kabby.net blog

Prep for Halloween

     I’m really excited about Halloween this year. I’m going to be dressing as Dr. Cameron from the TV show House. I’ve already produced her name tag, pictured at right, which is based on the glimpse of her name badge in some promotional photos. Her fan site, JMorrisonFan was immensely helpful in finding pictures to base my costume off of and to make the badge art.

     You’ll notice that I modified the badge slightly from the one in the promotional photos. First off, I changed the picture. The one in her real ID is what you’d expect an ID photo to look like – UGLY and barely recognizable. Since this is one of the most identifying parts of my costume, I chose a picture of her that people will recognize from the show. I chose not to use a photo of myself in costume because (a) I don’t have the rest of the costume yet and (b) that will make the costume quite a bit harder to identify. I also changed the text a little bit to add her first name. “Dr. Cameron” makes the name badge appear more fake. How many people have a name tag with no first name? I also added an “M.D.” at the top before “Immunology” so I could remove the “Dr.” from the name entirely.

     To make the actual tag, I printed the image on my printer and bought some big, glossy GBC SelfSeal Laminating pouches that worked extremely well. Between that and my trusty personal paper trimmer, the rest was cake. After laminating, which was as easy as applying a sticker, I just trimmed the edges and used scissors to round the corners. I made the slit in the top using the paper trimmer and shoved the name tag clip through that. I had an extra one of those lying around from miscellaneous trade shows.

     Last but not least today, I purchased a $20 twill lab coat off of amazon.com. I had no idea lab coats could be so inexpensive. I should wear it more often!

     Next on the agenda is to make a pill bottle label for “Dr. House,” i.e., Jonathan. I’m thinking it should be somewhat traditional, but the word Vicodin should stand out a little more, since that’s a key to identifying his costume as well.

Feeling: Excited, Happily Busy
Listening to: Kelly Clarkson’s Cover of Aerosmith – Cryin’

October 9, 2008

Parents Bought a Sienna

     My parents bought a 2007 Toyota Sienna LE tonight. I was there… and it took two and a half hours. The warranty room was by far the most high-pressure sales situation I’ve been in lately. It was insane. I’m glad that’s over with, at least.

July 23, 2007

Panda Bears Banished from the Bedroom

     You heard right. The panda bears have been permanently removed from my bedroom, as has been the atrocious disintegrating red carpet. The redecoration process has been a very long and arduous task, but I received a lot of help from Jonathan, my parents, and even the folks at All Tile. If you’re curious, we used Benjamin Moore paint on the walls (color: Evening Sky) and ShawMark Anything Goes! Smooth & Silky carpet (color: Mirror). Underneath the carpet is a rubber underlayment from Sponge Cushion called Full House. The trim and ceiling paints were left over from other interior paint jobs in our house.

     There’s still some work left to be done, but none of the remaining tasks are much more than weekday night projects (as opposed to removing wallpaper, painting, getting carpet installed and whatnot). I’d like to replace the closet doors with mirrored doors, replace the main door and replace the window treatments. After all this, there should be absolutely no remnants of my former room, heh.

Feeling: Exhausted, just from writing about all we did.
Listening to: Dixie Chicks – Cold Day in July

July 17, 2007

Really Radical Room Redecoration

     Jonathan helped tremendously with the cleaning, redecorating and redesigning my room. The pictures (in slideshow at right) say a lot. Together, we cleaned out & removed the entertainment center, cleaned out under my bed, moved the existing bookshelf (took help from Dad and a 2-wheel dolly as well), added in another shelving unit, cleaned out my closet, moved my bed, installed a wall-mounted nightstand/shelf, rearranged my desk, and did a lot of vacuuming. I bought a new duvet cover and a matching throw pillow, which I think added a lot to the room as well.
     I still have quite a few plans for my room. My new Westinghouse 32″ LCD Flat Panel HD TV (SK-32H240S) (pictured at left) is coming in on Friday, and we’ll be wall mounting it above my bookshelf. We’ll also be painting (Benjamin Moore in Blue Heron), laying new carpet (ShawMark Smooth & Silky in Mirror), replacing my dresser with one from my grandma’s old guest room, replacing my closet doors with mirror doors, and getting new window treatments. At least, that’s the plan. I’m so busy over the next few weeks, I’m not sure when it’s all going to happen.
     The past 3 weekends, Jonathan and I have seen each other. He came out here this past weekend (when we worked on my room and went to La Strada and Maggiano’s). The weekend before that (Memorial Day weekend), I went to his place and then we drove up to Philiadelphia for his friends’ wedding (at which I took over 200 photos). The weekend before that, he came to visit me and we just hung out.
     This coming weekend, Renee, Michelle and I are going to northern Wisconsin to a house that Renee and her dad have been building. It doesn’t have hot water yet (frown), but at least it does have running water, electricity and plumbing. It should be a relaxing getaway weekend… that is, if my allergies magically disappear.

Feeling: Extremely full from having eaten two amazing dinners this weekend.
Listening to: the Meow Mix commercial (yes, it’s on my iPod) hehe

June 4, 2007

Flyin’ and Singin’ in Pairs, OH MY!

     Jonathan will be coming to visit again on Easter weekend. 14 Days, 4 Hours, 47 Minutes according to my countdown Google gadget. We’ve got a lot of plans made so far, so I may as well relay some of them. He’s flying in Friday afternoon, getting in just when I get off of work. Since All Tile is so close to O’Hare, I can pick him up right from work and take him to his hotel. We’re planning on picking up Steak ‘n Shake for dinner, since he’s never had it before. Saturday, we’re going to wake up relatively early and head downtown. We’ll tour the city, since he’s never been there, and then head over to Blue Man Group for the 4pm show. Afterwards, we’ll pick up Lou Malnati’s and have a pizza and Arbor Mist night with Renee, and then head over to karaoke with Michelle & Jake at the Neighborhood Inn. So, as you can see, our Saturday is pretty booked. Sunday, we’ll be going to my family’s Easter party, which looks to be dinner at some sort of restaurant, but we have no idea what time. I took off from work on Monday, and we have plans to go to Claim Jumper for lunch/late dinner before his flight leaves. Also, Lexi and Scott will be in town that weekend, so we might try to see them.
     Karaoke should be fun again. Last time he came to visit, we went with Michelle, Nicole and Renee. I sang my song (“All that Jazz” from Chicago, a real crowd pleaser), and Jonathan did a very spirited rendition of “Baby Got Back” (a very good crowd pleaser… so good in fact, he had a few guys come hit on him afterwards). The place was pretty crowded, so we didn’t get many more songs in. I went up with Michelle, Nicole and Renee to sing a song, but I don’t think we stayed much longer than that.
     For whatever reason, Jonathan wanted to buy me stuff. He bought me three Karaoke Revolution games, an idea he came up with on his own. It’s funny, because I’d had two Karaoke Revolution games on my Amazon Wish List for something like two years and had recently taken them off of the list, assuming I’d never get them because they were out of print (at least the versions I was looking at). He got me the Country version and the American Idol version (complete with two microphones) when he saw me a few weeks ago, and he has ordered the Party version, which I’ll probably get the next time I see him. Renee really likes playing these games, which is great, because the two player modes are a lot of fun – particularly the “Sing Off,” where you both sing a song at the same time and try to out sing the other person. You can adjust for different skill levels, too: Easy, Medium, Hard or Expert.
     I’ll be going to Maryland April 20 through the 22nd. I’ll be going to O’Hare straight from work and coming home late on Sunday. So far, we’ve got plans to have dinner with his friends on Saturday night. After this visit, we’ll likely go to the wonderful Hamilton House Bed and Breakfast. I went there in probably late summer 2003, and the rooms are just as beautiful as the pictures let on. I’ve wanted to go back for a while, but it is on the expensive side.

Feeling: Very, Very Glad it’s Friday
Listening to: My iPod at Work! Woo! The Ataris – San Dimas High School Football Sucks

March 22, 2007

Kicking Boxes and Taking Names

     One thing I forgot to mention in my major update post is kickboxing. I’ve been going to kickboxing twice a week since July 27, 2006. It’s not sparring or anything crazy, but it is taught at a karate school by a third degree black belt, JR Hutson and occasionally his wife, RC Hutson (pictured at right). It’s a very upbeat class, and JR in particular is very motivational. We do a lot of punching and kicking, but there’s also a cardiovascular component and even some basic strength and core training.
     I started going to kickboxing because Renee wanted me to come. Renee started kickboxing because JR owns the restaurant she works for, Pilot Pete’s, and he recommended it to her. Now, Michelle comes as well. The classes are at National Karate in South Elgin (yes, there are closer National Karate schools that teach kickboxing, but the instructors aren’t as good) on Tuesday & Thursday nights. There’s also a Saturday morning class if you’re insane enough to want to punch things at 8am.

Feeling: Sore from yesterday’s kickboxing :-/
Listening to: Carrie Underwood (yes, again) – Starts with Goodbye

1 comment March 14, 2007

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

     Don’t you just love it when you get a haircut and everyone asks you “Why’d you chop it all off?” not “Where’d you get it done?” or anything even slightly flattering. I swear, everyone but the guys who have commented on it have asked the former. I’m starting to hate hair as much as I hate shoe shopping.

Feeling: Frustrated, as usual
Listening to: Too many people’s opinions

2 comments May 1, 2006

The Alien has Landed

     And here it is, the new Alienware m5500. By here, I mean sitting on my lap. Not that it helps you see it or anything, but I’m too lazy to actually take a picture of it.
     I’ve never had a laptop before, so I am trying to use it like one would usually use one. Right now I’m in my living room. Wireless internet, battery powered. It’s neat, I suppose. If it was later in the day (I woke up at 6:30 this morning, ugh, that’s what you get for going to bed before 11pm), I’d probably be talking to people on GAIM. Which I haven’t done since, well, probably since I started playing WoW. Just like updating my blog, I hadn’t done since I started playing WoW.
     I suppose that’s about it. I could probably type forever on this thing. I don’t know why, but there’s something about laptops (the feel of the keyboard, the look of the screen) that make me feel like I could write a dozen novels on them. Not that I’m inspired enough to do so, but it is a nice thing to be able to type and such wherever you want.
     I think that was a squirrel that was jumping on our roof just now. Kind of loud. But as interesting as squirrels are, I digress. Because I’m just babbling at this point. Time to end this bloggy entry.

Feeling: Alone, because no one is awake yet
Listening to: I disconnected the harddrive on my desktop that has all the MP3s on it, and I’m too lazy to turn off / reconnect / turn back on… so nothing.

1 comment March 18, 2006

Good Bye, 94.7 Zone

     I was listening yesterday afternoon when 94.7 the Zone changed over to an Oldies station. I thought it was a joke. Today, I find that’s not the case. The station I have been listening to every morning since October, 2004 has vanished, with no farewell.
     Reading this article confirmed that the Zone has gone the way of all the great rock stations and has been cancelled. Brian the Whipping Boy, Freak, Sludge, Cassie, El Bobo, and J.V.O., I’m sorry to see you go. I don’t care what the other stations are saying this morning, you had plenty of fans. If any of these guys show up on another station, I want to know about it.

     :(

Feeling: Sad and lonely
Listening to: No other station feels the same.

2 comments September 27, 2005

Dell’s Bells

For those of you who don’t know, I went on Vacation to Wisconsin Dells last weekend with Alan.

Friday, I drove to Alan’s house. Saturday, we left for Wisconsin Dells. On the way we stopped at a Walmart to buy CDs to listen to on the way up there. One of them, the AC/DC one Alan wanted to listen to, was skipping and making a knocking noise when we put it in (brand new!). So, motiviated by having to listen to Kelly Clarkson, Alan figured out what was wrong with it (the top layer was put on crooked), fixed it (filed down the edges of the top layer), and it works now. We ate lunch at Fudruckers (Alan loves it there), and checked into the B&B.

The White Rose B&B was nice, but it wasn’t as well upkept as I would have expected. The bathroom didn’t have any ventillation, which made taking the steamy jaccuzzis a little less enjoyable. Other than that, the bed was soft, the cable TV was a better commodity than expected, and it was free of screaming children (not easy to do in the dells).

That night we went to Wally’s House of Embers. It was fantastic. I had a coupon for prime rib, which is apparently a really fantastic cut of steak, and wow, it was amazing. Alan was jealous. It was really expensive (for us, anyway, at $20 a plate). After that we went to a Drive In movie theater, cuz I’ve never been to one. We saw the Dukes of Hazard and Charlie & the Chocolate Factory (again). Dukes of Hazard was pretty funny, although I really wasn’t expecting much.

Sunday morning we went to the B&B’s breakfast (not bad, especially for free – or at least sunk cost – food). We went shopping (much to Alan’s disappointment) around the downtown Dells for a while and ate at Famous Dave’s, but then I passed out for 4 hours because I took a Benadryl. I’m not taking that again. We went to Pirate’s Cove minigolf for 36 holes, and Alan kicked my ass. I stopped keeping score after he got a hole in one on one that I took the 6-stroke limit for. I only got it in the river once, but it was almost twice.

For dinner, we went to the Essen Haus (German Restaurant). I wasn’t particularly impressed (especially at ~$12 a plate), but Alan seemed to like it. The atmosphere was very European.

Monday we went to Noah’s Ark. That was a lot of fun, but it would have been much better if we brought flip flops. As it was, our feet were practically raw by the time we left (about 4 hours later). We did go on the “Sting Ray,” which is a big, wide u-shaped thing (Looks like a sting ray with his “arms” up?) that they drop you down on a double innertube and you just kinda slide willy-nilly back and forth until you stop. The drop was kinda big, so Alan made sure I went down backwards so I’d scream more. He seemed to think that was funny. Alan told me if I bought him a deep fried Twinkie, he’d eat it, so I did. It tasted weird, like a sweet doughnut saturated with fat. I didn’t get too burned (aside from the top of my head, which is still a bit red), so all in all it was good.

That night, we went to Monk’s Bar & Grill (cheap!!!), and the food was amazing for the price. They had beer battered fries (awesome), and cheese curds (also, awesome). The food was like $5-7/plate, considering that it’s downtown Wisconsin Dells, that’s pretty spectacular. We went back there for lunch on Tuesday and I bought a shirt.

Tuesday, we went to Top Secret, which was by far the biggest waste of money ever. The outside looks awesome, though. It looks like someone took the white house and dropped it – upside down – onto a parking lot from about 50 feet up. There’s a car partially smushed under it and everything. Anyway, it was $12/person, and it lasted about 10 minutes. They took us inside and we “oohed” at the chairs and tables, etc, stuck to the ceiling. Then they took us to another room to ooh. And another. And another. Then we had to walk through “tunnels,” some of which had mirrors, so it was kind of difficult to tell where to go. They had one of those “try to walk straight on the bridge with the spinning walls around it” things, and a little girl who was on the tour lost her balance and walked into a pole. Then, there was a “mad scientist” who claimed the presidents were all robots that she created. Then you were dumped into the gift shop. The guide at the beginning said the purpose of the tour was to find out “Why the White House landed in Wisconsin Dells 7 years ago,” but there wasn’t anything that really explained it. Very stupid.

Anyway, after buying fudge, we went back to his house. I went home the next day, since I didn’t go back to work until Thursday.

Feeling: Tired.
Listening to: Much more Kelly Clarkson than I ever thought I would.

1 comment August 20, 2005