Tupperware: An American Musical Fable opened last week and it’s getting great reviews.  I’m going to see it on Sunday at 7:30.  You should come too.

Get tickets here.  Use the discount code “ITBURPS” to get 2-for-1 tickets.

If you can’t go Sunday, you have until August 9th.  Don’t miss it!

Arriving home from work…

Evan: Hey everyone, I’m home!  Hi TV!  Hi Computer!  Hi Guitar! Hi… Clarinet…
Clarinet: …
Evan: I haven’t seen you for a while.
Clarinet: I know.
Evan: What are you doing out here with the stuff I use all the time?
Clarinet: You moved me out here when you were looking through your closet.
Evan: Oh yeah…  So… What have you been up to the last couple years?
Clarinet: I’ve been working on some personal projects.  I got pretty good at lanyards.
Evan: That’s cool.
Clarinet: …
Evan: So… You wanna… Play?
Clarinet: I don’t know.  I was gonna watch Castle.
Evan: Come o–
Clarinet: OKAY!

I found out Claire and Dan were having a baby when Claire casually took off her sweater… revealing this T-shirt underneath:

Some news is best spread by T-Shirt, saving the awkward, “We have some news…” moment.  Maybe I’ll print up some “My grandma’s in the hospital” and “I got a good interest rate” shirts.  Place your orders now!

Okay, garden.  We both know I have no idea what I’m doing when I start digging holes and cramming plants in there, but now you’re being ridiculous.

Does anyone know what the hell this thing is?

No one in my building planted it and it keeps getting bigger and, frankly, we’re all getting a little worried.  Is it just a weed?  Do weeds do… that?

Update: It’s been identified!  My neighbor Carrie added this at the bottom of an e-mail: “In other news – our alien life form in the backyard has been identified. Apparently it wards off witches and cures ear aches so it may come in handy.”

It’s called The Great Mullein.

I wish I were more into comic books so I could be a bigger supporter of my neighborhood comic book store, The Comic Vault.  They really bring a lot to the community, including last month’s first national Zombie-Con.  I made it over for a very helpful seminar on general zombie survival, but, sadly, had to leave before the Zombie Chef and the session on how to escape Chicago during the impending zombie attack.

Shama managed to get some very important questions answered about freezing zombies, though.

Before leaving, comic writer and artist Tim Seeley drew me this zombie professor:

I don’t know if he was drawing all the zombies with bow ties that day, but  Shama and I met Tim at a wedding while I was wearing a bow tie and if he remembered that, he’s a pretty cool guy for giving my zombie a bow tie.  Either way, I think I’m going to get Tim’s book, Hack/Slash because it’s cool that there’s a comic writer in my neighborhood.  And I think I’m gonna get it from The Comic Vault because those guys are cool too.  I think I’m going to go do that right now.

Update: They’re closed.  I’m going to go do that tomorrow.

I was wandering around the neighborhood this morning taking care of some business when I saw a middle-aged man peeking into the old Villa May Pizzaria that’s been empty for almost two years.  My neighbors and I have been wondering what would eventually occupy the incredibly-convenient-for-us space.

Me: Is someone finally doing something with this place?
Man: Yeah… It’s going to be a Middle-Eastern restaurant.
Me: Great!  I live across the street.
Man: I’m Gene Shulter, your alderman.  I’m just checking in on our little projects.
Me: Oh!  Hi.
Gene: Let’s see how the other ones are coming along.

And with that he lumbered off down Montrose — to check in on the construction at Damen, I presume.

My neighbor was out of the country for a few weeks and asked me to move his cars when the streets were being cleaned to keep him from getting a ticket.

Done.

Today, for some reason, I decided to check on the cars to make sure they were okay.  They were not okay.  They were gone.  Panic.  I started calculating the cost if they were towed.  What is it, $100/day?  10 days?  2 cars?  Oy.  Well, maybe they were stolen.  Is that better?

I called 311 (useless), the impound lot (mostly useless) and my alderman’s office (very helpful!) before finally realizing I needed to e-mail my neighbor, tell him the bad news, and get the license plate numbers so I could figure out what actually happened.  My e-mail began, “I hope your trip was going well because I’m going to ruin it…”

A few minutes later I received a response.

I am sooo sorry.  We got home Sun. and I found the cars safe and sound.  I’ve been using them and completely forgot to give you a huge thank you.  I’m sorry to have put you through the last few hours of misery.  I owe you big time.

Phew.  Problem solved.

Oh wait.  Not yet.  First I need to make an awkward call to the alderman’s office and explain the situation to the nice man who was gonna “help me out of my pickle.”

There.  Now problem solved.

I was in Boise for business and after we had finished for the day I went running along the Boise River.  It’s a beautiful city with mountains and streams and all those other things Chicago lacks.

Then I ran by this and I liked Boise even more:

I’ve never seen live action role-playing (LARPing) in person before.  It looks… pretty… fun.

My dad has spent years working on a pond in his backyard.  It’s actually quite lovely.  There’s a garden train and waterfalls and all kinds of flowers.  He’s had some trouble with the fish, though.

Every year it seems like something else goes wrong.  Once the pond had a leak.  Once the heater he got to keep the water from freezing during the winter broke.  Last summer there was a big rain storm while my parents were out of town.  The pond overflowed and the fish “escaped” into the garden.

The kids who live next-door took a photo of the fish on their Sunday stroll before catching them.  If you look closely, you can see that the fish are swimming over model train tracks.

This winter, my dad decided to let the fish fend for themselves.

Dad: I’ve tried everything to keep them alive and they always die.

The pond was frozen solid for most of the winter, but somehow the fish (or perhaps their progeny?) survived.  Weird.

The New Colony just posted a song from the final show of our 2009 season: Tupperware: An American Musical Fable.  Take a listen.

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I’m really excited to be a part of this group, even in the minor role of board member.  It’s theater companies like these that make Chicago the most exciting theater city in the world — at least in my opinion.  You should definitely come see the show, which opens July 13th.

If the mood strikes you, we’re also in the midst of our summer donation drive.  Any donation would be a big help.  Here’s more information:

Everyone benefits when a musical has musicians! The audience claps! The singers sing!

Your $25 donation will pay for the stipend of one musician for one performance of Tupperware. Your contribution is tax-deductible, and you’ll have the warm fuzzy feeling that you helped a daddy get new strings for his baby. You would also, of course, be invited to come see Tupperware and notice that $25 is not that much to support such a talented group.

How to donate:

Make a secure online donation with paypal via our website: http://thenewcolony.org/support.php
Send a check made payable to The New Colony to PO BOX 409256, Chicago IL 60640

Tupperware: An American Musical Fable is scheduled to open July 13th, 2009 at La Costa Theatre, 3931 N Elston Ave – Chicago IL 60618
Tickets on sale at http://thenewcolony.org/tupperware
For more information visit http://thenewcolony.org or e-mail info@thenewcolony.org

The New Colony is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. Financial contributions are tax-deductible. Nothing is given in return for a tax-deductible donation

My grandparents were very excited to get me one of those cards that plays music for my birthday.  Unfortunately, they couldn’t figure out how to record the message that plays before the music, so when I opened it all I heard was, “Press and hold button to record your message before the song.”  Sometimes technology just gets in the way.

Yay!  Shama’s finally back from Ireland.  I went with her dad and brother to meet her at the airport, but before I did I stopped by Party City and got the largest non-Hannah-Montana balloon they had.  

We waited outside of Exit A, as instructed by the monitors,  for over an hour… but no Shama.  We saw the Aer Lingus flight attendants in their teal crazysuits come and go… but no Shama.  We started to worry — did they lose her luggage?  Did she pick a fight with a customs agent?  Did she turn into a being of pure energy and lose interest in humanity?

Finally, we saw a grumpy girl, head down, dragging bags behind her, pass right in front of us — coming from the opposite end of the terminal. 

Shama somehow managed to pass through the doors of Exit B and had been wandering the airport for the last 20 minutes wondering why no one bothered to meet her at the airport.  

Shama: I kept thinking, “Who’s the idiot with the balloon?”

That’s me.  I’m the idiot with the balloon.  Welcome home, Shama.

I spend most of my time at work programming a sprawling application that is used by almost everyone at Jellyvision as their main production tool.  We’re constantly adding in new features so it can be a little buggy.  I often hear about it when it acts up.  

Talking to Ryan in the kitchen today, he said, “I know I complain about [software] a lot, but I wanted you to know that it behaved really well today.”

I gave a similar report to Allard after dog sitting his new puppy last week.  

Yay!  Gratuitous picture of a puppy that looks like an Ewok!

Wolfram Research recently released their new analytical search engine, WolframAlpha.  It’s nice to see an Illinois company making a big splash.

Just for fun I “Wolframed” myself to see what it would say; it didn’t hurt a bit!

It seems my name has become quite popular lately.  My parents were literally ahead of the curve on this one.  What was an obscure name when they picked it in the 70′s has become the 40th most popular name in America.  

Parents, stop naming your kids Evan! 

A giant new Whole Foods opened up near work this week — the third biggest in the world.  It’s a pretty amazing place, actually.  This morning, walking to work, I ran into someone who was less enthusiastic about it:

Dude: Hey, man, let me ask you something.
Evan’s Inner Monologue: (Uh oh.  Here we go.)
Evan: What’s that?
Dude: You don’t think this Whole Foods belongs here, do you?
Evan: I don’t know.  It just moved from across the street.  What’s the difference?
Dude: It’s a sell-out.  That’s what it is.  Why you got to sell out President Obama like that?
Evan’s Inner Monologue: (Wait.  What? Obama?  How can I get out of this conversation.)
Evan: Well, as long as VIP’s is still there, right?
Dude: Yeah!  That’s a good point.  I never thought of that!

There you have it.  A good point.