meddlingBanter

While I have a free min before bed I thought I would update the blog a little bit.  I guess I should begin with December when I began and ended the month with Umphrey’s McGee.  Sometime around the 1st Abby, Chris, Ben, Gabe, BG and I all went to see Umphrey’s at the Boarders in Ann Arbor and again that night.  Seeing them up close at Boarders was pretty cool, except for the fact I lost my chair to Chris due to me trying to go sit closer to Abby..I ended up standing in the back for whole set but that was all right since I got to jam out back there.  I do remember this kid in front of me who was texting feriously to someone every song they played. He also said suck memorable things as "this is single handedly the coolest thing I’ve ever been apart of."  Now I think Umphrey’s is great, but that statement seems a little out there for me.  After Boarders we all tried to just go to a bar and drink before the show, but decided just to go to Kliens and drink and then return later. 

None of us really had seats together except Abby and I because we all bought them at different times.  For a while Abby and I left our seats and just jammed out in the iles just to get up close.  At one point I think I felt I could dance better if I had my shoes off so I spent the better half of the show with no shoes, seems a little dumb now, but what’s the worst that could happen?  Umphrey’s performed awesome as always.

Later in the month was Christmas.  For that Abby came to my house to celebrate with my Dad’s side of the family the weekend before Xmas.  I went to her house Christmas eve to spend it with her family in Haslett.  I met most of her family for the first time then.  I think it was a good first visit with her relatives (aunts, uncles etc).  Christmas day I went home sans Abby and we celebrated Christmas day apart.  I didn’t get a whole lot for Christmas, but I got everything I wanted.  I bought a bunch of clothes from the Timberland store and had my mom give me that.  I also had her get me to Umphrey’s at New Years in Chicago.  Well, my parents actually got one for me and one for Abby.  Then my parents surprised me with a paper shredder.  I had borrowed theirs for a long time and apparently this was there way of telling me they wanted it back.  I never would have thought I wanted one, but I love that thing.  It’s pretty nice if I can say so.  It cross cuts, shreds CDs and credit cards, and has a removable bin.  As a bonus its on wheels.  I usually hate surprises like that but they did good this year. 

I mentioned earlier I got a ticket to Umphrey’s New Years show.  Abby and I decided instead of getting each other presents for Christmas we would just go to Chicago for New Years to see Umphrey’s.  They were playing a three night show at the Aragon Ballroom so we had to be there.  We wanted to go all three nights, but financially we decided to just to two shows.  In retrospect that turned out to be the best idea because doing those shows two nights in a row drained me pretty bad.

We drove down on Sunday morning since I had made plans to meet up with my buddy Jeff who lives there. We met Jeff around 2 at a bar to watch the Lions game and catch up since I hadn’t seen him since GVSUs homecoming, and that was only for a night.  I think the lions ended up losing that game but still we had a good time.  After that Abby and I still had some time to kill before we could get in the hotel so we went with Jeff back to his apt to check it out.  I forget the city off the top of my head, but its southwest of the city….I think.   It was a pretty nice one bed room apt with a nice view of a golf course.  I’ll have to check it out this summer if at all possible. 

Fast forward to the hotel.  We stayed at this place called the Club Quarters at the corner of Michigan and Whacker downtown Chicago.  We got a decent deal on the room, I think something like $125 a night.  For New Years in downtown Chi that seemed pretty damn good to me, especially since the room Abby booked was $200.  The hotel was pretty nice, though the rooms are a little narrow compared to a normal room.  For us it was perfect since all we were doing was sleeping there before the shows each night and during the day we planned to go out.  We had a sweet view of the river and the new Trump tower being built across it.

I won’t go much into the shows but I will just say Umphrey’s took a lot out of me both nights.  So much the second night we didn’t end up meeting up with my other friend Jeff who was also in Chicago for New Years.  Dancing for 4 hours can do that to you and if I recall we were in a Blizzard on the way home. 

On New Years Abby and I opted to get a late check out and order room service and bum around till it was time to leave.  We probably should have left sooner since it took us 5 hours to drive home in the snow, but I didn’t have to drive so I didn’t mind:)

In other news my 4 or 5 year old laptop died a few weeks ago.  It’s had a problem with the power supply for a long time, I would have to hold the power cord in a special way just for it to charge up.  Years of doing this probably led to the tiny fire that erupted sometime in December.  After that little ordeal it worked fine for about another month until it finally stopped holding a charge.  I noticed more sparks again when it finally died. That really pissed me off since I had just finished putting full disk encryption on an Ubuntu install that week.  When I ended up taking it apart to take out the hard drive and any other parts I could, the mobo had a hole in it near the power supply.  I guess this is what did it in.  Now I’m in the market for a new one.  Once I get my tax returns I’ll probably purchase a Dell or maybe a Thinkpad.  I think I’ll then get rid of my CRTs and turn my desktop here into a server since it is ancient and really just a burden.  These things get so hot and suck a lot of power so it’s time they go.  Then whenever I have some extra cash I’ll purchase a new desktop, or just collect parts as I find deals and put one together. 

In future news I’m going to NY city in a month to visit my friend Andrew.  I’m thinking I may try to set up a job interview or two while I’m out there since I haven’t had much luck here at home with a more permanent position.  I looked on craigslist today and found some pretty interesting jobs. I should now be up to speed and hopefully I’ll update soon.  If only I were motivated.  Ha, ok good night.