Mark Your Calendars Mark Your Calendars Mark Your Calendars Finally, we've got a date for the wedding! Whoo hoo! Well, it's still tentative until we find a reception hall, but I'm pretty sure this is the day. It's going to be Saturday, September 13th, 2003, so mark your calendars! It's going to take place at Dave's church (I'm tired of getting the run-around at my first choice church). We went to meet with the pastor yesterday, and I definitely have a better feeling with this priest than I did with the other priest. He was really great. I'm really excited now! You can read more about my wedding drama in my wedding blog I downloaded the beta version of The Sims Online yesterday, and I can't stop playing it. The gameplay is like the original, but you can actually chat with other people. It's a lot of fun. It's really addicting. I'm never going to blog again. Just kidding. I'll take breaks and write entries. Muhahaha. But really, I'll be going to DC this week, so I can't play Sims anyway. I'll just be working on my website. But if you DO end up playing it, look for me in Alphaville, under the name of Moreta Dragoon. - Yano, 8:22 PM |

Friday, November 29 Friday, November 29

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree Just a real quick post. We put up our Christmas tree. It took longer than we expected because we were missing a couple things and had to make a quick run to Walgreens. My arms are sore from putting up lights, but the tree looks gorgeous. I took a bunch of pictures, so I'll post them up tomorrow when I get a chance. - Yano, 5:49 PM |

Thursday, November 28 Thursday, November 28

Happy Turkey Day! Happy Turkey Day! Happy Turkey Day! Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We're heading out to my cousin Melanie's today, where we spend every Thanksgiving. We're planning on having two turkeys (one baked and one fried), stuffing, pie, and more food than could feed a small third world country. I can't wait! We'll be eating all day. Later this afternoon I'm heading out to Dave's family Thanksgiving party. Should be a good time. Yesterday was a great time. It's nice to go out and see a lot of people your age. Nowadays when I go out, the crowd tends to be a lot younger (or maybe I'm just going to the wrong places). But it wasn't like that yesterday. I saw lots of people from my old days at school and it brought back a lot of old memories. And the music KICKED ASS! The old school house music was so great to hear, and the dancing was so much fun. I haven't danced like that in a long time. Unfortunately, Bad Boys Blue didn't perform. Hmph! But that's ok, it was a great time. The bartender felt guilty that every drink I asked her to make she didn't have the liquor for, so she hooked me up with whatever she DID make for me. Hey, no complaints here! I was very, uh, happy. But there WAS one strange moment, when it was pointed out to me that I had one ex-boyfriend, one boyfriend, and another ex-boyfriend all within a four foot radius of me. It was kind of a coincidence, but it was weird nonetheless! I would never have thought that I would be one of those people that had multiple ex's in one room. But it doesn't matter. They all get along anyway. And it didn't matter, because I still had fun! So anyway, it's Thanksgiving...so here are some of the things that I'm thankful for (in no particular order): my family, my fiance, my friends, my puppy ewok, my bunny luscious, my health, my job, tiramisu, the sims online, people who write long emails, steak egg and cheese bagels, adobe photoshop, on-line shopping, remote controls, student discounts at movies, cd burners, movie trailers, clinique bonus days, late night chats, short track skaters, tony hawk pro skater 4, quick dry nail polish, salvation army bell ringers, comic books, buffy the vampire slayer, long drives alone, biscuits and gravy, joe boxer commercials, people who comment on my page, christmas lights on michigan avenue, frequent flier miles, blogging, law and order, McDonald's 99 cent menu, newborn babies, my digital camera, chocolate eclairs, friends who don't mind if you don't call them back, thumbsplus, caller id, webcams, sushi, kazaa, when the bears win, concealer, www.yanowhatimean.com, 8 hour lipstick, scanners, smallville, message boards, old school house, my dsl... there's tons more...but I'm hungry! I gotta go! Happy Thanksgiving everyone! - Yano, 12:51 PM |

Wednesday, November 27 Wednesday, November 27

No Rest for the Procrastinators! No Rest for the Procrastinators! No Rest for the Procrastinators! So much for slacking on the day before the holiday. I had a meeting with the president of the company today, and he told me that my next consulting gig has to be done perfectly, because it's one of our biggest clients. Yeah, that's no pressure. So I'm under a bit of stress to make sure that I get the job done well. But it doesn't help that I just found out about this on Monday, and that the client isn't calling me back. How am I supposed to do something perfectly if I'm not even sure what I'm going to be doing? So today will be a lot of testing of all of the customized stuff, as well as trying to get all the other stuff done that I was going to do next week, but won't be able to, since I'm going to be gone. Argh! Earlier today, me and Dan were checking out google and I was checking to see if you can find my archived pages (which it doesn't look like you can). We entered 'comic convention michael rosenbaum chicago' to see if we would find my page, which we didn't, but we found this little treat at Entertainment Geekly. It's a report of the convention done by a guy that was there. Dan was reading it, and he wanted to see if he had said anything about Luke Perry. What had happened at the con was that Dan had gone to the Luke Perry panel (who is starring in his own sci-fi show), and tried stirring up some controversey. Funny enough, Dan was actually mentioned by this guy! I know we're in good shape when the first question is from some gimp who jumps up and smarms, "Did you honestly think that 8 Seconds would be your ticket to stardom?" Geeks show no mercy. Yep. That's Dan. Totally smarmy. Tonight I'm gonna head out to an old school party and watch Bad Boys Blue in concert. Remember them? 'A Train to Nowhere' and 'Save Your Love'? Should be good times. And it will be great to see old faces again! And tomorrow is Turkey Day. Can't wait. There's nothing better than eating yourself into a food coma. Yum! - Yano, 11:14 AM |

Tuesday, November 26 Tuesday, November 26

www.yanowhatimean.com is in effect! www.yanowhatimean.com is in effect! www.yanowhatimean.com is in effect! Well, I guess I thought I could keep it a secret til I was done with the revamping of the site, but I've been outed! I went out and bought www.yanowhatimean.com. Sure, it may not be the easiest domain to remember, but I think it's catchy and a lot of you agreed. Now there's nothing on there right now. I was tempted to just copy my site and move it there, but I want to start anew. Well, it will probably look the same, but I want to really clean the rest of the content in here up. I'm really excited. And fortunately (and unfortunately) I'm being shipped off to D.C. next week, so I'll be able to have a LOT of time to work on it. Yay! Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. And don't worry if your favorite wasn't chosen - I'll be changing the design and title of thie page periodically. I'm sure you'll see one of your choices up there eventually! - Yano, 9:38 PM |

This or That Tuesday 1. Stuffing: baked inside the turkey, or separately? Inside the turkey. Then all the nice yummy turkey juices are soaked into the stuffing. Mmmm... 2. Fresh or frozen turkey? Frozen. Not many places you can get a fresh one around here. 3. Cranberry sauce: jellied or whole berry? I'll pass on that. Looks like a big blood clot. 4. Stay home or visit friends/relatives? Friend/Relatives. I don't know what any holiday would be like without spending it with my extended family. Me and my cousins are close. 5. Do you cook Thanksgiving dinner, or let someone else do it? My dad. He's the best cook ever. This year, we're having fried turkey. Whoo hoo! 6. Traditional turkey dinner, or an alternative (such as vegetarian)? Traditional. Vegetables suck. 7. Regular potatoes or sweet potatoes? Regular potatoes for Thanksgiving. Though I love sweet potatoes, butter, cinnamon and sugar. 8. Homemade gravy, or the jarred stuff? Homemade. That's the best stuff. 9. What part of the turkey do you prefer...dark or white meat? I like dark meat, just like my men. 10. After dinner: football or Christmas movies? Football. Playing football. Or watching football is ok, too. - Yano, 7:33 PM |

Great Things Come In Small Packages Great Things Come In Small Packages Great Things Come In Small Packages Me, Claudine and Fatima are back together again! Whoo hoo! After we picked up Claudine from the airport, we went over to our cousin Maui's place to visit the newest member of our family, Jillian. She is just the cutest little thing you've ever seen! Adorable! Precious! Beautiful! There aren't enough words. She was sleeping for most of the time we were there, so I didn't get too many action shots. Jane told us the whole story about her 16 hours of labor. Something that I'm not looking forward to, yet in a little way, a bit curious about. She didn't spare any details. But that's what I want to hear. I don't want to hear a sugar-coated description of childbirth. I want the truth! It's weird, yet wonderful to see Maui as a father, carrying little Jilly Nilly around, changing diapers.(that shall be my pet name for her. Everyone has a pet name for her. I want one of my own!) Who would have ever thought! - Yano, 2:10 AM |

Monday, November 25 Monday, November 25

The Lights on The Magnificent Mile The Lights on The Magnificent Mile The Lights on The Magnificent Mile So I guess work is sending me out to Washington D.C. next week, for a whole week. EEK! How am I going to survive? Rest assured that I'm going to have a new look for this page once I come back, because I'll have NOTHING to do out there. Well, I do have a few friends out there. There was one friend in particular I wanted to meet up with, but she's going to be outta town. But I'm sure I'll still have a good time. Maybe I'll do some sightseeing or something. We'll see. Glad the whole sniper thing is over. Anyone know anything fun that I can do in D.C.? Today is fucking cold. I forgot what the onset of winter is like. But it looks beautiful outside, on Michigan Avenue. They've got all the Christmas lights up and everything. It's gorgeous. I love this season! It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. And it makes me want to spend lots of money. But I won't! Hope it warms up a little for Thanksgiving. And work is kicking my ass. You'd think that people would be on vacation right now, but it looks like everyone's trying to get their work done before the holiday. Ack! Take a break people! Slack off on your 3 day week. Three posts in one day. I'm on a roll. - Yano, 4:55 PM |

Here's my results from this Personality Test I took today. I got it off of Richard's site. I think the results are a bit disturbing. Histrionic! I'm not histrionic, dammit! *tears out hair and stamps feet* Hmm..ok, maybe I am. *wink* Disorder Paranoid: High Schizoid: Low Schizotypal: Moderate Antisocial: Moderate Borderline: Low Histrionic: Very High Narcissistic: High Avoidant: High Dependent: Moderate Obsessive-Compulsive: Low Paranoid, Narcissistic and Avoidant. Yep, that's me! - Yano, 4:51 PM |

Bears Win! Bears Win! Finally the Bears finally pull in a win.  Against the Detroit Lions.  In overtime.  Geez, can't we just have a nice, old-fashioned, honest-to-goodness win?  We used to be such a great team!  But now our quarterbacks are falling apart, and we've got to fight hard to beat even the crappy teams like Detroit.  But hey, it's a win.  I'm not going to complain too much about that!  And when Chandler went down, Miller did a great job, even with his injury.  And let's hear it for Dez White, who often is in the shadow of Chicago's more popular receiver, Marty Booker.  He made a couple great catches yesterday, including an awesome touchdown catch, which you could see here.  So yeah, it wasn't an easy win, but it was a win all the same.  And it ended our 8 game losing streak.  I was getting a little worried there. As for the domain naming, I've decided to go with 'yanowhatimean.com'. So looking back at the archives, (and thanks to Linda for finding it) it was kwalan a.k.a Alan who came up with the title, so he'll get a prize. I don't know what, but maybe you guys can help me think of a prize for him. I think the 8x10 autographed Yano glossy picture may be a bit too much. - Yano, 10:40 AM |

Sunday, November 24 Sunday, November 24

Ode to the Dark Claud Ode to the Dark Claud Ode to the Dark Claud The thing about having two sisters, is that what you do for one, eventually you'll have to do it for the other. My father had always raised us to be fair and to be equals. Constantly growing up, I had to split EVERYTHING with my sisters. So now, Claudine gets her share of Christine blog-lovin'. So where do I start? Claudine is the middle sister. She has all the middle sibling hang ups - in the shadow of the oldest sibling, not getting as much attention as the youngest. I'm three years older than Claudine, and her and Fatima are nearer in age, so they've always been closer. That, and they've shared a room forever. However, me and Fatima are close, too, just because we share similar interests and style. That's how the alliances have been within our family, me and Fatima, or Claudine and Fatima. It hasn't been often that it has been me and Claudine - basically because Fatima could beat us up if we ganged up her. But I've always been the big sister. And I've always used that fact to my advantage. Did you ever watch 'The Hogan Family'? I'm the just like the oldest brother in that family - born to torture and wreak havok in the lives of my younger siblings. So I give Claudine a lot of grief. We don't always get along. And yeah, there have been times I've said to her 'I have the biggest urge to punch you in the face right now.' But the thing is, I really admire Claudine. She's the best kid of us all. Me and Fatima won't deny it. She's the daughter that every parent wished they had, and I'm not saying that out of jealousy or with any sarcasm. She's the smartest. She's responsible. She's tortured by guilt laid upon her by her parents. She obeys. She easily makes friends. She cooks and bakes. That, and she can fit in most household garbage cans. Ha ha ha. She is really a role model, someone you could look up to. Well, you'd have to be lying on the floor to look up to her, because she's only, like 4 feet tall. Anyway, me and Fatima have been joking about replacing Claudine with another sister, because she's been away at school. And I know Claud feels horrible about it...but I gotta poke fun at her - it's my favorite hobby. But really, no one could replace our Claudine. We love her too much. And who would bake me cookies and let me lick the bowl? Uh oh. This post is longer than Fatima's. I'll come up with more accolades for Fata later. FYI - looks like yanowhatimean, yanosworld and gotyano are in the lead for my domain name! - Yano, 1:01 PM |