6/10/03
I just spent a couple hours organizing and adding-to my Vegan section. I've got Asia just about covered, save India. Still have a lot of work ahead of me, but I'm working on it. Goddamn everything. So many things that I'm shocked to find that I don't have photos of...got to take more photos when I'm out!

Berling updated his site with photos of Kiyo and Co. from NYC and a handful of gems from Ryan. Surely worth a look.

Haven't slept in my own bed in about 10 days. Must. Get. Home.

6/9/03
Christ Jeebus it's been a busy and fun-filled week. Too much to remember, too much to report. Mostly-documented through photos, but God, it takes a long time to wrangle them all and I'm running out of server space w/ my account (quickly).

I realized that I forgot to mention finally meeting my friend Naz in the last post, so here is some long-overdue respect. This guy somehow manages to maintain a well-crafted web journal, a daily photo project, a lovely portfolio site, sing and play bass in a band, and contribute time to several other projects. I don't know how he does it, but he's an amazing guy and I'm glad to have finally met him. Got to meet his roommate Marta (a vegan, designer, and bicycle enthusiast with a great sense of humor and Polish roots) as a bonus during our meal at Matsuya.

I think that Masami had a good week here. She went downtown by herself every day during the week while I was at work, and in the evenings we went out to eat, cooked at home, had bilingual conversations, and caught up on each other's lives. It was awesome to have her here, and I encourage all of my long-lost friends to pay me a visit as their schedules allow.

After Masami got into an airport-bound cab on Saturday AM, I scrambled to get my shit together for the Scoots of Hazzard scooter rally that I was already almost 24 hours late for. I packed my gear and loaded the Death Dealer up for the 100-some-odd-mile ride down to Devil's Asshole, Indiana. Fortunately the weather was on my side, but the scooter wasn't, as I started to have problems about halfway there. It kept feeling like I was going to seize (bad flashback to my attempted trip and seized piston on the way to Summit Point '01). Out of cellphone range and in the middle of nowhere, I babied it by going about 35 and stopping frequently for the rest of the trip, so it took me 5 hours to get there. I found the campsite, set up my tent and dropped off my stuff, then ventured towards the amusement park where everyone was supposed to be. Piss-poor maps and directions had me roaming for over an hour before I spotted Chad's bike in front of a bar. Don't know how I found it...never seen an amusement park that didn't advertise all the way there; no signs for the goddamn place in sight, it was totally unAmerican. I say we go to Wall Drug next year. Whatever, I found it. Went out for cheep Chinese with Silent Ron and then back to the campsite, where everyone else was. Much drunkenness and subsequent Tea-bagging and other Showing of Male Genitalia ensued. Sick, but somehow entertaining. My set of photos with accompanying smartass commentary are viewable on this page.

I rode back with the group on Sunday and was the weak link, going the slowest. The weather was good until about Michigan City, where it started pouring rain and continued for the remaining two hours or so of our ride back to the north side of Chicago. I got home totally soaking and miserable, and slept almost 11 hours, exhausted. Glad to be back safe and sound though, and looking forward to a new motor for the scooter. All in all a great week; thanks to all involved.

6/3/03
Sorry for the inattention lately, I've been busy, first with preparing for a week-long houseguest (intensive cleaning, etc) and now hanging out and acting as tourguide for Masami, a friend from the PETA days who is visiting from Japan. We've been having a great time seeing the city, eating a lot (Alice and Friends, Soul Veg, Chicago Diner, etc).

Did extensive walking tour of downtown on Sunday, culminating in a trip to the Blues Festival at Grant Park. We returned to the parking space to find my scooter gone. At first I thought maybe we were on the wrong block, but the telltale oil drip never lies. Indeed my scooter had been TOWED and impounded by the Chicago Streets and Sanitation crew, for alleged "Parking in a Tow Zone." We walked the mile and a half to the impound lot (located just East of Hell, in a subterranean labarynth wasteland illuminated by orange lights). I was shocked to see a couple dozen other scooters also impounded and more coming in all the time...apparently some sort of "get 'em all" crackdown. I was none-too-pleased to find out that they wouldn't release it until I had purchased a Chicago City Sticker. So, we got to walk another two miles to a Currency Exchange to fill out the application for one. I threw down $60 for this and we cabbed back to the dungeon to free the scooter. I paid the $160 tow fee, and to add insult to injury, the scooter also had a $50 ticket stuck to it. All-told, a fairly expensive trip downtown, but at least the motherfucker still ran (after god-knows-what-kind-of treatment at the hands of the surly tow-truck guys) and I was glad to see downtown in the rearview mirror and get the hell home back to Uptown, to enjoy the fruits of the good-day-turned-nightmarish, i.e. some new pants (sale rack at Urban Outfitters; grey, cut well and look like wool but are in fact soft cotton/poly blend) and some wonderful new cologne from the Body Shop.

5/27/03
Had a wonderful trip to Minneapolis over the holiday weekend. Many thanks to Ryan, Kurt, Vanessa (and Chris and Angie for driving). I love my friends and I love that city, and I'm thanksful for both. Hope to go back again soon.

5/23/03
One morning this week I looked up and noticed it was spring, or at least that my street was oddly "shady" in the morning when I stood in the road kickstarting my scooter. Leaves on all the trees, out of nowhere. Must've happened while I was in Poland. A welcome sight after a bleak and grey winter, but adds to the chilliness of these days...being near the lake is great in the fall, when the water is "warm," because it keeps our temperatures a little higher. Unfortunately it has the opposite effect in spring, so it almost always feels cold, even when the sun is shining. Add this new canopy of shade, and it feels more like March than May. But enough of that kind of talk.

Haven't gone out much this week, shamefully. Yesterday was the first night, I went to Irazu (Costa Rican) restaurant with some folks from work. Totally amazing food, highlights included fried Yuca appetizers and an oatmeal shake of some sort that defies description. Unfortunately I forgot the camera in my haste to leave, but I will go back and take many photos soon. I also went to karaoke at Carol's for the first time in a couple of weeks, not much new to report there. Different doorman...hope the old one is still there, he's a champ.

I'm pleased-as-punch to announce that I'm taking a ride (in a van, not the scooter) to Minneapolis tomorrow for a 48-hour-or-so visit. Riding with a co-worker and hope to squeeze in as much good food, art-viewing, friends-visiting, bar-hopping and photography as possible. Got my fingers crossed for a reunion with Sunshine and a trip to Wisconsin to see some REAL women... Photos to come soon.

Finally, I'll be making another attempt at MovableType weblog integration in the near future, so all of my buddies will be able to comment and in-fight again. That'll make us all happy.

5/18/03
Hi everybody, I'm back from my trip. It was awesome. Sorry not to have checked-in sooner. Just finished processing and captioning photos from Poland, here's the fruitz o' me labour. Hope you enjoy as much as I did; more of a general overview summary to follow soon, but the captions lend some insight to my impressions. Photos are all in chronological order, for better or worse. I have high-res versions, if you need one, e-mail me.

Most of this weekend was shot either recuperating or working, didn't go out and do anything. Still meaning to go see Winged Migration, sometime soon... Weather is decent, but I fear we'll be cheated out of Spring the same way we were cheated out of fall, and go right from chilly to sweltering hot.

5/6/03
Getting ready to fly out tomorrow evening. Grandma came into Chicago today and is really excited. Most of the loose ends have been tied around work, but I'm sure there'll be a tall pile of "urgent" stuff waiting for me when I return next Thursday. In other news, I had dinner with a veggie cutie-pie yesterday at Alice and Friends. If'n I don't come back with a Polish bride, I will just have to see this new girl again... Until then. —pj.
PS: no updates for the next week or so. Can't do it from there.

5/4/03
Still mega-busy with work, but did have some fun this weekend.
Did the usual karaoke-going on Thursday, but with the added twist of meeting Draplin's Uncle Terry (and friend Barry), who were in town for the weekend to raise a little Hell. Couple of real stand-up fellows; but of course that goes w/o saying. Any friend or kinfolk of Draplin's are as good-as or better than my own.

Had planned on seeing Winged Migration at the Music Box, but ended up meeting RaeLeann and Andrew for dinner at Alice and Friends on Friday. Good food, will go see the movie soon.

Saturday I went to a Cubs game (boss had free tickets) with Liz, Deb, and Luther. That was fun, despite the freezing cold under the canopy, we had decent seats. Quite a stadium and a formidable crowd of drunken yahoos. Game-going was followed by some shopping in the Clark-Belmont area, where I finally purchased some new kicks, which I spent too much money on ($70), but hey: my last pair lasted me well over a year (amazing how much longer shoes last without the strains which "aggro" skateboarding puts on them...I used to burn through a pair of Converse All-Stars in a matter of weeks as a vegetarian teenager, in a time when "quality nonleather skate shoes" were nowhere to be found). Thankfully, times have changed for vegan skaters; now there are a dozen or more good options.

I also indulged myself in some new music; Glenn Danzig: Black Aria, Danzig II—Lucifuge, Danzig: Thrall-Demonsweat Live, and Son Volt: Wide Swing Tremolo. (Had a real hankering for Danzig, if you can't tell). Lucifuge and Black Aria are great; not too jazzed on Thrall or the Son Volt disc, but they were all used and inexpensive, so no big whoop. Also scored a used copy of Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago. Finished off Saturday night with a train ride north for dinner at Blind Faith veg. restaurant in Evanston, with Kelly. I had Paella (that's "pie-ay-ya" to you filthy gringos) which was excellent and she had Seitan Marsala, which was also quite nice. Vegan cakes for dessert!

Today I cleaned house (sort of), read about half of that book, played with the cats, bought a bunch of crap to take to Poland as souvenirs (T-shirts, candy, gum, etc) and got an electrical converter, for recharging our respective image-takers.

In weblog-related news, I've set up a blog on the Genuine Scooters website for two old guys who we're sponsoring on a tour of Europe on Stella scooters. Relevance: I did it using the same kind of database that I need to use for MT when I reinstall it for this site, so I sort of know what I'm doing. The bummer is that it will take time, and I probably lost some old information.

4/29/03
Sorry for the lapse between updates, several of you wondered aloud if I had died. The fact that you're reading this should answer that question. I've been quite extremely busy this last week or so, working long hours to get a lot of things done before I go to Poland (next Wednesday). On top of the work, there's been a fair amount of social and scooter-related activity this past week...let me try to recall, in no particular order:

Took a two-hour scooter ride out to Woodstock, IL on Sunday for the Walneck's Motorcycle Swap Meet with Chad and Quinton. Beautiful day, beautiful ride, beautiful stuff. I purchased a new heavy-duty "tombstone" style taillight, some footpegs that I will mount on my crashbars, and some patches for my jacket: "Loud Pipes Save Lives," "Minnesota, God's Country," and "Grass, Gas, or Ass, Nobody Rides for Free." Great day. I also stopped and visited Aunt Lottie and took her out for Chinese food, I had "Governor's Tofu with Vegetables" (General Tso).

Went to dinner and a movie which consisted of Couscous Vegetables at Cousin's Turkish restaurant (good, but the couscous had an odd, too-rich flavor that tasted suspiciously non-vegan). The movie was "A Powerful Wind" or something, a mock-umentary in the same vein as Spinal Tap, but focusing on Folk music. Not a bad film, some very funny moments.

Painted black just about everything else that wasn't previously painted matte black on the scooter. Installed the "wicked, radical chopper seat," but much to my disappointment, it looked bad and rode terribly, so it's a no-go. Spent most of monday night installing new taillight. Also purchased life-size (foam) skull, which will eventually be the fender ornament. My next investment for the scooter will be this horn, which, in addition to playing Love Song, 14 animal sounds including turkey and eagle, and train noises, I will program to play "Holiday Road."

Went to a party with Raeleann and Andrew, way down on the south side, which was in a "cooperative living house" with wall-to-wall anarchists and the like. Good people, maybe not that radical. But much to my disappointment I didn't end up meeting the beautiful, creative, tatooed, vegan, black-clad-anarchist, rat-bike-appreciating girl of my dreams there. Maybe because I'm too shy or just wasn't drunk. It was super-crowded, there were good posters on the walls, and I was drinking apple juice out of a brown paper bag in a manner that implied "forty."

Went to a scooter/classic car meetup of sorts at Superdawg drive-in up on the northwest side. When I asked if they had a "veggiedog," they apparently thought I was speaking another language, so I settled for some "Superfries." Nice trip.

Lot of projects printed and bearing fruit lately around work; T-shirts, postcards, decals for bikes, websites, ads in The Onion, magnets, sweatshirts, magazine ads...the list goes on.

And a low-res bonus photo, just to fill up space.

3/24/03 to 4/14/03
Ah, the "salad days," when I first experimented with having a Movabletype weblog with comments. To read selections from this 3 weeks or so of frequently-updated content, click here and scroll to the bottom of the page.

3/21/03
Christ, the time flies these days. Sorry to leave y'all hanging for almost a week, how shameful. Not much to report, except how goddamn busy I've been. Lots of long hours and plenty of bad meals. The only real excitement this week was Monday, when Kayla from PETA was in town and we did a St. Patrick's Day-Themed GO VEGAN demonstration downtown at Daley Plaza in our underwear. Sorry, no photos! The Irishman cops didn't like us, and hauled Kayla off to the slammer for Indecent Exposure or something. The cops here are really something else, you should hear how some of them talk—lots of machismo and bitterness. They're not ALL bad or anything, just most of the one's I've been exposed to EXCEPT Scott, from the Vegan Meetup. He's a vegan cop and an all-around champion; they need more like him on the Force. I visited Lottie on Sunday.

Then there's "our" war. For the record, I am completely against it and think that the president un-elect is a total fucking moron who will bring more death to Iraq and wrath to the US than anyone imagines. Way to go GW, rub salt in mideast wounds; meanwhile tell people that taking away our "Homeland" liberties will somehow keep us safe from the evil, freedom-hating Mosslum world. This joke of an administration makes me want to run to Canada or just about anywhere else, and hide my head in shame. I love America but hate our current "leaders" and media. Thankfully, we should have the freedom to be critical.

I got a package full of T-shirts from Freeman today. Here are some really stupid pics of me modeling them in the office. Big plans for the weekend? Hmm...work both days? Yeah!

Ides of March 2003
If you want to see what I did with the beautiful weather today, check out our photos on Scoot.net. Had an excellent time riding through the downtown area with a dozen+ other scooterists.

Thanks to Kurt for the (temporary) new background image.

3/9/03
Cripes, sorry for the lapse between updates. I haven't been exercising, but I have been busy with work and stuff. Lots of good eats this last week, the photos will help me remember...

Had some snowstorm action early in the week, which makes for some dangerous moto-scootering.

Maniotes came into town on Wednesday, and we ate at the Chicago Diner. He had the Seitan Philly Cheesesteak and I had the Portobella sandwich deal. Mine tasted good but the quantity was a little shy of being two whole meals. Had some decadent German Chocolate cake for dessert.

The new helmet I ordered from Sportique came in (figured I'd wait until the winter was almost over to order a full-face lid). I'm confident that my million-dollar smile and gulliver will be a lot better off if I fly o'er the handlebars, but the goddamn thing offers so little peripheral vision that my chances of actually getting into an accident have probably at least doubled.

Karaoke at Carol's on thursday. Big deal. Just a ritual now.

Friday I got an e-mail from sophomore-year-ladyfriend Emily L., who was in town for a convention at Navy Pier. We met up (after I got a flat tire in the freezing cold in a bad neighborhood) and hunted around for some Thai food. After being disappointed, generally, with hipster haven Wicker Park, we headed towards Clark/Belmont and settled on a place called Duck Walk. I had some tofu/veggie soup and tofu spring rolls (these teeny-tiny spring rolls seem to be a fixture in Chicago Thai restaurants, but they're not as good as the bigger ones (think Bangkok Garden in Norfolk). We then had some coffee at PickMeUp under the sweet attention of my favorite (vegan!) server Michelle, and called it a night. Emily had never been on a scooter before and seemed to enjoy the ride. Too bad it wasn't warmer. Great to see her and catch up after many years of silence.

Yesterday I came into work for a while to shoot photos for the new Scooterworks catalog. Later I met Katie at Karyn's Fresh Corner, an all-vegan raw foods restaurant that I've been wanting to try. The food was absolutely incredible, if a little spendy. Katie, who isn't Catholic, is nonetheless eating only raw foods during Lent, as an experiment. I salute her for that dedication. If I had awesome food like Karyn's for every meal, I might be able to do it...maybe I'd transform into the Juiceman!? We also saw Amandla at the Music Box (superb film, review to come).

Today my lazy ass slept in. I met Phil at the Chicago Diner for brunch, where I had the seitan sausage, scrambled tofu, and biscuits and gravy. Wow. Then I did some shopping in that area, picking up a new CD and several used books: Bumper Sticker Wisdom, Touching America With Two Wheels (A Guide to Cross Country Motorcycle Touring), Read Japanese Today, Folk Paper Cutouts of Hupeh, China (for the package) and a '50's-era Stag magazine that was a huge disappointment. Now I've been at work for 6 hours, 4 working on catalog stuff and 2.5 doing this little update. This shit takes time (photos, keen wits, etc).

3/3/03
Just a couple of things today. When I said I hated e-mail, it's not that I hate getting it, because I love that. It's the fact that I place so much importance on getting it that I hate.

Two, it's been formally-suggested that I should have a weblog with comments and stuff, like most people do. With my small knowledge of the Innernet, I don't know an easy way to have a true weblog (moveabletype, blogger, etc) nestled as part of an otherwise-HTML-intensive page like this one. I don't want the main page to JUST be a diary, I feel that the other crap (which rarely changes, I know) is important to first-time visitors. I should get rid of movie reviews and some other fluff that I never update, and make a special, more comprehensive section about vegan food. As readers of this site, I'm soliciting your feedback and techical advice on the issue, if you have any. What would you like to see? A redesigned site would be nice, but that won't happen any time soon, because I'm too lazy.

Finally, any recommendations on DSL/broadband providers in Chicago would be most welcome. I'm finally looking into it.

3/2/03
Shit fire, I don't know where the hours go when I sit in front of this ugly, godforsaken box. I've been here (at work) all day, and I got about 4.5 hours of actual (freelance) work done in the course of 8+ hours. The only way I can begin to justify this use of time is that it's freezing and nasty outside and I hate moving around the city in this cold. I also hate the internet, and e-mail. I really want to go home and eat something, but I feel I owe it to you, to stay here for a little longer and play "catch-up."

I saw Howard Lyman speak on Tuesday and that was fantastic. Great guy and good crowd. Encouraging. Dinner at home.

Went to Chicago Diner on wednesday with Dave from work. I had the Country Fried Steak and he had the Seitanic Caesar Salad. The steak was ok, but not crispy-fried or anything. The mashed potatoes and gravy were outstanding though.

Thursday was karaoke alone at Carol's, nothing special.

Friday I went to my Aunt Lottie's to visit with her and my grandparents from MI. Plans for visiting Poland were discussed and travelogue-type videos were watched. I'm looking forward to getting the hell to some new place for a week or so. And meeting some Polish cuties...maybe I'll return with one?

Saturday my grandparents came to my apartment to check it out and play with my cats. Then I brought them to Scooterworks for the 10-cent tour. I went to the Vegan Meetup at noon, and it was terrific again, but a little awkward seating-wise. Some good chatter and delicious food. Saturday night I checked out a jazz show in my 'hood at the Green Mill with Katie. "Sueños: One of Chicago's better big Latin-Jazz ensembles." Not bad. Nice long conversation at Pick-Me-Up about languages, music, and all-things-vegan. Topped it all off with a $50 parking ticket (residential area with non-obvious sign) and called it a night.

Today was pissed-away as mentioned above. Oh, one new method of time-expenditure I've been turned onto is Friendster (thanks Ken!). I welcome all y'all to "be my friend" and we can write each other complimentary Testimonials. Don't bother unless you put some goddamn photos up though.

I haven't exercised since last Sunday. I will tonight.

2/24/03
Long night on Friday. I met Rene at the Empty Bottle and bobbed my head to the funky riffz of Dianogah and Shipping News. I really enjoyed Dianogah because their music had a wonderful complexity, coupled with the modesty of it being mostly instrumental. Bad, egotistical singing ruins so many otherwise-good bands; it's refreshing to see stuff like this. I generally like the instrumental tracks (NOT guitar solos) of most songs better than the sum (w/ vocals). To me, a lot of rock music falls apart and seems formulaic when too many instruments get involved. Anyway, after the show we parted ways and I went to Club Foot to meet up with Jedi Chad and some other scooterists to catch up on lame gossip, etc. When they shut 'em down at 2, I headed to Pick-Me-Up Café for the old standby vegan rice-crispy square and tea. I got home at 4am and slept 'til 11:30.

Saturday...I read haiku, came into work for a bit, then went to the asian market to stock up on some supplies. I made tofu pad kapau for dinner and watched SNL. Bastard 60mph winds knocked my scooter over yet again (2nd time in a week!)

Sunday I watched some PBS (I'm a sucker for all travel and cooking shows) and made my "famous" chickpea mock duck curry dish for an Earthsave vegan potluck. The curry turned out well and the potluck (and guest speaker) were quite enjoyable. Looking forward to doing more with this group in the future.

I got home and exercised for a while. I've recently started exercising again after 7 or so months of inactivity and sloth. I need you, my constichency, to keep on me so that I don't "fall off" the exercise wagon again. I need to be in good shape to sit around an office all day in the summer... Or maybe I need to be in shape for those cute Polish girls? Well, for some reason.

Oh, I've changed my photo on makeoutclub to the creepy "Chesnut" photo below. If THAT doesn't make the love-poetry e-mails start rolling in, I don't know what will.

2/21/03
Really don't feel like updating, but I'm doing it anyway, if only to bring you this photoshop rendition of me as my recent hero:

2/18/03
Just a brief hello today. Concerned that I look very corpse-like these days, I just popped a couple of shots to see. It seems to happen mostly when other people take the photos... Maybe I shouldn't attempt fake, half-assed smiles. That's probably the most of my problem, rat tere. All is going okay, the weather's up to a balmy 40 or so, so I'm rejoicing over that.

2/16/03
Friday was V-day, and I intended to meet up with some other loners from the Chicago Craigslist group. I hauled my ass down to China-Town to the Emperor's Choice, but got there about 10 mins. late (as usual). Everyone else had better timing, because I saw a huge round table already filled to capacity. I hate being the center of attention (esp. w/ strangers), so I stood in the doorway scoping the group out for a few minutes, and then decided not to go join them. Feeling sorry for myself, I walked around Chinatown looking for somewhere else to eat, and settled on Spring World in Chinatown Square, based on the window menus posted (they had the most veg dishes). After much strained communication w/ the server (to ask if it contained egg, etc.) I ordered myself a Vegetarian Bird's Nest (yuba tofu skin wrapped around veggies, served w/ greens).

Still not content with my trainfare and long ride down south, I sought a place to do some studying, a tea-house. And I was pleasantly surprised to find one on a side-street. It's called Tea Leaf Café and is another incarnation of JavaCha on Clark. The place was modern and clean and filled with young hoodlums who were loud and obnoxious, but there were enough cute young maidens around to compel me to stay. I had green tea with lychee and tapioca pearls.

Saturday I spent the afternoon designing, printing, and cursing-over some new business cards with the Gocco. I think the batteries were low, so it was making improper exposures and wasting a lot of time and money (5 bulbs and 2 screens) in the process. I finally got the sons-of-bitches printed in time to catch a midnight showing of Office Space with (Chicago) Vegan Sara at the Music Box, which was "Grrrrreeeeeeaaat. m'kay?"

This morning I finally got around to checking out the Buddhist Temple of Chicago, which is literally 3 blocks from my residence. I was hoping to catch a Japanese-language service (nihongo no renshuu tame ni), but they didn't have one today. So I had tea and chatted with some of the friendly congregation, and stuck around for a "Sutra Lesson" in the basement. Neat old building, good folks. While I'm not particularly interested in Buddhism, I'll probably be going back in the future, since it was a nice thing to do on a cold Sunday.

This is EXACTLY what all web pages should be. I'm going to start re-working my mess of a site, add melancholy audio, and a big photo of me in the middle. Thanks Matt P for the link!

2/12/03
I know you're as sick of hearing about these goddamn T-shirts as I am, but they were sent to the printer today. Here are some color approximations, to give you a better idea. Sorry, there simply is no other news in my life right now besides this. And the fact that it's freezing cold outside. Well...I guess I can snap a few photos of some new work from the "real job" front... Here's a stencil I cut today (for boxes, parcels, whatever) and a lighted window sign that will go to our Stella dealers. Fun stuff.

2/12/03
Many, many thanks to those who gave feedback and critique on the shirts. Here are the final four designs, I think:
"Keep it Vegan" maybe bright rust orange on white?
"Corpses Are Not on My Menu" mustard on maroon?
"Make Mine Vegan" silver on black?
"Vegan in Japanese" torquoise or lt. green on green?

It's 1am. I've been here for 16 hours and must go home. Night.

2/10/03
I'm going to post some in-progress vegan T-shirt designs. Tomorrow (tuesday night) is the last chance I have to work on 'em, so please send comments/critique/feedback via e-mail ASAP if you want to be heard. There will be 4 total, he's printing a small quantity, and the shirt colors are red, green, yella, and white (all organic cotton). I hope he ordered S-M ones for those of us who don't like to drape ourselves w/ tents... Anyway:

"Keep it Vegan" color simulation and larger design
"No Need to Eat Corpses..." color simulation and larger design
"Make Mine Vegan" color simulation and larger design
"Think Vegan" color simulation and larger design

I also thought about doing one of the Japanese characters for Vegan, since it's kind of interesting. What do you think?

Had a great visit with Kurt and Vanessa on Saturday. We went to Soul Veg for Tidbits, BBQ, Greens, Grilled Cornbread, etc. Then they came over and played with my cats for a while.

I got a shitload more tapes from Master Bill Bartolone. Keep your eye on this guy, he's absolutely amazing. Thanks Bill!

Spent Friday at a Tradeshow. See Ryan's backdrop in booth.

Berling updated his site. If you look close, you may find a few familiar images (I did, but I don't really expect you to).

2/6/03
Sorry for the inattention, I'm freeking busy this week. Tradeshow this weekend to prepare for, shirt designs galore, freelance mania, dinner with more good vegans. It all adds up.

NOTE: I seem to be having issues with my Yahoo! e-mail account, I'm not receiving certain messages. So if you've e-mailed me in the last week and I haven't responded, there's a good chance that I never got your message...it's lodged somewhere in nether regions of Yahoo's ad-riddled bowels.

I've been taking some photos, but don't have time to post.

Product Patrol: Smoked Soy Jerky and Glacé soy ice cream, which is a new favorite around my apartment. Both delicious.

I miss my friends in Norfolk. I worked with a great bunch of people at PETA and salute them for their worthy efforts. Hell, I even miss certain things about Naafick. Which isn't to say I want to move back, but there was a wonderful sense of (gossip-y!) community at that place that I'm still lacking here...

When I fall asleep watching TV or reading (way too often), this is part of what I wake up to... East ... Southeast ... South views.

A tip of the hat and a Dosey-Do to Mr. Joe Burke for exploring veganism. Another to Genuine Scooterist Phil for going Veg!

2/1/03
Enjoyed a delicious lunch in very good company today. We met at Alice and Friends, which is pretty close to where I live. I should've used the flash for most of the food photos I took, since many are blurry upon closer examination. I prefer the look of no-flash photos, but in low light it's too hard to keep the camera steady for the longer exposures. Anyway, here's a list of the food that was eaten (while I work on constructing a more comprehensive and visual guide to Chicago vegan dining...)

Fried dumpling appetizers (small but apparently good)
Almond UnChicken with ginger (I had this, great texture)
Sweet Tang Su (sweet/sour mock meat...a little bland)
Korean Style BBQ (always a favorite)
Glass Noodles with Veggies (bad photo! Rene, how was it?)
Kabobs (with tofu and mock beef that tastes like steak!)
Full Moon (mung flour pancakes with wild veggies)
Himalayan Spirit (root vegetables, kabobs, lots of goodies)

Again, a wonderful time and a great and varied group of people that I hope spawns many new friendships. Thanks everyone, and e-mail me if you want to go out for more food before next month's meeting (I'm always up for it)!

1/31/03
Went to Carol's last night for the ritual karaoke-viewing, and feared for my life when the doorman (looks like an roadie from the Charlie Daniels Band) tapped me on the shoulder and told me "quit takin' photos o' people without askin 'em first. People's complainin'." That put an end to that, although people should stop their goddamn whining. If you don't want your photo secretly taken, don't go out in public and sing karaoke.

Going to meet some vegans for lunch tomorrow. More photos!

Other than that, no big plans except working on some designs this weekend...t shirt designs, eck setruh.

The moment I saw it, I knew. Some facts are unpleasant, but anyone who's spent a little time with me can't deny this one: This photograph depicts me, in my environs, 35 years hence (should I still be alive and all). The face is spot-on, as are the skinny arms, the pointy chin, wavy hair, and haggard, "single-wide" cowboy look. I have obviously battled The Bottle in my old age and lost. At least it looks like I've found some dignity...

Since you're insatiable, here's a portrait from last night when I got home from the bar, tired and stinking of cigarette smoke. And a rare semi-profile view, to illustrate new mulletude?

1/29/03
Busy days at work, but it feels good. Productive, with lots of new designs in the making... T-shirts, a 60-page catalog (yikes!), tradeshow booths, websites, you name it, I'm on it.

I tried to conceal it for months, but the secret is out... What can I say, the guy just has "that certain irresistable something."

My scooter's running better now that I'm storing indoors during the workday...the bitter cold was no good for it. The cable grease was hardened and the clutch/throttle would actually stick to the point that I had to push them back out (no spring return action) and it was rough on my transmission and quite unsafe. Still haven't ruled out rebuilding the carb for good measure, but for now this seems to be helping. Snow scootering!

And here's my lovely YuppieView under cover of dirty snow.

If I wasn't busy enough, I'm going to be doing some veganistic T-shirt designs for Freeman's new group. I've been wanting to have a means to do this for years, since there's a shameful scarcity of decent-looking vegan/AR shirts out there. Yeah.

Finished Travels. The first 2/3rds was good, the last chunk was different in tone and wasn't as enjoyable. But a fine read overall.

1/26/03
Don't feel like doing an update, so it'll be short. Really engrossed in reading Steinbeck's Travels With Charley, and hope to finish it tonight. Did a lot of walking around and shopping yesterday, and took quite a few photos, which I'm too lazy to post. (later, I promise). Here's one of Tatsu and Yu, since I haven't mentioned them in a while. Loving the camera! Stomach's rumbling now, time to go get some Vietnamese food. I'm trying to eat at each of the 2 dozen or so places in my neighborhood, to test the waters and see which I like best. When I decide on one, I'm going to convince them to offer mock duck versions of all their dishes, a la every place in Minneapolis.

I really really like Carolyn Swiszcz' work. (Fellow MCAD alum)

Wanted to get a better shot of the skyline yesterday, (it's quite breathtaking in real life; less so here), but this'll have to do.

1/24/03
Well, I got sort of stood-up by Lisa last night, which didn't come as much of a surprise...I've never met her before (in person), but we corresponded a few months ago and were supposed to meet at that time, and didn't. No big whoop, I went to Carol's anyway and enjoyed some karaoke and people-watching action. I took some photos, and I'd like to share some, but feel that I should save them for a larger, more comprehensive photo essay on Carol's. Just putting a few up won't do the whole experience justice, so I'll wait and just leave you with this generic one.

Weekend plans: try to determine why my scooter runs like shit (rebuild the carb or whatever it takes). Not much else... I have plenty of Gocco supplies now (ordered 'em online), so mayhap I'll come up with something to print. I'm trying to save money for the next few months, planning a trip to Poland in late April with my grandma. Trip of a lifetime, I'm excited for it.

1/23/03
Someday mine may be a real weblog, with comments, archives, and "all the trimmings." But for now it's a hack, nested-table-based HTML nightmare. While you're waiting for me to learn about web design, here's a self-portrait from 10 mins ago.

I am either meeting up with a girl named Lisa tonight or going to Karaoke at Carol's (or both?). We'll see. I'm not riding my scooter to go anywhere though (except home). This is the coldest day we've had all year. It was -1F (-20 or so with windchill, but about -40 adding in the speed of the scooter) this morning and my hands almost fell off in just 2 miles. Not to mention that my cables (clutch, throttle) keep sticking (frozen grease?) and that's not very safe OR good for the scooter.

1/22/03
Hey, I'm back with photos of our meals. You probably didn't even know I was gone, but that's okay. It was amazing! I regret not taking a photo of the massive piece of vegan carrot cake that I had for dessert, but next time, I promise. Here's how it all went down: Chris had the Bi Bim Bop (Korean specialty with tofu and sweet/spicy sauce...you mix it all up and eat it). Luther took my advice and ordered the Kabobs (I had 'em last time I went and they are BOSS. Tastes just like steak!!! I tried the Korean BBQ, which was fairly similar to the kabobs (same fake sliced beef and similar smoky flavor). It was all excellent and our waitress was super-cute. Run to this place!

1/22/03
Got the camera today, very glad to finally have it. I only took a few images, and I haven't read the "instructions" yet, but here are a few sample images to get you started:
My ugly face after taking outdoor photos (it's about 12 degrees outside) of my scooter apron and the building across the street. Here's one of my messy desk area and a full-res one of Chris.
Expect many signs to be sent to hell with this little thing. It's literally no bigger than a pack of Basic Extra Menthols.

Gotta run now to grab a dinner at Alice and Friends Veg Restaurant with Luther and Chris. Expect food photos!

Paaaaaaace. Sorry for the quick-n-dirty update.

1/18/03
Oops, I'm doing it again. I'm proud to announce that I've just placed the order for my very own digital camera! Based on the hearty recommendations of Draplin, Berling, Naz, and JoeBurke, I've gone with the Canon s200 Elph. Only 2 megapixels, but a good 2 megapixels, and the camera is about the size of a pack o' smokes. Ordered it from B&H, and with an additional 64mb flash card and shipping, the total was $301.25. Sweetness!

I went up to Devon avenue today, specifically to try the Indian Vegetarian Fast Food restaurant I'd seen before. It was pretty amazing, and I'd go back again. Cheap and plentiful, with a wide variety of items (I probably had 12 different items, counting the breads and sauces). The food tasted kind of cheap, as you'd expect, but I hadn't really had cheap Indian before (though I'd take mediocre Indian over typical American food any day). I wouldn't mind seeing every single McDonald's, Wendy's, and KFC replaced with gems like this. My only complaint was one which is typical in fast food: waste. They served stuff on styrofoam and it was all disposable, and that bums me out. Wait 'til I get this goddamn camera, you're going to be inundated with vegan food pics. I almost started laughing when I saw how much food I got for my money, it was quite a sight. And I got to see cute young (vegetarian?) Indian girls while I was eating. Nice!

Saw Eminem's 8 Mile last night at 3Penny Theater. Review.

1/17/03
To prove that I'm a goddamn Update Champ, here's another one. I've been pretty productive lately, carving linoleum blocks and shit. Here's the latest (2c) version of my "howdy" cards. Linocuts are awesome, but they suck for fine detail and type, and I can't seem to get the ink to be thinner, so that it's not such a gnarly texture when printed. Fine lines get filled in.

Since there's so much discussion about website addiction, here are a few that I check at least once a day: Draplin, Kurt, Joe, Scooter BBS, PETA, Craigslist, Weather. Those are staples, there are many others (weblogs, etc) that I check quite often but not as compulsively.

Sounds a lot like an "urban legend," but this is one of the funniest things I've read in quite a while. The sci-fi shit is great for a laugh, but the "female" writing is what kills me; sounds painfully familiar... (li

1/16/03
This is probably a record for consecutive updates, but this is the last addendum; no more crawling out of the woodwork, unless the e-mails contain pictures a la suicidegirls.com.

Andrew "Me Too" Jenkins (screenprinting, computer expert)
"Two days of your relentless BLOGGING peer-pressure forced me to pony up and admit I check your site every morning. I've never been so ashamed - I can't believe I caved."

Andrew has a neat site, Inkspeak.com, which seems to have even less frequent blog updates than mine...but check out his posters and the "FOUND" section, where the companion images to my Thrift Store Camera Photos await your perusal.

Carved a linocut card image last night, here's a rough sample of what it looks like. I may end up using cereal boxes and the like to print on (to recycle and add interest...see simulation here, with white layer under black and red stamped type for message). Based on a photo I took years ago in Paw Paw.

1/15/03
Okay, I'm gonna let these stragglers slide, if a little tardy...
Ken Penn (straightedge, vegan, scootering designer hombre)
"Negative...King Penn checks how you are doing regularly..."

Vanessa Harris (master of: mixtapes, vocab, handiwork, Kurt)
"yea pj....what about me? i check it every day , thank you. i know i am little, but i won't let you forget me. so there (smile)"

Bradford Berling (Hollywood shots-caller, He-Man, shaggy dog)
"fuck you, bitch. i check your website every morning practically. it's part of my fucking ritual. i'm just not nerdy enough to fucking email you a shitty little complaint. -BB"

1/14/03
I knew I'd be close. Only one regular website reader begged to differ with my list below, and that was the wonderful Sarah. She's my Texan Sweetheart (she sent me vegan cookies and vintage Mr. T stickers!). Sarah's becoming a Master of Urban Planning and other neat stuff down in Austin, which sounds like a damn good town by any account. She also has the sweetest voice you've ever heard. So I raise my glass high: to Sarah Graham!

1/12/03
Kurt, Drap, Katy, Naz, Andy, Joe, Deb, Ryno: Here's that update you've been waiting for. That's my website; I can name all of the really regular readers on a hand and a half. If you feel that you should've been listed, e-mail me and I'll post your name too. And a link to your picture, as a peace offering.

This last week was a long one (lots of early mornings, which I don't do gracefully). Friday was inventory, so we were all here from 8am 'til midnight counting thousands of little scooter bits. This put me out of commission for the better part of Saturday, though I did manage to escape my apartment in the evening for 1] a movie (Biggie and Tupac, see review below), 2] some coffee, drawing, and haiku at Cafe Boost in Andersonville 3] veggie chili and hot tea at Kopi Cafe in Andersonville, and 4] a "nightcap" of $3 coke at Carol's Pub. I was out for about 7 hours, and were it not for a freak meeting with good-looking MCAD alums Justin Braem and Sara Wert on my way out of the theater, I wouldn't have spoken a word to another soul the whole time. I could blame the cold indifference of big cities in general, but it's not the world's job to come up and introduce itself to me. I'm supposed to make the effort, but don't. Poor social skills.

Getting back to reality, I rode the train downtown today with the intent of buying more screens and bulbs for my Print Gocco. The Chicago stop on the Brown line was my destination, and incidentally, the view that I sketched for the front of my holiday card. Pearl Paint stocks all the Gocco stuff, but unfortunately they were sold out of both bulbs and screens (must be a lot of other people who got 'em during the holidays and are prolific in producing great works). So I bought a bunch of linocut supplies instead ($62 worth). So there should be a new linocut postcard in the works sometime in the near future. I walked around the "River North" neighborhood, which is home to many obnoxious chain restaurants (Hooters, Big Bowl, Joe's Crab Shack), highrise condos, & other uppermiddleclass whitebread fakery. Then I hopped on a train back north to my 'hood and had some awesome Vietnamese at one of the 2 dozen nondescript joints on Argyle... Fried tofu w/ beansprouts, basil and cilantro. A damn good study in garlic, onions, and MSG. Add some delicious hot tea and a healthy dollop of hot cock (Sriracha) sauce, and life suddenly looks pretty good.

Went to Karaoke Night at Carol's with Deb on Thursday, and I highly recommend that above all other nights there. The woman (picture Ozzy Ozbourne as a 58-yr old honkytonk bar hag) who got up and sang "There's a Tear in My Beer," completely off-music, improvising as she went, made my whole week. Close second was a beautiful brother at the bar wearing a "coonskin" style cap ca. Davy Crockett, a turtleneck warmup underneath a white cardigan alligator sweater, slim-fittin' pleated pants and pointy shoes, with a killer Billy Dee Williams moustache and a gold necklace worn outside the turtleneck. This smooth cat stepped right off the pages of Back in the Days. Holy shit.

1/4/03
For an awesome description of my New Year's gathering, you can do NO BETTER than Aaron Draplin's reflections. My weak list of highlights, in no order: 2 gnarly fistfights (both totally avoidable, but one w/ thugs in the street, who surprisingly didn't shoot us), a trip to Soul Veg, scores of good signs, incriminating photos with Nickolous the Greek Love Doll, 4 neighborhood bars, 2 overflowed toilets, one broken CB coffee mug, some drunken puking, plenty of hard feelings and pouting (with a side of constant bitching), clandestine photos of Brad's member, Draplin shaking hands w/ every roughneck in sight, run-ins with the wary proprietors of a sleazy motel, the Master Chief, Andy's freak reunion w/ his 4th-grade crush, aimless driving and piss-poor narrated tours, Ryan throwing "found object" garbage at everyone, crowded quarters at Dumpsterview, irascible workers o' the CTA, Brad's endless barrage of the foulest expulsions.

I had fun w/ the crew. Met Kevin Wideman today for book perusal and brunch at Pick-Me-Up (vegan french toast...mmm). Great to see him; good Chicago local working in Mpls.

I've got to stop going to Carol's Pub. It's too depressing to sit in a would-be honkytonk by yourself drinking $3 cokes, surrounded by the dregs of the Northside while listening to awfully-rocked-up versions of Your Country Favorites of Yesterday and Today. It's charming for a few songs, but the guitarist (looks like a cross between Mike Ditka and Walter Cronkite) has Jimi Hendrix Syndrome and injects every god damn song with all the hotlicks he can, so that simple ditties like "I Walk the Line" become bouncy, uptempo, cheezed-out songs that blend into all the rest. And the singing is pretty bad through-and-through. There are a few cute punk-y girls in there, but they're always there as the better half of a couple, so it just makes it all the more painful to observe. Welcome back Winter Blues, looking forward to 3 more months!!!

Here are some new signs since I'm too lazy to update: 1, 2, 3.

To read similar entries from 2002, click here.