Put lots of toppings on my NY style pizza please

Hello everyone- hmm where to begin? Well, I'm Anne..better known on here as "Keysie" and I'm guest-blogging for HD since dude cant get off his lazy bones and download a program so he can upload his blogs..ahem. but i digress. A little about me:

I was born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan. After graduating college, I decided a warmer climate was in order and so my roommate, her boyfriend and I packed up all our things and moved to Charleston, South Carolina. Our lease was for 9 months and by the end of said lease I was so ready to leave. Don't get me wrong, Charleston is a beautiful place and I had some awesome times (the sunsets are STUNNING) but...I really missed the seasons, specifically spring and fall but.... I even missed snow! (not mention my roommates turned out to be assholes) So come April I packed up my stuff once again and moved to Chicago. Both my brothers already lived there and my parents were safely 3 hours away (far enough not to come over everyday, yet close enough for visits- you get the idea). I'm going into my fifth year here now- locals tell me that if you survive five years then Chicago is now your "hometown" but I still hold strong to my Michigan roots. Ya'll? it's beautiful there. If you've never been, please visit sometime, oh and *disclaimer*- have someone who knows the area give you a tour/plan your trip. Because there are some ugly parts (*cough* Detroit! *cough*)..so now that I got the basics done..moving on :)

(my friend Cathy told me the above paragraph was boring but I ignored her so, sorry.)

I met Dynamo through my first "adult job", he being my tech support contact out of headquarters in NY and I being the administrative assistant and only person with any computer skillz (um the bar wasn't set too high). We didn't get much work done, in fact when I broke our phones he laughed hysterically instead of helping me but even now I chuckle because it was pretty damn funny...ah to be the fly on the wall while I ran around red faced and panicked because the phone lines wouldn't stop ringing! good stuff. Dynamo and I have been friends pretty much ever since then. In fact, I went to NY last year for the first time and dude showed me around. Here are a few things I noticed, while comparing Chicago to NY...

1) I was WAY overwhelmed by how much there was to see and do..but I shouldn't be shocked since, like I said, I've lived in Chicago for five years and am JUST now starting to feel like I know my way around the neighborhoods, how to show someone from out of town a good time and also have my own regular spots *insert Cheers theme here* BUT I was also shocked at how MUCH is packed into such a small area. When HD visited me, he mentioned how spread out Chicago is and I mean, I always thought it was over-packed. But this was before MY visit out there, now I see what he means.

2) Chicago should really learn from NY's example because, in my humble opinion, the subway system there? way better. I think I may have exclaimed "ooo shiny" when I saw your plastic seats. I know I know- whats the big deal Anne? well, let me tell you. Here? we have this cheap carpet on our subway seats...and if you've ever sat on a wet one...you know where I'm going with this. It makes NO sense..NONE! So when Chicago decided to redesign their subway cars AFTER NY's I thought "yay!"...imagine my shock when I saw those effing carpeted seats ONCE AGAIN. I don't get it- I mean, how do they clean those seats (oh right..they don't *raises eyebrows*). Also, we totally failed on the bench seats like you guys have too. The point of those is to give people more room to sit, plus help avoid bags getting slapped in your face but did Chicago's public transpo recognize this? nope. They instead put a bar every two seats, limiting capacity. These new subway cars have been removed from tracks for faulty brakes so perhaps they'll redesign but I'm not holding my breath.

3) I'll probably regret admitting this but NY? has better pizza...However (looks at HD) that's because you canNOT compare deep dish pizza to NY style. It's a totally different species of pizza, people. Enough said.

I'll leave it at that for now. Nice to meet all of you :)

There is an additional software program needed to do that

AKA "There's an app for that"

The handheld units of today are wondrous machines with limitations that somewhat defy understanding. When these devices started mainstreaming mobile use of the net they touted the end of mobile versions of web pages. Apple is famous for making the nytimes that well was the nytimes.com not some text based bastardized version. Now there is any app for that too.

Standards should mean something, designers and programmers have had pages that work cross-platform for ages yet now any additional hiccup has been thrown in. Instead everything from wall street journal to your favorite tv shows site needs to be append down to size.

Just tell me straightforward that your device uses a weird resolution and wont display pages properly instead of appending them to your app-list. There are legitimate apps like productivity, games and research tools. If you dont fall into that category you should not be counted as anything but making up for odd limitations due to stupid engineering choices.

Washed Away

The horizon is over-cast by the deep water

Yet it is everything but still

As i am fixed on disaster

New species birthed this day

Crude Dolphins and seaturtles

Rich with Omega BP, bad for the blood

Now bad blood cross oceans

Lives lost to bad notions

Of what makes a bottom-line

Now from top to bottom lined

With dark grease and toxic sheens

Dispersed till site unseen, never out of my mind

Or maybe I am

As i consider torches and pitch-forks

All fouled up no time for talk

Just enough to place heads on pikes

For spite, revenge and warning to the next

Showing Up

There is some wise saying that i cant quite get right and require the use of the google in order to quote correctly. Basically it amounts to the fact that the least a person can do is to show up. There are so many times in our lives that we allow fear or discomfort to take over. It is always better to face something than let it linger.

It is any approach that i am quite familiar with as i find my passive nature overtaking my better senses. Usually what we fear facing is a lot greater in imagination than in practice. If there is one thing i have learned is that "Obstacles are smaller than they appear."

This does not mean that "showing up" will automatically solve the problem. You have to put in work once you get there. That bully may be surprised you showed up,but, you gotta swing and block to win the fight in the end.

I had a court date for traffic violation the other day. I showed up and the cop didnt. I am sure the judge would have gone with his word had he shown his face; all he had was mine, case dismissed.