The store, car show, leather bars and KITT...
Friday - FNM went smoothly at the store, we had a decent turnout... About 20 people. After which, I headed home as it was going to be an early moring.
Saturday - Woke up early with the intention of running to the gym... But video games were calling and soon enough I was building more railroads until there was a knock at the door. We'd scheduled an appointment to have a bunch of the bathroom ceilings looked at, due to some minor leaks we have ongoing and in the past. Every single one is the responsibility of my fellow condo owners, but they don't like doing things for themselves, so we on the board are being treated like landlords. And it's at the point where, there were so many leaks I was worried about eventual structural damage, so we had someone out to look at everything. My unit's ceiling damage was caught early enough on that I just need to take some bleach and sandpaper to it, before repainting, no drywall replacement, most likely.
Following this, I got a frantic phonecall from Shawn saying that the lock cylinder on the front door of the store, had popped out with his key... We've had some problem with the lock cylinder for some time now, so I wasn't overly shocked, the timing just sucked. Luckily,
tozier_wah was suffering from a late night and it was delaying his making it to the city. I ran to the store, learned hands-on how commercial locks work and are assembled, and headed to the local hardware store. Now, THIS is what I love about neighborhood hardware stores... They have, EVERYTHING. Here I was thinking we'd need to spend $25 on a new cylinder, assuming they had a locksmith working, or up to $100 on replacing the whole assembly... Nope! It was all of $9.80, including tax for a replacement cylinder that matched beautifully and fit perfectly!
When Toz finally made it to the city, we headed to the 100th Chicago Auto Show, so that I could introduce him to the wide world of wheels! Sadly enough, the Auto show wasn't all that exciting this year... Having recently spend far too much time car-shopping and finally finding a car that I love...I simply wasn't interested in what else was out there anymore. And there weren't all that many interesting concept cars. What was weird though... Was I sat in the 2008 version of my car and, even though it's the EXACT same car... I didn't like it. I didn't, dis-like it per se... But, it didn't make me smile the way mine does, for some reason. The only real car of note I found, was the Natural-Gas powered Honda Civic, which... After a ton of local/federal rebates, apparently starts at about $17,590!!! (Not including the costs involved in installing a Natural Gas fueling station in your garage, of course.)
After the car show, Toz and I headed over to
invncble 's place to meet up with him and
huskydoggeh who was in town for the weekend. (again... sheesh, he might as well just move here!) And after some fascinating television watching,
perro and
darkwolf arrived and we headed over to the Deluxe Diner, near me for grub and conversation... Followed by changing into some things less comfortable, but more appropriate at my place, and a trip down the the Chicago Eagle where we met
bullethc for bear night! And shortly thereafter, we were joined by
daveqat and
jimcyl . Drinking commenced and leather was shown off. Oh... And television was eagerly watched as we were shown exciting sports like, nekkid trampoline jumping! (I believed the participants are called, tramposexuals.) Eventually, David and Jeff showed up and after a short while, we headed over to Jackhammer / The Hole. At which point drinking continued, floggings and paddlings commenced, and much fun was had, until about 4a when we all decided to call it a night.
Sunday - After planning on sleeping in, I got a call from Shawn saying he wasn't feeling well and he needed me to cover the store. So I hopped outta bed and spent 7 hours staring at tax forms, bills, printouts and... No customers. Well, not NO customers... but like, no more than 5 all day. However, Saturday's booster draft was huge (20 people) due to a bunch of navy boys who'd found out how easy it was to get to our store. It was like, wall-to-wall semen seamen! So I wasn't worried.
And following the number-crunching, Bob came over and we watched the premier of the Knight Rider movie/pilot... Which... I LOVED! I was seriously nervous because... Well... I loved Knight Rider. And as much as I may come from a Ford Family and have a DEEP love for Mustangs... KITT... I so very much, NOT a Mustang. Well, I was wrong. KITT is, in fact, awesome as a Mustang. And my only complaint is that so little of him was shown off... It seemed he was more of a high-tech rolling computer than one-car wrecking machine. No missles, no jumping over lakes... But I guess, the fact that there was very little cheese thrown in there, is actually more of a plus than a minus. So in the end, my only REAL complaint is that I have to now wait and see if it gets picked up.
Saturday - Woke up early with the intention of running to the gym... But video games were calling and soon enough I was building more railroads until there was a knock at the door. We'd scheduled an appointment to have a bunch of the bathroom ceilings looked at, due to some minor leaks we have ongoing and in the past. Every single one is the responsibility of my fellow condo owners, but they don't like doing things for themselves, so we on the board are being treated like landlords. And it's at the point where, there were so many leaks I was worried about eventual structural damage, so we had someone out to look at everything. My unit's ceiling damage was caught early enough on that I just need to take some bleach and sandpaper to it, before repainting, no drywall replacement, most likely.
Following this, I got a frantic phonecall from Shawn saying that the lock cylinder on the front door of the store, had popped out with his key... We've had some problem with the lock cylinder for some time now, so I wasn't overly shocked, the timing just sucked. Luckily,
tozier_wah was suffering from a late night and it was delaying his making it to the city. I ran to the store, learned hands-on how commercial locks work and are assembled, and headed to the local hardware store. Now, THIS is what I love about neighborhood hardware stores... They have, EVERYTHING. Here I was thinking we'd need to spend $25 on a new cylinder, assuming they had a locksmith working, or up to $100 on replacing the whole assembly... Nope! It was all of $9.80, including tax for a replacement cylinder that matched beautifully and fit perfectly!
When Toz finally made it to the city, we headed to the 100th Chicago Auto Show, so that I could introduce him to the wide world of wheels! Sadly enough, the Auto show wasn't all that exciting this year... Having recently spend far too much time car-shopping and finally finding a car that I love...I simply wasn't interested in what else was out there anymore. And there weren't all that many interesting concept cars. What was weird though... Was I sat in the 2008 version of my car and, even though it's the EXACT same car... I didn't like it. I didn't, dis-like it per se... But, it didn't make me smile the way mine does, for some reason. The only real car of note I found, was the Natural-Gas powered Honda Civic, which... After a ton of local/federal rebates, apparently starts at about $17,590!!! (Not including the costs involved in installing a Natural Gas fueling station in your garage, of course.)
After the car show, Toz and I headed over to
invncble 's place to meet up with him and
huskydoggeh who was in town for the weekend. (again... sheesh, he might as well just move here!) And after some fascinating television watching,
perro and
darkwolf arrived and we headed over to the Deluxe Diner, near me for grub and conversation... Followed by changing into some things less comfortable, but more appropriate at my place, and a trip down the the Chicago Eagle where we met
bullethc for bear night! And shortly thereafter, we were joined by
daveqat and
jimcyl . Drinking commenced and leather was shown off. Oh... And television was eagerly watched as we were shown exciting sports like, nekkid trampoline jumping! (I believed the participants are called, tramposexuals.) Eventually, David and Jeff showed up and after a short while, we headed over to Jackhammer / The Hole. At which point drinking continued, floggings and paddlings commenced, and much fun was had, until about 4a when we all decided to call it a night.
Sunday - After planning on sleeping in, I got a call from Shawn saying he wasn't feeling well and he needed me to cover the store. So I hopped outta bed and spent 7 hours staring at tax forms, bills, printouts and... No customers. Well, not NO customers... but like, no more than 5 all day. However, Saturday's booster draft was huge (20 people) due to a bunch of navy boys who'd found out how easy it was to get to our store. It was like, wall-to-wall semen seamen! So I wasn't worried.
And following the number-crunching, Bob came over and we watched the premier of the Knight Rider movie/pilot... Which... I LOVED! I was seriously nervous because... Well... I loved Knight Rider. And as much as I may come from a Ford Family and have a DEEP love for Mustangs... KITT... I so very much, NOT a Mustang. Well, I was wrong. KITT is, in fact, awesome as a Mustang. And my only complaint is that so little of him was shown off... It seemed he was more of a high-tech rolling computer than one-car wrecking machine. No missles, no jumping over lakes... But I guess, the fact that there was very little cheese thrown in there, is actually more of a plus than a minus. So in the end, my only REAL complaint is that I have to now wait and see if it gets picked up.