I was able to meet up with some buddies in Chicago Thursday night after spending the majority of the week trying to beat a cold I had acquired from the previous weekend.  How someone can get a cold after being outside in 100 degree heat is beyond me.  Anyway, we all ended up going to a bar down the street from where my friends Nick, Nic, and Alex live in Wrigleyville called Sheffield’s.  It was a pretty low key evening with Nick, Nic, Becky, Rachel, John, Kurt, and I just chatting it up over a few drinks.  After leaving the bar, Kurt and I walked with Nick and Nic back to their apartment.  It was at this point that we started wondering if it was possible for someone to crawl through their fence.  At first, we didn’t believe it could be done because the opening really isn’t all that big.

Soon, though, Nick proved it could be done.  I’ll admit that I was pretty apprehensive about trying to go through it.  I think I’m just a natural worrier when it comes to doing things that could risk injury.  I managed to do it a couple of times, though.

The funny part about the whole thing was that we were challenging people walking by to attempt getting through the fence.  Before long, we had a handful of people cheering and rising to the challenge.  It was really pretty funny despite being a ridiculous idea.

My weekend has been spend mostly relaxing and going out at night.  I really haven’t been in much of a going out mood lately, but I ended up doing it anyway because I wanted to be with friends.  I’m glad I did because I ended up hanging out with some people I hadn’t really hung out with in a very long time. 

On Friday, some of us went out in Westport, and I ended up hanging out with Toast and Kel for a little while.  It was good kicking it with them, and I feel privledged to be the only ex-frat guy that they say they get along with   On Saturday, I ended up getting to hang out with an old friend whom I hadn’t seen in close to a year and a half.  She was good friends with a girl I dated, and I hadn’t seen her since we broke up.  Luckily, by the good graces of Myspace, we got back in touch and she went out with some of us.  I knew the second I got in her car to go out that she hadn’t changed a bit.  This is what she was wearing:

We ended up meeting friends out at The Other Place where we ended up talking about everything from defecating in one’s pants to the degree of society’s obligation to help the homeless.  It ended up being a lot of fun, and I’m really happy to have gotten reacquainted with an old friend.

I’m dreading packing today because I’m about to embark on some pretty lengthy time away from home.  I’m going to be gone for two weeks straight, and I’m pretty excited despite knowing I’m going to feel a little burned out once it’s all over.  I go to New York this week, fly to Chicago on Friday for Lollapalooza all weekend, leave Chicago on Monday for San Francisco, then I fly into Kansas City only to hop in my car and drive 6 hours to my family’s lake house in Okoboji.  I’m sure I’ll have plenty to blog about here in the near future.

Here are just a few peeves of mine:

• Dry cleaners always putting pleats down the middle of pant legs.  You could have them dry clean a pair of sweatpants and they’d still crease those suckers.  Why do they automatically do that as a default is beyond me.
• When people ask “How are you?” and just keep walking.   
• The movie preview lady on hotel televisions.  This woman can’t stop talking about how amazing horrible movies are.  How can that woman live with herself knowing that she is whoring her false reviews out only to leave innocent people with less money and a couple hours gone forever? 
• The word “genius”.  Everyone throws that word around when, in fact, very, very few things are worthy of that title.   
• Overhead speakers on airplanes.  They either have the volume turned way up or the pilot rambles on and on.  Just let people sleep, read, watch a movie, or just relax.  I couldn’t care less what the current temperature outside is or what my current altitude is.  Just shut up and let me get from Point A to Point B in peace.  
• People who stand on moving walkways.  This could possibly be my biggest peeve of them all. Is it really that hard to keep walking?  That’s the whole point of the moving walkway – to get you moving faster.  It’s not just an invention to be lazy and hold others up who are trying to get by you.
• Soft pillows.  Why anyone would want to sleep feeling like they’re drowning their face in a pool of quicksand is beyond me.  
• People who praise Tupac like he was some religious martyr.  Sure, he was a good rapper, but the guy was always in trouble with the law and abused women.  There are shirts that quote “Only God can judge me” from when he was on trial and fans thought it was some amazing thing.  I’m pretty sure God did judge him.  And I’m pretty sure he’s rapping about his crack-addicted momma in hell.   
• When people take elevators up or down just one flight when the stairs are five steps away. 
• When you’re at a crowded bar and there are people sitting at the bar taking up room when others are trying to get drinks.  I think it’s rude and self-centered.  If a bar is busy, you will never find me sitting at the bar.  Ever. 
• Catholics who claim to be religious yet fail to give anything up for lent.  I don’t get that.  I mean, Muslims can’t eat, drink, smoke, use profane language, or have sexual intercourse from before the break of dawn until sunset for an entire month.  Oh yeah, and there’s a certain someone that actually sacrificed his life for you.  Is giving up chocolate for 40 days really all that big of a deal?
• People who either count how many drinks they’ve had or talk about how drunk they are.  Unless you just had your first ever alcoholic drink, there’s no excuse for doing it.  You just sound like a giant beer dork.
• Bad cell phone drivers.  I’m not saying all people who talk on their cell phones while driving are bad drivers.  All I’m saying is that 95% of the time when I see someone do something bad in traffic they have a cell phone up to their ear.  Get an earpiece for $15 and make the roads safer for everyone.
• When toilet paper roll is the wrong way.  In my personal opinion, toilet paper should hang down the front of the roll and not the back. 
• The last dribble after peeing.  It doesn’t matter how many times your shake that sucker, one drop always seems to appear out of nowhere.  This is especially problematic if you’re wearing boxers.  One second you think you’re in the clear and the next you feel a small drop hit your knee.
• “Hey, it’s me” phone messages.  Why would anyone bother saying “it’s me” instead of actually saying their name?  What’s worse is that I spend a great deal of time on airplanes and subways which leads to random “it’s me” messages with no caller ID when I finally get reception. 
• Really obese people eating junk food.  It’s one thing to be a little overweight and to have some ice cream or something, but it’s another to barely be able to fit in your seat at a movie theater and to be munching on an extra large tub of popcorn soaked in tons of butter.  It makes me nauseous just looking at things like that.  It’s sad, too, because it’s obvious that they’ve given up on themselves.

Since I’m rarely around my apartment to flush my toilet regularly, I’ve noticed that a yellow ring often develops next to the water.  Why a yellow ring develops when just plain, clear toilet water is sitting there I’m not quite sure, but I decided to pick up a 2000 Flushes at Target today just to see if it might help the problem.  Sure enough, the water is a really deep blue color now.  I’ve since peed twice and have found myself really hoping my urine will turn that sucker bright green.  The first time was a good one, but the second barely changed the hue in my bowl at all.  Maybe I drank too much water today or something.  I will not be defeated, though, as I now have 1,998 flushes to go to accomplish my goal.

It seems like it had been forever since I had last been in NYC.  The funny thing is, by “forever” I mean it had been about four months.  I was definitely excited to return to Manhattan but was dreading the heat wave that had hit the city.  The weather was stretching into the 100s early in the week, and I faced it head on when I was walking around on Tuesday.  Although it was just for a few hours of walking around Manhattan and riding subways, I was completely drenched in sweat by the time I got back to my hotel room.  I mentioned recently how I don’t care for heat in Kansas City, but I think back in hindsight and have to laugh a little.  When someone says it’s too hot in Kansas City they’re really just saying that the short walk from their home to their car was hot.  In New York, when people say it’s hot, they’re referring to the half mile walk to the subway station, the sauna-like conditions as they wait for the subway, and the remaining half mile walk to their destination as they endure the hot sun bouncing off of the surrounding concrete.  It’s really quite different.

My week in New York was a nonstop chain of events, and although it wore me out quite a bit, I loved every minute of it.  After work on Tuesday, I changed clothes, took a cab to Union Station, and hopped on a train to Scarsdale to meet my friend Melissa for dinner.  Melissa was one of the roommates of a girl I dated for about a year and a half in college, and we became good friends as a result.  She lives a ways north of the city, but we agreed to meet half way to catch up.  It was great seeing her, and I really hope to get to see her more during future visits. 

After working on Wednesday, I met up with Rachel who had just moved from KC in the past month to live in the Big Apple.  She first showed me her apartment in Hell’s Kitchen, and we then went out to Canal Street so I could find myself a cheap replacement watch for the one I recently broke by keeping it in my pants and running it through the wash.  Yeah, it wasn’t too bright.  After settling on a cool Omega watch (yes, I know it’s likely a knockoff or stolen, but it tells time and looks pretty studly), we then took a cab to Greenwich Village to eat at a place called The Spotted Pig.  It was there that I tasted the finest hamburger my tastebuds have ever experienced.  It’s one of those rare foods that you taste once and instantly find yourself craving it on a regular basis.  I can’t wait to go back and have it again.  Anyway, as Rachel and I sat there, it hit me that my friend Katie likely lived nearby so I texted her our location.  Lo and behold, she lived just a block away.  She ended up joining us, and the three of us sat and talked over a couple of drinks.  Rachel and Katie had never met so I’m glad they were able to get to know each other, and Katie was able to tell me all about her recent trip to Europe with my buddy Andy. 

My friends that I know in NYC had planned a happy hour on Thursday that pretty much everyone I know in the city (about 10 people or so) were going to be there.  Todd met me at my hotel, and we then headed to Agave to have some happy hour cocktails and appetizers.  It took everyone a while to get there, but it was well worth the wait.  Before long, everyone had arrived and were laughing and catching up with each other.  It was so great to see all of them again. 

That night, my friends there had an intervention of sorts with me.  They all talked with me about the fact that I need to just pack up my things and move to New York.  They know as well as I do that I’d be very happy there.  I think it was something I probably needed to hear.  The reason they brought the topic of me moving there wasn’t just because they wanted another person to hang out with, though.  They brought it up because they know me well and were looking out for my best interests.  It meant a lot to hear it, and despite me not thinking much about living Kansas City lately, it’s gotten me thinking about relocation again.  Who knows what the next year could bring. 

I had an early morning flight to catch today to make it to New York.  I was originally supposed to fly out tomorrow afternoon which excited me because that meant one extra night to see friends in the area.  The reason I had to move it was because I had to help act in a training video for my client.  I had to memorize lines and endure two annoying hours of multiple takes to film my little clip.

Aside from emceeing a couple of events on stage in college, my only prior experience with acting had been for a show called Randumb Lobotomy that aired on the cable access channel while at Iowa State.  I was in two skits at the time.  The one that seemed to play constantly on the air featured me running across campus to see my girlfriend while thinking back to ways I had abused her — throwing flour in her face, dumping a can of Coke on her, and getting upset during a pillow fight and smacking her with a chair.  Once I got to her house, you expect me to apologize, but I instead break up with her and tell her I can’t take the abuse.  It was mildly funny and a very entertaining experience.  The thing I’ll never forget, though, is that it took an insanely long amount of time to film it.  The lighting had to be just so, different takes had to be taken, multiple camera angles had to be shot, etc.  The video I took part in yesterday made the filming in college seem like a cakewalk.  I’m kind of anxious to see the final product, though.  I think it’ll be pretty funny.

I really dislike getting up early for flights because no matter how early the flight is you have to be there at least an hour earlier.  Today’s flight had me at the airport at six in the morning.  I felt like a zombie and couldn’t wait to pass out on my plane.  Lo and behold, I ended up with the most uncomfortable seat I have yet to encounter in my travels.  There was virtually no padding whatsoever where I sat, and I was forced to try and sleep on the hard metal rod that existed where my headrest should be.  Planes like that should be outlawed by our government.  Once we landed, I started walking to my connecting flight when I realized I completely left my luggage on the plane.  Luckily, I was able to get back on and retrieve it.  It’s crazy how much a lack of sleep can cause such mindlessness.

Yesterday found me plunging deeper into young adulthood as I turned 26 years old.  It’s kind of weird to think that I’m now in my late-twenties.  I always get a little bummed out about birthdays but this one didn’t really phase me much.  Instead of viewing it as a year older, I just saw it as any other day.

As I mentioned in my last post, I had an outdoor wedding to attend Saturday evening.  As expected, the weather was unbearable.  They did the best they could to minimize the possibility of heat strokes breaking out by handing out bottled water and mini fans to the attendees.  It really didn’t help much, though, as attitudes turned sour within minutes of being seated for the event.  By the time the wedding started, every male had soaked through their shirt and every female had makeup running down their face.  Note to self: never plan an outdoor wedding in the middle of summer.  Aside from the heat, the wedding was pretty beautiful, and my friend looked pretty amazing in her wedding dress.  I’m definitely glad I went although I was definitely happy to crank up the A/C in my car afterwards.

I skipped the wedding reception because a friend of mine slipped up and mentioned that there was a surprise gathering planned for me.  It was pretty funny how it all went down, but I was really grateful to have friends who would go out of their way to do something like that.  About a dozen people showed up at Manny’s where we proceeded to have some tasty Mexican food and drink a few margaritas.  The group then went to The Cashew before settling at The Levee for the night.  It really was a great time. 

Now for the sappy part:

Aside from my immediate family, I really don’t expect anyone to remember my birthday.  This year, though, I’ve had more friends call or email me to wish me a happy birthday than any other birthday in recent memory.  In fact, for almost the whole day and evening I found myself on the phone with friends — even friends I hadn’t spoken to in a really long time. 

I haven’t really told anyone this, but I’ve been in quite a funk lately.  The burdens have traveling have been taking a bit of a toll on me, I guess you could say.  Don’t get me wrong, I get to see many friends around the country that I wouldn’t otherwise see and I appreciate that opportunity.  I just sometimes feel like all I’ve been doing is maintaining relationships instead of growing them.  It’s just like the saying, “The Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss.”  It’s also been frustrating not being able to date much, either.

The reason I brought up all that stuff wasn’t to incite a pity party on ol’ Bradical.  The reason I mentioned it was because the past couple of days have served as an excellent reminder that I honestly feel like I have some of the best friends anyone could ask for.  I really wish I could elaborate on it more without sounding like a complete cheeseball, but it’s truly fantastic to have remained such good friends with people despite everyone’s crazy schedules and distance on a globe.  It was definitely a b-day to remember.

It’s insanely hot out right now.  The summer has always been my favorite time of the year, but I think that my love for the heat has been waning ever since I became an adult.  Days like today make me wish I could just live in one of the coastal cities I travel to each week instead of pitting out just by walking to my car.

I have a wedding later on today for a coworker of mine.  It’s not just any wedding, though.  It’s an outdoor wedding.  According to the weather report, the heat index will be at 99 degrees.  I’m sure it’ll be pretty nice and all, but I really feel for all those poor people in tuxes.  I’ll think it’s safe to say I’ll never have an outdoor wedding.  There are just way too many variables that could hinder the joy of the event.

I was originally planning on going to the wedding, hanging out at the reception for a while, and then leaving to go out and party for my birthday (it’s tomorrow).  That all changed, though, once I found out that some friends of mine were planning a little surprise thing for me tonight.  Basically, a friend of mine thought the surprise was for another friend also named Brad and asked if I was going to it in an email.  After finding that out, I’ve decided to just sweat it out at the wedding and then meet up with friends for dinner afterwards.  Painting the town red is definitely in order, and it looks like we’ll be hitting up The Levee and The Cashew tonight.  I’ll be putting some pictures on here tomorrow.

I get excited about new things easily.  If I get a new toothbrush I can’t wait until I can brush my teeth next so I can use it.  The same holds true for any other toiletries, clothes, new/different foods, video games, etc.  With that in mind, it comes as no surprise to me that I’m pretty darn giddy to have this new site layout and design.  My buddy Andy did all of this on his own free time, and I can’t explain enough how much I appreciate it. 

I’ve switched to a different host and now use WordPress to post.  WordPress apparently emails you your posts as a backup which is something I definitely recommend to anyone who blogs.  The downside is that my old host, 2mhost, has really ticked me off and told me they won’t refund my money now.  They told me the exact opposite a month ago.  The good news is that most of my archives were salvaged, and they should be loaded back onto this site eventually.  Sadly, it doesn’t look good that the pictures and old comments were able to be saved.  I love going back to read comments so it’s a definite bummer to have that happen.  I’ll try to reload the pictures once things get back to normal. 

I’m looking forward to blogging regularly again.  I technically never really stopped, but I have wanted to get into the swing of posting every day or two.  I think some of the reason I haven’t was because the design of this site wasn’t very attractive to read.  I know it sounds weird, but I think it may be true.  This whole ordeal has been a huge pain to deal with, but with the help of a friend I can’t help but wonder if things are going to end up better off. 

The old weblog is in the process of being moved-in. We’re in the process of slowly unpacking all the delicates. Afterwards, we’ll get the bulky items setup and the utlitlies reconnected. Then everything will be back to abnormal.

Update: The new site’s design has been completed. Feel free to leave comments regarding the design, especially if you have suggestions on how to improve the appearance or are running into issues with your web browser. Posting will resume again shortly and the old archives will be restored. Thanks for your patience.