Rosa's Lounge

A couple weekends ago I went to this small, dark, hole in the wall blues bar called Rosa's with a few friends. It was easy to find, but not easy to get to. The only way to get there is by cab and this place really is all by itself. There are no bars, clubs or late night restaurants anywhere around that I could see. The atmosphere and the style in Rosa's was all it's own and quite amazing. It was like being at the bar Blues Halsted, but in the atmosphere and surroundings of Marie's (Rip Tide Lounge) This place had loud blues music playing from a small stage at the front of the room, but was not so loud you couldn't talk to your friends. The name of the person playing that night was Guy King, who I thought was really good and was nice enough to sing happy birthday to a friend of mine towards the end of the night. Rosa's is also not very crowded and makes for a more personal atmosphere. If you want you can sit in the front row or like us you can sit near the pool tables at the back and have the same experience. The prices seemed to be standard, I didn't notice them to be higher or lower than anywhere else. The one problem and it is a major problem is how hard it is to get a cab out of there. We called 2 cabs, we had the bar call 2 cabs, we waited for an hour, hour and a half and still nothing came. Finally we started walking, not to go home, but to find a cab. After a few blocks one finally stopped, but by this time the damage was done we were all somewhat pissed. Next time we are getting a designated driver if we go.

Well I Jinxed It

So much slushy wet snow/hail/rain. It was like being in a snow globe this weekend.

Cubs Tickets On Sale

Just a friendly reminder, Cubs tickets go on sale tomorrow. Here is some more info about getting tickets at the Chicagoist.

The Snow Is Meltin

I'm so excited I can finally the ground again. The snow and ice have started to melt and the temps are getting warmer. Man I can't wait for the spring, the winter was starting to get depressing.

Interficio

Well, just signed up online for a water gun assassination game for the spring, its called Interficio. It looks hilarious and hopefully fun. The basic rules are that you upon signing up you give your home address, work address and a picture of yourself to the mediator, at which time your info is given to an assassin. Once you are signed up you are later sent your own "mark" with all there information. So then for 28 days in April I will stalk and be stalked as I try to take out someone with a water gun. If I can get to my target before I am "off'ed" I will then receive a second assignment from the mediator and so on. The winner gets 1000$ so its worth the frightening realization of how easy it is to be taken out by water balloon. I'm starting a team that I am told Al, Mike and Vorrel are supposedly joining, if not I will be rollin solo, April should be an interesting month. I'll let you know how I am doing.

New Fan

I made a new fan yesterday, well I didn't really make it, but I did upgraded it. I replaced the electrical sockets on it, I got a new glass cover for it and finally I made new blades for it. The old blades were laughably small and ugly so I thought I would make them longer and out of aluminum. I like how it turned out and hopefully it can make the room cooler in the summer.

Dumpstaphunk

Went and saw this band last weekend at the House of Blues. Dumpstaphunk was really good, the show was to short though. They were the opening band and since its the HOB everything has to be in a perfectly timed and structured order. What they did play though was worth way more than the price of admission. The House of Blues on the other hand is ridiculous. They go overboard on how strict they are. I almost didn't get let in when they carded me, I guess they thought I was using a fake ID. They pass you through a security checkpoint, pat you down and wave the wand all over you before you even get in. In the HOB they also do not allow picture taking, so if you attempt it they take your camera and delete all your pictures then charge you while they hold onto your camera. All this didn't matter though because Dumpstaphunk put on an awesome show. The main act on the other hand was horrible so we didn't stick around past his first song. If Dumpstaphunk is in town again I will definitely be there, I just hope they play at a different venue

Las Vegas

Well I haven't written in a long long time, lots of work. The Bears lost the Superbowl, I don't want to talk about it. Afterwards though at 5 am I flew to Las Vegas to set up for a convention. For the last couple of months I have been working really hard manufacturing some huge displays for a flooring company. It is very time consuming because there are massive metal displays that nobody has made before, so I need to not only figure out the best way to make them but at the same time show everyone else how to make them.

Las Vegas was cool I have not been there since Al and Shea's 21st birthday years ago. I was lucky enough to stay at the newest hotel on the strip this time, the Wynn. This hotel was no joke, it was huge and portrayed itself well, as being one of the nicest on the strip. It had all the normal casino amenities, but then added in a few things that made you realize you were in an expensive hotel. Things such as the Ferrari dealership right near the front, the three Italian named stores right in view of the entrance, stores so fancy that when you walked in they ask for your financial statements and all the stores have the guys in black suits guarding the doors. What was also nice was the layout some casinos just blast you with lights and noise but this one was... well obviously not subtle, but not at all annoying. As you walked into the registration area they had a nice little outdoor patio that looked out at a man made waterfall and lake, at night the lake would light up with all different colors. I didn't really have time to enjoy the casino though once I got to my hotel room I was off to the convention center across the street. Here is where most of my time would be spent.

For the next several hours Chris, my customer, and I were setting up displays for the Surfaces Show, a convention showing off any product that covers a surfaces, in our case wood flooring. When I walked into this place I could not believe how big it was, the ceilings was as high as the United Centers and the overall space was probably 500,000 square feet. The booth or area that we were to be setting up our product in was something like 5,000 square feet. The space next to us for another flooring company was 10,000 ft. These things were massive, one booth had several rooms and even stairs going up to a second level. All the stuff for these booths were being made as we stood there. People were erecting lighting systems, huge plasma screen TVs, anything to get people to come to there spot was being done. We even saw people walking a group of attractive women through there booth who would later be the ones working the space in some what scandeles outfits.

After the first day we were still not done but we had to eat. Also we were waiting on the other display people to move some equipment around so we could work. You would think this would be a good thing that I got to leave a couple hours early the first day, but I was stressing out so much about something going wrong the next day that I couldn't bring myself to go crazy in the casinos, plus its weird being in Vegas all by yourself, it makes you feel depressed. I did gamble but very minimally on the first day. Sat at the bar and played the slots while I had a drink then went looking for food.

The next day went really well and I got everything set up, luckily before I had to leave, my plane flight was for early afternoon. Before I left though I told Chris I needed to quickly stop and give the casino some of my money so we sat down at a roulette table and 5 minutes later, literally, maybe even less I lost $40, so not bad, but I wish I could have spent a little more time. I did place a bet on the Bears to win the Super Bowl for next year, 8-1 odds, not bad. They have the Chargers winning it all, ha, not without any coaches. Well works been slowing sort of, so I will start to try and write more often.

more pics here

I Love the Bears

I was taken on a Bears city tour the other day by Al and Bill, it was great. I got to see all the amazing Bears lights and support throughout the great city of Chicago. Here are some pics from the tour....GO BEARS.

I know I havent been writing much, but I have been super busy at work and I will be writing some stories ( of wich I have many) in the next week I promise.

Happy Birthday Russian

Happy Birthday Joe

Nuetral?

Red

Red or Orange