"On the Sixth Day, He Gave Us Cable"...& Battling the Packed Stress from South Loop to Logan Square

To think, this time last week, I was hanging out at the place I called home for 26 years while in limbo - waiting to move into our new place in Logan Square with our South Loop life packed up in the 17 foot U-Haul on the driveway.

A move like this had many components: some exciting, some stressful:

• Trying to remember all of the small details was a pain in the ass. Did I forget to cancel this? Did I remember to change my address for that? What time on Saturday are we going to be able to move it? What do you mean I didn't bring all of the cable equipment back that I was supposed to? There was just so much going on, and trying to manage it all was a hassle.
  
• Luckily, I had a great group of people helping us move out of the South Loop and another great group helping us move into our Logan Square abode. So much had to get packed, wedged, unscrewed, (random verb)ed...you name the verb, it was probably done in the moving process. These groups of people were the main reason I was able to keep it together throughout the three day process.
  
• Speaking of the moving truck (ok, I'll just bring it up), I was terrified to drive that behemoth. The previous biggest vehicle that I've ever drove was one of my parent's mini-vans back when I was 18 or so. This was no mini-van, but rather a 17 foot truck, packed upwards, across and side-to-side with expensive furniture, clothes, books, electronics & other random stuff. If you've ever drove one of these trucks for moving, you may have had the same apprehension that I did. For me, I'm not sure if the toughest thing about driving it was (1) being stressed from the move and not being completely focused and ready to drive the vehicle, (2) never having ever drove a vehicle of that size, (3) the on-and-off rain bursts that occurred, fittingly enough between the hours of 4-5:30pm, (4) not fully trusting myself to read the side mirrors correctly and constantly wanting to look through a rear-view mirror that does not exist or (5) driving through rush hour. After I got done with driving this back to my parents, I just wanted to pass the hell out.
  
• Once we moved in, what was there to do for six days without cable and internet? Most of this time between Saturday evening and today, I was occupied with stuff outside of the apartment, so I didn't worry about this problem as much as I could have. Night 1 without the web led me to look at old newspaper articles of newspapers that I saved from famous events in my lifetime (i.e. death of Michael Jackson; night 2 was spent at a Chicago bar with my friend Angie and then passing out with Jen much earlier than I normally would go to bed; night 3 was spent in part listening to Game 7 of the Heat/Pacers on my new radio app (how I imagine people in the 20s listening to the radio...on their apps); night 4 was watching Entourage on DVD for the first time in a long time with Jen; night 5 was bowling in the burbs...and on the 6th day, He gave us cable.
  
  A couple of my bowling teammates wondered what I did without cable/Internet at our place for 5 days. Makes you wonder what the next wave of technology will be consuming our lives so much in the next 10-20 years that will make future generations of people who move wonder "how was I able to live without this for almost a week?" Internet and cable have become as common to most first-world citizens as breathing and heart disease.
  
• Now - the buying of new stuff. What gets added to the list of stuff we need? Charcoal grill, check. New TV for the bedroom, check. New computer desk for my currently chaotic office, check. Patience is key for both me and Jen as we strive to satisfy all of our material needs to be met as soon as possible but realizing that certain things (like the TV) could probably wait a little bit.

These are just a few of the nuggets that came from the moving process. It was a lot more stressful for some reason this time around, but the added stress gave way to more satisfaction in the moving-in process than last year did.

Have you moved recently? I'd love to hear how you handled the stressors that came with the move - or if you were able to avoid stress in the process altogether.

B List - 10 Months (List 10)

I swear I didn't plan my 10th list to have this title, but it has this name for a reason. Today is the 10 month mark in me and Jen's relationship. Everything is going great so far. We're both still very happy together, and our new living arrangement has been a success.

I figured I'd highlight 10 days (1 day in each month) of our relationship, without getting too sappy and make people want to vomit. I'll just go chronologically:

1. September 20, 2011 - Of course, I have to highlight this date.  I've written about it before, but there's a few random things I forgot if I mentioned before: (a) We went to DMK, a burger joint that Jen said she never would have suggested if she knew how picky I was. (b) I remember making a comment about someone holding the door open for us, saying (in a joking way) that I wish I would have been able to do it since she talked up chivalry in her dating profile. (c) Watching the movie Bridesmaids was probably the only time I've ever enjoyed a "chick flick" and would actually want to watch it again (although we haven't).

Me and the Bud Man

2. October 1, 2011 - This being one of the sadder days of my life, it felt good having someone I could talk to and comfort me. This was the day that my family and I put our dog Buddy down. I still occasionally look at the blog I wrote in his honor the day he died and get teary-eyed. The day was made easier when I went to go hang out with her downtown and meet some of her friends for the first time. Not exactly the best day to meet people for the first time with all the emotions going through my mind. But I'm glad I did go downtown that day - it helped me get my mind off of the sadness encountered earlier in the day and it was the first time I got to meet some of Jen's great friends.

3. November 11, 2011 - She's gonna hate that I forgot the name of the Cajun restaurant we went to on her birthday, but I enjoyed the steak that I ate and I was very happy that she was able to eat some food that we don't normally go out for - given my very particular food tastes. It was the first in a weekend of birthday stuff for her weekend, including going to see a comedy show and capped off by a Bears game.

4. December 23, 2011 - The day before we were supposed to go to over to her Mom's for Christmas stuff, we hung out and decided that we would start our own Christmas tradition of opening one gift on the 23rd - our own Festivus tradition. I had her open my gift of elephant figurines that I bought for her and knew she would like. I received a "Bazinga!" t-shirt that I proudly wear around to this day. It was a great start to the Christmas season.

5. January 1, 2012 - It was the first New Year's in a while that I had a date to kiss, so I definitely enjoyed that part of it. I am glad that she was open to going to my friend's party for the new year, especially a party where she only knew a few people. And best yet - she was willing to be the designated driver! What a sweetheart. But the best part of the night was going to White Castle to ring in the new year. Now that's true romance.

The Bear and The Roses

6. February 14, 2012 - Like the previous occasion, I hadn't had a Valentine on the Hallmark holiday in a while. And yes, while I was single, I shunned the holiday and didn't think much of it. I didn't do anything over-the-top Hollywood on this day - just bought her a huge teddy bear and some flowers. She made me a delicious dinner. We stayed in and watched TV - my idea of romance.

The Bunny & His Babe

7.  March 31, 2012 - We went over to Jen's aunt and uncle's in Princeton, IL and I agreed to play the role of the Easter Bunny for Jen's cousin's kid. I had a blast, as you can see based on this picture. Easter was over a week away, but the family wanted to celebrate it a week early. It was yet another great time had in the presence of her family. I make a sexy bunny. Paging Hugh Hefner.

8. April 7, 2012 - We signed our lives away for a year...the official day of me and Jen signing off on our current place. One of the most expensive decisions I've ever made - but also one of the best. No regrets on that front.

The cat getting in the way of moving

9. May 31, 2012 - Crazy day of moving Jen and myself out of our respective places. See all the boxes piled in the moving truck and my dad's van made me realize that we were taking our relationship to the next level - moving in together. It is hard to believe that it took me so long to move out, but I believe I was always looking for the right situation. Apparently the right situation took 25+ years of living in the parent's place.

Grillmaster

10.  June 18, 2012 - Let's be honest - it didn't become our place until the first grilling session. It was the first meal I was able to cook for us - and funny, neither of us remember whether it was brats or hamburgers. Either way it was delicious meat. Along with a beer in hand, who could ask for a better scenario?

As you can see, there's been plenty of days over the months that have been awesome at the same time. And many more to look forward to.

And to those who notice this list is 3 items longer than normal - you're right. I bent the rule on this one. So sue me.

B-List - Things I've Learned While Packing (List 2)

Welcome to the second edition of B-list. Last week's first list featured my top 7 favorite White Sox players of all time.

This week's list is on another timely topic. As many of you know, I'm about to move to the city with the girlfriend. I'm still in the process of packing stuff that has been collecting in my room for the past decade and a half.

The packing process has brought back some memories. In no particular order, seven random thoughts...

7. I've collected waaaaaaaay too many things. You need four or five copies of The Daily Illini from 9-12-2001 that reflect the tragedy that our nation suffered the day before? This guy had them. What about some random bent-up baseball cards from the early 90s of guys who are probably changing oil on your car? That doesn't include the stuff I still collect, like hats and beer glasses, which are all coming to the new place (as the Lady smiles).

6. Me and my friends used to be skinny. I was looking at some old pictures of y'all. Sorry to say, ladies and gentlemen, but Father & Mother time hasn't been friendly to our mid-sections. Do I blame alcohol? No. Laziness? No, not that. Decreased Metabolism? Nope. Terrible dieting habits? Uhmm....nope, not that either. Screw it, I'll just blame global warming. Increased earth temperatures caused us to balloon up 20-50 pounds. Not alcohol.

5. One Hit Wonders. I'm sure every generation of kids has a handful of albums they've bought for that one hit, only to realize that the other 11 songs are complete shit. There's a reason many of these groups did not make it beyond that one hit. Anyone looking for that Dishwalla reunion tour opening for the New Radicalz (with a 'z' cuz they're edgy and cool) might be waiting a while. Yes - I have a Dishwalla CD from the 90s, and no - I have no idea why I didn't throw that into the fireplace at some point over the years. At least I wasn't dumb enough to put them on my I-tunes playlist; otherwise, based on my new year's resolution of listening to every single song on the I-Pod, I might have to (gulp) listen to....Dishwalla. If you don't know who they are, go on YouTube and search "Counting Blue Cars" (I apologize for putting you through that 4 minutes). But please, whatever you do, don't tell me all your thoughts on God.

4. Dusty Rubbers...I'll leave that one to the imagination.

3. So much stuff, so little space. If you've ever been at the house, you'd know that my room is one of the smallest in the house. Before I moved down here in the mid 90s, the room was home to all of me, my brother and sister's toys. When shoving a bed and a dresser for clothes into the room, there's not a whole lot of square footage to navigate in the room. For this much stuff to be in the room is quite amazing. And yet, I'm still not done in there. That's more due to procrastination.

2. The Devaluation of Memories. Packing up all the trophies I received from the bowling, basketball and baseball leagues over the years, I have much different thoughts about some of those experiences now than when I experienced them back in the day. The biggest trophy in my collection was an indirect subject of my blog from yesterday - since I don't actually remember playing a single game during that baseball tournament. These participation trophies are a lot cooler when you're younger than now, when they're just reminders of your lack of playing time. It also reminds me of the three-point contest that I never got a chance to compete in during middle school since my coach gave me the wrong time for the start of the competition, and funny enough, his kid replaced me in the contest. That team participation medal that I got that day went immediately into the trash can. Fuck that guy.

Ok, I'm done venting. Seriously though, if you're ever a coach of a sports team for kids, don't be as big of a dick as that guy was.

1. I'm really gonna miss this place. That's what living in one place for 26 years (including the years at college, when this place was still technically my home) will do to a guy. Sure, don't get me wrong - I cannot wait to start my new life in a new place with a great gal. I can't wait for the new memories that are awaiting me in the future, but being the reflective guy I am, I can't help about the great times I've had at this place, save for Item 4. The toilet toss, Monday Night Raw sessions, pick-up basketball games, poker games. To leave this place behind is gonna be tough. But I'm ready to move on.

Time to create a new home in a new area. I can't wait.

Fuck that guy. Sorry, still stewing about the end of Item 2.

Dating Myself

Ever since I was about 4 or 5 years old and starting my life-long love of sports statistics, I have been a man skilled in remembering many numbers and dates. Nevermind the uselessness of 98% of them. Does anyone really need to know every single World Series, Super Bowl & NBA Finals since he was a kid? (Now that I've mentioned this, I almost expect to get called out on this and to fail at the task).

As far as recent and upcoming dates go, there's several dates that I'll never forget. For most people, unless it's your birthday or anniversary, most dates don't mean much. March 20th was the 6 month mark of when an amazing relationship started in my life. April 1st is the 6th month mark of when one ended.

Of course, that date will mark 6 months since we put the old pup Buddy down. It's hard to believe that 6 months has passed since then. I'd say getting through this time has been made easier with the relationship I started just 10 days before that. Every now and then, I'll go by his container of ashes and dog collar and think about all the good times me and the old man had. I'll hold the collar up to our other dog Pixie, who will sniff and lick the collar as if it were his ears, per her usual daily tradition of cleaning them.

Also coming up next month is another tragic anniversary: the passing of my Grandma Bolek last April 27th. Again, like Buddy, doesn't feel like it's been that long since it happened...but such is the story of life, especially as we get older. I haven't visited the cemetary since the day of the funeral, so I think a trip up there will be in order soon. Also, I need to round up the Bolek troops again to try hanging out a little more - need to honor the memory of Grandma a little more.

With the bad dates in life, there's a balance of good to look forward to. June 30th will be my brother's bachelor party (with the concept of whirlyball, casino and a party bus the working idea so far - need to get this set pronto), followed by his wedding to his beautiful fiance Amber on July 7th, a date that may have Amber wondering if she should keep her last name instead of inheriting ours. I am honored to be the Best Man for the wedding and hope that I can create a good speech and a good time at the party the week before.

Also, for those who don't know, in between that time is July 1st, a date that will mark a milestone for this 29 year old. I will have officially moved out of my parent's house for the first time since I was in school at U of I in Champaign! Time to take off the diapers and put on some boxers (and have the girlfriend clean them....kidding Jen- kinda). I'm looking forward to seeing what the city has to offer while moving in with a g/f for the first time ever. Right now, looking to move to the South Loop area. It will be a good lesson in money management and other aspects of life as I learn to adjust to a different setting. Great thing about my current job is that all I need is Internet and a phone and I can work anywhere. Point - me.

There's some other dates coming up to look forward to, but the ones above are the ones clearest in mind. It's a fitting time to mention dates and numbers as the baseball season approaches, for it was baseball where I learned a lot about how to compute numbers in my head with ease. Consider it a blessing and a curse for being a Mathlete.

I'm sure I'll have more dates pop up on my radar as significant dates as the year passes on. For now, I am looking forward to most of these (everything aside from the death anniversaries) to see what the future will hold as 2012 progresses.