singley.org > blog archives > Delinquent 11.25.2002

Delinquent

I have no great excuses for the lack of updates in the space. I've been reminded, harassed and even smacked a few times about my delinquency, but one thing or another has kept me away from the weblog for the past few months. Yikes, has it been that long? So now, as much as people love to hear Dan's thoughts on the American landscape, it's time to replace the most recent post with some fresh stuff.

It would be impossible to completely summarize the last three months, but I'll give you the short-attention-span version:

1. At the end of August, BrassRing laid off me and nearly everyone else in the Chicago office. Goodbye, BR. I'll miss the people, the view from the office and the Aeron chairs.

2. I moved from my summer sublet in Evanston to a great apartment back in Chicago on September 1st. Moving went much, much better this time (we hired some serious muscle at high prices. It was worth every penny.). The neighborhood is fun, the apartment is fantastic, and the new roommates are great Cats (hi, Geeta and Elizabeth!).

3. I spent the next few weeks moving in and building my vision for my bedroom. Many trips to IKEA were involved, but it was worth it. Three large picture frames, two lamps, one piece of furniture, a new bed and bedding and four coats of deep red paint later (as in the color of this web site), the bedroom is cozy and mostly done.

4. I went to Africa. More specifically, I visited Alex in South Africa and we spent nearly three weeks driving across country from Johannesburg to Cape Town, stopping for pony trekking in Lesotho, bungee jumping on the Garden Route, elephant watching in the Karoo and wine tasting in the Cape. It was an amazing, intense, exhilarating, educational and completely satisfying vacation.

5. I went to Florida with Alison for 4 days of wonderful fun in the sun and a further delay of my unemployment. Being jobless is great!

6. Reality starts to sink in around mid-October. Job prospects are bleak, but some soul searching and reflecting on another continent helped me feel better about where I am and where (hopefully) I am going. Then, BrassRing calls. They hire me as a contractor for a four week or so gig. I'm not doing cartwheels about rejoining the company that laid me off, but I am happy to have both an income and something that keeps me from watching five episodes of MASH a day.

And this brings us mostly up to speed. Whew.