Did the K Man do it or did the K Man do it?

The K man did it. He managed to make Mel Gibson look good. People are saying his career is over but I would argue that that ship sailed about May of '97.

Anyway, not too much happening here. It was good to be home for my first Thanksgiving in 3 years. Smallest group we've ever had at dinner I think with just five of us but everyone managed to stop in before the end of the night. I even held my own in the annual domino game. And the Lions didn't let us down. If they're not careful the NFL is going to pull them from the Thanksgiving schedule. The day after when all the crazies were out shopping, five of us went downtown Detroit for lunch, a ride on the mugger mover, and a watched a couple high school football games at Ford Field. It is shaping up nicely in downtown with pretty clean streets and actually several decent places to eat. It was nice to get down there again.

A little news on the job front. I had an interview yesterday at a small adviser (5 employees) the manages money for rich clients and runs a long/short healthcare specific hedge fund. Seems like an interesting concept. The principals have a background in healthcare so that's why they have the fund. The interview went very well and she said that I'll probably get a call for a second interview. She said they are bringing in a total of 7 people to interview and most of from business schools. So I guess it is my common sense against their book smarts and bloated vocabularies. Then if they actually offer it I'll have to decide if that's what I want or if I'm going to start my own adviser. There are pluses and minuses to both so we'll see how it plays out.

Adios. (Maybe I'll get more spanish sayings on here after I start classes in January.)

Peace!

It's a little blurry but the picture immediately above shows the wound I received yesterday to my left index finger. It was the first trip down the court and I was playing up top in the 2-3 zone defense. Their point guard tries to whip a pass down the middle of the lane between Will and I. I stick out my hand and this is what I get. The underside of my finger is purple from the middle knuckle to the tip and it is swollen to the point that I can't really bend it. There may be a little hairline fracture in there somewhere. But what is important is that we won the game.

The other picture is a particularly smoggy morning in Chicago a couple weeks ago.

Not much happening here on the job front. But I did have a good cultural week last week. On Thursday night I went to the Art Institute to see a special photography exhibit by some dude named Shulman. He takes black and white architecture photos. It was very cool. Lots of radical houses from 50's and 60's LA. Then on Friday I went to a architecture competition at the Chicago Architecture Foundation. It was sponsored by the History channel as part of their Monday series called Engineering an Empire. The filming is supposed to air on Jan 2nd at 9 PM. The name of the competition was called "The City of the Future: A Design and Engineering Challenge." They invited 8 local firms to design their idea of Chicago in 2106. I got there just in time for the start of the presentations. Each firm had 15 minutes to present their idea and models to the judges and public. There were some pretty crazy ideas. The one I liked best which had a space elevator and a 64 lane highway didn't finish in the top three. The same competition was held in NY and LA with the winner of each going on to a national competition. I was wearing a red sweater so look for me walking around in the background.

Heading home for Thanksgiving tomorrow. Nothing like a Lions loss followed by some binge eating of turkey and stuffing. Make sure you travel safe this week and give thanks for how good we all have it.

Borat for President!!

My weekend started by taking advantage of the government holdiday on Friday. Lee, Emad, Dragan, and I tried out a newly opened south loop restaurant (which was over-priced and under-sized) then headed out for a matinee. For the bargain matinee price of $8 we saw Borat. This movie was disturbingly hilarious. I had trouble breathing at one point. I had trouble watching at another. The movie is so over the PC edge it is unbelievable. One scene is just so wrong I had to shield my eyes. I would highly recommend it to anyone.

Yesterday was the big Sears Tower stair climb. 103 floors and 2109 steps. I've been training in my building for about a month and my goal was to finish under 25 minutes. My time two years ago was about 26 1/2 minutes. Well I started a little faster than I wanted to because in the first few floors several "ladies" refused to move to the right to allow faster climbers past so I had to kind of sprint around them which took a little extra out of me. I got back on track but I forgot to start my watch at the starting line so I wasn't exactly sure how I was doing. By the 75th floor my hands were so sweaty I could barely pull on the rail anymore. I got a little cramp in my stomach around 80 or so but pushed on to the finish. Lee and I arrived together at the top (which means he beat me by 7 seconds) where I felt a little like I was going to puke but managed to keep the pukeless streak alive. I was fully recovered in less than 5 minutes but the real question was when or if my brother Matt was going to finish. I started worrying after 3 fighter fighters (including a chick) in full gear complete with air tank finished and he still wasn't there. It had been about 45 minutes from the start time. But alas at about the 48 minute mark the afro clad liberal emerge from the stair well red-faced and sweaty. He claims he got dizzy at about 65 and stopped for 10 minutes. Oh yeah, Lee kept time on his watch and we finished just over 24 minutes so MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

Two hours after the climb I was on the court playing in my rec hoops game. I felt good, played about 20 minutes, and scored a season high 4 points. After lying around all afternoon I made a big dinner and dessert for me and the bro. It was a very productive day. And today, I'm not sore at all. I guess I'm in decent shape.

I don't know if there are any My Chemical Romance fans out there but I love the new album. They are playing at the Aragon Brawlroom on Lawrence on Dec 15th. Anyone interested in coming with?