April 16, 2007
Of interest (to me) from Feb/Mar/Apr:

Went to Calgary for a conference (technically my second trip to Canada, but the first was only a few hours). Good conference and nice hanging out with people from work. I had no idea that Calgary was such a wild west kind of place with lots of cattle and cowboy culture. I figured all that was reserved for the southern US states. Had some good food (including steak and venison).

Started seriously working on some new songs with Jon. I got a Pro Tools MBox2 Pro device that certainly improves the whole recording process. I will say that the first few songs are quite nice. Wrote quite a lot of new lyrics (about a metaphorical plane trip, lips, a helpless heart, moving on and some other stuff... the idea is that the songs will tell some kind of story).

Thought about what I want to be in the future (when I grow up?) :). Thought about change. Thought about how lucky I am. Thought about family.

Knowingly went to my first BYOB restaurant. Not sure why I'd never tried that before - it's a good idea.

Got some cushions that match my kitchen walls (is that a bit too designer?)

Had the same bizarre conversation twice in a month (with different people, and I didn't start it either time).

Saw Badly Drawn Boy, The Changes, Minus Six, and Bishop Allen.

Still learning new things.

January 31, 2007
Wow. A long time since I put anything here. 2006 was an interesting year with it's good points and sad points, but overall it was good. :) Good points include the many interesting trips I went on, seeing family, getting a new job (challenging and fun), spending time with friends (always a good time), and many other things. A notable sad point was breaking up with April, but it was for the best and we're still good friends.

So far this year I've been to Fort Lauderdale for business (after just having spent a family Christmas in Florida) and Utah for skiing. I'm not entirely sure what I'll be doing the next few weeks, although I do know I have some Lean training schedule which is meant to be interesting.

I wonder if this journal makes any sense of if it's too disjointed with the huge gaps of time between posts?

I hope that 2007 is a great year for everyone who reads this (and lots of other people that don't read this) :)

October 10, 2005
Well hello there! I didn't expect to see you here... and you probably didn't expect me to write again as I have been oh so lax. But what's new? Well...

Since February quite a few things have happened actually, but I don't think I'll be able to remember them all. I do remember there was a fun bachelor party in Las Vegas and a wedding of Rosalind and Eric (and I have photos of both of these events to prove these claims!). There was also another fun bachelor party here in Chicago for Jeff, and a wedding of Meghann and Jeff in Galena. :)

Jeff and I have worked a few hours on the much anticipated Bagel album. Our goal really was to finish it by the end of October this year, but I don't see that happening. But if we could finish it before 2006 that would be good. We wrote the first song on the album a few years ago now...

I've also been out to San Diego a couple times (including seeing Anzo Borrego which was a very cool place to visit). Mostly April has been out here this year though owing to the weddings (plus she just loves Chicago) :) She will be out here again in November just after Thanksgiving to go to my 10 year high school reunion. I know what you're thinking -- there's no way that fine young man is old enough to be 10 years out of high school, but alas, it's true. In fact, I even have grey hairs nowadays. And I'm certainly a few pounds heavier (go look at the Brady Bunch artwork thing in the Graphic Section).

ttyl - Mark

February 20, 2005
Recently I've been to the Chicago Auto Show and the Keane concert at the Metro. Both events were fun. As you may have noticed, I don't really update this page with any frequency anymore. Why? Because nobody (well, not me anyway) really cares to read about what I've been doing :) And if you do care, then thats very nice of you and it is appreciated :)

2004 was a lot of fun. I went out to San Diego a few times which was cool. Also made it out to Las Vegas/Grand Canyon... probably best to just check the photo section if you want to know what happened in 2004.

bye for now

December 13, 2003
'Tis the season to be merry (unless you don't really care for Christmas or whatever holiday season you may celebrate). I'm looking forward to seeing the family in England for Christmas... that's always a lot of fun.

As far as what's been happening since last time, there's only a few things. There were two very nice Thanksgiving meals (one at Eric/Roz's place, and one at Todd's parent's place). Both were really nice and both were very enjoyable. You can see photos in the photo section.

Work has been really busy for me, and outside of work seems like it's been kinda' busy too. The result of which means I haven't really gotten enough sleep lately. But, to be fair, I've had the problem for at least a year.

Saw the Stereophonics on the 11th with two friends... we'd won some tickets from WXRT. It was a very good show (and free)! They played a semi-accoustic set and changed around a lot of their songs.

Currently my thoughts wander to many different areas. One minor area is further decorative improvements to my place... I'm thinking of painting a wall an orangy yellow, and wondering what would be good to hang on the wall in my bedroom.

Coming up: Christmas and New Years. Christmas will be in England again this year, and New Years will be in Chicago (with special guests from CA)! :)

November 20, 2003
Well well well... so the keys clatter and type yet again upon this blue page. (Okay, enough of that crap)

So, what's happened recently? Well, since last time we've had Halloween which was a blast. Got dressed up as an enhanced scarecrow (better hat, better straw, better brain) and went out on both Friday and Saturday. Friday night I went out with Jeff, Rachel and Val. Rachel and Val were definitely the best Things 1 & 2 in Wrigleyville. Saturday Jeff dressed up as a "rock star" and we went to a party in the 'burbs out west and saw lots more clever costumes.

There have been two concerts worth mentioning:
Travis - excellent Scottish rockers came to the Riviera and were enjoyed by me, Dino, Andrew, Jon, Rachel and Val. Their new stuff sounds better live than on the album in my opinion
Badly Drawn Boy - The man is back!! Val and I went and saw him on a cold and extremely windy Wednesday, but it was certainly worth the effort. He played over 2 hours and was fantastic! Absolutely brilliant!

I'd like to put a special thank you here to Gil because the Beer of the Month thing is excellent, and some more beer arrived today! How cool is that? Beer just arrives at my door!

Coming up: Thanksgiving.

October 20, 2003
So, a lot has happened since August, but I'm not going to go into a lot of detail about it :)

Gil and Eve got married in August which was a great time. The whole Donut crew was there and a lot of Eve and Gil's family and friends. The wedding took place on a private golf course north of San Francisco and the weather was brilliant. To top it off, Eve and Gil, and me (best man) and the maid of honour got to ride off in golf carts after the ceremony. Eve's brother did a great job performing the ceremony - he was funny and sincere. After that we danced the night away (yes, even I will dance at weddings..)

At the end of August a group of us went camping at Buckhorn in Wisconsin... the weather was great, the sites were great, the canoeing was great, and the company was great! Will even made it out from CA to come along!

In September another group of us went camping at Devil's Lake in Wisconsin... while the weather wasn't great, the food and the company was :) Congratulations go out to Rosalind and Eric who got engaged on this trip!

Also in September I turned 26. I don't really feel too much older, but I've been told by a guy at work that 25 is the best year of your life, so I guess it's down hill from here (and 25 was a great year, but so far 26 seems to be just as good). So I'm staying positive and thinking every year will be just as good.

The middle of October brought a trip to England to see Janet and Richard get married. I was excited to be my brother's best man. The wedding was held at Thornbury Castle (see the photo section for pics and more details). I then spent the rest of the week relaxing and traveling around England. I saw my new nephew Thomas as well (2 months old) which was great. Altogether a very fun week.

And that brings us pretty much up-to-date. As of today I've just about recovered from some serious jet-lag and from going back to work (it's hard after a week off) :)

What does the future hold? I don't know, but I'm hoping it'll be great for all of us! I'm guessing the near future will hold me finishing the new Harry Potter book... I'm sooo close now... :)

August 12, 2003
It's been almost a month since my last entry because I've been a bit busy, and haven't actually thought about changing this page until now.

Kimberly's wedding was really nice! One of the coolest parts (other than the actual marriage bit) was when they released a bunch of doves... I'd never seen that done for a wedding before and it looked great. Unfortunately for me I crashed my car on the way down whilst traveling at high speeds on the interstate (who left their bbq in the middle of the road???). Fortunately I was uninjured and my car didn't do all too bad.

After Kim's wedding came the Las Vegas Bachelor Party! Since Gil is getting married (this coming weekend), we felt it a perfect opportunity to go drink, gamble and see strippers in Vegas. We managed to stay up all night, order cheese fries at the Bellagio, and have breakfast before going to bed. It was a blast. My travel trouble for that weekend was having my flight canceled due to bad weather and missing a day of work.

Other recent events included the bachelor party of Keith (one of the stars of the Pianist movie) in Chicago (also a blast), and me having a bizarre dream about a box of evil.

Coming Up: Eve and Gil's wedding in San Francisco, the Labor Day weekend camping extravaganza, and my birthday in about a month.

July 17, 2003
Well, it's been a busy few weeks. Let's see... over July 4th Will and Dan were in town so there was a mini-donut reunion and some fireworks were seen, some food was eaten, and some drinking was done. The Mickey Finn's group joined in the festivities too and a jolly time was had by all. Unfortunately I missed Pete Yorn at the Taste which I would really have like to have seen, and I've heard was very good. We also went and saw Terminator 3 which is a lot fun... that's got to be one of the best car chases ever. To me it is what Matrix Reloaded should have been.

Work is kinda' insane with ludicrous amounts of stuff to do. At least it's better to be busy I guess, and it's fun for the most part.

On the concert calendar has been Placebo (a great show - best of the times I've seen them), Blur (excellent show - they're always worth seeing), and Blues Traveler (had a blast at Ravinia... wine and friends...)

And thanks to Mike who sent me a signed copy of a cool photo that he took :)

A Random Thought: I was thinking today it'd be nice if everyone could share absolutely everything that's on their minds... say exactly what they mean in all situations, and ask the questions they really want to... and then I thought that's probably not a great idea because some stuff just has to stay unsaid, otherwise the world would be bizarre and the suspense and fun would all be gone. I think the best we can do is have everyone be honest with what they do say.

Coming Up Soon: Kimberly's Wedding (in 2 weeks)

June 29, 2003
Today was one of those days where I just felt like smiling... I have no idea why because there was nothing particularly exceptional about today. But there you have it. I did go to the gardens though and the weather/gardens were beautiful.

June 26, 2003
This past weekend was Corrie and Todd's wedding (Congratulations!). It was a lovely wedding, and a really fun weekend. Met lots of nice new people (where's the email?) and generally got far too little sleep and drank maybe a little too much. I'll put photos up soon.

Earlier this week I took my Malibu in for an appointment to get some paint fixed. Last time I got a rental from the dealer it was another Malibu... same color and everything... but this time I got a Blazer. So I drive this thing around for 2 days and experience how the engineers managed to combine the side to side drifting boatiness of a 70s Cadillac with the awesome shock absorbing abilities of concrete. But that was all okay because it was getting me to work.. until it got a flat.

So last night I saw the tire looked a little low when I got home. Went out a couple hours later and it was sitting on the rim. So I thought that was pretty unlucky, but I've changed a flat before. Trouble was there was no spare in the car. So this morning I had to ride up with the tow truck to the dealer. Fortunately my car was ready by the time I got there and I got my lovely Malibu back.

June 17, 2003
So this weekend was Todd's bachelor party. I think a nice time was had by all. Soon another one will fall to the institution of marriage. :) But, they're a very good match, so it's all good.

Today was another long day at work where there was more to do than physically possible. Looking on the bright side, it's nice to be busy.

This evening I did ironing and managed to drop the iron on the floor one time, then almost a second time, but instead burned my thumb. I'm sure I used to have the ironing skill figured out. Old age I suppose.

June 12, 2003
For those of you playing along at home, you might be interested to know that I moved into my new place in Evanston and it all went quite smoothly. A big thanks to Mike and Dan who traveled to the area especially to help me move (or was it for family engagements?) Anyway, I'm all moved in and the place is very comfortable.

And on a particularly random note, tonight I went to the People's Market to do grocery shopping... they seem to have managed to suck all the fun out of shopping leaving just the dry organic husk. But, they do have some good English beers and the bananas are nice. So maybe I'll go back anyway. But next time I'll be prepared...