Something to smile about

This, my friends, is a beautiful thing:

And it reminds me that spring is indeed around the corner. It's amazing how different 40 degrees feels in February than it does in October. The snow is beginning to melt and only a few man- and plow-made icebergs linger in the corners of parking lots. This may be the first weekend in a long time that I don't feel like hibernating, and that's a good thing, because we are going to see the lovely Maria Bamford and local comic Dan Telfer at the Lakeshore Theater tomorrow night. The best part? It's free! The Lakeshore is always a good time, and there is nothing I would rather do on a Saturday night than go to a comedy show or concert.

In other Chicago comedy news, I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts today at work (well, I listened to a few goodies, but I have something to say about this one in particular), and I felt the need to post about it on *GB*. I'm always happy when I can post about something I love on the site and if it turns even one new person into a listener, I will be beyond thrilled!

Comedy and Everything Else is a weekly comedy podcast featuring Todd Glass, Jimmy Dore, and Stephane Zamorano. I started listening because when I was a young, impressionable 24-year-old, I watched Todd Glass on Last Comic Standing and thought he was the shit. He was the only person on Seasons 2 and 3 that I found even remotely funny (sorry, Ant!), mostly for his straightforward and sort of goofy (in a good way...playful may be a better word?) persona. When I found out he was starting a podcast, I was on board immediately.

30 episodes in, I still love it and am a loyal listener and fan. The "comedy" is not anyone doing a written set of jokes, mind you (though there is a little shtick thrown in sometimes). It involves a lot of talk about early days in their careers, being on the road, good and bad comedy clubs, heckling, heroes in the biz, and a tiny bit of industry gossip. The "everything else" includes politics, religion, infomercials, marriage, gay rights, raising children, education, smoking cigarettes, smoking pot, pop culture, and much much more. Sometimes controversial, always funny, I like that they aren't afraid to say some of the things that I would like to say if only I had the balls. I almost always agree with them, too...and sometimes, I even learn.

The episodes are all a bit long compared to most podcasts, usually hovering somewhere around the two hour mark, but I always feel like it's worth the investment to listen to the whole thing. They also have amazing guests (in my opinion), from Doug Benson to Jimmy Pardo and Jeneane Garofalo to Jen Kirkman. Ok, I didn't intend for this entry to be a plug for anything, but there it is! Get me going and I can't stop! I like spreading the word about things that give me joy, even if it is to only one or two people. I'm not saying that my cup of tea will be everyone's, but it can't hurt to throw a little love out there into the universe, right?

Catch up time!

Last night, I got off of work and went straight to the boyfriend's place of employment to dooooooo this:

That's right, we made a gingerbread house! But it's not just any gingerbread house...no sir. It's a LEED Platinum certified gingerbread house, and it was his company's entry for Gingerbuild 2008, a charity event where it was auctioned off tonight. I'm not taking credit for much of it. I'm no good with constructing anything, and the other people there (5 of us in all) are all architects and interior designers and such, so...yeah...I left it to the professionals. I helped with signage and ideas mostly. It was a lot of fun to be part of the whole thing, though. It our first time doing anything like it (all of us). I was pretty proud of everyone.

You want to know the best part? It WON! I didn't see the other entries, but I heard they were good and we still won. Cool, right? I don't know how much it went for in the auction, but I'll probably hear about it tomorrow. Yay!

Anyway, we were there pretty late and I didn't even get home until after 10:30. I was absolutely exhasted. Probably went to bed around 12:15. I don't think I've slept more than 5 hours any night this week. Barely even got the 5, so tonight, I plan on getting to bed waaaay earlier. I'm catching up on my Top Chef at the moment, so I'll probably pass out right when it's over (and catch up on my sleep). Is the title of the post starting to make more sense now?

I am SO so so so excited about tomorrow. I think I mentioned a couple of posts ago that my work holiday party is this week...well, it's tomorrow. But I'm not going anymore. Yeah, I double-booked myself and didn't realize it. Instead, tomorrow I am going to see Oasis and Ryan Adams! Oh, and Matt Costa, which I guess might be exciting if I knew anything about him. I know the name. Does that count?

Right, so I've seen Oasis a few times. They canceled on me twice in my teens, I finally got to see them in West Palm Beach when I was 16 or 17. I saw them again in Atlanta once and in their home city of Manchester when I was in England. That was by far the craziest concert I think I've ever been to, but those stories can wait for another day. Let's just say I was dodging flying cups of pee from drunken football hooligan types all night. Fun, though!!!

Anyway, I have never seen Ryan Adams live, so I'm sort of more excited about that. In case you haven't noticed from my post on here or my Last.fm page, I've been kind of obsessed with his new album. I always do that when he puts out new tunes. I just can't stop listening! It will just be a great show, I think. It's half of my Christmas present from Jon, the other half being The Killers concert in February. I love going to a good show. Yep. I'd take a concert or two over pretty much every other present in the world. He's getting Guitar Hero World Tour in return (don't worry, he already knows...and probably doesn't read my blog, ha!).

So, no work party for Alissa, but it's probably for the best. I can listen to the stories on Monday and know for sure that there are no bad ones about me. Win-win, you see. :)

Ok, that's it. I HAVE to get some shut-eye. Night!