omg this tv is amaaaaaaazing. 46″ of wowness. the picture quality is beyond words. it’s a bit crazy going to a tv that’s twice the size as the old one. it’s taking a bit of adjustment but i think i can manage. getting the damn thing was a journey in and of itself. i had requested dhl to make another delivery attempt so i decided to work from home so i could be here for that. of course they still had it on hold at the station for pick up so my friend andrew and i had to rent a zipcar and journey down to the southside to pick it up. that was just grand. as we were walking down broadway to pick up the car it was sleeting and i was trying to have a conference call with work. good times. i finally got the tv and it was sort of worth the battle. especially the one i had trying to set it up. it ended up being a lot heavier than i had expected. i tried lifting it out of the box only to realize that it wasn’t happening. so i had to lightly turn the box over on its side and slide the tv out and drag it into the living room. at this point i had to muster enough strength up to pick it up off the floor.

good times.

after reviewing my most current cell phone bill i have determined that i have enough rollover minutes saved up that i could talk on the phone for five consecutive days and never hang up and still have a bit left over.

bleh, what is up with me having even less to talk about than normal?

this year is just flying by. it’s already the end of february and summer will be here soon (wishful thinking). i seriously can’t take much more of this cold weather. it’s great in small doses, but after it having been freezing outside for almost two consecutive months i’m about to go crazy.

of course monday was president’s day. we didn’t have the day off at work but i took it off anyway (at the persuasion of joe). we ended up going to the field museum and had a freaking great time. so many fun moments. while we were in the pacific northeast section of the historic americas area there was this video of native americans doing their thing … all of a sudden we spotted this man sitting down on a bench, he looked very transient-esque. anyway, he was wearing something that resembled a track suit and underneath it something that looked like a scout leaders shirt, but it really looked like it was native american in style. anyway, we ran into him like five more times as we wandered around and it was all rather coincidental as though he had just walked off the screen. hmmmm, yeah … that was supposed to be funny. i guess you had to be there. THAT GUY FROM THE FILM!

and the most exciting part … i finally figured out all the exporting and conversions that needed to happen to get this to work finally. i have transferred content from my tivo, converted it to .mpg and then to .mov and then to a flash video file, and i finally got it uploaded, posted and steaming correctly. the goal is to make this video posting a regular thing, depending on how much of my alloted bandwidth i use up. although, i have a significant amount of bandwidth so i should be okay. it’s a medium-sized file (1.5MB) but it’s so worth it (i’ll work on optimizing compression quality & file size soon) …

i have made the ultimate purchase! a 46″ HDTV. i’m beyond excited about it. i didn’t have plans to get one for a few months but i came across an amazing deal and i just couldn’t resist. this could quite possibly be the best purchase i’ve ever made (right after the HD TiVo). as if i wasn’t addicted to tv now. i can’t freaking wait to watch nat geo & discovery channels in HD.

saturday was a lazy day. and then today was filled with trying to walk around in the slush/ice that has covered all of the sidewalks. i went to the grocery store earlier this evening and i stepped in what i thought was just snow but actually turned out to be a pool of ice water covered by snow. this weather needs to disappear as soon as possible. i’m so very ready to bust out the shorts.

i thought i had more to write about but i’ve clearly since forgotten everything temporarily. later perhaps.

hooray! so my tax refund is set to be deposited on 22 Feb. this means if all goes as planned i’ll be able to buy my new couch next weekend. i’m now officially 98% set on the couch from crate & barrel. i’ve ordered the fabric swatches to inspect and everything. getting it will be a whole other issue though. i haven’t decided if i’m going to go with the stock fabric or custom fabric, so who knows how long it will be before i actually get the couch.

i finally finished and sent out my 2007 summer promo recap deck at work today. the never-ending campaign is finally behind me for good. what a relief. i finally feel like i’m getting some items completed off of my to-do list.

i’ve been wanting a puppy really badly for quite a while now. after a lot of thought i’m considering a cat. the ex had a tabby american shorthair that  i absolutely adored and actually didn’t have a very much of an allergic reaction to at all. i think if i got an air filter and had a place with hardwood floors and just kept up with changing the sheets rather frequently i could actually live with a cat and have no problems. i think i need to visit an allergist to get tested and see if the immunotherapy would be of any benefit to me. i’m trying not too get excited about it, it’s at least 5 or 6 months from happening anyway.

okay that’s all i’ve got.

so more important than anything else, my cable crisis has been solved. it was something silly and a potential solve i knew would probably fix it but i was too lazy to do it. i got bored earlier today and sure enough running guided setup again and setting it to the new channel lineup fixed it.

i’m really craving ice cream right now. tons of ice cream. i am really tempted to go get icream right now but it’s -2°F outside and with wind chill it’s like -17°F and i’m sure as hell not that desperate for ice cream. or am i? i keep getting so close to convincing myself to go do it. yeah, i’m that crazy and spontaneous sometimes. i’m hoping i’ll soon just be tired enough to forget about wanting something yummy to eat. i just need to hold off until tomorrow, then i can also get everything i need to make broccoli and cheese tater tot casserole (i’m taking up cooking and baking as a new hobby).

as if i wasn’t super nerdy before, i’ve taken a turn towards for being even more nerdy. along with my addiction to reading the wall street journal online, i’ve become addicted to npr. between online streaming and the podcasts, i just can’t get enough. well, except for the mid-day crap that is reeeally boring. on a related note, my iPhone is out of room AGAIN and i’m having to decide what to unsync from it in order to make room for newer, better stuff. this is seriously starting to concern me as when the sdk for the iPhone is released later this month, i will then have to clear off even more space on my iPhone for applications that i might want.

i have nothing else, for now.

You would think my scary saber-toothed tiger would keep people out of my office, but you’d be wrong.

i’m so tired of these bogus winter storm predictions that just don’t come to fruition. i get all excited thinking it will be bad enough to warrant the office being closed and then it just doesn’t happen. granted it did snow a lot today, it certainly didn’t get bad enough to not have to go into the office tomorrow.

i’m just hoping the journey to work isn’t as bad as it was today. it was sleeting this morning and to make it worse i think my umbrella is at my friend john’s place. the walk to the bus stop was bad enough with the wind blowing cold ice into my face but it got so much more worse as i stood on the corner of foster & ashland waiting for the #92 bus to come. there was a point while i was standing there that i just wanted to go home and climb back into bed, either that or just start crying. it was at the point that i realized that as much as i love winter with its snow and cold weather, i’m so done with it for a while. spring and summer need to hurry up and get here.

speaking of spring and summer arriving shortly, it looks like i’ll be playing on a softball league starting in may. this should be fun(ny). i’ve warned my friend who got me to join that i haven’t played since i was 7 so this is bound to be an interesting adventure.

in other horrific news, my cable card that is in my tivo messed up sometime today and random channels aren’t showing up. tonight’s episode of project runway didn’t get recorded! i’m hoping it gets fixed soon so i can catch a re-air sometime soon. rcn totally blows, i think i need to consider the move to the equally bad comcast.

i’m trying to decide what i’m going to do apartment-wise as my lease will be coming up for renewal in four months. while i do have plenty of time to find a new place, i have less than 60 days to decide if i want to move or give it another year here. i have this horrible fear of not being able to find something decent in my price range. do i want a 1 bedroom or a large studio? do i stay in andersonville or try a new neighborhood? roommate or no roommate? too many decisions to make.

i’m 5% closer to purchasing the couch (for a total of 95% sure). i think i’m going to go this weekend to check it out once more before i order fabric swatches and place my order. oh yeah, and i should probably make sure it will fit in my place as well.

and now it’s nearly 3am and i’m not asleep yet. i probably shouldn’t have taken a nap earlier this evening.

it’s hard to believe that it’s already february. we’re 1/12 through the year. before we know it it will be july.

this week seemed to go by rather quickly. the highlight of the week would definitely have to be thursday. turner sports took some of us from work to dinner and to see a show at second city. i had never gone and had been wanting to for a while now. second city is absolutely amazing. very similar to gayco, which i love as well. i’m definitely going to have to start going to the shows more often.

it ended up snowing an insane amount on thursday. i woke up and opened the front door this morning and there was about 6-8 inches out there. i ended up working from home today which was just more stressful than i care to think about right now.

ah the most exciting news of all … i finally got my membership card for the art institute this week! i can’t wait to go again, it’s been ages since i’ve gone.

until later.