The NBA Finals are an excuse for Tara and me to have a party, and we do.  We pick a night during the playoffs and have a big blow out.  Each year, it seems, it gets bigger.   This year the Lakers are my team.  They swept right past the Nuggets, which was great, thanks to Kobe and Gasol.  They are working like they have played together for years, not just months.  But you could see the synergy of these two right from the first game.  It was great!  I am sorry that we didn't get him here in Chicago, but you can't have everything.  And I'm not sure it would have worked, given the Bull's team character.  Kobe and Gasol seem to be a great fit.   Kobe is still younger, too, so this could go on awhile.  So the party is coming up soon, and it looks like we are going to have close to one hundred people.  The neighbors are invited, and many are coming, so it will be cool.  Thankfully.  The one thing we don't need is neighbors who are upset.  Mr. Callahan is coming too, with his girlfriend.  Mr. Callahan is 95 years old, and a big NBA fan.  He is in my diabetes support group, and is training to run the Chicago and Boston Marathons.  He is running five to six minute miles consistently.  I can barely drive my car that fast.  He also lifts weights every other day, and cycles. 

Lincoln Park Chicago neighborhood guide

. I heard it didn’t sell that well and that I understand since Lincoln Park isn’t exactly an urban jungle with many twists and turns to its streets. Still, it’s a really nice piece of work and I think that they got some of the blame for its not selling well. But what could they have done differently? They don’t handle the marketing aspects of their work. They’re not the ones getting it into bookstores so that people who would actually want it would see it and buy it. There’s only so much they can do. Still, my friends keep getting work and they do quite well for themselves. In fact, they do much better than most of the graphic artists and copywriters and commercial painters I know who work for agencies or companies. I’d love to be able to freelance myself, but I just don’t have the contacts.

machine aluminum

shelves to hold even more random junk. When I first moved back home after college, my dad told me that I could live in the basement if I wanted to make it nice. He figured the value of the house would improve with a finished basement, so he agreed to bankroll it as long as I did the work. It is a pretty big basement, and I think I did a great job with it if I say so myself. I tiled the floors, put in ceiling tiles and painted all of the walls. I bought a carpet to put down under where I put the wrap around couch and the television and also one for under where I put my bed. There was still a big open space on one side of the “L” shaped basement, so I bought an old ping pong table at a garage sale, and put that down there too. It turned out so nice that I wish I had it while I was growing up.

So I seriously need to reconsider my life. All throughout college I had this grand plan for my life. Not only did I overestimate my capabilities I also overestimated the ethics and morals of the job market I was hoping to enter. I screwed up a lot in my lifetime, mainly in college and the following few years. I guess that it is typical for a recent college grad to screw up, but I feel as if I may have screwed up more than the next person. I enjoyed my party life a little too much. I wasn’t ready to give it up after college, so I moved to Chicago. I received a dead end job as a copyrighter and basically spent all my money (including my rent) on booze and drugs. Not only did the job hurt my career it hurt my credit score too. I finally pulled myself together and accepted a position at a SEO company, mainly working on sponsored links. I eventually got my act together, but the time in between college and my first real position is all a blur and a pain in the butt to pay back for. It was a learning experience to say the least.

The work on the basement remodel is humming right along.  With all the planning we did, it’s become more and more evident how much time and effort and did I mention money, is going into this project.  But, the planning stage is just about done.  The architect we found is very good and we think he will take good care of.  He has a grasp of what we want our basement to look like.  We love the floor plan he came up with especially since he is removing those walls that made us feel closed in and stifled.  The extra windows were added into the plan just in case we need a backup escape route.  Even though it is an open floor plan, we are going to have different areas designated to cover all our basic, fun needs.  We can’t wait for our laundry room to be completed and it will be tucked away from the main areas where the kids where the kids will be bringing hanging out with their friends.  I am looking for to having my own special space, just for me to set up my home office away from the traffic with the privacy I need.