If you didn't catch my earlier post, check that out first.

It's official! I'm in! Forget the orange jump suits, though. It's the courtroom scene (the 2nd one with all the gangsters) that you need to watch out for. There's a wide shot of the entire courtroom right after the judge reads the verdict where you can clearly see me from the shoulders up. Again, I'm 2 rows behind and slightly to the left (as you're looking at the screen) of Maroni. It's a quick shot so pay attention! I only get about 2 seconds of my 15 minutes of fame.  WOO HOO!!!  

So there's this movie coming out on Friday about this knight dude who creeps around in the dark fighting bad comedians or something. I guess it's supposed to be kinda big. I dunno.

Anyway, I may or may not be making an appearance or two in this flick, depending if the director and editors can recognize true talent or not. (I mean, it IS Hollywood after all...) So if you're bored this weekend, I suggest you shell out the $11 and keep an eye out for yours truly.

[Without giving anything significant away] I play a gangster and *should* be easily visible over the shoulder of the Italian mob boss, Maroni, in the big courtroom scene. I'm wearing a greenish brown suit, open-necked patterned shirt, and gold chains. While my hair is slicked back, you might also recognize me by my earrings (the same charcoal captive bead rings I always wear off-screen). Later on in the movie, I may or may not walk past the camera in an orange prison jumpsuit in line with a bunch of other prisoners. (Damn! Guess I did just give away the verdict. Sorry...) You won't hear any of my lines in the movie since my physical presence was more than enough for the job at hand.

This was my big break and my only paying job for most of 2007 (all 3 days of it), so please show your support for this little film. Thanks.

Any Mac people know of any way to recover a previous version of a file?

Here's what happened. I have my iTunes library files and all of my mp3's on an external hard drive. This weekend while using my MacBook at a friend's house, I let someone open iTunes momentarily to find a song online. When I got home, reconnected my external drive, and opened iTunes, it came up with old, empty playlists and ALL of my ratings from the past 6 months were gone! It looks like iTunes used an old library file that was still on my MacBook when she opened it and then saved that over the current file on my external drive when I opened it at home because it's the same shit no matter which file I point to. Something similar happened to rzr_grl several months ago and she never did figure out how to fix it, but I'm hoping one of my friends knows something she doesn't. HELP!

Photographic proof that this man WILL sock your infant!

Happy Birthday misterentropy!

Jameson shot on me next time I see you.

Sorry, inside joke for the subject line. Speaking of which, I want to see rzr_grl's results for this one...

What American accent do you have? (Best version so far) Northern You have a Northern accent. That could either be the Chicago/Detroit/Cleveland/Buffalo accent (easily recognizable) or the Western New England accent that news networks go for.

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

It's official. A mere two weeks shy of a full year's unemployment, I will be starting a new job!

I'll be the Call Center Manager for a small company in Rosemont called Airport Accommodations. They work in the travel industry helping stranded airline passengers find discounted hotel rooms for the night. It's a total niche market and they are the only ones really doing it right now, so it's a good opportunity. The pay is a bit lower than my position at ABN AMRO, but still fits my basic financial needs.

I'll be working second shift, which is awesome for my naturally nocturnal lifestyle, not to mention driving the Kennedy. Unfortunately this will prevent me from attending most weekday evening events, but late night and weekends will be easy since I'll be home by midnight during the week and won't have to get up in the mornings. (Also, weekday lunch anyone?) While my vacation time is limited to one unpaid week in my first year, I will have some flexibility for swapping shifts around for an occasional week night off since I will be responsible for a 24/7 operation.

I think I'll learn a lot more about running a business since I'll be the #3 guy in the whole organization and won't have to deal with corporate bullshit. I'm also looking forward to learning a new industry. (Thank the fucking gods I didn't have to go back to the financial industry!) I'm a bit nervous about going back to work (and having an actual schedule) after being off for a year, but I'm ready. This is a huge step in pulling myself out of the funk I've fallen into over the past few months. I can feel my strength returning already...

The haunted house thing didn't work out on Saturday, so I'm reposting this since we decided to reschedule for this Sunday. You should come!


rzr_grl and I want to hit a haunted house tonight  Sunday night and are looking for some company.... not that we're, uh, scared or nothin'... No sir! Not at all. It's just more... fun! Yeah, that's it! It's more fun with a small group... heh...

Anyway, all the good ones are pretty far out there so we were going to check out NIGHTMARES Basement Of The Dead in Aurora this time since it's probably the last year they'll be able to have it there before the building is renovated or sold. It's pretty highly rated and it's only $12 (plus $2 for parking if you can't find any on the street). The plan is to leave Chicago around 7:00 since it's about an hour's drive. Depending on how many go, we can drive together or caravan there and easily be back in time for any late night activities.

So whaddayasay? Join us? Please...

Anyone have a plain brown cloak or robe I can borrow next weekend? Like the kind a monk would wear? I only have light brown and black ones...

rzr_grl and I want to hit a haunted house tonight  and are looking for some company.... not that we're, uh, scared or nothin'... No sir! Not at all. It's just more... fun! Yeah, that's it! It's more fun with a small group... heh...

Anyway, all the good ones are pretty far out there so we were going to check out NIGHTMARES Basement Of The Dead in Aurora this time since it's probably the last year they'll be able to have it there before the building is renovated or sold. It's pretty highly rated and it's only $12 (plus $2 for parking if you can't find any on the street). The plan is to leave Chicago around 7:00 since it's about an hour's drive. Depending on how many go, we can drive together or caravan there and easily be back in time for any late night activities.

So whaddayasay? Join us? Please...

You know you've got a real connection with someone when a shared moment causes ten minutes of uncontrollable laughter... the kind where tears are streaming down your face and your sides are killing you. Even better, once we had finally started catching our breath she looked over at me, completely lost it again, and sprayed root beer all over me and my car, starting the entire cycle all over!

I sure am crazy about her...


HAPPY BIRTHDAY rzr_grl!!!

I love when it's just warm enough to stand outside during a storm and let yourself get drenched. It's not quite warm enough for the rain to feel refreshing, but not cool enough that it chills you either. Just that perfect balance where you can stretch out your arms, turn your face to the sky, and enjoy every drop as it hits your skin. Incredible...

Hey rambleman, could this possibly be you hanging out with rzr_grl's old band Razor Skyline?

So I'm going to be a prisoner in some movie about this angsty bat dude that's being filmed in Chicago and I need to bring my own white sneakers. I don't own any myself, so I thought I'd see if anyone has a pair that I might be able to borrow before hitting the thrift stores. I generally wear something in the 9-10 range, though I'd be willing to try something close to that. Anyone?

Goddammit! I just got home from Neo and was walking down the alley from my garage to my back gate when this homeless guy reached out from between the trash cans and fucking bit my leg! It doesn't look too bad, but he managed to break the skin even through my pants. It burns and I'm feeling a bit woozy, but I put bactine on it, so I'm sure I'll be ok by morning, right? So sleepy...

I don't think I've ever attended a more poorly run event in my life. Don't get me wrong. The artists and performers were good. It's the event planners who should be shot! I'd rant more, but I need to get some sleep since I'm taking rzr_grl and her mom on a behind the scenes tour of the Shedd Aquarium in the morning.

Earlier this week, I spent four days visiting old friends in Austin, TX. Since they moved there seven years ago and people have been associating my name with the city my entire life, I thought it was high time I checked it out. A few highlights from my trip...

• 6th Street. Many, many bars and clubs packed within a stretch of about 1/2 mile. Pretty much every music genre is represented and most places have live bands most nights with little or no cover. If you get bored with one place (and appreciate more than one type of music), just walk down 6th St. until you hear or see something you like!
• Flaming Dr. Pepper shots!
  
• 3 a.m. blueberry cornmeal pancakes. Mmm...
• The impressive tequila selections at every bar and even the tiniest liquor store.
• Rudy's bbq brisket and the funky automatic hand washing machine they had there.
• The world's largest Whole Foods! OMG!
• Seeing my name everywhere! (Those of you with uncommon names will understand.)
  
• Checking out the bats under the Congress Ave. bridge.
  
• Hanging out with my friends, Aaron and Scottie, and playing uncle to their two adorable kids, Abby and Zoe.
• Picking Zoe up from day care (she's 4) with her dad and seeing her walk out into the hall, yell "daddy!" and start to run to him with arms outstretched, only to veer off when she spotted me and jump into my arms instead! Apparently, I make a pretty good uncle.
  
• TRAMPOLINE!!!
• Seeing tons of deer, turkey vultures, a ringtail cat, and a fearless moth that looks and acts just like a hummingbird.
• Watching Grindhouse (which is set and was shot in and around Austin) at the Alamo Drafthouse theater (which is shown at the beginning of the Tarantino half). The Alamo Drafthouse takes the Brew & View concept to the next level. It's a normal theater but they replace every other row of seats with a low bar. They have a full menu of pretty good bar food, at least 20 beers on tap and at least that many in bottles, wine, margaritas, etc. You write down your order and stand it up in a clip and they come around to serve you. What could be better?
• Going to the range to shoot five different handguns right after seeing Grindhouse! Only in Texas...
  

It's been a while since I've posted much of anything, partly due to the untimely demise of my pc. After $60 and a week at MicroCenter (special thanks to rambleman for loaning me an Ubuntu laptop!), I was told that the motherboard was fried. I estimated spending at least another $250 to replace the motherboard and Windows (since my Windows wasn't exactly legitimate...), at which point I decided to put that money towards a new MacBook instead. I've been pretty fed up with Windows lately, so I figured it was time to give Apple a go. [Perhaps not so] Coincidentally, I was discussing the possibility of buying a MacBook and networking it with my pc about 1/2 hour before it decided to crash. Go figure. So far, I like my MacBook a lot, though I've got quite a bit to learn about OS X.

The action that actually caused the crash was plugging in my camera to download the pictures from my mafia birthday party. The party itself was fabulous. Everyone dressed up in their own way and played their characters up through the night. We had wise guys and gals from all time periods, a federal agent on the take, a blind nun, and even a couple of bodies in the tub that had to be disposed of later. Things got ugly when we discovered someone was wearing a wire, but everyone got off clean. In retrospect, we should have organized a game of Mafia while we were all dressed up. Oh well. Maybe next time.

In addition to the family portrait below and a couple of shots on Flickr, you can see more pics on deladejavoo's website.



In other news, halfway through my severance now, I'm starting to feel pressure over the need to find a job. Don't get me wrong, I'm keeping busy and enjoying my free time very much. I just know that the next four months will go by quickly and my severance checks will stop coming. Surprisingly, I don't feel bored overall (though I have my moments) and time is passing almost as quickly as when I was working, perhaps more so since the last 6 months at my job were painfully boring. I have been doing research, some networking, etc. over the past couple of months and have come to the sad realization that I'll probably be heading back into the corporate world for a while since I can't really afford a major pay cut to start over doing something more interesting. Hopefully a change of scenery will hold my attention for a while at least. Anyway, I'll probably post more about my job search since I plan to focus on it a lot more going forward.

Had a lot of fun hanging out with Fred in the Keys a couple of weekends ago. Did a little diving (and a LOT of puking! Damned 6' waves...), plenty of drinking, laid on the beach at a luxurious resort, beat a stripper at pool, listened to drinking songs in an Irish pub in Key West on St. Patrick's Day, drank a liter of weiss and people watched in South Beach, Miami, and ate as much seafood as humanly possible. More pics on Flickr.



OK, time to hit the gym and clean up a bit for LOST night tonight. Catch you later!