The Prodigal Son Returns...

Hey yaars,

I know I've waited a bit too long to post, but I figured I'd thoroughlly enjoy every second of Chicago. Of course from the day after I arrived till today I've been busy with work and haven't gotten the proper chance to write! And as you can read from the post's title, I did go a bit wayward in terms of purchases (my wallet's STILL hurting!).

One key purchase was a digital camera. I splurged on a Nikon Coolpiz L2 which I'm loving at this point. I've taken quite a few photos and here's one of the plane while we were waiting in the lounge to board.



Of course, being the GQ model that he his, here's my brother chillaxing in the lounge with his faux blazer hoody and Texas shirt. And before you even think it, YES, he DOES look a lot like me!



Here's a photo of me and my mother. As you can see, I'm sticking to tradition with some McDonald's fries and comme usuelle my mom's is sitting next to me so that she can mooch a few sips of coke and half the fries. (She never wants to order a whole meal, just take bits and pieces off of my meal - I HATE that!)



And before I head out, here's one more from the day before. It has my cousin, my aunt, mom, and bro in a photo with baby Aiza (if I hear any ugly baby jokes, I may have to whup someone!).



I have many more, and last night's supervisor encounter I have recorded in video form. I'll just have to keep you all eagerly waiting for more. The suspense commences....NOW!

L8er dawgs and bitches!

The Friendly Confines...

I did it. I managed to make it to the Mecca of baseball. The spiritual home of the game. The Friendly Confines of WRIGLEY FIELD!

After missing out twice to see them, Thursday was our last chance. My cousin dropped me and the brother off at the local Metra station (kinda like Go Transit). From there we made it into town no problem. While walking en route to the bus to take us to Wrigley, we noticed that we had reached Clark, the road Wrigley's on. We figured if we kept going north, we'd hit Addison and make it with plenty of time. BIG mistake!

We ended up walking for about an hour until we gave up and went to a 7-11 for replenishment. The dude at the counter said it was about a half an hour away and proceeded to compliment my brother on his Stewie shirt (I mention it because it happened all day - its as if it's an Illinois magnet). Of course minutes after we start walking it rains, like PISS! We get soaked until we find a Blockbuster to chill in for a bit. We ate some hot dogs at a local hot dog restaurant ($2 for a stacked dog and fries!) were we talked to a local who claimed to be 1/2 Indian (he was totally white!). Eventually we got to Wrigley with 5 minutes to go before the game!

Thank goodness for my ticket office experience. Knowing full well of seats being released I mozied on over to the window and requested the 2 best available. I got the bland reply of 2 Terrace Box seats for $22 total. Totally embarrassed, I bought them and was apologizing profusely to Zan for not being able to do better. He said it was no problem and the fact that we were there was enough. We managed to get in the gates right before the pre-game ceremonies, despite Zan being pulled over for not having his ticket scanning properly (it did eventually!).

Jonathan Davis of koRn threw out the first pitch. It was Jackie Robinson day so Ernie Banks and Jackie's daughter were there for some pregame ceremony. National anthem done by a school band. The seats you ask? Section 220 row 15, BEHIND HOME PLATE! They were the Rogers Centre equivalent of Field Level Infield tix behind the plate, and for 11 bucks apiece! Evidently it was a value game for some reason and those tix normally go for about 30 apiece. We so lucked out!

The game was exciting, Kerry Wood making his season debut. He struck out 2 of 3 in the first inning and was given a standing ovation, something I have NEVER seen in Toronto, at least not that early! He then proceeded to get shelakked, to the tune of a 5-0 defecit. My brother and I decided to get some eats and look around.

We saw some cool little things around, and have some pictures (which I'll post eventually!). The Cubs managed to catch up and had runners on 1st and 3rd with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th when Neifi Perez decides to BUNT, leading to the easy out for the Nats. It was a shocker to the point that the boos didn't stop for a good minute! A prickjob of course, but typical of Chicago's "Lovable Losers" from what I hear.

Moment of the day had to come in the washroom stalls. First off, the urinals are esentially massive sinks people piss into, and do so in communion. Secondly, a guy had the nerve to wear a white sox hat to which the cubbie faithful dissed him. The arguing contined while everyone was pissing until the line of the trip came : "Quit holding your dick and go back to the South Side!"

Such good times so far. Have done a TONNE of shopping, as the prices are decent to amazing, and the selection is unbelievable. What they say about the food here is true, it's in IMMENSE proportions and cheap, which explains the heffers I've seen every few minutes. The people here though are suprisingly over-friendly, to the point that they will shake your hand if they know you're a tourist, give perfect directions, and even pay bus fare! Never in my life have I seen a boyfriend and girlfriend thank me profusely for having given them their dropped bus token.

I got more stories I'm sure, but need some sleep, the Sox/Cubs matchup at U.S. Cellular Field is in 10 hours and I need some sleep!

Naveed gets to Bush country...

...and for the first time there's NO hyperbole in the title!



So it started out pleasant enough. Had work on Saturday with J-Fizzle and figured I'd pack once I got home. Of course I managed to get home at 10, and promptly fell asleep. Sunday was spent running around different fragrance shops, trying to find particular brands as gifts for our family. After a long sunday, I figured I'd start packing, which is when my mom said that we were going to her friend's home. The packing STILL had to wait!

It ended up being Monday night when I started packing for a flight some 12 hours later. Of course right when I start, we get another phone call from family friends saying that their business' computer is messed up and to please please come and check it out. And of course being the good boy I am, I checked it out and got home in the early hours of Tuesday. FINALLY I managed to finish packing, getting directions to Park n Fly, and confirmation code for the plane tickets by 4 AM Tuesday. I woke up 3.5 hours later!



Drove to the Park 'n Fly near Pearson, with my mother STILL apprehensive about leaving the car in an open lot for a week. Thank goodness we found a Sikh woman driving the bus. I don't know what it is, but something about talking in Punjabi really relaxes my mother, and it worked here too! We managed to reach the airport at noon hour, still about 3 hours before the flight!

I have to say this, the security checks by U.S. homeland security are ridiculously long. You have to fill out this silly form saying how much in valuables you are bringing/giving as gifts/hoping to bring back, along with a bevy of other useless questions. Once through there, you get your bags checked in, then go through security. Oddly enough out of the three of us, the 50-year old mom and 17-year old stylish bro got pulled aside while the 24-year old goatee/stubbly dude got through no problem! The reason? My bro had his iPod in his pocket and my mother had her gold bangles on. I was thanking my lucky stars no latex gloves were being snapped!





Next step was the Homeland security check. As I was advised by friends, I tried to be as nice as possible, with a big smile on my face and a cheery attitude. Of course thsi dude looked like he had just come from a funeral for TWELVE, and didn't even crack a smile when he heard my mother bumble her english. In fact I think the SECOND he saw on her passport that she was born in Pakistan, he gave us a semi evil eye :P Of course we passed through.

While waiting in the lounge (B11), we thought we'd go to the Tim Horton's on the other side of the glass partition. Little did we know that technically the other side was American territory, and we couldn't go through. So instead of enjoying an Iced Capp whilst reading the Toronto Star, I got stuck with a Red Bull and cheese bagel. For some reason they put all the trademark Canadian shops on the American side while we get U.S. places like T.G.I. Fridays!

Surprisingly enough the flight was good. No, I didn't piss myself or hold anyone's hand while taking off. In fact I had the whole row to myself! It was odd because even though the plane was half empty, my family and myself were seated apart. In any event, the flight was pleasant and actually was early (1 hour as opposed to the scheduled 1h45).

Once we got off the plane, my moms was surprised we didn't have to pass any customs. Upon reaching baggage check, we quickly found our stuff at the front of the conveyor belt, quickly picked it up and looked where to go. We had no idea that the baggage claim was where you would meet your family! I looked like an idiot asking people where the exit was, only to see them point two feet away! Alas once we figured out that our family SHOULD be here, it was a matter of WHY they hadn't been here for 45 minutes!



We called their home, their cell phones, and basically had my mom beg Americans for change. Eventually we got a hold of them at which point they said "Have you guys got a cab yet? We'll see you in a bit". WHAT!!! You can imagine the ticked-offness my mom and I had not only at having to wait an hour, but to take forever to get a hold of them to find out we were cabbing it. On top of all of it, because they lived in a non-local suburb, we ended up paying time-and-a-half on cab fare, which came out to 40 bucks, AMERICAN! Though I have to say, it was hard to really show an angered face at that point, seeing as my cousin, aunt, and the new baby were waiting on the porch.

(Side note - I don't know if we had an odd case, but we got maybe the WORST cabbie ever! Not only did he not know where to go when I gave him the suburb name and address, he actually gave my brother his cell phone to call to ask directions. He kept scaring us with the potential of our fare being over the estimated $39 on the board at O'Hare, yet it ended up at $37! You can imagine how much I missed our brown Canadian cabbies!).

So we arrived, my mother shedding her usual tear when she meets a sister, and we chilled. Had food to eat, and watched some good ol' American tv. I have to say after one night, it's got it's pros and cons.

PROS
-ESPN
-HBO
-HBO on Demand
-Showtime
-Baseball Tonight

CONS
-ESPN (they have great and horrible programming depending on the show)
-OLN (undeniably the WORST hockey coverage ever!)
-local news (it's SOOOO cheesy)

Anyhow, we ended up crashing around 12. The house is pretty cool. I don't have my digital camera yet (buying one today hopefully), but there are some nifty things around. My bro and I are sharing the "basement" area which is furnished with a computer room and 40" Plasma TV with the aforementioned Comcast Cable. Just got up at an ungodly hour form (8:30 am), and figured I'd kill some time by keeping my peeps up to date!

There's more, I just thought it would be better to have it in condensed bits, instead of massive posts like this! Keep reading dawgs and bitches!

Sing when you're winning!

What's crack-a-lackin' dawgs (and bitches)!

Things are going swell. Been busy working at the Cable Box, actually having to work the 8-4 shift (gasp!). It's all good though, so far I've had fun and managed to have some fun. And of course share my lexicon of G-Unit stories with anyone who's willing to listen!

So I think I can officially close the case on who posted the infamous comment from a while back. And thankfully it's all good, as this person subtly jokes about the blog quite often. I'm glad it didn't turn out to be one crazy conundrum for yours truly.

Watched my first game of the year, from the beginning that is. Had tix behind the A's dugout which was quite sweet. Of course the fact that I had to be back there the next day at the ungodly hour of 8 am (egads!) meant I had to jet quickly. Of course that SHOULD mean that I should be sleeping right now, but as everyone knows, I have a few downloaded TV shows to watch (damnit I can't wait till Lost is done!).

Anyhow, afternoon game tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have the strength to post! Talk to everyone soon!

"Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation for 'tis better to be alone than in bad company."
- George Washington (1732 - 1799)

Chicago 2006 - It's ON!!!

Hey cats and dogs,

Finally managed to book my tickets online for my trip. It's for next Tuesday and lasts for a week. Hopefully I manage to watch a couple of Cubs games at Wrigley, a Brewers game at Miller Park, and shop for anything and everything. Oh yeah, and of course say hello to my cousin and aunt. Of course getting my cricket gear will be well worth having to take a cab to their place in "Elk Grove, IL".

Been busy at work. It's days like today, where I have a good time and laugh a lot, that I realize how amazing it is to work (albeit part time) at a job like this. Not only because of the perks, but the people are so great. I'd like to think I bring some of that positive energy to the table as well, at the same time I think I truly enjoy working with everyone. Now if only I could find a job like this that paid LARGE

I probably should be going to bed now. Have to be back at work in less than 7 hours and need some form of rest. I'll leave y'all with a Nike ad for the upcoming football World Cup (I refuse to call it soccer - that's an American word!). It's part of the Joga Bonito series of ads. The bearded chubby guy is Eric Cantona (Manchester United legend) and it shows the mad skill of Brazil's Samba Boys. Surprisingly enough there's a Pakistani connection to the video...



...OK OK, the only connection is that the ball is made in Pakistan, just like 90% of the world's footballs. They all come out of the same little city (Sialkot), and when the final is played in Munich in about 10 weeks, that ball kicked around will have originated in the land of the pure!

Anyhow, that's my sycophantic raving for the day. Have a good one (or two!), I'll try and think of something interesting to write soon enough!

Moments are Temporary...

Don't have too much time to write about anything interesting, so I thought I'd leave y'all with a cool mash-up I found. It's Chicane with Tom Jones, and the song is called Stoned in Love. ENJOY and have an excellent weekend!

I'm engaged...

...and neither myself nor my mother knew of this until yesterday!!!

RELAX Cedric, no need to start stag party arrangements just yet!

Yesterday I went out to the Town Centre with the ma and bro to pick up our passports. While there we saw the daughter of an old family friend. Both our families have been trying to meet up but there's always a conflict in the way. So the daughter calls her mother to talk to mine, and they set up an immediate dinner plan. Of course, my "uncle" has been asking me to fix his business' computer for the last month and I never got the chance, so I caved and went through with it.

Anyhow, back to the story. While I was at Uncle's shop working on the computer, our mom's were talking and my Auntie mentioned how she received a phone call from another mutual friend. Here's the paraphrased conversation:

------------------------

Mutual Friend Auntie : "So, when is your daughter going to get married?"

Auntie: "Well we're not thinking this year, but hopefully next year."

Mutual Friend Auntie : "Well that's good, they look like a nice couple. And it's good that you're marrying within your community. Your families have known each other for decades so there's no need to worry about the family..."

Auntie : "What? Who are you talking about?"

Mutual Auntie : "Oh come on, your daughter and Iffat's boy. They look so happy together!"
-------------------------

Apparently we were seen chatting and laughing at a gathering of a few families and people got talking about things. Mind you my brother was there, and our mothers were RIGHT THERE talking with us! I guess I can see where things were misconstrued, but it was funny to see how a laugh or two can lead to such gossipping (I should know!)

Yikes though. I'm getting a little scared that people are starting to whisper my name in conversations like this! That's the 2nd uncomfortable convo I've had in 7 days. Speaking of which, NO I haven't tried the "wrap-around" to those who might have wanted to know!

Stay tuned, more cool stories to come I'm sure. The video on the top of the page is from an Indian movie. The guy "singing" is just an actor who for some reason makes songs into hits whenever he's in the video!