would Be Busier Than O'Hare

Man do I love long weekends. And the fact that I don't work Fridays or Tuesdays ha turned this into a 5 day weekend, which is really just a like a week off. Sweet.

Friday was lazy, as a Friday should be. I had been playing The Darkness and I came really close to finishing it up... but I didn't. I found out that it was based on a graphic novel, which really makes me want to pick it up, because the story in the game was really good.

Friday night I was going to go out with a bunch of cats in Wrigley Ville to celebrate Schubchub's b-day, but they decided to move the bar hopping to Arlington Heights. The last train home from AH was around 9:30 which really made it not even worth it to go out there. A shame. But Cass was downtown with her boyfriend Christian, and they felt the same as I did about the whole thing, so they came over and we just hung out for the evening, topping it off with some delicious Taylor Made pizza.

Saturday, my little sis came in from Mokena, where she was spending the long weekend with her boyfriend's family. Her train was a little late, but no big deal. It was a freakin gorgeous day, and our plan was to hit up Michigan Ave, as I owed her a b-dy present. After having one of the worst Subway sammiches I've ever eaten (she was NOT a 'sandwich artist') we decided to just shop State St, which has alot of the same stores, but it's a bit cheaper and, as Steve put it, "you don't have to be blinded by collagen."
She found some stuff she liked, as did I. Some nice tight brown pants. Yea, that's what I got, not her.

We came back, lounged a bit, then had some delicious Thai Bowl (I will be eating her leftover garlic chicken for lunch later today) and then rented Bench Warmers...which was awful. Steve and Kels came back by (After going out to dinner with Steve's rents) so we sat around, had a few drinks and played some cards. Liss may have been "over served" a bit and decided to just pass out on the air mattress. The rest of us headed out to a bar and sat on the patio for a while just chatting. It was a pretty good relaxing night.

Sunday morning, Liss wasn't feeling to hot, so she opted for the 12:30 train back in instead of the 10:30. I guess all the sugar in those Bacardi Silver things can wreak havoc on your sleep.

After I sent her off on the train, I scooted around town a bit to take care of some errands, then plopped on the couch for a day of finishing The Darkness (which I did). Very satisfying.

Monday was a pretty successful Labor Day. I woke up, played a little Blue Dragon (which I picked up during Sunday's errands...can't be left without a video game to play...heavens no.) I then cleaned myself up and scooted out to Dave's for a BBQ in the park. Mike came out too, and the three of us lugged a grill and a bunch of meet out to Lincoln Park which was a rather huge gorgeous park right on the lake. Sadly, the grill we brought was out of butane, so we had to wait for Had, James, and Had's sister to get there with more. But they also brought more meat, so that was fine. Eventually Tony showed up, and there was lots of frisbeeing, footballing, and attempted kite flying.

I came home and ended my triumphant weekend with some more Blue Dragon before bed.

Now, I'm gonna scoot out to DePaul and get my UPass for the autumn term, then scoot up to the gym and workout, followed by some more Blue Dragon. Sucks that I have to go to work tomorrow...

Dangle

For the past twenty minutes, I've been sitting at a desk on the 8th floor of 233 N Michigan Ave, watching strange snowflake-like white poofs fall past the windows in a nearly constant stream. I lost interest for a while, because I couldn't figure out what it was (seeing as it's about 80 degrees and sunny out, I ruled out snow after the first ten minutes).

Then, there were some guys outside my window. Not directly on the other side, on the adjacent building actually, but still, at least eight floors up and outside the window.

Soap bubbles: That's what I had been seeing falling. So now I'm stuck not doing any work because I have to watch the window washers repel down from the top of these huge buildings with nothing more than a harness, a bucket of suds, and a squeegee or two.

It's impressive, really. I mean, these guys start off at the top, which is, I'm guessing, around 25 stories. And then they just calmly scoot down the side of the building, washing the windows as they go. And when they lower themselves, it's not in a gentle manner. No, it's a fast jerk, a six foot free fall before they lock off again. I bet it's a rush, but I also bet that I don't really ever want to do it. Unless it pays well.

What a Crazy World

Two things, real quick.

1) Sometimes, a 'yes or no' question actually only has one possible answer. It is the lack of answer that an answer is inferred from. For instance "Are you sleeping?" can only have one possible answer of "No." The absence of an answer leads the inquisitor to the only other option of "Yes" even though no answer is given. "Can you hear me?" is another such question, the only possible answer being "Yes." One would think that language would have come up with some sort of way to rephrase or redirect such types of questions.

2) On my walk from my cubical to the café and back, I passed through 8 doors (only 4 doors, but passed through each twice). Of those 8 passes, 4 of them (2 doors) did not have windows in them, such that I could not see on the other side. At each of these 4 windowless passes, I had the pleasure of attempting to open the door and the exact time someone on the other side was attempting the same thing. This resulted in each of us being caught a bit off guard at the ease of the door opening, as well as flustered at the prospect of another human being in our door-space. The likelihood of this happening at each possible locale seems to me to be quite minute. I should by a lotto ticket.

To the Balmy Medow

I tell you what. Two Worlds was a HUGE disappointment. That game blew so much ass, it was like it thought that ass was a balloon. Did that make sense?

So I returned it today and picked up The Darkness. Now this game is cool. I'm usually not into the first person shooters (from now on, referred to as FPS) but this game is something special. And it's made by 2K games, who just released BioShock last week, which has been getting rave reviews, so I may have to get that eventually too. However, Blue Dragon comes out tomorrow, so I'll grab that when I'm done with The Darkness.

Ah, the life of a gamer.

So, this past weekend, I went down to Augie with Katie and her 'rents to help move her into her new house. It's a pretty nice place, as far as college houses go. Definitely needs some improvements, and once everyone is living there, it'll feel much more homey, but yea, it's a house.

Her room was this pastel lavender color, and she didn't care for it, so we painted it blood. Technically, it was called Cherry Cobbler, but it really looked like blood. Not that it's a bad thing. In fact, I think once she's all moved in, it'll look really nice.

For the first time today, I really used my scooter to its full potential. And by that, I mean that I wove through traffic to avoid all the, um... well, traffic. It was nice. I got to the gym in about 20 minutes. The bus ride usually takes about 40, so this was quite a pleasant situation. Plus, I got to park right in front of the gym. Woo!

Peace,
~Bry

More Than One

It stormed like crazy in Chicago yesterday. Easily the worst I've seen since I've been here. I guess a roof on the industrial west side collapsed the winds were so strong. I took a nap around 1pm, when it was bright and sunny outside. I woke up around 2:30 and it was near pitch black and thunder and lightening were quite frequent.

I took this as a sign that I shouldn't go take my final for the last of my summer courses. I settled in and watch an episode of House... but then it stopped raining, so I decided I should go take the final.

The traffic was the worst I've seen since I've been here (not unlike the weather) and I ended up getting there a half hour late... but the test took me all of 10 minutes. It was kinda bullshit because the professor had said on Tuesday he was going to post a sort of study guide on the class website. Well, he never did, and it turned out to be one of those tests where I studied for all the wrong things. So fuck him for that. But I got a B+ in the class, which is fine, because I just needed a B for it to count and now I'm done with all the pre-reqs and can move on to the real courses in a week.

Katie came in last night because she's taking the GRE today. Right now, actually, she is probably sitting down in some building on Clark and Madison to take a huge test that tries to see if you learned anything in college. It seems pretty intense, as she did a 1.5 month study course for it, and it pretty much determines her future. But I'm sure she'll do well, cos she's a smart cookie.

I'm really hoping Gamestop opens early today, because I need (yes, as in physically and mentally require) Two Worlds, which comes out today. Stupid Katie is making me go to Rock Island to help her move in and paint her new room... so I only have a few special hours with this new game before I must head out. The sooner I get it the better.

So here's hoping the open at 9 and not 10. I hope you'll all hold me in your thoughts.

~Bry

2D

I'd been meaning to post some of the work I did in my graphics class last spring, but I never got around to it. So here are a few of them. It was just a class exploring 2D graphics, and these are really my first foré into them. Enjoy.

Me

Explosion

Leaving

Dead Dog

Drums

Knights, Walls, Whiskey

I headed back out to the Cary/LITH area this weekend to hangout with Katie. I got down Friday evening, and since Katie was still at work, I went out to dinner with my parents and the Carsons at the Tracks. It was enjoyable.

At Katie's, we watched The Prestige, which was a really freakin cool movie. I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone.

Saturday, we woke up semi-early (9ish) and headed out to the North Wall to do some rock climbing. It had been a while since we last went, and it felt really good to get back up there. I need to find a good gym down here that has rock climbing. Though I like the 'freeness' of the DePaul gym, it's a pain in the ass to spend a half hour getting there...and they don't have a climbing wall.

After cleaning up from rock climbing, Katie and I marched out to the Bristol Renaissance Fair. We got there just in time to catch a good 'ol joust before it started raining. But we were troopers...troopers who left the umbrella in the car...the car that was parked about a mile away. So essentially, we were very wet troopers. We also practiced some archery. Katie managed to get two arrows to stick in the target. I got none. But I did get a nice bruise on my left forearm... We left a bit earlier than we really wanted to, but we were cold and soaked to the bone, and just didn't want to be in the rain anymore.

After getting back, we took a nap, and then headed to her neighbor's for the 27th annual Czhilispiel. There was a lot of chili and other good food, as well as a bunch of people. Oh, and whiskey... there was definitely alot of whiskey. Stupid adults kept giving me shots, and then I woke up at 8 on Sunday morning.

Sunday was a very 'blah' day. We went and saw Superbad with my parents, which A) was hilarious and B) was not a movie to see with your parents. Then we went out the Breakers for some Chinese, but it really wasn't that delicious, which made me sad. I suppose you can't win them all.

Then it was volleyball time. Last game of the season, a tournament really. We lost. 'Nuff said.

I called in sick to work this morning. I am feeling slightly less than 100%. Maybe like, 87%. But probably well enough to work. Either way, I need to beat Zelda today, and I haven't not gone into work in... well, I think maybe since spring break, so yea. I deserve this.

~Bry

This post is mostly about music

Mostly, because I'm going to start by saying: I booked myself a mobile workstation at motocity:chicago. That is the Motorola offices downtown here, and since I work from home on Thursdays, I figured I'd check it out. It was a really cool building. I had a window desk on the 8th floor, which gave me a pretty cool view, and they had free coffee, of which I partook until I shook.

Now, onto the music.

I downloaded a bunch of Sufjan Stevens last night, because I remembered Had making me listen to it on the way back from the bars one night. I think Tess also really likes him. Anyway, really cool stuff. Pretty mellow, and there's banjo in at least one song. He's been writing albums with state themes, and thus far I think Michigan and Illinois are the only two. Obviously, I grabbed Illinoise (as the album is called) and it's so far quite good. I recommend it to anyone who doesn't have it and isn't stupid.

I also snagged the new Coheed single, Running Free, off their upcoming 4th album, which I believe is a continuation of Good Apollo. It sounded Coheed, that's for sure. I remember when I heard Welcome Home off Good Apollo, and i got chills. I was so excited for that album. But when I finally heard the whole thing, I was left a little unsatisfied. It was over-produced, I thought. Too many effects and not enough raw sound.
Second Stage Turbine Blade was perhaps the epitome of the raw album as far as this genre is concerned. The guitars had near no distortion, and almost a hollow twang, and the vocals were pure. They added some more effects in In Keeping Secret... but it was still pretty much just the band. Good Apollo was thick on guitars, and layered so many Claudio vocal lines on top of one another that it almost didn't sound human sometimes. Hopefully, we'll find them drop some of the computerized sound and get back to the delicious purity of their earlier albums.

On the ride downtown last Sunday night with Chris and Dave, we briefly talked about the new slough of Thrice albums coming soon. They are doing a four disc set, released two at a time, one for each element (fire, earth, wind, water). I'm really excited about this, because Thrice has benefited greatly from past experimentation. With each new album, they leave a bit of their old self behind, but discover something new that is not only engaging and enjoyable, but is still very much 'Thrice' in essence. I have high expectations, which can be dangerous (Motion City's sophomore album...), but I don't think I'll be let down.

Peace,

~Bry

A new beginning

A deep title, but really only related to the locale of this blog.

As I made that last post in both my LJ and MySpace accounts, I saw that the last blog I posted was right before I moved to Chicago. That was two months ago. Two whole months of one of the biggest changes of my life, and I'm wondering how the hell I didn't feel the need to blog about any of it. So I'll probably forget alot of stuff, and I'll probably be brief, but you'll read it anyway. Yes, you will. HEY! Read it!! *Shakes fist*

The move in went pretty smoothly, which was impressive, since it was just Steve, his 65 year old father, and myself. We filled up my car, Steve's car, and a huge U-Haul truck. Steve's dad was a truck driver, so he was cool with driving the massive beast downtown (thank god). Unfortunately, it was about 95 degrees and there is a rather imposing staircase leading up to our apartment. All in all, I think it took us around three hours to move everything in, and I can honestly say that I've never sweat that much in my entire life. After everything was moved in, Kelsey and Katie showed up and helped us arrange things decently so we could get at everything and made us dinner, which was awesome.

These days, we've got the apartment looking pretty snazzy. We've done some nice decorating thanks in part to my parents and a Crate & Barrel 2 gift card, as well as a kick ass store up on Belmont and Clark (yes, part of the Alley) where we got some really cool African masks.

Turk has adjusted nicely, despite taking a dive from the lofted bedrooms (he was ok) and his decision to never be quiet. But he's still a cat, and for that I love him.

My career current job is still going....well. The commute to Libertyville is a long one via the Milwaukee North line, but I kind of enjoy a nice cup of coffee and my DS a few times a week. It's Bryan time. And on the rides home, the 'ol Champaign of Beers gets to join me. Lucky it. I've been a bit unhappy with my job recently, and have had a few prospects, but so far nothing has panned out. It's unfortunate that Motorola is so good to me. I get to work only 20 hours a week but still maintain full health benefits, plus they pay better than anything else I've been finding. Oh well... that's the reason I'm back in school.

The Master's in Graphics and Animation has been going well. I'm almost done with my summer courses which will wrap up all the prerequisites that I need before really getting into it. So that means, come Sept 5th (or somewhere around then) I 'truly' start my life as a grad student. I'm looking forward to it.

On the musical front, Davenport is no more. It was a hard thing to do, but I know it was the right decision for me to leave the band. Luckily, the rest of the band was only pissed at me for a while, and we are now back to the normal homo erotic/alcoholic/psychotic stuff we do. I've been looking for some other people to play with down here, but without much luck. I auditioned for the band Slings & Arrows, but that didn't work out. I'm sure I'll find some way to get back into drumming soon enough, for my own sanity's sake.

Of course, Katie and I are still together, and I am enjoying every moment of her. She goes back out to Rock Island in just a few short weeks. It'll be hard to do the long distance thing again, but I'm sure we'll do just fine. And then she'll be moving into the city to pursue her Master's as well.


Woo, so now that we're done with that novel... I think that's what I'll leave ya with. Thanks for reading, and if you notice that I haven't updated in over a week, please yell at me.

~Bry

Oh hey, a blog

It's been ages. Almost 3 months I think, really. And it's not that I haven't been up to much. Indeed the wheels of my life have been turning quite a bit, but for the most part, I haven't felt the need to write about it. That, of course, comes as a hard hit to you, the reader. But fear not, for I shall try to update a bit more frequently, as it just seems appropriate.

First thing's first. Following in line with Mr. Sherry, I'm pretty much going to be neglecting Live Journal and MySpace for future posts. Rather, I'll be using Blogger (or Blogspot... I think they're the same thing). I started an account there quite some time ago, but was interested in more of a socialnetwork/blog than just a straight up blog. I have, however, now lost my interest in the mind numbing filth that are social networking sites and am pleasantly enamored with it's simplistic approach. For now I'll just use the default theme, but I may work on personalizing it a bit more in the months to come.

The reason I've decided to try and get back into blogging regularly is really the same reason I started blogging in the first place: Alot of my friends don't live right next door anymore. I don't talk with everyone every day, and as it was when I started college, I feel that this is a pretty good way to stay "in touch".

The new blog address is urgack.blogspot.com . Oddly enough, it is exactly one year, to the day even, that I created that account. If you're already reading this on blogspot, I'm impressed, as no one knew about that. Good job.

I think I'll make a new post exclusively on that blog with the actual "content" as it may be. Just to make things more difficult for you. See ya there.