so apparently today is the coldest day of the year so far... with a high of 3 degrees. glad me and sugar B scheduled a couple of client visits downtown chicago this morning. it was pleasant walking the streets of river north on the coldest day of the year.

I had a feeling this was gonna happen: Pixar Says 'So Long' to Disney. good for pixar...

spent the day in wisconsin... for work. visited a couple clients i've worked with for a long time but never met face to face. the martian impressed me the most b/c i always thought he was this blue collar supervisor guy for an industrial B2B conglomerate. turns out he's totally tech savvy. he demo'd his new HP tablet PC -- way cool. and we talked about micro$oft's strategy w/the xbox this year and '05. i honestly wasn't expecting that from this guy... color me impressed but he went way up in my book.

awesome salad fer lunch at water st brewing company. brew not so good. what i like about milwaukee is that it's so easy & cheap to get around. garage parking for 2hrs cost us $4 (chicago $17). meter parking for 45min cost $.35 (chicago $.75). 2 mile drive thru midtown milw during lunch hr 5min (chicago 20-30min). you get the idea. i'm not saying milw is better than chicago. i'm just saying that it's easier and cheaper to get around. and i never disliked living there.

long drive back in shitty traffic. burning the night gaming brood war past my bedtime. have a 7:45AM departure for a chicago river north client meeting in the morning. with any luck i'll manage 3hrs of sleep.

email i rec'd:
hello you i was looking at your website and i love all you shirts and i want to buy them, could it be posible for me to buy them? well write back to me phenobarbidollxx@aol.com thank you

-gina

so i've watched most of the FF7:AC trailers i could find... the leaked, techtv, jump fest, etc. and all i wanna know is how 2yrs after the end of FF7 the story became a gothic opera? truth be told, i've never been crazy about the life-like FF characters/games. i like my FF more on the cutesy, animated side of things... like FF7. but in the upcoming (highly anticipated?) sequel, our beloved spikey haired cloud strife and his nemesis sephiroth both look like fetish night out @Exit Chicago.

at the end of the jumpfest trailer it suggests that aeris is somehow resurrected. that and all the gloomy visuals is a goth opera in the making. wtf? FF7 was cheery upbeat (besides the obvious death scene and maybe when vincent rises from the coffin) so why the dark turn for the sequel? i wish i could say that i will reserve judgment until i see it but...


np: asa chang & junray - "Jun Ray Song Chang"

today is predictably as i expected...


np: supercar - "highvision"

just returned from the hockey game w/my folks. QC mallards lost in overtime. ah well. i've decided that i won't be going to anymore sporting events. not b/c i dislike sports; i detest the fans. and the use of every arena rock song whenever play is stopped. ugh.

i've also determined that i could never live in my hometown again. everything about this place irritates me. i look forward to getting some sleep tonight in the sleepy bed. besides visiting w/the 'rents it's the best thing about being home. /out

it's been snowing all day. phixed says only 3 inches accumulation. doesn't mean the roads won't suck. spinning some old cure thx to spice. been years since i've heard these records. so old school but fun.

...like strawberries and cream/it's the only way to be...

phixed sent this over today: The Sect of Homokaasu - The Gematriculator. haven't had the time to peruse but it looks interesting, eh? takara makes more than just microman... i could probably use a device like this and be a rock star in my dreams.

i dunno why i just thought of this now but i have to find that viggo mortensen album for akemi. if someone has it handy, up it to the STK. i look out the window and all i see is white. i'm looking forward to a quiet evening workin' the last starcraft mission and capping more Rei Anayami evangelion weirdness tonight.

np: the cure - a night like this

the Nintendo DS sounds interesting but for whatever reason i've just never gotten into handhelds. never even owned a gameboy.

black thursdays seem to be the norm anymore @the office... now i'm referring to them as "sad thursdays".

i'm finally chopping thru my evangelion boxset after persistent talks w/Raydeen to do so... apparently there's something i'm missing here by having not watched but half the eps so far. so my interest is piqued and i'm curious to see the remainder of the series. killed the 3rd disc last night; hope to finish a couple more tonight.

i'm thinking of having my portrait done with stevie nicks. good idea? bad idea?

focus group was a booming success last night. after they finally got started my 1on1 was only 30min. $110 for 30min. i can deal. and my interviewer was totally hot... not hot as in dropdead, looks that kill - but cute hot. she was a mirror image of traylor howard - and i've always had a crush on that girl (ever since "boston common"). it was almost hard to concentrate. finally did the dvd exchange @spiceworld afterwards. nabbed f-zero! and the daft punk anime flick is waaaaaay cool. must get.

i'm done w/kansas. had a pseudo-conversation w/her this morning thru a 3rd party. we're not compatible.

just launched a paid campaign for my latest client nyc apartments and received this msg from sally: "Just wanted to let you know that I successfully passed my driving test today." - celebrate good times, come on!

linux for gamecube? holy batcow.

Yahoo! This is your celebration

FINAL FANTASY XII looks wicked cool... but i'm still wondering which platform will get this in '05? PS2 seems logical but with Xbox gearing up their v2 console will the PS3 be close behind?

ok, it's officially cold in chicago. more noticeable having just returned from los angeles. i'm no longer keen on moving to the LA area but they still get a + in the weather column. i'm off to the dentist to get a new crown. yippee. no dental insurance. yippee x2.

12:45pm
boy that was a fun way to spend $800! can't wait to go back for the finishing touches feb 3. did i mention the no dental insurance part? so tonite i have a research thing - not a group - but an 1on1 interview. haven't had one of those b4 but after hearing my overture rep's story about his 1on1 then getting flown to detroit to visit GM and paid $1000 - all for his opinion on sports cars; i have my hopes up.

no, no i don't. i drive a nissan altima. i finished my groovy homework project for the interview and expect to get high marks on it. i'm heading to the spice lair afterwards.

besides the lingering numbness the worst part of getting a crown is the smell of the drilling as it bores out my tooth. it smells like burnt flesh.

back from cali and two NFL championship games later, i'm tired. i'm indifferent. i miss hangin' with addie akemi. i have to work tomorrow. comments are fixed. l8.

so right now i'm sitting in addie's apt and she's showing me photos of her with the cast of Kill Bill v1 in preproduction. yes, i am blown away.

is there a new interface here at blogger or is this b/c i'm at overture.com on a training machine? yes, i am here at overture HQ getting some hands on paid search training by the best in the business. some of the stuff is good info; other stuff is redundant. i'm tired. i'm hungover. i need a nap.

this morning i finished watched the most fucked up movie i've seen in a while. better capsules at amazon. kind of a love it or hate it movie. i only know a few ppl that would dig it. i did... but it's disturbing as all hell.

i fly to cali in a few hours. haven't even finished packing yet. i'm apprehensive about the whole thing.

yesterday was haze... mainly from not having enough sleep and staying awake to watch both divisional playoff games. i'm still sick about the packers loss/eagles win. i don't like either team but i hate the eagles more than any other NFL team. i think another reason for being in such a sunday funk is knowing the monday morning is less than a day away... and i no longer enjoy mondays as i have in the past. and today is no exception... i would love nothing more than walk out and call it a day. a career. whatever.

yes, i am watching the latest average joe series as well as the surreal life (both on tonight; the latter a rerun). someone has to. and, no, i'm not proud.

if i was loaded like a rock star or professional athlete or a-list hollywood actor i would waste my money here. thanks to raydeen i'm watching looney tunes tonight and closin' off the world. (an aside: raydeen recently asked who phixed was and likewise phixed asked who raydeen was. that's good stuff right there)

fer stayin' up all night (til 6AM) and not startin' the motor until around 2PM today, it was pretty darn good day. sorted all the snailmail from the past month, cleaned up a whole mess of files on my PC (del over 30GB!), watched both amazing playoff games tonight, and figured out a solution to a problem i've had for 5 months! and only left the stead once to grab a gyro for dinner. did a bunch more misc things inbetween all that... overall a productive day. now it's time to be unproductive and cheatup some starcraft. yay.

fridays should never suck as bad as this one has... 'nuff said.

Man with No Name

oh wow i almost missed this story: The New Cubicle Commandos@wired. a few of my friends should have no problem relating to this... and at least 1 or 2 share my disdain toward the direction boutique toys are going.

that said, i was actually thinking about coming up w/my own line of cool designer toys. i have the concept worked out just need the fabrication details. now that i think of it, i have 2 ideas... one just came to me. hmm, i need to get on it. that and my new search engine concept.

speakin' ov designer toys, do i get this KUSA trooper or this one? my panzer cop needs a friend...

watched Fistful of Dollars last night/this morning (from Leone's The Man with No Name Trilogy ... it's nearly a note-for-note ape of Yojimbo. still a great flick but lacking that umph after watching Yojimbo a few times. however, Eastwood does indeed rock as does Ennio's soundtrack natch. totally recommended viewing.

it's official: zoocube has been passed on to phixed. godspeed.

did you know they made godzilla beanie babies?! (and Ghidorah! and Mothra!) neither did i. how did i miss these? oh right. i hate beanie babies. bloody 'ell tho! i guess they were done in conjunction w/the release of GMK (check the review i posted below 12/30).

Joe Gibbs back w/the redskins? say it ain't so. dammit, i keep forgetting to bring in my mug warmer i got @the co.xmas party. started watching (nothing cannot be stolen by) Mouse last night... cute, unoriginal anime series w/fan service a plenty (that link will give you a pretty good indication). just the kind i like. ^_~

spice has been a roll over at punch+it+up ever since the holidays... check it out if you haven't recently. and he pre-ordered his FF:CC. i need to get on that. speakin' ov, wtf is up w/the crazy S&H over @Toyzz.com? my cost was $22 and shipping was $11.45 - MORE THAN HALF MY COST. kick in the groovy 40% off coupon they sent out today and my cost was 13 bucks (+s&h)! their shipping charges are like the jagbags on ebay that inflate s&h to offset their low prices. it's so very annoying. /rant

anyways, at least i finally got that joanna dark 12" figure... i love bargain shopping for cheap, cool toys. sadly they sold out of the Thundarr i-men figures by the time i checked out. btw, don't buy their hype on the kaiju plush dolls (king ghidorah this time around --soldout even)... $30 is the asking price on several sites. 10 bucks less and i'd pick one up for my niece.

I just saw that explosion is offering Microman MasterForce for pre-order... @$7 a pop which is pretty good. last year's microforce s1 went for $6 but i think these have quite a bit more in the way of accessories. btw, these are being imported from Japan via Diamond -- last year's s1 figures sold out. i think i'll order 2 sets. just wait 'til you see the Acroyear Masterforce figures!

i rec'd the most cryptic txt msg yet from pAT last night at 11PM... all it said was, "Hell is Amtrak!"

happy new tears 2004! wow, the blogger server is actually runnin' on all pipes for a change... wasnt able to view it from home for a few days. that wasn't cool.

ok, here's the goodies waiting for me after that extended time away from the biz digs:

DVDs:
Blues Harp (Takashi Miike)
Party 7 (Katsuhito Ishii)
Gojoe (Sogo Ishii)
Mouse (anime)

Magazines:
Figure King (Dec 03 w/toy premium)
Hyper Hobby (Dec 03 w/toy premium)
Dengeki Hobby (Dec 03 w/toy premium)
Toy King 013
Toy King 004

Toys:
1/6 Stray Dog Kerberos Panzer Cop

nice haul. since i was either out or entertaining during the entire holiday (everyday, 4 days straight) i haven't had much of a chance to check out any of my new things. however, i did unwrap the Panzer Cop and he's the sweetest 12" figure i have (ok, maybe tied w/the creature). and my version has the light-up eyes which is totally boss. btw, i'm done w/zoocube (givin' it to flounder); i'm now hacking thru starcraft. so old school.