meet josh jetson

Last weekend our friends Becky and Josh stopped by Chicago between stops their NYC and Portland, OR stops. We did coffee, dinner, Wii and discovered something amazing. Well, discovered may be the wrong word. More shown I guess. We are no Ponce de Leon.

What Josh showed us was that we can video chat with friends through iChat on our Macbook.  Did you know this?  I was shocked.  Simply shocked.  So, we tested it.  I sat at the dinner table and Josh walked into the kitchen.  10 feet away.  It worked.

The true test, though, came when I saw my cousin Mike logged into his AOL IM and next to his name was a little video icon. (This was difficult as I had to first try and remember my password which I hadn't used for at least 4 years and then try and remember who all these random IM names belong to.  WILDMAN723?  Must have known him during my crazy and wild days.  If you are reading this mr. wildman723 drop me a line.  Let's reconnect.  Talk about old times.)

So, I clicked the icon, it rang all the way in Denver, and the next thing I know I am having a conversation with Mike like he was there in my kitchen.  Amazing!  He gave Brooke and I a tour of his and Amy's apartment, showed us some of his self created art and then we talked about Zelda and how cool it is going to be when we can race each other on MarioKart when it comes out.  So cool.

So, if any of you have an iSight on their 'puter just let me know and let's chat like neighbors.

daddy day camp

I have not seen Daddy Day Camp the movie, and have no plans to, but I would pay good money to watch critics watch Daddy Day Camp. Here is a sampling of criticism found on metacritic.com:

Daddy Day Camp is a perfect family film for the blind and deaf. -- Film Threat, Michael Ferraro

It's gotten to the point where Gooding's presence on a marquee practically guarantees we'll be bashing our heads against the seat in front of us. Bonk, bonk, bonk. -- Washington Post, Desson Thomson

About as much fun as being given a wedgie and hung from the camp flagpole -- The Globe and Mail (Toronto), Liam Lacey

a modern take on that boy from My Side of the Mountain who lived in a tree trunk

Have you ever been to an Ikea and thought to yourself "Wow, that 300 sq. foot fake apartment is really tiny but so very stylish. I wonder what it would be like to live in a room like that? I wish I lived in an Ikea."

Well, this guy Mark is doing more than just wondering. He is doing. Watch updates of his week living in an Ikea here. (via coudal partners)

Orange Mocha Frappuccino

Tuesday, we all celebrated a new year and folks in Illinois rang in one that will be smoke free. This is in contrast to my home state of Michigan when, a few months back, we stopped for gas at mile 1 and the gas station attendant lady was smoking behind the counter. This struck me as odd in two ways. First, who still smokes at work? Is this 1955? Second, who smokes at work when work is a gas station? Don't they blow up? Haven't they seen Zoolander?

Even though the law is only a few days old, changes can already be seen in Chicago. Two blocks down, we have noticed Miller's Pub (the real drinkers bar, packed Sunday's at 11am) actually has an interior. It's not pretty, as we suspected, but the people that enter the bar don't enter into a new ethereal world of smoke and booze as we had previously thought. People enter at 10am and disappear until 2am. Where did they go? A magical place with rivers of beer and wine? Unicorns and stallions? No...an ugly hole in the wall bar.

The other change we have noticed is now that the smell of smoke has left the clubs it has been replaced by another. People. Hot, sweaty, smelly, people. Last night, we went to a bar called Danny's and while it was hip and fun when you put together a hundred people in a cramped hot space they begin to sweat. And when a hundred people begin to sweat it starts to feel like you're drinking in a gym locker room.

At 12:10 am Adam swallowed a very angry goose

New Year's Eve 2008

We spent another New Year's Eve at the Wachendorf household; good friends, good food, and good wine!

Tracy, Carrie, and I

Dancing and making pot stickers

Count on Joe to bring the biggest possible bottle of champagne

Oh, Tom....