Jack

The trip to Ohio for Christmas was incredible. I was overwhelmed with the welcome I received from the Carter family. This being my first Christmas away from home, it was a wonderful treat to be with such incredible folks. We also imposed a little more than expected on their hospitality. Here's how it happened:

On the 22nd, Tiff and I were watching a movie at home. She was checking out dogs on web sites and stumbled, like you do online, into an area she wasn't trying to. She found a site where they gave a countdown to euthanasia. I know, horrible, right? Somehow she found Jack, Jack Frost. He is a Lab/Scottie mix and was scheduled to be put down on Christmas Eve. He was part of a pair from the same litter. He and his sister, Candy Cane were not going to see Christmas. We had discussed getting a dog when the time was right. This was not that time, but we also were having trouble letting this one go.

I went to work on the 23rd and Tiff was going to look into the dog's fate. By the time I got home, he was here. We agreed to support each other's decisions, as they would potentially need to be made quickly. We brought home Jack and promptly took him to Ohio. The little guy didn't know which way was up for a few days for sure.

On to the dilemna before us now. We have a lease that says no pets without written permission. We contacted our landlord and requested said permission. We were denied and rudely so. The conversation went so badly from their end, that I was all but sworn at. My intent was to keep the conversation civil and seek to find a solution. The two options I was given were the dog goes or we go. He would discuss it no further.

Tiff and I have been exploring both of those options over the last day or so. We have a couple folks that are interested in Jack. We have even more options on new apartments. We would be responsible for subletting our place through the end of April when our lease is up. There absolutely no intent to stay here beyond that point, even without Jack. There had been some issues here wqe were unhappy about, but we also had wanted a place to call home for a couple years too. This stint of rudeness (and hypocracy, they have a yappy dog themselves upstairs) has us ready to go.

So here we are. As the clash said, "should we stay or should we go now?" Tiff and I await a clear sign.

Just for laughs...

http://fuckyoupenguin.blogspot.com/

Colorado on the Quick

This year will be the first year I am not going back to Denver for Christmas. Ohio is where I will wait for Santa and I am pretty excited to spend it with Tiff's family. It has been a difficult reality to swallow though, not seeing my own family. Ergo, when the sagging business of the Cafe prompted them to scale back hours and they gave me three days off in a row, I contacted my friend Frontier Airlines to see if they had a reasonable flight. Success.





I flew out on Sunday night after the Ramble and was shocked to leave 40 degree Chicago for -15 degree Denver. My folks picked me up and we headed back to the house for some homemade potato soup. Delicious! I hopped up early with the sole objective to return to Chicago as tired as possible on Wed. Dad and I headed to Lucille's (Denver) for some amazing cajun breakfast! Seriously one of my favorite restaurants ever!

He took me a few blocks to Scott's house where we set out on a mission to get a scanned photo for him. That resulted in much time spent waiting, but hey waiting with a good friend isn't so bad. We caught up on several subjects with the quick jumping topic nature that happens when you are just enjoying talking a lot. After success there we grabbed some coffee and he tried to take me home only to discover the key pad to let me in was dead. In a high school like flashback, I got dropped off at the mall (Best Buy) till my Mom picked me up. Very surreal.

I was actually picked up by another friend now living in Denver, Emily. She and I hit one of my new favorite cafe's. Solid Grounds is a great spot, should you find yourself in the Denver area. My Mom swung by and we had fantastic coffee and veggie burritos. On the home front, we had Dad's mexican dish. So far tons of good food and friends. An excellent first day. Except I could not wait till the next day to see my awesome niece and nephew. They were bigger and cuter.

On the second day, I ran out to meet Scotty at his place first thing in the morning. He took me to his audition and I was able to crash it. Not only that, but we were able to go in together. That was super fun and hopefully it works out that I would have to call my friends Frontier again in Jan. We boogied around west Denver a while till it was time to meet my friend Mereth for lunch. I wanted to introduce Scott and Mereth and discovered introducing two friends from different area of my life just meant I was going to get ragged on from two different eras of my life. Yeah.

Scotty then took us over to Jason Knauf's place and we chatted for a bit before I split to head home. I had Sydney and Lincoln's gifts from Tiff and I to wrap. I also needed to weed through the diminishing stack of thing in the basement to see what I could take back to Chi. Mom brought tons of lasagna home and Jen brought the tribe over. That was super fun as the pictures indicate. My evening was shorter than usual though as I had to get up at 3:30am to catch my 6am flight home.

By 12pm I was at work once again... whew!

Rudolph Ramble

Not only did I not fall down, I did 7 min and 49 second miles! Definitely felt the difference between smoking and non on this one. I have never done both before, so it was eye opening. Quit date is coming very soon!

Ugliest Shirt Ever

I am running the Rudolph Ramble this weekend and am getting more and more concerned about the cold and running on ice. As prep I have been keeping to my regular routes outdoors. I will welcome the track at my gym after this weekend considerably more often. I decided to try out the technical shirt from the Turkey Trot to see how much warmth it provided. Not bad, but I still think I will be wearing my UnderArmor long sleeve as well as my North Face vest. I was walking Clark St. home from the gym as I just missed a bus and feeling a little wussy that the chill was getting to me. That was at least until I saw a temperature reading of 16 degrees.

This and That

It cracked me up recently to discover I was voted most likely to drink the most on a Facebook survey by "friends." I am not discounting the folks that voted for me versus whoever else was up on the "Compare Me" option, but it did serve as a reminder that Facebook, like every other networking/friend site is a little detached from who I actually am. Don't get me wrong, it has given me an opportunity to keep in touch with some folks that are valued friends, just not in frequent communication.

I was recently treated to seeing some live friends with our friend Jason's sudden visit to Chicago. I kid you not, I had just read on MySpace that he was here for just a short visit and would likely not see all of us when a knock came at the door. There was our traveling Baron right there. We had breakfast at Salt and Pepper and played Halo 2 for a while. It felt like old times for a bit here in Chicago, when Ft. Collins faces were always around.

I have been auditioning again, with a passion. Last week I was able to get out on 3 of them. That helped a lot as far as knocking some of the rust. There was some moments of goodness and some moments of blundering. All in all though, for those 10 minutes or so I was up before people, it was a lot of friggin' fun.

My Meisner class has also been fun for getting a chance to get up in front of people. I have mentioned that I am understanding it to be a tool to use in lieu of Stanisavski's approach. It seems to be based on being true to the moment and following emotioanal truths. All this is well and good, but the effort to implement it has been repetitions thus far and we are just getting into imaginary circumstances. Mostly I am enjoying being active, but I am starting to see where my weaknesses are. Oddly, I can take a direct attack but compliments are like Kryptonite. I also have trouble making a comment that might be offensive and not getting in my head.

Also being in my head lately, my not smoking campaign has taken a minor set back. It has been a week or so since I began having the occasional smoke. Part of me wants to feel good that it has been so minor, but I also know that is irrelevant, it's like They Might Be Giants said, "can't shake the devil's hand and say you're only kidding." In effort to stay honest I wanted to let you all know. I have my quit gear ready to go, stay tuned for a new quit date very soon. Partially I want to get quit again because I have developed a considerable interest in running. I and have invested in gear to keep running and try and improve some. My goal is still to do the Chicago Marathon next year. I have the Rudolph Ramble this Sunday, another 8K. If my 4 mile run today is any indicator, it will be considerably more difficult if it rains or there is any ice on the ground.

That is about enough for now of this.

From Turkey to Tofurkey

It was a hell of a nice, low key Thanksgiving. Tiff and I were heading to Ohio for the big day till I found out The Girl had me scheduled to double on Wed and Fri. Not even Megabus could help me there. Tiff and Laurel chatted and decided on a vegetarian feast at our place. I was told a couple days later. The irony of our place hosting a vegetarian Thanksgiving is that this is the home our friends unveiled the deep fryer for the big meal.

The added bonus to being here was that I could do another 8K run. Laurel had already signed up and I was thrilled to do so as well. The run was good, but not as much fun as the PAWS run in Sept. There were 6000 people there and the race folks seemed as annoyed as a checker at Jewel that morning. The run itself was super fun, just too crowded. I am hoping the Rudolph Ramble next month may be more sparse. It was also a relief to see my new cold weather gear worked out. I am weighing the benefits of the all-natural New Zealand wool, Merino, over UnderArmor. It's natural versus synthetic. I tried a combo of both on this one, but have to say the natural stuff was much better than expected.

For technical purposes, I went with an UnderArmor base shirt, jacket, and shorts. I used IceBreaker for the leggings, cap, and socks. Much thanks to the ever helpful staff at Uncle Dans. I appreciate that they never just laugh when I ask stupid questions. At some point soon I may fenture into an actual running store. I am starting to feel like an actual runner though. Not bad for a guy that used to smoke a pack and a half a day since I was 16. It's been a lot of fun so far.

Back at the house we faced an unexpected problem. Our "turkey" needed to thaw overnight or it would require 3hrs to cook. That was significantly longer than we expected. None the less, the feast came together. Laurel brought a scruptous pie and salad and we ate well. A point of interest though for those thinking of trying the Tofurkey: It's denser than turkey. I tried to eat my regular amount of "turkey" and it immobilized me. I am not kidding when I say I sat through 3 and half Harry Potter movies without being able to do much.

Lastly by request here is a better picture of the ring. Much thanks to all the congrats! We have been very moved!

She said Yes!

So I have made some effort to get calls out to as many people as I can to tell them first hand, but felt it was time to make the announcement via Captain Stupie. On November 17th, I asked Tiffany to marry me. As the title would suggest, it went well. I had surprised her with a tip to Vegas for her birthday. We stayed at the MGM Grand and had a tremendously relaxing day with room service, shopping, and even splurged on a trip to the hotel gym.

Tiff had selected one of the restaurants at the hotel for dinner, FiAMMA Trattoria. I had every aspect of this trip worked out so as to be as prepared as was possible. That included reservations at 2 different places that night. Sadly, FiAMMA was not one of them. I scrambled after she told me and told the host we would like a really great table and why. As a wonderful coincidence though, this was the restaurant Adam and Jenn had their rehearsal dinner before being married at MGM 4yrs ago. Good mojo there!

We went up to the room to get ready. For her birthday I had given her 2 new dresses she had admired. While Tiff got dressed I threw on an oxford and jeans and drank coffee watching TV. When it was close to time for us to leave, I changed into the new 3 piece suite I bought for the night. That got just the reaction I had hoped for.

We arrived at the restaurant at 8 and did indeed get a great table. After our order was placed I told Tiff I had one one gift for her and pulled out the little wrapped box. Tiffany & Co had wrapped it in their signature paper and ribbon and gave me a hell of a delema. I had always wanted to present the ring in an open box. However, the presentation of the Tiffany & Co. could not be denied either. I let her unwrap it and the said I needed to see the box again before she opened it. Puzzled, Tiff handed the ring box back to me and I slid out of the booth. I got on my knee and asked her if she would marry me.

She said yes.

I don't get tired of saying that either! I had thought I would use my usual cleverness to say something wonderful, funny, or charming but as it turns out I was only able to say the important part. The staff was all lined up behind Tiff watching as well, giving me an audience I had not expected.

It was one of the most amazing nights of my life. I am a grateful and lucky man!

Uncharted Turf

I am now 5 months smoke free. Well, 5 months and three days to be exact. That is now 3 days over the last effort. Just wanted to drop an update as I heard that the most suspicious behavior is silence where it comes to smoking. I won't lie, as of late there has been a hell of a craving. I am trying to run it out of me.

Back in Class

As result of a discussion with Tiff a couple weeks ago, I went and signed up for a class. I have long heard that taking a Miesner class would help me a ton. I decided the time was now and went and signed up for one at Act One Studios. That simple act has caused all sorts of fun second guessing.

What had long held me back from taking a class was the belief that the gut was the best tool for stage work. A couple years ago though, it occurred to me that denying myself further training to stay out of my head fell into the same logic as not doing design work (ie staying a barista and poor) so as I would stay hungry, literally, for acting work. I now believe that to truly trust the gut, knowledge can be either helpful or hindering, but not in and of itself harmful. This may all seem simple enough, but it took me a while to put it together.

Class was fun though. I am to understand the first steps in Meisner technique involve observations and repetitions. Basically we sat across from partners and told them what we saw and repeat what we heard. I enjoyed it a lot. The two things I found out was that I am not intimidated to tell people what I see nor bashful about hearing what they see. The second was that consistantly I heard that I looked confidant. That surprised me some. Actually, hearing I looked like Flea really surprised me.

I love what I want to do. Being in front of people, entertaining... that is still the only thing I want to do.

Historic Night in Grant Park

After getting up at 5:30am to get out and vote, tonight's celebration in Grant Park was a surreal and wonderful moment of history to enjoy. Many thanks to Dorrie for setting up the rendevoux at Rock Bottom and many, many thanks to Christa for letting me be her "plus 1." tonight to the only show in town. There was such an amazing cross section of every walk of life in the park tonight. It was a moment beyond words. That and I just got home and am too tired to think of many.

Monty Python "couldn't write" a Palin scenario

Either way

I am very excited that the election is so very close. In part it is my usual, "I can not wait to stop hearing about it." It hit me today how strange it is that the headlines are touting the high campaign spending totals and we are in the midst of an economic free-fall. Surely some those campaign dollars are helping some folks out. Right?

What I am excited about mostly is the possibility that hope may be close. I am supporting Obama without reservation next week. While I don't think he will fix everything, I think he will instill some hope in a generation or two that have honestly NEVER known a time they trusted their government. I read that is the easiest way to tell when the Baby boomer generation ended was asking the question, "do you remember when you trusted your government?"

For the first time it feels as if we who answered that question with"no" might be able to say "yes" at last. I have found myself enthusiastic about it even, but reluctant to try and sway others. Even discussing it with members of my family that vote Republican without fail makes me tense. I am unable to maintain a rational perspective when faced with the sort of blind following the McCain ticket seems to have. Every argument from the right seems not so much to contain actual ideas of fixing the problem but accusations on how Obama can't do it. It is so reliable, it has become as annoying as noticing when someone consistently says "um or "like" when they are speaking. It rapidly is all you hear.

Then there's Palin. I am astonished how she has not become an out and out deal breaker for even the most devote Republicans. To me there seems to be a difference between conservative and Palin. She is in favor of BANNING BOOKS!! How is that in anyway close to the Republican "less government" some of my family speaks of. If McCain were not such the elderly statesman, this might seem as non-issue, but he would become our oldest president should he be elected. There is every possibility he could not survive a term in office, making Palin our new president. Librarians and state troopers everywhere should shudder at that prospect.

More than anything, I hope that we seen record turn outs next week. It is embarrassing how few voters take advantage of the option. Next week, I will be putting my country first and voting Obama.

Thank you Daily Show!

Funny 'cause it's probably true

One heartattack away from reality

OHIO!!

Awesome!

"What kind of training?"

I am happy to report that I am home at last in Chicago. It's not that I don't enjoy the road, I do. I think it was the fact that when I left Chicago on August 23rd for a Caldera job, I thought I was returning on Sept 9th. Then I got the call for a PA job in LA that took me there from Sept 10th through Sept 27th. The return to Chicago on the 27th got all sorts of weird when I suddenly became a truck driver to Colorado Springs for the commercial I was working on. It looked a tad grim I would make it back when I was expecting. That was till Max (travel coordinator) improvised and sent me home out of Albuquerque. Yet you know that part of the story.

Shortly after getting to LA, I agreed to stay on for the Colorado portion on the commercial. I bought another Frontier flight from Chicago, Sept 29th through Oct 5th. The majority of that time was spent down in Colorado Springs on the Ft Carson Army base. It was an Army commercial, in case I forgot to mention it. That was the first time I had worked on a commercial where the background did not drive me crazy. Well that is when they were actually from the Army. When we were in LA and we had the standard LA background, I wanted to kill them all. Seriously, there is not a more useless group anywhere on set. The ARE cattle. I was grateful for the chance to make some extra cash by doing background, but it was difficult for company those days.

I had a great day with Mom when I was done in the Springs. We had Lucile's and St. Mark's. Mom registered to vote which was very exciting since Colorado is apparently a swing state for the first time in years. We went shopping and later had soup with the whole family. Adam and Jen came by with their brood. Sydney is getting cuter by the day. Judge for yourself below. Lincoln is still just a one trick pony. He sleeps.

I am glad to be back, although these last couple days have had the looming work of some design projects. I am glad for the freelance gig's, but it is tough for me to keep a schedule. For example, I will work on something all night till I like it. I am not being paid to do so. I am being paid for 5 hrs of work. I also forget to give myself breaks. Now that I don't smoke (4 months this Fri), I have very little to remind me to step away and maybe... EAT. I am trying to manage my freelance work as if it were someone else. I tend to treat employees a hell of a lot better than I do myself.


Tomorrow I go back to the Girl and return to waiting tables. Yet again I have to train for my job. They moved across the street while I was away. That is a big step, but more so for those that have become entrenched in their old ways at the original store.

Delving into the mind set of veteran employees at a children's store is an effort for a different entry.

For now I am savoring just being back. It's raining and chilly. I love it!!! Soon I will attempt to get back to more of a thought provoking Stupie. For now, "fire bad, trees good."