Shut it Down, Eat Some Pizza

On Tuesday October 14th, I picked up a free Nancy's Deep Dish Sausage Pizza and ate it for dinner while watching house of cards with Rachel. Cost $1.65. Thanks Rachel and the Ditka Dash!

Wednesday October 15th. I finished Devil in the White City on tape, a great book. It was cool to read about Chicago in the past, the World's Fair, and even the serial killer HH Holmes. I plan to do a little more research on the history of Chicago, and I am starting by reading (listening) to The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. That evening I started to watch the show Dexter as well. Had some Nancy's Pizza for dinner. No surprise there.

A day later, on Thursday October 16th, I went to the dentist and had no cavities, but braces? Really Doc, come on man. You know it's quality of my current teeth that allows me to get all the ladies, and makes me known in the film industry. It's Ya Boy and he ain't ever getting braces, not even invisaline son. Went shopping for groceries and found out that there are 2 different kinds of tuna, west coast and east coast. Bumblebee is from the west coast and starkiss is form the east coast. Thanks for the knowledge kind Jewel Osco lady.

I also found out why Zebrahead sounded a bit different at the concert. Their lead singer changed in 2005 and almost all of the songs I like are from before 2005. It starts to make sense now why it sounded different and they played more of their new stuff. Check out this video from their show at House of Blues (Cali) back in 2003. I wish I was there for that. Amazing.

That day at work, I had pizza again, this time Jet's Pizza for lunch. Hit up the store for fresh food on the way home and got a good workout in. Rachel and Becca got home from their work outing and we ordered pizza, once again. Sarpino's this time. At least I am mixing up the pizza companies right? That is my last 5 meals of pizza.

On Friday October 17 I got a solid workout in the morning, then headed over to my brother's house to visit the family. The new baby boy was cute and sleepy, napping the whole time I held him. Although I did hear some grumbling down below if ya know what I mean. Sophia was crawling under couches in a diaper and running around the house. Wild child. To no one's surprise, I had left over Nancy's deep dish pizza for lunch yet again. A 6th straight pizza meal. A lax mom hooked me up with some hot chocolate again that evening. Different mom this time, but amazing. Thanks! That evening the family loaded up Jcubed videos to watch on the big tv with our latest Roku purchase. Oh so many great memories and videos. Good family time. One of my favorites and a classic from the night.

Saturday October 18th I went up to Michigan to close it up with my Aunt Ruth. We cleaned up some beds, blew water out of some pipes with an air compressor, and drank a handful of beers while grilling some chicken. The grill was pretty moldy so I also had to clean the grill off before and after the meal! We found a couple of mice living in the bonfire pit in a bag from earlier in the summer. Perhaps you can spot the mouse in the snapshot to the right. We grilled up barbecue chicken for dinner and I learned a little trip about chicken and indirect heat. Always indirect grill your chicken, it may take a little longer, but the chicken will not blacken and will be oh so juicy. Also get your chicken thighs, for they are the juiciest compared to a breast. We headed back home after dark, but I was able to snap a couple of quick photos while up there. One being of the trailer during the fall, which I am not sure I have ever seen. And the other photo was of the night sky. Quite the amount of stars! Not as many or as clear as Colorado, but a decent shot.

When I got home that night, I was pretty tired and fell asleep before midnight.

On Sunday October 19th, after a day of watching some football, editing some videos, and getting another workout in, Rachel and I made a delicious dinner. Grilled and breaded chicken covered with cooked apple slices and cooked onions. All simmered for about 15 minutes and then served over some butter noodles. Delicious. 

On Monday October 20th, I had a chest and back workout in the morning and went in to work. After work I had some hangout time with John, Squid, and Izzy. A little monday night football to end the week. Then John and I walked about the town, checking out a local graveyard, a bit spooky, but saw the graves of many forefathers in the area, including those that our elementary school was named after. When then walked across town like a couple of old people, and saw the best Halloween decorations the area has to offer, a yard full of hundreds and hundreds of fake graves, statues, ghosts, ghouls, dead people, pumpkins, and more. Awkwardly ran into a guy we went to high school with who lives in the house next door, but managed to avoid eye contact and say few words, and then quickly made our way home.

A week of parties ahead. See you then playas.

Josh.

Champions of the 27th Annual

Tuesday September 30th 2014, Rachel made a tasty crockpot dinner for us, involving some sliced potatoes, ground beef, onions, and peppers. We enjoyed this scrumptious meal while watching House of Cards

Wednesday, the first of October was a big day in the Maluta family, as my brother and his wife had their second child. A boy this time, named Nikolas. Sophia is such a nice big sister. Congrats to them as their family continues to grow!

On my way home form work I finished the 3rd book in the Ender series, Xenocide. Very philosophical and a bit tough to "read" at times as they used actual asian people to read the parts with Wang Wu and Ching Chong, and Han Faedzah. Those are the actual names, but I have no idea about the spelling since I only listen to books these days. Solid book, but time to switch up to a different type of book.

Thursday October 2nd, I stopped at Jmon's on the way home from work. He actually lives like 2 minutes off of the highway on my way home which is pretty sweet. We hung out, played some synthesizer and enjoyed a succulent meal of chicken, rice, broccoli, and salad prepared by his father. I also began my new book on tape this day, Devil in the White City. I am excited to learn about some of the history behind Chicago. I also started to watch the show Freaks and Geeks, a 1999 series with stars like James Franco, Seth Rogan, & Jason Segal. A pretty hilarious one season series about life in highschool from both the "freak" perspective and the "geek" perspective, as they deal with daily highschool problems and begin to change as people, trying to find where they belong.

Friday October 3rd, I woke up and played some ping pong with Grant. After work that night, Beth met up with me at Buffalo Wings and Rings for some dinner. We got 20 wings with a variety of sauces: lemon pepper, parmesan garlic, bourbon bbq, & fajita tequila lime. Mmm Wings. That evening we watched some Freaks and Geeks. I am trying to burn through this 18 episode season, plus it is hilarious. Worth a watch people! 

Saturday October 4th 2014 marked the 27th annual NIU tournament. A tournament we have been playing in for 4 years, first as the Muffin Men, and now in our 3rd year as the Apaches. We have taken home one first and one second place in those 3 years, it is time for us to return as Champions. I met up with Gio & Jay at Gio's and we waited for Watson to arrive. It was absolutely freezing out, so cold that I saw the first snowflakes of the year intermixed with the rain, perfect lacrosse weather I guess? To our luck, Watson had an emergency to deal with and ended up being an hour late, but we wisely cracked a Rolling Rock to stifle the cold. 

After a 45 minutes drive, we arrived at the tournament and prepped for our first opponent, Northern Michigan University. They were a much better team then they had proved to be in the past, but were still no match for the Naperville Apaches, as we rolled to a 15 to 7 victory. I contributed with 3 goals and 5 assists. In the cold weather, the GoPro got knocked off my helmet in the first 5 minutes of the game, but at least one of my goals was on tape! We drove over to grab some Chipotle for a team lunch in between games. I got a burrito bowl, supposedly you get more food?

Our second game was against one of the worst teams I have ever played against, Judson. We rolled to a 15 to 8 victory. I had 3 goals and 3 assists, pretty much all in the first quarter. The fact that I was teaching their defender how to play and where to be in certain scenarios speaks to how poor their team is coached. It didn't help that one of the "starting" defenders told me they were going to put the scrubs in soon when they were down 5-0. I didn't say it, but all I could think was, dude, YOU are a scrub. Especially considering he was wearing a winter hat over his helmet. I mean sure, I was wearing camo fleece pants tucked into my red socks, but I was putting out, as always. 

Only 2 games on Saturdays, so we headed back and then I drove back to Chicago. About 5 minutes after being home, Brian came over with some Dominoes pizza. Shout out to Brian for making the delivery and supplying. We ate some pizza, watched an episode of Freaks and Geeks and bussed it to the heart of the city for the Great Chicago Fire event that was going to take place on the Chicago River that evening.

The stage was set, a barge with a wooden house in the middle of the river. In fact, there were a series of these down the river, we were at the farthest one west and could see one of them to the east. As we listened to some news anchor tell some facts about the fire and saw people light some chalices on fire, the suspense begin to grow. Then we watched a glowing house not burn for about 30 minutes as the crackling sounds of fire were heard over the sound system. The other house we could see a bit down the river was on fire, but it was a pathetic rate it was burning at. Then after 30 minutes of waiting and standing in a packed crowd, they said they were having some electrical difficulties. Oh really? Couldn't tell! While waiting, we made jokes about the fire and songs like The Doors, Light my fire, Billy Joel, We Didn't Start the Fire, etc. People in the crowd began to chant things about the burning of the building, but the only one that caught on was a chant of... "fire" "fire" fire." How lame. Look at the pretty buildings though.

We waiting another 10 minutes or so and then decided to follow some people out of the crowd, as we walked over a bridge on the river, they announced they would manually light the fire. Can't believe it took them 45 minutes to come to that conclusion. We kept walking and caught the bus home instead of waiting for the "Not So Great Chicago Fire."

Highlight of the night was when we stopped at Walgreens and I had a terrible poop, but we picked up some cookies and ice cream to make some homemade ice cream sandwiches. As we watched I Love You, Man we enjoyed our ice cream sandwiches which turned out to be the smallest break and bake cookies one could buy. Check em out

The next morning, Sunday October 5th, I drove back to Gio's and he drove us to NIU for the championship game. We were to play Wisconsin for the championship. We had beat them down 2 years ago in a game, but this year they only had 2 teams instead of 3 and were much better. It was a tight game, but in the end we came out on top by a score of 7 to 4. The GoPro stayed on the whole time and I ended up with 2 goals and 1 assist. A sweet finish to the 27th annual NIU tournament. Champions for a second time!

After the game the team stopped at Fatty's, a local NIU hangout with delicious food and drink. With the trophy in the middle of the table, I dined on the Fat Boy burger, a tasty double meat meal. 

After driving home, Rachel and I took to the town to try and buy some food. Trader Joes was overwhelming with people everywhere doing their Sunday night shopping. We left empty handed and took a walk around the block, looking for somehwere to buy a lamp. To our luck we stumpled upon Home Depot, went inside and found a standing lamp for the bedroom. Perfect! We picked up some McDonalds for dinner. That night I trimmed the world map to fit our new frame and built the lamp while watching some Sunday Night Football. 

Monday October 6th started with some measuring, drilling of holes, and hanging of the map I had finished the night before. I cleaned up the apartment a bit and at work that day. Beth's rooomate and best friend from college, Paige, surprised Beth that afternoon by showing up at our house! What a nice friend! Shoutout to friends!

On the way home from work I stopped at the library and found a ton of steals for a buck each. American Hustle, Dallas Buyer's Club, Gravity, & 2 other movies I can't remember at this moment. We got some Gioradano's pizza for dinner and I watched a bunch of episodes of Freaks and Geeks.

And that wraps up my last week. Get pumped for next week friends. Zebrahead and MXPX concert ahead. As well as a Blood Moon Wednesday morning at 4AM. Be there.

Josh

Back to the Norm

I had my first "normal" week over the past 7 days. I wasn't traveling about, hiking mountains, or moving. It was nice to finally be able to somewhat relax after being on the go for about 4 weeks.

Tuesday September 9th, 2014 I had brats, chicken, and corn for dinner with Rachel. Kind of a throw together meal, but who doesn't love a little more corn stool? We watched the first 2 episodes of the last season of Breaking Bad. The show is getting really good and we are seeing quite the character transformations.

On Wednesday the 10th I forgot to bring a lunch to work, but we were blessed with a man who brought us free Jet's pizza. A Jet's is opening up just down the road from work, which is great news since their pizza is so tasty.

On September 11th, Thursday, there were memories of September 11th, it has already been 13 years which is crazy. Here is a touching video about a lacrosse player who saved lives on that day. Brings a tear to the eye, and gives me motivation to be a nicer, more caring person each and every day.

That evening I got home pretty late and Rachel was out at Yoga, so I walked around trying to find some dinner for us, eventually picking up Wing Stop again. This time getting some lemon pepper and Louisiana rub flavors. They were both delicious, but I couldn't get enough of that Louisiana rub. Succulent. We of course watched some BB while enjoying our meal.

Friday September 12th was the day that I began to backup my computer. Having almost 3 TB of data now has forced me to split my backup between 2 externals. The power of music, photos, and videos. Large large files. I also began creating another Jcubed logo this weekend. Here is a very little tease for what it will look like.

Unfortunately on Saturday the 13th I had to head to work. Taking 90 minutes to drive out, just to work 3 hours, and then to drive back home for an hour. Rachel and I quickly cooked up a Pasta Side for dinner and then walked a mile and a half over to Brian's to hang out with Chris and Phil. Zac Brown Band was playing at Wrigley and we could hear them sitting in his apartment and standing on his porch. Despite being country, it sounded like they were playing a pretty good show by playing some rock covers and ended their show with Chicken Fried of course. After that ended, we threw on some Deer Tick for the people to enjoy. We walked home after a few hours and hit the hay.

On Sunday September 14th Rachel and I walked a mile and a half over to Zella. A brunch place that is popular for their all you can eat and drink brunch from 10:30a - 3p. We met up with Tori, her bf, Aly, Mary, Chris, and Rach's bro Rob. It was a fun time and I was wearing my Titans jersey. Go Titans! I became super full after 3 plates of eggs, bacon, chicken tenders, diced potatoes, fruit, bread, & some other foods, as well as drinking far too many mimosas and filling up on that OJ. After brunch Rach and I walked the 1.5 miles back home, stopping at Mary and Jeff's on the way to pet their cat.

Once home I continued to back-up my computer and watched some football. For dinner, I picked us up some Angela's steak taco dinners. Pretty tasty. While I was waiting for my tacos to be made, a super drunk 49 year old guy, who claimed to still get the ladies, kept high-fiving me and another guy in the place, yelling "Go Bears!" He also told me how he was blazing earlier in the day and had to take the train back to Libertyville. This dude was pretty funny and just kept talking about how great the bears were, "Go Bears!" He then showed us a photo of him and Walter Peyton from when he was a kid. Walter Peyton just looking ripped and shirtless, pretty cool photo, super weird dude. "Go Bears!"

Rachel and I enjoyed our dinner as the Bears looked terrible during the first half. It was so bad I said let's watch an episode of Breaking Bad, so we did. After dinner and BB I put on the second half of the Bears game and couldn't have been happier (unless I really cared, then maybe I would have been). The Bears stormed back and got the W in SF. Woop Woop.

Monday September 15, I finished my first audio book in the car. Speaker for the Dead, by Orson Scott Card. This book is the second novel in the Ender's Game series. Rachel has already read the whole series, and since I don't have time dedicated to reading currently, I get to read by listening every day on my drive! The book was good and the plot was solid, it was just difficult to follow the sci-fi names at times, but I did the best I could while having to focus on the road at times as well. Xenocide is the next novel in the series. Can't wait. Picked up some Steak n Shake for lunch as well. Triple steak burger with fries for $4.40. I am amazed at how much faster I got my food when in the drive thru versus being in a steak n shake. Makes me question if they purposely are slow when you dine-in, or if they give your food away to the drive thru lane. 

Well, that is all, looks like another normal week ahead.

You Stay Classy Friends.

Josh