argh, feels kinda weird. i signed a contract on a place today. its a small-ish 1 bedroom condo located between home and work. heres the floorplan:

http://www.fourlakescondos.com/market/floorplans.asp?FloorPlanId=71776

anyway, been kinda preoccupied by it. i should probably finish working for the night and crash. latre.


posted by yodaslap at 2:05 AM

Hey Dan, cool photos, thanks for sharing. Glad you had a good time on your trip! You really like palm trees, huh? :-) Some of the beach shots are really lovely, like the "seal beach" one--great lighting. The "small stream" is very pretty too. The surfer photo is classic postcard material! Also, I appreciated the shots of Tijuana because I'm currently learning Spanish and so have a heightened interest in anything Hispanic. Though Tijuana is...Tijuana ("Best prices guaranteed"...that's some authentic Spanish there by golly!).

Speaking of travel, just saw on CNN.com an article about how people are becoming afraid of manhole covers, metal grates, etc. in NY because faulty wiring or whatever sometimes electrifies these pieces of metal. In Jan. a 30-year-old woman and her dogs were electrocuted just by stepping on a metal plate in the street--the dogs survived, the woman didn't. A horse was fatally electrocuted the same way in 1999. Apparently there have been "hundreds of street jolts have been reported in recent years, some of which involved people but mostly dogs stepping on the metal covers throughout all five boroughs of New York." Wow, you'd never think that something as everyday as walking on metal coverings in the street could cause that.
posted by Roberta at 11:07 AM

everytime i get back from a trip and start comparing pictures to memories, the pics always come up short. then i start to think argh, shoulda taken a pic of this, that, more pics of such and such, etc. not sure why i was so shy about shooting. i never came close to running out of memory, although it did turn out that my stupid battery died. i managed to shoot just a little under 4 rolls of film (24exp) so i suppose thats not too bad for just 2 full days. wish i had a stronger digital backup stash tho, oh well. anyhoo, here's the semi-presentable pics from the trip:

snowcloud.net/daniello/gallery/SD04
posted by yodaslap at 1:13 PM

WHY?!??!?!

posted by yodaslap at 10:04 AM

Man, Mexico! I've got to go someday. Sounds like a good time.

What does a bike have to do with anything? Also, please don't ask me for any more updates for fear of jinxes haha. Thanks for the interest though Dan and Eric.


posted by Larry at 10:25 AM

mmm... not sure. havent even started shopping for a bike yet ;P

man, san diego was unreal. i dont think i saw a single cloud in the sky the entire time i was there, and each night the sky was littered with stars. i posted up a couple of entries along with a few prelim dummy pictures on my personal blog in case anyone's curious about what i did there. yes, so i cant resist saying this now: i got to go to mexico, woohoo! not the greatest or even most authentic part of may hee ko but i was still thrilled to be there, and of course i had the obligatory corona with my lunch. anyway, all in all it was a blast, and the weather is definitely sorely missed as i came back in a tshirt & jeans to a 50? cloudy & rainy chicago welcome. ah well, still good to be home.

anyway, time to start working. it is monday morning yet again...
posted by yodaslap at 10:08 AM

Well tonight is a non-date. It's my friend's birthday so we're going out as a group and I invited her along. Maybe she won't like it and we'll head out early haha. But we're going to Pat McCurdy's again next week to make up for the foolishness.

Well Dan and Eric, how are your relationships going? I asked Eric like a year ago when you're going to get married. Any advances on that subject?

Update: Never mind, the guys didn't end up going out (major downpour). I called her to tell her it was off, and we ended up talking for an hour. So things seem to be going well.
posted by Larry at 8:30 PM

duh. well, here i am i guess. so whens the date rescheduled for? time difference is killing me, but its been fun. pics will go up latre.
posted by yodaslap at 1:27 AM

Actually, I'm pretty bad with women. I'm actually daftly afraid of the opposite sex, especially at work. I tend to look at my feet when a female walks by me in the hallway.

I'm not good with girls.
posted by asiliat at 4:55 PM

Duh! So now I have no brains too. Thanks a lot Dan. Booooooooo.

Duh. I'm exaggerating about how little I know, just like Eric is exaggerating about being the strikeout king. I'll bet he's not even the strikeout duke.
posted by Larry at 6:23 PM

thats probably a no-brainer. i think most people "our age" who arent blatantly socially inept have a sense of personal space, so id say she knows perfectly well how close or far from you she is. are you remembering to do the touching elbow trick?
posted by yodaslap at 1:17 AM

Haha, thanks for the words everyone. I do believe my underwear might be on inside-out right now. Maybe someone should invent ones that are supposed to be reversed. But I'm getting off track here...

I'm a really bad reader of body language but she tends to stand awfully close to me when we talk. Hope that's a good sign. At least I don't smell bad, huh.
posted by Larry at 8:56 PM

Larry, you are a foolish, foolish boy. But luck is on your side.

It's usually great moments like these that relationships are built on. Miscommunication is good communication. I mean, standing her up, the gall!

Anyway, at least she now knows you're not as bright as you look, and she will pity you. Never underestimate the power of a girl's pity. Pity begets love. They pity you when you're sick, and wipe the snot from your lip. It is this pity that they will rub that crusty gunk out the side of your left eye. Pity my friend, is a desolate man's best friend.

I know for a fact my girlfriend pities me when she realizes how stupid I am. It is solely through her grace that I don't wear underwear inside-out on the outside.

Not to get your hopes up, but maybe you're getting somewhere.

Fool's luck is better than no luck, yes?




posted by asiliat at 8:41 PM

boooooooooooo! "tale of foolishness" is right!

i suppose aside from the obvious stuff involved, her being upset thinking you stood her up cant possibly be a bad sign. then again what do i know about this stuff?

oh well, leaving for san diego tomorrow but ill have my laptop with me so ill be checking back for updates.
posted by yodaslap at 5:23 PM

Okay, listen to this tale of foolishness: I invited her to see Pat McCurdy, a comedian/singer, on Tuesday. I ask her when's a good time to catch the show, because she's seen him before. She says 9 or 9:15, and I say okay, we'll meet here in the lab (we work in the same building but different labs) and then head out since it's so close.

Around 6:30, I start looking around for her to see if she wants to get some dinner first. I can't find her, so I assume she's gone home for a bit before coming back, which she often does. Around 8:30, I start actually waiting for her, thinking she wants to go right before it starts at 9:30. Around 9:05 I get pretty worried and me and a co-worker are talking about what could have happened. Phone calls go unanswered. By 9:30 I figure maybe she thought we were going to meet at the bar, so I go there. Nothing. I run into my roommate on the way back, and find out he's going to see the show too. So I go with him and some friends and stay till 11, and she never shows up. I'm pretty bummed out about it at this point, and I'm thinking maybe I waited too long for a second date (yes it's been that long) and she stood me up.

So today, I see her walking down the hall and she sees me, but doesn't see that I see her. She turns quickly and walks into a room. Normally we say hi every time, so now I'm really like "what the hell?" I go to talk to her but she's somehow disappeared, and I don't see her anymore till about 3:30. Then she comes in to my room... and you guessed it, she's wondering why I stood her up last night. Apparently, she thought we would head out around 6 for dinner for some reason, though we never talked about that. So long story short, we're going out again this week and this time no miscommunication.

And I was wondering why her lab mates were giving me the evil eye all day.
posted by Larry at 4:53 PM

Yeah, how goes the wooing department? Or are they calling you the strike-out king like they do me?
posted by asiliat at 9:40 PM

The Humiliator? Yeah, he's doing fine. The other day he told me that some guy calling himself "The Embarassator" was trying to steal his publicity. But after forcing him to wear a Cap of Shame, the Humiliator was back on top.

Duh Roberta, I'm sure Conan the Barbarian was real. The Humiliator told me so.
posted by Larry at 4:57 PM

Lawrence, any developments/updates on you-know-who?
posted by yodaslap at 12:59 PM

boooooo i cant sleep
posted by yodaslap at 6:32 AM

wow, scary.

im not sure whats worse, the 11% who believed hitler didnt exist or the 2% who believed that the battle of endor took place. oh, and helms deep??
posted by yodaslap at 12:14 PM

I'm crashing what's turned into the boys' club!

Yeah, sorry, been so out of touch. Work's been really busy...

Ha ha, I'm laughing about the "don't call" thing because...surprise...it's more or less the same philosophy from the girls' side. Looks like no one wants to be the first to call. If you're in a position to hold out, good for you, though as Eric said it's definitely a gamble. Of course I would never give this advice to a guy, but Lawrence doesn't count :-)

Of course, it's moot if you don't have her number :-) I won't bug ya for details but hope it went well.

Different topic: Saw this article today about the lack of history education in Britain. They surveyed people to see whether they thought certain events/people were real or fictional. The results are alarming. I mean, I'm not British so I don't know as much about their history, but even I know that Mussolini was a real person.

(Though I would quibble with the survey's opinion that Robin Hood is fictional. Aren't there some theories which say he may have been real, or at least based on someone real?)




posted by Roberta at 11:18 AM

booooooo (about leaving details out) haha, im so nosey.

*yawn*
posted by yodaslap at 12:10 AM

EX-Z3, 3.2 megapixels, whatever that means.

Yeah I'm leaving some details out for now.
posted by Larry at 10:45 PM

duh, oh yeah, with flash, I won't get any shoftness in the pic eh? Ugh.


posted by asiliat at 8:24 PM

not sure how well soft focus would work w/flash, but then again what do i know. im still not entirely clear (no pun intended) on what type of pics are supposed to be taken here...

sitting back and watching blog dialogue between a sensei and his protoge is fun. Lawrence you sound awfully confident that she knows youre interested. is there something you havent told us yet? you couldve asked for her number and then tear it up immediately afterwards.

btw which exilim did you get? theres like 6 or 7 of them.
posted by yodaslap at 12:59 PM

Haha, oh yeah I forgot about that movie, it's great. They projected it onto a big screen in college and we all sat on the lawn and watched. Then at the scene where Vince Vaughn is talking to the girl inside the trailer, a drunk guy kept yelling "you're not that smooth!" until someone told him where to stick it.

She already knows I'm interested.
posted by Larry at 11:02 PM

yeah, it's for the SLR. I was thinking it might be a good idea to use it for the banquet. Not sure. It's definitely not cheap....

Larry, why didn't you ask for her # you dolt? You shoulda at least ask for that. It would show definite interest.

Hasn't everyone watched Swingers yet? Go D/L it if you haven't. Everything you need to learn about dating can be found in Swingers. :P
posted by asiliat at 10:28 PM

So I bought a Casio "Exilim" digital camera. Well, actually I asked my mom to get it in Hong Kong while she was there. Anyways, I paid for the thing, so I don't have any money left to pay Eric. Fortunately, I won't be using his advice, haha! Though it might turn out that way since I don't even have her number anyways...
posted by Larry at 8:33 PM

no experience with soft focus, although you can create that effect pretty easily w/photoshop (i can hear all the purists out there booing right about now). im looking into getting a set of closeup lenses, but been too busy/lazy to shop for them as of late. this is for the SLR i take it?
posted by yodaslap at 5:23 PM

I've had 2 girlfriends once, Palmela and Handgela.

Glad you had a good time. Now where's the $20 you owe me for my great advice? First one's free I guess, the next will cost. :P

Now for the hard move. Don't call her. I bet you can't do it. But if you can, you've established dominance, and if she calls, you've basically got her. It's an advance move that not everyone can master.... Don't try if you're not willing to risk it all. I'm a gambler through and through tho.



Anyway, bored at work.

Lastly, thinking of getting a soft focus filter for the camera (already, and I can't even hold the camera steady all the time yet.)

Any experience with soft focus work?
posted by asiliat at 3:58 PM

booooooo

i was referring to going in cold and asking a [relative] stranger out. youre right tho, i think Justin has had many secret girlfriends.

ok fine, so yeah i had a girlfriend... til i crashed her :'( debating whether i should buy another one after getting a license or wait.
posted by yodaslap at 2:22 PM

DUH what are you talking about fool, you had a girlfriend. The first of the three horses too. Unless Justin had a secret girlfriend. I had an invisible one, so that may count too.
posted by Larry at 1:33 PM

well congrats Lawrence. cant speak for everyone here, but you at least got Justin and me beat.
posted by yodaslap at 2:24 AM

Good. I took Eric's advice. I'm no good at innuendos so I didn't even try. But I walked close and made a little contact occaisionally, and so on. I'm pretty sure she likes me and that there'll be a second one... assuming this really was a date in the first place. I'm proceeding with cautious optimism.

It's a great movie though, everyone should go out and see it right now. Easily top 5 on my list.
posted by Larry at 12:23 PM

so.... how did it go?
posted by yodaslap at 11:34 PM

duh good luck tonight fool.
posted by yodaslap at 5:36 PM

Duh, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. We were talking about it when we decided to go. No dinner plans yet, just probably decide on the way. It's a date-like contraption.
posted by Larry at 5:08 PM

boooooooooooo

for example, have you decided on a movie? dinner can range anywhere from fast food to candlelight dinner. or is it girly to be asking all this?
posted by yodaslap at 12:50 PM

I'm not sure it gets any more specific. That pretty much describes the whole thing.

As for the missing girl, DUH. Read CNN.com or something gibbon.
posted by Larry at 12:07 PM

so where did she go? and where/what must one go/do to be considered "missing"? if i go camping in the woods for 4 days by myself and dont tell anyone, would i make national front page news as well? what if im a guy, does that mean i wont qualify as a missing girl?

so dinner and movie huh? are you ever gonna get anymore specific than that, or is it to keep us in suspense? ok, im ending with this sentence just so my entire post doesnt consist of all questions.
posted by yodaslap at 10:06 AM

Girl from our university was missing for 4 days, and the whole place was crazy. It's national front-page news (I guess probably not in Canada). Then she was found alive. The "date" is Friday.
posted by Larry at 12:46 AM