Category Archives: Uncategorized

[cross-posted] Welcome to Midwest FurFest 2009!

We have returned from our post-convention hiatus, tanned and well-rested (OK, not really), and we.re ready to go to work on making Midwest FurFest 2009 our best yet. Why, you ask? Because our theme this year is:

MIDWEST FURFEST 2009: TEN YEARS OF MIDWEST FURFEST!

We.re celebrating our tenth anniversary by bringing back some old and dear friends, talented folks we have been pleased to welcome as Guests of Honor since 2000: Robert & Margaret Carspecken, Rapid T. Rabbit, Derrick Dasenbrock, Jessica Willard, Ysengrin Blackpaw, D.C. Simpson, Thomas K. Dye, M.C.A. Hogarth, Dbruin, Ursula Vernon, ScribbleFox, Gene Breshears, Tincrash, Kenket, Whitefox, Jen “Spunky” Seng, Erika Leigh “Chilly” Rosengarten, Jill0r, Will Sanborn, Matt & Darcy Sowers, Lucky the Evil Dog, and Foxfeather Zenkova.

Today we are pleased to unveil the shiny new Midwest FurFest 2009 website at http://www.furfest.org. That.s not all, though! Starting today you can register online for the convention, including for our new Anniversary Level Sponsorship.

Also, starting today you can reserve your room at our main hotel, the Westin Chicago North Shore, or at our overflow hotel, the Hampton Inn and Suites Lincolnshire. Just like last year, there will be a shuttle running between the Hampton Inn and Suites and the Westin until 2 AM Friday through Sunday of the convention.

Check out our new site, post in our forums, and start getting ready for what.s going to a fantastic birthday party in November. We hope to see you there!

Sleep? Who Needs It?

For as little sleep as I got last night (maybe four and a half hours?) I should be dragging a lot more than I am. I’m in a pretty good mood though, and it’s been a good, busy day.

Last weekend was a lot of fun. On Saturday morning, I met up with aureth, jenwolf, and linnaeus at Perfect Brewing so they could pick up some last-minute brewing supplies. It’s the first time I’ve seen their shop since they were down in Mount Prospect, and they have a good selection of stuff, though it’s a bit tricky finding what you’re looking for. After everyone was properly outfitted, we headed out and met up with roho and genet at The Full Slab for lunch. Yummy ribs, and yummy beer! I’m very happy with this place, and our server was funny and charming.

Then it was up to Antioch for the brewing to begin. Since I wasn’t brewing (that’ll be next month), I sat on the sidelines and socialized. takaza joined us later in the afternoon as well. The downside about brewing in the garage is that when it’s cold (say, a high of 12 degrees F), it’s tough to stand out there too long. The kerosene heater helped slightly, but it was just plain cold. After both batches of beer was put in carboys, we relaxed a bit playing the Wii, though I was tired and so Dan and I ducked out on the early side.

On Sunday we did…nothing. Well, I took a nap in the afternoon. That was about it. We don’t have days like that often, but it sure is nice when we can. I did create a Facebook account, though; I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it, but I figured what the heck. (Edit: If you want to add me, try searching for tabrady at gmail)

This coming weekend we have a get-together with Dan’s family on Friday night, and then the “Super Beer Bowl” beer tasting at Wine Knows in Grayslake on Saturday afternoon. Anyone interested in joining us for that?

A couple of noteworthy links I came across today:
* One of the more interesting teams in the upcoming season of The Amazing Race is Mel and Mike. That’s Mike White (screenwriter and actor from Nacho Libre and School of Rock) and his father Mel White (author of Stranger at the Gate and co-founder of Soulforce). That’s going to be very interesting.

* On a lighter note, you can enjoy Governor Crazy’s antics even more with the Blagojevich Media Blitz Drinking Game!

* Two notable posts from The Consumerist: Monster.com was hacked on Friday and email addresses and passwords were compromised. Also, although I loved the walk through Expo I’d never buy anything there since the prices were sky-high. I guess I’m not the only one who felt that way.

Time to head off to the grocery store!

Merry Friday!

I’ve been obnoxiously cheerful all day for some unknown reason. It’s been a good day at work, it’s Friday, and we had a tasty lunch at BW3 where I got to savor their mango habenero sauce. Yummy (and burny)!

Last night takaza and I did a little shopping. You see, while we were watching TV on Wednesday night, I shifted a bit on the sofa and heard a >*thunk*< and suddenly was sitting lower on the sofa. Hmm. I checked the sofa structure and…oh look, here's a broken spring support. Right next to the other spring support that we didn't know was broken. Crap. Now, for what it's worth, this sofa was well past its prime. I bought it in 1996 when I had just bought my first home, a townhouse in Durham, NC. Since then it's been through six moves and sat in a storage locker for two years where the upholstery acquired a nasty case of dry rot. Dan's mom made a nice (though slightly too small) slipcover for it and it's been OK, but we knew that replacing it was an expense that was looming on the horizon.

So it's not like the sofa owed us anything. But we decided that if we're going to buy a new sofa we're going to get one that will last us another thirteen+ years. And dammit, I wanted a reclining seat. We both wanted a sectional sofa. So we knew what we were aiming for. It was time to head back to My Family Furniture (where we bought our bed last year) and see what they could do for us.

Sure enough, we went in, talked it over with the owner, who gave us a number on a piece of paper that didn’t quite make my eyes pop out of my head (but was still more than I was expecting), and we came to an agreement. We signed the papers to buy something similar to this. The differences: both ends have recliners, the seat to the left of the corner wedge is a recliner as well, and there’s a nonreclining seat where the console is in the picture. For upholstery, we went with a cafe-au-lait microfiber fabric that is very comfortable. The only downside is that it’s pretty much made to order, so it’ll be 6-8 weeks until we see it, but I think it’s going to be fabulous.

The downside is that this means some of the “fun” purchases I’d been thinking about (like a nifty new brewpot – perfect, evidently, for boiling small children) will need to be delayed. That’s OK, though. This was kind of important and necessary. And hey, it’s 18 months same as cash, so that helps a lot!

Speaking of brewpots, tomorrow is a collaborative brewing day! I’m looking forward to making (and possibly consuming) some good beer, not necessarily in that order 🙂

The Inauguration

Our boss told us to not worry about work for a while and watch the Inauguration on the internal network feed of CNN. Rarely have I been so moved by speeches and public ceremonies.

I am more hopeful now for the future than I have been in many years.

Soup and Meetings

It was a busy and productive weekend. The busy part came on Friday and Saturday when we sent out impromptu invites for a small dinner at our place. After spending the afternoon doing a bit of cleaning around the house (yeah, we still have bits of Wuffmeet stuff lying around that we needed to clean up anyway), we welcomed roho, genet, and linnaeus, as well as last-minute additions tozier_wah and mirkowuff. We had a lovely evening of chatting while I made a tasty dinner of tomato soup with roasted garlic and herbs and pumpernickel grilled cheese with extra-sharp cheddar, apples, and thyme. Extremely tasty!

Sunday morning was a slow start, then it was over to the first Midwest FurFest staff meeting of the year. We did a bit of a post-mortem for 2008 and looked ahead to plans for this year. I’m excited about some of the stuff we have in the pipeline, and I’m very glad that the convention is blessed by such a capable and creative staff. takaza was feeling under the weather so I opted to pass on the post-meeting dinner and go home with him. We had a quiet night at home, and headed off to bed surprisingly early, by about 8:30 PM.

I should also mention that Dan and I had dinner with several representatives from the Westin Chicago North Shore. Really, not much int he way of business was discussed, but it was more of a “thank you” dinner from them. We had a great meal, and the company was excellent. Clearly, they do like Midwest FurFest and are excited to have us back this year.

Not much going on this week – work is pretty steady, and I have a couple of small projects to work on at home. We’ll be doing some brewing this weekend (the first time in about four years for me!), so I’m looking forward to that.

Anniversary

Yep, it’s my anniversary. Today marks the sevent year of this LiveJournal’s existence. On January 11, 2002 I posted my first entry and launched myself into the world of online journaling. Through this journal I’ve documented some of the best times in my life, and some of the worst. I’m glad I’ve had it, and I will continue to use it for years to come, I’m sure.

Not much deep insight to add, but seven years of something is surely worthy of mention.

How I Spent My Winter Vacation

My goodness but I’m slack about updating this. Granted, I have good reason. Following my last substantive post (way back on December 29), we kicked preparations for Wuffmeet into high gear. Wuffmeet is the New Year’s Eve party that takaza and I have put together for the last few years. It generally consists of getting some meeting rooms at a comfy hotel, supplying a few tons of food, and putting together various bits of entertainment every so often, interspersed with visits to the pool and hot tub. This year we welcomed 50+ friends (down from last year’s 70, but the calendar was unkind to us this year) and we started on Wednesday, December 31 and went clear until Sunday, January 4. It was an awesome shindig, and we had a great time hanging out with friends and meeting some new faces as well.

One of the highlights of the party was putting together a dinner buffet for 50. We’re definitely still new to this so we had a few kinks, but Dan sauteed 20 lbs of chicken and served that with homemade gravy over rice, I made four pans of the lasagna Bolognese that I mentioned a few weeks back, and Dan’s mom made about ten pounds of Swedish meatballs and gravy. For dessert, I made a Texas sheet cake (which came out like potent chocolately brownies) and Dan made two “Sock It To Me” cakes. I was very pleased with how it all worked out, though next year we’ll work on getting everything warmer sooner.

Another highlight was a group of ten of us taking the train to downtown Chicago for lunch at Heaven on Seven, my favorite Cajun place and just an awesome restaurant all around. The gumbo was divine, and my shrimp po’ boy was delicious. The bourbon chocolate pecan pie was completely over the top, but fun to share around the table. We capped off the afternoon with a quick trip to Millennium Park and a nice stop by Intelligentsia Coffee to warm up. A perfect quick trip into the city, and hopefully enough to whet the appetites of those who hadn’t seen much of it before.

Mostly, though, the best parts of Wuffmeet were the times spent chatting with friends. The morning coffee chats, sitting around the hot tub, or sharing a truly awful herbal liqueur. It was a wonderful time, and we’re already making plans for the coming New Year’s Eve. Even more scary, we’re kicking around ideas for the upcoming year that may involve the return of FRAC. Could it be? We’ll see what happens!

We got home from Wuffmeet at about 3 PM on Sunday, and Dan went to bed about two hours later. We’ve both been pretty rough since the weekend, though he’s definitely fighting off a nasty cold bug of some variety. That’s had us going to bed early each night and dragging a bit through the days, which makes for unexciting journal entries 🙂 Still, we’re working on some stuff in the background and should have some good stuff to show for it in the next week or so.

And It’s a Wrap!

We’re home. The cars are unpacked, stuff is mostly stowed, and we’re relaxing on the sofa. Wuffmeet 2008 was a roaring success, and we’re already kicking around ideas for next year. That’s generally a sign of a pretty darned good event. Thanks to everyone who came! Watch LJ over the next few days for the usual requests for feedback and stuff to help us plan for future Wuffmeets!

There and Back Again

And we’re back! Takaza and I spent the last few days down in St. Louis visiting with my parents and my sister’s family. We had a very enjoyable time, and Christmas was lovely. We visited Soulard Market (though many vendors were closed for the holidays) and got lost (willingly) in downtown St. Louis. Mostly, though, it was just fun to spend time with the family.

The trip down was a bit unpleasant, as we were leaving Chicago in the throes of a snowstorm. Things were much better after we got south of Joliet, but the 40 mph crosswinds between Bloomington and St. Louis made driving difficult. The drive back was a lot more pleasant, though. We detoured into Alton, Illinois on a quest to find Pietown Stompin’ Grounds (visited by Alton Brown in Feasting on Asphalt 2: The River Run) only to find that it was completely closed and out of business – but the website is still up? Bah. We instead stopped for breakfast at Forgettable Family Restaurant #2,341 and then hit the road north. We detoured onto I-39 from Bloomington and came across the nifty wind farm near Mendota, Illinois. Dan took a bunch of pictures – for some reason, I found the sight fascinating.

And here we are in a new, but short, week. Dan has gone off to work; he works today and tomorrow, while I don’t have to go back until next Monday. Hooray! I shan’t be idle today, though. We have a ton of preparations for our New Year’s festivities, starting with a huge shopping trip this morning. I’m making four pans of lasagna, and Dan will be cooking up about twenty pounds of chicken tonight. We’ve got a bunch of other cooking to do, so we’ll be busy today and tomorrow. After that, it’s off to party!

Better Living Through Chemistry

So after adventures in muscle spasms on Friday, I curled up with a nice combination of Valium and Vicodin. takaza stayed home as well because the weather was pretty lousy, with around 10″ of snow falling. I napped a good portion of the day and was quite grateful for the pharmaceutical assistance.

By Saturday the spasms had pretty much abated, though my neck was still stiff. I came in to work (which was mandatory, in exchange for getting Christmas Eve off) and puttered around a bit, then Dan and I went over to his mother’s to exchange Christmas gifts and enjoy a lovely dinner.

Sunday was much more relaxed, though we finally ventured into the high winds and blowing snow to do some Wuffmeet shopping. We did some price comparisons at GFS (and got some good ideas for food), picked up all of the bubbly we need for New Year’s at Trader Joes, and took advantage of a fantastic sale on sodas at Meijer to get $160 or so worth of soda for $90. Unfortunately, while moving all that soda, Dan torqued his back, which has left him somewhat the worse for wear today. As for me, my neck still is a little stiff and I still get occasional pain, but I’ve regained about 80% mobility, which is a huge improvement.

We’re supposed to drive down to St. Louis on Wednesday to spend Christmas with my parents and my sister’s family, but the weather is looking most unpleasant. The snow I could deal with, but the mention of freezing rain between here and there gives me pause. I’m hoping that, at worst, we’ll have to delay our departure until midday Wednesday, but if it’s bad enough we may have to drive down on Christmas morning. We’ll see how the weather works out. Alas, our visit down there will be brief, since Dan has to be back at work on Monday the 29th and I need to tend to all kinds of New Year’s preparations. The one spot of good news is that it looks like I won’t be called in during plant shutdown, which will leave me free to concentrate on party planning.

I hope everyone’s holiday planning is going well. Stay warm and safe!

Whoa…

So yesterday morning I woke up about 15 minutes before the alarm was to go off with a crick in my neck. Ow.

I went ahead and showered and headed off to work, thinking nothing of it. But as the morning progressed, that crick in my neck progressed to a greater pain, then became full-fledged, stop-where-you-are-and-whimper muscle spasms. By 9:30 AM my boss took a look at me and told me to go home. So I came home, took some ibuprofen and a muscle relaxer and tried to relax. Not a lot of help there – the slightest movement set off a muscle spasm and a world of pain. By the time takaza got home, I was a mess. I called my doctor and she (rather surprisingly) called in a prescription for Vicodin and Valium to the nearby pharmacy. That stuff knocked me out, and I was able to get a solid night’s sleep.

This morning the spasms were somewhat shorter in duration, but still there. Given the fact that I still can’t turn my head to the right, as well as the fact that we got ten inches of snow overnight and the roads weren’t plowed yet, I elected to call in (well, e-mail in) to work and stay home. I popped a Valium and a couple of Vicodin and got a very nice nap in. Dan has stayed home as well ( the roads truly do suck) and he’s watching out for me, bless him. Unfortunately, I’m supposed to be at work tomorrow (mandatory work day in exchange for getting Christmas Eve off), so I’ll probably go in no matter how I’m feeling. Hopefully the spasms will have abated by then, though.

Fun times!

Playing Catch-Up

I see I’m in my usual post-convention blogging quiet period. This month is pretty crazy, and as usual, when I’m busy I don’t have much time to document it.

Last week included a delicious dinner with perro, darkwolph, and linnaeus at Tramonto’s Steak and Seafood, which sadly is due to close its doors very soon (along with RT’s Lounge and Osteria di Tramonto) due to Rick Tramonto departing the joint venture. We’ve heard some promising possibilities about what will be happening with those restaurants in the new year, but nothing for certain. We’ll see what happens!

The next day I joined justincheetah and calapurr for a tasty dinner (with some tasty wine) at Cooper’s Hawk Winery and Restaurant. The short ribs there were delicious! I’m thinking that during Wuffmeet we may need to swing by there and sample their latest wines.

On Saturday, takaza‘s family came over for an evening of dinner and games. I made a killer Lasagna Bolognese that was simply outstanding. I substituted ground bison for the ground beef and, not having ground veal readily available, did 50/50 ground bison and ground pork. Instead of Parmesan cheese, I used an aged Mahon cheese which was quite tasty (and half the price of Parmesana Reggiano). This was good enough that I think it may be one of our entrees for Wuffmeet. I just need to figure out the logistics of making the sauces, assembly, baking, and reheating.

Sunday? We did nothing. And it was good. (Oh, and the person I was rooting for won Survivor. That was nice too.)

Yesterday I finished my Christmas shopping. Yay! Hooray for Amazon.com 🙂 I’m impressed that some of that stuff will be arriving today. I {heart} Amazon Prime – we really do get our money’s worth on that.

And then there’s today. I’m keeping a close eye on the weather radar as we’re supposed to get hit with 2-6 inches of snow in the next 24 hours. I’m not wild about this since tonight we’re having dinner with the folks we’ve worked with at the Westin North Shore down in Lincolnshire. Still, travel difficulties aside, it should be a good meal and I’m looking forward to it.

For the rest of the week: I’m hoping that we can help genet celebrate completing her last final for the semester tomorrow. Then on Saturday (after I have to work all day in exchange for getting Christmas Eve off), Dan and I will be going over to his mom’s house to exchange gifts with her, since we’ll be out of town on Christmas. Oh, in case I haven’t mentioned it, Dan and I will be in St. Louis visiting my parents and my sister’s family from December 24th through 28th. We hope to do a bit of touring around the city (though I just found out yesterday that a main highway is closed – man, that’s got to suck!). If nothing else, hope to hit one of the fine eateries the Good Mister Brown visited during his road trip through the city.

Well, time to take care of a bit of work before today’s free “Holiday Lunch” – the usual uninspiring beef/chicken/pasta buffet. Hey, at least it’s free…

Edit @ 5 PM – No steak dinner for me – the Westin folks cancelled due to weather, and I can’t blame them. Dan is on his way home, and he’s thinking that his normal 50-minute commute is going to be closer to 2 to 2.5 hours.

One Husky, Missing In Action

So what the heck have we been up to?

I know I’ve been pretty quiet since Midwest FurFest wrapped up. I’m mostly recovered at this point, and just sweeping up the last few bits of business before we put MFF 2008 to bed and can start looking toward 2009. Yeah, theoretically there should be a break in between there, but there’s no rest for the weary, or in this case, no rest for the chairman, as there’s staffing, website, and facilities issues for 2009 that need attention sooner than later.

In non-convention news, we had a lovely dinner last week with the Artists Alley crew and other friends up at Charcoal Grill in Kenosha, followed the next day by Thanksgiving dinner with takaza‘s mom with the usual huge amounts of food. We took home (and enjoyed!) many leftovers. And on Saturday night, we welcomed roho, genet, linnaeus, justincheetah, and calapurr over to our place for a yummy dinner of fondue and several bottles of wine (enjoyed in the fabulous gift we received from the Westin’s convention services manager). Cheetah and Cala spent the night and we had a nice lazy morning the next day before they had to head home.

And this week? It’s been pretty quiet. We’ve stayed in each night, though Dan’s employer’s holiday party was last night at The Cubby Bear North. While he was off at that I had an exciting evening of laundry, doing the dishes, and taking care of some much-needed sewing. Tomorrow I’m off in the morning to drop my car off for new tires (finally! After 50,000 miles, the OEM tires on there are getting far too slick, making starting from a standing stop an exciting exercise) then getting a nice 90-minute massage. Dan will pick me up after that and we’ll head over to meet Roho, Genet, and Linnaeus for lunch at a local French restaurant. I’m looking forward to it!

(Oh yes! And fancy new icon by sakuranym-kim. Woo!)

Squee!

I just found out that Boiled in Lead has a new album out. They’ve brought back Todd Menton, their original singer, Todd Menton, and brought Dean Magraw, a phenomonal guitarist, on board. And it’s on iTunes! Woohoo!

I wonder if they’re still doing their annual St. Patrick’s Day gig at First Avenue in Minneapolis? It’s been a good ten years since I saw them there last…

Midwest FurFest 2008: Thanks Where Thanks Are Due

One of the most humbling things at Midwest FurFest happened to me on Sunday afternoon after Closing Ceremonies. I was trying to walk from Ravinia Ballroom to the Westin lobby, and the trip took me 15 minutes. Not because of traffic, but because of so many people stopping me to hug me, shake my hand, and thank me for a great convention. And while it was tremendous gratifying and appreciated, I still don’t think I did half as much hard work as all of the staff did. During Closing Ceremonies, I said that there was no way I could thank everyone. But dammit, that doesn’t mean I can’t try!
Man, and you thought those Academy Award acceptance speeches were long!

And Now It’s Come To This

So here we are. In a few hours I’ll leave work, stop by home to check the mail and any last-minute deliveries, then head down to the Westin Chicago North Shore. My email access will be spotty to nonexistent between 2 PM today and Monday evening, so if you need to reach me, call my cell phone. Remember that while I can receive text messages, don’t expect them to be read immediately.

This is going to be an amazing convention. We have a hell of a staff and we’ve had 11+ months to prepare for this. We are going to rock that damn hotel, and we are going to make this convention a success. I hope to see many of you there!

Never More Than Now

Last night was a bit rough for me. I was stressed, worrying about the convention, worried about alienating my friends, worried about annoying takaza, worried about all the stuff we have left to do in a very short time. Dan saw how stressed I was and snuggled me close and we talked. He helped me see how it will all work out, and how my fears are for naught. He calmed me down, and he made me happy. I was reminded yet again of how lucky I am to have this wonderful man to share my life with. And while today marks the seventh anniversary of our celebration of lifelong commitment to one another, it’s just a another date. It is much more notable that Dan brings joy to my life every single day, and makes me so happy that we are together with every moment that I spend with him.

I love you so much, Dan!

Two Days To Go

Where in the past few years we’ve spent the weekend before Midwest FurFest working Windycon, this year we tried to take it easy. I met linnaeus down at the MFF storage locker on Saturday morning for some last-minute preparations. That was wrapped up pretty quickly, so it was back home to snuggle with takaza a bit and relax.

Sunday was nice and relaxing as well. Late in the afternoon we drove over to aureth and jenwolf‘s new place to help them offload all of their stuff as they move from Iowa back to Northern Illinois. It was good exercise and I’m glad we were there to help, though somewhere along the way I torqued my back a bit and I’m paying for it today. Ah well.

I’m boggling at the fact that we have only two nights left at home before we leave for MFF. Dan is working a half-day on Wednesday before heading over to the Westin, and I’ll be leaving work between 2 PM and 3 PM and be down there about 40 minutes later. Wednesday night will be the annual Registration bag stuffing (and hot tub soak? hmmm…) and then the wild rumpus will begin.

Oooh, and I just got a call that the staff badges are ready. Sweet! Guess I’ll be going down to pick those up on my way home.

On Proposition 8

Last week was tough. As elated as I was at Obama’s win, I was disappointed and depressed at the outcome of propositions on gay marriage and adoption in California, Arizona, Arkansas, and Florida. And I was angry that the happiness I should be feeling was taken away by the backward- and closed-minded thinking of so many. I wish that I lived in California now, so that I could be at the protest rallies that are continuing.

takaza posted this out, and it bears repeating.

(Or you can read the transcript here)

I am reminded of a joyous occasion in 2001.

While that commitment ceremony was and is very real to us, it saddens me that our society and government do not agree.

That Was The Weekend That Was

Wow, I’ve not been good with the updates lately. A lot of that has to do with the nearness of Midwest FurFest – I’ve been working on a whole lot of convention-related stuff, and when I’m done with that I usually just want to put the computer away and not deal with anyone or anything for a while. But it was an eventful weekend and worth talking about.

On Friday I drove down to Buffalo Grove and picked up takaza from work, then it was down to linnaeus‘ place where we were joined by darkwolph. From there we carpooled down to the United Center. You see, we had scored some tickets to a suite to watch the Chicago Bulls play the Phoenix Suns. We were joined partway through the first period by mirkowuff, as well. It was a great game (Bulls won), but the suite was swanky – open premium bar, a full buffet, and a dessert cart to die for (little chocolate cups with Bailey’s Caramel in it? Why yes, don’t mind if I do!). We did a shameful amount of damage to a bottle of Morgan’s and discovered the deliciousness that is Effen Black Cherry Vodka as well.

Saturday was much more low-key, though we were joined by roho and genet for dinner. I made a tasty pork roast with braised potatoes (note to self: next time start thawing pork roast MUCH earlier!) and we relaxed while watching some good TV and enjoying an excellent Australian shiraz.

We finished off the weekend on Sunday with the last MFF staff meeting of the year. Everything seems to be well in hand and I am extremely happy with all of the work everyone has done so far. I’m looking forward to what is sure to be a very exciting and enjoyable weekend. We have some nice surprises, a lot of great programming, and some nice little extras that I am sure will please everyone. After the meeting we returned to Mi Mexico for dinner and I was gratified to see that my rave review which appears in the Restaurant Guide holds true – great food, great services, and a great value.

And here we are in the last full week of work before the convention. I have a slew of small projects to wrap up; my goal is to have all projects and everything we will need for the convention in hand by Friday so we’re not fretting about any last-minute items. Hopefully I can avoid more mornings like today, where I woke up at 4 AM fretting about some emails to be sent out and never really got back to sleep. I’m thinking it will be an early night for us!

Traffic in Chicago Is Tough on Everyone

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Traffic tip for the days ahead: If you see a motorcade with police cars, black SUVs and guys with sunglasses talking into their cuffs, don’t try to cut it off.

One couple tried to drive their tan sedan around Barack Obama’s motorcade downtown Thursday morning and found themselves looking at the barrels of Secret Service firepower.

“The [Secret Service] SUV cut the car off immediately, and the security team aimed their weapons at the car,” a reporter in the motorcade wrote in a pool report. “The driver and passenger in the sedan stopped and looked stunned — until the male driver appeared to understand what was happening (your pool reporter could see him mouth ‘Obama’).”

The president-elect was on his way to a security briefing at FBI headquarters in the Loop, when the motorcade left Lake Shore Drive and the sedan tried to drive around it on Van Buren, according to the pool reporter, P.J. Huffstutter, the Los Angeles Times’ Midwest Bureau chief.

“Some of the drivers here in Chicago do not seem to understand that a) The Chicago police car at the end of the president-elect’s motorcade is serious about having traffic pull over when the officers flash their lights and hit their sirens, and b) It’s not a great idea to jump ahead of traffic by trying to cut around the black SUV filled with five heavily-armed Secret Service CAT members,” Huffstutter wrote.

Nifty Announcement for Chicago-Area Foodies

LTHForum.com, one of the Chicago area’s best resources for cooks and restaurant patrons, just posted their 2008-2009 Great Neighborhood Restaurant Awards!

There’s lots of fantastic little places listed there, not just in Chicago but all over the area. I am really intriguied by Chaihanna in Buffalo Grove, at the corner of Buffalo Grove and Dundee Roads. It may be the areas only Uzbeki restaurant, and the menu sounds like quite an adventure.

Oh! And here’s all of the Great Neighborhood Restaurants (past and present) displayed on Google Maps.

I Voted!

…two weeks ago. Yay, early voting!

It should be an interesting day; I’ll be monitoring the news feeds and keeping an ear out for any useful news. Tonight, takaza and I will be heading down to linnaeus‘s place for the traditional election night gathering, one that I hope will be a lot more enjoyable than the one four years ago.

In the meantime, not too much going on. The weekend was fun, with a party over at justincheetah and calapurr‘s place, followed by a very enjoyable brunch on Sunday with friends.

Lots of small MFF projects going on, but I’d hate to spoil any surprises. I think people are going to be happy with all the cool stuff we have in the pipeline, though.

Hallowon’t and Adventures in Media

So last night we had made a commitment to a family get-together at takaza‘s sister’s which was cancelled at the last minute, literally as we were walking out the door. That was fine by me since I had been feeling so-so all afternoon, so I stumbled upstairs and took a nap. A few hours later I felt ever so much better, although it made any hopes of being social that night just too darn late. Dan tended to the trick or treaters (all six of them) with the candy we had intended to bring to the party. Instead, we spent the evening catching up on Tivo and heading to bed early. Woo, party guys, we are! 🙂

I’ve spent the morning giving some thought to my newspaper subscription to the Chicago Tribune. I currently get the paper delivered seven days a week, but I’m pretty dissatisfied. Since their grand redesign earlier this year, they have moved to making the paper 50% advertising/50% content, and a good portion of the content is from the Associated Press, which I can read for free online from numerous outlets. While their local coverage is serviceable, their world coverage has been pretty lacking, reducing many important stories to a one-sentence blurb on a hard-to-read world map – very USA Today-esque. They also cut out a couple of comics that I liked and shrank the rest. I’ve been giving thought to dropping my subscription but didn’t have a good alternative. I’m a news junkie, and I like to know not just what’s going on in the world but what it means as well. NPR gives a nice glimpse of that but since I only have a 5-10 minute commute, that doesn’t give me a lot of listening time.

Earlier this week there was the big story that the Christian Science Monitor was going to cease daily paper publication and move to a net-only presence with a paper version mailed out weekly. This reminded me of the late, lamented Monitor Radio. That was a radio show that played on various NPR outlets until 1997 that I always enjoyed and respected. Knowing the quality of CSM’s reporting, I checked out their daily “treeless” edition, a 20-page PDF that is emailed every morning. With that, I think I may have found a good replacement for the Tribune. I subscribe to many different RSS feeds using Google Reader, so while I get my world and national news from the Monitor, I can get local news with feeds from the Tribune, the Sun-Times, the Daily Herald, and the News-Sun, all of which are updated continuously. I already follow several blogs on the Tribune’s site (The Stew and Tower Ticker) so I get the content I like there before it ever sees print. Comics? The Houston Chronicle lets you build your own comics page for free. Yeah, you don’t get Sunday comics, but to be honest those mostly suck anyway.

Looks like I’ve found my new media mix!

A Day in Chicago, and Winter Weather Arrives (Briefly)

For a weekend that kept me very busy, it was surprisingly relaxing. Saturday found me driving into Chicago to pick up a few things for Midwest FurFest. I was reminded once again why taking public transit has always been my modus operandi when traveling in the city. Between driving around fruitlessly for 30 minutes near the Lincoln Park Zoo looking for a parking space that wouldn’t cost $14 while I spent 20 minutes shopping, followed by another 20 minutes in Lakeview looking for parking (I lucked out there), getting around with a car in Chicago can really suck.

On the bright side, I did meet up with linnaeus for a tasty lunch, and we had some fun chatting while driving around. We also made a very important discovery: Binny’s in the South Loop has a bar. And no just a bar, but a “tasting lounge” where drinks are actually very reasonably priced, allowing you to drop, say, $7 for a glass of 18-year-old single-malt Scotch before dropping $75+ on a bottle of it. We only had a beer (I had the Allagash Belgian Tripel, Paul had the Two Brothers Tripel Ale. We both liked mine better 🙂 (Side note: I see that Two Brothers now has a brewpub open. Road trip to Warrenville, IL, anyone?)

When I got home, takaza had already gone over to spend the evening with his family. This was fine by me, since it gave me time to relax and unwind after a crazy amount of driving.

We were up surprisingly early on Sunday to have breakfast in honor of midwestcougar‘s birthday. We were joined by Linnaeus, furball2k, evan_li, and the quiet and possibly LJ-less Kevin. It was an enjoyable meal and it was fun to meet some new faces. Afterward, Dan and I continued the previous day’s shopping spree, picking up some useful things. Our travels took us out to Hoffman Estates, where we got a tour of the shiny new ultra-spendy theater there (Dan: “I’d like to see a movie here.” Me: “IT’S $35 JUST TO GET IN!” Dan: “I still want to see a movie here…”). We were also treated to a rather surprising five-minute sleet storm as the windy weather turned very cold.

We finished off the shopping with a trip into Cabela’s. I figured I needed a picture for the con book and since our theme is “North to Alaska” it seemed to fit. We had fun getting a couple of shots, but most of you will have to wait until the convention to see the finished product (I’ll send you copies, Mom 🙂

This week so far has been busy at work, but I’m finding some time to deal with MFF stuff here and there. This Friday we’re doing some family stuff, and I have a bunch of con-related stuff to work on this weekend. On a nice side note, we were able to trade my old iPod to Dan’s brother (who is part-owner of a Massage Envy franchise) for two 90-minute massages. I’m really looking forward to redeeming those!

Fun With Twitter And a Relaxing Evening

Well, I seem to have gotten on the Twitter bandwagon. I’m really not sure how much I’m going to use it personally, but you can follow me at http://twitter.com/DuncanDaHusky. Oh, and I can assure you that I will not be copying my tweets to LiveJournal. I’m not much a fan of that approach.

More interesting, though, is that I have established an official Midwest FurFest Twitter feed at http://twitter.com/midwestfurfest. I have found a very handy service that we can use to load up with notifications like “The Charity Auction will begin in 15 minutes in Ravinia DEF” well in advance of the convention. Additionally, we can also send out notifications of programming changes and, um, whatever else I can think of 🙂 I’m definitely very new to Twitter, so if anyone has suggestions about how to best use the feed, I’m open to ideas!

Last night, after a very hectic week at work, we were joined by roho and genet for an extremely relaxing evening featuring cheese fondue, some crusty bread, a couple of bottles of excellent wine, and chocolate fondue for dessert. After that was a screening of the Big Lebowski episode of Ace of Cakes, followed by the latest episode of Iditarod: Toughest Race on Earth. That show is really amazing, and it always really lifts my spirits. If you haven’t seen it I would highly recommend it – the cinematography is great, and the narrative is very well put together. This is definitely one of Original Productions’ (Deadliest Catch, Dirty Jobs, etc.) better shows. We saw Roho and Genet off at around 11:30 PM, then stumbled off to bed ourselves. Throughout the night my body reminded me why drinking several glasses of wine is a bad thing. Note to self: stock up on Rolaids.

So today I’m off to Chicago to do some shopping. I’m not sure how long I’ll be around, but we’ll see how the day goes. I suppose I’ll also swing by the MFF storage locker and pay for the coming year as well. Off to shower now!

Long Days at Work and Great Music

This is a crazy week at work, since I am working on a project I’m hoping to get done by the end of the week. Lots of paperwork, lots of time on the production floor, and lots of issues to keep track of. If I seem a bit remote when you message me during the day, that’s probably why.

This past weekend was OK. takaza‘s family came over on Saturday, but since I woke up far too early and had too little sleep, I was a terrible host and not very social. Ah well, we can’t all be 100% all the time. Sunday was a pretty lazy day of staying home and working on Midwest FurFest stuff, capped by an online staff meeting that ran longer than I would have liked, but still accomplished a lot. 30 days until the convention, and while there’s still a ton of work to be done, it sounds like everyone has things under control.

But that isn’t why I wanted to write this entry. The nights are turning cold, the leaves are falling from the trees, and we are well in the grip of autumn. This always gives me the occasion to pull out one of my all-time favorite albums, “When October Goes: Autumn Love Songs”. The schmaltzy title aside, this is one of the best and most atmospheric folk music albums I’ve ever come across. From Megan McDonough’s soulful reading of the title track, to Christine Lavin’s wistful “Getting Used to Leavin'”. this album definitely fits the season for me. My favorite song, though, is “Are You Happy Now?” by Richard Shindell, a talented singer-songwriter. The song has great lyrics like these describing a post-Halloween scene:

I’ve sat all night and now it’s dawn/And I cannot believe my eyes
There’s garbage strewn across the lawn/Where we once stared up at the sky
And streams of paper fill the tree/That hovered over you and me
Shaving cream covers the car/That we picked up in Baltimore
Though I know it’s hard to tell/I hope that what’s-his-name treats you well
I still maintain that he’s a bum/But it’s your money – have some fun

(Here’s a live recording of the song, but the quality of the audio does it a disservice)

So yeah. That’s what I’ve been listening to lately. Wow, I just realized that album came out in 1991. I first picked it up while I was working at WSBF-FM, the student radio station at Clemson University. I’ve loved this album for 17 years and I’ll probably keep on enjoying it.

Lots of Grilling, and a Very Busy Week

Holy cow, it’s been a while since I updated. Last weekend was a real hoot. Saturday was roho‘s birthday, so we got together with a bunch of friends and first hit Brightonwoods Orchards, then went back to Roho and genet‘s place for a tasty dinner of grilled meats and some excellent cupcakes make by takaza, including carrot cake cupcakes and my favorite, Boston cream cupcakes {drool}.

Sunday, we were joined by linnaeus and headed north to Milwaukee, first to Sprecher Brewing to stock up on cherry cola for Midwest FurFest, then a quick stop by Alterra Coffee to feed my filthy caffeine habit. Once done there, it was off to hegdish and drakeduck‘s place for a very enjoyable shindig featuring more grilled meats and some excellent company. It was great to meet some of the Milwaukee furs we hadn’t seen before, as well as some old friends we hadn’t seen in ages (hi Mistletoe and Tremaine!). Wonderful company, and Hegdish and Drake were excellent hosts. I look forward to seeing more of them!

Most of this week has been slow at work, which is good since that let me catch up on some MFF business. I’ve been very busy coordinating between departments, making my credit card squeak with a good bit of ordering, and working with some fine crafters out in California on some fun “spiffy” projects. Evenings have been spent enjoying the autumn chill by snuggling up with Dan on the sofa and catching up on Tivo’d programs. Some TV notes: Heroes is definitely getting better. The Amazing Race bummed me out by eliminating my favorite team. Survivor:Gabon is still in the early (boring) stages where the majority of the show can be watched on fast-forward. Chuck is fun, though we still have a couple of episodes to watch. Also sitting on the Tivo: Life on Mars, Toughest Race on Earth: Iditarod, My Own Worst Enemy, and the balance of Reaper from last season. As much as I wish we could keep up with Pushing Daisies, we’re too far behind. Shows that are falling into the “Ain’t gonna watch it” category: Prototype This (so much potential, but so much suck), Knight Rider (too dumb for words), and Fringe (just can’t work up the interest).

As for plans this weekend, I may have to go in to work tomorrow morning for a bit. Then tomorrow afternoon Dan’s family is coming over – I just don’t have the motivation for cooking for a crowd, so we may just order pizza. Sunday I hope to do as little as possible, though we have an MFF staff meeting online in the evening. Just about a month to go until the con! Gah!

Right now, though, I’m listening to some excellent blues, Dan is cooking up a delicious dinner in the kitchen, and I have a very tasty beer in front of me. Life is good. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Beers and Dinners and Meetings, Oh My!

Now that was a busy, but fun weekend.

ramalion was crashing at our place on Saturday night and he had mentioned that he had never tasted my cooking. Those of you who know me know that this is a dangerous challenge! We invited roho, genet, and linnaeus to join us for dinner and I got to planning, digging into my online recipe stash to find some new and interesting recipes.

Prior to dinner, though, takaza and I met up with Roho and Genet at Wine Knows for their Fall Beer Tasting. It was a blast! So many good beers, but the real standout was the Browning’s Brewery Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout, which is aged in bourbon barrels. Absolutely amazing! (And sadly out of stock. But Genet is going to check in with them later this week!) We picked up a couple of bottles of wine and some good beers, and ventured to the store, then home to start dinner.

Rama was there when we arrived, and Linnaeus arrived not long after. I dove into the dinner preparations. The menu included Eggs with Cream, Spinach, and Ham, Spinach and Bacon Salad with a Roasted Shallot and Dijon Vinaigrette, and Potato Gnocchi with Meat Sauce. I learned a couple of useful things:
1. Don’t start cooking an involved dinner at 6 PM. Fortunately, the beer and wine (and chips and salsa) helped maintain everyone’s good spirits when the food was served at 10 PM.
2. Gnocchi is neat and fancy, but it’s a pain in the ass. Next time, keep it simpler.
3. The Eggs with Cream , Spinach, and Ham is nothing short of astonishing. Saute the spinach with garlic and shallots, then coarsely chop and place in a ramekin. Simmer diced ham with heavy cream, then spoon the ham into the ramekin. Break an egg into each ramekin, then spoon the cream over the egg. Bake until the white is set but the yolk is still runny, and serve with buttered toast. Heavenly!

Sunday brought the Midwest FurFest staff meeting. The meeting went a bit longer than I usually like, but we got a lot done and made sure that no action items from the past year has fallen between the cracks. After the meeting, we adjourned to Mi Mexico, a new Mexican restaurant just north of the hotel (in the old Weber Grill location, for those who know the area). Wow! What a great find! Our meals were really fantastic, and they handled a large crowd of people extremely well. Plus, if someone is looking to eat cheaply, you’ve got a winner here, with $5.00 entrees available.

The rest of the evening was spent at home relaxing, working on some small MFF projects, and watching The Amazing Race (yay for the comic book geeks!).

This week is crunch time for the Midwest FurFest Restaurant Guide. We’ve got 120 restaurants listed and my goal is to have a useful review for every single one of them. Once that’s done I need to go to work on some other projects. No panicking yet, though – everything seems to be coming along nicely.