Thursday, February 28, 2008
i say yes...
Does it count as eating healthy (on the great cosmic score card) if the salad eaten for lunch was the size of my face?
More Things Making Me Happy
More things for the Happy Journal list... geez, at the rate I'm going, soon they'll be making a Disney movie about me or something.
1. America's Next Top Model - seriously? I love this show. I could not tell you why, it is the guiltiest of guilty pleasures. Just watching the girls tool around in their stretch "Fab Cab" in New York City made me squeal with delight. Not because of them, you understand, because...
2. New York City makes me very happy. I will even watch crap if it is set in New York.
3. Paula Abdul on American Idol, telling some kid that she wanted to hang him from her rearview mirror. Bruno Tonioli on Dancing with the Stars better watch out. His place as 'wacky reality tv judge' is being seriously challenged by that comment. Maybe they can have "Dance Wars 2: Bruno vs. Paula...
4. What's better than a large earl grey vanilla creme beverage? A FREE earl grey vanilla creme beverage. Whooo hooo!!!
1. America's Next Top Model - seriously? I love this show. I could not tell you why, it is the guiltiest of guilty pleasures. Just watching the girls tool around in their stretch "Fab Cab" in New York City made me squeal with delight. Not because of them, you understand, because...
2. New York City makes me very happy. I will even watch crap if it is set in New York.
3. Paula Abdul on American Idol, telling some kid that she wanted to hang him from her rearview mirror. Bruno Tonioli on Dancing with the Stars better watch out. His place as 'wacky reality tv judge' is being seriously challenged by that comment. Maybe they can have "Dance Wars 2: Bruno vs. Paula...
4. What's better than a large earl grey vanilla creme beverage? A FREE earl grey vanilla creme beverage. Whooo hooo!!!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
The Happy Journal
Back in my old job, my former boss had suggested to me (and I cannot now for the life of me remember what would have led us to have this conversation) that I keep a "Happy Journal" where I would record things that happened each day that made me happy. Umm, yeah, I am not sure I need to tell you that I didn't really do that. Not that things don't make me happy, it's just that I was really bad at keeping a journal and didn't feel the need to list out the good things in my life on a daily basis. I feel like I talk too much in this blog about negative stuff - a lot of venting and I don't mean to sound like a grumpy old lady because really? I am pretty happy.
So allow me to now give you some highlights of what has been making me happy lately:
1. (Nerd alert!) Hanging out with my friend Beth, making cards and going shopping. I've known Beth since kindergarten. She shares my love of musical theater (heck, we took voice and tap lessons together a few years ago), shopping and crafting. She has a completely awesome little place for all her scrapbooking materials and it was fun to sit and play and catch up.
2. Unexpected hotness. I was flipping channels and came across the second Tomb Raider movie, which stars Gerard Butler. Unfortunately it was on one of the Spanish networks, so I didn't understand a word they were saying, but he is totally hot in any language.
3. The phrase "yumness on a stick" courtesy of my friend Beth (see #1) and our marathon dessert session we had with two other friends at Baker's Square Saturday night (cuz that's how we roll in the MG... kicking it, suburban style...)
4. Trader Joe's lemon cookies with the chocolate drizzle. Oh. My. God.*
5. Clear, plowed, salted and snowless streets.
6. Jon Stewart.
7. My upcoming vacation!!
8. Free lunch... at the Palmer House, including lobster, champagne and chocolate mousse.
9. The fact that I get to call #8 "work" (not bad for a Monday!)
10. Chilling on the couch with a warm cat on my lap, reading or doing crosswords.
11. Our Tuesday afternoon knitting club at the office.
12. Being able to cross things off my to-do list.
13. Argo tea's earl grey vanilla creme latte
* SO much better than cheese.
So allow me to now give you some highlights of what has been making me happy lately:
1. (Nerd alert!) Hanging out with my friend Beth, making cards and going shopping. I've known Beth since kindergarten. She shares my love of musical theater (heck, we took voice and tap lessons together a few years ago), shopping and crafting. She has a completely awesome little place for all her scrapbooking materials and it was fun to sit and play and catch up.
2. Unexpected hotness. I was flipping channels and came across the second Tomb Raider movie, which stars Gerard Butler. Unfortunately it was on one of the Spanish networks, so I didn't understand a word they were saying, but he is totally hot in any language.
3. The phrase "yumness on a stick" courtesy of my friend Beth (see #1) and our marathon dessert session we had with two other friends at Baker's Square Saturday night (cuz that's how we roll in the MG... kicking it, suburban style...)
4. Trader Joe's lemon cookies with the chocolate drizzle. Oh. My. God.*
5. Clear, plowed, salted and snowless streets.
6. Jon Stewart.
7. My upcoming vacation!!
8. Free lunch... at the Palmer House, including lobster, champagne and chocolate mousse.
9. The fact that I get to call #8 "work" (not bad for a Monday!)
10. Chilling on the couch with a warm cat on my lap, reading or doing crosswords.
11. Our Tuesday afternoon knitting club at the office.
12. Being able to cross things off my to-do list.
13. Argo tea's earl grey vanilla creme latte
* SO much better than cheese.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
the beautiful miscellaneous *
* I saw this title on a book at the library and needed to bloglift it for my own. I can pretty much guarantee that my beautiful miscellaneous is nothing like the author of that book...
Phew. It's been a busy week & I am glad it's finally the weekend. Our winter program opened on Wednesday, and with opening night brought the usual flurry of activity. Whenever I tell people where I work, I just know they think it's all glitter and sugar plum delight - and sometimes it is (an afternoon at work can include a shift at the theater, watching the matinee. Or, like yesterday, going to watch kids from our education program perform. I get to sit on my ass and watch people dance and call it work. That's pretty damn** cool.) but a lot of the time, it's not glam at all. Consider this the next time you get a solicitation from a non-profit - some poor fool was probably folding, stuffing, sealing and stamping that very piece of mail. And if you get mail from us, it was probably me that did it. Ha! There are a lot of long days, schlepping banners and floral center pieces from point a to point b and all that, but overall I think it's worth it... I was shopping at lunchtime on Thursday (dangerous. So dangerous. State Street really is a great street!) and somebody popped out in front of me while I passed by Old Navy and asked me "Do you like your job?" I don't know if they were recruiting or what, but I am thinking the people they usually ask say no. I didn't even have to think. My response was, "Yes! Thanks!" and I walked on. And this was my answer even after opening night...
I got a great compliment at the opening night dinner from our photographer. He's a pretty noted dance photographer, and his work is absolutely gorgeous. He took a test shot of us at the registration table. "You're so pretty," he said to me. No one ever tells me that (except my mom and that so does not count). I thought he was just being sweet so I said thanks. Then, as we were eating our dinner (exiled to eat in the hallway at the registration table) he said that I reminded him of a film actress. He could not recall her name, but said she usually played "the cute girl with the glasses" and once she would let her hair down went from girl in the corner to super siren (totally like She's All That, n'est c'e pas?) and that this actress was the daughter of Elia Kazan. Again, I thought he was just being sweet, but the more I thought about it, the more of a compliment I think it was. This guy is a great photog and knows beauty when he sees it. It made me feel nice and sometimes we all need that kind of a boost, ya know? I also did some research on old Elia and I think the daughter my guy was referring to is Barbara Loden. I am still working that one out though. We can have a little side by side photo action so y'all can see for yourselves.
I can't believe the Oscars are on tomorrow night. Every year I vow to myself that I will go and see all the best picture nominees, but it never happens. Ever. I saw Juno, Sweeney Todd, and, actually, I think that's it in terms of things that were actually nominated. I can make predictions, but they would mean absolutely nothing. I'm okay with that though, and I will definitely be watching - for Jon Stewart's opening host monologue mainly, and the clothing (definitely).
I was trying to get my act together and complete an application to consolidate my student loans and it just makes me want to scream really loudly and throw things. Nobody ever tells you that being an adult totally sucks sometimes OR that sometimes the best thing to do is just make stuff up. I cannot believe the amount of stuff that I just totally pull from out of nowhere. There is no class that prepares you for some of this stuff, and I think there really should be. That, and how to "network" - they can call it "schmoozing 101" and you'd get points based on the quality of BS you are able to put forth.
** as you can see, the Lent ban on swearing has not been going well.
Phew. It's been a busy week & I am glad it's finally the weekend. Our winter program opened on Wednesday, and with opening night brought the usual flurry of activity. Whenever I tell people where I work, I just know they think it's all glitter and sugar plum delight - and sometimes it is (an afternoon at work can include a shift at the theater, watching the matinee. Or, like yesterday, going to watch kids from our education program perform. I get to sit on my ass and watch people dance and call it work. That's pretty damn** cool.) but a lot of the time, it's not glam at all. Consider this the next time you get a solicitation from a non-profit - some poor fool was probably folding, stuffing, sealing and stamping that very piece of mail. And if you get mail from us, it was probably me that did it. Ha! There are a lot of long days, schlepping banners and floral center pieces from point a to point b and all that, but overall I think it's worth it... I was shopping at lunchtime on Thursday (dangerous. So dangerous. State Street really is a great street!) and somebody popped out in front of me while I passed by Old Navy and asked me "Do you like your job?" I don't know if they were recruiting or what, but I am thinking the people they usually ask say no. I didn't even have to think. My response was, "Yes! Thanks!" and I walked on. And this was my answer even after opening night...
I got a great compliment at the opening night dinner from our photographer. He's a pretty noted dance photographer, and his work is absolutely gorgeous. He took a test shot of us at the registration table. "You're so pretty," he said to me. No one ever tells me that (except my mom and that so does not count). I thought he was just being sweet so I said thanks. Then, as we were eating our dinner (exiled to eat in the hallway at the registration table) he said that I reminded him of a film actress. He could not recall her name, but said she usually played "the cute girl with the glasses" and once she would let her hair down went from girl in the corner to super siren (totally like She's All That, n'est c'e pas?) and that this actress was the daughter of Elia Kazan. Again, I thought he was just being sweet, but the more I thought about it, the more of a compliment I think it was. This guy is a great photog and knows beauty when he sees it. It made me feel nice and sometimes we all need that kind of a boost, ya know? I also did some research on old Elia and I think the daughter my guy was referring to is Barbara Loden. I am still working that one out though. We can have a little side by side photo action so y'all can see for yourselves.
I can't believe the Oscars are on tomorrow night. Every year I vow to myself that I will go and see all the best picture nominees, but it never happens. Ever. I saw Juno, Sweeney Todd, and, actually, I think that's it in terms of things that were actually nominated. I can make predictions, but they would mean absolutely nothing. I'm okay with that though, and I will definitely be watching - for Jon Stewart's opening host monologue mainly, and the clothing (definitely).
I was trying to get my act together and complete an application to consolidate my student loans and it just makes me want to scream really loudly and throw things. Nobody ever tells you that being an adult totally sucks sometimes OR that sometimes the best thing to do is just make stuff up. I cannot believe the amount of stuff that I just totally pull from out of nowhere. There is no class that prepares you for some of this stuff, and I think there really should be. That, and how to "network" - they can call it "schmoozing 101" and you'd get points based on the quality of BS you are able to put forth.
** as you can see, the Lent ban on swearing has not been going well.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Hey! Who moved my cheese?
No, seriously. Where is it?
We share our office (and fridge) space with a motley crew of outsourced telemarketers who run various campaigns on our behalf. They do their jobs well enough, I guess, although I never see anyone doing any actual calling when they are in the office. They do talk a good game - although not about us (I mean, yikes. If I got a call from some of these people, I'd totally hang up. Some of them are SO mechanical sounding, it makes me cringe.) Whenever I hear them talking, it is typically really loudly in our little tiny kitchen, just down the hall from my little room. I've yet to come screaming out into the hallway yelling at them to shut the !##*$&#% up all ready, but I've come close a few times, believe me.
They also sit around in their little area, blocking the hallways for us actual employees (ooh, paging the Bitter party of one!) and then they give YOU the dirty look for trying to get by. Well, excuse me!
But the worst thing, I think, is the whole sharing the fridge thing. Is the concept so hard to grasp? If you didn't bring it, don't eat it? Just because it's nailed down doesn't mean it's up for grabs... Then if we do have food for sharing, they swoop in and eat it all, even if not specifically invited to do so...
Sorry, sorry. I don't mean to bitch. It's just that sometimes I wonder about people... And also? I really wanted that cheese....
We share our office (and fridge) space with a motley crew of outsourced telemarketers who run various campaigns on our behalf. They do their jobs well enough, I guess, although I never see anyone doing any actual calling when they are in the office. They do talk a good game - although not about us (I mean, yikes. If I got a call from some of these people, I'd totally hang up. Some of them are SO mechanical sounding, it makes me cringe.) Whenever I hear them talking, it is typically really loudly in our little tiny kitchen, just down the hall from my little room. I've yet to come screaming out into the hallway yelling at them to shut the !##*$&#% up all ready, but I've come close a few times, believe me.
They also sit around in their little area, blocking the hallways for us actual employees (ooh, paging the Bitter party of one!) and then they give YOU the dirty look for trying to get by. Well, excuse me!
But the worst thing, I think, is the whole sharing the fridge thing. Is the concept so hard to grasp? If you didn't bring it, don't eat it? Just because it's nailed down doesn't mean it's up for grabs... Then if we do have food for sharing, they swoop in and eat it all, even if not specifically invited to do so...
Sorry, sorry. I don't mean to bitch. It's just that sometimes I wonder about people... And also? I really wanted that cheese....
Saturday, February 16, 2008
the long arm of the law...
So... I got a jury summons yesterday. For standby juror-hood, in early March. Huge amounts of joy abound. I got called to the Daley Center downtown, which is both good and bad. It's good cuz it means I don't have to go to Rolling Ghettos, Maywood or 26th and California... but at the same time, it's bad, cuz it's within walking distance of the office and I can go there once I'm done...
Here's the thing, I've never had to serve jury duty before. I was called as an undergrad, but asked for a date reassignment because I was scheduled to take a poli-sci exam. Voila, date changed, and they never called me back after that. Whatever. Was then called a few years ago, same deal, standby, call the day before... so I did and it ended up that I wasn't called after all. Is it horrible to hope the same thing might happen again???
In my mind, it's all a bit like "Law & Order" - when I went to court for my car accident last year, I had this whole mental scenario playing out in my head, and the whole experience turned out to be nothing like I'd imagined. (BUT - I won. Hahahahaha.)
A while ago, I heard that a client of my former company was going to sue said former company - and call ME as a witness. Long boring story, but, we did executive recruiting and placed someone at the client that got totally fired. She was a bit of a whackadoo.... I was not the project lead, and I wasn't very involved with the process, but I did check the references for this particular candidate... My ex-CEO called me at my new place which totally freaked me out. I mean, it was a year ago, and I've blocked all of their crap from my mind. So I got it into my head that I'd have to travel to the client and that it would totally be like me on the witness stand being interrogated by Jack McCoy (before he became ADA, that is) "Where were you on the night of..." "OBJECTION!" "OVERRULED!" and stuff like that. My current boss who is an attorney told me that I'd most likely just have to go make a statement.
Fortunately for me, I never had to give a statement or be a star witness or anything (former company paid off disgruntled client, thus avoiding the courtroom). So. We'll see.
Here's the thing, I've never had to serve jury duty before. I was called as an undergrad, but asked for a date reassignment because I was scheduled to take a poli-sci exam. Voila, date changed, and they never called me back after that. Whatever. Was then called a few years ago, same deal, standby, call the day before... so I did and it ended up that I wasn't called after all. Is it horrible to hope the same thing might happen again???
In my mind, it's all a bit like "Law & Order" - when I went to court for my car accident last year, I had this whole mental scenario playing out in my head, and the whole experience turned out to be nothing like I'd imagined. (BUT - I won. Hahahahaha.)
A while ago, I heard that a client of my former company was going to sue said former company - and call ME as a witness. Long boring story, but, we did executive recruiting and placed someone at the client that got totally fired. She was a bit of a whackadoo.... I was not the project lead, and I wasn't very involved with the process, but I did check the references for this particular candidate... My ex-CEO called me at my new place which totally freaked me out. I mean, it was a year ago, and I've blocked all of their crap from my mind. So I got it into my head that I'd have to travel to the client and that it would totally be like me on the witness stand being interrogated by Jack McCoy (before he became ADA, that is) "Where were you on the night of..." "OBJECTION!" "OVERRULED!" and stuff like that. My current boss who is an attorney told me that I'd most likely just have to go make a statement.
Fortunately for me, I never had to give a statement or be a star witness or anything (former company paid off disgruntled client, thus avoiding the courtroom). So. We'll see.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
My Media Week
Not technically tagged, but I haven't posted in a while, so here ya'll go...
Books...
Been reading a lot lately...
Big Boned by Meg Cabot - I know, but whatever. I like me some chick lit every now and then.
Sunday in the Park with George - homework for when I see it next month.
Actors at Work - Rosemarie Tichler, Barry Jay Kaplan profiling stage and screen actors Patti LuPone, Kevin Kline, Mandy Patinkin, Marian Seldes, John Lithgow and many others... I have only just started reading this one, but it's pretty good reading
Teach with your Heart: Lessons I Learned from the Freedom Writers - Erin Gruwell - Oh my god, this book made me cry. It's so inspiring and moving - what this young teacher is able to do for these kids who were labeled as bad or at risk...
TV...
Not a lot of tv this week, surprisingly. News, Wheel of Fortune when I get home, America's Next Top Model, part of CSI last night... I think they're reshowing the "House" episode called "Frozen" tonight...
Music...
In the car this week it's been La Patti's Lady with the Torch, specifically "Early Autumn" although yesterday it was "I Wanna be Around" - also Sunday in the Park with George (prep!), Renee Fleming, and when I'm with mom, the Three Tenors.
On the iPod, it's a crazy mix of stuff... I've got opera divas (okay, Diva - Renee), broadway divas (Patti, Audra, Bernadette, Christine), some pop (KT Tunstall, a surprising number of American Idols, and an alarming number of Spice Girls, geez this is turning into some kind of confessional) some indy singer-songwriters (Edwin McCain, Marc Broussard, Sister Hazel and Will Hoge) a little rock'n'roll (U2), the list goes on and on....
Books...
Been reading a lot lately...
Big Boned by Meg Cabot - I know, but whatever. I like me some chick lit every now and then.
Sunday in the Park with George - homework for when I see it next month.
Actors at Work - Rosemarie Tichler, Barry Jay Kaplan profiling stage and screen actors Patti LuPone, Kevin Kline, Mandy Patinkin, Marian Seldes, John Lithgow and many others... I have only just started reading this one, but it's pretty good reading
Teach with your Heart: Lessons I Learned from the Freedom Writers - Erin Gruwell - Oh my god, this book made me cry. It's so inspiring and moving - what this young teacher is able to do for these kids who were labeled as bad or at risk...
TV...
Not a lot of tv this week, surprisingly. News, Wheel of Fortune when I get home, America's Next Top Model, part of CSI last night... I think they're reshowing the "House" episode called "Frozen" tonight...
Music...
In the car this week it's been La Patti's Lady with the Torch, specifically "Early Autumn" although yesterday it was "I Wanna be Around" - also Sunday in the Park with George (prep!), Renee Fleming, and when I'm with mom, the Three Tenors.
On the iPod, it's a crazy mix of stuff... I've got opera divas (okay, Diva - Renee), broadway divas (Patti, Audra, Bernadette, Christine), some pop (KT Tunstall, a surprising number of American Idols, and an alarming number of Spice Girls, geez this is turning into some kind of confessional) some indy singer-songwriters (Edwin McCain, Marc Broussard, Sister Hazel and Will Hoge) a little rock'n'roll (U2), the list goes on and on....
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Randomness...
My brain is a little fried this week, due to about a million things happening at work (some fool decided to put ME in charge of organizing our department's budgets for next year. AACCK!), an opening night next week (anybody out there like ballet? we should talk about a performance that you will really need to see in the next few weeks...) snow & snow & snow & snow... Really? It's getting a little old. But I haven't gotten stuck lately, which is a good thing.
Some more random musings:
Did anyone catch the Grammys? I watched only to see if Renee won anything (she didn't. Boo). Not because I thought she'd be on, since the show's idea of "classical artists" have been more of the pop classical variety. For instance, the featured performers were Lang Lang and.... hmmm, was it Herbie Hancock? Playing a LONG and very boring version of... was it Rhapsody in Blue? Too long. Not at all interesting. And then Andrea Bocelli and Josh Groban singing the Prayer, which they recycled from when Bocelli sang the same song with Celine Dion a few years ago. Arrrghhhhh. The broadcast was very odd in general. Some weird pairings and LONG segments - the Beatles tribute was long and completely bizzare and there were a few others that I just sat there going get the h*** (no more swearing for me, remember?) on with it! Like Aretha Franklin and her gospel thing. But at least it wasn't Nessun Dorma (shudder).
I ended up having a few songs stuck in my head - Alicia Keys' song (thank GOD John Mayer only turned up to play. HATE.) and, strangely, "Rehab" by Amy Winehouse. I'd only heard OF her before the awards show, and so I was curious to see what all the fuss was about. Her voice is interesting, but what's with the hair? And the eyeliner? And she looked completely out of it during the telecast, but I think it was about 3 am in London, and I'm giving the girl the benefit of the doubt and hoping she was just a little tired and nervous. But honestly? I don't really get it...
So, anyway... I got my tickets for Sweeney Todd in Chicago in April. Not because I figured out how to order a gosh darned thing from the Broadway in Chicago site (hello? You want people to see your shows, yes? Could you make it any harder to figure out how to obtain tickets? I was totally willing to buy a series, but could not for the life of me figure out how to do it.) but because a colleague of mine was trying to get rid of a pair of tix from her aunt. I bought them from her. Woohoo!
Back to work now....
Some more random musings:
Did anyone catch the Grammys? I watched only to see if Renee won anything (she didn't. Boo). Not because I thought she'd be on, since the show's idea of "classical artists" have been more of the pop classical variety. For instance, the featured performers were Lang Lang and.... hmmm, was it Herbie Hancock? Playing a LONG and very boring version of... was it Rhapsody in Blue? Too long. Not at all interesting. And then Andrea Bocelli and Josh Groban singing the Prayer, which they recycled from when Bocelli sang the same song with Celine Dion a few years ago. Arrrghhhhh. The broadcast was very odd in general. Some weird pairings and LONG segments - the Beatles tribute was long and completely bizzare and there were a few others that I just sat there going get the h*** (no more swearing for me, remember?) on with it! Like Aretha Franklin and her gospel thing. But at least it wasn't Nessun Dorma (shudder).
I ended up having a few songs stuck in my head - Alicia Keys' song (thank GOD John Mayer only turned up to play. HATE.) and, strangely, "Rehab" by Amy Winehouse. I'd only heard OF her before the awards show, and so I was curious to see what all the fuss was about. Her voice is interesting, but what's with the hair? And the eyeliner? And she looked completely out of it during the telecast, but I think it was about 3 am in London, and I'm giving the girl the benefit of the doubt and hoping she was just a little tired and nervous. But honestly? I don't really get it...
So, anyway... I got my tickets for Sweeney Todd in Chicago in April. Not because I figured out how to order a gosh darned thing from the Broadway in Chicago site (hello? You want people to see your shows, yes? Could you make it any harder to figure out how to obtain tickets? I was totally willing to buy a series, but could not for the life of me figure out how to do it.) but because a colleague of mine was trying to get rid of a pair of tix from her aunt. I bought them from her. Woohoo!
Back to work now....
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Mush!
We got our snow. Although it was expected to have come in Tuesday night into yesterday morning, when I awakened, there was nothing. Even so, I decided to drive to the Skokie Swift (closer to the house, on a larger, well-plowed street etc) and take the El into work. Even though I took the slower red line (what can I say? it was there.) rather than the purple line "express" (express my ass!) the ride was fine and the Lake Street stop lets me out right in front of our new building. Sweet.
So I watched the snow from my warm cozy office and honestly? It didn't look so bad. Then I left for the return El trip (purple line this time). I was on the platform waiting....waiting...waiting... about 50 green line trains rattled by, and brown line trains by the dozen. When the purple train finally clattered to a halt in front of us, it was so packed, I couldn't even get on it. So was left waiting on the platform while another few hundred green and brown line trains passed me by. So to review: I am cold, getting snowed on, hungry, and increasingly irritated by having to wait. Don't you think that they'd figure out that if one purple train is full they'd send a few extra ones out during rush hour?? If I'd been on my beloved Metra, I'd be on a train home by this time. Arrgh, grumble grumble grumble. Snow makes me anxious and cranky (if you couldn't tell).
Finally another purple train appears - since it's rush hour, this one too is packed, and I am left to stand until Fullerton, but hey, at least I am on the train, right? Transfer at Howard to the yellow line, which showed up pretty quickly. Finally! The end of my day is in sight! Off the train to find the car COVERED in snow. Covered. And the lot was not plowed (WTF, village of Skokie?). I turned the car on, got out my snowbrush and my emergency shovel and got to work.
Ready to go. I sat in the car to warm up, put it in gear and... nothing. I went forward a bit and then stopped. No! No! No! Out I climbed to dig myself out some more. After a few more tries, let me tell you all, I totally lost it. Now cold, wet, hungry, anxious, exhaustedly tired, all I wanted to do was get home, and here I was apparently stuck, without any clue how to fix it.
Only ONE good samaritan stopped by to see if I was okay - I mean, there I am, shovel in hand, tears streaming down my face, just drive on by, thanks a bunch! I'm just peachy! What's wrong with people??? Anyway - by the time my one rescuer rolled down her window to offer help, I'd already called my dad. He and his 4Runner appeared and he got me unstuck (my hero!). "You have to rock the car," he told me as if this were obvious. "Don't you know how to do that?"
Ummm, clearly not. What in the past 5 and a half years of my parking in a covered garage at work led him to believe I'd know how to do that? And let me tell you, for a few seconds, I had the image in my mind of me throwing myself violently around in the car, tilt-a-whirl style, trying to get it to "rock."
A few things came out of this experience:
1. A deep, intense, painful realization that we have, what, at least 3 more months of winter?
2. A fierce, burning desire to move somewhere else - I pondered California, but I'd still need to drive (although not in snow) and I am scared of earthquakes and wildfires - then I decided on NYC because while it snows, I at least wouldn't have to drive anywhere in it. Yay, new life plan!
3. A map of different options of getting to and from the train station, including, snowshoes (which can be a totally attractive accessory), a dog sled (cozy!), some cross country skis (hello, weight loss!)
4. My Lenten vow to give up swearing was completely BLOWN pretty much the second that first packed purple line train passed me by. It's back to satan until next year...*
* Only joking!
So I watched the snow from my warm cozy office and honestly? It didn't look so bad. Then I left for the return El trip (purple line this time). I was on the platform waiting....waiting...waiting... about 50 green line trains rattled by, and brown line trains by the dozen. When the purple train finally clattered to a halt in front of us, it was so packed, I couldn't even get on it. So was left waiting on the platform while another few hundred green and brown line trains passed me by. So to review: I am cold, getting snowed on, hungry, and increasingly irritated by having to wait. Don't you think that they'd figure out that if one purple train is full they'd send a few extra ones out during rush hour?? If I'd been on my beloved Metra, I'd be on a train home by this time. Arrgh, grumble grumble grumble. Snow makes me anxious and cranky (if you couldn't tell).
Finally another purple train appears - since it's rush hour, this one too is packed, and I am left to stand until Fullerton, but hey, at least I am on the train, right? Transfer at Howard to the yellow line, which showed up pretty quickly. Finally! The end of my day is in sight! Off the train to find the car COVERED in snow. Covered. And the lot was not plowed (WTF, village of Skokie?). I turned the car on, got out my snowbrush and my emergency shovel and got to work.
Ready to go. I sat in the car to warm up, put it in gear and... nothing. I went forward a bit and then stopped. No! No! No! Out I climbed to dig myself out some more. After a few more tries, let me tell you all, I totally lost it. Now cold, wet, hungry, anxious, exhaustedly tired, all I wanted to do was get home, and here I was apparently stuck, without any clue how to fix it.
Only ONE good samaritan stopped by to see if I was okay - I mean, there I am, shovel in hand, tears streaming down my face, just drive on by, thanks a bunch! I'm just peachy! What's wrong with people??? Anyway - by the time my one rescuer rolled down her window to offer help, I'd already called my dad. He and his 4Runner appeared and he got me unstuck (my hero!). "You have to rock the car," he told me as if this were obvious. "Don't you know how to do that?"
Ummm, clearly not. What in the past 5 and a half years of my parking in a covered garage at work led him to believe I'd know how to do that? And let me tell you, for a few seconds, I had the image in my mind of me throwing myself violently around in the car, tilt-a-whirl style, trying to get it to "rock."
A few things came out of this experience:
1. A deep, intense, painful realization that we have, what, at least 3 more months of winter?
2. A fierce, burning desire to move somewhere else - I pondered California, but I'd still need to drive (although not in snow) and I am scared of earthquakes and wildfires - then I decided on NYC because while it snows, I at least wouldn't have to drive anywhere in it. Yay, new life plan!
3. A map of different options of getting to and from the train station, including, snowshoes (which can be a totally attractive accessory), a dog sled (cozy!), some cross country skis (hello, weight loss!)
4. My Lenten vow to give up swearing was completely BLOWN pretty much the second that first packed purple line train passed me by. It's back to satan until next year...*
* Only joking!
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
And by the way, go vote!
Snow the whole week! Ewwww! Think good thoughts for me, in my little Honda Civic, as we white knuckle our way to and from the train station. On a good day it takes maybe 10 minutes to get there and Morton Grove is *usually* on top of its plowing... Oh I hate snow... I really hate snow...
Monday, February 04, 2008
Oh my god, I'm blogging about football??
Monday morning confession: I actually like football. (Shh. Don't tell anybody!) I don't sit around every weekend glued to the games, I don't follow stats, and I have no idea what the commentators are on about half of the time, but generally, I know what's going on. I think this comes from having to go to SuperBowl parties with my parents when I was younger. Friends of theirs would cook up a big pot of chili and we'd watch the game. Since I wasn't at home, I usually had to sit and watch the game. Eventually I decided if you can't beat 'em, join 'em and started to learn about what was happening.
By virtue of geography I am a Bears fan. There was a time though, when I was unaware that the team picked you, rather than the other way around, and I was a Giants fan for a while (I loved New York from an early age, and I thought they had a hot QB. Don't remember who it was now, though). I was also a Cowboys fan in high school - another QB crush (Troy Aikman, who is not terribly cute now so I am not sure what I was thinking. Must be the uniform?). Also, my friend Angelo was a SF 49ers fan, and those 2 teams had a big rivalry. Whenever there'd be a game and my Cowboys lost, he'd always come to my locker in the morning and smirk "24 - 17?" or whatever the score had been. I didn't know as much about the game as he thought I did so usually I'd say something to annoy him like "At least they're not the 49ers" and then steal his ruler at lunchtime.
Anyway, last night, I was a Giants fan again - for one night only - because I'd taken violently against the Patriots and desperately wanted to see them lose. The reasons for this are entirely personal and not at all based on any kind of fact, because, heck, they're a really good team. In a nutshell, I started to take against them because:
1. They are smug. (Nobody likes a smug team.)
2. That whole spygate thing by their kind of jerky coach Bill Belichik (this does not play a large part in why I don't like them, but it doesn't really help their case.)
3. They walked into the game with a HUGE sense of entitlement thinking that all the Magnificent Tom Brady had to do was step onto the field and the victory would be theirs. Sorry boys, it doesn't work that way.
4. Tom Brady is a great player, but he's not the Second Coming. The way they talk about him, you'd think he was all by himself out there. (Aside from this, I think he's kind of a jerk, dumping his pregnant girlfriend for a supermodel. AND he's a Republican. I know, I know, personal and political choices don't make for a bad person (we all have our flaws, right?) and they certainly don't have anything to do with how he plays the game. I could overlook these things about him if I liked the team, but since I don't it just adds fuel to the fire.)
Anyway, I was cheering for the Giants since they were the underdog. I usually don't watch the SuperBowl all the way through, I get bored and wander off to do something else. Last year, I quit watching somewhere around the 3rd quarter since the Bears totally stunk it up. But usually I'll watch for the commercials, or the halftime show. But this was a good game! And it was worth watching the whole thing because it only got fun in the 4th quarter.
Other thoughts:
1. Who thought we needed Ryan Seacrest documenting arrivals on the "red carpet" (WTF?)?? Also all of that other cheesy pre-game stuff, like Russell Crowe's Gladiator-esque intro, and those football types reading the Declaration of Independence? People, it's a football game.
2. Why didn't anyone wake up Tom Petty before he did his halftime show? It was so mellow, I was practically asleep. I think we are running out of classic rockers to do this halftime gig - but hey, no wardrobe malfunctions to worry about, right?
3. The Biggest Loser: Bill Belichik and his ugly-ass sweatshirt making a run for it before the game was even over. Ohmygod, get over yourself.
Anyway, I'm glad they pulled it out and took those smug !@*#&$&#@$ down a peg. No more football talk for the rest of the year, I promise.
Now back to our regularly scheduled blog...
By virtue of geography I am a Bears fan. There was a time though, when I was unaware that the team picked you, rather than the other way around, and I was a Giants fan for a while (I loved New York from an early age, and I thought they had a hot QB. Don't remember who it was now, though). I was also a Cowboys fan in high school - another QB crush (Troy Aikman, who is not terribly cute now so I am not sure what I was thinking. Must be the uniform?). Also, my friend Angelo was a SF 49ers fan, and those 2 teams had a big rivalry. Whenever there'd be a game and my Cowboys lost, he'd always come to my locker in the morning and smirk "24 - 17?" or whatever the score had been. I didn't know as much about the game as he thought I did so usually I'd say something to annoy him like "At least they're not the 49ers" and then steal his ruler at lunchtime.
Anyway, last night, I was a Giants fan again - for one night only - because I'd taken violently against the Patriots and desperately wanted to see them lose. The reasons for this are entirely personal and not at all based on any kind of fact, because, heck, they're a really good team. In a nutshell, I started to take against them because:
1. They are smug. (Nobody likes a smug team.)
2. That whole spygate thing by their kind of jerky coach Bill Belichik (this does not play a large part in why I don't like them, but it doesn't really help their case.)
3. They walked into the game with a HUGE sense of entitlement thinking that all the Magnificent Tom Brady had to do was step onto the field and the victory would be theirs. Sorry boys, it doesn't work that way.
4. Tom Brady is a great player, but he's not the Second Coming. The way they talk about him, you'd think he was all by himself out there. (Aside from this, I think he's kind of a jerk, dumping his pregnant girlfriend for a supermodel. AND he's a Republican. I know, I know, personal and political choices don't make for a bad person (we all have our flaws, right?) and they certainly don't have anything to do with how he plays the game. I could overlook these things about him if I liked the team, but since I don't it just adds fuel to the fire.)
Anyway, I was cheering for the Giants since they were the underdog. I usually don't watch the SuperBowl all the way through, I get bored and wander off to do something else. Last year, I quit watching somewhere around the 3rd quarter since the Bears totally stunk it up. But usually I'll watch for the commercials, or the halftime show. But this was a good game! And it was worth watching the whole thing because it only got fun in the 4th quarter.
Other thoughts:
1. Who thought we needed Ryan Seacrest documenting arrivals on the "red carpet" (WTF?)?? Also all of that other cheesy pre-game stuff, like Russell Crowe's Gladiator-esque intro, and those football types reading the Declaration of Independence? People, it's a football game.
2. Why didn't anyone wake up Tom Petty before he did his halftime show? It was so mellow, I was practically asleep. I think we are running out of classic rockers to do this halftime gig - but hey, no wardrobe malfunctions to worry about, right?
3. The Biggest Loser: Bill Belichik and his ugly-ass sweatshirt making a run for it before the game was even over. Ohmygod, get over yourself.
Anyway, I'm glad they pulled it out and took those smug !@*#&$&#@$ down a peg. No more football talk for the rest of the year, I promise.
Now back to our regularly scheduled blog...
Friday, February 01, 2008
seeing double
In keeping with our winter theme... here's Flocke (Snowflake) the baby polar bear, seeing her own reflection. It's just too cute...
white out
(the view through the screen of my bedroom window)
(the view out the front window)I woke up at 4:30 (the cat was throwing himself against the door, meowing) and heard no traffic noise outside. I live on a pretty busy street and usually there is always the sound of cars going by. This morning though, it was perfectly still. When I actually got up and about, a few hours later, it was to the sight of 6 inches of snow (at least. I don't know specifically, I haven't been out in it with a ruler or anything).
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