Andy Goss ::: andygoss.com

Getting a Keyspan USA-19HS USB to Serial Adapter to Work on Ubuntu running on Mac OS X via VirtualBox

2010-01-29T13:11:00.002-06:00

Long title, but I want to hopefully help people who find themselves in a similar situation with the Keyspan device. I had a need to get the device to work in my ubuntu virtual machine and this proved to be tricky. My earlier attempts with an old Cables to Go device didn't work too well with the hardware I was interfacing with (parity was wrong and i couldn't get it changed)

So here are some tips, I hope that if you stumble across this page that it helps.

Do not install the OS X driver. If you do install it, uninstall it via the Keyspan Serial Assistant app (or whatever it is called).
On your VM, you have to add a USB filter. I found this counterintuitive as I originally thought that all usb devices were passed through and the filter served to limit that list, where as actually the filter is what allows it to pass through.
Virtual Box is really handy and it will present you with a list of devices to add when you add a filter. However, this was not my friend. While it would appear that Virtual Box tried to hand it off, something got lost in translation and Ubuntu never saw a damn thing.
If you use the auto filter option by selecting the Keyspan device, edit this filter and remove all but one of the fields. I would keep the product id field or something numeric. I think that the long text string may have been the problem with Virtual Box doing the handoff correctly (i call it a hand off, call it what you want)
After setting up the filter, launch your VM and log in. You should see the USB device connected. If you don't, shut it down and check your filter, reboot your OS, etc.
If you want to see what is connected to your USB port, in OS X you can launch System Profiler. In ubuntu you can install a device manager, or from a command prompt type lsusb.
If lsusb shows it, it is connected. Karmic Koala (9.10) had the driver built in, so no further work was required on my part. the device was accessible via /dev/ttyUSB0
connect your hardware to the port and attempt to connect to it via the instructions they provide. I used both kermit and minicom (both available via the package manager)

Recipe: Chicken and Dumplings

2009-12-02T10:28:00.003-06:00

This recipe comes from my mother and I tweak it as necessary. Darrell's mom makes excellent dumplings as well, typically as a side dish accompanying a larger meal. The dumplings (or dumplins, if you prefer) are of the flat variety (sometimes called "slicks"). I have made two different recipes for the slicks, both of which are good. I encourage you to experiment as needed.

For the soup, you will need:

1 5 to 6 lb. whole chicken
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
2 quarts fresh cold water, approximately
2 cans Campbell's Cream of Chicken soup
2 knorr chicken bouillon cubes

Dumpling recipe 1 (my moms)

3 cups flour
4 1/2 tbsp shortening
1/2 tsp salt
1 to 1 1/8 cup water (more as needed)

Clean chicken inside and out under cold water and place in large pot with about 2 quarts of water. Place on medium to medium low heat and cook until chicken is done. Remove chicken from water and let cool. When cooled, pick meat of bones discarding the skin and fat. Set meat aside, under plastic wrap if necessary.

Skim the chicken stock for any fat and foam and if needed, pour off most of the stock into a clean pot leaving any settled material at the bottom of the first pot. Add the rest of the ingredients and a little extra water if needed to the new pot and bring to a boil stirring well. After boiling, reduce heat to maintain a gentle boil and add dumplings (see below)

For the dumplings, mix flour and salt. cut in shortening (food processor is great for this) stir in water to form a soft dough. let dough rest for 20-30 minutes. on a floured counter, roll out (using a pin or sturdy glass or cup) very thinly. cut into strips about 1" x 3" (it doesn't have to be exact) and drop into simmering soup. stir as needed, cook for 10 minutes with the lid off, and 10 more with the lid on.

Dumpling Recipe 2

3 or so cups of self rising flour
pinch salt
water, enough to form soft dough.

let rest for 20-30 minutes, roll out and cut the same as above. these dumplings will be more firm than the ones with shortening, but equally delicious. This is how Darrell's mom makes them.

Last night's batch I made with a hybrid of my mom's and darrell's mom's recipe. I used self rising flour in my moms recipe. AS far as which I like better, its hard to say. They are both so damned good.

Now, for some commentary.

Ingredients:

You don't have to use a whole chicken, you can use a couple of thighs and breasts or whatever you have on hand. Cooking your own chicken is important to me, but you could probably get by with a rotisserie chicken if you really wanted to. The difference would be your soup would lack some of the body that you get from making it your self.
Knorr Bouillon cubes are simply the best there is. Don't skimp on these.
The cream of chicken soup is optional
The amount of water recommended will typically produce a pretty thick soup. last nigh i worked with probably 4 quarts of water initially and made it a bit thinner. you can play with this.

Method:

I have stated that this recipe is pretty easy, but I can see how it could be intimidating if you have never done it. here are some tips:

start with clean counters and a clean kitchen
prep your dumplings when the chicken is almost done or cooling.
add your chicken to the soup before you add dumplings
to aid chicken in cooling, carefully remove skin and make some slices along the breast bone and the joints to help the bird "spread out"
use a sharp knife or dough blade to cut dumplings.

by all means, if you have a question, don't hesitate to ask me.

18 days on the road and I'm heading home

2009-09-01T09:10:00.002-05:00

Good Morning from the Louisville International Airport, Haircare, and Tire Center. I am sitting at the Waterfront Bar and Grill having a cocktail before noon. It is a rare thing for me to drink this early, but I find that one or two drinks takes the edge off my nerves when flying.

The flight home today marks the end of couple trips to Louisville for work that started on August 9th. I spent the 9th - 21st in Louisville, the 22nd - 25th at home in Chicago, and the 26th - today in Louisville. I am ready to be home and relaxing on my couch, in front of my flat screen. Of course, I will have to work the rest of this week, but that is OK. At least I will be at home.

The project I was pulled in to went pretty well, all things considered. However, it is suffering from a cramped schedule and feature creep driven by our partner/customer. The result is frayed nerves, disorganization, unoptimized code, and frustrated employees. I am usually pretty resilient under most stress (though I have my moments) however the rest of the team who had been on the project longer were pulling their hair out. Even I was screaming at Bill Gates and the rest of the Microsoft crew by Sunday morning. Seriously, the war over how to do things in computers reminds me the differences between spawned out of the revolutionary war. We drive on the right side of the road, the English drive on the left. We drink coffee, they drink tea. Unix line endings are \n, windows are \r\n.

I am a biased Apple convert, but I think Apple finally got it right. They took a solid UNIX based OS and built a beautiful interface on top of it. Gone are the days when Macs were a third flavor in the battle over line endings (they used to be just \r)

Windows 7 and the newest Windows server is pretty and seems to work fairly well, but at its rotten core it is still windows. it still does things in the same asinine way.

Anyhow, maybe later I will rant about the evils and misuses of XML. The devil's markup. for now, I am just happy to be heading home.

Thanks, Chicago

2009-02-09T12:11:00.002-06:00

So I got notice in the mail at my dad's house of a parking violation here in Chicago from back in December. The violation was for rush hour parking on a street where no such restrictions exist. I never received a physical ticket on my car, and the notice in the mail did not have any photos attached. I could not find any photos online either. I decided to contest the ticket naturally, but I'm pissed that I can find no proof that I was even parked there. Truth be told, I was likely parked here on this day, but I didn't break any rules. The worst part is the amount of time I have spent on this matter and how it frustrates me. Since I wasted a lot of time researching and writing a letter contesting the ticket, I thought I would share in the hopes of making myself feel better ;-)

My letter to the city is below (i find it interesting that I have to appeal to the department of revenue...):

City of Chicago
Department of Revenue
P.O. Box 88292
Chicago, IL 60680-1292

To Whom It May Concern:

On February 7, 2009, I received notice via US Mail of parking ticket number [redacted] The ticket was issued on December 2, 2008 to a vehicle with Kentucky license plate number [redacted]. The violation description provided on the ticket is �Rush hour parking.� As a registered owner of the vehicle in question, I am contesting this ticket under provisions of the Municipal Code of Chicago found in the �Contesting by Mail� area of the City of Chicago Website.

Item 6 of the list of allowable defenses for parking and compliance tickets reads:
�The illegal condition described in the compliance violation notice did not exist at the time the notice was issued�

The address specified on the ticket, 754 W. Wilson Ave, is located between Clarendon Ave and Marine Dr. There are no rush hour parking restrictions on this area of Wilson Avenue on either side of the street. Pictures have been enclosed of the block and the signage on the block. The only known parking restrictions on this area of Wilson are street cleaning restrictions as evidenced by one of the attached photographs.

If there are rush hour parking restrictions on this section of Wilson Avenue, the signage does not indicate this and therefore would meet the qualifications of item 3 on the list of allowable defenses by the Municipal code of Chicago.

If there are no rush hour parking restrictions in this area of Wilson Avenue, then the illegal condition described in the ticket did not exist on the date it was issued. Therefore the ticket should be dismissed.

If there are rush hour parking restrictions, but no signage indicating such, then the relevant signs prohibiting or restricting parking were missing and the ticket should be dismissed.
This ticket seems like a simple mistake and hopefully it can be resolved quickly. Thank you for your time in reviewing this matter.

Regards,

H. Andrew Goss

Save Money, Eat Better

2009-01-26T11:40:00.002-06:00

One of my goals for 2009 is to save money and dovetailing with that is my ongoing goal to eat better. I have not set any crazy weight loss goals, or anything like that. However, too often my meals are dictated by my schedule and my mood and I would like to get beyond that.

Background:

I live in an expensive city and thus I would like to save money any way that I can to free up money for other things that I enjoy such as video games, bourbon, travel, charitable causes, and entertainment. I would also like to build up my savings account and work towards becoming debt-free.

I have what doctors call a little bit of a weight problem (yes, I am plagiarizing Tommy Boy). It is no secret that I could stand to lose a few pounds. I grew up in a house where I was expected to clean my plate, and so I occasionally find myself with a compulsion to eat what is left on my plate. I also hate the idea of wasting food as it is expensive.

Plan:

I have a few ideas for working towards these goals. Or perhaps a better way of putting it is that I have smaller goals to work towards these themes:

Cook more meals at home, keep better options for snacks and meals around the house.
Eat out and order in less
Put smaller amounts of food on my plate
Eat slow and stop when I feel satisfied
Walk more frequently

I realize that this is vague (and that I just ordered Jimmy Johns about 10 minutes ago), however it segues in to the real reason why I am blogging today. Food.

I like to cook and I am fairly competent at it. I can make complicated meals, meals to feed a lot of people, etc. However, I am often not motivated to make a meal, especially just for myself. I think that one thing that would help me is to make a menu on a weekly basis, make foods with 1-2 leftover portions for when I dont want to cook, and to keep a variety of stuff on hand that I can mix and match if I want to.

These are my thoughts for now. I'd be interested to hear what any of you all think. Later today perhaps I will work on a menu for this week or next.

--Andy

Christmas in Review

2009-01-07T09:02:00.002-06:00

Chicago. It gets cold here, but it really hasn't been that bad. It gets windy here, but according to things I read it is not particularly more windy here than anywhere else. The "Windy City" moniker originated elsewhere, but where is a bit of a debate.

Nevertheless, this is where I live now. Over Christmas I joked, "Home is where your stuff is" as a play on the old saying. It got a lot of laughs, but for the most part this is true. Moving here was a huge leap out of my comfort zone, but as stupid as this sounds, having some things stay the same (i.e. my stuff) makes it more manageable.

Christmas was good, but it really snuck up on me this year. I did not send any Christmas cards and didn't do any real shopping until the 23rd when we got to Louisville. For me, the hardest part about Christmas shopping is not the lines or the crowds (though I am wont to bitch about them while shopping) it is not knowing what people want. My dad never wants anything, my mom will never give me a good idea, and my brothers and I seldom exchange gifts.

Before leaving Chicago, I bought some spices for my mom at The Spice House. So I had her gift covered. We had to dig my car out of two previous snow events before leaving, so it took us a couple of hours longer than we figured to hit the road. Then I had to find a place to air up my tires. This caused a lot more stress than it should have. I also needed gas, so in my mind, I was looking for a place that gave free air for customers. Maybe they don't exist in Chicago. Even still, I was willing to pay the 50 cents or whatever (seemed reasonable) but the first station we went do didn't have any change. Still not being intimately familiar with the city, I had no idea where to go next. It was 7 degrees, a little breezy, and my tires were at least 10 pounds low on air. We eventually found a place.

We stayed with my mom on the evening of the 22nd and exchanged gifts on the morning of the 23rd after breakfast. Then it was shopping time. I saw my grandma and then I saw my dad and he gave me an incredibly nice gift. Then we drove to southeastern KY.

On the return trip, we stayed with my dad for a day.

I think I used to take living in Louisville for granted. This trip forced me to think more about my medium to poor relationship with my family and how I had to do time sharing with everyone to make it all work. I used to just avoid some of my family knowing that I would see them at some event that I didn't avoid. Now that I live here, its much harder to do that. I had to make the most of my trip to Louisville and that meant a lot of time sharing, driving, etc.

In the end, the trip was a good thing. We got to see everyone, relax some, drink some, eat a lot, and we brought back a Camry full of stuff. I didn't know you could fit so much stuff into a Camry.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T10:27:00.001-06:00

Merry Christmas from the Family - Robert Earl Keen Jr.

Mom got drunk and Dad got drunk at our Christmas party
We were drinking champagne punch and homemade eggnog
Little sister brought her new boyfriend
He was a Mexican
We didn't know what to think of him until he sang
Felis Navidad, Felis Navidad

Brother Ken brought his kids with him
The three from his first wife Lynn
And the two identical twins from his second wife Mary Nell
Of course he brought his new wife Kay
Who talks all about AA
Chain smoking while the stereo plays Noel, Noel
The First Noel

Carve the Turkey
Turn the ball game on
Mix margaritas when the eggnog's gone
Send somebody to the Quickpak Store
We need some ice and an extension chord
A can of bean dip and some Diet Rites
A box of tampons, Marlboro Lights
Haleluja everybody say Cheese
Merry Christmas from the family

Fred and Rita drove from Harlingen
I can't remember how I'm kin to them
But when they tried to plug their motor home in
They blew our Christmas lights
Cousin David knew just what went wrong
So we all waited out on our front lawn
He threw a breaker and the lights came on
And we sang Silent Night, Oh Silent Night, Oh Holy Night

Carve the turkey turn the ball game on
Make Bloody Mary's
Cause We All Want One!
Send somebody to the Stop 'N Go
We need some celery and a can of fake snow
A bag of lemons and some Diet Sprites
A box of tampons, some Salem Lights
Haleluja, everybody say cheese
Merry Christmas from the Family

Ramen Hot Dog Lunch

2008-12-01T10:52:00.002-06:00

Every day when I work from home I have the great lunch debate. Should I go out? Order in? Make something homemade? Leftovers? Regardless of my options, I never seem to be able to make a decision.

I enjoy going out of my apartment to eat, but today its very slushy out and I decided to save some money by eating in. My options were limited as I haven't been to the grocery in almost two weeks. So, I whipped up something that many will scoff at but you can't argue with its frugality. So here it is, my recipe of the day:

Ingredients:
2 hot dogs, I use Oscar Meyer Weiners
1 pckg. Ramen Noodle (I use chicken flavor)
water

Directions:
Carefully crush the ramen noodles in the package before opening and placing in a bowl. Cut hot dogs into bite sized pieces, about 1/4-1/3" thick. However you want to cut them is fine. Add the hot dogs to the dry noodles and add water to cover, stirring the noodles to mix the hot dogs in. Microwave on high for about two minutes, or until the noodles are done. Add seasoning packet to taste, I never use the whole thing.

This may not be the healthiest option, but it is certainly cheap. Ramen noodle is often less than 50 cents a pack and hot dogs are about .30 cents each. Water doesn't cost me anything extra.

I reccomend consuming at least 2 glasses of water on top of what you would normally drink since this is a very salty dish. I have a similar recipe called Ramen Noodle Delight. Ingredients are a package of ramen and a six pack of beer. Prepare ramen according to package directions, eat, and drink your beer. ;-)

--Andy

Visiting Louisville

2008-11-11T12:44:00.002-06:00

Hi everyone, I just wanted you to know that I will be visiting Louisville starting Wednesday November 19 in the evening and returning on Sunday, November 30. I will not be around for thanksgiving, however all the days leading up to it (about 6 days I guess) I will be available. Please let me know if you want to meet up.

Fall Reprise

2008-11-02T09:40:00.002-06:00

Its been a beautiful Fall weekend in Chicago. Temperatures have been cold at night, but daytime highs have been in the high 50s and 60s. I was originally supposed to go see Neil Diamond today in St. Louis, however, plans were foiled again. Its interesting, this concert was rescheduled from August when I couldn't go because of my friend Bobby's wedding. Today I have a conference call at 7pm and the concert is at 8. Its unfortunate, but perhaps it is just meant to be that I am not going to see him. I hope Jeremy, Jessica, and whoever they get to use my ticket (D-Lo?) have a great time.

I spent over a hundred bucks yesterday at Target. I got some much needed lamps for my bedroom as well as a few other items.

My bread baking continues to be mediocre, though yesterday's loaves were markedly better than my previous attempts. I just needed to use some more dough, and I think they may have turned out perfectly.

Fortunately for me, Merle has an extra ticket to today's Bear's game at Soldier Field. I will be meeting him in about an hour and fifteen minutes to go to the game and hopefully have some fun. The game should be over by 3:30-4pm.

Austin in 24 hours

2008-10-24T14:23:00.003-05:00

Thursday morning I woke up around 4:30-4:45 to catch a 8:10 am flight to Austin, TX for work. Seems early, but here was how I broke down the time budget:

1.0 hours to get ready (finish packing, shower, shave, etc.)

1.5 hours to walk to the train, catch the train, transfer to the orange line, walk to the terminal.

0.25 hours to get through security, get breakfast, and get to the gate.

This adds up to 2.75 hours, which, waking up at 4:45 would put me at the gate by 7:30 am. This would give me about an hour before the departure. TSA recommends, last I checked, arriving at the airport 1.5 - 2 hours before your flight departs. My actual numbers were more like this:

wake up at 4:45.

leave apartment building front door at 5:42

arrive at train platform at 5:53-5:56

board southbound Red train at 5:59

departing Fullerton station at ~6:10 (i put this in here because I think its the fastest I have ever gotten from Wilson to Fullerton.

in Roosevelt station at 6:28

board Midway bound Orange Line train at 6:33

arrive at Midway about 7 am

make it to the gate by 7:25 am

on board the plane at 8:03 am

so, I was pretty successful getting out the door in under an hour. By my calculations, it took me 46 minutes to get from my front door to the Orange Line transfer at Roosevelt and another 30 minutes to get from there to Midway, so about 1 hour and 15 minutes. I should note that my times could not get much more optimal. I waited less than 5 minutes for a train at both stations, its often times a longer wait.
I spent about 25 minutes in the airport getting to the gate. So, rounding up, it took me about what I budgeted, or, 2 hours and 45 minutes. I think in the future I should build in an extra 15 minute buffer or, have a bailout plan if I reach a point where the timing isn't going to work. If it would have taken me 10-20 minutes longer on the train, I would have been cutting it close at the airport had I had to get inspected or anything like that.

In Austin, I met up with Craig who landed about the same time as me, and then we waited for Todd. We drove into Austin and had a quick lunch at KFC and then headed to our meeting. The meeting was short, but I think it went pretty well. We covered the basics and got the intangible benefit of a face to face meeting.

After the meeting, we checked in at the hotel and I made a quick shirt change and headed to the hospital to visit Ward and David. Ward and David are two Triangle's from Houston who were involved in a serious car wreck last Friday night. They have both been in the ICU at Austin's Brackenridge Hospital since then. They are both recovering well it seems, though I am sure it was a traumatic experience. Despite the fact that they are still in the ICU, the spirits among the families were high. Ward's dad is funny and was trying to get me to stay another day and David was soon to be extubated and would hopefully be able to wake up more and finally get to talk to his family. Ward was feeling so good that while I was out of the room, he made a request for the left side of his head that was about to get shaved to match the right side that a delta-T be carved in his hair and that we get a picture. It made me laugh. Ward was very talkative, all things considered, and after I had made my introduction and was a little at loss for words, he spoke very quietly and deliberately (his throat is still tender from the tubes) and asked me "so...when did you join Triangle?" and a hodgepodge of other questions. I was very happy to see that both David and Ward are making progress in their recovery.

I left the hospital and drove back to the hotel where I picked up Craig and Todd and we went to dinner at El Arroyo in Austin. The food was good, the music was good, and the margarita was also tasty. After dinner, we were all pretty much beat, and we headed back to the hotel. I stayed up until almost 11 working on stuff and then went to bed. woke up at 4:30 this morning to catch the 5 am shuttle to the airport for a 6:30 flight home. 24 hours and 40 minutes later, I stepped off the plane into the airport. It was quite the long day.

--Andy

A Couple of Pictures

2008-10-22T17:04:00.003-05:00

Not Now Brain, I'm Trying to Think

2008-10-14T07:47:00.004-05:00

It is very rare for me to go a night without dreaming. Often times, my dreams are very stressful. Last night's dream was no exception, except, it was so odd that when it woke me up I felt compelled to write down the key facts and commit it to memory.

The dream went like this:

I was in school, perhaps even high school, and I had to take a bus home. The bus appeared to be a school bus. The weirdness started right away because while it looked like I was in Louisville, and it looked like we were driving on what I think were Louisville streets, I had gotten on the wrong bus. The bus I was on was the 147, a Chicago route designation, and for some reason I knew that I was supposed to be on the 146. I was sitting in the very back of the bus, which like a school bus, had the narrow back seats and I was sitting by myself. I was panicking because I was on the wrong bus, but I could not figure out how to make the bus stop and let me off (it was a school bus, and we were getting in I-64 in Louisville.) This was part one of the stress.

Part two came when I got off the bus. I think I was at a gas station, but I had left my bag on the bus. The bag contained my laptop, a camera, and a camera that did not belong to me. in the dream I estimated the value of my bag and its contents at $5,000. I have no idea what I based that dream number on. Anyhow, I started trying to call people on the bus or off the bus to help me get my stuff back. I was unsuccessful, and then I woke up.

Its not really my most stressful dream, but I thought the smash up between Louisville and Chicago was interesting. The 146 is actually one of the bus routes I would take to get home if I were downtown, and the 147 would in fact be the wrong bus.

Kentucky Should Want a Piece of this

2008-10-06T14:49:00.003-05:00

The Chicago Tribune reported today, October 6, 2008 that Chicago would be the hub of a nine-state high speed rail network under legislation that has just passed both the house and senate and will soon be signed into law by the president. The Federal Railroad Safety Improvement Act, among the various safety minded items also authorizes up to 3.4 billion dollars for the creation of these high speed rail corridors and grants to states.

Among Kentucky borders four of the states in the bill: Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, and Ohio. It should only make sense then that Kentucky should want to be a part of this network. Imagine what a high speed connection to Indianapolis, Chicago, Cincinnati, and St. Louis would do for our economy. It would provide competition to the airlines, reduce traffic on our roads, and would encourage tourism between the states.

In most cases, the tracks and right-of-ways are already there...they just need improvements.

I think it would behoove Kentucky to get on board, so to speak, with this plan and work hard to get connected to this high speed system.

Funny Image from Today's News

2008-10-04T17:36:00.002-05:00

Salmonella Outbreak News Story

A few updates

2008-09-11T19:39:00.009-05:00

Greetings everyone! I've made it through yet another day in the windy city. In the spirit of keeping things interesting and fresh, here are a few updates:

1. Blogs now importing to Facebook - I debated doing this for a while because generally I don't like aggregation of the things I read (sorry, Jeff), preferring to read them in their original presentation. Therefore, it should make sense that I have always desired others to read my posts as I displayed them. However selfish this might be, it was probably the reason why my rss feed was set up to only give previews of my posts rather than the full thing. Its a trade off though as now more people will probably have the opportunity to read what I have to say. The only thing I think I won't like though is that comments on the blogs I import will remain on facebook and will not go back on my website with the original posts...unless my admiring fans all click to the original post at the bottom of the note and then leave a comment ;-)

2. Walking - I have to say that I enjoy walking around my neighborhood and down to the lake. I am trying to enjoy the nice weather while it lasts, as I am sure this winter walking will be less appealing. Today I have probably walked around 4 miles. over half of that was deliberate exercise this morning. Yesterday I don't think I walked quite 4 miles, but at least there has been exercise. You can see more pictures from my morning walk on facebook.

3. Aldi's - I am not sure I like this place, but it does have some cheap, generic shit.

4. Gigio's Pizza in Uptown - This establishment located between wilson and leland on broadway intimidated me the first time I walked past, despite the glowing reviews I read on google. I have since visited there twice, once yesterday before going to Aldi's and once this evening with Darrell.

I may have just found my favorite NY Style pizza restaurant. The pizza is wide flat and with a tasty crust. The place itself is certainly unassuming, but the pizza is superb. I found this review on centerstage to be almost exactly in line with how I feel about the place. I wish I could pronounce the name, I keep wanting to say Gigolo's. Two people eating for less than 8 bucks, not bad.

5. Twilight - A novel by Stephenie Meyer. I have never been into Vampires or Vampire stories, but this was a book like few others that I have read. Truly captivating. It inspires me to want to write fiction, again, or pretty much anything really. The book itself was interesting to me because it is told from the point of view of a woman, something I am not accustomed to. But more than that I guess is the fact it is a love story told from the point of view of a woman.

I breezed through it, which isn't uncommon for me when I find a book I like. If you haven't read it and can find it at the library, go to the library and read it. If you can't find it at the library, ask to borrow it from me or go get it at Borders.

Sunny Day

2008-09-09T20:05:00.006-05:00

Today was very nice compared to yesterday, but this isn't a blog about the weather. I'm sure there are plenty of those. I was, though, happy to see the sun this morning when I woke up. I decided to do my walk first thing this morning, so I walked with Darrell to the train sometime around 7:30 AM. I left him at Wilson and continued on around the neighborhood.

It was a great morning for a walk. It was cool, probably about 55 degrees, it was sunny, and the air had a very crisp smell to it which is common after a day of rain. I ended up walking about a mile and a half.

I worked hard to day on a lot of Java code that keeps getting more and more complex. I can't wait to be done with this interface.

Finally, I ate dinner with Sheryll, Mehera, and Darrell tonight at Crew. We ordered all appetizers, and they were pretty good. After dinner, we went to Borders before walking home. My total mileage for the day was about 3 or so miles.

Rainy Day

2008-09-08T16:55:00.002-05:00

I didn't know it was going to rain today until I was preparing to take my morning walk. I meant to go early this morning while it was sunny, but we had a house guest and I was unable to get properly ready to venture outdoors. It was overcast. I saw that rain was approaching, but I figured I had 15 minutes which would be time for a quick walk and I could handle a light rain.

It turns out that it was a little cooler outside than I anticipated and the rain was a little heavier than light rain. I did a very quick walk up the block and then decided it would be best to turn back. Instead of venturing out in the rain, I decided to order some Thai delivery from a place that delivered a menu to our apartment. The Duck Walk advertises delivery service, so I decided to try their Pad Khee Mao. It was very spicy, and good, but not nearly as yummy as the dish from Sala Thai in Louisville. If I ever order it again, I would request a few changes. However, I will probably try something from there again such as the Pad Thai or the Cashew Chicken.

I may be going out to a place tonight with Sheryl, Darrell, and some other friends but this is to be determined. Anything we do will me minimal as I don't have a lot of time for gallivanting all over town.

French Toast, GC Wontons, and Good Times

2008-09-08T13:39:00.002-05:00

Only moderately sunburned, I returned home yesterday from a weekend at the lake with Robbie and various other friends and coworkers. It was nice to be able to spend so much time in the water. I also got a chance to hang out with people I don't see on a daily basis, and to meet Robbie's friend Thomas. I met Robbie and Thomas at the outlet mall on Friday night, kinda late, and we ate a late dinner. For what its worth, the chicken tostada salad and the ribs from Montana Mikes aren't worth it. The dinner that Robbie made on Saturday though more than made up for the less than stellar showing by Montana Mike. He made filet mignon and potatoes and it was very good.

I made French Toast both Saturday and Sunday following my great-grandmothers recipe that my dad has entrusted me with. It turned out to be very good and I think everyone who tried it liked it, even my puppy-nephew Brady. It is not traditional/American french toast, instead it is more pastry-like and much more delicious than just egg dipped bread.

Robbie and I made Green Chili Wontons on Saturday, and also on Sunday though Robbie did most of the work on Sunday. We got a chance to use his new deep fryer which makes the process a lot easier. They turned out really well, though I think I liked the ones Robbie made on Sunday better because they had cayenne pepper in them and I was less tired.

Cooking and eating though were not the main focus of the weekend, on Saturday the weather was almost perfect and we spent the majority of the day in the water. We went out on the boat some and had a lot of fun. Robbie showed off on the rope swing, but I stayed in the water just swimming around. Saturday night, I got to put my boy scout knowledge to work building a campfire. It was a good fire and didn't take too long to build, it helped that there was a bundle of firewood to use, but we still had to gather sticks and twigs to get it going.

It was a very active weekend for me, and I enjoyed it. I am sore from all the swimming, the fire-building, and the other outdoorsy type stuff I did, but it was a blast.

Blood on the Sidewalk

2008-09-02T18:29:00.002-05:00

"Welcome to Chicago"

This phrase was uttered to me one night after I moved in, but I keep repeating it over and over when I see things happen that seem more chicago than louisville.

While the street that we live on is nice, the surrounding area seems a bit sketchy. There has been a rash of violence this summer, according to some. Now it appears to me that most of it is gang vs. gang stuff, but I still don't want to be the guy that catches a stray bullet.

There is a "problem corner" near by at Lawrence and Sheridan. In the two weeks or so there have been two shootings. I don't think the first one resulted in any deaths, but the second one did. For informational purposes, Lawrence is 4 blocks north and Sheridan is 2 blocks west...approximately. A web site that I read, uptown update, and another site both covered the event, but one had a particularly interesting picture that I thought I would share.

WARNING - If you don't want to see a picture of someone who got shot and killed, don't click the link. For what its worth, it is not a close up of the wound. *** homicide victim ***

I hope anyone does not think it disrespectful of me to link this picture. I am just linking it for informational purposes. The most telling part of this photo is that it is an excellent example of journalism in real-time. Notice that the police have not shown up and that the scene of the crime has not been secured. For those of you who don't want to view the picture, I understand. This blog post from uptown update has pictures of the scene after the police showed up and secured the area.

Back

2008-09-01T10:00:00.003-05:00

After a long week in Louisville, I am finally back home in Chicago. Got in last night around 8:30-9 central time. I actually managed to see more people than I thought I would have time to see.

Work was very busy last week, I logged more than 40 hours in only 4 days. A few high impact projects were bumped up in priority and urgency. The worst was a huge query that I had to run to generate a report. When dealing with large amounts of data, the shear volume can be overwhelming. I spent my evenings after work hanging out with friends, and also managed to see my mother and grandmother. I stayed at my Dad's place.

Friday and Saturday was the big wedding for Bobby and Nicole. I checked in at the Brown on Friday afternoon and then began helping with the set up of the AV system for the rehearsal dinner. The head unit (amp, mixer, whatever you want to call it) was damaged and would not come on. After a couple phone calls, Bobby's dad and I made a quick run to their location nearest the hotel and got a new one. We got back and got it set up, then made it back to the Brown to get ready for the rehearsal. Tim and I were both late, but we managed ok. The rehearsal dinner was at the Seelbach Rathskeller and the meal and drinks were excellent.

Saturday was a fun day as well. The wedding set up was fairly simple, but I have never seen the Crystal Ballroom look more beautiful. The reception lasted until midnight and the after party until almost 3. I think everyone had fun.

--Andy

In Louisville this week

2008-08-25T11:08:00.000-05:00

Give me a shout if you want, I'll be in all week.

Andy

Strangely Comforting

2008-08-20T17:35:00.005-05:00

So in my head, I keep playing Sim City - Chicago. No, a Chicago version of this game doesn't exist (to my knowledge), but I keep envisioning dragging my little mouse over certain areas and watching things happen. Having trouble with crime? add a police station. Too many poor people? just rezone or raise the taxes on the lower classes. Out of money? Make a deal or enter in a "cheat" code. However, what I really yearn to do is change the roads. Lake Shore drive ends a few blocks north of here and it seems rather abrupt. It would be really great if there were at least a set of one way avenues (4 or 5 lanes) that could carry traffic to and away from the city. So, every time I see an ugly building or some place that looks "slummy" I envision clicking the bulldozer tool and then dragging it over the area. Once those pesky buildings are out of the way, i can build my roads.

Granted, I have lived here for all of a week and a half (or so) and I don't pretend to fully grasp the nature of Chicago's traffic issues, but I can't help but dream. Obviously, a potential problem with my plan is that even if you can get away Lake Shroe Drive faster, you have no where to go since I-94 and I-90 are typically always clogged up during the day.

Anyhow, today has been a busy day. I have been working on a java tool that is a critical part of an interface I am developing. It keeps getting more complex. I finally see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, now that I got the java database working. I took a lunch break around 1:30 or so this afternoon and made a run to the grocery store. While I was out, I stopped to eat at Chili's. It was weird eating there by myself since I typically eat there with Robbie. I got what Robbie and I usually split (Southwestern Eggrolls and the Big Mouth Bites) and took the eggrolls home.

However, what prompted this post was the strangely comforting feeling that I had as I was walking in to Chili's. It wasn't that I was getting ready to eat, but more of a delayed reaction to my surroundings. I was in my car, I pulled into a large mall-like complex that could have been anywhere in suburban America, even Louisville. There was a Best-Buy there, a Dicks, and the grocery store I was heading too after lunch (don't shop hungry!) Something about parking my car, getting out, and walking inside just made me feel at home.

Now, maybe that is not a good reaction to have since the majority of my days will be spent in the city, not driving to a suburb to shop and eat. However, it was a purely self-contained moment that made me feel relaxed and I suppose happy as well. The rest of my lunch was uneventful.

The trip to Jewel was much more of a pain in the ass. I miss Kroger! The store defys my own internal programming as to how a store should be laid out, and the only deviation that I find endearing is that they sell liquor under the same roof...not that I'll be buying any since Darrell and I stocked up in Louisville before we moved. I ran my ass all over that store trying to get everything on my list. I'm sure I will get used to it. The good news is that prices seem a little cheaper just a little bit out of the city.

I made it back to the apartment and scored a fantastic parking space directly in front of the building on Clarendon. This will make it easy to unload the shit from IKEA we bought last night, once Darrell gets home later. I shamelessly did a uturn in the middle of the street to get it to, good luck everyone else!

Now I am heading back to work after my short break to update the blog. I am poised to solve this problem soon I think, and I will be so thrilled when this problem is behind me.

--Andy

1 week

2008-08-16T09:10:00.002-05:00

A week ago today I was somewhere in Indiana with the big yellow truck. Today I am sitting at the desk in my living room in Chicago. To be perfectly honest, it still feels very weird for me.

Darrell and I are about to go to IHOP I think. I was going to cook breakfast, but I liked Darrell's suggestion better.

Last night we went to a bar down south of Wrigley Field called the Union. It reminded me a lot of the Granville, especially pre-remodel. They had a 10 dollar all you can drink happy hour, I got my moneys worth. More updates to come, and hopefully some pictures soon.

--Andy

A Tale of Two Pinkies - part two

2008-08-14T16:33:00.002-05:00

Finally, here is the second half of the moving adventure story. I hope you enjoy it.

So, it was an early morning in Louisville. I was not ready to be awake, but I had little choice in the matter. Molly had been sedated, but it takes a while to kick in, so I started taking care of other things like preparing her litter box and other things associated with the move. Dad arrived and began helping. Things were in a bit of a rush because we wanted to get on the road.

Finally, we got molly in the cage and got on the road. I almost immediately realized I forgot my sunglasses, but just let it go because I didn't want to turn around. I am not sure anymore the exact time we hit the road, but I think it was around 7:30 AM. Molly was not super thrilled to be moving, but the sedative was doing its work making her calmer than she would have been otherwise.

When we got close to Scottsburg, IN Molly began freaking out. She got up, meowed a lot, and started scratching intensely at the bottom and the bars of her cage. I tried to talk to her calmly and pet her through the bars of the cage. She calmed down briefly, but then got started again. While watching the road, I reached over to pet her again and left my hand there to hopefully comfort her. Well, she didn't mean to (at least, I don't think she meant to) but she grabbed one of my fingers (the pinky) with her paw and proceeded to rip a hole in it. It was quite painful and I radioed for Darrell to pull over and get me a bandaid. The bandaid wouldn't hold, so I secured it was some ducttape.

With one pinky down, I continued the drive. Our next stop would be north of Indianapolis where I took the opportunity to go ahead and put some diesel in the truck and get a snack. Before getting there though, Molly freaked out again and did the whole scratching at her cage bit again. This time it was more humorous (ok, I was sad at the time) because she was feeling more of the sedative and would sort of just pass out mid freak out. At one point, she was biting the bars and she just sort of closed her eyes and layed there in the cage all crooked with her back leg on the box inside the cage and her front paw gripping the cage above her head. I tried to make sure that she wasn't in pain, and after a few minutes, she got up, crawled into her box with the blanket, and went to sleep.

Molly was pretty calm for the remainder of the trip. She was "peaking" on her sedative at this point and so she pretty much just laid there and slept.

Our last stop on the trip up was the Flying J at exit 240 on I-65. I always like to stop here before going into the city to fill up with fuel because filling up in the city is so much more expensive. After talking to Darrell, he agreed to go on ahead while some of us ate some lunch and discussed the game plan. Back on the road, we followed the route I had planned around the construction north of I-80/94 on I-65 and then made it back to the skyway for our entrance to the city. The I-PASSes made it a lot easier.

With no issues, we made it to the new apartment and I got the truck backed into position.

The first order of business was to unload molly and her supplies. I prepared the litter box while everyone else started working. We developed a bit of a system where a couple of us remained downstairs by the truck, a couple of people upstairs to move boxes and stuff, and then a couple of floaters to help move things up and down the service elevator. This system worked well, but we could have used 1-3 more people I think. If you have read the post I wrote the other day titled Intermission, you will recall that I had to move the truck a couple of times. Well, right before that happend is when i sliced my other pinky. I was moving my dining room table and it had a staple on the bottom of it that had left a sharp point. Of all the times I moved it, now is when I cut myself. So, not only was that woman rude, but she had terrible timing with my finger hurting.

In 2-3 hours, the truck was unloaded, despite my two pinky fingers hurting like hell. It was now time to take the truck back. Fortunatly, Merle agreed to follow Robbie and I as we sought out a place to get diesel and then returned the truck. Getting diesel was a whole adventure on its own. I am used to seeing diesel everywhere, but this is apparently not the case in the city. We drove to nearly the interstate on Irving Park Rd before we found a station with diesel. Getting into it was difficult, but I made it ok. Getting out was equally a pain, but when you are driving a big truck, people tend to get the hell out of your way once you decide to move.

I had called the return place since they had a note about a special drop off location during Cubs games, which I had found out beforehand would be going on the day of the move. The drop off was fortunately off Irving Park road, so that was a little bit of good luck. Merle picked us up and then drove as close as he could get to Clark street right across from Wrigley Field. He dropped Robbie and I off and we turned in the keys. Merle picked us up on Racine a block or so away.

On the way back, Merle was kind enough to purchase some chicken from El Pollo Loco on Wilson. This made a great dinnertime snack.

Finally, the move was complete and the great unpacking could begin.