Not much time to post today. Going to watch 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding'. Anyone seen it yet? - Yano, 8:22 PM |

Friday, September 13 Friday, September 13

Paraskevidekatriaphobia Paraskevidekatriaphobia Paraskevidekatriaphobia Paraskevidekatriaphobia. Say that three times fast!!! Well, happy Friday the 13th everyone. We've got a major release coming out today for work, and I'm thinking who's the genius that picked Friday the 13th to send it out. Not like I'm looking for it to be a disaster or anything, but I admit, I'm a bit superstitious, if anything bad was to happen, today would be the day! But everything is A-OK so far. We've got a little festival going on outside, so me and the guys are most likely going to go out and partake in the festivities. Here's a couple links about today: Urban Legends and Folklore UrbanLegends.com - Yano, 11:08 AM |

Thursday, September 12 Thursday, September 12

The Day After The Day After The Day After Well, today went by REALLY fast at work. I guess it helps to have a couple meetings a day to make the day seem to go by quickly. I'm so-so at work. There are good things, there are bad. There are things that make me happy, there are things that drive me up the wall. A great thing about today was lunch at Uno's. Nothing better than lunch with great, interesting people over stuffed pizza. Oh, how we love to gossip. Yesterday was pretty tough, as I knew it would be. It started driving to work, listening to the names being read, and the deafening sound of the moment of silence at the time when the first plane hit. I was already teary eyed coming into work. It was also a little weird to look out the window to the Amoco Building (one of the tallest in the world) because it looks SO MUCH like the World Trade buildings. We stopped by the memorial, and talked about it at work. One of the buildings across from us posted LET FREEDOM RING on each of their windows. I tried taking pictures, but my window is so dirty that my camera just focused on the dirty window. When I got home, I just watched the specials with my family. I kept on switching channels, wanting to watch everything. Each channel seemed to touch on a different aspect - the story of the survivors, a time line of the plane crashes, the effects a year later, musical tributes, stories of those left behind. There was just so much to see. But I couldn't tear my eyes away from it, as much as I wanted to just go to sleep and block it out. Some people told me yesterday that they wouldn't watch anything, that they would go on as if it was any other day, that the horrors of September 11th were too close in ones memory to relive. But I need to remember. I need to burn it into my head, because I don't want to forget, to take it for granted. But today is another day. So I go on! So, back to silly business. Well, this link I've got for you all isn't really silly. It's actually pretty cool. There's a lot of sites out there that do biorhythms, there's a lot of sites that do tarot, there's even some that do numerology. Well, Facade has them all, with some other kinds of divination that you may not have seen before. I used to go here all the time. There's some pretty neat stuff there. Check it out! - Yano, 6:59 PM |

Wednesday, September 11 Wednesday, September 11

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. - Yano, 9:51 AM |

Well, I've been dreading today. Dreading all the memories coming back, dreading the coverage that I know I'm not going to help but watch, dreading the thought of remembering the ones who are gone - my mind recreating their last moments, the feelings of the loved ones left behind. Today will be a very hard day for us all. No bellyaching or bitching about people today. We're all in the same boat. I just wanted to share something I posted on a board not too long ago... On the morning of September 11th, I was later for work that I usually am. Before running out the door, the TV was on the Today show, which was showing images of the World Trade Center on fire. Katie Couric was reporting that it was an airplane that hit the building, and that chances are it was accidental, there was no cause to suspect foul play. I left, and when I got to work, my coworkers immediately came to me and said 'They shut down Sears Tower. It's been evacuated.' And I asked 'Is this because of the plane that hit the world trade center?' And they replied, 'Plane? There were two.' I had no clue what was going on. At work, we tried accessing the internet to find out what was going on, but there was too much traffic on CNN and MSNBC. It's hard for us to get reception on radios, so we didn't have that either. All the information came from clients that called, and by calling our homes. My late shift coworker told us about the Pentagon. Another client told us that O'Hare was hit. We didn't know what was the truth, and we were not aware of the scope of the horror that was happening in New York. All we knew was that we're one of the tallest buildings in downtown Chicago, and that we could be a target, or close to one. Being on the 33rd floor, I can see the Sears Tower outside of my window, and the John Hancock building outside of another. We were watching both that morning. Finally, at 1pm, they evacuated our building. For some reason, we didn't feel like going home. We went to the local sports bar that we normally hang out at and sat and watched all the different news stations. We sat there in disbelief as we saw image after image. Drinks that we ordered sat untouched as we watched the towers fall. I felt like crying, but I was too stunned, the tears wouldn't fall. Hardly any words were spoken, other than 'This is surreal', 'Can you believe this?'. But no answers were expected. After we couldn't take anymore, we went home. Downtown Chicago was a ghostown, nothing was open. Coming home, we just watched more TV, hours and hours of it, as if it would give some reason for the madness. I travel a lot for work, and I was on a plane one week and a day after September 11th, ironically on a flight to Newark, where one of the planes came from. It was the oddest sight, seeing the national guard, in uniform, carrying grenades and machine guns in the airport. Everyone looked at each other suspiciously. Anyone who looked Middle Eastern was immediately given the evil eye. Everyone was afraid. But I was determined to keep on doing what I do. It's a shame that the airlines are losing money, that people are hesitant to fly. This is what they wanted to have happen. So what am I going to do on September 11th? I'm going to go to work, look out the window, watch people. I might go to any memorial that's by me. We'll probably sit around and talk about that day. I'll go home, watch whatever special they have on NBC, knowing that it's not going to give me any answers to the questions that still lie in my head, or offer me any more comfort for the lives that were lost. But I'll still watch it. It's a day that I'll be happy that its over when its done. But, as was said before, this should be a day that we remember that such horrors are not something uncommon. There are others all over the world, casualties whose only crime was to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. We cannot forget that we are not the only ones. But we will get through this day, together, be it as a country, as a community, as a family, and we will always remember. - Yano, 4:16 AM |

Tuesday, September 10 Tuesday, September 10

I think I'll start posting the silly quizzes that I take. Give you guys something to do, too. Which Animaniacs Character are You? Talkative, huh? Perhaps sing-ative would be more appropriate, actually. When people don't understand something, it usually drives you to cutting, sarcastic remarks. Your other extreme is bursting into song with almost no prompting, often to explain complex ideas. No one knows quite what you are, exactly. You have made many "special" friends, and there's baloney in your slacks. - Yano, 1:17 AM |

Monday, September 9 Monday, September 9

A Wedding, A Pie, and a Bears Win A Wedding, A Pie, and a Bears Win A Wedding, A Pie, and a Bears Win It was a good weekend. On Saturday, I went to the wedding of Gil's sister, Eileen. She looked gorgeous and it was a lot of fun. Me and Dave were totally eyeing the wedding and checking out details of what we want to have and what we don't. Of course, there was a lot of dancing, and we ruled the dancefloor when the Todo Todo came on. I also do a mean Casper Slide and Electric Slide. It's electric! I did some proper stretching before dancing, so I'm not as sore as I was last week. I also minimized my 'jumping around' time and I didn't take off my shoes. After the wedding, we all headed out to the hotel bar for drinks and pool. I rocked the fucking table playing pool! Manny started calling me 'Spider Lady', comparing me to Jeanette Lee (who's actually called 'The Black Widow', but it's Manny, so it's OK) Ahh, it's nice to have a good day at pool. We all had a nice time. Later today I'll put up pics. Really I will. For now, you'll just have to enjoy a picture of mine and Dave's big heads. I don't know why I like taking pictures like this. Yesterday was just a rest day, to catch up on sleep and to watch DA BEARS. Poor players, it was about118 degrees on the field. So many players left with heat exhaustion. Big men faltering under the sweltering heat. I have to admit that I was getting pretty upset in the middle of the fourth quarter, waiting for the team to get their head out of their asses. I mean, the Vikings beating us at rushing yards? No way! But it happened. Fortunately, we had 'the one who always saves the day', Mike Brown, making one of his now common fourth quarter interceptions to turn the tide of the game. And although Marty Booker missed 2 KEY passes, he had a great game. All in all, it was a good game, done Bears style, with the last minute win. GO BEARS! It's been an endless parade of people in and out of the house, coming to check on how my mom's doing, and we've been getting SO MUCH food! We've got a bunch of cookies, there's an Eli's cheesecake sitting in the freezer, and last night when I went in there to look, Lord help me, there was a Baker's Square FRENCH SILK PIE in there! It seems that Dave's parents were the ones who brought it. Since my mom really can't eat any of that, I guess I'll sacrifice myself and take care of those things. If I have to! I predict in two months I'll be so fat I won't be able to see my toes. - Yano, 9:31 AM |