this weekend was a long one, if anything. i've long since finished the coffee for the morning (not before it got cold, though…hrm), and now i'm settling in for the long work day. always fun.

thursday my friend joe and i drove up to chicago to catch hey mercedes and burning airlines at the metro. we got a kinda late start, but i ramped up the speed and we were making good time. great time, in fact. until we got right outside of indianapolis. we were cruising along until traffic slowed down until we were at a dead stop. dead. not moving. for 45 minutes. we were actually out of the car, hanging out on the overpass that we were stuck on, shooting the shit with various other stranded motorists (mainly the bus driver that was behind us). i even skated up to the front to try to discern what the hell was going on. apparently they had traffic down to one lane for some construction and some joker decided to go ahead and cause an accident in that one lane. effectively killing northbound interstate 65. lovely. we finally started moving, and when we reached the next exit, they made all traffic get off the highway. they had some crazy back road detour set up that had us bumper to bumper with cars, busses, and semis, way out in the middle of nowheresville, indiana. for 20 miles or so. seriously. this whole ordeal added around 2 hours to our drive time. it was ridiculous. but when we finally got back on the highway and moving, we stopped at a truck stop and the attendants were watching ferris bueller, so i guess it evens out.

and then when we got to chicago, we found out there was a cubs game going on, which only matters because the metro just happens to be a block away from wrigley. needless to say, we drove around for about an hour, looking for parking. we parked way down clark and hoofed it down. we showed up just in time to see burning airlines take the stage. since they were the headliners, this meant we missed hey mercedes. curses! the second time that has happened! i ran into bob so we hung out and drank the beer that seemed to be everywhere.

damon mentioned that they were playing in indianapolis the next night, and that we should just head down there and catch the show on the way home. a decision was made. we stayed at bob's thursday night, got up and did some assorted odds and ends (scooterworks and flat top grill), and then headed straight down to indy to meet up with allison. we got there way before the hey mercedes (something about a minivan/mercedes collision), so we hung out and waited for them. the show was kinda sparsely attended and there were 8 bands on the bill. 21 and over. tara jane played, but then we waited through about 5 more math-rock outfits until hey mercedes finally took the stage. i think i'm under a secret pact to not discuss the show in detail. let's just say…there was blood involved. joe made sure to say "bob…use the pick," and the stage right vocals were completely unheard.

and then we drove home. all the way. finally getting home around 6:30 in the am. yawn.

last night allison and i checked out zoolander. this movie was worth it just for the love scene involving a girl, ben stiller, owen wilson, two finnish dwarves, and a maori tribesman. word.