Sh'wah?

So, here's an enormous kick in the pants (and my thanks go to Richard for pointing this one out): HBO is doing a TV series based on what is arguably the greatest fantasy series ever written. Well, fantasy isn't so much the right term for it, it's more of a political thriller set in a fantasy setting, the Song of Ice and Fire. It starts with the Game of Thrones, and I'm currently on the fifth book, A Feast for Crows. Over the past five books, they started with one noble family ruling some backwoods area up in the frozen north. Over a period of four books, they promoted that family to a higher ranking in society, and killed off almost every one of them during the bloody, horrible civil war that has been going on since the last actual king's death in the first book. It's a little hard to read, because you're entirely unsure if this character you have grown to love is going to die shortly, or if the people their betting their life on are tinkering behind the scenes to bring about said character's demise.

But it's freakin' PERFECT fodder for an HBO series. Considering what they have done with previous series, this is going to be big, it's likely to be good (based on the source material), and it's definitely going to be a reason to get HBO. No word yet on when it's supposed to start production, but when it does, it's a gimme.

A Fine Saturday

I still don't have internet at home, so I couldn't blog about this until today, but I just want to talk about how wonderful Saturday was. I got a few errands done in the morning, then Heidi came in, and we did nothing. She lay around and read my second copy of Harry Potter (I pre-ordered a copy from Amazon.com, and forgot that it was coming, so I ordered another copy), while I did dishes and crap. I had to wait around for the DirecTV guy to show up, and he was late, but I'm OK with that. If he's late, that means he's doing things right for other people. And, sure enough, he was the most competent of the six technicians I've had in the apartment over the last two weeks. I now have HD DirecTV with Tivo, and DAMN! That's the way to watch TV!

Also, one thing I really like about DirecTV, is that with Comcast, the best I can do to avoid the temptation of the "naughty channels" is to lock them. With DirecTV, I can remove them entirely. Out of sight, out of mind, capische?

Anyway, while waiting for Mr. Tech, when not reading, Heidi and I had a really good conversation, and the opportunity to pray together about some big stuff.

Then we went out. The weather on Saturday was quite nice after the rain. A little humid, but the temperature was quite pleasant. I did a search on Citysearch for a good date restaurant, and found Deleece. It got a fairly high rating, but I'd never heard of it, so I thought I'd take a gamble. We ended up having to change our reservation because of the lateness of the DirecTV guy, but they were able to take it. The inside was crowded and noisy, and the outside was practically empty and freakin' gorgeous, so we chose to sit outside. The waiter came up and gave us the specials, and my mouth was beginning to water already. We chose a lamb thingy and a beef tenderloin thingy and we split them. We also had a beef satay appetizer and a brownie dessert. To anybody reading this, wherever you may be, if you are ever anywhere near Chicago, I recommend coming to this restaurant. This was the best dining experience I've had for years. The waiter was the best I'd had in probably two years, and the food was freakin insanely amazing. When I commented this to the waiter, he even chose that opportunity to suavely complement Heidi, ensuring that she would have an even better time (if she was previously insecure, which she isn't). And yes, the company made the evening, but that was a kickass restaurant.

Yes, Saturday was a wonderful wonderful wonderful day. Sunday was a pain in the ass because of the heat, but Saturday made up for it all.