Isaac Sinnett

Every now and again, you can be going straight ahead at warp speed and not realizing a lot that is happening or just existing around you.  There comes a time when one has to carefully, or radically take a bit of a detour from the speeding train, heading towards derailment.  This was happening to me, and I couldn’t control the forward motion.  It was unable to stop until today, when I was slapped into a reality paced with a slight detour.  Thank you Michael Jordan.  Ok, so maybe the above was a bit dramatic. But I did drive by Michael Jordan’s house today.  Well, I am assuming that his house is back there.  For all I know, he bought a gate, slapped the number 23 on there and paved a bit of driveway back to nowhere.  I even left the picture un-cropped so that you could gather the full since of being in the car.

All of that aside, life and work have been really busy for me lately.  But that’s alright, I never have to worry about being bored.  I always have something to do.  This past Sunday I went to the Lincoln Park Zoo with David to take a look at the Takin.  Much to our surprise, this curious creature had morphed into 5 Takin’s!  Incredible.  The last time(with Paul and David at LPZ) , which happened to be the first ever experience of this Takin, there was 1 and now this!

Now the Takin is something that should be experienced.  For me, it is a cross between a rodent and an ox.  Let me lend a helping hand for you to make your own decision.

Now the wonderful people at wikipedia, have said that this is a “goat-antelope”.  I am willing to accept the goat part into my description of the Takin after really examining the back legs.  However, I am unwilling  to give up my rodent addition to that.  Therefore, I can only conclude that the description of the Takin is that it is a rodent-goat-antelope-oxy type thing.

Bumper to bumper traffic on a Friday evening while driving on Sheridan has become something that I have grown use to.  Tonight was the exception though, it was worse.  Much, much worse.  If anyone recalls the opening of the movie Office Space where the lead character is sitting in traffic and the old person with a walker passes them, well, that was me today.  Seriously, there was a four block stretch where a couple was walking and I was driving.  They won!  They actually beat me in a race of four blocks!  You have to be kidding! Someone could walk four blocks faster than I could drive them.  That is just crazy insane.

Sheridan is one of those streets in Chicago that is a two lane road with lots and lots of stop lights.  It is one of those roads that could have four lanes instead of two and still be backed up.  I have decided that the amount of traffic definitely affects the back ups.  But it is something deeper than the amount that causes the crazy “what the hell” backups that seem to occur more and more often.  My brother Sean and I have been saying for years that if someone puts on their brakes, the people behind them also put on their brakes and the ripple effect continues until you have stopped traffic.  This may be quite a bit simplified, compared to the real reasons, but I definitely think that we are on to something here.  It’s a reactive thing that turns into a chain reaction.  (yeah, yeah, all of you english folks can give up telling me that I explained something with the same term.  The only thing I can tell you is…”get over it”)

Starting with the very first sip of Peet’s coffee, I have never looked back. I was living in Tucson, Arizona and the time and I was searching through the grocery store for coffee to buy and make in my French press. It had been a long time before this that I let Starbucks coffee fall far off my radar. I would like to clarify that Starbucks makes great froo froo drinks and that I’m not ashamed to say that I stop by Starbucks on a somewhat regular basis. Mostly because of the ease and convenience of finding and stopping by their stores. This is perhaps one of the best things about Peet’s. Yes, I wish there were more for me to stop at, but when I do actually get to stop in the store it is a treat. It’s a cup of coffee that I know I will not be disappointed in; everywhere from body to flavor, etc. but I don’t like to get caught up in all of that jumble. I could go on and on about my love for Peet’s coffee. Perhaps I could simplify the entire situation and let you know that I love Peet’s coffee because it is the best coffee out there and I do not need to defend it. If you don’t believe that is why I love Peet’s then you can ignore the entirety of the above writing and know that I love Peet’s because that’s what I told you.

I just finished up my taxes.  In fact, I’m going to take a pause right now and go seal the envelope so that the deed is done. (30 seconds elapses)  Ok, ‘The Man’ has one yet again.  I feel somewhat ok that I’ll end up in the wash once I have procured my check from G-Dub.  Note to self.  Securing forms of work that pay you with a 1099 is an interesting way to go.  It’s not all that bad when you think that you are able to hold on to your money and make money off of it instead of the government making money off of it.  However, when you do your taxes are finished and you realize that you have to personally write ‘The Man’ a check vs ‘The Man’ automatically deducting his money, it tends to be a sad moment.  Alas, the deed is done and all is well.

Since I found writing a check to the IRS to be such a thrilling time I’m going to leave you now and go pay other bills.

I have been a bit absent in recent weeks from writing.  Life has just been crazy.  There’s just an enormous amount of things between work and social obligations.  Doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for the writing.  That’s alright, opposed to the thoughts of a certain Dr. David Chaudoir, I will be in Michigan again this weekend and will be able to relax a bit and hopefully come back refreshed and ready to go.

I am currently listening to Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique.  What a brilliant work it is.  I would definitely put it up there in my favorite works and that is with leaving out the historical significance that the piece represents.  Revolutionary would be only one way to describe it.