Yes, I'm still alive, and I promise you'll all get a more complete update on what's been happening sometime in the next few days. I will say that the past week's been about as crazy as expected. From the daily commute between Milwaukee and Madison for work, finding an apartment, and making sporadic trips back to Chicago to pack and move my stuff, it's been absolutely insane, but everything's coming together and going (relatively) smoothly.
I'm really not in the proper frame of mind right now to even begin to explain or summarize the past week, so instead of attempting to do so, I've updated the links on the right side, so at least you've got something to read in my absence (ha).
So keep checking back, I'll have some updates soon.
In the meantime, you can decide whether or not you still want to be my friend, based on this little quiz I took:

59%

Slammed.

As I'm sure all of you have heard, I'm moving back to Wisconsin tomorrow. I've still got so many things to do, people to see, and packing to do, that I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment.
Details will follow - but I probably won't be posting again for a week or so (like that's anything new).

So, in lieu of an actual post, I'm going to show y'all around some stuff on the internet, because I'm halfway through my first cup of coffee and admittedly not quite awake yet.

Polling is getting out of control. It must've been a slow news day at the LaCrosse Tribune:



Likewise for Public Policy Polling:



Seriously guys. Come on.

So, the Giants beat the Packers last night, and I'm pretty happy about that. Being a Bears fan in Wisconsin, especially when you're a kid, can be quite the traumatic experience. You might remember my last post, in which I discussed the general manager of the northeastern Wisconsin Fox affiliate pulling "Seinfeld" from Saturday night's lineup, as it's purported to be Giants quarterback Eli Manning's favorite show. Sony stepped up and gave Manning a DVD player and "Seinfeld: The Complete Series." Take that, Packers. See you next fall.

I'm a big Calvin and Hobbes fan. I can't decide if this piece from "Lio" is hilarious, sacrilege, or just disturbing.



Ugh...packing time!

Links!!

First things first - it's four in the morning, and after sleeping for five hours, I suddenly can't get back to it. So please excuse my syntax and rambling. I'm in that state where I know I'm doing it, but really don't care enough to try to fix it. So deal with it, ok?

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. People from Wisconsin are insane.
People think I exaggerate the state's love of the Packers, being that I spent practically my entire childhood being teased mercilessly for being a Bears fan (including one incident in seventh grade, in which the principal of the middle school called me out over the school announcements after one particularly unmemorable loss). But my proof is here!

From Wednesday's edition of the Wisconsin State Journal, A 36-year-old Pardeeville man was accused of tying up his 7-year-old son with tape Saturday after the boy refused to wear a Green Bay Packers sweatshirt during the divisional playoff game against Seattle.

Channel 11, the local Fox affiliate serving Northeastern Wisconsin, has learned that Eli Manning's favorite show is Seinfeld. To avoid risking "giving comfort to the enemy," they've decided to remove the show from their normal lineup on Saturday night.

And finally, the Madison Church of Christ, among others, is moving its service up one hour on Sunday. "The church says an earlier service will allow them to have a great worship and which also allows the congregation to pray and then root for the Packers. And, fittingly, everyone is being encouraged to wear Packer- wear in support of the home team."

So....um...believe me now?

I've had all of these things I've been saving that I've been meaning to get out, so now's the time, I guess.

This is quite funny, even if you're not a fan of the Law and Order franchise. A bunch of the actors got together and filmed a writerless episode in support of the WGA writer's strike:



The state of New York put together an anti-smoking campaign featuring 48 year old Skip Legault, who blames smoking for his amputated leg, two heart attacks, and stroke. This is apparently news because Mr. Legault hasn't yet quit, despite his health issues. Why do I post it? Because I like the fact that they used the phrase "kick the habit" when discussing a one-legged man.

And according to Army Captain Kincy Clark, Blackwater's 2005 "accidental" use of CS gas on US military personnel was "decidedly uncool." Isn't there a better way to put that? One that maybe doesn't make a military captain sound like Bill S. Preston, Esquire?

Over and out.

What.

If you haven't seen this video yet, it's kindof crazy. On December 23, a minivan crashed into the ABC 7 studio at 190 N. State St...in the middle of the news. (The look on the anchor's face is just priceless - I'm sure there's already remixes out there.) And yes, this happened two weeks ago, just go ahead and call me behind the times.



I'm still trying to figure out whether or not it was actually deliberate, but here's what I know for sure - the driver is being charged with felony reckless endangerment, as well as driving without insurance. I've heard a quote, supposedly from the driver, in which he stated, "I wanted to be on TV," but I've also read that quote coming from the lead prosecutor in the case, so I don't know what was really said. Regardless, the video is priceless. And allows me to use these pictures.





Today's my exit interview at The Job. Oh yeah, you'd better believe I've got things to say.
Anyways, time to go.

EDIT: Told you.

Half man, half bearpig.

It's January. My heat is off. My windows are open. And somewhere (probably in a cave in Tennessee), Al Gore is doing the "I told you so" dance. That's three straight days of 50 degree plus temperatures. In January.

I'm currently reading Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco. It's really good if you're into that kind of thing, although the language gets a little pretentious. I'm terrible at describing plot lines, so just go look it up on Amazon or something.

Can I just go ahead and say how tired I am of people taking insignificant cell phone calls on the bus? Having ridden a lot of buses and trains in my time, I've noticed that the biggest perpetrators tend to be in the upper-middle age bracket, let's say, 50+. And I have a theory about this. (Bear with me, I'm only halfway through my first cup of coffee.) We're at a time when technology is exploding, to the point where 20 years ago, people couldn't even fathom some of the things that are available now. So when something like a cell phone hits its tipping point (thank you, Malcolm Gladwell), technology moves too fast for the minds that create it, and we begin to believe that just because something can be used, means that it should be used (kindof like, say, cloning). And I mainly assign the blame to that particular demographic because they understand what a huge leap this is for us, whereas people my age (25) and younger have never really lived without cell phones or had to research a paper using encyclopedias. So half of your conversations turn into "Hi! I'm on the bus!" (meaning "Hi! Can you believe I'm calling you from the bus?!? Let's use this awesome technology to annoy everyone around me!")

So Obama trounced both Hillary and Edwards the other night. I'm currently undecided, but the whole spectacle is really fascinating as Clinton continues to lose points in New Hampshire (latest results - Obama 42, Hillary 29). I'll keep watching.

And this is interesting - the BBC's "100 Things We Didn't Know Last Year."

Anyways. Time to run some errands, finish my laundry, and then Tim's coming. We'll probably spend the afternoon being huge dorks and watching National Treasure or playing Goldeneye or something.

Contrary to popular belief, I'll be thrilled tomorrow when I have to go back to work. Three consecutive days off is just too long. Call me a workaholic, but even though I've been keeping (somewhat) busy, I'm just...bored.

Finally, all of the planning for the trip to the UK is finished - well, I guess that's a little premature. All that's left is to get the currency exchanged. I finally registered the student/youth ID cards that I got in the mail months ago, which can be used for discounts and all that crap. If you're headed anywhere and are 26 or under, try STA Travel. They saved us a metric ton of cash on our multiple plane tickets and hotel reservations. Tim and I'll be in London, Edinburgh, and Dublin from February 11-22, if I remember correctly.

As I've spent a decent part of today stumbling around the internet (I beat it. The last boss is really hard.), of course I was going to come across something as crazy as this. The SnuzNLuz alarm clock takes the old axiom "You snooze, you lose," to heart (if I had said the possibly-more-appropriate "to bed," I run the risk of confusing all three of you who read this blog, so we'll just leave it at that). Your alarm clock is linked to your bank account through wifi, and makes a donation (of your choosing, preset) to an organization, charity, or non-profit you don't exactly get along with (also preset). The idea, supposedly, is to teach you to wake up already. So, according to the guys over at ThinkGeek, Republicans could donate to the ACLU, butchers to PETA, hippies to the American Coal Foundation, et cetera.

I'm reading Bill Bryson's Made in America for about the ten thousandth time. It's quite fascinating and highly recommended for anyone who's interested in how various words and phrases came to the American vocabulary. I'm finding it a little more difficult, but thanks to a few conversations we've had at work, I'm attempting to figure out if anyone has an explanation for regional accents. The best I can find are these explanations, which I'll refrain from copying and pasting so those of you who really don't care can bypass it:
How Did Regional Accents Originate? - from Penn State
Why are accents from a particular place the way they are? from Ask a Linguist
"Regional Vocabularies of American English," from Wikipedia
"American English regional differences", from Wikipedia
The main "American English" article from Wikipedia

Anyways, it's all really fascinating to me, so you can go ahead and click on those links if you're interested, as well.

One last language-related link. Did you know "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo" is a grammatically correct sentence?

Hi, I'm a nerd. Enough outta me.

Baby, it's cold outside...

And it goes a little something like this:

Not much to report today, but I've been slacking on the stuff I *should* be doing...so, um, like, whatever. I'm feeling rather uncreative today, so what do y'all say to a media-heavy post? (Too. Bad. You're getting one anyways.)

I'm having a bit of an issue with Blogger as all of your comments haven't been showing up on the site. But I'm getting them in my email. Very odd. I think it has something to do with the layout change, as I had to refire Sitemeter, and it's possible I deleted something I wasn't supposed to. But enough of the tech talk. ("Your ticket is a fare code 'red'..." - and if you get that joke, you're a certified nerd.)

Yesterday went pretty much as expected, and I don't really hope to get much more done today. Well, actually, I do hope to clean my house, but I really don't expect to actually get to that. Grocery shopping is a necessity, though, since my fridge contains beer and ketchup, and the cabinets really aren't much better. I'm not looking forward to slogging through the snow - add that to the fact that it's about two degrees outside and this looks to be a chore that I'm really dreading.

Have I mentioned that I'm about ready for baseball season to start? Anyone want to hang out in the foot-high snowdrifts in my backyard and hit the wiffleball around?



Okay, I admit it, I was just looking for an excuse to use that picture.

I put about 200 songs on the computer yesterday, and I'm already tired of my music. Just thought I'd throw it out there.

We'll end today with some videos, because I like wasting time watching things on the internet.

So, first of all, you've gotta be kidding me.



What did he just say? (Wait till the end.)



Here's Santa, turning a moment into a memory. I love how the action continues even though the mall cop says "I got him."



Arrrgh....I'm off to the grocery store, with a team of Saint Bernards and a tent. If you don't hear from me in a couple days, send a search party....

2008, here I come!

Seriously, people need better things to do with their time. It is funny, though.



So, happy new year to you all! I had a good one, despite the whole "having to work" thing. We got housed pretty hard at work, which was to be expected as for some reason people want to go out to dinner on New Year's Eve (I can't say I really understand what the big deal is), but it is what it is. I got out at 11:30 and jumped in a cab with some friends - we were headed to Wicker Park but jumped out of the cab right at midnight, so we ended up celebrating on Division. Headed to a bar and got a couple of drinks, then to the Korean barbecue on the wayyy north side. It was really good, though - it's one of those places where they have grills built into the tables, so you sit on the floor and they bring you a bunch of garnishes and raw meat and you grill it yourself. Really good stuff - we all stuffed ourselves on seafood pancakes, beef, chicken, and baby octopus, all washed down with Korean rubbing alcohol...um...I mean, Soju. We got home about 4 AM and crashed - so today is spent recovering, although I feel really good, not just physically, but about the new year, too. 2008 is going to be a good one.
I've got big plans for today. I'm importing a bunch of CDs into iTunes in an attempt to get more than ten songs on my iPod, which is a pain since a bunch of my music was lost when my old computer "crashed." I've also got the football game(s) on, and it's entirely possible that I'll end up on the couch watching a movie or something before the day is out. Big, big plans, I tell you.

I officially put in my notice at the Fairmont yesterday. My last day will be January 13. I'm going to take the job at the Trump, at least until I can figure out what I'm doing. There's other offers bouncing around out there so I'm just trying to get a change of scenery until I really decide what I want to do, I guess.
So, that's it from me!