Just stuff

Been up since 8 am doing … laundry. Fun, right? When we moved here I thought the convenience of having a washer and dryer in our place would allow me to do laundry whenever I felt like it, but I’ve found that I still save it all up for the weekends. In my defense, there’s only two of us, so if I did loads during the week, I’d probably have the same number of loads to do at the end of the week, only they’d be smaller, so what’s the point?

Anyway, Spring has finally come to Chi-Town! Friday we bought some flowers and Joe planted them in pots yesterday for the patio. We even had the windows open all day which was a nice change. I love the smell of the outdoors, at least when the neighbor isn’t sucking on their cancer stick, that is.

We also got the fluffiest, softest bath towels (in Lavender Frost) at Kohl’s. They normally sell for $19.99 each but were on sale for $9.99 each, plus I had a 15% off coupon. I am in love with these towels. I could live in them, I swear. I also wanted a new pair of sandals but couldn’t make a decision on the two pairs I liked, both Skechers. The one with the strap at the ankle was more comfortable, but I felt like it could keep slipping down while I walked, which would be really annoying. So instead I ended up with a white pair of Keds. I couldn’t believe how comfy they are! They are made from microfiber and are really cushy inside. I still need a black pair of sandals, though. I was almost going to get brown ones, since I don’t own any brown shoes, but black shoes would better match my outfits and even though I currently own more shoes that I ever have in my life, I don’t want to go insane.

Last week when we had Joe’s son birthday party, we spent some time outdoors even though it was on the chilly side because we had bought him a bike. He really wanted one, so Joe was teaching him how to ride. Joe’s daughter kept bragging how she doesn’t want a bike or want to learn how to ride one. Is that cool nowadays to not have a bike? Every kid, including myself, had one growing up. It was weird. She did say she wants one of those Razor scooters, but she said she wants it for Christmas and not her birthday, which doesn’t make any sense since she’d get more use out of it getting it for her birthday since it’s in August. Apparently she’d rather have yet another GBA game which we’ve already decided she’s not getting from us. So a scooter it is, but I hope she’s not expecting the motorized one because a) it costs too much and b) she could use the exercise. Plus I honestly can’t see her using it very much at all. She’s just not very athletic like her brother. She’d rather sit in front of her computer all day or watch tv. Gee, that sounds like me, actually, but I’m an adult. As a kid I got more exercise than any of the kids nowadays do. God that makes me feel old. ;)

Anyway, one thing she had outside with her was a jump rope. Admittedly, not a good one, although I was able to teach her how to anticipate when to jump since she kept tripping herself. It made me miss grammar school and playing double-dutch. Did any of you do that in school? It might be a black thing because it was usually the black girls who always played double dutch. The white girls would try, but we didn’t have the same coordination. I loved it, though. It was very exhilarating to play, not to mention challenging. And I guess they even have leauges now. Cool.

Going to my parents’ in a bit to celebrate Easter, although like my boss’ boss likes to say, I am a recovering Catholic. Happy Easter to all who celebrate!

Dane Cook – Chicago Show

Burger King onion rings (with their special dipping sauce) is never a good idea. I don’t know why I keep eating it when it ALWAYS, without fail, makes me sick. That’s what I ate after the Dane Cook show last night and my stomach is still in knots, which sucks, because we’re planning on having a nice lunch or dinner at Lonestar Steakhouse to celebrate my promotion at work.

So the Dane Cook show was nothing short of fantastic (sans the stupid fans surrounding us)! And I’m not just saying that because he’s just as hot in person as he is on tv. ;) He really is funny as all shit. He can tell a story so well. He is a brilliant comic! He was so enjoyable to watch that I’ll even forgive him for coming on stage over a half hour late. And I don’t know whether he controls what music they play while you wait, but you’d think they could have picked out more than the same five songs off The Killers’ newest album to play at least four times in a row. That was really annoying and now my love for The Killers has waned somewhat.

Every time I go out I am amazed all over again at how ridiculously rude people can be, not to mention pathetic. Dane’s performance was approximately an hour and a half, and between the time most people got to their seats and the show was over, three hours had elapsed. Yet a group of people sitting behind us managed to suck down five beers a piece over that time period at $6.25 each. Since we were up in the nosebleed section (which surprisingly had a great view since the stage was in the round and Dane took turns facing everyone), the seats were only $50 each, so those idiots spent more money on beer than tickets. Plus I have a newsflash for them: you don’t have to be drunk to enjoy Dane Cook’s comedic talent: he’s brilliant even when you’re sober like I was!

We missed out on about two different stories Dane told thanks to the ushers and their relentless effort to locate the correct seats for this stupid couple who showed up 45 minutes late. Hey dipshits, I paid $123 for this experience and I’d like to enjoy it. If you’re going to show up that late, sit somewhere in the back and don’t inconvenience everyone else! Someone else was in their seats and it took them 15 minutes to sort it out. To the usher I have to say: you work there, don’t you know where the seats are?!? You had to get your supervisor to sort this out? What is this world coming to? Brainless twits!

We had to stand up no less than six times to let these people back and forth, not to mention all the times the late arrivals got up to get beer. Fuck, the show was not that long! I hate how people can ruin your good time. We found our seats at 7:15 pm and we didn’t move until 10 pm. It’s not that goddamn difficult. It’s like everyone in our row had ADD or something and I was so close to starting some shit because I wanted to say something so bad. It was just irritating to say the least.

To add to all the annoyance, the girl to my left was a bit too big for her seat and she was infringing on my personal space. What really bugged me is that she stuffed her fucking pants pocket so full with god knows what that it was hanging over onto my seat and rubbing against my leg. I like my space and no one is allowed to violate that but Joe.

So to summarize: Dane is cool, some of his fans are not. Although it was kinda cool before Dane came out how one side of the theatre started a wave that went all around the place a couple of times. And Dane’s encore was the Kool-Aid Man skit which is one of my favorites. He did a nice job of mixing old material with some new (and hilarious) stories. The stuff he did about people’s “cash and prizes” had me in tears. I wonder if he’ll use the same exact material for his HBO special (which films tomorrow night in Boston) or if there will be more new stuff. Hopefully we’ll be able to catch the stuff we missed. I’ll be looking forward to when it airs so I can enjoy it without interruption. Imagine that!

Home Improvement, DST & NIN

We had a really productive day today getting some stuff done around the house. Ok, to be truthful, Joe was productive since he did all the work. He installed new vertical blinds in the dining room, replaced the shower head in the master bathroom (which broke and just fell off as I was taking a shower on Friday morning), and put up a shelf above our tv for the center channel speaker (the other two speakers look like they are sitting on the shelf but they are actually hanging on the wall just above it). I put together a cute shoe rack for the laundry room (in addition to cleaning the dining room and kitchen), so I wasn’t completely useless.

Oh and for the record I am SO happy that Daylight Savings Time is here once again. If I hear one person complain about losing an hour of sleep I will frickin scream. Same goes for the person who rants about how it’s not like you’re gaining an extra hour of sunlight. I know that the period of sunlight is just being shifted from the morning to the evening, but that’s what I like: it feels like the evenings after work are longer because it gets darker later.

P.S. Nine Inch Nails is coming to Chicagoland in July and we got tickets. Can’t wait! I was supposed to see them on my 18th birthday but I caught the chicken pox from my brother, so I missed out. I’m thinking this is going to be the year of concerts/events. We’ve got Dane Cook in less than two weeks, Chicago Rush Arena Football a week after that (if we decide to go, but hey, the tickets are FREE, so why not), Depeche Mode in May, and now NIN in July.