Main Goal for 2008

I met it! I just now, a few minutes ago, submitted work to a literary magazine! YAYAYAYAY for me! OK, so I got a few nudges from my friend Vince, but I did it. Whether or not it’s accepted doesn’t even matter. I submitted.

Hee Seop’s Hospital Visit

According to the Cornell Feline Health Center, there’s a ton of plants and food to keep your cats away from during the holiday season. And the rest of the year, too. Poinsettias are one of them, though according to the article, they aren’t as bad as say, mistletoe, which can cause death. Lilies are also listed. I used to think this was just relevant around Easter time, you know, as in, Easter lilies? Turns out that even a teeny tiny amount of any lily can kill your cat.

It was already a stressful weekend, about a month ago. Hopper was at the vet that Saturday to have her heart rate and blood pressure re-checked (that’s another story), and as she gets older, she has less patience for vet visits. On Sunday, we were expecting new bedroom furniture to be delivered — we finally got a platform bed with storage drawers underneath; I’d been concerned about Hee Seop’s safety because he had long ago created a hidey-hole by tearing open the box spring, to which he normally retires after a meal. You know how hard it is to get a cat out from under a bed as it is? Heh. Try getting one out from inside the bed. So if there was a fire or something, well, I didn’t want deal with that.

At that time, I still had trouble communicating with people, especially face-to-face because of my anxiety, so I was glad Brian was home for the furniture delivery. However, early that morning, we noticed a huge streak of orange smeared across one of Hee Seop’s snowy cheeks. If he’d gotten into the trash or sink, I didn’t know what he could have eaten because we didn’t have anything with tomato sauce or chili (the culprit last time) the night before. Then Brian found a chewed-up petal on the floor below the mantle, where we keep fresh flowers.

Brian buys a new bouquet each week, and this time I noticed what I thought were lilies, but they were orange, so I wasn’t sure and didn’t think they were a big deal. Still, I got all paranoid and we looked up cats and lilies on the Internet. I can’t remember which site it was, but it said the teeniest, tiniest amount ingested of any part of a lily could cause serious, probably fatal problems. The site said that if the cat’s treated within 6 hours of ingestion, the survival rate was high; between 6 and 12 hours, touch-and-go; after 18 hours, forget about it.

Fortunately, it hadn’t been more than 6, and I insisted that Brian take him to the pet ER. I so badly wanted to go because Hee Seop’s still such a shy guy and only goes to the vet once a year because he’s so healthy. He doesn’t leave the house, otherwise. And having worked at the pet ER once upon a time, I know how chaotic and busy it is, especially on the weekends. In addition, our vet is a cats-only hospital, so the poor guy would have to deal with the presence of dogs. Who knew how long we’d be there, and one of us had to stay home.

I was able to deal with the furniture guys on my own, which was nothing compared to my concern over Hee Seop. He was hospitalized overnight. They had him on fluids because lilies mainly affect the kidneys. According to the notes, he wouldn’t eat, tried hiding inside his cage, and was very scared and nervous — but sweet! The next morning, Brian transferred him to the regular vet where the poor guy was hospitalized the rest of the day.

Hee Seop survived the ordeal — having ingested the lily, as well as the anxiety he must have felt around all those strangers, strange smells, and the poking and prodding. When the regular vet sent him home, they told us to watch out for vomiting, lack of appetite, and lethargy. He was totally fine, other than his confusion at there no longer being an “under the bed” in which to take refuge.

“This Will Be a Day Long Remembered”

Not because “It has seen the end of Kenobi,” but because Brian and I finally, finally, FINALLY got to eat at Hot Doug’s! We’ve driven past it over the years as it’s only a couple of miles away. It looks like your typical corner hot dog joint, except their sign contains words like “sausage emporium” and “encased meats.” So I figured they also sold like, those really long links of sausage wrapped around a rod near the counter or something, like at a deli. Yuck. Who’d want to eat there and have to look at that?

This past summer a friend in Arkansas asked if we’d ever eaten there. I was like, “uh…no.” I asked how she’d heard of it because it isn’t a chain, like Gold Coast Dogs. Well, she saw a segment about it on the Travel Channel! And she was like, “Yeah, it’s supposed to be really good.”

So Brian and I went that weekend. OMFG. The line went out the door, around the corner, and halfway down the block. You’d think it was the hottest new club, except that it was about 2 in the afternoon, not in the morning. The place closes at 4, so we couldn’t have dinner there.

I figured our best bet would be to go on a weekday while everyone else is at work. So we tried again this past fall, on a day Brian had off. We went about 1pm and there was still a line out the door! I didn’t realize that the electric company has a plant nearby and people were probably on their lunch hour. Finally, today, in 8° frickin’ Fahrenheit weather, we achieved our goal!

It was packed, and there was a long line inside, but at least it wasn’t out the door. I realized that all this “sausage” and “encasing” on the sign business was because they serve not just hot dogs, but chicken sausages and whatnot. One of today’s specials was rabbit sausage infused with brandy (WTF does that even mean?) with all these fancy trimmings like foie gras mousse and raspberry mayo. Yuck.

Me, I had the mandarin orange/teriyaki chicken sausage with some kind of cheese I never heard of; I passed on the fancy “dijonnaise” that went with it — not a fan of mustard. It was good. There were bits of orange inside the sausage but it didn’t taste very teriyaki. The cheese (Esrom) was good, mild. Overall, my choice was a bit bland, so I’m thinking I should’ve been brave and went with the dijonnaise, which probably would’ve given it more taste.

Brian’s was better. He had the “Cristobal Huet,” which I should’ve ordered just on principle, but I was scared off by the seaweed. I tried it and it was awesome! The sausage was way more spicy than the menu’s description of merely “spicy.” Yum! Brian actually refilled his drink three times! Seriously!

Both of our orders were from the specials menu, which changes each day. I don’t even know if they ever have the same one twice! But anyway, the whole point is that we finally got to eat there!

Resurrecting the bloggo

…and by that, I don’t mean Blagojevich! The title of my blog is a play on the word “blog,” obviously, but also on Blagojevich’s name because the guy, as many of you know, lived down the street when I started this blog. We’ve since moved but he still lives down the street — just a different one. And I live in Chicago (well, duh). Hence, “bloggo chicago.”

I would like to make it clear to the public that I did not pay anyone for use of the title.

This blog is not corrupt unless some fucking hackers have managed to infiltrate the server or whatever, because I occasionally get spam comments on old posts, on which commenting has been closed. I’ve also been getting spam users registering; apparently they just love my blog. Fuckers. They’re so obvious.

*cough* Anyways, I’ve had two relapses since August but my condition is improving, which also means I’ve been busy trying to get better, trying to spend less time online. But I miss the blog and I’m trying to find a way to manage reading your blogs again. Admittedly, Twitter is so much easier than blogging. And there’s still Crackbook. I’ve suddenly had an influx of friends and it’s hard to catch up with everyone. Etc., etc.

So here’s an overview of what’s been going on in the past month, and I may expand on them later: Brian’s paternal grandma suddenly passed away in the beginning of November; one cat was diagnosed with heart disease; another cat ate a frickin’ lily and had to be rushed to the animal ER — all of which happened in the span of a week: election week, during which I had the stomach flu! Early voting is a wonderful thing.

As for the blog itself, I’ve decided to shamelessly use Amazon Associates links for past and future book, DVD, etc. reviews. Don’t like it? Don’t read it. Still working on cutting down categories but using tags. Maybe I’ll go ahead and add the tag widget soon, even if it isn’t complete. What the hell.

Here’s a shout-out to one of my oldest blog friends, who lit the fire under my ass to get this thing going again. Hi, April!

NOlympics

It wasn’t until last night that I realized the Olympics are over because there was nothing on TV. As an adult I’ve never been interested in this. At all. But for some reason, I got sucked in this year. Not only that, I got totally sucked into events that I never would’ve considered sports in the past!

Take women’s gymnastics. To me, gymnastics = figure skating. But I got hooked during the frickin’ trials! What did it were the stories behind each gymnast. They made these girls more human to me instead of just a bunch of really bendy Barbie Dolls with blonde ponytails.

Beach volleyball. Come on! That isn’t a sport, it’s a game you play on the beach! Or so I thought until I got hooked on the matches between anyone vs. May/Walsh or Dalhaussen/Rogers. This, I have no explanation for. None. But I still consider ping-pong table tennis, badminton, and the trampoline as recreational, backyard games. Except for table tennis — that’s more like a garage or basement game. What’ll they add next? Foosball? Air hockey? Now air hockey, I’d like to see.

Why they couldn’t show men’s basketball during prime time is what I’d like to know.

I’d definitely had enough of Michael Phelps even before the games started, but after learning that he’s ADHD and was bullied as a youngster during an interview with Bob Costas, I could totally feel for him. You know, being a complete underdog that people once kicked around and then to completely blow everyone away. That’s really cool.

Do Your Dog(s) A Favor…

A friend of mine sent me this link: The Chai Story. It looks like the first entry of a new blog, but no matter. If the Four Paws, Inc.’s pimple ball with bell is among your dog’s toys, get rid of it — NOW! I know this sounds like one of those rumor-type things people send blanket e-mails about, but please — read the entry. I couldn’t even watch the videos; the pictures were bad enough.

Missing Bernie Mac

Bernie Mac passed away of pneumonia this morning at a Chicago area hospital. He was only 50. I loved “The Bernie Mac Show.” Well, at least when I could find it on TV, and then only by channel surfing, because I never knew when it’d be on. The show was hilarious, but different in that he’d actually address the viewers, known as America. That’s what I loved most about it; I’d never seen anything like that in a TV program before (the news and talk shows don’t count). I enjoyed his performances in the Ocean’s movies, although he should have had more screen time. Admittedly, I wasn’t a die-hard fan, but I’ll still miss his future projects. To me, and I’m sure I’m not the only one, he was a Chicago comedy icon.

It’s a Drive-THRU not Drive-INTO Starbucks

On our Sunday excursion yesterday, which included brunch, a walk through Lincoln Square, and then a stop at Borders for the new Star Wars book, of course, we saw the most amazing thing. As Brian and I neared the little strip mall where the Borders is located, we saw a few squad cars at the Starbucks that’s on the corner of the entryway.

As we made a right turn into the parking lot and drove slowly past the coffee shop, would you believe it? There was a car inside the frickin’ Starbucks! That’s right — INSIDE of it! The outdoor seating — well, there wasn’t any, and the glass next to the patio was gone. I mean, completely gone! The outdoor tables, the Starbucks window, and, in fact, many of the indoor tables and chairs were gone. In their place was a frickin’ CAR! I mean, WTF?!

We didn’t see the accident take place, but I swear, I am not making this shit up. You can read about it on NBC5.com under “Four Injured When Car Smashes Into Starbucks.” I’m not bothering with the direct link because it’ll eventually be archived and, therefore, dead. The article doesn’t say much, but we also saw a segment about it on the news last night, and get this: the driver had no insurance!!!!! Can you believe that?! Obviously, we didn’t see Allstate spokesman, Dennis Haysbert, there talking about any accident forgiveness for this.

Local Boys Make it to the Top!

No, I’m not a Celtics fan. I mean, I grew up in Chicago so by default I’m a Bulls fan. But when it comes to championship games, I root for the underdog. Although that was difficult during the 2008 Stanley Cup and I’m not going to talk about that series except for maybe the third quarter of Game 5.

Anyways, it was such a treat to see Boston totally spank the Lakers last night, but the best part for me was seeing two local guys win their first championships as a head coach and player, respectively: Doc Rivers and Kevin Garnett. That was the real treat.

(OK, so Garnett actually grew up in South Carolina, but he graduated from Farragut!)

No Country For Old Men (book)

No Country For Old Men

by Cormac McCarthy

I was looking forward to seeing this movie, since people only had good things to say about it, but then I discovered that the book came first. And when that’s the case, I always read the book before I see the movie. Though I’d never read Cormac McCarthy’s work, I didn’t think I’d like it because I had the impression that his stories are all set in the Old West, which doesn’t interest me. But since I knew the movie is set more recently then that, I gave it a whirl and I’m glad I did!

To absorb all the nuances, I read this book twice — partly because it wasn’t until about halfway through that I was able to understand McCarthy’s narrative style. His use of dialogue reflects the speech patterns of that part of Texas, which is more extreme than say, a Houston accent, which I only know because I lived in that city for a year. McCarthy writes almost phonetically, so I had trouble understanding some of what was being said. For example, he’d write “kindly” when what the character actually means is “kind of.” In addition, McCarthy rarely, if ever, uses quotation marks throughout, so sometimes it was hard to know who was saying what until you got to know the characters. The second read helped a lot.

The narrative is sparse, yet includes so much detail. He makes your imagination work hard! Seeing the movie first would have ruined the aesthetic experience for me. Each chapter begins with a first-person narrative that reads almost like a journal entry, and is what the story is really about. It only took me about 2/3 of the way through the book to figure it out, though!

I’m very excited about seeing the movie — just bought the DVD. It’s bound to be as great as everyone says, considering it’s a Coen brothers film.

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