Hey, would you look at that? It's almost 2 am. I came to the sad conclusion on the way back from Milwaukee (yes, me and Luis did go) that my vacation is officially over. But, it was a productive vacation, I suppose. I had a ton of fun in Milwaukee...went to Hooters and a couple of bars...or at least attempted to go to a couple of bars...several were closed after 12, which stunned us. Today we hit the Miller Brewery and went on a tour...that was interesting and cool. I may have to go back by Christmas to make a present purchase or two at the brewery...we'll see...it's an awful long way to go for a present. Other than that though, I stayed at home the rest of the evening and talked to some folks online...some on the internet...you know how it is. :) Oh, the vet told me that it's likely that the growth on Kazak's eyelid will go away by itself, so I spent $32 dollars basically for her to tell me that. It sucked...but what am I going to do? He's important to me...you'd understand if you had a dog...so now I'm off to bed...goodnight.

Man, I forgot just how crazy this month gets...between people visiting and Christmas parties and general shopping and stuff, I'm nearly booked all the way to Christmas...it's nuts. But you know what? I love it. :) In about an hour and a half I have to take Kazak to the vet to get his eye checked out...he's got a sty (sp?) or something growing on his eyelid...hopefully they can just give me some eye drops or something to get rid of it. Then, me and Luis are taking a spur-of-the-moment road trip up to Milwaukee...most likely, that is. We may still cancel...we'll see.
Tomorrow I feel as though I have something to do, but I can't remember, and I hate that feeling...Saturday I'm going out with Nathan downtown, and then next week I have Donna's work party and Barb's fancy North-sider Martini party. ;) The week after that, we have the Pro Football Weekly holiday "bash" as in, bash me in the head...no, not really...it's usually a good time. And then we're only six days from Christmas...yikes. When will I shop? Maybe I won't and then I don't have to say, "Merry Christmas, here's some oven mitts I found in a Dumpster...sorry." No, that won't happen...but I sure feel like I should do that. Other than that, I'm feeling great...

I swear to God, if I didn't need money right now, I'd throw this piece of crap computer throught the freakin' wall and buy a new one...ever since the hard drive crashed, my Internet's been a spotty commodity. It just decides to stop working whenever...and it's not the connection, because I've used Gerard's to check it...his holds. I have to restart every time the connection goes down...within the last two hours, I've restarted at least a half dozen times, because I've been emailing and using the Internet. Something is seriously wrong with this piece of crap, and I'm praying and praying that it just holds on until sometime after the New Year when maybe, just maybe I'll have a little extra cash via taxes and such...at least I hope so. If it crashes again, I think I'll die.
I'm excited about the floor hockey league I'll probably be joining...I love playing floor hockey because compared to some other sports, I seem to have a knack for being decent at it. Plus, it'll help me stay in shape during these winter months. I wish I hadn't wasted all that money on a gym membership, but I've realized that I just need someone to work out with and keep me on a regular schedule...at least that's what I think I need. I'm probably just fooling myself on that, but hey...
Still wrestling with the idea of giving up beer for the rest of the month, just to see how much (if any) weight I lose. I don't drink a lot, so I bet I won't lose much, if anything. But who knows? Maybe I'll give it up after the New Year...we'll see. I'd like to try it just for a month or so to see if it works...

my God, what a weekend...sorry I haven't posted in awhile...but here I go, with a recap of everything since Saturday...hang on, baby!

Saturday, I didn't have much to do, so I opted to shell out $20 to go to a club called Vision to see and hear some renowned DJ (Mauro Picotto) spin. I'd never heard of him, but I don't expect to here of a DJ. It was a steep price, but drinks, mysteriously, weren't ridiculous. I'm not big into the whole techno-dance stuff, but I like it every now and then, and I like to dance, so there you go. I like to listen to a good DJ too. So me, Luis, Monica (Luis' girlfriend) and Monica's cousin all met one of their friends at Vision, formerly known as Aura, right next door (and connected to) Excalibur in River North. Let me tell you, it wasn't a knock-down, drag-out, kick-ass time...but it was simply a kick-ass time. Donna, you will have to come next time...though it was loud, crowded and a bit smoky, it was cool. And it would've been fun if you were there. The DJ was excellent...it wasn't your typical, (how do I type this?) "boom, tsss, boom, tsss..." crap. There was some, but he was good enough to mix it up...there were two DJs, because you can walk freely from Vision to Excalibur and vice-versa.
I really like the layout of the place, but if you get seriously drunk, you could get lost...it's weird...there are something like five level in each club, all overlooking the dance floor, but they aren't five parallel levels...it's just weird. The only complaint was the coat check. We waited literally an hour to check our coats, we had to leave our IDs in them (so they can prove the coat is ours), and then they temporarily lost Monica's. But all was well once it was found. Vision seemed to be the Polish Quarter...there were so many Polish people there, I couldn't believe it. Excalibur, on the other hand, seemed to be the Asian Quarter...I was out on the dance floor, doing my own thing, and I looked around me at one point to get my bearings and make sure I wasn't "in someone's space," and I thought to myself, there's not a white girl out here. There were plenty of white guys, but no white girls where I was. And yes, there were plenty of attractive people there, but who cares? Truthfully, there were some really messed-up looking people too. I didn't get home and get to bed until about 4 am, because we had to drop off Monica and her cousin in Frankfort.

Sunday I worked, so it sucked. But because I don't have to go until 1pm, I got a relatively full night of sleep.

Monday, I was off to Green Bay. I got three hours of sleep before I left at 6:30 am, because the snow was certain to slow my trip. I made it barely at 11:45am for a noon hookup. I was told Hardy Nickerson left, and Donald Driver forgot that his dad was going to be in town, so he couldn't play. But, Justin, the Packers' media relations guy who was helping me, got DE Vonnie Holliday and DT Gilbert Brown to play. I did not play against them...I wanted them to play each other, and they were cool with that. Let me just say, particularly to you, troy...these guys would wipe the floor 10 times over with us. My God. First of all, they played on All-Madden level. Secondly, I was watching, and I couldn't tell you what plays they were picking, they were doing it so quickly. Man, was I impressed. Brown started out relatively quietly, occasionally shooting me this sly look every time Holliday talked shit...kind of a "just wait, he'll shut up soon enough" look. I'll save the details for the story I write, or else this post will be four miles long instead of three.

They played one game, and then I interviewed them. Holliday was really, really cool. I don't know if he was uncomfortable around me because of the media thing, or if he just wanted to stick around and play and bullshit...but it seemed that he wanted to stay...which would have been sweet. But they had meetings or something, so they had to go. Got done with that around 2pm. Asked Justin if I could see the field, and he walked with me out of the tunnel onto the frozen tundra. Didn't walk out there, though, because I would've gotten run over by the lawn mower. But that was nice.

So I left, because Green Bay was scheduled to get a snowstorm today, and I didn't want to be stuck up there. I figured I'd go as far as I could (what with the snow in Milwaukee and Chicago) and if I had to stop for the night somewhere, I'd do it. Snow and traffic enlarged the trip time to about four or five hours, but I made it all the way back and rolled in about 7:45pm. And Milwaukee and Chicago's Lite FM stations, which are playing all Christmas music, made it pleasant. :) Returned a few calls and went with Tim to a pizzeria/bar in Joliet to meet his friends to watch the game. Got home and went to bed, as I had gone on those three hours of sleep to that point.

And here I am today...gotta pay some bills, but I'm thrilled that I have the week off. Gotta use the vacation time, ya know? God, I need the rest too. It'll be nice...maybe I'll do some Christmas shopping with the money I don't have...we'll see.
By the way, my bro called me to tell me the Sox just traded Keith Foulke for Billy Koch. On first reaction, I like it...but I'll stew on it and see what I think later...at least Koch is more consistent than Foulke. Don't know the other details though...