Hoorah!
Done with this hellish day, y'all.
The Meeting from Hell was as long as expected, but all of my prep paid off and it went relatively well. Two of the people who attended commented afterward that my presentation was solid, and I felt that way too. By the end of the third meeting today, thought, I could barely sit up straight.
But, after school I managed to get a hair cut, drive home (and find a good parking place!) in the deepening snow, drop off a rent check, do early voting two minutes before the end of the last day, and get my book for book club. It's funny how one becomes more productive when one's plate suddenly cleans up.
On another note, I have a new favorite kid I work with. He's three and has a head of bright red hair and has the Irish-est of Irish names. I love holding his hand and walking in the hall to my speech room because he moves like a mile an hour: it's almost like we move backward, we're so slow. He's mellow and I think naturally quiet, although his language is getting pretty awesome at this point. Anyway, his absolute favorite activity is to play animal sounds bingo, where we spread out all of these animal pictures and then listen to a CD of animal sounds. We've done it enough now, that he beats me to my over the top loud animal imitations (you haven't lived till you've heard this kid say "gobblegobbleGOBBLE"). Last week he melted my cold dead heart when he pointed to the picture of a chick and said: "So soft?" It killed. This week he expanded it to: "Baby chick so soft?" Talk about a Cute Overload living experience.
Also: I'm watching "Muriel's Wedding" again, and what an odd, strange movie, but it draws me in every time.
Lastly: it's supposed to snow between 7-12 inches tonight. Jealous?
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
When it rains...
I'm halfway through my week o' crap. For some reason, everything has culminated into this week. I have several large meetings at work (which all require lots of paperwork) including the Meeting From Hell (which is tomorrow), report cards were due, and I had to do this massive training for Early Intervention. EI is my side job that is fun but the credentialing process is a gargantuan pain in the ass.
Let's talk about the EI training first: it's usually three days in person, but they did start online modules (this year!) so you can do those and then attend a one-day mandatory meeting. The one-day mandatory meeting? Doesn't occur for another few months, so it had to be today. I'm grateful since going for ONE day is waaaay better than going for three, but I'll complain still. See, I was initially told that the online training would be like an hour and a half or two. Wrong. It ended up being 26 different modules that ranged from 15 minutes to 45 minutes each. It took me about a week to get done. Oy. The in-person training today was definitely relatively painless, though, and it was nice to get some questions answered and to meet some other providers.
[Another observation: Early Intervention people tend to have little terms for the kids, which I love. Usually it's stuff like: "little guy," or "kiddo," or "little one." Today I heard a new one that I adore the most. The trainer referred to the kids she sees as "cookies."]
The training today was at a far-away suburb, and because of the terrible weather last night, the roads were covered with fresh salt. I drove on three different highways and by the time I was nearing my destination, my windshield was absolutely frosted with salt and I was helpless since my windshield wiper fluid was frozen solid. Every time I tried it, my wipers would spread the salt around, kind of like frosting a cake. It was getting kind of scary, so much so that I ended up pulling into a little side street so I could wipe stuff down (yay for Clorox wipes!). But, as I pulled into the side street my tires lost traction on the accumulated snow and my civic did a complete 180. It was extremely frightening, but luckily, no one was behind me and no one was coming. I just took a deep breath, righted the car, and got the car into some random parking lot.
My level of bitterness at that point for having to haul ass to the way out suburbs and risk life and limb for a training I didn't want to attend? High.
So, yeah, the training ended up being okay and I got home safely (although I did get a random scattershot pebble/rock hit my car causing the tiniest of cracks).
Now I have to prep for Meeting from Hell tomorrow. The good news is that I am slated to present first, and I will get it over with. In fact, I feel almost ecstatic that it will soon be done with and I no longer have to dread this damn thing! And after that, two more meetings, and lots of kids to make up.
I foresee being dead to the world tomorrow evening.
I'm halfway through my week o' crap. For some reason, everything has culminated into this week. I have several large meetings at work (which all require lots of paperwork) including the Meeting From Hell (which is tomorrow), report cards were due, and I had to do this massive training for Early Intervention. EI is my side job that is fun but the credentialing process is a gargantuan pain in the ass.
Let's talk about the EI training first: it's usually three days in person, but they did start online modules (this year!) so you can do those and then attend a one-day mandatory meeting. The one-day mandatory meeting? Doesn't occur for another few months, so it had to be today. I'm grateful since going for ONE day is waaaay better than going for three, but I'll complain still. See, I was initially told that the online training would be like an hour and a half or two. Wrong. It ended up being 26 different modules that ranged from 15 minutes to 45 minutes each. It took me about a week to get done. Oy. The in-person training today was definitely relatively painless, though, and it was nice to get some questions answered and to meet some other providers.
[Another observation: Early Intervention people tend to have little terms for the kids, which I love. Usually it's stuff like: "little guy," or "kiddo," or "little one." Today I heard a new one that I adore the most. The trainer referred to the kids she sees as "cookies."]
The training today was at a far-away suburb, and because of the terrible weather last night, the roads were covered with fresh salt. I drove on three different highways and by the time I was nearing my destination, my windshield was absolutely frosted with salt and I was helpless since my windshield wiper fluid was frozen solid. Every time I tried it, my wipers would spread the salt around, kind of like frosting a cake. It was getting kind of scary, so much so that I ended up pulling into a little side street so I could wipe stuff down (yay for Clorox wipes!). But, as I pulled into the side street my tires lost traction on the accumulated snow and my civic did a complete 180. It was extremely frightening, but luckily, no one was behind me and no one was coming. I just took a deep breath, righted the car, and got the car into some random parking lot.
My level of bitterness at that point for having to haul ass to the way out suburbs and risk life and limb for a training I didn't want to attend? High.
So, yeah, the training ended up being okay and I got home safely (although I did get a random scattershot pebble/rock hit my car causing the tiniest of cracks).
Now I have to prep for Meeting from Hell tomorrow. The good news is that I am slated to present first, and I will get it over with. In fact, I feel almost ecstatic that it will soon be done with and I no longer have to dread this damn thing! And after that, two more meetings, and lots of kids to make up.
I foresee being dead to the world tomorrow evening.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Sick as a dog
I've been sick all weekend, and--MAN--does it annoy me that I never get sick during the weekdays and I'm taken out for the count on my weekends. It was weird: I was feeling great Friday evening, but as the evening wore on my throat got raw and my body temperature went up. I spent the entire weekend sleeping and napping, and am spending this holiday (Happy MLK Day!) in my pajamas and sleeping off the rest of this sickness. Today I can finally swallow without immense pain, so I think I'll be back in the saddle tomorrow (just in time to get back to work: hooray!).
This has been the sickest I've been in a long time, so it's definitely a little strange. I've actually had to cancel plans and appointments because of it, which rarely happens.
Back to the couch.
I've been sick all weekend, and--MAN--does it annoy me that I never get sick during the weekdays and I'm taken out for the count on my weekends. It was weird: I was feeling great Friday evening, but as the evening wore on my throat got raw and my body temperature went up. I spent the entire weekend sleeping and napping, and am spending this holiday (Happy MLK Day!) in my pajamas and sleeping off the rest of this sickness. Today I can finally swallow without immense pain, so I think I'll be back in the saddle tomorrow (just in time to get back to work: hooray!).
This has been the sickest I've been in a long time, so it's definitely a little strange. I've actually had to cancel plans and appointments because of it, which rarely happens.
Back to the couch.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Did I tell you about last weekend?
Hillary was visiting from Australia and we had a NU-reunion-ilicious weekend and hit up lots of spots. It was super fun to see her and all of the NU ladeeeez so much.
I also watched two very good movies:
1. The Lives of Others: Todd and I watched the DVD, and it was grrreat.
2. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: I went with the NU girls since the book was a book club selection (one of the books I skipped, though), and the movie features speech therapy. It was beautifully filmed and I bawled at the end. Luckily Lauren came prepared with Kleenex.
I heartily recommend both movies.
Hillary was visiting from Australia and we had a NU-reunion-ilicious weekend and hit up lots of spots. It was super fun to see her and all of the NU ladeeeez so much.
I also watched two very good movies:
1. The Lives of Others: Todd and I watched the DVD, and it was grrreat.
2. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: I went with the NU girls since the book was a book club selection (one of the books I skipped, though), and the movie features speech therapy. It was beautifully filmed and I bawled at the end. Luckily Lauren came prepared with Kleenex.
I heartily recommend both movies.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Holy Crap.
I am one lazy bastard. It's been over a month since I've last posted. I don't really have a good excuse, except that I was on break from work (which was like the two fastest weeks in the history of time), and visited home and got to catch up with the entire family. I slept, ate lots of delicious food, watched an entire bus load of movies, shopped, and caught up with friends when I could. Todd joined me in DC before New Years, and we rang in the big event at Matt's place again in the company of Anne and Nate, Suzi and Tom, and Annie and Ben and all of the other guests.
This was the first week back at work, and it's been slowly, slowly getting my act together. Right now I'm knee-deep in lists: I need to submit my certification forms for being a SLP (which involved a wild goose chase of signatures), resubmit a form to get my official IL license, take some free online course to re-up my Early Intervention temporary credential and plan a wedding. Dude.
Interestingly enough, I was filling out one of the above mentioned forms today and as I was filling in dates, I realized that this marks my one year anniversary at my job: one year exactly. Time sure does fly, people.
Oh yes: and I'm also attempting to get into fighting shape and am back on South Beach Diet. I finished the first of the initial hard two weeks. I erred a couple of times, but for the most part I'm pretty proud of myself, and even within these past two weeks, I can feel my general appetite shrinking. What do I love most about SBD? The amount of avocado one gets to eat. And that it doesn't keep me from drinking coffee. And sugar-free fudgsicles. I'm down three pounds after this first week, which even though is 99% water weight, is motivating like crazy. Last night at book club, which is like my most favoritest snacking time of the month, I managed to stay away from BOTH the red wine and the delicious dips and basil rolls that Sarah made. Trick of the trade: sit far away from the snacks and eat a big dinner beforehand.
I am one lazy bastard. It's been over a month since I've last posted. I don't really have a good excuse, except that I was on break from work (which was like the two fastest weeks in the history of time), and visited home and got to catch up with the entire family. I slept, ate lots of delicious food, watched an entire bus load of movies, shopped, and caught up with friends when I could. Todd joined me in DC before New Years, and we rang in the big event at Matt's place again in the company of Anne and Nate, Suzi and Tom, and Annie and Ben and all of the other guests.
This was the first week back at work, and it's been slowly, slowly getting my act together. Right now I'm knee-deep in lists: I need to submit my certification forms for being a SLP (which involved a wild goose chase of signatures), resubmit a form to get my official IL license, take some free online course to re-up my Early Intervention temporary credential and plan a wedding. Dude.
Interestingly enough, I was filling out one of the above mentioned forms today and as I was filling in dates, I realized that this marks my one year anniversary at my job: one year exactly. Time sure does fly, people.
Oh yes: and I'm also attempting to get into fighting shape and am back on South Beach Diet. I finished the first of the initial hard two weeks. I erred a couple of times, but for the most part I'm pretty proud of myself, and even within these past two weeks, I can feel my general appetite shrinking. What do I love most about SBD? The amount of avocado one gets to eat. And that it doesn't keep me from drinking coffee. And sugar-free fudgsicles. I'm down three pounds after this first week, which even though is 99% water weight, is motivating like crazy. Last night at book club, which is like my most favoritest snacking time of the month, I managed to stay away from BOTH the red wine and the delicious dips and basil rolls that Sarah made. Trick of the trade: sit far away from the snacks and eat a big dinner beforehand.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Missing in action
Yes, I have been a quiet bastard on the blog here of late. It was a mixture of things: work was extraordinarily busy for some reason and trying to get my mind wrapped on where to begin on planning a wedding pretty much took me out of commission. I have never wanted a fancy and extravagant wedding, but balancing this with also wanting to include more than three people on the guest list has proven to be a challenge for me. Because I didn't realize it before, but having a wedding is crazy expensive. I know, I must be like one of the few people on this planet, excluding your neighborhood toddlers, who didn't realize the extent of the cost. Now mama knows.
So, the past few weeks of planning has involved a mammoth amount of wheel spinning. We've explored so many venues and combinations of venues and each time there was *something* that didn't slip into the best place. We've looked at places from both of our respective parts of the country. We've crunched numbers. And I would usually come out feeling exhausted and stymied.
But, on Friday we were out at Beat Kitchen, sharing a Thai chicken pizza before seeing This Will Destroy You (who were great, by the way, even though they were like eleven). And this one place that we like to go popped up as a possibility for the reception. And we both got super excited about it because it would be: fun, casual, slightly (okay, very) kitschy, have room to fit everyone, have good food, and be a hell of a lot cheaper than most places that we've looked at. Why hadn't we thought of it before? A phone call was made and we're penciled in for now and I am extremely relieved and thrilled at the prospect of getting this settled into place.
In other news, it's like three weeks till winter break for me and Hallelujah! I'm still enjoying my job, but for some reason, this onslaught of referrals and meetings has popped up and I can't go to the bathroom without someone stopping me in the hall to tell me about a student they want me to observe.
Yes, I have been a quiet bastard on the blog here of late. It was a mixture of things: work was extraordinarily busy for some reason and trying to get my mind wrapped on where to begin on planning a wedding pretty much took me out of commission. I have never wanted a fancy and extravagant wedding, but balancing this with also wanting to include more than three people on the guest list has proven to be a challenge for me. Because I didn't realize it before, but having a wedding is crazy expensive. I know, I must be like one of the few people on this planet, excluding your neighborhood toddlers, who didn't realize the extent of the cost. Now mama knows.
So, the past few weeks of planning has involved a mammoth amount of wheel spinning. We've explored so many venues and combinations of venues and each time there was *something* that didn't slip into the best place. We've looked at places from both of our respective parts of the country. We've crunched numbers. And I would usually come out feeling exhausted and stymied.
But, on Friday we were out at Beat Kitchen, sharing a Thai chicken pizza before seeing This Will Destroy You (who were great, by the way, even though they were like eleven). And this one place that we like to go popped up as a possibility for the reception. And we both got super excited about it because it would be: fun, casual, slightly (okay, very) kitschy, have room to fit everyone, have good food, and be a hell of a lot cheaper than most places that we've looked at. Why hadn't we thought of it before? A phone call was made and we're penciled in for now and I am extremely relieved and thrilled at the prospect of getting this settled into place.
In other news, it's like three weeks till winter break for me and Hallelujah! I'm still enjoying my job, but for some reason, this onslaught of referrals and meetings has popped up and I can't go to the bathroom without someone stopping me in the hall to tell me about a student they want me to observe.
Monday, November 12, 2007
The News!
As most of my loyal blog readers know by now, Todd and I got engaged last Wednesday night! We are excited of course, and I'm doing a good job of reeling myself in now and reminding myself that planning a wedding shouldn't take over my life (it took me a couple of days to get through the initial panic of "what do I do?!" to get to this point, admittedly). It's all about getting married rather than the wedding day, which, while it should be fun, isn't the main event.
So how did it happen? Well, Tuesday was our three year anniversary since our first date (the blog entry can be found for it dated November 7, 2004--I would have linked to the specific entry, but it was proving to be challenging). We ended up going out for our fancy dinner on Wednesday since I had already had book club scheduled on Tuesday (I do love my book club). Todd made reservations at Marche on Randolph Street, and (lucky us!), Wednesday is their night of their Prix Fixe deal. Marche was fun and yummy and looked like it bought decorations off the set of Baz Luhrmann's "Moulin Rouge." (see more about Marche at the end of this entry)
We had a great relaxing dinner and then headed back to Todd's place where we were going to relax and watch a DVRed episode of "30 Rock." As we were about to walk into his door, I was yammering away in the hallway, and Todd paused and stated "I got you a present." Next thing I know, he was on one knee with a box in his outstretched hand. People, I was flabbergasted. Flabbergasted, but thrilled. While I knew that we would eventually get engaged, I figured that it would be early next year or something. It was then that I found out that Todd's been planning this for months now, researched and found the ring on his own, and even called my parents last week for permission. He did an excellent job of picking a ring and keeping it a secret, although he did confess that in the elevator from the garage up to his place he had to concentrate on "acting like [him]self."
So: yay! I'm constantly distracted by the awesomeness of my ring; I've never been a jewelry kind of girl, but I'm lerving the shininess. And of course, I'm so happy to make it official with the best dude ever.
Note: Y'all, RUN to Marche for their Prix Fixe deals! It's 28 bucks total and you get any appetizer, main course, and dessert you want off of the menu. I chose the steak as my main dish and that, alongside my french onion soup and my bittersweet chocolate cake flanked with mint chip (with fresh mint leave tastiness) would have normally set me back $51. My steak dinner alone normally costs more than the price of the prix fixe meal! I'm overcome by value and it was all super delicious. Go, go, go!
As most of my loyal blog readers know by now, Todd and I got engaged last Wednesday night! We are excited of course, and I'm doing a good job of reeling myself in now and reminding myself that planning a wedding shouldn't take over my life (it took me a couple of days to get through the initial panic of "what do I do?!" to get to this point, admittedly). It's all about getting married rather than the wedding day, which, while it should be fun, isn't the main event.
So how did it happen? Well, Tuesday was our three year anniversary since our first date (the blog entry can be found for it dated November 7, 2004--I would have linked to the specific entry, but it was proving to be challenging). We ended up going out for our fancy dinner on Wednesday since I had already had book club scheduled on Tuesday (I do love my book club). Todd made reservations at Marche on Randolph Street, and (lucky us!), Wednesday is their night of their Prix Fixe deal. Marche was fun and yummy and looked like it bought decorations off the set of Baz Luhrmann's "Moulin Rouge." (see more about Marche at the end of this entry)
We had a great relaxing dinner and then headed back to Todd's place where we were going to relax and watch a DVRed episode of "30 Rock." As we were about to walk into his door, I was yammering away in the hallway, and Todd paused and stated "I got you a present." Next thing I know, he was on one knee with a box in his outstretched hand. People, I was flabbergasted. Flabbergasted, but thrilled. While I knew that we would eventually get engaged, I figured that it would be early next year or something. It was then that I found out that Todd's been planning this for months now, researched and found the ring on his own, and even called my parents last week for permission. He did an excellent job of picking a ring and keeping it a secret, although he did confess that in the elevator from the garage up to his place he had to concentrate on "acting like [him]self."
So: yay! I'm constantly distracted by the awesomeness of my ring; I've never been a jewelry kind of girl, but I'm lerving the shininess. And of course, I'm so happy to make it official with the best dude ever.
Note: Y'all, RUN to Marche for their Prix Fixe deals! It's 28 bucks total and you get any appetizer, main course, and dessert you want off of the menu. I chose the steak as my main dish and that, alongside my french onion soup and my bittersweet chocolate cake flanked with mint chip (with fresh mint leave tastiness) would have normally set me back $51. My steak dinner alone normally costs more than the price of the prix fixe meal! I'm overcome by value and it was all super delicious. Go, go, go!
Monday, November 05, 2007
Struck
So I recently sent Robin a bunch of my favorite "This American Life" episodes, because I know that he's going to be putting in long hours when he's opening another branch of Kuai, and he'll want something to entertain him either at the restaurant or driving back and forth to the restaurant. He called tonight to give me feedback on some of the episodes that he's listened to so far, and one of them includes one of my absolute favorite acts: an oral reading of the short story "Sarah Cole: A Type of Love Story" by Russell Banks. I remember when I first heard that story when it aired I was dumbstruck. It is such amazing writing and reverberates with sadness.
Robin told me that he found the full short story online (the reading is slightly abridged on the show), so I googled it immediately and found it here. I suspect that it's even more powerful when you hear the most excellent reading of it on the show, so you can find that here. Get ready to pay attention for awhile, though, because the entire reading is 42 minutes.
So I recently sent Robin a bunch of my favorite "This American Life" episodes, because I know that he's going to be putting in long hours when he's opening another branch of Kuai, and he'll want something to entertain him either at the restaurant or driving back and forth to the restaurant. He called tonight to give me feedback on some of the episodes that he's listened to so far, and one of them includes one of my absolute favorite acts: an oral reading of the short story "Sarah Cole: A Type of Love Story" by Russell Banks. I remember when I first heard that story when it aired I was dumbstruck. It is such amazing writing and reverberates with sadness.
Robin told me that he found the full short story online (the reading is slightly abridged on the show), so I googled it immediately and found it here. I suspect that it's even more powerful when you hear the most excellent reading of it on the show, so you can find that here. Get ready to pay attention for awhile, though, because the entire reading is 42 minutes.
Annie in the city
Annie came to town this weekend! Her family comes from Chicago originally, so she didn't need to do any sightseeing. This meant it was a very relaxed weekend, and lots of popping off at our leisure to do whatever suited us. The best kind of vacation, methinks.
The weekend revolved around prioritizing the kinds of cuisine that Annie can't obtain in her current city of Gainesville, so we had: Thai, Chicago hot dogs, Mexican, Mediterranean, dim sum, and heavy metal burgers at Kuma's Korner (which, incidentally, was just featured on "Check Please" this past weekend, so even though we got there before 5 pm on Sunday, there was still a wait). We did quite well for ourselves.
Now we're launching into a busy week: lots of assessments, meetings to schedule, and report cards to be done and distributed. This is the last five day week for a while, though, since next week is Veteran's Day, and then the week after that is Thanksgiving. Sweeeet!
Annie came to town this weekend! Her family comes from Chicago originally, so she didn't need to do any sightseeing. This meant it was a very relaxed weekend, and lots of popping off at our leisure to do whatever suited us. The best kind of vacation, methinks.
The weekend revolved around prioritizing the kinds of cuisine that Annie can't obtain in her current city of Gainesville, so we had: Thai, Chicago hot dogs, Mexican, Mediterranean, dim sum, and heavy metal burgers at Kuma's Korner (which, incidentally, was just featured on "Check Please" this past weekend, so even though we got there before 5 pm on Sunday, there was still a wait). We did quite well for ourselves.
Now we're launching into a busy week: lots of assessments, meetings to schedule, and report cards to be done and distributed. This is the last five day week for a while, though, since next week is Veteran's Day, and then the week after that is Thanksgiving. Sweeeet!
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
I also love this
This website is Overheard in New York.
Some of my favorites:
Old man to two-year old: Man, talking to you is like fucking talking to a brick wall.
--F train
Overheard by: trieze
Subway performer: Can you guys help me out? I take pennies, I take hundreds, I take business cards... Hell, I take white people's shoes and socks! [To random passenger] Awww, shit, girl -- I take phone numbers, too! ... You like White Castle? Daaamn.
--Downtown 4/5 Train
Overheard by: Bemused Spectator
Nurse to hobo next to her: Aw, hell no! You fucking stink! [She pulls out a can of air freshener and hoses him down.]
--A train
This website is Overheard in New York.
Some of my favorites:
Old man to two-year old: Man, talking to you is like fucking talking to a brick wall.
--F train
Overheard by: trieze
Subway performer: Can you guys help me out? I take pennies, I take hundreds, I take business cards... Hell, I take white people's shoes and socks! [To random passenger] Awww, shit, girl -- I take phone numbers, too! ... You like White Castle? Daaamn.
--Downtown 4/5 Train
Overheard by: Bemused Spectator
Nurse to hobo next to her: Aw, hell no! You fucking stink! [She pulls out a can of air freshener and hoses him down.]
--A train
This blog knows what amuses me
I love the use of flagrant and unnecessary quotation marks on public signs, and this blog does as well:
The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks
I love the use of flagrant and unnecessary quotation marks on public signs, and this blog does as well:
The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Things that have brought tears to my eyes in the last 24 hours, no joke.
1. I was watching a stupid Lifetime show about this medium, Lisa something, who communicates with the dead (I know). I even watched two episodes. Yep, I did. And I totally wept like 90% of the time.
2. I just watched a PBS "Nova" about people who trained for the Boston marathon. They were from all walks of life, all ages, but were all pretty much sedentary before training. Something like four of the people crossed the finish line when the race was wrapping up and it totally made me weep! They were so proud of themselves and had worked so hard and many had family members running the final stretch with them to cheer them on, and it was all very heartening.
1. I was watching a stupid Lifetime show about this medium, Lisa something, who communicates with the dead (I know). I even watched two episodes. Yep, I did. And I totally wept like 90% of the time.
2. I just watched a PBS "Nova" about people who trained for the Boston marathon. They were from all walks of life, all ages, but were all pretty much sedentary before training. Something like four of the people crossed the finish line when the race was wrapping up and it totally made me weep! They were so proud of themselves and had worked so hard and many had family members running the final stretch with them to cheer them on, and it was all very heartening.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Lazy days
So my plan this weekend was to sleep off this cold! Mission almost accomplished since I've pretty much taken it easy all weekend and while the cough is still present, it's less...mucous-y than before (yum!). Yesterday we went shopping for much needed items like socks and underwear and then cooked dinner in. We also watched several episodes of "Freaks and Geeks" again. There are few things that I can watch over and over again, but that DVD set definitely qualifies. Maybe also "Strictly Ballroom," but since I don't own that, I haven't really put it to the test yet.
Today it was a pleasure to see that "The Darjeeling Limited" was showing at the Davis Theater, around the block from me. I love me some Wes Anderson, but I wasn't expecting something amazing since I had read such mixed reviews of the movie. I really liked it though: it was touching, and interesting, and Wes Anderson always picks such sad-faced, clever, perfect-line-delivering cuties to star in his films.
And the week looms ahead: lots of meetings, therapy, and paperwork to look forward to. Yahoo!
So my plan this weekend was to sleep off this cold! Mission almost accomplished since I've pretty much taken it easy all weekend and while the cough is still present, it's less...mucous-y than before (yum!). Yesterday we went shopping for much needed items like socks and underwear and then cooked dinner in. We also watched several episodes of "Freaks and Geeks" again. There are few things that I can watch over and over again, but that DVD set definitely qualifies. Maybe also "Strictly Ballroom," but since I don't own that, I haven't really put it to the test yet.
Today it was a pleasure to see that "The Darjeeling Limited" was showing at the Davis Theater, around the block from me. I love me some Wes Anderson, but I wasn't expecting something amazing since I had read such mixed reviews of the movie. I really liked it though: it was touching, and interesting, and Wes Anderson always picks such sad-faced, clever, perfect-line-delivering cuties to star in his films.
And the week looms ahead: lots of meetings, therapy, and paperwork to look forward to. Yahoo!
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
My Day Kind of Blew
It started out with finding a flat tire on my car in the morning. I walked past the Mustang parked in front of me and its windows were all smashed out and I was all like: "whew! I escaped it!"
Until I started driving and heard the crunching of the tire rim. Not a good sound. So I pulled over and attempted to change the tire myself. I've never unearthed the donut before or examined my tire changing equipment, so it took me a little while to figure out where everything was. And then it took me a long ass time to try to jack up the car (the civic equipment sucks). I was lucky since this nice old Asian dude stumbled upon me and helped me out, especially by loosening the lug nuts because my weak-ass was unable to budge them. So instead of taking me like five hours to change the goddamn tire, it only took about 45 minutes.
Got to work about half an hour late and came upon a whole bevy of emails talking about paperwork issues. Lots of paperwork fixing followed. Annoying.
Left work to go to this tire repair place by Todd's place. It's very small, is always hopping when I've gone by, and it seriously looks like a shack. It is a shack. I walked in expecting to be greeted with some order of how things went down, but it's not like that. You basically wait, and wait, and wait until it's your turn since there are only two guys working and they're in demand to say the least. I finally got someone's attention and he looked at my tire and discovered that some jerk stuck something sharp in the side and now my year-old tire has to be replaced. What jerks who slashed it! I'll remind you that this is almost exactly one year since my car got bashed in by some drunken asshole back in Lakeview, so maybe my car is just cursed in late October.
Anyway, the good news is that they had a replacement tire on hand and once we got going it took like 10 minutes to get the tire replaced. And everything in total cost $30, including the new (used) tire and labor. These guys charge $5 to repair a tire so you can imagine how busy they are and what a wide spectrum of clients they see. I also got to watch them repair tires, which was a learning experience for me.
I'm still pissed about the whole thing, though. The good news is that there's supper club tonight and we're visiting a Vietnamese place in Argyle that features seven courses of beef. It's the little things that keep me going.
It started out with finding a flat tire on my car in the morning. I walked past the Mustang parked in front of me and its windows were all smashed out and I was all like: "whew! I escaped it!"
Until I started driving and heard the crunching of the tire rim. Not a good sound. So I pulled over and attempted to change the tire myself. I've never unearthed the donut before or examined my tire changing equipment, so it took me a little while to figure out where everything was. And then it took me a long ass time to try to jack up the car (the civic equipment sucks). I was lucky since this nice old Asian dude stumbled upon me and helped me out, especially by loosening the lug nuts because my weak-ass was unable to budge them. So instead of taking me like five hours to change the goddamn tire, it only took about 45 minutes.
Got to work about half an hour late and came upon a whole bevy of emails talking about paperwork issues. Lots of paperwork fixing followed. Annoying.
Left work to go to this tire repair place by Todd's place. It's very small, is always hopping when I've gone by, and it seriously looks like a shack. It is a shack. I walked in expecting to be greeted with some order of how things went down, but it's not like that. You basically wait, and wait, and wait until it's your turn since there are only two guys working and they're in demand to say the least. I finally got someone's attention and he looked at my tire and discovered that some jerk stuck something sharp in the side and now my year-old tire has to be replaced. What jerks who slashed it! I'll remind you that this is almost exactly one year since my car got bashed in by some drunken asshole back in Lakeview, so maybe my car is just cursed in late October.
Anyway, the good news is that they had a replacement tire on hand and once we got going it took like 10 minutes to get the tire replaced. And everything in total cost $30, including the new (used) tire and labor. These guys charge $5 to repair a tire so you can imagine how busy they are and what a wide spectrum of clients they see. I also got to watch them repair tires, which was a learning experience for me.
I'm still pissed about the whole thing, though. The good news is that there's supper club tonight and we're visiting a Vietnamese place in Argyle that features seven courses of beef. It's the little things that keep me going.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Mucus
I got it! I attended a regional SLP meeting this past Friday and everyone was coughing the exact same: rumbling with lots of phlegm. Yum!
Can I tell you about the past weekend, though? It had a lot of fun things attached. They included going out on Friday night and seeing Mirhiya along with NU girls Megan, Lauren, and Katie. Mirhiya moved to San Francisco with her husband and baby girl mid-program, so it was really cool to be able to catch up with her.
The next morning I woke up at 7 a.m. even though I didn't want to and was all turbo productive which included a trip to the grocery store, the post office, and a work out all before I met Jenny for brunch at 11 am. I know! After that, Todd and I met up and we wandered around Ravenswood and enjoyed the fricking phenomenal weather (it was in the 70s all weekend and sunny!). That evening we met up with Steve and Kiley for Thai food before heading over to a Halloween party. And my time at the party lead to me having to spend all of Sunday on the couch. And that was my Sunday.
Hope that your worlds are mucus-free!
I got it! I attended a regional SLP meeting this past Friday and everyone was coughing the exact same: rumbling with lots of phlegm. Yum!
Can I tell you about the past weekend, though? It had a lot of fun things attached. They included going out on Friday night and seeing Mirhiya along with NU girls Megan, Lauren, and Katie. Mirhiya moved to San Francisco with her husband and baby girl mid-program, so it was really cool to be able to catch up with her.
The next morning I woke up at 7 a.m. even though I didn't want to and was all turbo productive which included a trip to the grocery store, the post office, and a work out all before I met Jenny for brunch at 11 am. I know! After that, Todd and I met up and we wandered around Ravenswood and enjoyed the fricking phenomenal weather (it was in the 70s all weekend and sunny!). That evening we met up with Steve and Kiley for Thai food before heading over to a Halloween party. And my time at the party lead to me having to spend all of Sunday on the couch. And that was my Sunday.
Hope that your worlds are mucus-free!
Monday, October 15, 2007
I'll shout my love from the rooftops again
for "The Wire." There is a spectacular article about the show and David Simon in this week's New Yorker. I also watched about six episodes this weekend from the first season on Todd's on Demand. I didn't remember most of the details and I found it less stressful viewing it this time around with the knowledge of what happens to the characters you see. Season four, though, stressed me out completely (but stress that I respect!) mainly because there were characters who I loved a lot (Randy, anyone?) and I wouldn't be able to bear if if the story screwed them over (which it did, as it turned out, and I was forced to bear it).
Season five is the last one and it's supposed to come out next year, and I can't effing wait.
for "The Wire." There is a spectacular article about the show and David Simon in this week's New Yorker. I also watched about six episodes this weekend from the first season on Todd's on Demand. I didn't remember most of the details and I found it less stressful viewing it this time around with the knowledge of what happens to the characters you see. Season four, though, stressed me out completely (but stress that I respect!) mainly because there were characters who I loved a lot (Randy, anyone?) and I wouldn't be able to bear if if the story screwed them over (which it did, as it turned out, and I was forced to bear it).
Season five is the last one and it's supposed to come out next year, and I can't effing wait.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Our Little Corner of the World
Wow. We just got back from the Yo La Tengo show and it was beyond great. The Lakeshore Theater is so comfortable and intimate, first of all, and because it's a real theater, there's zero bar back-talk and no smoke.
Also, run, don't walk, to see this particular Yo La Tengo tour because it was so laid back and more acoustic and organic. They wanted questions from the audience and asked for requests and had no apparent set lists and chatted it up, basically, and saw where the night went. We saw the 7pm show and there was another one at 10:30, and I wished that I could have stayed for that show as well because it would have been a completely different show.
So, the YLT show at the Vic in Chicago was great, but I think that this wins out as the best YLT show I've ever seen (and this one makes five, if you count Pitchfork 2006, which I really shouldn't because I totally wasn't paying attention since they were one of the last bands playing at the tail end of the festival).
Wow. We just got back from the Yo La Tengo show and it was beyond great. The Lakeshore Theater is so comfortable and intimate, first of all, and because it's a real theater, there's zero bar back-talk and no smoke.
Also, run, don't walk, to see this particular Yo La Tengo tour because it was so laid back and more acoustic and organic. They wanted questions from the audience and asked for requests and had no apparent set lists and chatted it up, basically, and saw where the night went. We saw the 7pm show and there was another one at 10:30, and I wished that I could have stayed for that show as well because it would have been a completely different show.
So, the YLT show at the Vic in Chicago was great, but I think that this wins out as the best YLT show I've ever seen (and this one makes five, if you count Pitchfork 2006, which I really shouldn't because I totally wasn't paying attention since they were one of the last bands playing at the tail end of the festival).
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