Well, Aaron came through for me and sent me all of the pics he and Justin took while we were at Chicago. I went ahead and picked what I thought were the best of the best, and uploaded them into my online gallery. They’re not exactly in order; they’re Aaron’s and Justin’s pics from Chicago first, followed by my cell phone pics, and ending with the Fight Night pics at Midway.
If you want to go ahead and take a look, you can see Chicago pic gallery here.
My friend Lindsey pointed this out to me a few minutes ago…
I think my brain broke after watching that. :-/
Well, I must say… the trip to Chicago was definitely worth it. :-) I had a great time, and it was good to see Justin, Aaron, and all of the Midway folks again.
I arrived at Chicago’s O’Hare airport at somewhere around 6:45 PM. The flight wasn’t too bad, and it was a good chance to test movie playing on my cell phone. I watched the entire Mortal Kombat movie, and to my surprise it only used about 12% of the battery to do so. Once I arrived at O’Hare, I got my suitcase from baggage claim, and then waited for about 45 minutes or so for Justin to arrive. (Aaron had been in town for a while.) We got on the L from there, and made our way to a stop a few blocks from our hotel (with an abortive train switchover due to a line connection tunnel being closed). We ended up walking to our hotel, checking in, and waiting for Aaron (who had stepped out for a few minutes). Once Aaron arrived (while we were watching some weirdass Superman/Matrix crossover Justin picked up… don’t ask), we made our way downstairs and headed out to a pizza place called Giordano’s for dinner. I swear, they had the best stuffed pizza I’ve ever had. :-) Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel and spent quite a bit of time poring over the questions for Fight Night and trying to get the best one selected. We then headed to bed relatively late.
The next morning, I got up early enough to get some breakfast in the hotel lobby, and also did some work for work. Once Justin and Aaron woke up, we decided to tour around the city a little. Our first stop happened to be the Hancock Tower, where we went up to the lounge on the 96th floor. (Those of you who know me well know how much I HATE elevators, so you can imagine my needing to recover after that express elevator ride.) We should have gotten a couple of drinks, but either way, it was worth it just for the view…
I’ll likely have more pictures available later on my online gallery.
Anyway, from there we made our way to the ground level of the Hancock Tower, and ate at the Cheesecake Factory there. From there, we made our way south down Michigan Avenue, where we wandered into the huge Apple Store, into Water Tower Place, through another mall area looking for a Fannie May (which didn’t have the maple fudge Mom wanted), and into the Millennium Plaza. It was getting lateish for us by that point, so we made our way back to the hotel with a stop in the Virgin Megastore.
Once at the hotel, we got our gear together and grabbed a taxi for the trip to Midway. Once there, we waited for a bit in the waiting room, but then we soon got to go back and meet all of the guys, get set up… and then wait for about an hour and a half because we got set up in record time. :-/ Once the event itself started, though, everything went great… well, aside from MKBot crashing, but it’s like I said there: it wouldn’t be Fight Night without an MKBot crash. :-) Afterwards, we said our goodbyes to everyone, and then caught a taxi back to the hotel. Once back, we checked reactions to the event, and then decided to go out for some drinks. We ended up at a bar, where Justin managed to get involved in a philosophical debate between the bartender and a couple of the regulars. :-) Once we were done there we were going to hit another place… but after ten minutes there we decided just to go back to the hotel. Once there, Aaron and I munched on leftover pizza while Justin continued to watch site members’ reactions to Fight Night. I finally got tired and headed on off to bed.
The next morning, I once again got up early enough to have breakfast; interestingly enough Justin was already down there. I went back upstairs and packed, and then Justin and I checked out and made our way back to the airport, after having said our goodbyes to Aaron (who was still sleeping and didn’t need to leave until much later). My flight left an hour before Justin’s, so we sat and talked politics and the like at my gate while we waited for my flight to board. As for the flight itself, I ended up dozing off for the first part of it, and then playing some Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance on my GBA later on.
So, all in all, it was a great trip. Chicago is a lovely city; I may have been born there but I don’t have many memories of it. Still, in the two times I’ve been there in the past year and a half, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it and can’t wait to go back. The Midway guys were also very hospitable and generous, and it was a pleasure seeing them again. Now I just have to wait for the next Fight Night before my next Chicago trip, I guess… :-)
I’ll post about my Chicago trip a bit later, as I want to devote a bit more time to it than I really have right now. Heh. Anyway…
Yes, it’s my birthday. I don’t really feel too much older… and I definitely don’t feel like I’m 33 years old. Can’t deny the truth, though… oh, well. On the bright side, at least I’m still carded for liquor. :-)
I have to admit, my trip to Chicago and getting to visit the Midway Games studios was a big present to myself. I’ve been playing Midway-created or licensed games as far back as 1979 when I was a huge fan of Space Invaders (originally created by Taito but released in the States by Midway), so it was really a big treat for me to be able to walk around the studios and see where the games were made. I’ll go into more detail in the Chicago trip post, but all in all I REALLY enjoyed my trip out there.
Anyway, this morning, I got up, and opened my presents from my Mom and Dad. I got Matrix Revolutions, Batman Begins, and V for Vendetta on DVD, and a Logitech Harmony Advanced Universal Remote for Xbox 360. (Before you ask, I’m actually ordering an Xbox 360 later today.) In addition, they got me Midway Arcade Treasures 3 and Blitz: The League for Xbox. Unfortunately, both of those will need to be exchanged. :-/ While I was in Chicago I had picked up a copy of Midway Arcade Treasures 3 for GameCube (forgetting it was on my birthday list), and Blitz: The League isn’t backwards-compatible yet. They’ll get me the 360 version of Blitz: The League, and something else in place of MAT3.
All in all, it’s been a good birthday so far. :-) I’m thankful for everything I’ve gotten, and it’s more or less been a nice and quiet day. Hopefully it just continues like this…
Ah, well. For now, though, I need to get back to work…
I’ll do a real post at some point… heh. For now, enjoy the meme. :-)
| What American accent do you have?
Your Result: The Midland
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“You have a Midland accent” is just another way of saying “you don’t have an accent.” You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio. | |
| The West |
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| Boston |
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| North Central |
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| The Inland North |
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| The South |
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| Philadelphia |
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| The Northeast |
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| What American accent do you have? | |
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You fit in with: Agnosticism Your ideals mostly resemble those of an Agnostic. You are fairly ambivalent towards any religion or spiritual connection. You lead a very busy life and find that religion and spirituality are unnecessary to your life. 0% scientific. |
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| Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com |
1. What’s the scariest movie you’ve ever seen?
I would have to say either A Nightmare on Elm Street or Buio Omega.
2. What was your favorite Halloween Costume from childhood?
Dad made this really neat cardboard Rubik’s Cube costume for me one year. :-)
3. If you had an unlimited budget, what would your Fantasy Costume be for this Halloween?
Hmmm… that’s a tough one. I would probably say Raiden from Mortal Kombat Conquest, or Agent Smith from The Matrix.
4. When was the last time you went Trick or Treating?
Way back in elementary school.
5. What’s your favorite Halloween Candy?
For the most part, if you name it I’ll like it. :-)
6. Tell us about a scary nightmare you had.
Imagine entering a high school, where it appears a school carnival is happening. You get in line for one amusement… and as you watch, the people ahead of you step in front of a school locker all laughing and having a good time… then, still laughing, they pull on the locker door which is still jammed shut. They pull, and pull… and they finally get the door open…
… at which point a huge vacuum-like force sucks all of them inside in less than a second, and the door slams shut.
Then the next group steps forward, doing the same thing, with the same results… and try as I might, I try to get out of line, but I get forced in front of the locker door…
No, I don’t remember what happened next.
7. What is your Supernatural Fear?
The Cthulhu-type supernatural gods in the shadows… those horrors of insanity which Must Not Be.
8. What is your Creepy-Crawly Fear?
Bugs. Especially flying bugs.
9. Tell us about a time when you saw a ghost, or heard something go bump in the night.
One time when I was a kid, I went to bed after having an argument with Dad. He had tucked me in, we argued about something, and as I turned and went to sleep he turned the light out and wished me good night. After a bit, I turned, and saw a shadowy figure standing there. I screamed…
Turned out when Dad said good night and turned out the light, he didn’t leave the room after all and wanted to give me a scare. Thanks, Dad.
10. Would you ever stay in a real Haunted House overnight?
Depends on how much you’re paying me.
11. Are you a traditionalist (just a face) Jack O’Lantern Carver, or do you get really creative with your pumpkins?
If I carved them, I’d likely be a traditionalist.
12. How much do you decorate your home for Halloween?
Mom sometimes puts a couple of wind sock ghosts out and spiders with cobwebs. As for me, I just put a movie on and/or have spooky music playing.
13. What do you want on your Tombstone?
Pepperoni and extra cheese. (Sorry, bad joke.)
While at the party yesterday, I managed to impress a number of people when I showed that I could post to the site blog via email (at the time, using my Cingular 8125 cell phone), and also via the fact that posts on my site immediately crosspost over onto my LiveJournal. They were asking what plugins I used, and rather than contact them individually I decided to post what they were here. :-)
While those three plugins aren’t essential for the site, they definitely make my life easier (as well as make it easier for my LJ friends). I highly recommend giving them a try, if you think they might be useful for you. :-)
Well, I suppose I should apologize for the size of the pic of Henry in the previous post. That post (and this post, for that matter) was posted via email using a WordPress plugin called Postie, and I had forgotten to configure it to resize attached images. Ah, well…
Right now I’m at Baker St. Pub, having a Shiner and waiting on the dinner we ordered. We actually went out to Sam’s to see if they had a leather blazer in my size. My old blazer had been ripped badly in an accident last year, and I wanted to replace it. Unfortunately, neither Sam’s nor Costco had them in. Ah, well… There’s always other stores.
Last night was pretty fun; like the previous post said, I went to a “hillbilly Haloween” party Becky and Brian were throwing. Although, it was depressing how easy it was to make my costume. I wore blue jeans, a white undershirt, and a baseball cap Dad let me borrow. Then, as a bit of inspiration, I removed the sleeves from my blue denim jacket (which were attached via zippers), and wore that too. At the end of the night, I had to also feel depressed about the fact that despite our costumes and joking, reality was likely worse. It also felt weird being the only single one there, other than Henry. Still, it was a lot of fun, and it was great being able to see everyone again.
Anyway, looks like the food’s coming, so I’ll wrap this up now. More later, perhaps…
I’ll have a full post about this later, but for now… Here’s proof my friend Henry has no shame…..
