Last night I attended Fashion Forward at Northbrook Court. It consisted of a silent auction, live auction and fashion show – plus lots of edible goodies and drinks. All the proceeds went to various charities.
It was a lot of fun. The fashion show wasn’t crazy like Fashion Week but showed actual outfits you could wear from stores in the mall. For the live auction volunteers from the charities would walk the runway wearing outfits from a specific store in the mall and you would bid on a gift certificate to that store. The gift certificates were all in the $350 – $400 range. I bid on Tommy Bahama and White House/Black Market but lost both to higher bidders.
I also bid on a silent auction from Burberry which was a scarf and a $200 gift certificate. I lost that as well but my cousin bid on a Sephora silent auction with a bunch of products from their store and won!
There was also small bites from Whole Foods. I tried some of the Hors d’vours and they were ok but for dessert they had an assortment of mini-tarlets which were totally delicious. I liked the Key Lime Pie one the best. Whole Foods does such a good job with their tartlets I recommend you try them if you haven’t already. There was also coffee and tea from Corner Bakery as well as an open bar.
By far the best thing at the bar was the signature drink called “Glittering in Gold” It was a mix of Goldschlager and Apple Cider mixed together than topped off with Champagne. It tasted like cinnamon apple sauce and was absolutely amazing! I intend on serving these during Thanksgiving – they were that good.
All in all it was a fun night and if they have a similar event next year I will definitely go back.
Yesterday I decided to have a little retail therapy and ended up with these bad boys
That’s right, I own shoes with kitty faces on them! They may be ridiculous but they make me smile every time I see them so I think they do their job.
I also want to give a big shout out to Lime Mayo – I discovered this in a mexican supermarket a while back and bought it as a joke. Surprisingly its one of the most awesome condiments ever! If you haven’t tried it yet I highly recommend it.
You have to get this brand though. I recently tried the Kraft version (“touch of lime”) and it wasn’t nearly as tasty as this one. Trust me, you’ll love it!
Shortly after this picture was taken the robot made a beeline for this Pothole and chased her out of the room! All part of it’s random cleaning cycle, but try telling that to Pothole 🙂
I got this book as part of the Humble eBook Bundle. I paid $25 for 13 books. (If you don’t know about the HumbleBundle, click here to learn more, its awesome!!) Over all I say its a 3/5 star book.
This book was released 10/2/2012 and you can also get it from Amazon.com. Here is a synopsis:
Trent McCauley is sixteen, brilliant, and obsessed with one thing: making movies on his computer by reassembling footage from popular films he downloads from the net. In the dystopian near-future Britain where Trent is growing up, this is more illegal than ever; the punishment for being caught three times is that your entire household’s access to the internet is cut off for a year, with no appeal. Trent’s too clever for that too happen. Except it does, and it nearly destroys his family. Shamed and shattered, Trent runs away to London, where he slowly he learns the ways of staying alive on the streets. This brings him in touch with a demimonde of artists and activists who are trying to fight a new bill that will criminalize even more harmless internet creativity, making felons of millions of British citizens at a stroke. Things look bad. Parliament is in power of a few wealthy media conglomerates. But the powers-that-be haven’t entirely reckoned with the power of a gripping movie to change people’s minds….
So why3/5 stars? I think the content is appropriate to what is happening in the world now, but I felt the author tried a bit to hard to make it “geeky”. There was a lot of name dropping of actual programs and parts that I felt interrupted the flow of the story. It’s not because I didn’t understand the terms, but it was more a WTF moment on why you would even mention it unless you were trying to prove how computer-savvy you were to your audience. I also did not like the attitude of the main character. To me he felt very one dimensional and I didn’t really care how his story turned out. I didn’t feel he was responsible for any of the successes in the story – it was either luck/chance or the supporting characters turning the events to wins. The last point I will make is that since this story was set in England it was a bit weird for me to follow – mostly the slang terms. I’m sure the author was authentic here but not being familiar with some of the terms had me spending lots of time thinking about them. So much so that I often had to go back and re-read pages to grasp the meaning
Overall I do recommend it. The copyright/piracy/patent laws in the US are bad and they are getting worse as old-media corporations try to put in place laws like SOPA, ACTA, PIPA, etc. These corporations and lobby groups use many of the same arguments that were used in the books to pass the restrictive laws. I’m not sure if this book will spur anyone to action. I think it does a great job of opening your eyes to how people see it – that if it doesn’t affect them directly they don’t care – and why we must continue to spread the word against laws that restrict our freedom online. Give them an inch and they will take a mile
My recent dissapontment with HBO’s treatment of season 2 of Game of Thrones prompted me to write a review of the A Song of Fire and Ice series by George R.R. Martin. I will admit I was not aware of this series before the HBO show but the first season was so amazing that I decided to pick it up.
The first season is pretty true to the book. I think the only big difference I noticed about the book vs show for the first season was hearing the characters’ thoughts. In the TV show most subtleties have to been spelled out since soliloquies aren’t popular any more.
I read through all 5 currently available books in the sesries before the second season and was really looking forward to it. There was so much amazing stuff that was going to happen and I was looking forward to how HBO portrayed it. In the end I had to wait weeks between episodes because wastching 2 in a row made me furious.
I’m not usually one to preach on how books are better than TV/movies but in this case I feel you would be doing yourself a disservice if you are a fan of the world/characters and you didn’t read the books.
The books are more powerful and really bring you in to care about these characters and their journeys. There were characters I didn’t like in the beginning that I ended up rooting for and one I liked that I ended up hating. I felt drawn into the world and found myself caring about the choices the charaters made.
I will go so far as to say that I think this might be a better story that Lord of the Rings (which in some circles will get you an arrow to the knee). LOTR is a fantastic story and a must read for any fantasy fan, but I felt the characters in A Song of Fire and Ice series were easier to identify with. LOTR keeps their characters on a pedastal where its hard to imagine yourself in that situation.
There are some problems with the Song of Fire and Ice books. I feel that some of the women in the story are portrayed very flat or in a way where you can very clearly tell its a man writing about how he thinks women feel/act but its biased by his stereotypes. Obviously the unfinished nature of the series is an issue as well, especially now that show has come out and changed some of the events. The story telling style and flow change from book to book as well, which although expected from any new author, can be jarring at times.
All in all I would recommend A Song of Fire and Ice series to any fantasy fan, whether or not you watch the HBO show. It was the first series to make me feel so strongly about the differences between its book and tv counterparts and any work of fiction that can provoke such an emotional reaction is worth a read.
Its been a long time since I wrote here. Either I want to make my posts “perfect” (I have tons of saved drafts) or I tell my story to someone and then no longer feel the need to blog about it. I would like to get back in the swing of things though so I am going to try to start posting here more regularly. My goal is to avoid my long epic tales that get locked in Draft phase and just post. I have an app for my phone in additional to several portable devices that should make this easy.
We’ll see how it goes. For now – here is a kitten for your entertainment:
Labor Day weekend we had the opportunity to attend Supercar Saturday in Boilingbrook, IL. Its similar to those cruise nights where everyone parks their classic cars but instead of 1970 Mustangs you see 2011 Ferraris! Although the event is geared toward exotics (and they get the premium parking), it is open to everyone who loves cars so you also get to see GT-Rs, Raptors, Minis, and Cameros. It happens the first saturday during the summer months so if you’re looking for something to do, I highly suggest you check this out!
Earlier this week, my brother was awesome enough to drop off his RC51 for me to borrow while he is out handlin his business. I have been craving some sport bike action lately and I’m sure I’m going to have some fun with it!
Summer Event Season was eventful this year (pun intended). We attended the Lake County Fair (not as good as last year), Gurnee Greek Fest (great!), Niles Greek Fest (just ok), Wisconsin State Fair (excellent!!), Cuban Fest (great experience, probably wouldn’t go back), Holland Farmer’s Market, Buffalo Grove Farmer’s Market, Gurnee Farmer’s Market, and of course the Grayslake Farmer’s Market. Overall the season was a good one, there are some events I won’t be repeating and some I can’t wait for!!
As the weather gets cooler and the days get shorter it’s time for the summer fests to end and the fall fests to start. I am looking forward to a variety of corn mazes and apple cidar. I think maybe this year I would like to go pumpkin picking and maybe make something from it (pumpkin pie? soup? I’ll leave those decisions up to the chef…). I am also thinking of attending Trail of History this year; I haven’t been in 3-4 years but I am sure its pretty much like I remember it 🙂
But anyway, I am jumping ahead of myself – there is still a solid month of various summer festivals and farmer’s markets left for 2011 so while I count down the days until the next Grayslake Farmer’s Market, have a look at these photos from my time at the Wisconsin State Fair. (Click on the link if you would like to see the whole album)
Dep Fried Butter - just as gross as you imagine
Deep Fried Peanut Butter and Jelly on a Stick - I could have done without the stick but the sandwich was delicious!!
A picture of Harry Potter created out of Jelly Bellys - there was a whole gallery of tdifferent art pieces created out of Jelly Bellys at the fair (they where displayed at the Jelly Belly booth.
Drinking delicious Sprecher Rootbeer from their booth at the fair (official root beer of the fair!) K turns to me and says "If I had an army, those are the flags they would carry into battle". Almost made me spit my rootbeer across the table!!
Sheep Judging - didn't realize this was so complex!
Draft Horse Competition (at least I think that's what this is called)
I have been very busy with work lately so I haven’t really wanted to come home and spend more time on the computer. Thus my blog has been slacking. However this weekend I plan on relaxing and catching up on things I have been missing – including this site! Hopefully I will get several posts up this weekend, but if not, just know I havn’t forgotten about you!!
In the mean time, enjoy these photos from Cuban Fest in Chicago. A delicious time was had by all!
The main stage
Authentic corn in a cup - with mayo and sprinkle cheese!!!
I recently took in two cats from a co-worker of mine who, due to some extreme family and medical issues, was no longer able to care for them. Both cats are female, spayed, up to date on shots, have their claws and both are in need of a new “Forever Home”. They can be adopted together or separately. Both have lived with other cats, a dog and children in the past. Free to a caring home.
Chilly
Chilly:
Chilly is a 5 year old orange tabby short hair. She is the more active of the two and enjoys exploring her surroundings, playing with her toys and climbing on my cats’ trees. Chilly likes to snuggle and will come to you for attention but I would not consider her a “lap cat”. Most of the time when I am watching TV or working on the computer she is nearby and interested in what I am doing, but without being “in my face”. Chilly loves to play with her toys and is capable of having fun by herself but she definitely likes it when you interact with her (such as with a laser toy or wand).
Here is a video of Chilly in action:
Missy
Missy:
Missy is a 3 year old black short hair. She is more reserved then her house mate Chilly and prefers to wait until you make the first move. Once you do though she is an extremely affectionate cat who loves to be petted. She has even jumped on my desk in an effort to get some snuggle-time! Missy favorite toys are plastic rings from milk cartons, which she will carry around in her mouth. Her previous owner said she used to sleep on his bed and follow him around the house so once you win this cat’s loyalty she will be yours for life.
Here is a video of Missy in action:
If you are interested in either Missy or Chilly, please let me know and I can setup a time for you to come over and meet them.
Recently K and I were working from home. He had taken a phone call, when I hear him tell the caller to hold on a second.
“I think I hear a kitty screaming, can you go check?” he says to me
Now let me tell you that our kitties scream all the time, usually about nothing. I have actually seen them scream so much that they need to stop to take a drink of water before they can continue screaming.
So I did find this a little weird and my first thought was that he heard them fighting with the stray cat that sometimes wanders by our house.
When I went downstairs though I heard a distressed squeak that sounded like Pothole. So I called her name :
“Pothole?”
“Meow!” she answered me
I looked around but didn’t see her anywhere so I called again
“Pothole?”
“Meow!”
It seems to be coming from the refrigerator so I look at her usual hiding places – on top of the fridge, by the garage door, on top of the cabinets – and I don’t see her anywhere.
At this point I am starting to get a little panicked since I can’t see her right away.
Although this game of Kitty Marco-Polo is amusing, I’m getting more worried wondering where she actually is. It sounds like its coming from the fridge but she’s not on top and there is no room on the sides or bottom for her to get back there.
Then I have an idea! When I was younger one of my family’s cats wandered into the refrigerator while we were getting out some food and subsequently got locked in. So I assume thats what happened to Pothole.
I open up both the refrigerator doors and pull out the freezer. I don’t see her (a 13lb cat in our refrigerator would have been obvious) but it doesn’t stop me from repeating the game of Marco-Polo by yelling into our open refrigerator – albeit a little more frantically this time.
It’s been about five minutes since this all started and I can’t find Pothole and I’m all out of ideas. K must have heard the rising panic in my voice because he called down.
“Do I need to come down there?”
“Yes! I don’t know where Pothole is!”
He hangs up the phone, comes downstairs and rounds to corner to see me yelling my cat’s name into an open refrigerator and he bursts into laughter.
I, however, am not amused.
While still giggling at me, he pulls out the refrigerator to release a very perturbed Pothole. How she got behind there I don’t really understand since there is literally a 6″ gap to the back of our refrigerator and the only place she could have accessed it from had lots of stuff in the way.
Somehow she managed to get stuck and totally upset my morning. Ahh kitties…what would we do without them 🙂
Today I received my sticker for my ASA 110 sailing certification. This is a day sailing standard on monohull or multihull sailboats less than 20 feet in length and without a fixed, weighted keel. I don’t expect to use it much (I like big boats, and I cannot lie!) but I really enjoyed getting it since it was with Out-Island Explorers in the Exumas, Bahamas.
Out-Island Explorers (OIE) does many sailboat and kayak trips during the year for happy tourists in the Bahamas but this excursion was sponsored by the American Sailing Association (ASA). You have to join or be a member of the ASA to go on the trip (due to the discounted rate) but in exchange a certified ASA instructor comes along and helps you along the way. At the end of the trip you can take the test for the ASA110 cert.
Overall the trip was fantastic. You sail a 21′ Sea Pearl to get to your destinations but the guide boat is always close by in case you run into trouble. You visit 5 or 6 cays on the trip and camp on 3-4 different beaches. The weather was great for most of the trip (I think it only rained one night) with a steady wind and light waves. Although breakfast and lunch were standard camp fare the guides worked magic with dinner – most of which was cooked over a campfire – including fresh caught Mahi. There were activities to keep you busy almost every day such as snorkeling, fishing, daysailing, swimming, hiking and more.
OIE did a fantastic job of making sure that everyone was happy, taken care of, and as comfortable as can be on a camping trip. Tents, food, snorkeling gear, and necessities were taken care of. All you had to provide were clothing, alcohol (if you wanted it), and a good attitude. This was an active trip and I would caution you against going if you can’t swim, don’t like to camp, or won’t pee in the wilderness. I would also suggest that you do have some sailing experience, although if you don’t Out-Island Explorers will make sure that you are put in a boat with someone who does.
If you have taken ASA course stateside this will not be the rigorous program you are used too. I don’t think that had much to do with OIE and more to do with the ASA instructor that was assigned to our trip; I heard that the previous week the instructor was more involved. As the ASA is fond of saying, “remember that your sailing education begins, not ends, with your earning the certification sticker”.
If you have the opportunity I highly recommend you try Out-Island Explorers for a trip. Whether or not you attend the ASA Flotilla sail or just attend one of OIE standard excursions, I am sure you will have just as much fun as I did!
In about 36 hours from this post, I am heading off for a week long sailing trip in the Bahamas. It is sponsored by the American Sailing Association (ASA) and hosted by Out-Island Explorers.
“Spend 6 days/5 nights on the water exploring the Exuma Cays with fellow ASA Members. Earn certification in ASA’s 110 course while sailing your own 21′ Sea Pearl. Enjoy exploring caves and grottoes, stargazing, bonfires, great food and all the while improving your sailing techniques”
Which sounds great, right? Then I got more information about the trip and read this:
Once you leave your hotel in George Town, you won’t see a bathroom, shower, or air conditioning until your night in Staniel Cay at the end of the week.
Suddenly I am not as excited to take this trip 🙂
Honestly though I am not too concerned about “roughing it”. I have camped before, I know my way around a fire, and I have seen the cats use the litter box enough that I am pretty sure I know how to poop in the sand. What I am most concerned about is being “off the grid”
Usually when I go on vacation I have a laptop, cell phone and access to internet. I can instantly find out what’s going on half-way around the world no matter what beach I am sitting on or check my email regardless of the timezone.
I won’t have that opportunity on this trip and even if I did I don’t know how good the reception will be in such a remote location. I will not even be bringing my laptop. I haven’t been able to give up my cell phone and although I am going to try and keep it off I did borrow a radio from my sister that allows me to charge it via a handcrank.
What am I scared of? I’m not sure really. Maybe being out of touch? I think this is even harder since its not only no internet access but I will also be without my friends and family so I’m feeling like I’ll be completely alone.
So depending on how strong my will power is and how bad the reception is, you may or may not hear from me for the next week. And if I don’t go native, I will definitely post pictures once I am back to civilization!
For those that don’t know, I have been taking sailing courses through the American Sailing Association. I have taken (and passed) ASA 101, 103, 104, and 105. In summary it allows me to navigate and sail a boat up to 50 ft in near coastal waters during the day.
On a recent trip to Florida to visit some family I took the opportunity to get in some sailing. I chartered from Sara-Bay Sailing School on City Island in Sarasota. The Captain recommended a 22 Catalina since I was unfamilar with the waters (some locations in the bay are VERY shallow) and this boat had a centerboard I could pull up if I ran aground.
We sailed on Saturday 1/8/11 and it was a beautiful day. About 70 degrees with winds around 15 knots and 2-4ft seas with the Bay and inland waters being calmer.
As we drove to the dock I started to get nervous. What if I couldn’t remember what to do?
We had a little trouble finding the place but in the end we got there and met the Captain and he showed us the boat. The Catalina 22 we sailed was called “Puff”. It was a pretty basic boat – sloop rigged, tiller, open cockpit, etc. but thats ok – I felt more confident once I saw what I had to deal with.
The Captain told us about the boat and some good places to sail in the bay. We boarded and began our prepations to sail. Once on board I got more confident. We had some issues with the outboard motor – it started fine but I could not figure out how to get it in gear. Luckily there were some nice fisherpeople on the dock who figured it out – then we were on our way!
We motored out of the harbor and up the channel and headed into the bay. Once I felt we were clear enough I turned the boat into the wind and raised the mailsail. It stuck a bit, but eventually we got it raised. After that, we picked a course and once I got it dialed in we prepared to raise the foresail.
This was a bit nerve wracking – the foresail was harder to raise then the mailsail and I wasn’t prepared so I didn’t have the winch handle ready – I did the best I could to pull it up. I thought it was all the way up, but when we tried to trim it we realized it wasn’t. I frantically looked for the handle, which K eventually found, and got the foresail raised the rest of the way. Then I realized that the jib sheets should have been on the outside of the mainstays, so I let K steer while I ran around on the front of the boat adjusting the lines.
Success! We were all set so we shut off the motor and started our sail. I was the helmsman and K trimmed the sails. We headed out into the bay, picked a course and set off. The night before I had spent a couple hours plotting a course on the charts but once we were out there and saw the conditions and traffic we just decided to go where the wind took us.
We stayed on the southeast side of the bay and would sail northwest for a while which is when we had the best wind. Eventually we would come up near a warning ATON and we’d tack and head back in the other direction. However heading southeast we had much less wind so it was slower going but still fun. Once we’d get close to our starting point we’d jibe and repeat.
On our third trip we decided to to take a slightly different heading so we could sail off farther into the bay. Everything was going smooth but then the wind gusted and the water turned a dark blue and all of a sudden we were heeling pretty far over – so much so that K jumped over to the high side of the boat cause it felt like we were going to tip. I turned the boat into the wind to slow it down and stop the heel but it was still pretty rough going so I had K prepare for an emergency tack. We changed course and headed back south into the bay.
About halfway back the boat was still very hard to steer even though the wind had died down a lot. I looked astern and noticed that the rudder had tilted up – probably during the heel. At this point I freaked out a little and let go of the rudder with the idea that the boat would turn into the wind by itself and come to a stop. What actually happened was the boat spun around in circles until K asked what I was doing and kinda jerked me back to reality.
We set a course to hold the boat steady and I let K have the tiller while I leaned over the back of the boat to push down the rudder. There was a close call with the boom when the boat was turned unexpectedly but otherwise we were able to get the rudder back into its proper place and the boat was much easier to steer after that 🙂
At this point we had enough adventure for one day and decided to head back into the harbor. We dropped the sails, started the motor, found the channel markers and set our course.
Now at this point I tried to figure out a way to get K to helm the boat. I have never actually docked a boat outside of practice where there was nothing around me so I was nervous I wouldn’t be able to do it. K, however, knew this so he resisted my attempts to hand the boat over to him. It was a pretty dismal docking, but for my first time I was pretty proud of myself. In reality, I was super far away from the dock and had people not be there to throw ropes too we would have floated across and into the boats next to us. But for a first time I consider it a success!
After that we cleaned up the boat, put everything away and headed off. 🙂
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