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By briantologist | November 24, 2006
So, yeah, whatever, week goes by, another week goes by, sun goes up, sun goes down, et cetera*, and it seems I sort of forgot the whole blog thing was here. So, right. Sorry about that, all six of you who read.
Things are good here. I’m still employed, and it appears my temp job is gonna turn permanent if I don’t do something to stop it pretty quickly, so I’m now faced with the prospect of long-term gainful employment. (Perish the thought.) Should this take place, it will mean our family will earning 30 percent more than we were in Tulsa, thus covering the roughly 30 percent cost-of-living increase between there and here. This confirms something we’d suspected all along, a definitive answer to this claim we heard from so many helpful people when we announced we were moving: “It’s so much more expensive to live there!”
Well, yes, yes it is. There is a two-pronged response to this.
A. That’s because it costs literally pennies a day to live in Tulsa. Sometimes when I didn’t feel like taking our house payment out of our paycheck, I’d go down to the bus station and fish loose change out of the pay-phone slots, and half an hour later we’d be good for the rest of the month.
2. Turns out it’s not just that everything costs more here; everything pays more here too. I know, it’s crazy. It’s almost as if there’s some sort of “cost of living” that employers take into account when they’re setting pay scales for jobs! It seemed just crazy enough to be true back before we moved, but now I know it’s just true enough to be retarded. Or, good. Not retarded. I was thinking of something else. It’s definitely good.
So, yes. Glad we got that settled. What else. So far both of E’s parents have visited: Her mom came earlier in the month, and her dad left this afternoon after swinging through for Thanskgiving. We kinda rocked it out for dinner yesterday, and in this sentence “rocked it out” means “ate until we were in serious danger of passing out while driving home.” Said dinner/lunch (linner? dunch?) took place in the Signature Room on the 95th floor of the Hancock Tower, which for some reason has developed a reputation for having an impressive view**. Seriously, I did not have one single bite that was anything less than monumental, which meant I had no choice but to take 5,000 of them. I know I’ve probably had food that good at some point in my life previously, but I’m also pretty sure I haven’t.
It was fantastic, and we were both glad E’s pop was there to share the occasion and to regale us with tales of his time flying Canadian transport planes called Caribou (U.S. planes built by Canada, lest you accuse our family of being some kinda peace-lovin’ Canucks or sumthin’) in the ‘Nam. These tales came complete with a digital slideshow, some highlights of which were multiple pictures of Arclight bombings by B-52s (insert Fred Schneider joke here) and of a truly colossal ammo dump explosion on E’s Pop’s last night In Country. Good times. (As a side note to the eight people in the nation, all of whom seem to have full-time jobs in broadcasting or as President of the United States, who firmly deny any parallels between Iraq and Vietnam? You continue to be wrong. And maybe also kind of stupid, where that’s concerned.)
It was kinda sad too, though. I would rather have been at somebody else’s house, when it comes right down to it. Again, insofar as the food and the restaurant went, it really could not have been any better, except that the sun was in my eyes the entire time and there wasn’t a curtain on our window, though I’m thinking there’s not much one can do about that as a restauranteur without divine powers of solar manipulation. But spending the holiday in such a fabulous locale instead of somebody’s kitchen kind of reinforced the isolated feelings I’ve been having since moving here. I dunno; maybe I should’ve asked to hang out with the busboys for a while. (It’s worth noting that we did get more than one offer to go spend the holiday with other families, one of which came from our landlords, who continue to be wonderful people.)
There is, of course, more to be thankful for than I have space here to list; the Internet, as it turns out, is in fact finite, and is projected to become totally full on August 8, 2016, when a kid from Poughkeepsie posts a fourth video of himself lipsynching “I Want it That Way” to YouTube. So yeah, long story short, thankful, thankful, thankful. Now must purchase things. Keep economy moving. Keep terrorists from winning. (urp.)
* — from the Latin, “with Peter Cetera”
** — I believe this is because the view is quite impressive.
Topics: Chicago | 18 Comments »
November 24th, 2006 at 8:23 pm
if there are only 6 of us, i guess we better sign in. HERE!
November 24th, 2006 at 9:20 pm
second.
November 25th, 2006 at 12:36 am
Present!
November 25th, 2006 at 4:21 am
The first year in a new place is usually like that, I think. You’ll be hosting Thanksgiving next year, and people will have two dinners so that they can hang with you without offending their families, I bet.
November 25th, 2006 at 1:07 pm
Also present, and thankful for deferred billing on my credit cards this joyous holiday season.
November 25th, 2006 at 1:24 pm
Oddly enough, I had a dream about you guys last night. You called me on the phone, and I was all like, “This is a surprise!” And you were all like, “What are you talking about? We call you every day.”
The funny part was that you had thick Chicago accents.
November 25th, 2006 at 2:22 pm
Number six here. I like your writing, hope you keep it up.
November 25th, 2006 at 5:13 pm
dude, there’s more than six. is that okay or should i stop reading?
and watch out for that long term gainful employment. people who have that always wind up dead…eventually.
November 26th, 2006 at 2:31 am
number 9! I will be in Chicago in January for a 2 week trip, definitely will visit the Hancock Tower. Thanks!
November 26th, 2006 at 12:55 pm
ten, ten wonderful readers! ah ha ha ha ha.
( a la pbj sandwiches )
November 26th, 2006 at 6:52 pm
I wish you could have had fried turkey and kegerator Thanksgiving with me and Joey and T & E and Misley. XO.
November 27th, 2006 at 8:12 am
Your readership, it goes to eleven.
November 27th, 2006 at 10:29 am
A dozen now? And that’s just those of us who comment. What I wouldn’t do for a dozen commentors. Apparently “what I wouldn’t do” is BLOG MORE REGULARLY. But, hey, that’s just me.
November 27th, 2006 at 3:25 pm
Yeah, hi. I still love you, too.
November 27th, 2006 at 6:46 pm
signing in as well!
November 28th, 2006 at 1:32 pm
i have been to that place whereat you ate your thanksgiving food! i wandered into it, sat down pretending i was going to eat/drink, and then stared out the window for five whole minutes! then i left!
HAHA, SUCK IT HANCOCK TOWER! i got a free view!
anyway. yeah. i read your blog, too. there are three reasons for this. first, you two are entertaining. second, you two are in an it’s-a-small-world-after-all way connected to two (count them, two) of my friend circles. so i think of you as vicarious friends. third, i currently live in tulsa but spend whatever time i can in chicago (there is a very tall man whom i like a very much lot living there). so, sitting in tulsa reading words written in chicago is nice.
okay, that’s all.
November 29th, 2006 at 3:18 pm
hahahaha, you all fell for the ploy to have the Byrneunit publicly be deemed popular.
(17)
October 2nd, 2007 at 5:44 am
Nice day
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See ya