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The Eagle Has Landed

Resting comfortably now in our concierge-level luxury hotel room in Beverly Hills. Got it cheap and my God the comfort. Out our window is a country club of some kind. Enjoyed the balcony for a bit. G is completely beat and is resting.

Tomorrow morning we unload the truck. Then we are finished!

What a long and crazy and memorable trip. Last night in Vegas was great. Our good friend Joe was chef at Charlie Palmer Steak at Mandalay Bay in Vegas, and the luxurious meal he prepared for us was magnificent. So delicious -- beautiful composed salads, the most wondrous ribeye I have ever beheld, a veal porterhouse that was an absolute knockout, and beautiful seared foie gras on candied peaches.... I mean he just flattened us. Many of the extra plates were freebies. Joe is so great and talented, and the people in the restaurants I've been in practically genuflect and cross themselves when speaking of him. After dinner we met Mike Lockhart, the chef at Metrazur in New York, who pampered us extremely on G's 30th birthday last year. Had a couple of drinks while Joe recounted his amusing tales of the building of the casino and thye opening of 4 restaurants on the property for whom he served as regional executive chef.

And then my eyes were rolling back in my head from the enormous meal & Spanish wine, so we headed back to our considerably less luxurious but certainly adequate Amerisuites. Hit the road around noon and barrelled our way across Nevada and California, finally rolling into town around 5:30.

And here we are. The most memorable part of the trip for me was the hair-raising, pants-poopingly scary descent from the Rockies into Utah, followed closely by the passage through Utah itself; every turn in the road brought new jaw-dropping vistas into view. Then Vegas, which is not generally my cup of tea, nor G's, but we had some laughs and a great time with Joe.

OK for now. It's a beautiful day in LA, temps in the 70's. Tomorrow ithe final hump, then it's unpacking and bubble-wrapping for the next few days. I'll touch base with a lot of you tomorrow after the load-out. Love from LA!

Dateline Denver

We arrived in Denver at about 7:30, and as noted in my last audio post pulled into a Super 8 on the outskirts of town. My God the stench of either cheap perfume, lousy air freshener, bug spray or some combination thereof. Immediately placed a call to the luxurious Loews Denver Hotel where we are comfortably ensconced and enjoying high-speed internet access. Boris awaits a special vet-approved room service meal to help his upset tummy. He seemed very excited about the menu. Unfortunately he will not be able to tip the guy, lacking both a wallet and opposable thumbs, so that will be up to us. Now it's off to the Wynkoop Brewpub and some well-deserved steak and beer.

10:00 AM, House of Blues Hotel, Chicago

As you might imagine if you listened to last night's rambling, drunken post, the sun was an unwelcome visitor to the Blues Boris Suite here at the House of Blues. Delicious dinner at Frontera Grill followed by an awesome evening with almost all of our best friends -- leading to a quality, though n ot debilitating, hangover this morning. A large-ish breakfast is in the offing, then a few items in the truck's cooler and we are, finally, leaving town.

It is almost finished.

The actual moving about of boxes and furniture is almost completed. We have a few items like a bookshelf, table or two that friends are purhcasing. We threw out a ton of stuff. Almost literally. All day long in the pouring rain this garbage-picking lady and her son were loading crap into her bike-trailer and hauling it away down the street. She didn't look like a poor person or homeless person. And yet here she was, with her son, literally emptying our giant trash cans which included copious quantities of dog poop in plastic bags, some opened, some not. One man's trash is another man's treasure, and one man's treasure is a used spatula with dog poop on it.

It's 8:00 now. We are waiting for a return trip from our friends Michael and Jimbo -- then two other parties who are claiming some furniture odds and ends. Somewhere in there we have to get something to eat.

What an exhausting week. Every day immersed in enormous saths of bubble wrap. Last night, the abyss beckoned: it became clear that not everything would fit on the truck. Massive scrambling to devise plan B proved unnecessary when our excellent hired hands managed to fit everything but one IKEA bookcase. Secured with two Kryptonite locks, a one inch thick steel cable, and a steel-plated Master lock, the Budget rental truck is parked nearby awaiting to massage my buttocks with its undulations all the way to LA.

Tomorrow we do some final tidying up, squeeze a couple of last items on the truck, and head off to stay at the House of Blues Hotel in the Loop for our last night in Chicago.

Jimbo and Butz just arrived . . . and now to unload some furniture.

Oi.

The horrors of packing up for a move across the country cannot be exaggerated. We were up until 3:30 this morning packing tuff and throwing out a lot more. Up at 7:30 to get breakfast and the rental truck, which will probably be a little too small for all our stuff. Oh well, UPS will get some of our business. Wisely hired two guys to load the truck and two more to unload once we reach LA. They are currently sweating it out right now as I type. More later as the situation develops.

Packing, packing, packing.

It's been pretty much non-stop. Yesterday, had breakfast McDonald's, then came home and spent a few hours planning our itinerary west. Three days of 500-mile drives followed by a 260 mile trip to Vegas where we'll spend the better part of a day and night and hopefully meet a friend; then from there it's just another few hours to LA. We are staying in a Beverly Hills hotel the night of the 30th that caters to dogs -- they even have dog room service which we will of course have Boris order up. Beverly Hills Boris we shall be.

After booking our hotels and mapping our route through Iowa, Colorado, Utah and Nevada, I began the extremely long and horrid process of disassembling my massive workstation/desk, packing the computers in bubble wrap and peanuts, etc. etc. By around 10:30 last night I was smelling like a wildebeest. Showered and watched a good John Ford flick (Rio Grande) and hit the hay around 1:30. Up around 9:00 this morning, breakfasted at the cafe down the street and now it's a few moving arrangements to make and then the dreaded dissassembly of the home theater.

Well, yesterday was just an incredible day. Or days depending on how you look at it.

Friday night I watched a Powell & Pressburger film, Stairway to Heaven, as it was released here, although the original title which appears in the credits is A Matter of Life and Death. Kinda surprised that AFI asked us ti watch this hard-to-find flick over other, more well-known picture such as The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp or Black Narcissus. The flick I saw was very enjoyable, clever, but a little lightweight.

Spent the rest of a late night cleaning some dishes for our yard sale. G came home around 2 am after a night out with her friends. We hit the hay around 2:30 and at about 2:40 my friend Jimbo called to let me know our good friend Michael Butz's baby was on the way -- a slightly alarming 5 weeks early. Jimbo, his fiancee Venus and I headed down to the hospital, brought Michael and his wife Gabi some food, a video camera, etc. We kept Michael company for a while and helped calm him down.

The hours passed by. Jimbo and I napped a little on the floor of the waiting room. G and some other friends came by later in the morning. Then at 11:02 -- exactly the time I had predicted in our pool -- little Micro Butz was born. That;s not his official name -- that's not been decided yet. He is very very small but healthy -- he was having some breathing problems for a little bit but he has stabilized. Because he is premature he will be in the ICU for a few days. We visited him today. Mama and Papa are doing great, and the little guy is soooo teeny tiny, only 5 1/4 pounds. So soft and fragile-seeming. It must be killing them not to be able to hold him much. They say he will be out soon though. Altogether a wonderful thing and even though it meant the baby came early we were so glad to be able to be here for our friends.

Of course, this meant our yard sale was completely kaput. Ditto our farewell get-together at the local pub as everyone we knew was pretty much exhausted. But, for the best, surely.

Got back to the house yesterday around 3 pm and slept, slept, slept. I was thoroughly exhausted. G and I got up around 7, went to the pub for supper, and were briefly joined by 2 friends. Went to sleep around 1:30 last night, up for breakfast at Wishbone today and then off to visit the Butz family at the hospital to wish Michael a happy Father's Day. All are well, The baby is getting stronger and we're so happy for them.

We now return to our regularly scheduled packing of all out stuff.

This is my last day on the Geek Squad in Chicago.

Last night was a late night with friends playing our very last round of Links on the Xbox after an exhausting day of running around, packing stuff, cleaning out closets and cupboards etc. A great time and lots of laughs as always.

Slept very late today as a result. Had some eggs at a corrner diner, picked up some prescriptions and some printer paper at the Walgreens, then got my car totally spiffed up at the car wash and dropped it at the body shop where it will get a bumper repair and await its next driver.

Yesterday our order of packing supplies arrived. We seriosuly misjudged our bubble-wrap needs and have three enormous rolls of the stuff dominating our dining room. At least our valuables will not be wanting for cushioning.

Feeling good today. Some more moving crap to attend to this evening -- have to print out and make up signs for our yard sale tomorrow -- up very early tomorrow to hang them about the neighborhood -- and a few packings/trashings. The finally a couple of films from the big-ass film list.

Last night the complete disintegration of our apartment began. G packed and catalogued our books, I cleaned out kitchen cupboards and thre out a ton of shit which, frankly, I don't even know why we ever had it in the first place. Also cleaned out my office closet and this afternoon will continue packing up my office gear except for the computers which will be packed up by Monday or Tuesday.

Already was up & out this morning for a doctor's appointment, a visit to the Container Store for boxes & Uncle Dan's for a new messenger bag -- my old bags are either funky or totally inadequate for my near-future needs -- several phone calls & emails for work, and a stop at the bank for change for our yard sale this Saturday. Now I have to make some eye-catching yard sale signs.

This week on "Notes from the Credulous:"
The Stars Still Shine -- Recommended Resources

Ugh. A busy busy busy day as previously stated. Concluded with the odious process of student loan application -- made more odious by the inscrutable interface presented by my lender. I'll know tomorrow if everything has cleared. Then it's official -- I'm a student. Played an hour or so of Splinter Cell. Now it is time for bed. One last service call tomorrow.

Wow, really sleepy tonight. Many many errands, a couple of service calls, many emails and calls to organize some agents to attend to my clients after I am gone. Stopped on the way home for Chinese food, which G and I ate while watching Colonial House, which our DVR unfortunately did not tape the last episodes of. Guess we'll have to rent them. Thoroughly enjoyable program -- the only kind of reality show I like, the kind where you might actually learn something.

Holy smokes, for a guy who isn't on the schedule any more I sure am a busy bee. Lots of work things to do, tranferring customers, a couple of jobs and a buttload of moving-related errands. I am actually looking forward to the relative boredom of a 2,000 mile drive after what will surely be a wretchedly carzy two last weeks in Chicago.

Ooof. A GREAT cookout with our friends yesterday. This is the cookout that got cancelled two weeks ago because of the roaring, howling thunderstorms that have utterly dominetd the spring here. Well, they threatened again yesterday but I was not about to let $100 worth of defrosted meat go bad. As it turned out, the skies cleared, the sun came out and it was an absolutely beautiful afternoon and evening. A great time with our friends for our last party at the Sheehan Chicago facility. A bunch of the fellas chipped in to give our friend Butz a digital camera so he can take photos of his forthcoming child, and this pleased him greatly.

I was so busy cooking and drinking I didn't eat a thing all day until I had a couple of sausages late at night. Woke up today as G left for work with a colossal hangover and promptly repaired to bed after she departed for work. Slept, slept, woke up when G called and asked me to send her something from her computer via email, went right back to bed. Finally arose RAVENOUSLY hungry. Got dressed and went to Wishbone for a massive breakfast. Now I am back home and the grisly task of post-party cleanup awaits me. Then I have to return a moldy pie we bought from Whole Foods and began serving to people before we realized it was moldy. Absolutely covered with it beneath the top crust. I almost vomited and I didn't even eat it. After the pie I have to return some videos and rent a few more -- my goal to collect all the films I need to see on video in some form is almost reached. Then it's back home, to watch Mark Prior face Roger Clemens.

More or less a do-nothing day today. Played some Xbox and dumped some more CDs into the music server. Tomorrow is the postponed cookout from two weeks ago, and from there on in it's total chaos, tearing down the house, packing etc. until June 26th when we pull out of town. I am more or less off-schedule for work this week except for a couple of calls, so I should be able to get a lot done while G is working.

Last night's dinner with our friends was such a treat.

G is coming down with her change of seasons flu/virus which means a prolonged battle with her doctor to get some antibiotics. It's a struggle every time but they really knock her into shape almost immediately. She's been this way ever since I've known her, spring and fall like clockwork she comes down with this congestion/sore throat thing, and like clockwork she has to argue with her doctor every time.

Today I had a couple of service calls, and some errands to run in between. Nothing too challenging work-wise. Came home, changed, and drove out to Naperville for a lovely tapas dinner with some great friends, Andy and Amy. Just a lovely evening -- but as dinner wound down G was feeling rather ill, maybe coming down with something. We bid farewell to our friends -- they live more or less on our way out of Illinois, so we hope to stop by to say so long en route to California in 2 weeks (!). It's always a lot of laughs and good conversation with them and we will miss getting together even though our schedules made our visits less frequent than we'd have liked.

Still feeling the after-effects of last night's overindulgence at the Mexican restaurant. Stayed up, played some Splinter Cell, and now to go to bed and sleep for a long, long time. Films to watch, moving work to do tomorrow.

Very sleepy, out for drinks and a late-night Mexican gorging. No movie tonight! Going to bed now. Feeling our time in Chicago drawing to an inexorable close on this rainy, cool night.

To the Editor, Chicago Sun-Times:

Is it impudent to ask, I wonder, why Jim Quig's "Folks" must be inflicted on we, the gentle Sun-Times readers, on a regular basis? For I can scarcely remember a columnist whose witless meanderings contained more forced whimsy, whose sense of structure and timing more readily deflated the most facile humorous conceit. One can only imagine that the objective of running the "Folks" column is to make a great Midwestern daily appear ever more amateurish, the choice of the well-read Rube.

Reading "Folks," one has an appreciation for what Garrison Keillor might write if he were suddenly afflicted with a crippling brain ailment and shackled to a word processor. Its presence puts the lie to the Sun-Times' new slogan "The Bright One." That it continues to appear boggles the mind; that it is even occasionally promoted on the front page is a thing to marvel at.

The Village Voice on Reagan, also from my bro:
Death of a Salesman

Ronald Reagan: Still the Teflon President?

More on the late and ludicrously over-lamented Ronald Reagan here, courtesy of my brother:
Ronald Reagan: Still the Teflon President?

Tonight's picture was Ninotchka, an Ernst Lubitsch comedy from 1939 with a screenplay by Billy Wilder, among others. And a very witty screenplay it is too. Some hilarious one-liners, accentuated by some clever edits. Well-directed especially in the dialogue -- dialogue that would raise just a smirk is made much, much funnier by the use of composition and the timing in the delivery by the actors. Very enjoyable, manages to be slyly satiric and lighthearted at once and in equal measure.

Came home and did a whirlwind cleaning with G as the landlord was showing the apartment this evening. A couple and their two children came by. It's hard to imagine a growing family in a place this size.

I picked up a cheapie Xbox game today. I can't afford the new ones for a while although there are several I desire. But this is the original game of a series I started on the new, second chapter, a very enjoyable game called Splinter Cell. It's been out for a few years, so it is cheap. It's just as good as the second installment. Played that some, and a round of Links to unwind after a very busy 4-call day.

Now, once again, it's rather late and I am just going to bed now.

A couple of people have asked so here is the complete list of films I'm to have seen before school starts.

8 1/2
A Man Escaped
A Place in the Sun
An American in Paris
Andrei Rublev
Ashes and Diamonds
Badlands
Battle of Algiers
Bicycle Thief
Bonnie and Clyde
Breathless
Children of Paradise
Chinatown
Citizen Kane
Decalogue
Double Indemnity
Hiroshima Mon Amour
Jules and Jim
L'Avventura
Lawrence of Arabia
Lola Montes
Midnight Cowboy
My Man Godfrey
Nashville
Ninotchka
Raging Bull
Rear Window
Red River
Rules of the Game
Seven Samurai
Singin' in the Rain
Stairway to Heaven/A Matter of Life and Death
Sullivan's Travels
The Godfather
The Leopard
The Piano
The Searchers
The Third Man
Tokyo Story
Touch of Evil
Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Ugestu
Vagabond
Wild Strawberries

Many of these I am seeing for the first time. Some are old favorites.

This evening's picture was A Man Escaped by Robert Bresson. This is the first time I have seen a Bresson film and I was very knocked out by it. Really, a splendid picture. Put me in the mind of the Italian neorealists, but perhaps more subtle; one of the greatest examples of putting the viewer in the protagonist's world.

In the course of studying it this evening I cam across this absolutely wonderful website called Masters of Cinema, a gateway to all sorts of sites regarding great films and their presentation. If you are not familiar with Yasujiro Ozu or Robert Bresson this is your one-stop shop. I highly recommend A Man Escaped to anyone.

Now, notes made, it's time to collect the laundry next door and hit the sack. We have a bad breaker in the house so only one of the AC units can run at once. Naturally, that'sin the bedroom. In here, it's sweaty.

So Ronald Reagan is dead and is suddenly the Greatest President Who Ever Lived. Sorry, folks, I ain't buying it.

I spent my entire early adulthood loathing this man and everything he stood for, the mad ativism of the religious right his ilk gave rise to, the revolting collaboration with an honor roll of the bloodthirstiest criminals of the last quarter-century -- Marcus, Pinochet, Saddam Hussein himself, and no less than Osama bin Laden; and the phony fiscal policies which created phantom economic growth while plunging this nation into trillions and trillions of dollars in debt.

The grotesque mischaracterization of this doddering old figurehead as some kind of beloved father to the nation is revolting in the extreme. With all due respect to his family, I will not miss him, not one little bit.

Here is an eloquent summary of Reagan's crimes. The tab is still being paid today -- and not by Reagan's philosophical progeny, not just by the poor, the gay, the minorities whom Reagan and the filthy swine he gathered around him disdained, but by you and me and everyone else.

Tonight's flick: Sullivan's Travels, a Preston Sturges picture and a corker at that. Great dialogue, clever as hell at a breakneck pace but with timing just right -- so it isn't rat-at-tat unrealistic like the horrible, horrible Gilmore Girls. It actually sounds like the characters are real people saying things real people might actually say to each other. It's not glib, I guess, is what I'm saying, just clever. Highly recommended, great performances throughout. I had seen The Lady Eve some time ago at the urging of my friend Peter and I didn't care for it: I felt the dialogue rather plopped out of the mouths of Fonda and Stanwyck, and additionally, I couldn't suspend my disbelief that Fonda's character could be so stupid as to fall for the case of mistaken identity that is the flick's central conceit. This picture was great and I was very surprised by Veronica Lake's handling of the tricky dialogue and timing, particularly in her first scene.

Anyway. Spent today getting my car partially fixed and then going to the doctor's, the store, and catching up on all the little crap that fell through the cracks this weekend. Received the lion's share of my school books from Amazon and organized them all. Working my way through them.

Time for bed.

Tonight's picture was Red River, Howard Hawks' epic story of a drive of 10,000 cattle on the Chisholm Trail. A good performance by John Wayne and Monty Clift's first big role. It is a story of mythic, classical dimensions, undermined only by a cop-out conclusion that dodges the mythic implications of the story. That said, there is a lot to see: an incredible cattle stampede, Wayne's slow disintegration along the trail, the requisite wide-open landscapes. This is the movie John Ford saw and said "I never knew the big son of a bitch could act." The film is known as a Howard Hawks production and bannered as "Produced and Directed" by him in huge letters in the credits, yet the credits puzzlingly list Arthur Rosson as "co-director." Any insights appreciated.

Finally back in Chicago. Uneventful flight, I slept for an hour or so of it. We got in a little early, but had to rent a car because G's is still in the shop. Then it was off to pick up Boris from our wonderful pet-sitters'. They have a big, beautiful house on the west side. A zillion dogs were running around (well, only 5 or 6). Boris was happy as hell to see us and after romping with other dogs for 4 days he will probably spend the next 2 sleeping.

Tonight, its a pizza, a movie, and a good night's sleep. Tomorrow is running around, picking up my car, going to doctor's appointments, etc. Then it's back to work Tuesday . . . the end is near.

Audio from LA

Audio from LA

Audio from LA

Audio from LA

Audio from LA

Audio from LA

Audio from LA

Audio from LA