There's a Robot in the Office

On Wednesday August 17, 2016 I worked all day, then enjoyed yummy Blue Apron burgers made by Rachel for dinner. If you don't know, Blue Apron is a meal service that sends you fresh ingredients and a recipe to cook those ingredients with. It is nice because everything you need is already portioned out and included in the package. The bad thing is that they claim: "it will take 20 minutes to prep and 20 minutes to cook" but whenever we cook one it always takes 90 minutes to 2 hours for us to finish and eat. Great food and tastes though, so many flavors! We watched Mr. Robot episode 4 of season 2. Getting good.

Song of the Week: It's Different For Girls by a band that I thought was a new Indie band, but after researching has been around since 1996. of Montreal.

Thursday August 18, we had another Blue Apron dinner. This one was catfish and it was quite enjoyable as well. Thanks to Rach for cooking it up once again. I believe this was only the second time having catfish, the first time being back with Andrew Mewborn and John at Swamp Guinea in Georgia back in summer of 2008. Oh yeah, here is a photo of that.

Rachel and I watched episodes 5 and 6 of Mr. Robot season 2 that evening before calling it a night. The next day on August 19th, a Friday, I had McDonald's for lunch and ended up working pretty late. When I got to my parents house I watched season 1 of The Office with Beth while having a few PBRs and doing laundry. Slept at my parents obviously.

Saturday August 20, I had McDonald's for lunch, again, wow I am unhealthy. I had to work in the morning that day and when I finished I headed back over to my parents and grilled Italian sausages and potato slices for my parents and Beth for dinner. Beth and I ended up watching half of season 2 of the office on this day. After I finished eating I headed over to New Lenox where I hit up The Bulldog restaurant bar with Jordan (Michele's bf) and Cory (Ashley's fiance). They had been there for a couple of hours as all of our ladies were at Mary's bridal shower. After a couple of drinks, the girls arrived and we had a fun night. Rachel and I drove back to her parents around midnight and spent the night there.

On the morning of Sunday August 21st, Rachel and I headed down to Kankakee to visit Rachel's Grandpa. We had lunch and enjoyed a little over 3 hour visit with him. Afterwards we headed to the cemetery to meet up with my family for my Grandpa's 10 year death anniversary (blog about Grandpa here). Rachel and I then stopped at target on our way home. We spent about 2 hours shopping around and I put the Cartwheel app to good use, coming up with $8 of savings. Woo! We had a productive night around the apartment doing some organizing and cleaning. We still can't figure out why we are only productive once the sun goes down though... We were up until at least midnight again, we stay up too late.

Monday August 22nd, the start of another week. After work I cooked up some Trader Joe's kung pow chicken for dinner. My computer is really pissing me off, and it sucks (read about how it is super frustrating here). I am in the process of backing it up again on a new external hard drive and we will see if it works this time. Mr. Robot episode 7 was mind blowing! Whoa! That was just insane! If you aren't watching Mr. Robot you need to start now! Season 1 is on Netflix and season 2 is currently being aired on live TV. That night Rachel and I cleaned and organized around the apartment a little bit.

Another day another cavity, on Tuesday August 23rd, I visited the dentist to get that filling that was previous filled, filled again. These teeth are rough. I listened to the second episode of Up and Vanished. The podcast I talked about last week about a missing girl from Georgia. Decent episode. That night I got home late from work, called it a night.

TV Shows of the Week: The Office and Mr. Robot - both on Netflix. Get on it. This is actually my first time watching the office all the way through, hilarious as always. And oh look at that screen shot from Mr. Robot season 2, it's Darryl from The Office.

Inspiration of the Week: YouTuber Casey Neistat, who vlogs about his daily life and also makes short movies. He is one of the few YouTubers where I will actually watch 10+ minute videos all the way through. The amount of work he puts into each video and the details are something that seem to be unmatched by anyone right now. From using cool gadgets, to drone footage, to time lapses, to pulling off crazy stunts. He does it all! I have only recently started watching his stuff, but have really been enjoying it. His story of sticking to what he loves and working hard for it is very cool. His hard work has given me new ideas and plans for this website, my YouTube channel, and my blogs. Hopefully I can put some of them to use soon. I honestly don't know how he manages to have ideas for a daily video, film everything, edit the video, and post them daily.  Here is one of his most recent videos with a visit to Chicago as he drives his son across the country for the start of college. Be sure to check out his channel and watch his vids.

Video of the Week: This cool mashup of a bunch of movies (230 to be exact) singing The Offspring's Pretty Fly (For a White Guy).

A few more blogs will be coming in the next week or so. Keep your eyes peeled.

I hope everyone has a fantastic week!

Josh

In Memory Of Izzy The Golden

Wow. July 6th of 2016 was a very tragic day. Our beloved dog and friend Izzy left us to be in a better place. She was only 9 years old, but graced us all with 9 years of fun, licks, barks, laughs, runs, rolls, humps, jumps, and more!

Josh and Izzy on the first day she came home in 2007

A dog who had a love for licking all of the sweat off of John and I. Who enjoyed all sorts of toys, but mainly her little cat stuffed animal and any sock that was found laying around. A dog who made running and exercising fun for us, as we chased her around the park. A dog who would always be looking to get in a game of catch, H-O-R-S-E, or soccer. Who often was fearless, taking on the UPS man, walking and running through snow and ice, & greeting anyone and anything that walked past. A pup who pushed her boundaries, one time running all the way across the street into my backyard to see what was going on. A dog who was never angry, never growled or seemed sad, and always brought a smile to everyone who was around her.

She was even a selling point for my girlfriend at the time, now wife Rachel, to come over and hangout with John and I. Rachel loves Golden Retrievers and loved to be with Izzy. One of my favorite things about Izzy was even though she was a Golden Retriever, I can't say I actually ever saw her retrieve anything. She would chase a ball or a toy, and then just put it in her mouth for a second, toss it into the air only to have it plop onto the ground, or even roll on top of it in a massaging sort of fashion. She would then smile and wag her tail at you, waiting for you to come get it and throw it again. Smart pup! For a time, Izzy would often get excited and hump her bed in the basement until nearly passing out. Or even crawl into bed with John at night and push him off eventually. She was there when we watched TV, played video games, had cookouts, or filmed movies. She was simply a joy to have around.

Baby Izzy in 2007

Izzy wasn't actually my family's dog, but she sure seemed it. She was my neighbor and best friend John's pup and had been since early 2007. Even though we were about to graduate high school and go on to college, it always will feel like she was a dog that we grew up with, in part because we were home every summer, and still visit our parents houses even after we moved out. Every single member of my family would go and pet Izzy almost every day when she was outside, and I know that random children and adults walking around the neighborhood would do the same.

I think the one of the hardest parts of all this and when it really hits me is when I look out the window across the street, or open the garage and Izzy is no longer laying in the yard, eating bushes, barking at the UPS man, or being pet by the neighborhood kids. Not living at home anymore takes me away from this most of the time, but when I am at my parents and I do those things, I then realize, she is gone.

Even though Izzy has left us on earth, I am honored and blessed to have been able to film so many videos of her and take so many photos. Now that I look back I wish I had done more! Below are all 10 videos I have made with the focus being our beautiful, lovely, amazing golden girl, Izzy.

Enjoy.

Above is a continuous playlist in chronological order of all 10 videos of Izzy. Below are the same 10 videos but separated for your viewing pleasure.

Watched all the videos? Check out some photos of Izzy that most people have never seen while listening to Go Do by Jonsi.

We love you Izzy. You will be missed, but will forever live on in our hearts.

For more photos of this beautiful pup check out my dogs page under photos! Also Read Beth's Blog about Izzy here!

Josh

Bear Down Chicago

Rachel and I spent the end of 2015 enjoying time with friends and started the new year of 2016 by doing just the same! We went over to Brian's in Wrigley and hung out with Adam, Brian, & Megan watching Iowa get dominated in the Rose Bowl game against Standford and also played some cards against humanity. Check out some photos from the end of 2015 and beginning of 2016.

Song of the week: An initial suggestion from Sarah that has lead to a constant playing from Rachel. Biebs is back!

Rachel and I found love for old school arcade games as we spent an evening with my good friend Cam from college playing games at Emporium Bar and Arcade in Wicker Park. We especially enjoyed Michael Jackson's Moonwalker and Q*Bert. Q*Bert was game of the night and we are now professional Q*Bert players as we cracked the top 23 multiple times!

On Sunday January 3rd, Rachel and I had the privilege of attending our first Chicago bears game. Before we even got into the stadium, we found out that NO bags are allowed in. This was bad news since we had Rachel's purse. Luckily Cam was with us, and he was kind enough to take her purse and carry it around the city like a grown man with a satchel. The Bears were taking on the Lions and we had some top notch seats. Rachel was able to snag us two seats in her company's box, after a little drama weeks before. The view from the box was not only stunning, but it was nice and toasty warm in the box as well. As we looked down on the peasants below in the stadium, we watched our Chicago Bears lose a somewhat exciting game in the closing minutes. It was super awesome being in the box, having free food and beer, and being treated like kings. When the dessert cart came by I snagged a little sack of delicious sour gummies. To top off our football game experience, William "The Fridge" Perry was in the box next to us and was recognized at half time for his career with the Bears, including a Super Bowl title in 1985. A great way to experience our first Bears game, similar to the way Rachel experienced her first Hawks game (10th row when I rode the Zamboni)! My only gripe was that since it was cold out, the box windows were closed, and you really couldn't hear the sounds of the game as I would have imagined it. But I would take being warm and comfortable over hearing Jay Cutler speak words. Woo!

After the Bears game we made a stop at the Field museum since it was a free day for Illinois Residents. This was our first time here probably since we were in grade school. Sue was in the building, but did you know they don't even know if Sue is a boy or girl? Dino Facts.

Starting on Monday January 4th and until now, I have not had any alcohol! It's almost been two weeks and Rachel and I are feeling great! Just doing this to boost our goal of getting into great shape for the wedding. We will continue to drink, just hoping to knock down the frequency and maintain our beach bod figures, once we get them...

In November last year, I had an amazing opportunity to film the first ever blind hockey event in the Midwest. After the holidays and going through over an hour of footage with multiple edits, I finished the video which was presented to the board of USA Hockey with hopes of Blind Hockey being adopted as a discipline within the USA Hockey's Disabled Section!

Beth's Blog is back in action this year! Be sure to hit up for a weekly post!
Her latest blog post revolves around being the book worm she has always been and her reading goals for the year.

Movie of the Week: The Imposter, insane and crazy documentary about a missing child who is found years later. Watch on Netflix.

TV Show of the Week: Narcos. The story of Pablo Escobar and the rise of Cocaine in the 1980s. Can't wait for season 2!

This blog was a bit late, so another blog will be coming in the next day or two!

Josh