July 27, 2003
Howlin' at the Moon
So it's been a while since I've had a post. I've actually been doing work for work, and that has kept me very busy the last week. And it has all been computer work, so any free time I have had, I've spent resting my carpal tunnels. I did do a little work hacking together a script to tune MT's publishing a little more to my style (command line vs web interface). It's not quite done yet, and I'm not using it now, but if I had just five more minutes, the thing would be so cool. As it is, I'm trusting Netscape, not opening any other pages, and living dangerously.
So last night (Saturday), the wife and I did let the hair down a little and made the long-ass trek to Chicago to hang with our peeps at Howl At The Moon, a hoppin' little joint where the two pianos duel, the audience participates, and the water flows like wine. We partied like rock stars, rolling home and getting in to bed around 2:00 a.m. Cool, so we're not that old.
The only real bummer of the night, I only realized today, is that the guts to my keyless entry fob have gone missing. I'm figuring the valet guy either dropped my keys and lost the guts, or has a GM product in mind that he needed a remote for or wanted to break in to. What a lame-ass thing. I'm just glad I have an extra.
Other than that, fun was had. The waitstaff was friendly and cute. The musicians were great. One tiny girl bounced between the piano and the bass, and even played the fiddle for "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" - well. One of the other piano players did a dead-on rendition of the keyboard solo from Van Halen's "Jump." The crowning asthetic touch was when he climbed up on the piano with his Roland AX7 (if you don't feel like chasing the link, think 80's keyboard worn like a guitar) for the big finish.
There were a few too many bachelorettes there, thus we heard "Goin' to the Chapel" about 6 too many times. But for the single guys with us, it made for a good ratio of y-to-x chromosomes. One friend even scored a free smooch as a bride-to-be scratched another item off of her pre-nuptuial to-do list.
Today was all about grocery, wine, and housewares shopping (I think we saved about $40 with various coupons). We got some decent Atlantic salmon and scallops (frozen, but they were good nonetheless). We couldn't tell if the salmon was wild-caught or farm-raised. We were lead to believe it was wild, but it just didn't seem to have the spirit I'd expect from such a majestic creature. Maybe what I tasted was the bitterness of lost freedom.
Anyway, the salmon was grilled with a rub of cardimon, a dousing of lemon pepper marinade, and a few leaves of fresh basil layed on top for good luck. The scallops were skewered with red and green peppers, onion, and thin-sliced potato. All turned out much better than expected - I'm still learning the grill, so I don't have much faith until the food is in the tummy tomaine-free. But yum.
So now it's worky-time again. Me love you long time.
Hooooowwwwwwwwwwllllllll!!!!!!
