xmarx

My sister and her boyfriend Abe have been having kick ass dinner party adventures for a while now and are getting infamous. You should sign up for the news letter at their site and go to one of their events.
Their site
Follow on FB

Press/see:
Written up by Steve Dolinsky (prominent Chicago food critic)
Featured on the Cooking Channel's Unique Eats TV Show (episode: "Adventure") and blog
See the bootleg video here

get smart

I got my first smart phone Wednesday night in a lame bid to catch up to the future. It turns out that the future is awesome. I was blissfully playing away with my new phone when the train announced my stop and I rushed to the door in a hurry. At the bottom of the platform I realized I left my favorite umbrella of all time right next to my seat and that it was pouring rain. It turns out there is no app for that. This was a tricky situation because I had a number of things that could not be drenched, including my brand new smart phone. With smart phone in hand I thought "How can I solve this problem using the future?" I am pretty sure my thinking face made this girl next to me think I was totally crazy. After ten minutes of thinking really hard, using the future saved me from getting wet. Which is to say the rain slowed down and I walked very quickly home.

documentaries

I've seen some great documentaries recently. I recommend the following:
Who Killed the Electric Car is interesting, especially in light of the current electric car craze. It makes the billions of tax dollars GM gets directly and indirectly more maddening. Also shows great public conflict of interest of the chair of the Clean Air Board in CA.

Food Inc, has made me cut out non-organic meat.

MaxedOut

Monday

Beautiful Evening
I went to the New Music Mondays concert in Millennium Park tonight alone - no one else could make it, but it was a beautiful night so I went solo. I got to enjoy the evening air, watch some kids play, and see people relax with their loved ones.

Waste
I came home tonight to a hot apartment (80F+), outside it's probably high 60s. I open all the windows and turn on the fan. My apartment windows face the courtyard and I can hear everyone's AC units on, wasting electricity while air that's plenty cool is right outside their window.

credit card rewards

My Amazon credit card will give me either 50$ in Amazon credit or a 50$ check. Generally I spend enough at Amazon that the credit is roughly equal to cash, so this last time I got the credit since it meant typing in a code rather than cashing a check. I’ve realized, however, that credit card purchases at Amazon are the highest reward points, so I’m missing that 3% back, therefore the check is better by a whole $1.50.

world cup

The Simpsons best described why soccer is so popular in America:

Open wide for some soccer! The Continental Soccer Association is coming to Springfield! It's all here - fast-kicking, low scoring, and ties? You bet! You'll see all your favorite soccer stars. Like Adiaga! Adiaga two! Badiaga! Aruglia! And Pizzoza!
"The Cartridge Family" script

Injury

Warning: non fun story ahead.

During the course of a student massage on March 26th the student twisted my knee in an uncomfortable position for a few seconds. Following the massage I had pain and limited motion but didn't think it was too serious, I kept off it and went to a physical therapist. Now, after physical therapy, two orthopedic exams and an MRI I know that I have a stretched out "deficient" ACL, which is like having a torn ACL, and it will not heal on its own.

Before this injury I had perfectly healthy knees - the week before this happened I ran up nine flights of stairs at work.

I can leave it alone and live with the risk of further damage or get surgery with a six month recovery period. Both options have problems. I am undecided at the moment but leaning towards surgery, which I would normally strenuously avoid.

The upsetting part in all this is that this was done to me. (and more galling, during the course of getting a back massage.) Had it been just like, an injury running or jumping or dancing it would be easier to get over. But no, it was a fat guy - cranking my leg with his three hundred pound frame.

hideout

i saw on facebook that someone's band was playing at the hideout tonight so i swung by after going to work and the gym. they ended up going on around 11:25 and by midnight i was pretty tired so i picked up and started walking home, seeing if a cab might come by. a middle aged lady pulled up and said "hi, were you just at the hideout? you need a ride?" and of course, i had and i did. we both thought the show was pretty good and also just thought it was too late to keep staying. i asked her how she knew the band and told her how i heard about it on facebook and she told me she owns the hideout so she's there all the time. at this point we're nearly where i need to be and i express my strong like of the hideout and gratitude for the ride.

bloggin

it's friday and i am at MCA's first fridays (right now, typing on demo computers from CLEAR internet) and everyone is out looking pretty fierce and i'm here in my gym shoes with a stupid one martini grin on my face. everyone else seems a bit desperate and miserable to me.
the exhibit is great. mca has been killing it recently with its awesome exhibits.

i'm in a meeting at 1 where almost everyone above me the organization is there and i'm just grinning like an idiot looking outside because the meeting is silly and i have nothing to say or do or think about besides look outside and think about how great it will be when i can leave.

i've just been told there's going to be a flash mob of break dancers here in 20 minutes. sweet.

testing new setup

blog has moved from alexlo.net/blog to blog.alexlo.net because of blogger changes. if you notice any sort of important broken link let me know.