Leaving for points due east

Tomorrow morning, Sara and I are leaving to drive to Boston for Thanksgiving. I'll have my laptop with me, but I'm sure I won't post any blogs.
I always say I will and then I never do. I'm sure I'll be posting pics and travel updates to facebook and twitter, so if you follow me there then you'll be a-ok.

Looking forward to this vacation - I've only had small doses of Boston over the last year, and I'm needin' my fix!

We leave tomorrow with hopes to be on the road by 6am at the latest. The cool thing is as soon as we cross over into Indiana, we lose the hour, so we're ahead of the game! The first day, we'll drive till we get to Syracuse (about 12 hours) and spend the night there. Then we'll sleep in a little on Sunday, and drive first to Sturbridge to spend the night. An old Salem buddy of mine runs a country inn there and has comped us a room for Sunday night (working for hotels rocks some of the time!), and we have plans to try and hit some of the nice antique shops from that area! Then, on Monday we drive to our hotel right outside Boston, where we park it for the next 6 nights. Hangouts with family, friends and a couple of bottles of wine will take place over those 6 days (plus, throw in some gambling and we're all set!). Then on Sunday the 29th, we leave early in the AM and drive for 12 hours - this will get us to Cleveland, where we'll spend the night Sunday. Monday morning the 30th, we'll wake up and drive back into the city, and then we're back to work on Dec 1st.

can't.
wait.

...and on a COMPLETELY seperate note.....

This poster excites the SHIT outta me....

The rumor is that the premiere will be 1/20....
I have a huge TV.....
Who's coming over????????

Speakin' my language

Don's post today is all about my FAVORITE THING.

Swear words.

Don says: "Favorites include "douchebag," "asshat," "shit stain," and, of course, any variation on the word "fuck." The Irish can use these words like Yo Yo Ma can play an arpeggio and I consider myself a near virtuoso."

A-fucking-men.

I have often told Don that his speech just goes over my head, much like the TV show 'Deadwood'. Back when it was on, I would talk to people that would say "Oh that Deadwood - I just can't get past the language, it's so coarse and vulgar!" And honostly - I don't hear it. I spent my life listening to a group of intelligent Irish souls (my family) weave obscenity into conversation like an oriental rug maker. Swears were just a part of my vernacular. I never actually realized how much I swear until I moved to Chicago. Not that it has changed anything - I still swear like I never moved.

Next week, I return to the mother ship for the holidays - and I promise that when I return to Chicago not only will I probably be swearing more, but my speech will lose all of it's "r"s. But that's a post for anothah day.

Reminiscing on a poster

Today, I was emailing back and forth with my pal Dennis, and I referenced a poster that Jenn Adams used to keep on her wall back in our college days. We used to discuss it often back then. The poster was called "How to Be an Artist" and it had a bunch of cool things on it like "swing high on the swingset" and "hug trees". Totally hippie, right? We would laugh at some, and fiercely embrace the others. The one that we would quote back and forth to each other all the time was the one "Do it now. The Money will follow".
I was only referencing it in the first place because Dennis was laid off recently, and I was trying to let him know that sometimes as long as you're passionate about what you're doing, the rest is just gravy. And then it reminded me of the poster, and of some of the fun times we would have sitting around and reading off the "How to's".

Now, in me and Jenn's case we would use the phrase all the time on each other as a basis for choosing one thing over the other.  Should I call in at work? Should I buy this sweater? Should I forgo paying this bill so I can do something more fun?
Sometimes stupid, and sometimes inspiring, we would still quote that line to each other even years later, after college, after we'd moved from Massachusetts out to Chicago together.

I know that Jenn is married and has 2 kids and has to be uber-responsible now and all, but a small part of me hopes that she still approaches some small parts of her life in the "Do it Now. The Money will Follow" kind of way.

Now pardon me, I'm off to build a fort with blankets.

"Nothin' worth having comes without some kind of fight..."

I'm so Angry I could punch someone. For reals. I even capitalized Angry.

You were SOOO close Maine. You and Iowa were set to duke it out as which state was the most surprisingly forward thinking. I've visisted you a kajillion times. I've enjoyed your beaches, your quaint cabins, your seafood restaurants, your beautiful forests, and your salt-of-the-earth people.

Now, it's over. You blew it. I will never again spend another dime of my heard earned money in your state (which will be difficult, as my own mother lives there). LL Bean outlet store? suck it. Shops in Kittery? suck it some more. Every mom and pop outlet leading from the highway to my mom's house? suck it, suck it, suck it some more.

How can you look at me and the love of my life and say no?
How can you honostly say that my happiness 1,000 miles away from you in Chicago has ANYTHING to do with the "sanctity" of your marriage?
Nearly 53% of you think that somehow protecting your marriage is more important than MY RIGHTS.

look at this picture, Maine

Does this picture of Love and Devotion spell out hellfire and damnation for you?
and if so, why?
How can you see anything but true love here? and how is that wrong by anyone's account?

I've tried over the years to understand where YOU are coming from, but now I'm done doing that, I'm done trying to be NICE during what constitutes a removal of my RIGHTS.


In fact, you know what Maine? FUCK YOU.



1:58pm 11/4 EDITED TO ADD:
Peter Sagal posted a link to an editorial piece by Andrew Sullivan that helped soothe the beast inside me. Let me be clear...it soothed, but did not heal.
It's a good read: http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/11/the-pain-in-maine-ii.html