the iPad adds 5 pounds

Not unexpectedly, my weight has increased this year.  Less running, more eating not-the-healthiest
foods and partaking of adult beverages at my age equals weight increase.  At a high point the scale read 219 lbs.  I've managed to get back to around 210 with a small resurgence of my running.  Now that we are about six weeks away from winter, I don't expect to lose any more weight because it seems the body is designed to store fat for winter.

I haven't done as much posting here as I'd like.  I work from home on Fridays and that is when I do the bulk of my writing.  However over the summer, my mom has been hanging around and it is hard for me to concentrate and be creative when she is watching TV 10 feet away.  She often hangs out until 9 or 10 which burns my morning and then I have other things to do like my day job.

Speaking of which, my day job is going away.  We got the news the last week of June at the office that we had been expecting for some time now.   My company TopFive has discovered that it is an accounting firm, not an IT firm and as such, it has decided to explore Outsourcing the IT department.  We are of course using the current buzz word "Managed Services" but it is really the same thing.

I don't really want to work for a law firm again but if I have to, knowing what I know about the expectations, I would demand top dollar.   In early September I basically talked my way out of a potential job because my salary requirements are too high.

I saw a job I was interested in several weeks ago and was going to tweak my resume to match it.  Before I got a chance, the listing was removed.  So then I mind-fucked myself by apply for a few jobs before tweaking my resume at all, so I probably screwed the pooch on those as well.

Every 8 years or so, I go through a Sheldon Crisis. In 1999, I lost my job, broke my toe, and was mugged within a two week period of what was already a shitty year.  In 2007, I was on the hot seat at the No-Name Software Company and had to get out as quickly as possible for my own sanity.  I suppose 2009 was a mini-Sheldon Crisis when Fiance 1.0 moved out while I was in St Louis, though the 2nd half of that year ended well.

Friday Photo: Entitled Neighbor of the Week

This neighbor is not exactly endearing himself to the tenants of our block.  he spent last summer
building his garage in his spare time.  He worked on it here and there in the evenings presumably when he got home from his paying day job.  Which means instead of everyone suffering through the noise of pounding hammers and blocked alleyways for a short, consecutive set of days he spread the annoyance throughout the summer.  There is nothing like trying to enjoy a glass of wine on your deck while someone pounds a hammer 100 yards away.

i cannot fathom why he needs to place his van in this position.  Technically he's not blocking the alley but it does require a little careful manevering if you have a larger vehicle.  I suppose he could be loading and unloading or even by having the van act as a door it makes it harder from someone to snatch and grab.  He's only 50 yards away from the cross street which has plenty of parking so why not put the van there while working on the garage?

I think I'm only bitching because many a time last summer his van was out much further and did block the alley.  And also the noise pollution.

What does a birthday party for two 1 year olds cost?

I'm sure it will vary from family to family but we did a simple pizza party for family and close friends.  Here are some of the costs I managed to capture:

*SUPAROSSA BIAGIO'S Party package --    $ 134.00
*MARCO RENTAL Tent                  --            $ 218.00
*FAMOUS LIQUORS -                             --    $  98.40
___________________________________________________

 $450.40

That is just for rental of a tent, table and chairs.  Party Pizza Package #1 -- five 18” Family Size Pizzas, Bucket 24 Wings & Two 2-Liters of Coke.) and some beer.

That doesn't include a few extra items from Jewel (including more soda because Nightingale is a people pleaser whereas I'm like we have Coke and Diet Coke, love it or drink wine), a couple of Wine Club purchases and the cakes.  The wine club purchases were more of a combination for the party and for us.  The food from Jewel of course included other items not just for the party.

I would say that we did it for just slightly under a grand.  

Unexpectedly working from home today

Moose and squirrel weren't feeling well this morning so I got to stay home with them.  I didn't bring my laptop home with me though I had thought about it briefly yesterday before leaving work.  I figured I'd bring it home tonight since I wanted to WFH Thursday and Friday.  Now I have to go into the office tomorrow.

The kids are napping now and seem to be better once the medicine kicked in and they got some food in their bellies.  I should have gone in this am, got my laptop and then picked them up from daycare at noon. However, there is no guarantee that my exit from work would have been easy or that I wouldn't get caught in some traffic snafu.

So my goal for this blog this year was 10 posts per month and surprisingly I've m more or less managed to keep that pace.  True some of the posts are very lame even by personal blog standards.  I haven't posted much over at ChicagoNow either because it is hard to find the energy and enthusiasm lately.  I like having a place to write my thinky thoughts and record some of the events of my personal day to day activity since I no longer maintain a journal. 

Ranking the days of the week

Because why not.

In order from best to worst:  

1. Friday: Adult's favorite.
2. Saturday: Children's favorite
3. Sunday: Children's second favorite but school is the next day so boo.
   
4. Thursday: Single People's favorite.
   
5. Monday: Meeting Monday, Meatless Monday, WTF.
   
6. Wednesday: Hump day, need I say more.
   
7. Tuesday:  I have always hated Tuesdays.

Friday Photo: National Passport Day fail

I meant to post these a few weeks ago but there was too much commotion going on at the Icarus Household. 

Ranking the Seasons and the Months

Scalzi did this a few weeks ago and invited his readers to chime in.  I figured I'd just do one on my blog instead. First, ranking the seasons.

Autumn has been my favorite season for as long as I can remember. Summer has become a close enough second as I entered adulthood.  Winter was my favorite when I was a kid because snow but once I reached a point where it was more of a inconvenience than a fun thing, it dropped.

Spring has never really appealed to me, probably because we don't get much of one in Chicago.  We get a winter that overstays its welcome, followed by a few weeks of rain and then we usually get a hot, humid summer.

Okay now for my months.  In order (sorta) from best to worst:

1. October: Halloween. Sweater weather. Foliage.
2. September: Taste of Polonia, cool weather with hot days.
3. May: My birthday, Polish Constitution Day.
4. December: I'll go with the holidays and winter doesn't seem as cold
5. November:Thanksgiving in the US.
6. June: summer arrives but many are still in school taking finals
7. July:Independence Day plus weeks of illegal fireworks.
8. August: Dog Days lead to May babies
9. January: It's always dark, cold and boring.
10. February: Winter's Asshole Month
11. March: Sometimes Easter ergo I hate it too.
12. April: I hate this month for many reasons I needn't go into.

Feel free to add your rankings in the comments.