FuzzyCouch

I got up and went to the DMV at 8 a.m. to avoid any “Imperial entanglements.” And successfully, I might add; I was in and out in a flash.

Julie and I went to the Illinois State Museum, despite not knowing where the museum is. Julie assumed I knew where it is, and, since she had been there before, I thought she knew. Well, we found it anyway and we finally managed to see “think small!” – A 35-artist exhibition that examines the issue of making small-scale contemporary artworks. We’d been wanting to see the show and it’s over tomorrow. After that we ate lunch at Cafe Brío downtown — tasty — then headed home. Here’s a couple pieces from the show:

Afterdesire by Donald McFadyen (left or top) and
Gentle Ben Mystery in the Everglades by Brian Dettmer

The piece on the left (or top) is an oil painting with this sort of sci-fi sensibility — really cool. The piece on the right was made with a real book that the artist went though and cut up until only what images and text he wanted to show was left.

Tags: Uncategorized by Guido
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My wife decided she wanted a 400 Disc DVD changer for her birthday. This was instead of a kitchen island, which surprised me. We stored our movies in a wooden cabinet, but it became overstuffed over the years. At one point, we moved from regular DVD cases to “slim” DVD cases to make them all fit, but that was only a temporary solution. The weight of all those DVDs was too much for the door of the cabinet to handle, and it broke off the hinges last week. We ordered the Sony DVP-CX985V for her early birthday present.

While we waited on shipping, we decided to organize our DVD collection by genre, deciding which slots in the new player each movie would reside in. One thing I was concerned about is the “browse-ability” of the collection, when we didn’t know what we wanted to watch. I found a cool Program that allowed us to build a database of our collection using details gleaned from the Internet (IMDB and Amazon), including thumbnail images!

By the time the player arrived this afternoon, it was only a matter of loading discs according to our predetermined plan! So far we love it, and it takes up so much less space!

Tags: Uncategorized by Troy
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It was an average summer day in Minnesota. Toying with the idea of trading in the Cabrio for something with more room and utility we went to the used car lot. Only, we didn’t know what awaited.

We now are the proud owners of a … a Volvo Wagon! When did I turn 80? No kids and a VOLVO WAGON! There are now 2 dogs fitting nicely into the back, sheparding the groceries.

So now I have the best car I will ever own. Lets see the previous ones. There was an 89 Bonneville, very choice. And a 97 Civic, which I still drive (170 K miles). And the co-owned Cabrio. Now, a Cabrio is not a car that a man typically wants to drive. So, a new-to-me Volvo could be the answer.

We’ll see.

Tags: Uncategorized by Matt
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I’m organizing an Ultimate Frisbee tournament for Aug. 13, 2005. Info here.

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I’ve been meaning to write down all the tournaments I’ve been to. So here goes:

1. Fayetteville, Ark., Harvest Moon 2000 (Chaff)
2. Chicago, Ill., Tune-Up 2001 (Chaff)
3. Kirksville, Mo., Truman State, 2001 (Chaff)
4. Carbondale, Ill., Drazba 2001 (Chaff)
5. St. Louis, Mo., Summer Soaker 2001 (Full Tilt)
6. Fayetteville, Ark., Harvest Moon 2001 (Chaff)
7. Memphis, Tenn., Monkeybowl, 2002 (Chaff pickup)
8. Fayetteville, Ark., Harvest Moon 2002 (Chaff)
9. Carbondale, Ill., Drazba 2002 (w/ ?)
10. St. Louis, Mo., Summer Soaker 2002 (w/ ?)
11. St. Louis, Mo., Hat 2002?
12. Kansas City, Mo., Mayfest, 2003 (Jujitsu)
13. Fayetteville, Ark., Harvest Moon 2003 (University of Texas)
14. Carbondale, Ill., Drazba 2003 (Meddling Kids)
15. St. Louis, Mo., Summer Soaker 2003 (Chaff/JujiTSU combo)
16. St. Louis, Mo., Hat 2003?
17. Milwaukee, Cooler Classic 15, 2003 (Parrots)
18. Springfield Ill., Truman State Bootleg Salsa, 2003 (UIS)
19. Fayetteville, Ark., Harvest Moon 2004 (Ill.timate)
20. Knox, Indoor, Jan. 2004 (NIU)
21. Milwaukee, Cooler Classic 16, 2004 (Rawhide)
22. Peoria, Ill., 2004 (Parrots)
23. Macomb, Ill., Mass Hysteria hat, 2004
24. St. Louis, Mo., Classic 2005 (Nine Inch Males)
25. St. Louis, Mo., Hat 2005
26. Bloomington, Ill., ISU, 2005 (Ill.timate)
27. Milwaukee, Cooler Classic 17, 2005 (SPUN)
28. Macomb, Ill., Mass Hysteria, Oct. 2005 (Torque)
29. Urbana, Ill., Illinois Hat 2005 (Orange)
30. Chicago, Ill., Sandblast 2005 (Bomb Voyage)
31. Jacksonville, Ill., Jax Hat Aug. 2005 (Blue)
32. Bloomington, Ill., ISU, 2006 (Pork)
33. Jacksonville, Ill., Jax Hat II Aug. 2006 (Blue)
34. Milwaukee, Cooler Classic 18, 2006 (Parrots)
35. Carbondale, Ill., SO ILL 2006 (Torque)
36. Macomb, Ill., Mass Hysteria, Oct. 2006 (Mysteria combo)
37. Urbana, Ill., Illinois Hat 2006 (White)
38. Rantoul, Ill., Big Tens 2007 (Torque)
39. St. Louis, Mo., St. Louis Classic 2007 (Tree Huckers)
40. Jacksonville, Ill., Jax Hat III, 2007 (Pink)
41. Delafield, Wis., Cooler Classic 19, 2007 (Big River)
42. Carbondale, Ill., SO ILL, 2007 (Risky Bidness)
43. Macomb, Ill., Western Classic III, 2007 (Risky Bidness)
44. Morton, Ill., Flick or Treat, Oct. 2007 (Team Rodger)
45. Rantoul, Ill., Illinois Hat, Nov. 3, 2007 (Green)
46. Columbia, Mo., Savage December Redux, Dec. 2007 (Torque/Chicago combo)
47. Galesburg, Ill., Knox Winter Whiteout, Feb. 10-11, 2008 (BUFF Alumni)
48. Jacksonville, Ill., IC indoor, Feb. 27, 2008 (Torque A)
49. Bloomington, Ill., Stanley Cup I, March 23, 2008 (Risky Bidness)
50. Peoria, Ill., Peoria Park District tournament, April 20, 2008 (Torque – 1st place)
51. Carbondale, Ill., Party Hat II, May 3, 2008 (orange/lavablast)
52. Bloomington, Ind., Hoosier Hoedown, July 12-13, 2008 (Half Tilt/Rocket Sauce)
53. Jacksonville, Ill., Jax Hat IV, July 26, 2008 (Huckleberry/Blue – 1st place)
54. Milwaukee, Cooler Classic XX, Aug. 16-17, 2008 (Undue Perversity)
55. Bloomington, Ill., Stanley Cup II, Sept. 20-21, 2008 (76 Brett Porters)
56. Whitewater, Wis., Hucktoberfest X, Sept. 27-28, 2008 (BUFF alumni)
57. Macomb, Ill., Western Classic IV, Oct. 4-5, 2008 (UIC)
58. Morton, Ill., Flick or Treat II, Nov. 1-2, 2008 (Rottingham Poachers – 2nd place)
59. Urbana, Ill., Illinois Hat, Nov. 8, 2008 (Orange team)
60. Galesburg, Ill., Knox Winter Whiteout, Feb. 1, 2009 (Xonk B)
61. Charleston, Ill., EIU Spring Tournament, March 28-29, 2009 (Browning Allstars – 1st place)
62. St. Louis, Mo., St. Louis Classic, May 2-3, 2009 (Moonlight Mustache)
63. Quincy, Ill., Quincy Hat, June 6, 2009, (Team Green – 1st place)
64. Jacksonville, Ill., Jax Hat V, Aug. 8, 2009, (Wedding Singers)
65. Bloomington, Ill., Stanley Cup III, Sept. 18-19, 2009 (Status Quo – 2nd place)
66. Carbondale, Ill., SO ILL III, Sept. 26-27, 2009 (Risky Bidness)
67. Peoria, Ill., Flick or Treat III, Oct. 31-Nov. 1, 2009 (BUFF alumni)
68. Tallahassee, Fla., Applejack Hat Tournament, Nov. 14, 2009 (Captain Crunch – 2nd place)
69. Galesburg, Ill., Knox Winter Whiteout, Feb. 6-7, 2010 (Parrots)
70. Morton, Ill., Om Nom Nom Nom Hat, April 3, 2010 (Red team)
71. St. Louis, Mo., St. Louis Classic, May 1-2, 2010 (Webster U. team)
72. Bloomington, Ind., Hoosier Hoedown, July 3, 2010 (CI Zombie)
73. Jacksonville, Ill., Jax Hat, July 24, 2010 (Blue team)
74. Delafield, Wis, Cooler Classic 22, Aug. 14-15, 2010 (CI Zombie)

Tags: Ultimate by Guido
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This past weekend I played in the Chicago Beach Ultimate Sandblast 2005 tournament at Montrose Beach on Lake Michigan. I posted a couple pictures on Flickr.

I’d never played Ultimate on the beach. I’ve not really spent all that much time on the beach. So Saturday, I was pretty uncomfortable most of the day, with all the hot and sand everywhere. The sand mixed with sunscreen was particularly annoying. We managed to win three of our four games on Saturday.

In the middle of our third game, I pushed off on a piece of glass hidden in the sand, creating a big gash on my right foot. I sat out the rest of that game and the fourth game. I kept pressure on it for a while, and the team we were playing helped carry me off the field and had some nice antiseptic spray that helped clean out the wound. Somebody fetched a medic guy, too. He got me all bandaged up.

Saturday evening, we all showered (Scott, Erin, Jen and I went to Jen’s) and then met up at a restaurant somewhere in northern Chicago — not sure where exactly. We also picked up some snacks, New Skin and drinks. At 9 p.m., Scott, Erin, Jen and I went back to the beach to guard the tent. Scott tried to help the DJ who had gotten his van stuck on the beach.

The police started shooing people out of the park around 11 p.m. Sleep was a little difficult with people wandering around, that guy with his radio singing along to R. Kelly, tractors combing the beach all night and crews picking up the trash, but I did get a few winks in.

Sunday, I played with my injury feeling better and all taped up. The heat was worse than Saturday, but it didn’t bother me as much. We were down on people and I don’t think we won a game on Sunday.

Julie and my sister came out and watched our last game and then we headed to Bloomington to eat a picnic dinner and see MacBeth at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival with mom and dad. The heat was terrible and I found it difficult time paying attention.

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When I was in Austin I purchased a small LCD monitor for my Playstation 2 so that I would have something to do in the evenings. For some reason many hotels disable their aux a/v inputs on the room TVs. The purchase ate up a few months of my “video game budget”. However, a previous trade-in of my Windoze PC games paid for the Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack this month (which I’ve been enjoying immensely) and I decided yesterday to trade in some old XBOX games for “World of Warcraft”. My brother and his wife are pretty much addicted to “WoW” and he lent me a 10-day trial account. With that, I determined the game runs fine on my G4 powerbook, so I went ahead and obtained it (with $0.77 to spare in store credit!). I’m only a level 10 Paladin, but I finally earned the ability to use a sword, so I’m happy about that!

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There’s a story about the JJ-C design team, which includes me, in the most recent editon of The Society for News Design‘s quarterly Design Journal (No. 95). The story even quotes me saying things like this: “It’s definitely fun.”

Cover of the magazine (left) and the story
“Small paper, big design,” by Steve Cavendish.

The plumber came over this morning. Soon, the ice maker will be fully operational. Hopefully, the shower will stop leaking (at least for a while) and I’ll be able to use the water spigot on the other side of the house for the first time.

Tags: Uncategorized by Guido
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