A smoke detector just went off in an apartment down the hall from mine. My unit didn’t come with a smoke detector. I should call the city about that one.

Anyways. A few days ago I was at the local CVS parking one of the iGO Car Sharing cars after a quick trip to Target and I was approached by a white male who needed $5 to stay at the hostel next door to my building. OK, no big deal. I didn’t have $5 so it was no big deal saying no, not to mention I think the guy has been living at that hostel for the past month and just paying for it by asking on the street.

But then things got interesting. Usually people who are begging for money just stay in one spot, he started following people. Including a woman who was trying to ignore him. He kept getting closer and closer to her as she walked down the block to the corner, until he was obviously in her personal space. I put myself in a position to get at him if he made any move on her (I probably couldn’t have taken him, but I at least would have allowed the woman to get away.) After she crossed the street, looking down and somewhat disturbed, I went and watched the guy go down the block to another person. I stopped him.

“I’ve seen you here before asking for money”
“I am staying at the hostel”
“I don’t care, if I ever see you go after someone like that again I’m going to call the police”

I didn’t feel threatened (he was smaller than I was and there were people around) but I couldn’t have him doing that to people. If he gets more desperate then there may become an issue.

I crossed the street and stopped at the corner, glancing back. He was walking up to a man this time and going into his physical space, similar to the woman. As I walked out of his view I picked up my phone and entered in the number of campus safety (they have jurisdiction and odds are they would get to the corner much faster than Chicago Police) and gave them a description of the man. They said they would send someone out to handle it.

It might have been stupid, but it was the right thing to do at the time.

Alright, so classes have started. And I am actually quite pleased with my classes. I am taking a writing class with a great teacher who seems to actually care about her students, a health-care-ethics class that sounds like it will challenge my thoughts and beliefs, mock trial which is a somewhat easy A if you don’t take into account the amount of time it takes up, a computer science class should give me a much needed introduction to Java, and Christian Marriage which is taught by a priest who finds that students probably learn more if they sit back and laugh compared to constantly typing away notes.

So basically I am in classes that I *WANT* to attend. Which is something totally new to me.

I was suppose to go to Northern Ohio University for a competition this weekend

Now that is not happening because of the last minute decisions of others

WHO SHOULD HAVE PLANNED FOR GOING

And I was looking forward to going

Instead of spending most of my weekend doing jack shit

And when I bring up my disappointment with the group I get called selfish

Fuck them

I am back in Chicago and watching TV and I see a Comcast commercial saying they have twice (or more) HD shows at any one time. Then there is a see-saw that has a box of Comcast channels on the left then a box of DirecTV channels on the right. The commercial shows the Comcast side down no matter how much weight they add to the DirecTV side.

Only thing is, that is total BS. Over the past few months DirecTV started broadcasting from a new satellite… and over a month or two they added 100 HD Channels. Literally, 100. Comcast doesn’t have 100 channels. Comcast has like 10 (not including locals)

I mean, sure, if you have the default box and dish for DirecTV Comcast has a ton more channels, but if you get the new box and dish you will have more channels. Oh, and probably pay the same/less for them all.

Bah, I want RCN. 20Mbit internet

I think I am going to drive to Chicago on Monday to bring some stuff to the apartment. Then I have a training for Final Cut Pro at the Apple Store on The Magnificent Mile downtown.

This would be the first time I have driven in Chicago, much less driven that far (I have never had the need before.)

I figure I back up the van into the spot behind the building and unload whatever I bring, then go find a place to park the car for awhile (maybe Loyola’s parking garage if I don’t want to stick around overnight,) and finally take the bus downtown.

Should be fun… although I may have to use the GPS feature of my phone to help me figure out how to get down there. I think I know where to go but I don’t feel like being lost in Chicago.