Friday, 20 August 2004: I got a kick out of a dream Katie had last night. It's pretty innocent, so I don't see her having a problem with me telling it to all of you. Anyway, in her dream, she was on the show "American Choppers." That in and of itself is pretty funny. However, it gets better. The Pauls were making her a custom chopper and they were telling her that they didn't have a frame small enough for her (my wife is 5' 2 1/2" tall). So they had to do a severe custom job on an existing frame to make it small enough and it was going to cost her something like $100,000. The dream made both of us laugh.

Thursday, 19 August 2004: Yep, Katie and I are still hooked on the Olympics. Much to the detriment of our now by-the-wayside Netflix rentals.

More specifically, we have really been getting into the gymnastics competitions. I've always watched the women's gymnastics meets, but I've never watched the guys before. That has changed this year with Paul Hamm and the gang. And these guys are amazing. Not to take away from the women who are incredible as well. Graceful, incredibly powerful, and poised unlike any athletes I've ever seen.

Gymnastics may not be the thing that you would expect a football and baseball lovin' guy to enjoy, but I do (and, for the record, I'm a big fan of figure skating as well). I think it has to do with the fascination level. When you look at all the different events in the Olympics, gymnastics events are the only ones I could never possibly participate in personally. I'm not saying that I'd be good at the other events, but I can do them. I can swim, I can run, I can jump (except for pole vaulting). None of them particularly well. But I am a pretty decent shot with a rifle, pistol, and bow. So there really isn't as much fascination with those events.

Then there's gymnastics. Damn. Uneven bars? No. Pommelhorse? Nuh uh. Vault? Are you insane? Parallel bars? Okay, admittedly I did enjoy playing around on parallel bars when they left them out after team practices back in high school. So, I can honestly say that I am really in awe of all these gymnasts. It takes a lot to make your body do those things that are otherwise very unnatural and uncomfortable, to boot.

To all-around gold medallists Paul Hamm and Carly Patterson, congrats. You deserve it.

Wednesday, 18 August 2004: How can you not love this one? I found a Reuters article online about how the wholesale club CostCo is now selling caskets. Yes, "caskets" as in final resting place for people who are life challenged. May sound a bit morbid and I'd tend to agree. But, think about it realistically, some people say that the only way out of a tough life is death. This is not always the case. Do you have any idea how much it costs to die these days? Medical expenses, funeral home, service costs, burial, maintenance fees, et al. It ain't cheap. So, I guess if you can alleviate some of the costs by purchasing a casket (which, in itself, tends to be quite expensive) at a wholesale market, then why not?

Katie did bring up a good point, though. What if a funeral home (who I believe do some selling of caskets themselves from time to time) does not allow outside caskets in? I dunno if this would ever be the case, but it could become an issue.

Anyway, I just hope I don't walk in to CostCo and see the caskets sitting right beside the frozen foods section. Hey, maybe cryogenics is the next logical step for CostCo. They certainly have the freezer space. Heh heh.

Tuesday, 17 August 2004: Amid all the chaos of yesterday and the fact that I was completely hating my 8-5 existence, some good did come out of it. I received a call in the early afternoon from the WXRT 93.1 FM promotions office telling me that I had won two tickets to see Diana Krall tonight at the Auditorium Theater in Chicago.

Diana Krall, for those not in the know, is a jazz vocalist and pianist. She's put out about five or six very critically acclaimed albums. Very slow, smooth sound. Much slower than, say, a Norah Jones. But very good stuff all the same.

So we took the train, yet again, to Chicago for the show and walked the mile and a quarter to the theater. I dunno if Katie was totally into it. She had a hard day at work and then she wore sandals for the show.

By the time all was said and done, she was beat and had blisters to boot. But the concert was good. I even found a new band to enjoy in Krall's opening act, Ollabelle, a group from NYC that sounds akin to a fusion of blues, roots, and gospel. Really good stuff. Met most of the band after their show and they autographed their CD for me. Check their site (linked above) for more information.

Katie, I really am sorry about the walk. Honestly, I am. But thank you for going with me. :)

Monday, 16 August 2004: Take a day off at work and you certainly pay for it the next time you're in there. That's my Monday. It's a veritable shitstorm. 41 e-mails waiting for me. A ton of little jobs. A few big design jobs. Phone calls. Meetings. And not nearly enough oxygen to feed my brain to keep me going.

I need a vacation. Hmmm... wait... let me rethink that a bit.