After the interviews, I came home (I-285 looked like a nightmare, so I decided to finish work from home) and spent the rest of the night catching up on work and emails.

2 August

A long day at work, although not as long as it was for others. I got paged several times in the early hours of the morning, and then was at work from nine until eight. John C, Simon and Andy were there at 8am, and sere still there at 11:30 when they contacted me to help them sort out some network issues.. Sheesh.

When I did leave, I came home, got changed, picked up John, and went to the Local for Trivia. A strong game was played only to be screwed up in the last rounds. Oh well. From there, John, Stacy and I went over to Nomenclature. Unfortunately I was paged, so I had to leave before G... I mean, before other people I wanted to see turned up. But I did catch up with Kitten and Kary and Michael and Patty (Brad's other half). Chason asked where Jenny was, so I told him (she went home to bed after Trivia)..

I also received a copy of The Opposite of Sex on DVD. Cool as fuck, eh?

3 August

Tonight John and I flew to Chicago. John was running a bit late, so Stacy picked us up and dropped us off at Hartsfield. The flight was on time (a first for Delta) and we got to O'Hare around nine o'clock.

From O'Hare we caught the blue line train to a station downtown and then switched on to the red line to Belmont. From the station at Belmont, we walked a block and half, crossed the road and were in front of Amy's apartment. We called up; she buzzed us in and all were happy.

Amy's flatmate was asleep, so we dropped off our stuff and went to get some food. We went across the road and got the best Philly Cheesteak I have ever had. Damn good. And from there we went back across the road to the pub underneath Amy's apartment for a few beers. I guess we headed back upstairs around twoish. Just for the record, Amy rocks.

4 August

I briefly met David (Amy's roommate) as he headed out the door to work. The rest of us kept sleeping.

At around elevenish we got up, had showers and had breakfast at a diner located a block and a half from Amy's apartment. After that we caught train to downtown Chicago.

It was a beautiful day in Chicago. The sun was shining, the air was warm, and the sky was clear. We walked up Michigan Ave, passing several famous buildings (well, I guess some of them were famous). I took a few photos of some prominent landmarks. Things were getting hot, so we picked up some drinks. I grabbed a Powerade, and discovered it to have the most ludicrous mouthpiece. It was not a normal opening and nor was it a nipple (and I'm all about the nipple). It was a wedge-shaped thing with a hole in the middle. You put your lips around the wedge shaped bit and turned the bottle to open it so the drink could flow. Definitely not as good as the nipple tops.

Our next stop was the Art Institute of Chicago, wherein we saw some very cool modern art work. I guess we spend a couple of hours there, and then headed off towards the lake. Lake Michigan. Big water. We took a slight detour through the park to see a rather large fountain and to buy an ice cream (mint chocolate chip) and another Powerade (this time with a normal opening). I took a picture of John and Amy and the fountain

Next stop was the lake itself. There were a few yachts out in the bay, but even more sitting moored. Too bad it was a Friday, eh?. We walked up along the lakeside and then back into the city. We passed a sign that illustrated why I can't live in Chicago, and then went to the Hancock Tower, not quite the tallest building in Chicago. We took the lift to the 98th floor, where we sat in comfort and had ourselves a drink. The view was very pleasant, and it was a nice place to chill out, if a little expensive. Then we caught the train back to Amy's.

Once back at Amy's, We played some cards and ordered a spinach a mushroom pizza - Chicago style. What is a Chicago-style pizza? It's layered, with the tomato paste on top. Very nice and very filling. We drank lots of beer as we waited for two more of Amy's friends to show up. They didn't show, and so we ended up going to Berlin, a club two blocks up the road. We all got really drunk on inexpensive but strong drinks ($3.50). We danced, we sang, we talked; it was fun! There was a good crowd, a mix of gay and straight. I think we went home around 2:30 or 3am.

5 August

We fell out of bed much later than we did yesterday. John and I had swapped couches - I think it was a case of sat down and passed out. We were all feeling pretty rough after last night's excesses, so we decided to grab a smoothie from the Planet Smoothie across the road from the apartment. It was raining when we went out, which was kinda sad after yesterday's beautiful weather. We all grabbed a Spaz (from Planet Smoothie - banana, strawberries, energy powder) and headed down the street to the Market Day on Halsted Ave.

Market Day was good but cold and wet. I got rather drenched. We met up with a couple of friends of Amy's and then later with a friend of John's who was running a booth. Deciding that the weather was just a little too unhappy, we headed back to the apartment, buying some food along the way. Once back at the apartment we played cards (Peasant), in which David also joined.

A little later on, we realised that we had consumed a lot of the party alcohol the night before, so David, John and I went to get more. At the liquor store of choice we found some Steinlager, so we grabbed a dozen of those, in addition to the two dozen Heineken bottles and the bottle of Jim Beam Judging by the state of the fridge, it was going to be a merry party.

A little while later, John and Amy's friend Tim arrived and we ordered food from the middle eastern place up the road. I got a pretty good shawarma. Yum yum yum. We (Tim and I) started drinking about 6ish. John started about 7ish. Later on in the evening, I noticed that after eight or so Steinlagers, Heineken tastes like soapy water. So I had a bunch of those and switched to the Worsteiner which I discovered at the back of the fridge, That was good. Then all that was left were the cans of Heineken. Once those were all done, it was time to switch to whisky, Eek. Between us, Tim and I drank pretty much half of the beer that was in the fridge.

Over the course of the night, I met a bunch of people, most of who's name I have forgotten. There was Anathea who was extremely cool - the first thing she asked was that since I was from NZ, did I know of Severed Heads (of course, I do - I have a number of their albums). There was Heather, who was doing a doctorate in combinatorial topology. There was Aleesa (I think) who missed out on getting Amy's room. There was Tristan who flatted with John and Amy at some point in the past. And there more who I apologise for not naming in person. But I must say that pretty much everybody I met was friendly.

I guess I crashed out about 3:30, 4ish.

6 August

Today started out as a beautiful day. We (Tim, John, Amy, I) went and got a smoothie (another Spaz) to ease the hang over and wandered down Clarke about four blocks to Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs. Then we wandered down to a cafe for breakfast (eggs benedict), and then it was back to the apartment.

At the apartment, we basically just blobbed out for a few hours, playing Peasant and generally just relaxing. The weather started to get bad again, and by the time John and I headed for the train our flight was already being delayed.

In the end, it was delayed over two hours. While waiting, we had some food, had a drink, I finished the Boris Vian novel I was reading and bought Experience, a memoir by Martin Amis. We got back to Atlanta about 1:15 (thank you to Sarah and Alice for picking us up), and I was in bed by 2am.

7 August

I can't talk. My throat is sore, my nose is running, and my voice is very croaky. So I'm not going to work today.

I collected the mail that I had missed over the weekend, which included lots of new, cool stuff. Like Pecker, Buffalo 66 and The Hudsucker Proxy.

I was sick all day, and didn't even go to the Das Ich show at Riviera, despite being told to go by Lauren and Thompson. Eh, being sick sucks. Oh well, I did watch my new movies though...

8 August

I went to work today, even though I wasn't feeling 100%. I had interviews to do, to find a person to be my technical support and network administrator. I think I have found someone appropriate.

After work I went to the pub for dinner and a couple of beers, but was called in to work to help fix a problem which should have been sorted days ago. Some elements at work just haven't been working out right. Such is life. After work I came home and updated these pages.

Hello to Stacy at home with her family in New Hampshire! Miss you!

9 August

Work was work and then it was time for Trivia at the Local. Tonight's team, Dying to Stay At The Clermont, consisted of myself and Myra, and then included Jenny, and finally John. We played an impressive first half, lying in second place. At the end of the second half, we were in third place. The final question was all ours (thanks to Myra), and we ended up in second place! Woohoo! Our best performance in many a moon. And $35 in bar tab to show for it. Rock on.

After the game, we all went over to Nomenclature for an hour or so. It was Scott and Kalina's anniversary (rock on, you guys!). So we mixed happiness and hellos with all sorts of people. And then Myra and I went back to MJQ for one of the best nights I've had there in a long time. I literally danced my ass off. Jodie was spinning one of the best nights he has ever done. Stephen and Shane were there, as was Andrea from the Local. I pretty much just danced and danced and danced. A workout that was sorely needed. Hehe. I got home sometime around 3:30, I think.

Another DVD arrival today: Cowboy Bebop.

10 August

Work was kind of sucky today. I had a lot to do, but then again, I got a fair bit done. I was tired after last night's extravaganza, but I did stay until 7pm to make sure everything I planned on getting done (well, most of it) did get done. Still, tomorrow will be busy.

I also picked up the photos of Karaoke and flooding and Chicago (well, the first batch), so I'll scan those this weekend and put them up for all to see. I stopped by the Local for a bite (barbecue sandwich and a hot dog) and a drink. Just as I was about to leave, Charlie showed up, so I stayed a bit longer. ANd then Tim arrived. And Daphne and Colleen. Eeek. It could have been a dangerous night, but I headed home at 10. Lauren had tried to get me to go out to the Chamber, but I declined.

11 August

Today was another busy day at work that seemed to accomplish some things. That's always a good thing.

After work I met Lauren at Waffle House for dinner and a game of Let's Pretend. That was a fun exercise. After this, I went home and attempted an install of Windows 2000 Pro on my system. Hmmm, some of my hardware is not happily supported, like my scanner and Direct-CD for my CD-R. There might be drivers for the latter somewhere. I did get my PPPoE up and running though, which was rather cool.

Just before eleven I cruised over to John's and from there to Lauren's to collect Miss Appel. We stopped in at Green's for supplies and then it was off to Grace's place. Tonight was a celebration of birthdays for the Leos in the scene. I had a pretty good time even though I wasn't drinking (two vodkas and a whisky over a five hour period does not count as drinking). It sucks to be on call. Anyway, I enjoyed John getting drunk and making quite blatant moves on a certain friend. Hehe. I also enjoyed watching a number of anime videos, and chatting with lots of people. Grace's house is really nice.

At about 4:30 I left, dropping a very intoxicated John off at his apartment. But when I got home there was a message from Lauren to say she had left her purse in my car. So I went back to the car and it wasn't there. So I called back to Grace's to let her know that her purse wasn't there and she found it behind the sofa in the lounge. Yep, Lauren was pretty hammered, too...

12 August

Hmmm, I slept in today (well, I didn't get to bed until five this morning). And it was good. Then I got up and played a bit with my new Win2K installation. It has potential, but I don't like the fact that I'm going to have to work out what does and doesn't work before I make it the prime OS on my PC. The fact that my scanner is not supported is a big bastard.

I also did a considerable amount of tidying of my apartment; my mail had been collecting on my coffee table, so I tidied all that up. I also emptied the drier of clothes from earlier in the week. And I scanned a bunch of photos.

In the evening, John and I went to party at Susan's. Based on the turn-out, it's likely that the Local had a very slow night.

13 August

I woke up this morning planning to either go in to work for a while or do some work from home. That didn't really happen (although I did check and respond to some work email before going to bed), Instead, I played CivII most of the day. Jenny came round in the afternoon and I beat her twice at Scrabble [D: J: and D:271 J:168]. Hehe, I rock.

And later John came over for the usual Sunday night television.

14 August

Yeah, and so I went to Tampa to today for work and I learned a lot and that was good.

Then tonight was Karaoke night. Daphne and Ryan were in fine form, as was Charlie, and Daphne was in fine form behind the bar, too. Andrea was camera shy, and John's comment about that picture is priceless: Could I look any more gay?. You rock, John.

15 August

After work I picked up John and we went to collect Stacy from the airport. John had to walk Linda's dogs, so I dropped him back at his car and Stacy and I headed up to the Local, where we were joined by Lauren. Turns out that Lauren is also expecting company: a guy named Clair, who turned out to be a fairly cool chap. John also showed up later, and following behind was Sarah and one of her friends. A good bunch, and we stayed rather late.

Among the entertainments of the evening was A-to-Z of hair bands (ie start at A, name one, the next person has to name all the previous ones and then add their letter), A-to-Z of forms of death, "If you were a...", and of course the Roxanne drinking game (when Sting says "Roxanne" the guys drink, when he says "put on the red light" the girls drink). For the record, here is the A-to-Z of rock bands:

AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Cinderella, Def Leppard, E, Faith No More, Gwar, Helloween, Icicle Works, Jackal, KROKUS, Led Zeppelin, Metallica, N, Onslaught, Poison, Queensryche, Ratt, Slayer, Tesla, Uriah Heap, Vixen, Whitesnake, X, Yngwie Malmsteen, Z.

Stacy had her camera, and so photo's were taken. Of Stacy, John and Rebecca (and Steve), Lauren and I, John, Stacy again, Lauren and Clair, Lauren.

16 August

Tired. After a good day's work, I met up with Lauren, John, Lea, Skippy Will, Jesse and Andie, and we saw the new John Waters film, Cecil B. Demented. This was a really fun movie, taking shots at Hollywood, censorship, and popular film in general.

After the movie, Lauren and I went to Sotto Sotto for dinner. This was (as it always is) a pleasant meal. Lauren had the Tuna steak and I had the Taglietelli ai Funghi. Yum yum yum. And then it was home to bed.

Stacy, Jenny and Kevin played trivia without us, got the 15 point question, but still didn't place. Just for the record, the only land mammal that can't jump is the rhinoceros.

17 August

Another long day at work, accomplishing many things, after which I went to the pub with Stacy. Tonight was a farewell party for Ryan, who is moving to Virginia. Myra came over as well (she was in the area as she was getting her hair done). I spent most of the night talking with Myra, having a good catch up, etc. She has now finished her Bachelors degree and has her graduation ceremony on Sunday, which I am going to.

Later, John and Shannon turned up. Also making appearances during the night were Andrea, Jody (from MJQ, who will be training up Andrea to spin at MJQ), Todd, Charlie, Jerry, etc etc etc.

Tonight was also Matt's first night back after being in New Zealand for ten days, visiting his brother who works for

18 August

Friday! I called Stacy this morning to make sure she got up to go to her first day at her new job. For me, work was very cool today. Some interesting new opportunities have came up, and which I will hopefully be following up on. We shall see. It also looks like I may be going to Philadelphia for a day or two to talk to new customers. Rock on.

After work I did a load of washing and headed up to the Local to meet up with Stacy and her (freshly divorced) friend Heather. We had a couple of beers (saying hello to the usual people - Daniel, Todd, Andrea) and then we went over to Atkins Park (another pub-style bar in Virginia Highland) for dinner. Steve was already there so he joined our conversation. The music selection was good (Violent Femmes followed by the Cure), but it was a little muffled. I enjoyed it. Charlie turned up just as we were about to leave, so we all headed back down to the Local.

Charlie had just found out that he got a kitchen managing job he had applied for, so he was in good spirits, so we did a couple of shots and had a generally merry time. Heather was getting tired (obviously not yet used to the single lifestyle yet - teehee) so she took off around 10:30ish

Around midnight, Lauren stopped by to pick me up (well, we had been IMing for some time, but I had missed her last message saying she was waiting for me), and we (Lauren and I) headed up to the Vault. Unfortunately there were not too many people out at the Vault, but it was still entertaining. Lea was there, as was Whitney and a couple of others from the scene. We drank, I danced, and then we left. Next stop: Waffle House with Lauren and Lea for food, Coke (or coffee for those so inclined), and a game of Let's Pretend. I think my head hit my pillow around 4:30.

19 August

Damn you Stacy! Waking me up at 9:30am is just not on!

Anyway, so I fell out of bed, had a shower, took some Aleve to counter any potential hangover, and went in to work. I had a few chores to do, and so I did some of those. I wasn't really in the mood to do too much, so I came home. I did some more testing of Windows 2000 Professional (at work and at home) to find out what does and doesn't work. It looks like I will have to buy a new scanner (no biggie at roughly $120) but everything else now seems to work. I'll also need to investigate getting new VPN software.

I should really do some grocery shopping at some stage. I am very much out of everything. My fridge is essentially bare.

Sarah's birthday party at Keri's. Much fun. Lotsa people. John and Lea appeared to be having a good time. They even disappeared for a while. Lauren was checked out by several of the women. Lauren, Shannon, Stacy, Jenny and I played ABC drugs and ABC 80's bands.

Lauren and Lea looking odd. Me and Lauren having a sit.

20 August

Heather came over for TV with Stacy, John and I. But she left before we started Scrabble. Maybe next time.

Stacy won the Scrabble [J: 116, S: 146, D:119].

21 August

Too tired to go out tonight. In bed by 9:30. Asleep around 10.

22 August

Bria's 22nd birthday

Worked from 8:30 until 7. Then after doing some chores I stopped up at the pub for a drink with Lauren and Clair. I left a little after 10 and went home to bed. Too much work going on.

I did order some stuff. A memory upgrade and a new Adaptec EZ-CDCreator. My version is not Win2K compatible, and well, that's the direction I'm going.

23 August

Worked 8am until 6:30pm. Then I shot home to get changed and then to the Greyhound Bus Station to pick up Melanie Boyd, a friend of ex-workmate Jason Garrett, who is doing a whirlwind tour of the US. I have gaciously allowed her to stay at my apartment while she is in Atlanta. After picking her up, we came home so she could get sorted out and then we're off to the Local for food, drink, and Trivia. I shudder to think what our team name is going to be...

Note that I will improve the details of the last few days in a little bit. I just have too much going on to be specific.

By the way, check out Lauren's journal. It is highly entertaining, and an insightful look into the workings of one of my best friends' mind.

Anyway, we got to the Local and there was a big mass of people: Kevin and Stacy had formed their own team, and the rest were Lauren, Clair, Myra, Jenny. John made a late appearance. Neither team placed. Oh well. Kevin was also meeting up with a girl he met in London, Terri. She was pretty cute and she hung out with us for the rest of the night. Stacy, Myra, Melanie, Kevin and Terri bounced over to MJQ for more fun. Home hit about 2am.

24 August

Jenn's 20th birthday.

Another long day of 8:30am to 7pm. An awesome storm hit Atlanta around the time I was leaving work. In fact, between 7pm and 8pm there were over 1100 lightning strikes in the Atlanta area, and between 8pm and 9pm there were over 1700! Pretty damn impressive.

The rain was coming down hard. So hard that visibility was reduced quite considerably. It was a slow drive home, but it was entertaining due to the aforementioned lightning. Once I got home though I had another conference call with NZ and then worked on more work stuff. I hit the sack around 10:30.

25 August

Today I worked less hours than the last couple of days, but the day was non-stop in any case. Emergency plans, conference calls, plan revisions. Ick. Ugly.

After work I had a bit of a rest, installed the newly arrived 128MB memory module in my PC, and then popped over to the Local to meet up with Stacy. John's date fell through (she was ill) so he joined us as well. I only had four or five beers and was home around 11:30pm. Slack really, but I was tired and on call.

I ordered a bunch of CDs today.

26 August

The work goes on...

Yep, I was at work again today. Simon was in as well. There's just too much happening at work at the moment. I was there from 10 until 4. Simon should have left not long after me. But we will both be back in tomorrow. This does, of course, suck, but such is life.

After pottering around the apartment for a bit, I wandered up to the pub for dinner and a bite to eat. Tonight I had a half rack of ribs, with sides of coleslaw and corn on the cob. Very tasty. Much of the evening was just spend in conversation with Steve and Dan as the Braves lost to the Cardinals at Turner Field. I headed home around 10:30ish to watch The Exorcist. Stacy and John called me around 1ish. They were rather drunk. I wish I could have gone camping with them. Oh well, maybe next time. Which, incidently, is what I said last time...

27 August

More hours at work. Woohoo. Today I was in from about 10:30 until 3pm. I had to leave one of the processing jobs going on the server I had just built. I guess I'll check in again later. Ho hum.

I should probably go out and get some Coke and Sprite before the crew turn up this evening. But right now I really can't be bothered.

So instead of shopping, I checked out some of the listmail that has been building up. On Siege today there were several links to odd and interesting places. Examples? Okay, check out BoobScan or Montreal's Penguin Cam.

Oh yeah, and if anyone out there know anything about a band called Blisscent, or Sing Sing (with Emma from Lush), could you let me know. I would like to check them out.

Anyway, Stacy has really fucked up her back. I told her not to go camping, but would she listen? Anyway, she didn't come over, but John (and his washing) did, and so did Lauren. We watched the usual TV, played some Scrabble [L: 130 D:176 J:158], and just lazed. John brought over the pepper steak from Friday night (it was good, Lea missed out big time).

28 August

Back to work after a work-filled weekend. Absolute madness. Too much going on. And then it was off to Georgia Power's Meter Test Lab to follow up on a meeting I had last week. This was interesting, reminding me a little of those days in the power lab at engineering school. Unfortunatly, it showed me how out of date with a number of power concepts I am. Sheesh. Will need to find time to catch up on a lot of stuff.

After that meeting I came home and spent the rest of the day writing up my notes and talking to NZ about the upgrades I worked on over the weekend. Still some issues outstanding, but hopefully all should be resolved.

29 August

Off to Nashville for a couple of days. Stayed at the Renaissance again. Nice place. Seventeenth floor this time. After work went to the Beer Cellar with John U, Sam Orr, and Sam's intern, Jennifer. After a couple of pitchers of Worsteiner we had dinner at an Irish pub/restaurant. This was very pleasant.

30 August

Another productive day in Nashville and then a flight home to Atlanta. I got to Trivia not long after nine. The team did good, but could not name the colours of the Olympic rings in order from left to right. Well, Myra worked it out but we didn't submit the answer. Oh well. It was another good turnout - Lauren, Clair, John, Stacy, Jenny, Myra, Kevin, Kevin's new bird. All good fun. After the game, John, Myra, Lauren, Kevin and I went over Nomenclature for a wee bit. Many faces were out tonight as it was Chason's last Wednesday in Atlanta before heading out to the Coast Guard.

Jenny left me with Power Puff Girl balloons. Woohoo!! Unfortunately, the helium has run out :-(.

31 August

I'm going to Poland. On Saturday. But first I have to go to Washington, DC, to get a visa from the Polish consulate. So that's what I'm doing tomorrow. I fly out to Poland on Saturday afternoon, which means I miss out on watching the England-France football match on Sunday afternoon with Myra at the Rose and Crown. Damn it. I will be getting back next Saturday. I have to, as next Saturday is the Apoptygma/VNV show.

Speaking of which, a bunch of CDs has arrived over the last couple of days while I was away: Apoptygma Berzerk, 7; Slowdive, Just For A Day; Velvet Acid Christ, Calling ov the Dead; Swervedriver, Raise; Jill Sobule, Pink Pearl.