(no subject)
May. 3rd, 2007 02:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grindmonkehWe took the train to Chicago on the 21st of last month to see the Cardinals lose and to traverse the city in search of novelty. I delayed posting because I forgot my camera, had to pick up a disposable in the city, and then had to wait several days for the (inferior) digital prints on disc upon returning. Anyhow...we had a lot of fun despite St. Louis getting whomped by former Cardinal Jason Marquis. Our seats in Wrigley were a bit of a letdown...the worst at a ballgame I've ever had...with pillars and party boxes obscuring the sky and parts of the infield. I made the mistake of going to the Goose Island brewpub on gameday too. Who goes to Goose Island and drinks bud light? 1000 baseball fans, that's who. The place was packed and insanely loud. I was happy to get the fuck out of there and find someplace else that served Goose Island...like Pizzeria Uno.
Chicago...
I took this from an area left of our section that had a (very slightly) better view of the field.
Moose.
The John Hancock Center.
We went to the John Hancock Center (above) to dine at the Cheesecake Factory (awesome!) and see the city from the observatory. Here's a shot of the Navy Pier from the observatory.
The Sears Tower
The ride home on the train was eventful to say the least. Our car was directly behind the cafe car and had three cars trailing it, so almost everyone on the train had to walk through our car to get to the booze on the cafe car...it was easy to ascertain who was getting schnockered by the number of trips they took to the cafe car and the number of cans of beer they carried back to their seats. One said schnockeree made his way by us into the cafe car for the umpteenth time, and as he was walking back into our car he tripped on his shadow and fell face-first into the armrest of the nearest seat. BLOOD EVERYWHERE. I diverted my eyes and wished my nauseous alter-ego from the scene of the carnage as the guy was bleeding out and the conductors arranged for paramedics to meet the train at an intersection of the next town. We stopped and the paramedics boarded. After about twenty minutes or so they couldn't get him to stop bleeding and he obviously needed stitches so they hauled him off in the ambulance to the Veterinary Clinic or Hospital of Nowheresville, Illinois. The train rolled on and tranquility once again blanketed the passengers until about ten minutes passed and we found ourselves audience members of the Jerry Springer Show, as once again alcohol possessed a passenger. This time it provoked a confrontation between the indulging middle-aged lady and a sober family sitting across the aisle who apparently looked at her a little too *something* for her tolerance. She was dropping F-bombs and pointing her finger, and the family guy retrieved the conductors who then took her into the cafe car. She had the opportunity to drop the f-bomb on them (I can read lips when explicit language is involved) and stuck her finger in their faces before being pushed off into the arms of two awaiting police officers at the next stop. Apparently she had acted the same way on the ride *to* Chicago, and thus she didn't make it home on the return trip and instead found herself stuck in the company of officers of the law about 3 hours north of her destination. And the train rolled on.
I sold several of the more rare albums (obscure thrash stuff) in my collection and bought an ESP EX351D diamond-plated explorer from a guy on Ebay. I *finally* got it yesterday after trying to get a tracking number from the seller for two weeks after which he was suppoed to have shipped it via UPS. I paid the guy on the 18th of April and UPS shows that he didn't ship it until the 30th...which makes sense that I got it on the 3rd. The fucker has left me hanging on e-mails, and when he has responded he has blatantly lied and/or been vague about when and how he shipped it. So I've received the guitar (which is in perfect condition) and I'm contemplating on how to leave feedback. He already left me a positive, so I'm not worried about retaliatory feedback. I'm trying to decide how hard I should drop it.
We have to wait until the 21st for our new Harley Sportster XL1200R to be delivered to our doorstep. Well...not *new* new, but new to us and only 700 miles on a 2005 new. Excited isn't the word. We've been looking at new ones, but dealers in this area mark up a new bike by about $1500 over MSRP right out of the crate...which makes the $9500 Nightster that I've been wanting $11,000 + $400 (passenger seat and small backrest) x 6.25% (taxes on a new bike) = approx. $12,112.00...which is not only a bit above our budget, but a troubling investment. The 883 that's been in my care has been running poorly and I've only put a few miles on it thus far this year. Hopefully it will run better after I change the plugs in a couple of days.
Lastly and not leastly...after a collective 10 years of working nights out of the last 13, I'm getting a daytime position. I really like the job part of working nights, but I sleep so much better at night and my daytime sleeping is getting worse. My boss and I have talked about carpooling the 40 mile route that we'll share to work, so I'll almost cut my fuel usage in half as well. Overall it's a better gig.
p.s.
RIP Josh Hancock (April 11, 1978 - April 29, 2007)
Chicago...
I took this from an area left of our section that had a (very slightly) better view of the field.
Moose.
The John Hancock Center.
We went to the John Hancock Center (above) to dine at the Cheesecake Factory (awesome!) and see the city from the observatory. Here's a shot of the Navy Pier from the observatory.
The Sears Tower
The ride home on the train was eventful to say the least. Our car was directly behind the cafe car and had three cars trailing it, so almost everyone on the train had to walk through our car to get to the booze on the cafe car...it was easy to ascertain who was getting schnockered by the number of trips they took to the cafe car and the number of cans of beer they carried back to their seats. One said schnockeree made his way by us into the cafe car for the umpteenth time, and as he was walking back into our car he tripped on his shadow and fell face-first into the armrest of the nearest seat. BLOOD EVERYWHERE. I diverted my eyes and wished my nauseous alter-ego from the scene of the carnage as the guy was bleeding out and the conductors arranged for paramedics to meet the train at an intersection of the next town. We stopped and the paramedics boarded. After about twenty minutes or so they couldn't get him to stop bleeding and he obviously needed stitches so they hauled him off in the ambulance to the Veterinary Clinic or Hospital of Nowheresville, Illinois. The train rolled on and tranquility once again blanketed the passengers until about ten minutes passed and we found ourselves audience members of the Jerry Springer Show, as once again alcohol possessed a passenger. This time it provoked a confrontation between the indulging middle-aged lady and a sober family sitting across the aisle who apparently looked at her a little too *something* for her tolerance. She was dropping F-bombs and pointing her finger, and the family guy retrieved the conductors who then took her into the cafe car. She had the opportunity to drop the f-bomb on them (I can read lips when explicit language is involved) and stuck her finger in their faces before being pushed off into the arms of two awaiting police officers at the next stop. Apparently she had acted the same way on the ride *to* Chicago, and thus she didn't make it home on the return trip and instead found herself stuck in the company of officers of the law about 3 hours north of her destination. And the train rolled on.
I sold several of the more rare albums (obscure thrash stuff) in my collection and bought an ESP EX351D diamond-plated explorer from a guy on Ebay. I *finally* got it yesterday after trying to get a tracking number from the seller for two weeks after which he was suppoed to have shipped it via UPS. I paid the guy on the 18th of April and UPS shows that he didn't ship it until the 30th...which makes sense that I got it on the 3rd. The fucker has left me hanging on e-mails, and when he has responded he has blatantly lied and/or been vague about when and how he shipped it. So I've received the guitar (which is in perfect condition) and I'm contemplating on how to leave feedback. He already left me a positive, so I'm not worried about retaliatory feedback. I'm trying to decide how hard I should drop it.
We have to wait until the 21st for our new Harley Sportster XL1200R to be delivered to our doorstep. Well...not *new* new, but new to us and only 700 miles on a 2005 new. Excited isn't the word. We've been looking at new ones, but dealers in this area mark up a new bike by about $1500 over MSRP right out of the crate...which makes the $9500 Nightster that I've been wanting $11,000 + $400 (passenger seat and small backrest) x 6.25% (taxes on a new bike) = approx. $12,112.00...which is not only a bit above our budget, but a troubling investment. The 883 that's been in my care has been running poorly and I've only put a few miles on it thus far this year. Hopefully it will run better after I change the plugs in a couple of days.
Lastly and not leastly...after a collective 10 years of working nights out of the last 13, I'm getting a daytime position. I really like the job part of working nights, but I sleep so much better at night and my daytime sleeping is getting worse. My boss and I have talked about carpooling the 40 mile route that we'll share to work, so I'll almost cut my fuel usage in half as well. Overall it's a better gig.
p.s.
RIP Josh Hancock (April 11, 1978 - April 29, 2007)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-03 05:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-04 04:24 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-03 05:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-04 04:23 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-03 06:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-04 04:28 am (UTC)but landed on boozed up Nolte.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-04 04:06 pm (UTC)So what's up with the Cardinals being unable to win a game lately? Sad what they have had to go through the past week. Are you happy with the Colts draft picks?