One Time, at Band Camp... One Time, at Band Camp... One Time, at Band Camp... I feel like crap today! I stayed home from work, and I always hate staying home, but I would do no good at work in the shape I'm in. Anyway, this weekend I'm going to be in the wedding of one of my best friends from high school. It's been about 8 or so years since we've really seen each other, but I know this is going to be tons of fun. I'm going to bring all my band geek memoribilia and we're going to have a good time running up and down memory lane. The weddings about 3 hours away, so we're just going to stay there the weekend. I'll share are the band camp stories when I get back. Poor Dave, he's gotta be the picture boy andhe's got to sit there and listen to all of us yap yap yap... - Yano, 1:25 PM |

Thursday, August 29 Thursday, August 29

I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends Well, it was not a great day today, but better than it was yesterday. I think I could be getting sick. My stomach is all knotted and my head hurts and my body is just exhausted. I pulled almost 12 hours today, and it's getting to be much. But at least we're getting somewhere with this client. Yesterday I took a real beating, but things were looking somewhat positive today. But once again, the people around me help me get through it with good spirits. Me and Bryan took a walk to the Sony store (and hoping that we MIGHT see Julia again) and played some rugby on PS2 for a while. Then we had some ice cream. And I had to stay late again, so I couldn't work out with Dan, but he stayed and helped me do my testing. And we had a mini workout in the office, jamming to 'Baby got Back' and 'Rico Suave'. Good times, good times. But my head still hurts. But I'm not so sad anymore. :) - Yano, 10:43 PM |

When It Rains, It Pours When It Rains, It Pours When It Rains, It Pours I worked 12 hours yesterday. SUCKS! This stress is really getting to me. Problem after problem after problem. All I want to do is just go home and sleep, and not talk to anyone. I'm a big stress knot. Yesterday made the last couple of days look like a walk in the park. Not fun. Not fun at all. There weren't even any highlights to the day. Argh! Today is a little better, but I may be talking too soon. At least the guys have given me a couple good laughs, and I had ONE good meeting where I felt any sort of positivity. But enough of my bitching and moaning. It gets tiring. Bryan passed by Julia Roberts today at Cosi. He keeps on bringing it up. It's funny. She actually mumbled something to him when he said 'How's it going?' but he couldn't hear what she said. - Yano, 12:10 PM |

Wednesday, August 28 Wednesday, August 28

Watching My Man Rosenbaum Watching My Man Rosenbaum Watching My Man Rosenbaum Ahh...it's the little things that make me happy. Before I reflect on this little thing, let me take you back to the day I met Michael Rosenbaum (Lex Luthor from Smallville): [I was explaining to my parents the reasons why I went to the Chicago Comic Convention]I also said that Michael Rosenbaum would be there. And it was dad's turn to say 'Who is that?' and I replied, 'He's Lex Luthor from Smallville'. And my dad's face lit up and he said, 'Are you going to meet him?' and I replied 'I'm going to try and get an autograph for Kristine. So my dad says, 'When you meet him, tell him that your dad told you to tell him 'I like you in Smallville. I think that you're a really great actor.' Dude, I didn't even know that he watched the show! ...So when we got up there, I had the 8x10 that Kathy bought for Kristine, and I asked him to sign it. As he was signing, I said, 'My dad told me to tell you that he likes you a lot. He thinks you're a great actor.' I wasn't really expecting him to say anything back. But he then said, 'Cool! Where's he at?', to which I replied, 'He's not here, he's not into comics'. And then Fatima took a picture of me and Michael. I said thanks, and before I left, he said, 'Hey, tell your dad that I said HI'. I thought Michael was cute before, but he's even cuter in my eyes now! So after that, I called up my dad and told him about the exchange. My dad was pretty excited. It was really cute. Then he asked me, 'Did you get me his autograph?'. What a funny guy. So I get home, and my dad's watching TV. "What are you watching?" I ask. "I'm watching my man Rosenbaum!" he says enthusiastically. Then he completely zoned me out. [*He was watching Smallville - sorry!] How cute. That definitely brought a smile to my face last night... Today Dave's got his medical boards. He's been studying for the past 6 months for them. I know that he's really worried and stressed out about it, but he's one of the smartest, most hard working people I know. (and he's got a cute face and a hot bod to match!) I know he's going to do great. It's not like I'm biased or anything. *wink* I wish him lots of luck. - Yano, 8:48 AM |

Tuesday, August 27 Tuesday, August 27

Work is Sucking My Life Essence Work is Sucking My Life Essence Work is Sucking My Life Essence Whoa. Today was a killer day at work. I was on a 3 1/2 conference call with a client, and we didn't even fix their problem. It's the same client that I've been working on for the last week. Big client. Big problems. And I've been working with a whole bunch of people on this, and no one can pinpoint what's going on. And the last thing you want to tell a client is that you don't know what's going on. I am mentally and physically exhausted right now. My body is so tense, even hours later. I feel like my spirit has been sucked away. My head hurts from thinking too much. I was seriously ready to crack at work, if it hadn't been for people trying to cheer me up. Bryan kept on saying 'Strawbeasies', which is how his niece says 'strawberries'. For some reason, it cracks me up. Amy gave me a Kit Kat. And the late night birdies did their little song and dance, which definitely brought a smile to my face. Ahh, it's times like these that you realize how wonderful the people around you are... - Yano, 9:22 PM |

The Chicken Bowl The Chicken Bowl The Chicken Bowl Today's lunch will consist of Taco Bell's Chicken Bowl. It's mighty tasty and I like to pretend that it's low fat. I was supposed to work out today, but I woke up late, and I'm also not feeling too well. Maybe I'll work out tomorrow. We'll see. So I've been playing around with the formatting for this blog. Just needed a little change. Nothing big, just a change. Work is super busy today, I've got a MAJOR client with major problems. Luckily, the higher-ups here aren't breathing down my neck (yet). It's a gorgeous day in Chicago today. That helps reduce the stress level. - Yano, 12:15 PM |

Don't ask why I'm up this late. Made some changes with the style sheet on this page, but there's still a few kinks to work out. We'll see how the linkages go. Anyway, here's a cool site to check out. It's Slice Puzzles by Bugimus. It's really helped me get my mind off things, and it's damn addicting. Eventually, I'll go through my pictures and send him one. It's the least I could do for going through all his puzzles. Try it out. It's a lot of fun. Just don't beat my scores. - Yano, 4:42 AM |

Monday, August 26 Monday, August 26

My Healthy Eating Campaign Breakfast: 1/4 bag of Fritos Sabrositas Pre-Lunch: 2 chocolate glazed donuts, 1 glass of 2% milk with ice Lunch: 1 chocolate glazed donut, 1 glass of 2% milk with ice Dinner: 2 pieces of fried chicken, rice As I said, diet be damned. Who needs to be skinny anyway? - Yano, 6:26 PM |

Sunday, August 25 Sunday, August 25

Spent most of the morning watching the National Skateboarding Championships and beach volleyball. I seriously have to get my hands on a skateboard. I think I'm ready to start practicing my moves. At the very least, it's time to dust off my copy of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3. I heard a rumor that they're coming out with THPS4, so I need to finish 3 first. I've only got about 5 more skaters to go. God, I love that game. Still sorting out comics. Should get done with that today. Damn, I've got a lot. Seeing how many comics I have makes it easier for me to decide which ones I'm going to stop collecting. Since I'm on this subject, here's some great comics to pick up: Fray Ultimate Spiderman Elektra Fathom (YAY Michael Turner!) Ruse New X-Men Origin Meridian Batgirl - Yano, 4:43 PM |