Look who is a spoiled beagle!

Look who is a spoiled beagle!

We bought a new couch so we figured we'd get Betty a new "couch" to replace the Ikea one she's slobbered over and stunk up. It might be more comfy than OUR actual human-size couch we ordered!

This is what I did today.

This is what I did today.

Admit it, you're jealous.

LouAid part deux!

LouAid part deux!

After tonight's Ke$ha show you can catch me DJing with Rudy Tuesdays alongside some lovely local bands at The Beat Kitchen. We've all come together to help our friend Sweet Lou defray some large and unexpected medical costs so if you love lovely people, or you just love having a good time, I hope you'll consider stopping by!

Ke$ha!

Ke$ha!

My ticket to tomorrow's Ke$ha show was FedExed to me and arrived today. So toked I'll have a chance to shoot her tomorrow! So that Clarkson and Ke$ha down; if I can snap photos of GaGa and Avril this year I'll have snapped all my top pop princesses!

Smell the rubber melting on the track?

Smell the rubber melting on the track?

I feel like I’ve been in overdrive for as long as I can remember. I know it’s actually only been a few weeks that I’ve been busier than busy, triggered by the 9-to-5 ramping up alongside warmer temps / immunity to the cold bumping up the activity on my social calendar, but HOO BOY yowza. It’s certainly affected the amount of public writing I’ve been able to shoot out (and thank gawd for the awesome Chicagoist A&E writers for continuing to kick fucking ass even as I’ve had to pull back for a spell) but I’m hoping to catch up on some of that in advance of the usual influx of bands and new music that precedes and then succeeds that little shindig down in Austin each March.

So yes.

This isn’t an apology, heck no, but it is an explanation why most of my content onine has consisted of Tumblr posts or word bursts in 140 characters or less. (Which reminds me, you can always keep up with me on Tumblr and Twitter since I tend to put different content on each channel I surf online, sticking this and that where they are most appropriate.)

So hi! Happy Tuesday!

24 hectic hours.

24 hectic hours.

Yesterday was this kind of day:


Today was the exact opposite but no less stimulating.

Against all odds.

Against all odds.

So it looks like the Thor movie might not suck!

It's official!

It's official!

I think I spend WAY too much time at The Corner, the bar behind my house.

Drifting through the air.

Drifting through the air.

What am I at? 20,000 feet? 30,000? The plane is tiny so I'm not sure. Flying used to fill me with anxiety, for a while even necessitating a prescription for generic Xanax, but now I mostly find it soothing. The soaring. The skies that are always such a deep and bright blue they look digitally retouched. As long as the turbulence isn't too bad, and even then I've studied up on it enough that it doesn't REALLY scare me, no matter what my sweating plans would suggest other wise, I actually spend most flights in a deep sleep. The end effect is that I feel like I've teleported to my destination.

It's lovely.

Some days a photo will have to do.

Some days a photo will have to do.

So here you go! Unleash the cute!

Candy hearts and unicorn-shaped clouds.

Candy hearts and unicorn-shaped clouds.

GalPal and I don’t “celebrate” Valentine’s Day, but we are using it as an excuse to go out and eat semi-expensive sushi tonight. If you don’t have a “special someone” today, don’t worry about it and if you do, I hope you’re doing whatever you want and don’t feel pressured to “commodify celebrate your love.”

I do, however, suggest you use today to guiltlessly eat all the chocolate -- preferably free -- you can get your hands on!

We are the DJs and we know what you like.

We are the DJs and we know what you like.

It's true, GalPal and I are professionals. Well, maybe not professionals, but we at least don't hit STOP in the middle of a song or anything like that. And we do, if I may crow a bit, have pretty good taste. In fact there's a whole bunch of musical knowledge there between the two of us so you can always count on us to indeed play the matters that platter. Of course all the preceding has been the wind up to this amazing little piece of news I bet you NEVER saw coming; we're DJing at The Burlington tonight!

Please join us, won't you?

And now, for no reason at all, Sasha the Cat.

One day off.

One day off.

Now I remember why I don't go out on Sundays or Mondays; it throws off my whole week. Yesterday I was checking The Economist's website wondering why the new print edition wasn't up yet and it wasn't until 1 p.m. that I realized it was because it was Wednesday and not Thursday.

Bummer.

So now it IS Thursday, only my mind is centered on it being Friday and no amount of mental rejiggering -- the equivalent of banging on the casing of an analogue TV -- seems to be helping the matter. From this I can only deduce that when I report to the 9-to-5 tomorrow I will be wearing my jammies and wondering why no one is making me pancakes before the cartoons start.

Spent.

Spent.

Lying on my couch, brain dead and blogging from my phone because an entry a day keeps mediocrity away. Really, it does! Even typing something this simple helps. It allows me to occupy a head space that is all my own, answerable to no one else, and the simple fact that I pound out a single short paragraph based on that premise is so rewarding.

I wrote a love letter to Glee. I think you should read it.

I wrote a love letter to Glee. I think you should read it.

Man, I do NOT get the chance to unload on things as much as I used to, but man does Glee deserve my vitriol.

If the idea of me on a red carpet makes you laugh, have I got plans for you tonight!

If the idea of me on a red carpet makes you laugh, have I got plans for you tonight!

Tonight's Rehab features the Rehabbies awards show and I will presenting one of the awards. I will also quite possibly be the oldest person in the room. You are guaranteed hilarity, so I can't see why you wouldn't atend!

Full details on presenters and performers here, and don't forget to RSVP for free admission and a hosted PBR / Reyksa Vodka cocktail reception from 10 p.m. - 11 p.m. here.

Hope to see you tonight!

Who's got cabin fever? He's got cabin fever!

Who's got cabin fever? He's got cabin fever!

I actually can't wait to get into the office today. I'm going a little stir crazy and have to admit I was a little depressed yesterday when the CTA thwarted my attempts to make it downtown. I even skipped the gym to get an early start in anticipation of higher ridership, but of course I never expected the number of people attempting to take the Blue Line would increase so sharply in contrast to actual Blue Line service decreasing even more sharply.

Here's hoping today is better. And even if it's not I AM GETTING TO THE OFFICE NO MATTER WHAT. I don't care if I gotta hop on the back of a horse behind a cop (Note to self: Buy a horse so you can get around next time there's a Blizzaster), I am working my 9-to-5 from behind my desk 63 stories above the city instead of at a coffee table 20 inches above my family room floor.

I love that my office let's us work from home when needed, though for me that's incredibly infrequent, maybe two or three times over the years, and when I'm working on something copy heavy that requires solid attention nothing beats the solitude of the telecommute. But man oh man, you do start to miss the human interaction. And I think you work harder, because you're paranoid that since you are working from home everyone in the office assumes you're slacking, so you work furiously and are glued to your computer for nine straight hours s you can immediately shoot replies back to any queries to prove that "Yes, I am actually WORKING from home, I promise!"

It gets draining, this Catholic guilt. This fear that even though you're doing the right thing and maintaining a solid work ethic you still feel the need to loudly prove that you are in fact doing the right thing and maintaining a solid work ethic.* Thanks Mom.

*See? It's unavoidable. I just did it again!

Working from home has its perks ... for the pets.

Working from home has its perks ... for the pets.

Yes, indeed. I'm working from home today and suffering back strain from being bent over my laptop all day. It appears as if Sasha the Cat found a good use for my laptop bag though...

Blizzaster!

Blizzaster!

So OK, we did indeed get about 20 inches of snow. It was insane. GalPal finally got to even experience THUNDER SNOW! And our friend Griff shot this picture while walking around:

I dug a path from our front door out to the gate and the sidewalk in fron of the building but I have no idea how I'm going to navigate the other 99.9% of the city that hasn't started to dig itself out yet on the way to work tomorrow.

Snow place like home.

Snow place like home.

I guarantee that if you read any sites based in the Midwest that you will be sick to death of weather related puns by tomorrow morning.

They're still predicting we're going to get up to two feet of snow, promising this will be even bigger than the storm we got in 1999 (which did in fact shut down Chicago for almost a full 24 hours, during which everyone converged at my house to play in the snow and drink beer) so the entire city is currently suspended in anticipation. We get "storm of the century" predictions at least two or three times a season so forgive us if many of us are doubtful of this thing actually living up to the hype, but I'll admit at this point all sign point to us actually experiencing a once-a-decade-or-so snow day tomorrow.

Wonder if i should stop by the store on the way home to stock up on supplies on the way home .... nah, The Corner bar is right outside my back door and I can get everything I need (beer, popcorn, cigarettes, chips, meat snacks, snack mix) there!