I'm starting this post at 8:30pm. We'll see when I get to actually publish it.

Saturday, in the park, I think it was the Fourth of July...

Well, the day started out with me heading to the rededication ceremonies at new Soldier Field with my brother, my dad(!) and my cousin. From the north end (by Field Museum), it looks pretty good. From the south end, it looks the same with the big bowl...that's all. Personally, I don't think it looks that bad--it's a stadium, not a monument. Anyway, we went and stood at the ceremony, which took forever but had its cool moments, such as the paratroopers who landed in a little clearing about 40 yards to our southeast. And with the wind, basically they came soaring in right over us. It was cool. We were going to go into the stadium, but it was about 2:30 when they started letting people in, and my cousin and I had places to be at five. So we left, happy enough.

I stayed at my parents' house because there was no point in going to The Brook before heading to The Outpost (my new apartment) to sign the lease at five. Problem is, the landlord was a freakin' hour late. He said there was miscommunication between him and the realtor chick. Whatever...I wanted to breeze through the place and get going, but then he didn't even have the keys labeled right, so he had to try all the keys in all the doors. The lease actually said dogs were not allowed, so I made him cross that off the lease and initial it. I think he was a bit perturbed that I called him out on that. But tough, I'm not getting in trouble legally for that. :) He had one set of keys, which Butch took, because he's moving stuff in now. I'm not ready to go yet, but I will be soon, and I should get my keys too.

So all this took forever, and I had to go back to The Brook in order to shave, shower and change for the wine-tasting party scheduled for 8:00 at a friend of PolishBasia's place near Wrigleyville. I left my parents' house at 7:00, knowing full well I was going to be late, without a doubt. I wasn't pleased. I didn't get to the party until 9:00 and, on top of it, I hadn't eaten a thing.

So I scarfed down some snacks at the party and took it easy on the wine...lots of good wines, lots of cool people. I got there late, but I hung out and it was cool. I had so much fun, I didn't get home until freakin' 6:00am, because we decided to go eat something around, oh, 4:00 after cleaning up as much as possible. Dawn had broken when I pulled into the driveway in The Brook. Thankfully, when I move to The Outpost, I won't have to drive so damn far to get home anymore. That will be nice. I was a touch concerned with my driving home at that time, but I had really no other options, seriously. At least none I could think of. If *I* had the keys to the new apt., I would have simply gone there and slept on the floor or something. :)

I missed the second Cubs game, the one in which they clinched, and of course, i didn't care that much that I missed it. But now, sadly, I'm going to have to root for the Cubs, believe it or not, because I hate the Braves even more. So, go Marlins! :)

Today I slept until about 12:30 and then came to work, where I'm at right now and for a little while longer. Yep.