a lovely burbank-family moment: tonight maria, clayton, chloe (the pup) and i walked to the in-n-out and on the way back i decided to get a bubble tea. maria had never had one but she had been craving a smoothie or the like so she got one too. maria loved it and clayton liked it except for the tapioca. they kept passing it back and forth as we walked home until maria caught clayton spitting the bubbles back into the straw.

mom and i drove into burbank last night at about 7. so far this place is pretty awesome. elaboration + photos to come! photos posted here!

this week has been CRAZY. i’ve been all over northern illinois with my family and i’ve only been able to check my email THREE TIMES. THREE. if you know me, you know this is insanity. generally i’ll check my email three times in – seriously – 15 minutes. i’ve got this stuff to finish up for fb and i’ve only had time to work on it once. luckily i knocked out a good portion in one swipe, but still. i’m feeling the compu-withdrawal with a side of no-internet shakes.

or am i? because wednesday i went up to durand with a whole branch of my family on my mom’s side and went to my first tractor pull, and. it. was. fantastic. if it hadn’t been so g.d. hot i could’ve stayed there for hours. the efficiency of this event was crazy:

1. tractor hauls sled with giant weight (23 ton block of cement and who knows what else that automatically advances up the angled bed of the sled to increase resistance) to the starting end of the track
2. simultaneously the bobcat zips out from the finishing end of the track and scrapes and grades any dirt that’s been kicked up by the last competing tractor’s spinning wheels
3. tractor hauling a giant roller flattens the whole track by driving from the track’s finishing end to starting end and back at a speed that seems pretty dangerous when you’re sitting on the ground about 20 feet away from the whole thing
4. competing tractor hitches up and hauling tractor releases
5. as soon as the tractor with the roller is part-way back to the finishing end of the track, the competing tractor starts his pull
6. the dude sitting on the sled by the weight monitors the speed at which the weight travels up the sled (faster or slower depending on the tractor’s class) while the guy with the flags watches for the point when the tractor is no longer pulling, but spinning its wheels
7. tractor loses traction (or astoundingly makes it to the end of the track effortlessly), flag guy waves the flags and unhitches the tractor while the hauling tractor re-hitches and the guy on the sled releases the weight and radios the distance pulled to the officials.
8. see step 1: tractor hauls the sled back to the start as the weight settles down at the end of the sled on what looks like springs for a semi’s suspension

all of this happens in just a few minutes. there’s probably only about a minute between when one tractor stops pulling and the next one starts.

this tractor pull was for antiques, so i got to see a lot of tractors from the 1930s and 1940s. i saw farmers competing with tractors that their fathers and grandfathers had probably used for past pulls. i saw these young farmers totally getting their asses handed to them by these old overweight farmers leaning back to add their weight to the tractor’s torque – guys who knew what they were doing and weren’t shy about showing those young guys a thing or two. i saw farmers crying out, coaxing their tractors to go a little further: “come on baby! give me one more gear!”

photos will be posted in coming weeks are posted, including one of this guy in a john deere (the only john deere i saw pull [we’re a john deere family]) that made it all the way to the end of the track.

summer is here, and i find myself more in love with chicago than ever. today i walked to tipsycake to get a lamington and the weather was perfect. humboldt park is peaceful today after the fervor of last week’s puerto rico festival: i saw birds and squirrels running in yards, people visiting on porches, cars driving by trailing happy summertime music. the flower store on the corner is in full bloom and i noticed some neat graffiti on the alley side of the building; i’ll have to try to get a photo of it later.

i’ve been so busy with moving, medical stuff and work, that i haven’t really had a chance to say goodbye to the city or my friends. there are things i still haven’t done in chicago: i’ve never been to millenium park, i haven’t done the architecture walking tour, i haven’t gone boating on the lake. in a week i’ll be halfway through my last day of work. in a week i’ll be living on cecile’s couch and i’ll only be a few days from living at home in the quad cities for a month. next week will be the last ‘the hump’ i’ll be able to go to (wed. @ lbc, 7-10) and cecile has planned a dim sum lunch for next sunday. hopefully i’ll be able to go caving once more in july and i’ll get to the ms&i for the csi exhibit. in the meantime, there are a lot of loose ends to tie up and i’m sure there are plenty of things that have completely slipped my mind.

my parents, mark and i loaded the moving truck yesterday. click the photo and rollover it on the following page to see notes.

and after next wednesday i’ll have no bed; it’s a blow-up camping mattress for me. after next wednesday i’ll have only the camping mattress, my grandma’s tv, some clothes and a couple dishes. ah, moving.

update 2: going-away bbq confirmed for july 21 at josh’s place. more details as they come. going-away bbq details on evite. if i’ve forgotten your email address and you aren’t on there you can email me and i’ll add you or you can rsvp to josh directly.

update: cecile sent me this ecard and i almost cried.

yes. you read that correctly. my last post’s freak-out? due to finding out i couldn’t get my lease extended for another month. meaning i have to be out of my apartment in just over a month. meaning my plan to have time to have an apartment sale and stay longer at work and avoid buying multiple plane tickets and back and forth from california to the quad cities…that plan is scrapped. anyway, so yes. i’m moving to california. let’s go over the usual questions.

why are you moving to LA?

i had been contemplating moving to LA back in february. i decided against it due to insufficient funds and the high cost of living in los angeles. then, a few weeks ago, out of nowhere, one of my best friends from high school told me she got a major promotion and she and her husband were moving from st. louis to LA. then she asked me to come and live with her.

this is when most people get weirded out. i would be weirded out too. i’ve known of situations where a single person lives with a married couple and i’ve thought it was incredibly bizarre. but, when i thought about living with maria and clayton, i felt no weirdness at all. only a sense of things falling into place. even so, i told maria i’d have to think about it. i waited a week to be sure and then told maria i was in.

no really, why are you going?

i have been trying to leave chicago for awhile – trying to see life outside of illinois for the first time ever. first it was london, then san francisco, but neither move happened. work is slowing up – many projects are coming to an end but there is nothing really on the horizon. a lot of my friends have or are getting ready to move to the coasts. etc. living with maria and clayton would mean a nicer place for all of us and a built in support system (have you guys met maria?). i already own an emissions-compliant car. moving to LA means 24/7 nerdery with pat, and actually being around to fulfill my duties as meghan’s maid of honor. also, i don’t know if you’ve noticed but chicago, while gorgeous in summer, is like hoth in winter.

during the week it took me to decide, in my heart i knew moving to LA was an opportunity i couldn’t pass up, and if i did i would hate myself later. but all i could think about were my friends, how close chicago is to home, where i work and how…well, comfortable i am here. but ultimately that’s why i have to go. i’m too comfortable. i’m complacent. i’m not growing as a person and i’m starting to take that disappointment out on the people around me. not cool.

no, i mean WHY LA? i thought you hated that place.

i liked it the last few times i’ve been there. the movie theaters! the getty! the winters without sub-zero temperatures!

what do your parents think of this? what about your awesome job?

my parents and grandma were enthusiastic, and while my friends were sad they were supportive.

yesterday i told dawn and antonio, and while i was dreading doing so, they were both very supportive too. if you know someone that you think would be interested in taking over my job, let me know.

when are you moving?

this is not certain. i have to be out of my apartment by the end of june, but maria has not been given her official start date yet. no start date = no move date = no plane reservations. most likely i will spend a good deal of july at home with my family. i am leaving chicago on july 1 or 2 and will be staying with my parents for that month. i will be back in chicago for my going-away bbq on july 21 and probably for other things too. i move to california the first week of august.

so did you get a job out there?

no. flying blind. i’ll probably freelance for awhile, although i’m hoping to get involved in alternative comic books or maybe a bakery or something.

did you meet a guy?

you obviously don’t know me very well if you think i’d move across the country for some dude i just met.

are you excited?

if not being able to sleep at night equals excitement, then…i guess? mostly i’m filled with anxiety about logistical concerns. hopefully things will be better once maria gets her start date and we can make real plans. maria got her start date; i’m still filled with anxiety about logistical concerns.

are you scared?

actually, no. i feel this is the right thing to do and while actually making the decision was excruciating, now that the decision has been made i just want to get on with implementing it. now if we could just get that start date.

is there some kind of going-away party?

as per the original now scrapped plan, there was going to will be one on july 21. see top of page for details. i am not sure whether this will still happen or if anything will happen; it all depends on how the timing works out.

can i come visit you?

yes, please! i’ll have plenty of extra space for guests and also a pool.

other questions? leave them in the comments and i’ll answer them here for all to see.

just when i think things are falling into place – working out – going so well…the rug gets pulled out from under me and i have to reevaluate. throw out the plan and start over. sigh. but i guess that’s the point, right?