In memoriam…

In usual kristyland style, my misguided sense of humor takes over to make light of an incredibly grim subject. Watching south park last night, where kenny was in a vegetative state and his last will and testament was to never be shown on tv in that condition, really made me laugh. For those who want to laugh for all the wrong reasons, you can also go here. I saw that link for the first time yesterday and Im still giggling.

03.31.05 11:04am(3 comments)

Things Republicans Believe: A truthful and sarcastic list

1. A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense. A president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is a solid defense policy

2. Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.

3. The public has a right to know about Hillary's cattle trades, but George Bush's driving record is none of our business.

4. What Bill Clinton did in the 1960s and John Kerry did in the 1970s is of vital national interest, but what Bush did in the '80s is irrelevant.

5. Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy. Providing health care to all Americans is socialism.

6. Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.

7. Group sex and drug use are degenerate sins unless you someday run for governor of California as a Republican.

8. If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.

9. Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then it's an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.

10. A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multinational corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.

11. Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.

12. A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our longtime allies, then demand their cooperation and money.

13. Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush's daddy made war on him, a good guy when Cheney did business with him and a bad guy when Bush needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.

03.25.05 12:52pm(7 comments)

kkhhhhhh……chhhhhhh….kkkhhhhh…chhhh

You scored as Anakin. Oh baby, you picked Anakin! Man this guy is hot, but he has a passion for the dark side and he takes what he wants when he wants it. Agressive Negotiations will be part of your life now, but that has plus sides....in the bedroom perhaps. Anakin 89% Obi-Wan 89% Yoda 78% Chewie 67% Luke Skywalker 44% Han Solo 44% Who Is your Star Wars loverrr? (for girls) created with QuizFarm.com

03.22.05 4:55pm(0 comments)

Movin’ on up… to the de-luxe apartment in the sky…

The move (remember that this happened on the weekend of the 11-13th):

I took last friday off of work to pack up the apartment since I had been incredibly busy doing all the stuff that I do and equally as much procrastinating to pack up to that point. Tom drove me to the uhaul place that morning. Fortunately, I was able to upgrade from a 10' truck to a 14'. Apparently they have this policy at the Uhaul now where you need to provide a telephone number in the area for a land line where someone can pick up the phone and verify your existance. I wasn't aware of this policy, so I didn't plan ahead for it. Work was closed, Tom was in transit to work, and everyone else I know was either sleeping, at work, or on their way to work. Eventually, I was able to have the Uhaul guy call Tom at work where he asked Tom if he knew me. Tom said yes, and they gave me a Uhaul. Strange. I drove the Uhaul home and tried to acclimate myself to the big riggishness handling.

I worked hard all day, did all the laundry, and was able to pack up a good portion of my belongings. Although I'm going to miss Tom, it's incredibly convenient that he's staying in BG and for me to be able to leave stuff in the apartment. This whole ordeal would be much more stressful and hectic if I had to clear out the place. Plus, Tom being in the apartment still gave me the opportunity to move my crap out to Chicago a week early. Having to move this weekend and start on Monday would've been insane. I could've done it, but it would seriously suck.

Friday night, I drove up to the amtrak station to pick up Tom. We left his car there so we would have a way home on the way back from Chicago. Shortly after we got back home, we drove the Uhaul over to the Schutze residence to pick up an extra bed they had so that Tom and I could have a place to sleep after I moved my bed to Chicago. Schutze was a really big help in not only loading up the uhaul, but giving us great advice about how to tie things down in the Uhaul (of which neither Tom nor I had previously thought). After much loading commenced, Schutze, Briana, Tom and I headed to easy street for dinner (dud, dud, caribbean sauce, seriously). With tummy's full of steak and sore muscles, Tom and I decided to finish the rest of the loading early saturday morning. After a trip to meijer for rope and masking tape, and some nasty ass smokey scotch (this stuff tastes like my mouth which Tom happens to love... savor the flavor of peat smoke? wtf! Yes, lets drudge this scotch through some dirt, put it in a fancy bottle, charge a bunch of money for it and sell it to yuppies, Brilliant!), we went to bed at around midnight.

In the middle of the night, about 4:30 am, Tom started to moan like a zombie. He talks a lot in his sleep, or mumbles, but this has been the first time he's ever woke me up dreaming of a monster movie, apparently. Being the bundle of nervous energy that I am, I couldn't get back to sleep, so I took a shower, made some coffee, and went out to the truck to start roping things down like Schutze had suggested.

Tom woke up later with the alarm, got ready, and worked to finish loading up the truck. His biggest project was to dismantle the entertainment electronics, and to label all of the cables that go into the receiver. This didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would. If you've ever seen our setup, you would be surprised also. We both went outside to discover that there were an addition 1-3 inches of snow on the ground than there had been the night before. As we continued to load up the truck, it started to hail. Fabulous. I did not want to drive a uhaul full of all of my crap around on an icey freeway. Thankfully, it stopped hailing, and after some redbull and sausage mcmuffins with egg, Tom and I were on our way.

We, surprisingly enough, had a really great trip. Tom loaded up his ipod and made sure it was fully charged. Along with the radio transmitter contraption, we had good tunes, good conversation, and good fun. Calling from the navigator seat was our totem stuffed animal, Piggy (Pygmalion MiHami), making sure we were going the right way. The roads were clear, and until we got to Chicago, there was hardly any traffic. I cruised along at about 70-75 in the uhaul, and we stopped a few times to stretch and once to get gas on the way there. Much to our chagrin, Tom and I forgot about the 1 hour time difference, and realized such about halfway there. Early isn't bad after all :) The traffic was pretty bad near downtown Chicago, but I was able to maneuver through it. Ed, my old boss, called right when I was all up in it to ask about server issues. Fortunately, Tom was able to get in touch with my assistant, who took care of it from there.

Once we got off the highway, however, we were instantly lost. Apparently (and we found this out just this weekend) the exit that we wanted to use has some wierd access road to take from the highway to the road for which the exit is named. Fortunately, Tom had purchased this huge book of chicago maps, so we were able to figure out where we were going. That, and we ran into an intersection with Damon, which we could take to get to my apartment. Sadly, we were in the right lane needing to make a left turn in a bunch of traffic. I turned right, hoping to make a few more rights and then a left to get back on the road in the correct direction. After almost turning down the wrong way of a one way, I ended up on a brick road. At least we were almost to damon ave. Once on damon, we followed that right up to a cross street leading to my street. At first, we found a halfways decent parking spot on the right side of the street, but after someone left the spot right in front of the apt., I couldn't pass it up, and I parked in the new improved spot.

In true Chicago style, it was bitterly cold and breezy, so Tom and I were ready to get into a nice warm apartment. I had scheduled electric and gas to be turned on earlier in the week, so we thought we were all set. Rob, the guy that I'm subleasing from, and his girlfriend showed up with the keys to the apartment. Lights, yes. Heat, no. bummer, so we call the gas company and they say that they'll send someone out. On a lighter note, Rob and his girlfriend had left us some really nice stuff and all the little things one would need but always forgets when moving into an apartment, like toilet paper, paper towels, lightbulbs, shower curtain, garbage bags, and trash cans. Rob also left behind a coffee table, kitchen table, charcoal grill, a few rugs, nice plates and glasses, condiments in the fridge, and a white shelving unit for the kitchen. I'll take it!

Since we were so early, Tom and I tried to entertain ourselves until the movers showed up. Tom wouldn't let me unload anymore (apparently my knee hurt, so Tom tells me) so he brought in a few of the lighter things, like domo-kun (aka, 'the thing with the teeth'), and the bed frame. We were both getting kind of hungry, so we headed down the street in search of food. Right by the train stop is a place called Budacki's drive up. This is your typical, hole in the wall, greasy food, fast and cheap sort of place. I had a polish sausage, chicago style with fries and a drink, Tom had 2 chicago dogs with fries and a drink and it came up to less than 8 bucks and we had it within a few minutes. Incredible! We ate our lunch at the little bar like tables in the drive up and headed back to the apartment.

All of the sudden, the apartment is aflutter with activity as the gas guy and the movers show up right around the same time. The gas guy found our heater, which was nice since I had no idea where it was, and hooked us up with some warmth and a few pilot lights. The cable guy was supposed to show up, but someone called to say that he wouldn't be able to make it ('he has some really bad problems, like his house is on fire') and would have someone out sunday morning from 10-12. Danielle and friend from Good Day movers were so excellent. That was, by far, the best investment made during the trip. They had that uhaul unloaded so fast, I almost didn't believe they were finished. Friendly, polite, fast as lightning and incredibly gentle with my things even to the point of slowly lowering them to the ground as to not scratch the floors. Incredible! We were able to return the Uhaul by 6:30, no problem. Once again, things got sort of scary when they told me that the lot was full and I would have to return the uhaul at the other uhaul place. Luckily, someone came in requesting the same type of truck that I was returning, so we thankfully didn't have to go through the ordeal of trying to make it to another uhaul place.

Instead, we walked to the train and took it homewards. By this time, we were both pretty hungry and decided to check out the local fare. Since there are two thai restaurants right near my train stop, we had to choose between the two. The bitter cold helped us out as we chose the thai restaurant on the same side of the street as the train exit, simply because we didn't want to cross the street. I love these cute little family run ethnic food joints. Just a few tables, the mom cookin in the back, the dad doing the deliveries, the kids bussing and waiting tables, you know the type. When it came time to order the food, Tom and I had been presented with a challenge:

waiter: how spicy would you like it?

me: spicy

waiter: American spicy or Thai spicy?

me: Ohhh, definitely Thai spicy!

Tom had a similar exchange regarding some soup. Usually I can handle really spicy foods. My resistance is rarely matched and only by either family members or people who can barely speak English. However, I can honestly say that this food kicked my butt. Kicked Tom's butt too, especially that soup; it was liquid fire. Warmed us right up to the point where we were almost breathing fire and thinking back to the episode of good eats where Alton Brown talks about the chemical reaction when capsaicin is introduced to your mouth. Alton said that sugar can dampen the spicy effect, so Tom and I were practically emptying sugar packets into our mouths. We came to this place to get warmed up from the winter chill, but ended up having some coconut ice cream (served with crushed peanuts, which was a nice touch) to cleanse our severely burnt palettes.

From there, we scurried to the store to pick up some libations (and to warm ourselves for a bit), and then scurried back to the apartment. Sore and tired from the move, freezing from the weather, and severely battered from the dinner, Tom and I decided to light the fireplace candles (can you tell I love those?), have some wine, relax, and head to bed (which we knowingly made up earlier in the day... that was a damn good idea, IMO).

I must've slept really well, because I woke up insanely early the next morning. Still excited from the move, I started to unpack and re-arrange stuff in the living room. I tried to be quiet, but I eventually woke Tom up. With his help, we were able to make a lot of headway and did a lot of unpacking and setting up. However, I was in dire need of some coffee, so we headed out in search of a coffee shop. Once again, there are two coffee shops right by the train stop (which is only 3 blocks away, for your reference). One is called the marakesh expresso, and they serve sandwiches, salads, and sides as well as coffee. However, I really liked the atmosphere of 'the perfect cup' so we headed back there. I got a big rounded mug of my usual skinny sugar free hazelnut latte and a bagel. Tom got coffee and doughnuts, and we both settled down with some indie papers, like the Chicago Reader. Naturally, they're chocked full of goings on, etc.

Thinking we had an appointment at 10 with the cable guy, Tom and I headed back to the apartment and unpacked some more, while waiting for the cable guy to show up. He never showed, so I called comcast to complain. I got the usual run around, but eventually the call was escalated and someone was to call me back within the hour. Noone called, aren't you shocked? Just as well, Tom and I continued to work on the apartment. I called to bitch again, and while I was on the phone the second time, the tech called to ask if he could come out early. Apparently my original time, 3-5pm, had been rescheduled for Sunday, as opposed to 10-12. No big deal. The cable guy came out, hooked us up, confirmed that the cable tv worked, and headed out. No more than 5 minutes that he was gone, Tom accidentally turned off the cable box while it was downloading info for the first time and the cable stopped working. Tom and I order a deep dish pizza from Chicago's, because you can't leave chicago without having some of the pizza. Still no cable, so I get back on the phone with comcast and we work on getting the cable back up. We planned on leaving for union station at around 5:30 to catch the train home. At around 5pm, the cable finally comes back up. I'm able to run the comcast utility for the cable modem and all is well. We say farewell to the apartment and head for union station.

The train home was delayed about an hour and a half. Due to Tom's cunning intuition, we were able to get a spot at the very front of the boarding line, avoiding any effect from the overselling by 50 seats of this particular train. We hop on the train, get are seats, and settle in. Unfortunately, we didn't notice the sign that said 'loud obnoxious college kids on spring break car' so Tom spent most of the ride annoyed. I managed to get some sleep, but it wasn't the restorative kind of sleep. It was more of the 'your body is now going into standy mode' sort of sleep. The train got into Toledo at around 2:30, we got back to bg at around 3 and after stopping at meijer for some snacks, we made it back to the apartment. We ate our snacks and finally got to bed around 4am. We're young, right? We can handle it! Certainly, but we were both late to work the next day. I was pretty afraid to do any server maintenance or programming since I wasn't thinking too clearly. Finally, exhausted, paranoid, and headachey, Tom and I made it home after work and made an early night of it.

Speaking of making a night of it, my first day at my new job is tomorrow, so I better hit the sack. In my next installment of Kristy's Excellent Adventure, I'll reflect upon my final week of work at ABLE. Don't worry, I don't have anything bad to say, but the whole experience was just so unnatural... stay tuned!

03.21.05 12:05am(0 comments)

Another quiz, shamelessly stolen

Kristyguna - I got this nickname at Marathon when someone who apparently didn't understand my first name sent me a memo addressed to Kristy Guna Boyer. I googled guna and it means some good something or other in hindi, so I went with it.

2. Elaborate on your icon photo?

Tom took that picture of me when I was looking at him lovingly. I think it makes a good picture.

3. Did you lie about your age anywhere on the net?

Why bother?

4. How many LJ friends do you have?

Kerrie and a few friends I knew from High School

5. What is your current status?

Alive

6. What are you wearing right now?

Khaki pants, white tank, and pink fuzzy bejewelled sweater (I love this outfit), and some jewelry that a coworker bought for me as a going away present. Pink of course.

7. What is life to you?

Too much to put into a quiz answer

8. What is love to you?

My luv is like a red red rose...*french laugh*

9. What kind of people do you hate most?

Morans

10.What type of people do you like most?

genuine, down to earth types that think my jokes are funny :)

11.What makes you happy?

Good family, good friends, good food, and good drink :)

12.Are you musically inclined?

Yes, and I really miss music. There's just something about playing.... with a group or by myself... undescribable. I plan on picking up guitar so that I can get back into music again. I need it in my life.

13.What would you do if you woke up one morning and found out that the person you love most didn't exist or was killed?

...

I'm not going to justify that with an answer.

14.If you could go back in time and change one thing what would it be?

I probably wouldn't have spent so much money on crap, but I had a hell of a good time doing it :)

15. If you MUST be an animal for ONE day what would it be?

A liger. It's pretty much my favorite animal. Bred for its skills in magic.

16.Ever had a near death experience?

Apparently I almost didn't make it through a surgery once, but I had no idea until my Grampa let it slip the following Christmas. I was pretty pissed that my family didn't tell me about it, but I knew they had good intentions and I got over it.

17.Name ONE obvious personality quality you have.

Witty maybe?

18.What's the name of the song that's stuck in your head right now?

Psychokiller, Qu'est-ce que c'est.. fa fa faa fa fa fa fa faa faaaar...

Goddamnit

19.Are you happy today?

You better believe it. I've been lavished with presents from my coworkers and in about an hour I'm going off to a luncheon in my honor. Big ego boosting going on here.

03.16.05 10:54am(7 comments)