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Hello time traveler. You've found the REALLY old stuff.
Use the links below to navigate around, and
have fun browsing! So I'm prepping for the big return, I think Laura will like her surprise. We took a "love test" from a book my grandfather gave us. The results determined that Laura didn't need gifts to feel loved. At that moment, I quietly acknowledged that Laura had beaten the test. So I got her a small token, we'll see if it doesn't draw tears or outrage, like the first round of Christmas gifts I got her last year. On a completely different note, if you are interested in real estate at all, there is a cool new website out called Zillow.com. Supposedly, it's rapidly gaining popularity on the web. See what your neighbor's house is worth!
Adam has a new blog, you should check it out. Another night, another Stouffer's. No complaints here. We talked about food at work today, and I don't think I have eating habits that compare with anyone else. The simple thing is, I don't eat much, and when I do, it's usually from my own food pyramid of sodium, sweets and preservatives. Oh no, American Idol is on, and the idol puppets are forced to sing a song together. See you guys in the next Pepsi commercial. If they refuse, Rupert Murdoch has the legal right to taser them on sight. "Dance Idol, Dance!" I found a CD containing photos that my younger brother, Peter, sent me a while ago. It has pictures from his visit to Chicago last February in '05. This picture was taken before Oreo was, uh, de-balled and was humping everything in sight -- starting with our feet. Seeing these pictures had a weird way of bringing back memories of our old apartment, and how much colder it was last winter than this one!
And, of course, I'm posting the obligatory picture of my old fish tank. I tore it down last May when I thought we were moving out of town. It's a lot better than my current tank, but it cost considerably more money to stock. My dad bought me this pair of gobies, their names were Gary and Ace. They were both devoured alive by an emerald crab shortly after this picture was taken.
If these pictures look 100% better than usual, it's because Peter took them, he is a very skilled photographer. You can check out his site, which is different from his blog, here. Oh yeah, and Pete just made an anouncement a couple weeks ago. Since the news is out in his blog, http://peterandkatie.blogspot.com/, we might as well share it here. My kid brother is having a baby! That means I'm an uncle, hoo ah! I just tried IMing Tim and got this:
Somethings pleasantly never change.
As my delicious Stouffer's Swedish Meatballs microwave dinner cooks, I'm left to ponder "What is a career?" Who came up with the idea of a career? What exactly do I do for a living? Can Stouffers legally call this a "meatball"?
Usually when I don't understand a situation I boil it down to its simplest terms. In this case, I think about the collective skills I have gathered in my "career" within the context of survival. To put it bluntly, an online media buyer has the same chance of survival on a deserted island as a figure skater, garbage collector, librarian or a washcloth tester. I'm not sure if it's even fair to make it that broad. I mean, we live in the modern age right? Is the global economy so confusing with all it's interchanging parts that I can't determine with some degree of certainty where my paycheck comes from, or how I contribute? ...Stouffers Swedish Meatballs continue to cook, pop. When I sharpen the context to fit within the confines of city-living, moral relativism and the information age, then you can start to see the outline of what I do to make money --where I begin to have value, where I am able to "produce." Have you ever been on the Internet? I spend money on Internet advertising as if it were shares of stock which may produce value beyond the principle investment. Basically, I place bids on online "inventory," which is media-speak for a portion of an audience. Yes, YOU are the inventory when you surf the web. I try to make sure I pay the lowest possible price to reach people, with the highest possible guarantee of success. Because the industry in which I work is composed of a largely transparent marketplace (inventory goes to the highest bidder, regardless of charm, wit, or shrewdness), the companies that succeed are the most skillful at arbitrage. In the best case scenario, a person in my situation would be able to predict a massive movement of people (called "traffic") to a certain Internet destination at a certain time, and place a bet on it. This would be like buying stock in Apple before the Ipod came out. Or in my case, on a smaller scale, placing cheap bids on Weather.com before a blizzard hits New York. I'm not sure I've gotten anywhere near my original question."Information arbitrage" is about as close as I got, and I apologize for bringing you this far. And now let's take an intermission and view what the microwave has delivered:
I'm almost certain that is what the gates of hell look like. Oh well, I ate it. What were we talking about again? It looks like my attempt to resolve my issues with the modern day relevance of online media buying, turned out about as well as dinner. I'll tell you this, Swedish meatballs is one of the best meals my mother cooks -- I think she adds white wine to the cream sauce which makes it a little sour to balance out the sweetness of the cream, delicious! I definitely miss Laura's cooking, she makes quite a few tastey dishes (parmesan chicken, chili, cheeseburgers, stir-fry, cakes, cookies et. al.). Oh well, Stouffer's will have to do for tonight, and tomorrow. While I'm watching tonight's repeat episode of Lost, I'm going to drop the "RSS" link at the top of the page, and give you all a link to a *new* Artemenko.org Hall of Fame!
Greetings from bachelor pad alpha. That's right, I've been solo since Saturday morning, and I get 7 full days to fend for myself while Laura is visiting her parents in Tampa, Florida. My first observation is that I've started about 5 million micro-projects around the apartment to keep myself busy. Cleaning the closets, starting our 2005 tax return, doing laundry, going to the grocery store... all things that I normally do with Laura. I'm now realizing that Laura plays a large role in the completion of these tasks. None of this was helped by the fact that Chicago has experienced sub-zero temperatures since Saturday. I'll tell you this, -4 degrees farenheit has a funny way of making 31 degrees feel like John Candy in Summer Rental. Oreo was brave about it, we went on a long walk this morning to pick up some of his special treats, and of course, visit the fish store. I picked up a device called a "nano protein skimmer," which you can read more about by clicking on the picture below:
I've also updated a few pics of the aquarium to show it in action. Yes, I push the envelope when it comes to miniature saltwater aquariums. Outside of that cubic foot of perfectly mixed saltwater, I've protected myself in an anti-social womb of hobbies and Internet surfing. This is what happens to me when Laura is gone! This time will be good for me. I have tomorrow off for Presidents Day, and then it's back to work. By that time, work will keep me busy enough until she comes back on Saturday, the 26th. I gotta hand it to her, she strategically avoided the coldest days of 2006. She deserves the time off in Florida. Last weekend we tried to go up to the lakehouse in Wisonsin. First we realized we forgot the camera (in opinion, why go anywhere if I can't post in on Artemenko.org?). Then we realized we forgot the keys to get in. When we called ahead to our friend Diane who lives near the lakehouse, she told us the hot water was not turned on. We managed to get inside and sleep in the gigantic king size bed that overlooks the lake. I "slept in" until 8am, when Laura woke me up and told me that we should leave to escape the snow storm, else we would never get our rental car up the icy driveway that leads up to the lake. So our romantic getaway was over 10 hours after it started. Then, on Valentines today I tried to mend things by ordering Flowers from 1-800 Flowers for Laura. The following events happened in the order below: 1) Flowers and chocolates ordered February 13. And now she's gone, it might not be a bad idea to arrange some sort of surprise for her when she gets back. Whoa, where am I? This post is going nowhere, time to snap it back into line. Last night I went to the Chicago Auto Show with Mike, a buddy form work. Here are some highlights:
That last picture is Mike hanging out in the Dodge "Mega Cab." We had a good time checking out the cars, sitting in them, and drinking beer. Here is a happier picture of Mike in his favorite section, the European super trucks!
After the auto show , I headed to Butch McGuires, a bar about 2 blocks from my house to end the night with some spicy buffalo wings. I ended up talking to a couple in their 40s who had just moved to Peoria Illinois from Tampa Florida, and they had taken a limo into the city to have a night of fun. It was interesting to hear their perspective on things, and I listened with smeared buffalo sauce around my mouth. Before it was time to disappear into the cold night, I snapped this shot of a banner hanging from the ceiling of the bar -- I thought it was pretty cool:
"I expect to pass
Happy Valentines day. Adam accused me of letting the website "die" because I neglected to write a weekend update. I'm happy to announce that Adam got a job today, and he no longer has to visit Artemenko.org 5 times a day. Seriously, great job Adam, you are brilliant and you deserve a good job. In equally brilliant news, Laura sent me an email with a link to the following site, with only these words "All I can say is 'Please!"
Here is a direct link to the site if you want to go. Ugh, these are the things that qualify as high-priority in my life. Did I also mention that our latest package from Amazon.com arrived today. There's a Steve Winwood CD and Mannequin on DVD in there. Yes, God made two of us.
Tonight we took a departure from reality and visited the Chicago Symphony. Nonetheless, these two fish hopped out of water and were able to survive the entire 60 minute aural delight without batting an eye or looking at our watches.
The event was planned by the Chicago Symphony to appeal to younger working people, which is why it began at 6:30 pm sharp, with free beer afterward! The beer could be found in the ballroom upstairs. Also found was our neighbor, who lives two doors down from our apartment. I help her with things like setting up her DVD player so she can watch The West Wing and retreiving voicemails from her new cell phone. She is the woman on the left, with the look of utter shock that her handy man made it to the symphony after party.
Tonight I registered with St. Baldricks's Foundation. In a nutshell, it means I will be shaving my head at an Irish pub in downtown Chicago, in support of children's cancer research.
Most people sponsor marathon runners. This is your chance to make a tax-deductable donation to a balding 25-year-old. Seriously, it's a great cause and I am excited to celebrate it on March 10. Please visit the donation site here: http://www.stbaldricks.org/ShaveePhoto.asp?SolNumber=15328770
Below is an email I received from my grandfather, it shows a brief history of his life. I think it provides a nice perspective.
MARRIAGE AND FAMILY 1. My age is approaching 81. 2. I was born and grew up in a Midwestern town, Appleton, Wisconsin, of about 30,000 people. My father was a grocer and mother was a retired nurse. I had two brothers and one sister. Our family was active in the Congregational Church. We worked hard together, raised all kinds of pets, and had a garden. We took family vacations by driving our car all over the country. Mother planned and dad drove. We were a happy family with many laughs along the way. We participated in music, ranging from piano to oboe. We were given an allowance of 15 cents per week, one third of which was for church, one third for school supplies, and one third for fun – movies or candy. We were expected to read books, study and do well in school. I lived with my family through high school and joined the U.S. Marines immediately upon graduation. 3. The Marines sent me for training in electronics to Purdue University, where I later graduated with a B.S.E.E. degree. Following that I attended the University of Indiana and received an M.B.A. 4. I went to work after graduate school and was married a year later to a Wisconsin girl I had met after my Marine discharge. It was love at first sight. We were 23 and 21 when we married. We have lived in Cleveland, Ohio, Detroit, Michigan, and finally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We have now been married for 58 years, and are in a retire community in Naples, Florida. 5. We have a son, born two years after we were married, who attended Michigan University and Stanford. Our second child, a daughter, attended Northwestern University. Both are happily married and each has three children. We have wonderful times together. 6. With my electrical and management training, I worked in sales and marketing for two companies in the electrical industry. For 15 years I was with the Square D Company. I started in field sales and rose to Sales Manager. I then joined the Allen Bradley Company, where I worked for 25 years, becoming International Vice president and then President of the Sales Division. This was followed by my creation of my own consulting company, concentrating on the electrical industry for 10 years. I am now retired. 7. Being a senior in America is not as easy as I had anticipated. Health issues are important. In our case my wife was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis about 5 years after we were married. This has had an obvious impact on our lives. However, in spite of the fact that she has had the disease for almost 55 years and uses a wheelchair full time, her spirits are excellent and we have managed to cope with this disability. In fact, people marvel at her bright smile and outgoing manner. But let’s talk about the society in which we now live. Much of it saddens me. First, the materialism and shallow moral climate are very disturbing. Traditional rights and wrongs have been replaced by a “feel good” atmosphere of relativism. Sex is exploited in our movies, TV, and other entertainment and this has an adverse effect, particularly on our young people. Marriage is no longer a “till death us do part” tradition, with half of all marriages ending in divorce, within and outside the church. People want instant gratification and results. No longer is a solid work ethic admired and no longer do people think in terms of saving for the things they buy or even for their retirement. Borrow and buy with the plastic card is the motto. 8. I have never felt age discrimination although we admittedly live in a youth culture, which glorifies the young, handsome, and affluent. I have also been bothered by the fact that many of the principles on which I was raised are now often considered obsolete or even “quaint”. 9. My relationship with my wife has deepened over the years. In many ways we have become more dependent and caring for each other. At the same time we have many more and deepening relationships and memories which strengthen us. The same is true of our children and grandchildren, even though we are separated by many miles. We stay in weekly contact with one another and gather together as often as we can. In this regard e-mail has been a blessing, an easy way to maintain regular contact. 10. Mortality is more on my mind as I age. This is particularly true since we reside in a retirement community where the average age is advanced and several people die around us every month. But my thinking about mortality and death is woven into my Christian faith so it is not a troublesome thing. Rather, I look forward to an afterlife that will shed many of the physical and emotional problems that may plague us today, and I anticipate a joyful and meaningful state of existence with my loved ones and God.
I'm up suspiciously early again on Saturday. I found a picture/song combination that reminds me of my friend Tim. Tim has an intensity for life that was best described by his mother around Christmas this last year: "he is a house on fire." 5 years ago, Tim was a much larger house. I was aghast when Tim came back from Australia 70 lbs lighter than when he left. My teenage mascot for fun and misadventure had deflated into a decidedly serious, upstanding character. Lucky for Tim, we catalogued his earlier days with plenty of pictures. One of my favorite pictures is from 2000, when Tim, Adam and myself crashed a 40-somethings party at the public beach pavillion. When I say "we," I mean Adam and I did our best to blend in with the crowd, while Tim paved a way to the dance floor.
There is so much to point out in this picture... The hired photographer taking a picture, the family members on the far right watching with forced smiles, Tim's thunderous calve muscles. But the best part by far is this lady:
Bwha??! At the start of this post I promised a song and a picture. The soundtrack to accompany my fond memories of a fuller Tim is "Moola" by Jody Birch. When I asked Tim earlier this week if he had the file on hand he had this to say: "Moola Moola by Jordy Birch is a seminal work in the catalog of late 90's Canadian pop. just be thankful you never saw the video. it would change you."
Nothing much to post here. Just the general maintenence of the monthly switch over. No new episode of Lost tonight, so I should really catch up on my part-time volunteer work for the Chicago Interactive Marketing Association (CIMA). It is a pretty cool organization for interactive marketers in Chicago. If you work for a web site or an advertising agency, it's a smart group to join. Currently, my responsibilities are pretty limited. All I do is help them post jobs here.
Again, not much new is happening -- this might be a good time for you to catch up on Artemenko.org!
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