city life, city love

Baby Fisher, coming soon to a theatre near you!

2012-01-16T08:00:00.023-06:00

Little Bit at 12 weeks

We are so pleased to announce that Baby Fisher, aka Little Bit, will be welcomed into the world on or around July 26, 2012. Annabelle and Little Bit are both in good health, albeit kind of tired.

You're nosy. C'mon. Admit it. You want to know how this all came to be. I would, if I were you.

In short: You really can by everything online!

I searched California Cryobank's online profiles to find a sperm donor who reminded me of my family, both in physical attributes and personality. We were lucky to find a fella who has curly blond hair. He's earned a master's degree in music, and he's compassionate and easy-going. He was perfect for us and the family we are creating.

Baby Bump!

Working with Fertility Centers of Illinois, we explored how this all really works, and Annabelle underwent IUI, intrauterine insemination. Strangely lucky, Annabelle got pregnant on the first try.

Little Bit is the first grandbaby for both sets of parents, and in my family, we haven't had a baby for 21 years. That's a LONG time.

At 20 weeks, we'll be able to find out if Little Bit is a he or she, which we'll be excited to share. I'm already thinking about hot air balloons for the nursery, based on my favorite book as a child, The Travels of J.B. Rabbit.

NOMCY.

2011-03-30T17:51:00.000-05:00

Not on My Commute, Yo.

I went yesterday evening to what I thought was a community meeting on the proposed Union Pacific North Line project on the Northside. I was expecting a song-and-dance from the folks at Metra and UPRR about the work that needs to be done, how they’re going to attack it, blah-de-blah. There are a couple of things about the project that I think are worth noting, by way of some backstory on the project itself:

There are several bridges that the train travels over – it’s elevated in the city – that are 100 years old. Damn, that’s old. As one might guess, these bridges need work. I can’t argue with this; I want to have a safe commute.
I commute primarily from the Ravenswood Station. Metra has noted that this is the busiest station on the UP-N line, which sounds about right, given the traffic I see day in and day out. For being such an important station, it’s not available to a number of people because the current station is not ADA-compliant. Plus, the shelters suck. Busy station + crappy station + need to be accessible = We’re getting a new station. Staffed. With a ramp and much more overhead coverage to protect us from Chicago weather. Again, this is something we can pretty much agree is a good thing. I can’t argue with this, either.

Here’s what I WILL argue with, though: Last night’s meeting was not met for the majority of people who commute via the Ravenswood Station. As my good friend @ProfSwyers put it, after hearing from me about the meeting for all of about 30 seconds, “Oh. That meeting was for the NIMBYs.” Not in My Backyard. The audience of that meeting was the people who live along Ravenswood Ave. This was a meeting to allay their fears about the construction, the noise, the landscaping, the drainage, the parking (theirs and commuters), etc. Even the Tribune described it as a forum to display “plans to rebuild bridges and embankments along Metra's Union Pacific North Line,” a forum to display plans of what the NIMBYs will have right next door.

The meeting was no Q&A, like I’d hoped. Instead, the meeting was 10 or so posters presenting plans for proposed work at different intersections along Ravenswood Ave. There were before and after drawings of the embankments, the parking, and the landscaping. There were numbers of parking spaces and square feet of greenery pre- and post-construction. There was only one posterboard devoted to the station itself; I found it rather uninformative, other than it telling me that the station would be south of Lawrence Ave., where the current (old) station is. As a commuter, I found the meeting to be pretty much useless.

So, like a good PITA (Pain in the Ass, while I’m dropping acronyms), my comment sheet was full of questions. Lots and lots of questions. Here are just a few:

How are changing traffic patterns along Ravenswood Ave. going to affect commuters, particularly cyclists?
What effect will there be, in terms of the schedules, for the construction of and switching to and from, the new third track, which is making it possible for the north and southbound trains to not be constrained to one track?
What amenities will the station have? Does the public have input on them?
Will there be increased or decreased numbers of bike racks?
Are there community organizations that are committed to partnering in maintaining the landscaping, like the Andersonville Gardens? What about stretches of the train landscaping along industry or in areas with high rental numbers? (I got the idea they want to turn the landscaping over to communities to maintain. Um, what?)

I followed up my questions with a critique of the meeting. Yeah, I’m THAT person. You need to know, though, that there was very little time and publicity for us to voice our concerns the first go around with this project, when they decided they were going to take one of the two tracks offline during construction. The schedule changes were, well, awful. And you know, we could have rolled with a lot of this stuff. Like I noted above, we commuters want to know that we’ll be safe on our trains. Schedule changes? Inevitable. But these were unmanageable. Not only did the times make it more difficult to get to work on time, the trains weren’t on time. The City of Evanston threw a fit about service to the Central Street Station, and eventually, Metra walked away with its tail between its legs, muttering “back to the drawing board.” Having gone through that mess, when we felt helpless and frustrated and ignored, you might understand why a forum for commuters to give input might have been a good idea. People just need to feel like they’re being heard. And, putting those poster drawings online would enable a lot more people to comment, since the window to view the plans was actually pretty short.

But us? We don’t own property along Ravenswood Ave. This project might not be in my backyard, but it’s a substantial part of my work life, as someone who doesn’t have the option to drive because of a disability. I spend 90 minutes every day on those trains, so I’m a little interested in knowing how this project is actually going to affect me. Maybe I should buy a million-dollar house on Ravenswood Ave. and find out.

Gangs + Cupcakes?

2011-03-14T17:12:00.002-05:00

I get so geeked out about interesting maps.

I went to a lecture today about telling stories with maps. One of the maps that Vaughn Tan shared with us was this San Fransisco map of gang territories and cupcake shops. Can we infer anything from this map? Probably not. But, it's super cool. The violence described in the accompanying article is absolutely not super cool.

Listen up, gangs: cupcakes, not guns.

what's exciting this semester?

2011-02-16T17:59:00.007-06:00

I'm taking a GIS course this semester. Most people look at my like, "Um, GIS? That's... What IS that?"

Take really interesting data about Chicago, and chart it out, geographically. I'm a very visual person (difficult sometimes, also being a visually-impared person), and with my love of both maps and cities, this gets me excited.

Imagine, then, my fascination this morning when I picked up the Red Eye (Shut up, Carrie. I do the sudoku.) and they had this article from the Chicago Tribune about population changes across the 6-county area:

Chicago's population drops 200,000

Census data also show collar counties grew in numbers, diversity

By William Mullen and Vikki Ortiz-Healy

Tribune reporters

10:00 PM CST, February 15, 2011

Chicago lost a hefty 200,000 residents in the last decade, most of them African-Americans, while suburban counties grew dramatically in numbers and diversity, according to 2010 census data released Tuesday.

People continued to spread out far from the region's urban hub, as thousands flocked to Will, Kane and McHenry counties, all of which experienced a second decade of vigorous double-digit growth, the numbers showed.

"I think these data from here and elsewhere in the country reflect that the United States has become a suburban nation," said Scott W. Allard, a University of Chicago associate professor of social service administration. "It is a continuing migration from the city out to the suburbs while there are also immigration waves directly to the suburbs as well."

In the 2000 census, Latino immigration fueled a modest 4 percent population increase in Chicago, marking the city's first decade of growth since the 1940s.

This time around Chicago's Latino population was up just a little more than 3 percent. The white population was down a bit, while black numbers dropped nearly 17 percent.

Latinos and Asians accounted for the metropolitan area's biggest population increases during the 2000s. In both cases, the biggest gains for those groups were in collar counties, not in the city or suburban Cook County.

"The biggest (change) is finding more minority people in different places in the metropolitan area where you didn't used to find them," said Jim Lewis, a demographer and senior program officer at Chicago Community Trust. "That and the loss of black population in the region and the state."

The census information isn't yet complete enough to track where blacks who left the city went, Lewis said. The figures indicate some have moved to suburbs, but a slight decline statewide suggests some African-Americans have been moving out of the region entirely, Lewis said.

Carried by the collar counties, the population of the six-county Chicago region grew almost 3 percent during the decade, to 8.3 million. That's down significantly from the region's 11 percent growth in the 2000 census.

Some of that slowdown was chalked up to the economy going south late in the decade.

"There was just a big boom and then we got to the end of the bubble," said Dennis Sandquist, director of planning and development for McHenry County, who attributed some of the slowdown to the downturn in the economy. "Our hope is that when things pick up, it picks up to a sustainable rate of growth."

Despite the slower rate of growth, demographers said people continue to be drawn to ever more remote suburbs by job opportunities, affordable housing and better-funded school districts.

"Looking at the whole metro area, we are up over a quarter of a million people, which shows that we remain as an attractive place to people," said Matt Maloney, deputy chief of staff for policy development for the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. "We anticipate other metro areas in the Middle West will show that they are having trouble maintaining population, so that is a plus for us."

DuPage County, long the region's epitome of booming suburbia, barely grew at all. The county lost about 45,000 white residents, which was offset by more African-American and Asian residents.

"You could say that Kane County is the DuPage County of yesterday," said Rob Paral, a Chicago demographer. "The things we're saying about Kane County today is what we said about DuPage County 20 years ago."

Chicago wasn't the only place in Illinois to experience population drain. A number of rural counties through the state also saw population dips. Overall, the state grew just 3.3 percent during the decade, to 12,830,632.

That will cost the state one of its 19 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Chicago's population decline could also have consequences for its residents, according to Allard.

"The city will likely have to prepare for some cuts in federal grants based on population formulas, perhaps tens of millions of dollars over the next decade," he said.

For the second decade, Aurora and Joliet experienced dramatic growth. Aurora (197,899) passed Rockford (152,871) to become the state's second-biggest town, while Joliet moved up three places to No. 4, with 147,433 residents, nearly 40 percent more than in 2000.

In those cities and others, Latinos found homes far from the city's traditional ethnic enclaves.

According to Sylvia Puente, executive director of the Latino Policy Forum, some of those newcomers have achieved middle-class status that enables them to seek out better housing stock and schools.

But most, she said, have followed the development in the suburbs to work as landscapers, cooks, housekeepers and other blue-collar jobs.

"We've continued to see that all the Latino demographic growth that has been outside the city while the city's (Latino growth) has been flat," Puente said.

DuPage County "is now part of the old inner ring of communities, with all the characteristics of older Cook County communities," said Lewis of the Chicago Community Trust. There has been an aging process there, with lots of empty nesters and a decline in white population."

Cook County's population loss could have been even worse if it had not been for the recession and crash of the housing market, said Kenneth Johnson, a demographer at the University of New Hampshire who was for many years based at Chicago's Loyola University and continues to study the city's population trends.

"Migration data suggest that the … loss from Cook County slowed precipitously near the end of the decade because the number of people migrating out of the county slowed," Johnson said. "This occurred because the recession had the effect of freezing people in place due to their reluctance to try and sell homes or change jobs because of the difficult economic situation."

Better yet? The accompanying graphic. This, my friends, is what I'm doing this semester, making maps like this to analyze data. It's so super cool.

And, I intend no copyright infringement. I didn't want to hotlink the image and bog down the Tribune's site.

on my uncle's death

2011-01-08T18:47:00.000-06:00

This is where it began:

Man dies in 1-car crash near Manteno

A passenger was killed when he was thrown from a convertible with the top down during a single-vehicle crash Wednesday just north of Manteno.

Gregory Kirkton, a 52-year-old resident of the Manteno area, was pronounced dead at 11:03 p.m. at the accident scene at 11500N and 1000E roads, according to Kankakee County Coroner Bob Gessner.

Gessner said the victim was riding in a car that was traveling northbound on 1000E. The car left the roadway, struck an embankment and went airborne before landing upright on its wheels, Gessner said. Kirkton was thrown from the topless convertible. It did not appear that he was wearing a seat belt, according to the coroner.

Gessner said the female driver was taken to Riverside Medical Center. The coroner's office did not have her name.

Kankakee County Sheriff's Police are reconstructing the accident. The report with further details of the mishap was not available this morning before press time.

Kirkton's autopsy is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. today.

-- From the Daily Journal, August 23, 2007

My mom is the youngest of three; Greg was the middle child, the younger of her two older brothers.

The female driver was Barbara Hambrick. My uncle rented a room in her farmhouse and frequented the bar where she bartended. He helped her out with her two little kids. He and Barb were friends. She was responsible for his death.

On October 21, 2009, I wrote briefly on my thoughts after Barb's first trial ended in a mistrial because the jury was unable to come to a decision.

The retrial began in November of 2010.

(From the Daily Journal, November 16, 2010)
This time, the jury was able to come to a decision.

(From the Daily Journal, November 17, 2010)
On January 7, 2011, I addressed the court on behalf of my family by reading a Victim Impact statement that I wrote. Though I'd argue it's not my best piece of writing ever, the State's Attorney said it was the most articulate Victim's Impact statement he's heard.

I would first like to thank the court for the opportunity to speak today.

Gregory Kirkton was my uncle. My family has asked me to speak on our behalf.

My Uncle Greg was a good man with a good heart. Though he never had much money, he was the kind of man who would give away his last dime to someone who needed it, especially a friend or family member. He loved his family very, very much. He was especially close with my mom, and he was a good parent to his stepdaughter, Amanda. He loved his wife, Donna, very much, and the months immediately following her death were difficult for him. In the years since then, he put his life back together, leaving their home in Farmer City and eventually moving back to Kankakee to be with his family.

There's no way to express here today the pain his death caused, other than to say that all of our hearts were broken.

Without question, Barbara Hambrick was responsible for my Uncle Greg's death.

The way my uncle has been treated by Barbara Hambrick and her representatives since the time of his death only caused more pain for my family, making their healing that much more difficult.

My family was deeply concerned for Barb after the accident. She was seriously injured, and we were concerned for her -- not just for her injuries but for the loss of her friend, my uncle, who was a kind presence in the daily life of Barb and her kids. We cared about her wellbeing and her recovery. This is who we are. Understanding that she was driving and caused the accident, we felt sorry for her nonetheless.

Our feelings changed when her story about the accident changed.

We heard in the week after the accident that Barb claimed she hadn't been driving, that Greg was driving and caused the accident. The evidence showed this was untrue; Barb had bruising caused by the driver's-side seatbelt.
Hearing this was unsettling, but nothing was more horrific than the news that my uncle, after being thrown from the automobile, laid on the ground for more than forty minutes before the police were called to the scene of the accident. We were shocked by the thought of my uncle lying on the ground for all that time, suffering in unspeakable pain. Though we were eventually comforted with the news that he died instantly, we will never heal from the reckless cruelty of Barb and her family waiting to call 911.
We could have eventually forgiven Barb for causing the accident that resulted in my uncle's death. We could never forgive her for her delay in calling the police. Or for blaming the accident on my Uncle Greg.

Over the course of the legal proceedings, we heard a number of explanations about how my uncle caused the accident, none of which we actually believed. My uncle wasn't suicidal; he was excited about having just had a great job interview, and he was anxious for the job offer.

When the jury found Barbara Hambrick guilty on both counts of aggravated DUI, my family was relieved that the jury believed that my Uncle Greg didn't cause the accident. Through all the lies Barb told about how the accident happened and all the blame that was placed on my uncle, we just wanted her to accept responsibility. That never happened. My family and I are thankful that the jury found Barb responsible, since she was unwilling to take responsibility.

That being said, no one "won" on the day the verdict was delivered. Yes, we finally had the acknowledgment of Barb's responsibility by a jury of her peers, but nothing will bring my uncle back. No decision could heal our broken hearts.

I won't make a plea for any particular punishment. My family and I trust the court to make the decisions they deem appropriate in accordance with the law. For us, the most important decision was handed down by the jury when Barbara Hambrick was found responsible.

For those of you who saw the videotapes from Heather's Tap, I'd like to leave you with a memory of the Greg Kirkton that I loved. Greg was the eternal "big kid," and when he lived with my family when I was young, he had my brother and me convinced he'd worked in the circus. He would show us his acrobatics by tossing us into the air on afternoons that were filled with laughter and awe. That is the Uncle Greg I remember.

Delivery of the sentence will be next Friday, January 14, 2011, at 1:30.

what I've been doing when I haven't been blogging

2010-11-11T08:05:00.003-06:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah... I haven't blogged in awhile. I've had a good excuse; it's called life.

Work -- It's been busier than ever, but there are silver linings in that dark cloud. I've been busy because our first-year students are seeking out the help they need. That's never a bad thing. And! We're hiring another person to do academic support, which is amazing (and means I'll not be so crazybusy in the future).

So, here's what's actually interesting -- I LOVE my urban planning class, which I'm taking at University of Illinois at Chicago. Fascinating stuff, kids! Lemme tell you what I've been up to with that:

I did an observation paper on the changing patterns of riders on the CTA's Purple Line Express trains.

I'm currently working on an economic analysis paper about a commercial block in my neighborhood. That research involves reading about my neighborhood's history and looking into info on several businesses on that block. I recently finished reading a study of the local impact of local businesses versus chain retailers, looking specifically at my neighborhood and at least 1 of the businesses I'm studying. Both this project and my observation project are classic urban planning projects.

As a class, we have an ongoing project, doing planning in a real-life community. We're working in North Lawndale with the Lawndale Christian Development Corporation, who has an affordable housing project underway on 16th St. Our project is helping them to plan for use of vacant lots along 16th.

View Larger Map

Specifically, my group of 5 is looking at the neighborhood demographics and the project's stakeholders. About a month-and-a-half ago, a handful of us went to a community meeting at the local police station and got a picture of who we're working with. On Saturday, we're meeting with a bunch of our stakeholders to listen to what they want for 16th St.. We'll also tour the affordable housing that LCDC is constructing and take a look at the strip of 16th that we're working with. We're working with real people in a real community in the city that I love. This semester, we're only scratching the surface on this project, but even that is a real cool experience.

I'm so glad I'm taking this class. It's hitting on so much of what interests me about urban studies and giving me an idea of what's out there -- academic and otherwise. I'm also really enjoying my classmates. There's the guy who interned with the Chicago Housing Authority, who I'm entertained by, even if I don't usually agree with him. There's the guy who lives in my neighborhood, who's also doing his economic analysis on the neighborhood. He and I have shared resources for the project. There's K, who, dare I say?, is my first UIC friend. She's working on the demographics project with me, and we met last weekend to talk census data, which I worked with when I took my Chicago geography class in the summer of 2009. I got to teach her about how to get the data, and we talked about what we're looking for and what we're doing with the data. When we digressed over coffee, she told me about the epidemiology of violence (see this project, for example) course she's taking, which was totally fascinating.

I was talking to a friend last night about her recent crush and the excitement and giddiness that comes along with that. Honestly, I think I have some of that going on when it goes to what I'm working on. I really like it. I'm challenged and stimulated. I have things to say, and my opinion is relevant. It's nice to be pushing my mind to work in these ways and to be academically engaged. I have no idea what I'm going to take next semester, but I'm looking forward to the next challenge.

I recall in my sleep how you changed my life on Magnolia Street...

2010-10-17T19:57:00.001-05:00

I haven't written in a long time. There's so much to tell you about, but I never find the time unless it's days like today, when I'm overwhelmed by something that seems so worthy of writing. Someday, I'll tell you about my urban planning class (which I love), the stress of the semester and its new batch of kids (who break my heart), and the mess of trouble I can get myself into some days.

But today. We just got home from seeing Catie Curtis at the Old Town School of Folk Music. Catie Curtis is one of my faves -- Shannon predicted this, I think, when we were roommates senior year of college and she brought me her copy of Catie Curtis's self-titled album, which honestly didn't catch me right off the bat. It took till grad school, when I found myself swimming in the sorrow of her song "Troubled Mind."

Honestly, I can't remember if this was the second or third time I've seen her play live. I think it was the second -- it's at least the second time I've seen her play live since I've lived in Chicago. She played two of the songs that just live in such a deep place for me; "Kiss That Counted" had me singing and smiling when she started her set with it, and I cried when she sang "Magnolia Street." There were, of course, other gems.

And then there's the Old Town School... I can't really describe that place and how it makes me feel. Overwhelmed, maybe. Awestruck. Intimidated, even. If you know me, you know that music is so beautiful and personal to me, and you take a place like that where the rooms are filled with people taking lessons, making music. Wow. I'm humbled, and I'm saddened that I quit playing the piano and the guitar and haven't been able to overcome the emotional block I have on playing music myself.

with Catie Curtis
Originally uploaded by terynjay

Put together a musician I love in a place that's so amazing, and well, I didn't think I would be able to actually go talk to Catie Curtis when she was hanging around at the merch table after the show because I couldn't stop crying. I get so fangirl-shy around musicians I love, but I actually thought of something to say to her about her "It Gets Better" video (with her partner Liz). Annabelle was good enough to push me to get a picture, which I wouldn't have asked for myself, on account of the shy, fangirl thing I had going on.

I'm thinking that maybe I'll go tune the guitar. Maybe.

the world is lovely when you're sleeping (and I'm not)

2010-09-23T07:07:00.002-05:00

I'm one of those people who prefers to work at night, when the world has gone quiet. Finally, then, I'm able to think, to speculate, to ponder, and to just write. My academic genius muse works third shift.

This in mind, it's no surprise that I'm not a morning person. Not at all. I hate mornings, in fact. I'd love to stay up till 2am and wake up for the day at 10am.

And yet, here I am, in the office at 7am, after having not left campus last night until after 8pm. For those playing along at home, that means I got home last night at 9:45pm, woke up at 4:30am, and boarded a train at 5:58am.

That train at nearly 6am is a beautiful thing. Metra calls it the Sunrise Express, which is apt -- we watch the sunrise while zooming past a number of stops. The train ride is about half an hour, which shaves at least 15 minutes off the normal commute. And, it's gets us to campus -- with a stop at Starbucks first -- just before 7am.

At 7am, all the little college kids are still sleeping. The town is quiet. The campus is very, very quiet. This is the time of day that people snap photos of deer who boldly venture with their young onto our lush, green campus.

The city, too, was quiet, both walking home last night and walking to the train this morning. At night, I usually stick to the main roads on the walk home, but train construction has lead to the opening of a new train platform, north of Lawrence Ave.. In the interest of time, which is indeed precious at 10pm, it's faster to exit at the north end of the platform and continue along Ravenswood Ave. and through the residential western part of my neighborhood. Walking the quiet streets in the dark (though with ample street light) always makes me hear my worried mother, fretting about me waking home alone. Sure, something bad could happen, but that could happen at any point at any time. I choose to walk home, head high and unafraid.

At day's end, I'll again travel home in the dark, having gone with members of the awesome class* I'm taking to do some fieldwork, and I'll rise even earlier than I did today to head out to do some field observations alone. Like all the nights in grad school that I stayed up late to write, I'll enjoy the quiet that settles in as I walk to the train, the lovely silence quieting the noises in my brain, letting me enjoy simply being in the city I love.

_________

* I'm taking an introductory course in urban planning at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). it's a mixed undergraduate/graduate class at the 400 level, so while we're discussing material that's new to many, it's still rigorous, engaging, and one of the best parts of my Mondays and Wednesdays. Everyone asks, "So, are you doing another degree?" to which I reply, "Right now, I'm just taking a class." My future is on this path...somewhere. I'm just enjoying the journey and discovery this semester.

First World Problems

2010-08-12T16:14:00.000-05:00

I hate to admit this, mostly because I hate that I'm actually feeling* this way, but I'm having a big problem with entitlement lately. Specifically, I'm having a tough time with several young adults who take for granted what their parents work so hard to provide for them. (And, I'm not even talking about every single college student I work with... because they're not back yet. When they are, though...)

I'm a first-generation college kid. When I was in high school and college, my mom worked three jobs. Yes, three. 3. She never hid from us that she struggled to provide for us. I know she paid bills late. I know that she paid the orthodontist $20 a week for years so that we could have braces. I know I took her for granted. I tried to never ask for spending money, and when I was home from college in the summers, I had babysitting or tutoring gigs most of the time.

What kills me now are kids who don't do anything. Like at all. I'm thinking of the 20-year-old who doesn't have a job, lives at home, and does whatever he or she wants whenever he or she wants, like buying clothes, going out to eat, etc. I know kids like this, whose parents are a lot like mine, struggling to make ends meet. I don't understand the mentality that you never have to take any responsibility for anything. You don't want to work full-time? No problem. You're not going to finish college? Fine.

I just don't have any patience for this right now. I just don't. And, this could be a problem when my students return with the same attitudes. Reminds me of the hashtags people do on Twitter: #firstworldproblems. I need to find a way to work out this frustration before I have a bad attitude with/at someone.

* One of the most valuable lessons I've learned while reading The Ethical Slut is that feelings themselves are neither good nor bad. The actions we take in response to those feelings are what's good or bad. In the case of the feelings discussed in the book, jealousy isn't a bad feeling. It's just a feeling. If you act negatively as a result of feeling that jealousy, that action is what's a problem. Sometimes, I learn stuff!

1, 2, 3, 4, I declare a Blog War*

2010-08-12T10:51:00.000-05:00

For the record, I did NOT try to kill Annabelle. Not this week, anyway. And, you should completely disregard that one time when I lit her ponytail on fire because that really was an accident.

Mac'n'cheese RULES!

That is all.

* Though I would be just as happy with a Thumb War.

she may be a fascist, y'all

2010-08-11T09:08:00.000-05:00

You know how when people don't like something as "all-American" as apple pie they get called "communists"? I don't think that's such a bad label, all in all, but I'm not fond of the fascists.

Which leads me to Annabelle.

Before last night, she'd never taken a whole bite of macaroni and cheese. For serious. Did I mention this is one of my favorite foods?

After having dental work done on Monday, her mouth has been very sore. Last night, my goal for dinner was soft food. Given the way I inhale mac'n'cheese, I thought that might be something she could try to inhale, too, that might be both soft and filling. You have to know, though, that Annabelle doesn't like: a) cheese, or b) noodles. Making this for dinner was a risky choice, but I'd hoped that the inhalability of mac'n'cheese would make it okay.

I was so wrong. To her credit, she didn't throw up after that one bite of mac'n'cheese, but she definitely wanted to.

Macaroni and cheese was an important part of my childhood. Hell, lots of people would say the same thing. It's a feel-good food for me. It's so strange to me that it's something she can't make herself eat (it's a texture issue). When I think of the staples, I think about mac'n'cheese, tomato soup, spaghetti, BLTs... all things Annabelle doesn't like.

To be fair, there are foods I don't like: blueberries, olives, beets, radishes, cottage cheese, salmon. Who doesn't like blueberries???

When we have kids, they'll either eat everything we put in front of them, or they'll be the pickiest eaters in the city.

I had my toothbrush with me; I should have made myself at home.

2010-08-09T20:16:00.000-05:00

The suburbs are a whole different adventure from the city. For reals. I experience both on an almost-daily basis, and I always feel relief when I exit the commuter train at my neighborhood stop in the city.

Little public transportation is the biggest problem I have with the suburb in which I work. And when I say "little," I mean pretty much nothing besides the commuter train. After all, rich people all drive.

With a work meeting at 9:30 and appointments in the city at 1 and at 3, my day looked something like this:
10:45 -- meeting is finally over, and I leave my office to meet my friend D. The commuter train we take, which is walking distance from our campus, doesn't run a southbound train in the 11 o'clock hour. I wish I was kidding. D agreed to drive me across town to the other train line.
11:10 -- arrived at the west train stop
11:20 -- boarded my train. I have a monthly train pass for unlimited rides, but it's still kind of a naughty thrill whenever my ticket doesn't get checked. That happened today.
12:25 -- arrived downtown at Union Station, where I promptly grabbed some junk (read: fast food) for lunch. After lunch, I wandered out to catch the bus.
12:45 -- FINALLY a bus arrives. I watched 3 fly past while waiting to cross the Clinton St. to the bus stop. I hate feeling rushed, but that looked like an unavoidable problem today. I didn't have too far to go, maybe a mile, but it was 90 degrees and humid. I wasn't going to walk.
1:00 -- I rolled in right on time.
1:30 -- I rolled out in plenty of time. And then I waited. And waited. And finally a Blue Line train arrived, running express from Racine (my stop) to Jackson. I love when I'm fortunate enough to get on an express train that's not going to bypass my stop. That always happens when I'm on a Red Line train heading express -- it starts its express stint at Wilson, two stops south of mine and truly walking distance from the house.
2:20 -- I rolled in early for my dentist appointment and was out of there in an hour. Golden. Except for the part about me waiting for the Brown Line forever to head north.

Between 10:45 and 3:30, I went from my office to Lincoln Park, essentially, with only two real stops in between. That's crazy to me.

Sometimes, I feel like I spend my whole life on trains. On days like today, that's actually pretty true.

what the new blog name means, at least today

2010-08-05T09:54:00.000-05:00

This has been one of those weeks were the world pauses for moments during which I'm nearly moved to tears when I think about the fact that I live in a city that I love.

I waited for my friend D on Tuesday morning, staring out the front door of our three-flat to the gentle rain on our city street. He lives in the city. The two friends of ours who would also ride to work with us live in the city. None of us live within what I think of as walking-distance of one another (I'd bike it easily, though). We all live in spots where a lot of what we do and need happens within less than a mile of where our homes. We all live in this city of nearly three million people, and on that Tuesday morning, the distance between us seemed small, thinking about the four of us drawn together by our jobs initially and now by our friendship. In such a big place, where I don't even know my neighbors' names, I know a handful of people I could call in the middle of the night who would be there if I asked them to be.

On days when the weather is bad, I know my mother thinks of me, worries about me walking in the rain or the snow, when she walks to her garage and drives her car to work. I walk 3/4 of a mile to the commuter rail, and I'm carless by circumstance -- it was never a choice. I have friends, though, for whom it is a choice, and they, too, make the trip to the commuter train, which we ride thirty miles to work.

City life is different. When you live your life without a car, it's just how you live your life. I think people who are used to driving can't understand why we would make this choice or why we don't feel our lives would be fundamentally improved by driving. I think of it as weighing out your options. Is it a bigger hassle for me to walk to the train than it is for someone to drive to work? Sure, when the weather's bad, I'm sure that it is a bigger hassle, if we were to put them on a scale. But, I'm free of other hassles drivers have, like the maintenance of a car, the cost of auto insurance, the price of gas, the headache of traffic. Maybe that balances out what hassles I face. Maybe the freedom to bike places is a pleasure I have that you don't. Maybe the environment is a little better because some of us take the train or the bus or move under our own motion.

These are all such big life issues, and yet, it's all so simple to me in ways. I love where I live and with whom I live. I love the city that separates us and brings us together. I may groan at the time spent on the train, until I think of all the laughs and tears my friends and I have shared in those moments.

I'm just really happy in Chicago. This is one of those weeks when I know that with absolute certainty.

why is it so difficult to actually get to work?

2010-08-04T10:17:00.002-05:00

Crossing my fingers wasn't enough this morning. I was just out of luck. And then I was soaked.

The radio morning show kept saying that a big line of storms was coming -- a nasty band of thunderstorms with strong winds. I rushed to get ready, thinking I only have to make it one block, get on the bus, walk another half block, and wait for the train. This is totally do-able. I'm leaving early, and I'll just make it.

I was so very wrong.

I've never been outside in rain like this. The rain was coming from everywhere, and my umbrella was essentially useless. Before I made it to the end of our block, my capris were literally dripping wet. I rounded the corner and kept walking, but I finally hit a point of This is INSANE. I can't work all day in these wet clothes. So, I went home, hung up my wet clothes, laid on the bed, and checked my email.

That's when I snapped this picture -- too bad I didn't a) look right before I left and b) take a picture of the radar right before I left. Then, you could have seen my red pinpoint in the red band of storms.

My second attempt involved the same, pitiful umbrella, much less rain, and a bright yellow poncho. After seeing a coyote running down between the Metra tracks -- no joke! -- I made the train and made it to work. Safely. And, pretty much dry.

Does no one around here remember what happened to "Moonlighting"?

2010-07-28T22:49:00.006-05:00

I think "Moonlighting" is probably Annabelle's all-time favorite tv show. She can sing the theme song. She knows all the characters and lots about them and their story lines. She also gets a pained look when the topic of David and Maddie sleeping together at the end of Season 3 comes up. Annabelle prefers to pretend this never happened, that her beloved show was never ruined in such a horrific way. The point: when a lot of the energy of a show and the draw for the audience lies in the chemistry and sexual tension between the two lead characters, changing that dynamic fundamentally changes the show.

Remember "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman"? How about "The X-Files"? Okay, that one got particularly weird when David Duchovny left his starring role, but the change in chemistry between Mulder and Scully, while exciting in a way, was really the beginning of the end. I was happier when it was only Bree Sharp actively chasing Duchovny's "Mulder."

Last summer, I became addicted to "Bones" during my two months off. That show has a phenomenal ensemble cast. Yes, it clearly has two leads -- Bone and Booth -- but it's the entire cast that makes it a great show. That being said, I fell in love with the chemistry between Bones and Booth. The best way I can describe it is that I have a crush on them -- their chemistry, their banter, their friendship, their teamwork, their love of one another. I don't have a clearly identifiable crush on either character or on either of the actors (though I wouldn't kick Emily Deschanel out of bed or anything). I just love all that is Bones-and-Booth as a television pair.

Which brings me to what I've really been thinking about today: why Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles (of, cleverly enough, "Rizzoli and Isles") can't be a couple. Earlier, I read Dorothy Snarker's recent AfterEllen post "'Rizzoli & Isles' is TV's first lesbian buddy cop show (it just doesn't know it yet)," which I loved. Seriously, go read her post -- she hit on all the loveliness that is the on-screen chemistry these two characters share. The nice thing about this piece is that, while honestly cheering for them to be a couple, I don't think Snarker believes it will happen. Part of me thinks she might even agree with me that it shouldn't happen. Her tone is playful enough to show me two things: 1) This could be a really great thing for tv that will likely be passed by. 2) She can confess her crush on them and their relationship while still understanding that messing with their chemistry messes with the show. She must still remember "Moonlighting."

I made the mistake of reading a bunch of the comments to the post, which reflected what I've seen in some of the questions recently posed to Sasha Alexander (Isles) via Twitter -- fans really DO want the characters to be together. They think it would be a far better show that way. And, they're totally serious. They see the territory opened up by taking the characters from books to the small screen, and while acknowledging that it wouldn't fly with the characters as they've been established in the books, a lot can still change when we're only three episodes into a brand new show.

Dear friends, I learned this lesson already -- when your show feeds on the chemistry between two characters who clearly should be together in your (my) dreamworld, actually getting them together is a sure-fire way to kill the show. It irks me that people fight against this fact.

I'll be the first to admit, though somewhat embarrassingly, that I'm all about these women in a serious way. Snarker is so right about their connection; they are the new crush duo for me. (Sorry, Bones and Booth.) I have already given over too many hours in the past two weeks to reading fan fiction (fanfic) on the internet about the two coupling (most rated PG-13 or higher -- yes, I read fanfic smut; don't judge). I'm contentedly living in my fantasy world where the relationship between these women can be what I and other fans imagine. And as hot as their imaginary sexual relationship is, it's totally not where the show should go.

I think that part of it for me is that I need the saucy subtext to feed my imagination. It's more fun this way.

I must now acknowledge an important part of arguments I'm reading about why they should be a couple -- wouldn't it be an amazing thing for television to see two awesome and happily and openly partnered -- and accepted and loved -- lead women on this show, or any show? It would be an amazing thing. It's 2010, people, and lesbian couples are living happily ever after in a neighborhood near you. Why shouldn't they be honestly portrayed in leading roles just like anyone else? Maybe you've checked and noticed that we aren't progressive enough, as a country, for this to be a successful formula for a tv show. Us queers aren't getting equal rights in so many ways; why should tv be any different? Yes, some states "get it" and allow legal partnerships of some kind, but others -- I'm looking at you, California -- put bigotry into state law. Is one tv show going to change that? No way. Does the show have a better chance of being successful without that? Yeah, I'm thinking so.

In my mind, I keep coming back to "Fried Green Tomatoes." Love that flick. If you read Fannie Flagg's book, it's abundantly clear that Ruth and Idgie were a couple. The 1991 movie the book is based on, however, is a best friends film. When the film came out (and still today, I'd argue), that makes the film open to a wider audience. That film reaches more people than it would if Ruth and Idgie were "out" on screen. Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe more people can see the nuances of their relationship, and maybe because of that, those people become a little more accepting and open-minded. For those of us who cared about the integrity of Ruth and Idgie's relationship, we only need to go so far as the director's commentary (aside from the books) to hear that the filmmaker knew they were lovers all along. Listen up when the commentary addresses the food fight scene -- it's intended to symbolize their love-making. I kid you not.

My point here? Maybe "Rizzoli and Isles" won't be pushing any boundaries. It's probably not going to test the waters out there and see if the public is ready for the two women to be an on-screen couple. I think that would ruin what I, personally, love about the show. When I fell in love with "Fried Green Tomatoes" as a teenager, I wasn't entirely tuned into Ruth and Idgie's relationship (or my own interest in women), but that's okay. There was enough there to let me read what I wanted to when I wanted to between the lines. With what's actually on screen, I think I'm happy with "Rizzoli and Isles" just the way it is. I'm having fun with the characters and their chemistry. The rest is up to my imagination.

look! two posts in one day!

2010-07-27T14:27:00.003-05:00

Having 4cups.spontaneous here recently inspired me. She bikes. A lot. I want to be healthier. A lot.

Last night at dinner, H and I made plans to go to the gym today. This morning, we tweaked our plans, which included adding riding our bikes to the gym. My workout today included 6 1/2 miles of biking and 1/4 mile swimming, which seems so insignificant compared to the biking. Not bad for an overweight girl with bad knees.

things we do for people we love

2010-07-27T08:26:00.002-05:00

I figured I better cop to this before someone finds out and things are misconstrued.

I did, in fact, download "Nothin' My Love Can't Fix" by Joey Lawrence yesterday. I didn't dare import it into my iTunes for fear of a trace of it lingering there.

Annabelle wanted it, I swear. She knows I'm pretty good and acquiring tough-to-find things like this, which wasn't available through the iTunes store or Amazon mp3 downloads.

So it's out there, now. You know the truth. Please don't revoke my street cred.

I'll try to be better, honest.

2010-07-26T10:51:00.002-05:00

Baby Oliver, 5 mos.
Originally uploaded by terynjay

I'm trying to be better about blogging. Now that I'm out of the groove, I don't know what to write about anymore. So, I'll write a little about the weekend.

We met up with my pal MBJ, who I haven't seen since winter. In the meantime, she had a baby, an AWESOME baby, who I'm totally in love with. It's the eyebrows.

Annabelle and I hung out with MBJ, Baby Oliver, and MBJ's mom. They're like family to me, and whenever I see them, I realize how much I miss them. There was much baby smooshing and kissing, and cuddling, and even my mom is having baby withdrawal from the short time she spent with him on Sunday.

The rest of the time was family. They're as crazy as ever. Need I say more?

I'm going to try to enjoy this last week of my "summer vacation" before it's back to work full-time. I actually like working; I need that structure in my day. So far, I've been pretty good about keeping myself on a schedule and getting some things done each day -- look, I can create my own structure! Kind of...

Excuse me while I go stare at the pics of that cute baby for awhile.

exciting happenings

2010-07-22T09:05:00.002-05:00

A couple of notes on things that make me happy:

Heinous, one of my beloved BFFs, is leaving a meh job in a crappy town TODAY. As I type this, she and her father are getting things ready and supervising the movers as they load the truck she and her father will drive cross-country, back to the Midwest, where she'll settle into a house of her own in a town that's accessible by train (for me). This is such a positive move, and I'm so happy she's coming home.

Another of my beloved BFFs has her first book coming out on August 23rd, and the buzz is starting. University of Illinois Press has blogged about it, and it's already ranked well on Amazon, even though it's not yet out. I'm very proud of her.

One of Annabelle's BFFs just started a new blog, which makes me smile. J is a cool kid, and we don't see enough of her. I'm glad we can follow her online.

My brother is engaged in a new project called Just Aesthetics. Check out the blog and the community work they're doing.

Saturday, I'm going to meet my dear lifelong friend MBJ's little guy. He was born in February, and I've been both sick (a lot) and busy (too much). It's sad to me that I haven't met him yet, though I'll kick myself in the butt for not making it a bigger priority. That doesn't matter; what matters is that I get to hang out with her and her little guy this weekend.

Finally, go read Annabelle's blog. She's all around awesome, and I'm lucky to share my days with her. Plus, she's funny. Also, I'm excited to watch her tweet her way through Blogher in a few weeks.

well, if Marie can do it...

2010-07-05T00:00:00.001-05:00

Well, there was a new post over at Loving Ophelia, so I guess that means I need to get writing, too. What do you want to hear about?

"My baby takes the morning train..."

2010-02-03T13:49:00.000-06:00

Few things geek me out more than urban transit. I accept that I'm an oddity, but I really do love it.

Today in geeky transit goodness: We're setting up an email list for folks on campus who ride the Metra. The list started as an email list for commuters to relay information, and it's growing to include people who live near the College but make use of the Metra for fun. Within an hour-and-a-half of sending out a simple email about the list that asked people if they'd like to join, I already have 31 people on the list. And, I know there are others out there.

All of this started with one professor, who got in touch with a few other train commuters to see if they wanted to join him in asking our President to ask the city to do a better job salting the sidewalks. A total of 22 people were in on that plea, and the networking involved in that showed that we really do lack a means of communicating with one another as a group -- oftentimes because we just don't know who all is out there.

I think the thing that makes me most excited today is the prospect of power in numbers. We're a forgotten population, both around campus and in the greater community, and with this growing network of folks, the potential for mobilizing change also grows. One day, we may indeed have some love from the RTA for the reverse commuters. Today, I'll take the campus love for the email list.

in a mood to write poems

2010-01-27T15:49:00.003-06:00

Waiting for a student who never did show up, I did some of my blog reading. I'm so far behind. I read 20 or 30 poems by my favorite college professor, who must be writing and posting one each day of the year. A couple connected in ways I couldn't yet explain, so they're marked for another reading, for another day. Something about reading poetry makes me want to write, especially when I feel connected to it, as I do with my former prof's writing.

I went back and read two poems that I wrote in early 2008. I don't think I've written any since. They were pretty good. What happens to all these things we write and tuck away? Will anyone ever know them? Will anyone ever laugh at the poem about my bad haircut? It was so much better in version 2. Yet, I'm afraid to put them online; if people can read them, they can take them. And, they're mine.

And yet, what has been someone else's can mean so much to me. This is why music is so important to me, after all.

Maybe I'll post those poems after all.

It takes more than three days to make something a habit, doesn't it?

2010-01-21T11:12:00.004-06:00

On Tuesday, my buddy D and I began our very own "Biggest Loser" competition. Like the show, we're going to see who can lose the largest percentage of weight over the course of the semester. We weighed in on Tuesday, and we'll have the final weigh-in on the last day of classes. For accuracy and consistency, we weighed in at the College's health center, and they're helping to track our progress.

The past three days, I was up at 5am and in the pool at the gym before 6:30 -- I have to go from our apartment in Chicago to the gym in Evanston. And yes, there ARE, in fact, gyms in Chicago. This one in particular is adjacent to the downtown Evanston stop on the Metra I take to work. So hush; it does, too, make sense to go that far to the gym. On those three days, I swam my 1/4 mile, and I did it hard. I tried to pay attention to my breathing and movement with each lap, making sure my legs were working. And boy, did they work hard.

By yesterday afternoon, I was popping extra Aleve for my bad joints and tired muscles. Despite the pain, it was a sure sign I accomplished something.

I didn't go in today. I was out past 11 last night with students -- we went to see a speaker a the University of Chicago -- so getting up early would have been painful. A different kind of painful. I get what they mean about having a little rest time for your body.

The competition element of all of this is what's going to be most helpful, I think. I have a GOAL. I'm going to BEAT HIM at weight loss. Perfectionist much? I know, I know. I must say, though, that perhaps the biggest motivator this week associated with the bet was the weigh in. I never would have guessed it, but I weigh 15 pounds more than he does. That is NOT okay.

I must admit, though, that the thought of winning a lunch of bacon-wrapped filet at Fogo de Chao isn't bad incentive, either.

back to work, you slacker

2009-11-16T09:04:00.003-06:00

This is my first day back to work since last Tuesday. It's so good to 1) be out of the house and 2) see people. Damn, am I tired, though.

I went down in flames starting Tuesday afternoon, after developing a nasty cough on Monday. Having had the vaccine for the seasonal flu--and with the prevalence of H1N1 on our campus--my doctor felt comfortable with the H1N1 diagnosis. Wednesday sucked, but I felt a little better every day from there. Sitting on the couch, it was easy to forget what a nasty respiratory bug that flu virus is, and doing much of anything wore me out. Today, getting ready and going to work was enough to wear me out. I'm ready for my morning nap. Too bad Monday's are my most exhausting day.

The doc warned me that, more than likely, I'd have an asthma flare-up from the flu. I'd never had an actual asthma attack, just shortness of breath that's symptomatic of asthma. The doc gave me good meds and told me to use my inhaler liberally. And yesterday, the full wrath of the bug bit me when I had my first ever asthma attack. It was actually kind of scary. I figured out pretty quickly that my breathing was getting out of control, and I got my inhaler right away. Anne was there to coach me, and I got my breathing back to normal pretty quickly. Man, I had no idea how weak I would feel, though. Let's never do that again. (Mom, I'm fine, really!)

I've got a meeting in 20 minutes, and I think I'm heading over early. I'm not sure how long it'll take me to do all the stairs to the third floor conference room in the elevatorless building across campus. Sounds kind of silly, but I'm seriously being realistic. When they say this flu bug is a nasty respiratory problem, they aren't kidding.

I hear Miss Hannigan...

2009-11-15T11:10:00.003-06:00

... and she's screaming, "KILL! KILL!"

There are so, so many reasons why I hate UnitedHeathlcare. Here's today, reason #457:

Taking my morning pills, I though, "Hm, it's been awhile since I ordered that prescription and since they called to say it'd been shipped. I better go online and check."

Sure enough, it was shipped on October 27th. Via UPS. And delivered on October 29th.

And left at our front door. Outside. In Chicago.

UPS freaking left my $200 in prescriptions at the freaking front door. And, they were promptly stolen. The package was left without a signature. Who even sends stuff without requiring a signature? And, who sends SOMEONE'S MEDICATION without requiring a signature? What the fuck?! In the past 3 1/2 years with UHC, I've never had my meds come UPS. If I knew they were coming UPS, I would have had them sent to work to be signed for, which is exactly what I told the lady on the phone.

Even better? I have to pay for a whole new shipment. I shit you not. After 25 days of the package going missing, I can officially request a refund. Until then, the package can't be officially gone. For 25 days, someone gets my 3 months of drugs and all my info, and I pay another $200 and cross my fingers that the package arrives before I run out of meds. Unfuckingbelievable.

(I will admit I should have checked on this sooner, not that it would have mattered in the 25-day business.)

EPIC FAIL. Way to go, UHC. Way to go.

Where's my public option? I need the hell out of UHC's reach.

why I like my colleagues

2009-11-04T09:41:00.003-06:00

I had several great chats with colleagues yesterday -- some about work and some purely social. I really like the people I work with.

I just got an email from a colleague that really made me smile. She and I are working with a student who needs help with test-taking. She's bringing over the student's exams for the semester so that the student and I can go over them. I'm essentially "checking out" the exams from her because her department doesn't release them to students. Here's our email exchange:

Her: When do you want me to drop off/ or when do you want to pick up the exams?

Me: If you feel like getting out, I've assigned myself homework between 10 and 11, so I'll definitely be in my office then. I can also plan to stop by whenever you're free.

Her: We need to talk about 2 things. 1. What do you mean "you assigned yourself homework" ? And 2. Why would you ever do such a thing? I'll bring over her stuff around 10.

She's the same person who turned me onto Cute Overload. It's clearly been a good week at work so far.

I got a feeling...

2009-11-03T10:38:00.003-06:00

Last week, Liz and I declared during our morning train commute that November was going to be a good month. We agreed we were both getting back to our weekday swims. So far, we're 2 for 2. And, unlike October, November has been sunny! Supposedly, we had 22 days of rain in October, when our average is 12. No wonder I felt like crap.

This talk of swimming and sunshine -- it's about feeling good. I get into a cycle of feeling meh and not wanting to exercise, when exercise is clearly something that helps me to not feel so meh, so I'm not exercising and not feeling less meh but feel too meh to get myself to exercise.

But, it's November. I got a feeling that this month's gonna be a good month...

I hate to sweat. I really, really do. Swimming is good because it's low-impact and not sweaty. It's strange for me to think of enjoying anything active, even when there isn't sweat involved, but I really enjoy my swimming.

Especially the first lap.

There's NOTHING like the first dive down, smoothly moving through the water to a steady freestyle stroke. Breathing is so simple, the water is so clear, and the strokes are steady and even. This first lap is as good as it gets for me, and I'd love to have every lap feel this week, this satisfying.

The problem is my breathing. The first lap is great because I've used my inhaler preventatively but haven't yet got my heart pumping. My need for air feel so much simpler in that first lap. I take one--maybe two--breaths across the pool in the first lap, compared with the three I take in subsequent laps. I don't work hard in that first lap. It just feels natural. The rest of them will all be work, and when I get a good lap in there somewhere in the middle of the swim, I feel really good about it.

Besides the asthma, I never learned proper swimming breathing. As a child, I was deathly afraid of the water, and I hated swimming lessons. As an adult, I don't know how to plug my nose underwater without actually wearing nose plugs. I honestly think my breathing would be smoother if I could swim without the nose plugs. (If you can describe how that's done--plugging you nose from inside while you swim--do tell!)

I'll close with a recap of our Halloween festivities with my family, courtesy of Anne. Her costume was truly frightening, by which I mean AWESOME. And, for your reading amusement, here's her story about what happens when I'm not there in the morning to save her life.

writing on not writing

2009-10-21T13:42:00.004-05:00

I still haven't written about the trial. I guess it just feels so big that I don't even know where to start. The short of it, for those keeping track:

The state's attorney was amazing. He was thorough, and he treated people with respect. The defense attorney did not do the same.

The state's witnesses were also thorough, while the defense witnesses' stories were wildly inconsistent.

I talked to my mom everyday. I know the whole thing weighed on everyone, especially on my mom and grandparents, who went everyday.

When we were called in on the tenth day, it was because the jury had a verdict on one of the two counts. That verdict was guilty, and the family heaved a silent sigh of relief. The judge gave the defense attorney the chance to poll the jury to confirm the verdict, and the last juror, the foreperson, changed his mind on his vote. They returned to deliberate, but they were hopelessly deadlocked. After that news, I felt so empty.

We learned a lot of useful information from the state's attorney, who stayed to chat with the jury after they were dismissed. Notably: they believed my mom, they didn't think my uncle had anything to do with causing the accident that killed him, they thought the defendant was most certainly guilty of causing the accident but that it wasn't proven without a reasonable doubt that she was drunk behind the wheel, they didn't believe the defendant or her witnesses, they thought the state's attorney was respectful while the defense attorney was not, they thought the state's witnesses were credible, and they were impressed with the show of support for the state's case, which included my family being there everyday and a cadre of off-duty state troopers who came to see the closings. All of these things did help relieve the emptiness we felt with the declaration of the mistrial.

There's more to say about things that have happened since then, but this hits the highlights from the trial itself, I suppose.

a weekend with a mix of rain and sunshine

2009-10-20T10:55:00.006-05:00

Anne's parents were here over the weekend. They're good folks, and of course, we had a nice time.

Anne's paternal grandmother died not long before she was born. Parts of her life are well known, while some details remain shrouded in mystery. One of those mysteries has been her early life in Chicago. Anne's Aunt Mary has recently been doing some genealogical research, and between her research and Anne's dad's great uncle, we learned the name of the street she was born on: Grenshaw.

In my summer class on Chicago geography, we worked with a lot of homeowner data in Chicago's Puerto Rican neighborhood, so I learned how to find a lot of information online. I thought, Surely there must be a way to find her birth certificate, so I poked around the city websites. And, I found it. Fifteen dollars later, we knew a bunch more information about Anne's grandmother, including the address for the house in which she was born.

Saturday, we headed over to the North Lawndale neighborhood and found the house.

(That's her dad.)

After her parents flew home on Sunday, her dad emailed a few pictures to his siblings, along with the copy of the birth certificate, and he CC'd Anne and me. It's been a joy to see the responses from his siblings, reading how much it means to all of them to have this information. I'm happy I could give that to them.

Anne ran into one of our neighbors on her way in from the garage on Sunday, after dropping off her parents at O'Hare. We don't really know our neighbors that well, and in a moment of channelling her mother's extroversion, she stopped to chat with him.

He's living with his best friend in an apartment that's made me happy -- from the street, you can see the beautiful red color they painted the living room, and the bay windows have been flanked with beautiful flower boxes with amazing arrangements. The best friend told Anne about his friend, who went about creating the perfect space in that apartment. He wanted that work to continue around him until it was finished, even as he spent the weekend in bed, dying of cancer. The doctors did not expect him to survive the weekend.

The weekend was bittersweet. All around us... life and death, beginnings and ends, discovery and loss, joy and sorrow. Seemed fitting, really, that the weekend was a mix of cold rain and warm sunshine.

the face of politics

2009-10-15T11:54:00.000-05:00

If you've read me here or elsewhere, you may remember that my office is in the library. We have a cafe on the main floor of the library, and because of the open design of the library, I can hear and smell happenings--good happenings--when I'm in my office. Carlos has been my coffee guy the whole time I've worked here (this is my fourth year). He knows my two favorite drinks--javalance (think frappaccino but better) and peppermint mocha. We've been known to shoot the shit from time to time, and from that I learned things like: his best friend and her daughter live with him so that he can help look after the little girl, he had emergency surgery in the spring when his appendix burst, he hasn't seen his mother in Mexico in ten years, and he's worked at the College for 18 years.

One thing we never talked about was his immigration status. I never thought about it.

Yesterday, Carlos and at least nine other employees of our food service company (we contract out) were terminated, effective immediately, because they are undocumented immigrants. In language that I don't particularly like, they are here illegally.

Immigration is one of those hot-button issues. It doesn't matter what you think about it. I don't care to argue about it, actually. It's one thing when it's an issue you're debating. It's another thing when that issue has a face, the face of someone you know and like.

Little Victories

2009-10-06T09:46:00.003-05:00

I got up at 5am and went to the gym. I was in the pool before 6:30.

[insert applause here]

I'm hoping that consistency is key. I'm looking at getting up at 5 every morning and going to swim Tuesdays-Fridays. On Mondays, I take the 6:48 train, instead of the usual 7:38, because I like to have more than 20 minutes in the office before my first meeting of the day (which is a department meeting on Mondays).

Breakfast has been posing a problem in this plan, though. This morning, a stroke of brilliance hit around 5:15 -- pack oatmeal! I scooped the oats and brown sugar into a gladware, and I stopped for a cup of hot water (...ok, and a latte) at Starbucks. Prepped the oatmeal and put it back in my bag and POOF! I had warm, ready to eat oatmeal on the train.

Not a bad start to the day. I forgot to bring a project for Knitting Lunch, but I remembered to pack leftover pizza for lunch.

All in all, not a bad start to a Tuesday.

I'm tellin' ya, it's all about the little victories.

so much to blog, so little time

2009-10-05T12:01:00.003-05:00

Sigh, people. There are several things I'd like to tell you about, but I haven't had time to blog about any of them. I'm hoping that if I make this list, I'll be held accountable for actually writing these blog entries. So, here goes:

The trial of the woman whose drunk-driving accident resulted in my uncle's death 2 years ago
Changes afoot for our curriculum and what I have to do with any of that
Baby crochet projects -- a sweater currently finished, a project for Gail underway, and thoughts about what I might make for Meghan
Other happenings lately, perhaps a gym update, maybe some other smaller updates that don't require their own blog post

In the meantime, go donate to the DonorsChoose social media challenge via Tomato Nation. I'll even tell you which project to donate to -- one belonging to one of my former students. Also, watch my brother's latest video. It's trippy.

Apple gets this accessibility thing right

2009-09-16T10:18:00.005-05:00

Though I'm disappointed these features aren't backward-compatible for the regular iPhone 3G, I'm very impressed with what the iPhone 3GS can do to help users with disabilities better navigate the features that make the iPhone so fabulous. I would LOVE to have the zoom that they describe, as some apps don't support it on the 3G. Kudos to Apple for the thought put into making the iPhone accessible. I'm looking forward to what will be available in a year when I'm able to upgrade.

Thanks, Ben, for sending me the link!

all hail... feet...?

2009-09-11T16:43:00.005-05:00

Apparently, this is my 150th post to this blog. I wish it was something awe-inspiring, but instead, it's a photo of what I have to put up with at home, courtesy of my iPhone. Clearly, A was BORED and needed ATTENTION.

In other news, I've got several yarn projects in the works. I'm working on a long, skinny scarf knitted from the first two skeins of yarn I dyed. I also started a baby kimono for my friend Suzanne (baby due in November). I dyed some yarn last weekend for a crochet project for a friend of A's, and as I'm unsure whether or not she'll find this blog, I'm not going to tell you what that project is. It's a crochet project, and it'll be cute.

And now, seeing as I've talked yarn and shown you some feet (I was probably trying to knit when those feet happened, actually), I think I'll call it a day.

so it's been awhile...

2009-09-02T09:51:00.004-05:00

I'm afraid to look at see when last I blogged.

The summer was both full and empty. I sought intellectual exercise in the form of an undergraduate course at the nearby university, studying geography of the Chicago area. This was a blessing in that I had the chance to spend more time dabbling in the social sciences and to read about and discuss the city that I love. For the first time in awhile, I felt really enthralled by academic reading and found myself, well, pissed that I didn't have people to talk to about what I was learning. (I didn't connect with classmates, and let's face it, A. isn't into this stuff.) I also faced a reminder of how difficult it can be to manage my depression when I don't have any structure. Motivation is always a baraometer of my mood and the stability of my mood. I watched the lack of motivation rise while my mood sank into depression.

And then, I traveled.
And the South sucks.

I could tell some STORIES, boy. Just know that misogyny is alive and well.

So, I'm back at work. Classes have been in full swing for a week. I'm so incredibly busy. I have two hearing-impaired students this year, one of whom signs. Scheduling all of the interpreters for everything she needs and keeping track of that information has proven to be way more work that I could have imagined. Add that on top of the usual beginning-of-the-semester craziness. Wow. Busy. And, as I could have predicted, some of our faculty have been awesome about it while others haven't. It's 2009, people. Deaf people are people, too. Get over yourselves. Sometimes the lack of common sense thing about really smart people is funny. Other times, it's just plain ignorance, and for me, their ignorance is far from bliss.

So, what to talk about from here? Here's some things that are going on.
I joined a gym and have been swimming pretty regularly -- a quarter-mile each time. It feels good. I've lost maybe two pounds, but that's not as important, most days, as just getting the exercise.
I have a few friends having babies. I need to get going on some crochet projects for them. I'll be dyeing my own yarn.
We'll be spending Thanksgiving with Heinous this year. She moved to NC and won't be back to the midwest for an extended stay until the holidays. It'll be the first time I haven't spent Thanksgiving with my family, but then, Heinous IS family to me. Should be fun. I'm imagine lots and lots of cooking.
Oh, yeah, and they made me a Dean. Clearly, I have them all fooled. ;)

randoms from my trip to NC this week

2009-07-16T21:51:00.003-05:00

I wanted to compile a list of things that cracked us up and/or made us happy during what was an extremely stressful trip this wee. I'm hoping that by making this list, I'll be inclined to come back and write about them.

Filter Plant Rd., also know as Fill-Her-Pants Rd.
Weiner Works
Guns Plus
Sha-Fay-Fay
Nam, or The Middle Finger followed by "the town formerly known as Nam"
the Macy's incident
blowing out a flip flop
Sean John clothes
rocking the Caddy
the leaky toilet
the Coug
Debbie Downer and the XM radio
Chick-fil-A
"Arriving at Scott"
throwing Rudy's bone out the window
leaving your house unlocked in the middle of a city
drugs, particularly klonopin, xanax, and pepto capsules
The Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill
the flight attendant on the diet who smiled kindly while we ate Cinnabon
Pre-Board Authorization
landing back in Chicago

how to make me squee like a little girl

2009-06-02T10:49:00.002-05:00

Amanda (she'll always be Ajay to me) over at The Martha Initiative is a friend from high school/grad school. Last weekend, she went to the Wilton Tent Sale, which sounded like it would be awesome. Knowing that I use Wilton dyes to dye yarn, she offered to send me her cast-offs after restocking with new dyes; apparently, they don't taste as good after awhile, and she uses them for their original intent--baking, icing, etc. Not only did she get an awesome haul at the tent sale, but she's sending me TWENTY-FIVE jars of dye.

*dies from the awesome*

Honestly, even without the dyes, Ajay and The Martha Initiative make my days happier because that girl is funny. I don't know if it's just because I can actually imagine her doing and saying the things she writes, but I'm amused with each new post. If you're interested in domestic goddessness with a sense of humor, go check her out. For serious.

Thanks, Ajay!

report: ice cream recipe, part 1

2009-05-19T08:56:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I posted my cut-and-paste recipe for vegan pistachio ice cream. The first part of the recipe involves making a pistachio custard, which sounded like it would be a pain in the butt without eggs. It actually cooked up pretty darn well, I must say. It remains to be seen how the consistency is today, but last night, it behaved very much like a custard. A. noted it was a pretty putrid green color, but it tasted pretty damn awesome. I'll also note that I made it last night so that it was out of the way and could cool overnight.

I stopped at the Spice House on the way home, where I picked up arrowroot and almond extract. I used the arrowroot as my thickener, and it did its job. I got a little nervous that it wouldn't and added a little more than the recipe called for. I hope I don't end up regretting that when I go to assemble the ice cream this evening. I can always thin it with a little more soy milk, I bet.

So, part 1 has been tested and successful!

Also, I heart my food processor. Amazing appliances; such a timesaver. The coarse chopping of the pistachios for the ice cream add-in is already done. Did that in the food processor while I waited for the custard to boil.

ice cream season begins with an experiment!

2009-05-18T11:32:00.005-05:00

I'm trying to make some vegan pistachio ice cream. It's been a headache so far, mostly in that it's making me think too much about how to do it right. My shortcuts haven't worked, so I'm back to the drawing board. I'm posting this mostly for myself as a place to have all the info in one place. I'm hodgepodging together a couple of recipies, so this is, as of this posting, untested. I'll post when it is, though.

Vegan PIstachio Ice Cream - UNTESTED

Ingredients

Custard base:

1 cup pistachios
2 cups soymilk - separated to 1/4 cup and 1 3/4 cups
3/4 cup sugar - separated to 1/4 and 1/2 cups
2 Tbs custard powder (like Bird's brand), cornstarch, or arrowroot
1 tsp almond extract

Remaining Ingredients:

1 cup soymilk creamer
3/4 cup pistachios, coarsely chopped

Directions

Custard base:

Mix 1/4 cup soymilk with custard powder. Set aside.

Finely grind 1 cup pistachios and 1/4 cup sugar in processor. Bring 1 & 3/4 cups of soymilk and ground pistachio mixture to boil in heavy large saucepan. Remove from heat. Mix in almond extract, cornstarch/custard powder, and remaining sugar.

Return saucepan to heat. Cook the custard over a low heat, stirring constantly, until thick.
Remove from heat. Strain into large bowl. Chill until cold, about 2 hours.

Making the ice cream:

Stir creamer into custard. Transfer mixture to ice cream maker and make according to manufacturer's guidelines.

About 5 minutes before manufacturer's specified end time for processing ice cream, add chopped pistachios. Continue processing. Transfer ice cream to freezer for firmer ice cream of serve immediately for soft-serve style ice cream.

friendly reminder

2009-05-14T14:27:00.004-05:00

Note to self: The next time you think it sounds like a good idea to take a three-week course while still working full-time, THINK AGAIN.

Ah, so this is why we tell our students it's impossible to do anything well if you're working full-time and going to school full-time. At least the next time I have a conversation about that with a student, I'll be able to speak from experience.

Hey, at least it's a totally interesting class.

I spend too much time with my social scientist friends

2009-05-06T11:18:00.003-05:00

Chicagoist is one of my favorite blogs, and while catching up on it this morning, I came across this posting: The Legal Side of the Sizzlin' Chicago Sexpo. Most of the post discusses what attorney JD Obenberger discussed during his presentation, and while some of what he said might be a little extreme, I agree with the overall sentiment that criminializing sex work is problematic, especially when other laws that crimilaze acts associated with sex are also on the books but not often inforced--not that I think those things need to be on the books either. I understand laws against violent acts, but I just don't agree with criminalizing sex that falls outside the mainstream.

The problems Obenberger pointed out weren't what really got to me, though. I had a real problem with the comments people posted, though I doubt posting a counter argument would be productive. Instead, I'm blogging about it. Here's what commenters had to say:

One of my least favorite justifications for breaking a law is that other people are breaking a law. I learned early on that "But they did it, too" is no excuse. By extension, murderers could make the argument that law enforcement officials are picking on them with impunity.
So let me get this straight...Dart's picking on prostitutes just because they're doing something illegal. Gotcha. Look, I think prostitution should be de-criminalized, but until then, the law's the law. This isn't a "civil rights" issue. And until adulturers start advertising their "services" on Craig's list, it's being dealt with as it should and doesn't need Dart's intervention (Besides, think how much that would further clog up the courts). as is criminal fornication. [emphasis theirs] What, exactly, is "criminal fornication"? Sex with underage children? Cause if that's what it is, it's being dealt with as soon as it's discovered. And I've had sex that should be considered a crime as well. HEYOOOOOOOO!!!!!
this Obenberger is an idiot.

What kills me here is the seemingly blind acceptance of "a law's a law." Juts because something's a law doesn't mean we can't question it. I think we have an obligation to investigate where a law like this came from, what it's based on/in. We've constructed this ideology that anything outside vanilla sex between a man and a woman is BAD. Just because that ideology exists doesn't mean that it's true/right (or that it's not). We're getting better at questioning this why-do-YOU-have-a-problem-with-MY-gay-marriage? thing in some places and some states, seeing that just because something's always been one way or another doesn't mean it's right or that it can't change. Even that's going to take a long time for there to be--in terms of national decisions/legislation--a paradigm shift. Will that make it any easier, once we're not so quick to criminalize "deviant" gay sex, for the sex workers and sex work in general to be decriminalized?

(There are so many other issues I don't have time to address here, like my caveats about people entering into sex work, but for the sake of this quick blog post, I'll save that for another time.)

Would I be saved if I were brave?

2009-04-28T09:40:00.003-05:00

I've got approximately umpteen-billion songs on my iPod, and Shawn Colvin's "If I Were Brave" just came on. Haven't listened to it in ages, and like so many other songs on the ol' iPod, I've forgotten about how wonderful the song is. It's one of those songs that is a pretty perfect package for me--the music and the lyrics are both simply awesome.

It was never clear what would come next,
But that's the risk and that's the test.
And you were the only one so far to follow.
No one talks about when one might stop and need to rest,
Or how long you sit alone before you stop looking back.
It's like you're waiting for Godot,
and then you pick your sorry ass up off the street,
And go.

There have been plenty of times in my life when I could't capture what I felt and put it into words. In these moments, when emotions swim and swirl--almost to the point of my drowning--I connect with music, and I find in music what I cannot find the words to say.

This song came out during my freshmen year of college, and I really connected with it then. I find myself connecting with it today, though in different ways that--no surprise to me--I cannot explain.

And, it makes me sad, knowing that there's music out there I connect with so deeply and that people I love can't always follow those connections. Or that people I love don't have that kind of relationship with music. I think this is one of the reasons Heinous and I really connected in grad school and have stayed such good friends; she gets this.

Thanks, Heinous.

planning conference travel makes me a little crazy

2009-04-23T12:20:00.004-05:00

In mid-July, I'm heading to Louisville for a conference. At the very least, I need to stay overnight for 2 nights. Ideally, I'll stay for four. Sound odd? Here's my logic:

I could fly in on Tuesday and stay Tuesday night, in which case I'd make the 9:30 plenary session.
I could take the first flight from Chicago to Louisville on Wednesday morning (oh, Southwest, how I love you) and be there in time for the first block of concurrent sessions at 11:30.
I could leave at thee end of the sessions on Friday, only missing one block of concurrent sessions on Saturday and the closing plenary, which is by a guy who gave an address at last year's conference (meaning that if I miss it, my life will still go on).
I could leave on Saturday when the conference is officially done.

One of the problems is the hotels.

The first year I went (2007), I didn't do my homework. I stayed at the conference hotel (call me naive), when I could have stayed equally close to the convention center at a less glam chain. The upside to that would have been free breakfast and free internet, neither of which were provided by the conference hotel.

Last year, I again stayed at the conference hotel, but this time it was because there was nothing else nearby. They'd done some renovations, and I hear some of the guest rooms were nice. Mine was mediocre, as was my stay there. Again, no free internet or breakfast.

This year, I'm so over this no-complimentary-internet-or-breakfast bullshit. I've done my homework. There's a Hampton Inn 4 or 5 blocks away, which seems pretty damn reasonable to me. But the kicker? It costs $20 more per night than the conference hotel (with the conference discount), which I've read is only good if you get into the renovated section. The Hampton Inn, of course, has free breakfast and internet, which the conference hotel does not. Is it worth the extra money? I'm thinking it is because the stay will be so much nicer (if the conference track record stands), and I won't have to shell out big bucks every morning for... a bagel. (Actually, the first year, I got supplies at the local drugstore and ate breakfast in my room everyday.)

Let's not forget about my shout-out to Southwest above. I can fly roundtrip for about $130 (or so I'm guessing with the taxes, etc.). AWESOME. I was all set to book yesterday--flight at least but probably also the hotel--when I remembered: my dad lives in Kentucky. To be specific, he lives about 90 miles south of Louisville. Perhaps A and I could work out some time either before or after my conference to go down and stay a couple of days with him and his wife. I know A would like it out there in the country, and it might be relaxing in the summer.

So, I haven't booked anything. This frustrates me.

This morning, I did go through the conference booklet and assess the actual conference costs: $445 for conference attendance, including 1 banquet lunch and a couple of snacks here and there. Yesterday, my boss advised me to make an effort to stay at or below $1,000 in my conference expenses. If you're playing at home, that means that after conference registration and airfare, I have around $425 for hotel expenses. (And yes, they should be feeding me, but they don't.) That, my friends, means 3 nights at the hotel (and perhaps food) to make it to the $1,000 total. The past two years, the costs have been anywhere from $250-500 more.

I want to lock in my cheeeeeeeap rates for the flights and hotel, but I gotta talk to the wifey, who's out at a client today. (Our schedules yesterday didn't give us much time for talking about this.) This makes me anxious because I'm SURE that by tomorrow, when we've had a chance to talk about it together and with my dad, the prices will have jumped by hundreds of dollars.

Oh, work travel.

the coffee problem

2009-04-21T09:13:00.003-05:00

I don't have any hardcore vices. Yes, I have things in which I like to indulge, and caffeinated beverages are among them. Drinking coffee is one of the best parts of my commute. I like to stand on the train platform and look out at the world while I sip my coffee. Sometimes, Diet Pepsi is an excellent substitute. Both are love, as far as I'm concerned.

I had plenty of time this morning, but I didn't make any coffee or pack a Diet Pepsi. "I don't have to have caffeine in the morning. I don't want to need to have it. I don't need to put all of those weird artificial things that make Diet Pepsi wonderful into my system all the time," I told myself. So, I walked to the train sans coffee, which was fine for my walk, as it was raining and windy.

Now that I'm in my office, though, all I can think about it coffee. A mocha to be exact. Chocolate goodness, deep and dark, perfectly joined with coffee and milk.

Did I mention there's a cafe downstairs from my office?

Another part of the problem is justifying spending money on coffee when I can make coffee at home. *sigh* I'll sit here and overthink this until the craving becomes unbearable and I finally give in. Clearly, I do have a coffee problem, but it's not the caffeine.

another fabulous fail

2009-04-02T10:02:00.001-05:00

see more pwn and owned pictures

your fail is my triumph

2009-03-31T09:16:00.003-05:00

Heinous introduced me to the FAIL blog when I visited her a few weeks ago. We looked at some pretty damn hilarious ones then, but I haven't seen many lately that have had me actually cracking up. This one today was good:

see more pwn and owned pictures

I think these really are funnier when shared.

nightmarish singing and intolerence

2009-03-23T10:39:00.003-05:00

I'll preface this story by saying this: I didn't grow up religious. For many years, I've identified as an atheist. This doesn't say anything about how you feel about religion or a deity or anything on how I feel about how you feel about that stuff. I respect that people can make informed decisions on the topic, and if you happen to believe, you have every right to do so. I'm not going to persecute you for those beliefs, and I hope you'll offer me the same in return. For me, it's about living as a good person and being good to people and the world. Somedays, that can be more difficult than others. ;) Some people who know me also know that I dig Buddhism. I don't agree with a label of Buddhist for religious beliefs. I don't have any religious beliefs, and I believe Buddhism is a philosophy, one that resonates on some levels for me, but I honestly don't know enough about it overall.

That being said...

I woke up from a dream this morning, and I was convinced that, as I was screaming in the dream, I must have been screaming in real life. Unfortunately, Anne had already left for work, so no one was around to confirm that. It would be fair to say that I was screaming because the dream had become sort of a nightmare for me, but not in a scary way.

I was catapulted onto a Southwest flight to somewhere warm. Yes, catapulted. Roll with me here. The set up of the plane resembled some sort of dormitory sleeping room, which had open space and ten or so sets of bunk beds pushed up against the walls. I was laying on my bed, trying to get some quiet time and eventually some sleep before we got to our destination.

Unfortunately, what I can only guess must have been a church youth group or a college church group was nearby. And, they starting singing. And playing guitar. And playing the bongos. And singing... the same few lines over and over and over and over and...

I about lost my mind.

I jumped out of my bunk and screamed at them, "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" over and over. I was practically pulling my hair out, I was so frustrated with their lack of concern for the rest of the people there. I was especially perturbed that they assumed it was okay, too, to share their religious music with us, that they just assumed everyone believed what they believed and would want to share in their joyful singing (or at least be okay with it).

I made a huge scene, and I couldn't even care. I couldn't stop yelling at them, and I haphazardly gathered up my things to find another place to sleep, in another room/compartment. None of the other passengers (who weren't with the group) said anything; they just stared. They just watched as I screamed at the singers about how rude they were by singing and by forcing their beliefs on everyone and how I wouldn't stand for it.

And I woke up with that feeling that I surely must have been screaming.

On Saturday, we had a particularly feisty group of 10-15 protestors at Planned Parenthood, so I elected to go outside and "escort." (And the weather warmed up to be simply beautiful while I was out there.) The protestors were singing (badly) the same 2 or 3 lines about Jesus over and over. At the time, it got to be funny to me, listening to them sing the same words over and over--so uncreative, so uninspiring. Apparently, some part of me felt a little bit differently, and I'm guessing that's partly where the dream came from.

my brother strikes again

2009-03-17T14:59:00.001-05:00

on my temporary crowns

2009-03-13T11:33:00.002-05:00

I have a confession to make: I'm vain about my teeth. They're my favorite body part. (Don't laugh.)

When they took my braces off in ninth grade, I couldn't stop running my tongue across the smooth, straight, perfect teeth that my mom paid $25/week for for years. My teeth have been beautiful since that day, and I wore my retainer religiously for years, as I now wear a bite guard that protects my teeth from damage when I grind my teeth in my sleep.

Yesterday, I went into mourning. Two of my teeth, as I've known them, are forever changed and temporarily crowned (to be permanently crowned in two weeks). It was a lot harder to go through than I expected. It wasn't painful in my mouth, but in my heart. My beautiful teeth are changed, gone, for all intents and purposes. And, they're not just any teeth; it's two of my front teeth.

I was elbowed in the face in eleventh grade during play practice. As best as I can tell, that's the "traumatic" event that led to the death of two of my teeth, both of which got root canals in the time I've lived in Chicago. The thing about having a root canal in a dead front tooth, though, is that that tooth is thin and likely to become dark[er] and brittle. So, when the dentist thought it was time to do the crowns, I naturally agreed.

Laying in the chair yesterday, I couldn't turn my iPod on loud enough to ignore the sounds of the drill grinding away parts of my teeth. I couldn't bear to run my tongue along the stubs of my former glory. And now, I have these temporary crowns. Really, I have these fake teeth, these strange tooth-like things in my mouth where my pride and joy once were. Practically speaking, I knew how it was supposed to work and what would happen, and my dentist did a fabulous job.

And still, I cried. In all my angst and adolescent self-loathing, I always loved my smile. It was sometimes the only thing about myself that I did like. It's forever changed, and I feel stupid for being so emotional about it.

Sweet!

2009-03-05T14:59:00.001-06:00

For Immediate Release, March 5, 2009
Contact: Rick Garcia, 312-560-0405

CIVIL UNION BILL PASSES ILLINOIS HOUSE COMMITTEE

SPRINGFIELD, IL -- An Illinois House committee passed a bill today that would extend legal recognition and many of the benefits limited to married couples to same sex couples.

The Religious Freedom and Civil Union Act (HB2234) passed the Youth and Family Committee with a vote on Thursday, March 5. The bill now goes to the full House for consideration.

“We are gratified that the members of the committee understand the importance of recognizing and extending legal protections to Illinois same-sex couples and their families,” said Rick Garcia, director of public policy, Equality Illinois. “These couples make our communities stronger and deserve to have the same protections and benefits as their heterosexual counterparts.”

The bill guarantees some of the rights and responsibilities to persons in civil unions that are currently granted to persons in civil marriages. Among those rights are the ability to participate in healthcare visitation and decision making for one’s partner, survivor benefits and the right to make disposition decisions about deceased partner’s remains.

The bill also re-affirms religious institutions’ right not to solemnize a civil union.

“This bill asks for no special rights, only to grant all families access to what most families now are given automatically under the law,” said Representative Greg Harris (D-Chicago) the chief sponsor of the bill. “We have families in our districts in committed relationships, working hard every day, who when faced with sudden tragedy may desperately need these rights tomorrow or the next day.”

Equality Illinois lined up an impressive list of witnesses to testify before the committee.

The Reverned Suzanne Anderson-Hurdle a Lutheran pastor, mother of three and a Chaplain for her local fire and police departments gave testimony in favor of the bill.

"It seems odd to me that some who tout the idea of family values would push for the defeat of this bill. Their position is incongruent with the nation of family values and seems to lack integrity," said Pastor Suzanne. "It is both naive and ethnocentric to say that the "family" is mom, dad and children. This is not the reality for so many people -- gay or straight and it discounts the experiences of so many people in our communities.

Dr. Randy Georgemiller testified on behalf of the Illinois Psychological Association.

"Heterosexual and homosexual relationships are essentially equivalent in terms of their psychological and social functions and therefore discriminatory policies are unjustified" Georgemiller told the committee. "Government recognition of relationships affords a variety of benefits that are favorable to the couple’s physical, financial, and psychological well being. Just as for heterosexuals, a committed relationship offers a positive sense of self, self worth, and mastery, and provides some insulation from mental and physical disorders."

Gail Clodfelter of Springfield noted the protections that she and her husband have that are denied to her gay son and his partner.

If passed by the full General Assembly, Illinois will join a handful of states to recognize civil unions joining .

In Illinois, the County of Cook and the cities of Oak Park and Urbana have domestic partner registries, but the registries convey no benefits to registrants. The above jurisdictions, the State of Illinois and Chicago extend domestic partner benefits to their gay employees as do numerous Fortune 500 companies.

2009-02-25T10:45:00.002-06:00

As craft goes, I identify as a crocheter. I can knit, but I didn't pick up knitting like I did crocheting. Maybe that was an issue of community for me. Crocheting was something we all did together in grad school, and I learned to knit and did my knitting alone. I like that I only have to keep track of one loop in crochet, as opposed to all those loops in knitting. I have a harder time finding and fixing mistakes in knitting. Most of my problems with knitting would be best tackled with one age-old thing: practice.

The #1 thing I need to practice: purling.

Because I do it wrong.

To purl, I switch needles so that I'm actually doing a left-handed knit stitch instead. It's okay for some things, but not for my most recent project lust, BrooklynTweed's Noro Scarf. I blame Kate and Jenn, who've both done amazing ones. The purling problem here is that it's a 1x1 ribbing, and if I have to switch hands that often, I might die. This seemed to me to be a good project to practice my knit-and-purl-without-switching-needles thing, but this morning, I did one knit stitch--ONE!--and got frustrated with the first purl and stopped. Clearly, I need to do purling practice in general. Or, I need to get on learning the crochet knit stitch. I have two lovely skeins of yarn that I dyed (my first two) that would look great in that pattern because of the blues they have in common, and damn it, that's what I want to make.

For anyone who's curious, these are the two colorways I want to do this scarf in:

tutorial: dyeing yarn by the hot pour method

2009-02-16T12:35:00.002-06:00

Props go to Julie Theaker and the folks at Knitty for an excellent tutorial on using food dyes to dye wool yarn. This is my process, assembling as my record of how I've been dyeing yarn and for friends to see my personal process.

I've been using Patons Classic Merino Wool in Winter White for dyeing. It was easy to find at my local chain store (JoAnn's). It's not superwash wool, though, so I'm currently waiting for an order of KnitPicks Superwash bare wool yarn. I don't like to give gifts that aren't washable, especially for people who have kids or for projects that are likely to get dirty, like my mug-huggers.

Other important tools in the process include:

White cotton yarn and blue painter's tape. Cotton yarn won't take up the dye, and because it's white, it won't have any of its own color to bleed on the wool. I like the painter's tape because it does a nice job holding the yarn when I need it in place, but it also doesn't hurt the yarn or the surface it's taped to.

A crock pot and white vinegar. This process uses hot water to fix the dye, and the crock pot works perfectly for that. The dyes need an acid to help the yarn "accept" the dye, which is what the vinegar is for.

Wilton's icing dyes. This process is completely non-toxic, so you don't have to feel weird about using your kitchen tools. Using food dyes is safe to have the kids work with you, but it only takes on animal fibers, which is why the cotton doesn't take the dye. No plant or synthetic fibers work in this process, though what I've read tells me that the process works if the yarn is at least 75% animal fiber. I cannot attest to this. The icing dyes are nice because they come in a variety of colors, but consider also using Kool-Aid (the add-sugar kind, not the kind that's already sweetened) or the classic food coloring.

The process:

A regular ol' skein of yarn is too thick to use for dyeing. The dye will never reach the inner layers of yarn. It could be an interesting experiment in color to try dyeing a skein, but it's not what I've been looking for.

I start by taking a skein and winding it into a loop that isn't nearly as thick. I like the legs of a kitchen chair for this. I start by taping the end of the yarn to the kitchen chair with the blue tape so that I'll be able to find that end later.

I've done this process with the yarn wrapped around 2, 3 or all 4 legs of the chair. That affects how long of a section of dye you'll get on the yarn--the longer the loop you wind, the longer the stretch of dye on the yarn, in theory.

Once I'm done winding the yarn, I tape the other end down, too. There are tools out there that can help with this winding, but I don't mind doing it myself in front of the tv.

We're at the point now where the cotton yarn comes in. You don't want all that hard work of winding the yarn to be for naught if it just becomes a big ball of mess once you take it off the chair. I use the cotton yarn to make loose ties to hold the yarn together.

Loosely wind through the yarn for more stability.

I put the ties anywhere form 6 to 10 inches (probably 15-25 cm) apart.

Make sure that the ends are tucked or tied in, removing the blue tape. Then, you can take the yarn off the chair (or whatever you use to wind it). Ta da! Big loop of yarn!

Now, the yarn needs to pre-soak with water and vinegar. To save space, I sometimes do this in my crock pot.

Make sure to put in enough water to cover it. Temperature of the water doesn't matter at this point. I usually hold the yarn down under the water to free an air bubbles. Next, pour in the vinegar. I use about half a cup, but I don't measure it. It doesn't have to be exact. By pre-soaking in my crock pot, I've also got the water and vinegar ready for when I do the dyeing (you need vinegar at that stage, too, and enough water to cover the yarn).

In a rush, I use the pre-heating time of the crock pot as the pre-soaking time as well. This may be the only time the temperature of the water matters. Obviously, using hot water will get the water hot enough for the dyeing sooner than using cold water would.

For the dyeing, you want the water to be HOT, but you don't necessarily want it boiling. Unless my crock pot has been going for awhile, my High setting is great. If the water starts to boil, I turn the crock pot down to Low, which is still hot enough to set the dye.

This is a "hot pour" method for a reason: you don't want to pour cold water into the crock pot to change the temperature in there. If the water's hot, you want to keep it hot. That in mind, I don't mix the dyes until the water in the crock pot is hot enough.

The Wilton dyes are concentrated gels, which need to be fully dissolved in boiling water. Our kitchen tap gets REALLY hot, so I often use that water (which is VERY steamy) instead of putting a pot of water on to boil. A tea kettle would be great for this.

There's no exact science for how much water to use with how much dye. Here's what you need to keep in mind:

Less water will mean less dye of that color in general. The dye might not completely saturate, then, leaving some white or light spots.
Less dye means a lighter color of dye. This is a way to control the intensity of the color. It's also a great time for mixing colors to get what you want.
Fewer colors means you need more dye. You probably don't want to use more than 3 dyes because of the mixing of the colors at the edges. if you're using only 1 or 2 colors, you'll need more water and dye.

For my dyes, I use anywhere from 1/2 cup of water to 2 cups of water For the dyes, I use anywhere from a tiny bit to 1/4 tsp. I'd say that my most common mix is 1 1/2 cups water with 1/8 tsp dye.

It can be difficult to get the gel to completely dissolve. That's why the water needs to be HOT. I also find that it helps me to spread the gel out, rather than keeping it in a lump. I do that by spreading it on the inside of the glass I'll be mixing it in, being sure to stir well where I spread the dye.

Now, you're ready to go.

It will look something like this:

Put the lid on, and let it go. It will need about an hour.

So, how do you know when it's done? The yarn will have absorbed the dye, leaving clear water. Seriously. It'll be clear.

Turn off the crock pot, and let it cool.

Once the yarn has cooled, you'll need to rinse out any excess dye. If you have washable (superwash) wool, you can do this in your washer. It's just fine to rinse it out at the sink, though. Do NOT run wool through a rinse cycle in the washer if it's not superwash. It will felt. Regardless of rinsing, you can spin it in your washer on a low spin cycle to free the yarn of some of its moisture. After that, hang it up.

When it's DRY, you can do with it what you will.

If the loop tangled or if I'd like to show the variety in the colors, I may re-wind the yarn on a chair. In this example, I wound it on 3 legs. I would use different number of chair legs if I were to re-wind it (4 in the case of this yarn. I then twist it into a cute little thing of yarn.

I should point out that you will see blue in that picture, even though I didn't use blue dye. The purple dye I used was "violet," and that dye can separate. I don't know why, but some of the blue will separate out of it. It creates an interesting look, though, so I don't mind. This is one thing you have to learn through trial and error--that the dye will do as it pleases.

back to it

2009-02-16T10:51:00.001-06:00

I'd like to get back in the habit of blogging again. I'm not sure why I stopped. I won't go into details other than to say that The Wife has been having a bad patch, and while that has weighed heavily on my mind, it's not something I've wanted to write about. I also had a patch of worsening depression that's now managed.

So, back to it.

We didn't actually spend Valentine's day together. We don't really care about that stuff. We exchanged cards, and she brought me home the frosted heart sugar cookie she was given at work. That was all we needed, really. She spent the evening with a friend of hers, and I went out with two of my friends. I hate to admit it, but "He's just not that into you" was rather cute (predictable, yes).

I'm on a Relay for Life team with the Stitch'n'Bitch, and we're preparing a fundraiser. We'll be selling handmade items, including hand-dyed yarn by yours truly. I bought 16 skeins of superwash wool and borrowed a crockpot from Siobhankha. This doesn't do the work justice, but you can at least get a glimpse of the dyeing so far.

The bathroom has been overrun by yarn. Seven more skeins to go, plus rewinding some of it (because the tangles just got out of control for some of them).

In other news, I started tracking Weight Watchers Points online last week. I though that afternoons were my weakness, but it looks like evenings are just as bad. I blame our inconsistency with being home at dinnertime and thusly not cooking. I will be better! I will! But not this week. I have something to do every night this week: 2 nights with friends and 2 with work. Oh well. ;)

I suppose the only other interesting thing to note is that I went to Philly with Merdie. She had a job interview out in the country, and we could fly into Philly for pretty cheap. I'm not a fan. We had a helluva time finding the public transit, and when we did, it was poorly marked (talk about carrying your bag up and down stairs till you find the right platform!) with no token sales. And I didn't see one accessible vehicle. You know it's a bad sign with the tourists (some dude) are asking other tourists (us) how to get places. The small town where she interviewed was super cute, and we scored big at the outlet mall on the way back to Philly. Also? Cheesesteaks.

I'll leave you with some pics.

seeking input

2009-02-13T14:44:00.004-06:00

I'm going to be selling hand-dyed yarn soon for a fundraiser for our Relay for Life team. My friend D has been bugging me about getting sew-in labels for my projects, and he had a logo idea this week that I thought could also work for tags for the hand-dyed yarn. His idea was a stocking cap (since I crochet a LOT of hats) with my eyes and glasses. Based on his idea, I put this together as a possibility. Let me know what you think.

a watched bowl never explodes

2009-01-23T11:39:00.000-06:00

I like making oatmeal from the actual canister of oats. Add in a little flavored creamer (vanilla) and some brown sugar and dried fruit... yum! I usually only make it when we're out of milk; today was one of those mornings.

I started off by not following the measuring directions. I corrected that and popped the bowl in the microwave for 1:30. It came out too watery. I added more oats and popped it back in the micro.

And I didn't watch it.

Oatmeal takes on a life of its own. When the microwave dinged and I went to retrieve my breakfast, most of it was on the rotating glass plate in the microwave. Like at least half of it, but probably more. I'm imagining it looking something like the mushrooming of a nuclear explosion of oatmeal. So, I had to scoop up this huge pile of hot oatmeal and try AGAIN to make a portion that I might be able to call breakfast.

It wasn't my best effort. Not by a long shot. It didn't even taste all that fabulous, probably because I forgot the coffeemate and we didn't have dried cranberries.

In short, I fail at oatmeal.

on the inauguration

2009-01-20T13:19:00.001-06:00

When the election results came in, I was alone on the train, riding home from a late day at work. That evening, I watched the results come in for as long as I could, and then I ventured into the realm of radio silence that is the train ride home. The message came via text from , and I cried alone.

Today, I cried among my friends, my colleagues, and my students, as we filled the tv lounge in our student center, all eyes glued to the screen. We laughed, we clapped, we cheered, and we smiled. A lot.

Did the world change today? Not really. Will it change in the next four years? Probably not drastically. We don't know any of this for sure, and if the world doesn't change all that much, I won't be shattered by disappointment.

One thing I do know is this: After the World Trade Center came down, I didn't sleep. I've always battled anxiety in the wee hours of night, but for those weeks that followed that Tuesday morning, I was too scared to lay down in my bed and close my eyes and listen to the quiet of the darkness.

I'm going to sleep well tonight.

it's a good couple of days here

2009-01-19T13:30:00.001-06:00

I know that things here are far from perfect, but I can't help but feel a sense of joy and pride as our first African-American president is inaugurated the day after we celebrate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In my 30 years, I can't remember any other time we've felt so much excitement for a new president to take office. People are flocking to DC for all the festivities, and even here on campus, folks will be watching the inauguration in the student center. This feels good.

baby, it's cold outside

2009-01-16T10:12:00.001-06:00

It was -17 F when I got up this morning. That's beyond the threshold at which point any lower temperature can be classified as Just Plain Stupid Cold. I've been self-medicating with peppermint mochas the past two days. Tomorrow, we'll have a heat wave of 22 degrees!

We had the happiest sight ever this morning upon disembarking from the train: our Public Safety office, which usually sends an officer out to drive people to campus (5 at most can fit in the car), sent BOTH of the department SUVs to pick us up! My favorite officer, C, talked her boss into it. We were so appreciative. They're really good to us. I made them cookies at the end of last semester as a Thank You for things like this that they do for us.

Aside from the cold, the first week of classes has been going just fine. I've had walk-in hours everyday for my students with disabilities, which makes things MUCH less of a scheduling nightmare at the beginning of the semester. In addition to those kids, some of the usual suspects have dropped in to say hello. I was ready for the kids to be back.

I've got to try and find a little time, perhaps at the end of the day, to finish watching the BSG webisodes--we're back with an all-new ep tonight! First of the final ten! OMG! H and one of A's friends are coming over to watch it with us. I can't believe we'll soon know who all the cylons are.

I've got a ton of knit/crochet projects I want to work on. I want to dye more yarn--I need to post my pics of the 3 skeins I've already dyed. I'm finishing up a sweater and working on a scarf. I have some mittens in the work, though the need for those has diminished this week with the arrival of fleece mittens from a friend of A's family. I also saw yesterday that people have been making felted iPod cases. Great idea. If only yarn could be my full-time job... A girl can dream. :)

killing 45 minutes

2009-01-12T16:23:00.001-06:00

I'm one of the advisory people who meets with the academic appeals board, and this time around, I volunteered to take on an advisee (perhaps only for right now), which I think they liked because it meant Their Will Shall Be Done. Said advisee was supposed to come in at 4 today, and he called at 4:10 to tell me he'd be even later. We're definitely set for 9am tomorrow, though classes start tomorrow, which makes it more difficult for him, seeing as he still needs to pick 3 of his 4 classes.

Anyway.

I've just read on my friend Tonja's blog about her being in the black hole of knitting, a place in which she has no knitting motivation whatsoever. I think I'm in a place that I should designate the Mark Twain hole of crocheting. Mark Twain, who I adore, pretty much always puttzed out when it came to wrapping things up--you'll notice how he takes pretty big shifts at the end of his stories/books--and I'm having that problem with crocheting. I was working like a fiend on my pumpkin orange sweater, and now that I'm nearing the end (1 sleeve almost done and the other to do still), I hardly pick it up. Plus, I've dyed 3 skeins of yarn, none of which I've done anything with, project-wise (granted, I need to take them to the yarn group tomorrow). Summer's usually my slow time for crochet, so I need to get back in gear.

Other than that, I guess there's nothing too remarkable to say, other than OMG snow in Chicago.

winter failures

2009-01-08T12:03:00.002-06:00

I slipped and fell twice yesterday morning--on the way to the train and on the way from the train to campus. Today, I'd barely made it past our front yard when I wiped out again. I'm so over this.

After hitting the ground nice and hard on the way to the College yesterday, I was not the least bit amused by the stellar (not!) snow removal, which is done by an outside contractor. The "weather event" had long since been over with, and yet the campus with a mess. Are we really getting our money's worth here, kids?

Thank goodness my students with mobility impairments aren't back on campus yet (classes begin next Tuesday):

And you'll love this one:

I'm fairly certain salt works better with snow and ice when you actually spread it around and don't just leave it in piles on the sidewalk.

well, isn't this special

2008-12-09T09:23:00.001-06:00

Our governor apparently got arrested this morning on federal corruption charges.

And, the state is collectively heaving a sigh of relief.

After the last gubernatorial election, one of the other volunteers at Planned Parenthood attacked me for not voting for Blago because of the good work he'd recently (at that time) done for women's access to healthcare in Illinois. I won't and didn't deny that was good stuff, but he's a corrupt bastard. I'm again pleased to say that I didn't vote for that asshole.

ow.

2008-12-05T09:59:00.003-06:00

Yay birthday! I turned 30 a week ago, and last night, I bought myself a present to celebrate this special birthday.

ETA: the inspiration:

Maybe the next one should be a crochet hook in a ball of yarn.

BTW, hearty, heart-felt thanks to everyone for your birthday wishes last week. :)

whoa, iPod

2008-12-03T10:13:00.001-06:00

First song of the morning: "Omaha" by Counting Crows
Followed by: "Fake Plastic Trees" by Radiohead

90's flashback of introspective rockerboys - I wonder what'll be next.

how long till the next mayoral election?

2008-12-02T18:49:00.001-06:00

Wow, I'm seriously hating Daley right now. Like whoa.

My friends* over at Chicagoist brought us this gem this afternoon: City Buying Police Department 2,000 SUVs, Still No New Officers.

The cost of these SUV? Almost fifty-three million dollars.

I haven't liked the superintendent since his start (in the not too distant past), but it's pretty clear now that he's a slimeball. How could he go along with Daley (slimeball as well) giving this much money to the police department for cars when he knows that crime is up** and they [claim they] don't have money to hire more officers?!?!?!

If you have a minute, go read the Chicagoist posting. Seriously. Their commentary is excellent, spot-on.

_____________________________________________________
* I actually do have a friend who writes for Chicagoist on the weekends.
** I have no proof of this, but I suspect crime's gone up since Weis has been superintendent. That's worth researching.

thwarted

2008-12-01T15:32:00.000-06:00

What good is a Cyber Monday sale of your webpage won't load? Geez, people. Fate is telling me not to make mittens for D (or to buy any other discounted yarn for that matter). Way to go, JoAnn's!

In other news, where does one get plus-size lime green tights?

pumpkin pie pilgrim

2008-11-25T13:25:00.001-06:00

I started this a week ago, and look at how much I already have done! The pattern is super easy, and now that I'm done counting stitches (until I begin the sleeves), it requires virtually no attention from me to work on it.

T = pleased.

two things

2008-11-21T10:42:00.001-06:00

1. I'm WAY excited to go to the DIY Trunk Show tomorrow!

2. What should I make for vegan Thanksgiving? Last year I made some pretty awesome stuffing, which I may revisit. I also made skin-on red mashed potatoes. This year, I'm thinking about something with sweet potatoes. Any thoughts or grand ideas?

Crap.

2008-11-17T09:42:00.001-06:00

From Wickedrad79:

Also? Anyone read the lolcats rss feed? The "please help blind cats" thing is KILLING me. I can't even look at the ad. Makes me want to cry.

Good grief.

2008-11-12T15:34:00.002-06:00

Stole this from Jennjer.

Which Peanuts Character Are You?
	You are Charlie Brown. You are always optimistic and persistent, and everyone appreciates your simple sweetness. Sometimes, however, your anxieties get the best of you, and life's mysteries can confuse you.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

Exactly what I'd hoped for.

thanks, BNL

2008-11-10T11:04:00.000-06:00

Per the usual, it's freezing in my office. I should bring in some sort of thermometer to see how cold it actually gets in here. And a blanket. I should definitely bring in a blanket.

Despite the cold fingers, I've been PRODUCTIVE, which is pretty remarkable for a Monday, especially so since my Mondays are especially heinous.

I've been listening to the Barenaked Ladies all morning. I think that's helped, though I kinda wish I was "lyin' in bed, just like Brian Wilson did." Mmmm, sleep.

The weekend was pretty good. I was back to volunteer at Planned Parenthood after being gone 5 or 6 weeks (October was BUSY). We had Ethiopian with some of my work pals on Saturday and dinner with my pal Jennjer on Sunday after she played with the College's orchestra and choir in Wrigleyville. I'm not a huge fan of classical-type or choral-type musics, but they were awesome.

I know my friend Roly's excited for the Peppermint Mochas, but honestly, I'm just not ready to give up the Pumpkin Spice Latte. There's no comparison. I had one yesterday on the way to the concert, and there's nothing like a hot cup of coffee on a cold autumn day.

Time for lunch before my 5 straight hours of meetings/out-of-office stuffs.

this feeling... it's indescribable... hope

2008-11-05T09:24:00.000-06:00

It's been so lovely reading what friends have to say about the election. I've so enjoyed the excitement resonating through their words.

But you know, there's something special about being from Chicago.

Not only did we prove we're not afraid to have an African-American president, but he's ours. I cried tears of joy last night as I watched the crowds my friends were part of gather on the grass I've walked on downtown, as they cheered for the man from Chicago, as he humbly accepted the honor of the presidency.

I've always been proud to be a Chicagoan, even with all of Chicago's faults. It's been a long time that I've been able to say that's also how I feel about being an American.

Knowing how hard the road will be for Obama and for all of us does nothing to crush this feeling of joy.

five days to go, kids

2008-10-20T09:38:00.001-05:00

We're five days from the big day, and I'm FAR less stressed out than I expected to be. I can certainly attribute that to the awesomeness that is Shanna and John. Not only did they come over on Saturday to help us get things accomplished, but it was their idea to come over because they are clearly made of awesome. (I should note that I have several other friends who also fall in this category of awesomeness, who've called people, looked into stuff, etc. And that my mom came up to help us this weekend, too. :) )

It's fall break here on Monday and Tuesday, so that means most of the kiddies are scattered - some went home, some are here in hibernation, etc. I've got my music up louder than usual. :) This certainly doesn't hurt my stress level.

I think we'll be at the peak of fall colors this weekend, but it looks like rain's in the forecast. Oh well. I accept that this is beyond my control.

And in crochet news, I made myself a winter hat yesterday, and it even got an endorsement from Anne, which never happens because--and this will no doubt surprise you (don't miss the sarcasm)--I like things to be a little colorful and crazy. ;)

Alrighty. Gonna take advantage of this quiet and get some things done.

various and sundry

2008-10-14T19:50:00.000-05:00

I've been remiss in my blogging duties. Apologies, kind readers.

So, what's been going on...? The wedding is in 11 days, so it would be fair to say my stress level has been higher than I would like. Along with the rising stress level come the rising levels of depression and anxiety, which make it kind of hard to do the things that are stressing one out--go freakin' figure. Add in a dash of Anne having the final tax deadline of the year and zero time to breathe, and you've got our lives right now. Phew. I got tired just writing that.

I had a nightmare this morning about the wedding. No one was listening to me and taking my directions. Instead, they were all just goofing around, and it was really, really frustrating. We were there with guests and everything, and we tried to start the ceremony six times. Add to that the dj playing the wrong processional music and me having to hook my iPod up to his speakers to play the right song. Nothing was going right. Needless to say, there wasn't any sleeping going on after that. Instead, I got up almost 2 hours before my alarm and get some wedding stuff done.

Work's been feeling stressful, too. I feel like I never have any time, and then things seem so overwhelming that I don't know where to start. But, I do start, and stuff gets done, and I work late and come in early. Lather, rinse, repeat.

On the other side of all of the stress and planning is what I know is going to be an awesome day. I hope that my inner bridezilla can control herself on the day and just have fun.

So, let's quit talking about all that wedding business. How about politics? I'm having such a great time watching Tina Fey as Sarah Palin I haven't been interested in SNL for years, but poor Palin is so ripe for SNL-type comedy. Tina Fey needs to win a friggin' Emmy for this stuff. And, how about Queen Latifah as Gwen Ifill? Brilliant, folks. Bring on President Obama.

Did I tell you I got an iPhone? Did I tell you I'm breaking up with Anne because I'm so in love with this little piece of technology? Amazing thing. Truly amazing.

The only other noteworthy thing that comes to mind at the moment is that we're starting the first faculty/staff team for the College's Relay for Life in the spring. Our team name? The Itty Bitty Knitty Committee: We're Yarned and Dangerous. Why yes, we do think we're clever; thanks for asking. We're going to make/sell handmade goods to fundraise. When we get everything up and running, I'll likely hound you for five bucks to support our team. if nothing else, it'll be fun, and the student in charge of Relay this year was SO excited when I told her I had a faculty/staff team together.

various and sundry

2008-09-29T12:59:00.002-05:00

Here we are on a rainy Monday. It's hard to get too distressed when we're finally getting to experience fall weather. I'm glad I finally got some real shoes, since I think the days of sandals are fading fast. Today, I'm wearing my Earth Shoes (a rec from Roly), and I'm pretty darn pleased with them. Cute and comfortable. What's not to like? (I had to steal socks from Anne. Don't tell.)

Saturday was very eventful. I started off with the normal volunteer gig at Planned Parenthood. I left around 9 to head down to the Hyde Park neighborhood (where Obama lives--there, now I've made it a meaningful reference), where the University of Chicago campus is located, complete with hospitals, including one for kids. As such, there's a Ronald McDonald House right near by. (If you aren't familiar with the work they do, go check them out.) This was to be my service site for the College's Annual Day of Service. The service day events got off to a rocky start for me and my gang of students.

After waiting for awhile for a Red Line train, I finally made it to the Garfield stop, where I didn't have to wait too long for the #55/Garfield bus. We headed through Washington Park, and I exited at Cottage Grove as my directions had indicated. I walked on down to 57th street, obviously in the medical district. I arrived at what should have been the RMH to find a construction site. Luckily, there was a cop nearby, and for the first time ever, I asked a cop for directions. As it turns out the house, which moved a year ago to its new location, was only 1 block from where I exited the bus. By the time I got back up there and figured out where I needed to go to get in the house, I was half an hour late.

My kids turned up a half hour after me--at 11am. We were supposed to be cooking lunch, which was to be served at noon. Yikes, kids, not a lot of time there. We hurriedly got our food supplies unpacked to find the College had provided us with lunchmeat, bags of chips, and cookies. Super lame lunch. And, who only sends one kind of lunchmeat? Hello, people. The families who stay at the RMH come from all over the world, and I would imagine that some of them, for religious or cultural reasons, don't eat ham. Hell, I don't eat ham.

The lunch took virtually no time to prepare, so we ended up doing other odd jobs around the house. Sandy, the weekend house manager, gave us a tour of the place and told us about what they do and how families get connected with them. Pretty cool, kids. And, the house they have now was brand new a year ago--and it's fabulous! I was all-around impressed with the service site. With our service day organizers? Not so much.

So, upon departure, I took myself to the Apple Store and bought an iPhone. And, I love it. LOVE. I need to remember to charge it every night; I'm running low on battery already today. I can't even think of where to start with my gushing because this phone is just made of so much awesome.

Laying in bed last night, I talked myself into getting up at 5 today and catching an earlier train than I normally need to take to go swimming on campus. The campus sports facilities are an untapped resource for me, and I'd heard there was open swim from 7:30 to 8:30 MWF mornings. I was the only one lap swimming, but I didn't care. It felt go to be there doing it. I only did six laps, which is fine. I'm out of shape and didn't have the entire hour to spend there, anyway. I was able to shower and everything and still be in my office by 9, which is what time I normally get in when I take my regular train. Not a bad morning over all, thought I think I may need to bring a hair dryer. Did I mention we can use the sports facilities for FREE? Why should I pay for a gym membership?

So, that's what's been happening around these parts.

PS The Cubs are in the playoffs!

um. tasty?

2008-09-23T09:11:00.000-05:00

I took a fish oil pill for the first time this morning.

I keep burping sushi.

geekiness

2008-09-17T09:17:00.000-05:00

There's a feeling of community and understanding that washes over me when I'm with people who teach writing. I think there's just a part of myself that I forget is in there, that does get much air time, that I don't cultivate much--the part of me that loves teaching writing. I need to do something about that.

I'm an asshole

2008-09-15T15:38:00.000-05:00

So, everybody's kinda bummed about David Foster Wallace's death. He was an amazing writer; I'll give you that.

I just can't bring myself to give a shit. I feel nothing about his death.

He and I were at Illinois State at the same time. I remember him as a manipulative bastard who made all the young girls cry (present company excluded)--not the kind of professor I could muster respect for, and he left ISU to work with "more serious students."

I'm sorry for his loved ones and the literary world, but I won't miss him.

my heart melts

2008-09-10T21:04:00.001-05:00

I cried.

reasons why I need to buy an Obama t-shirt

2008-09-09T09:57:00.001-05:00

Both of these came to me via Bitch, PhD, which I love.

Amnesty International is calling out the police involved in the arrests of protestors at the Republican National Convention for using excessive force.

Amnesty International recognizes the challenges involved in policing large scale demonstrations and that some protestors may have been involved in acts of violence or obstruction. However, some of the police actions appear to have breached United Nations (U.N.) standards on the use of force by law enforcement officials. These stipulate, among other things, that force should be used only as a last resort, in proportion to the threat posed, and should be designed to minimize damage or injury. Some of the treatment also appears to have contravened U.S. laws and guidelines on the use of force. The U.N. standards also stress that everyone is allowed to participate in lawful and peaceful assemblies, in accordance with the principles embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Gosh, I'm glad to see them speaking out about this.

And if you were starting to regain a little of that warm and fuzzy feeling about government now that the convention in St. Paul is over, think again. This story from Alaska disgusted me. The police chief of Wasilla when Sarah Palin was mayor spoke out against state legislation in 2000 that would prevent sexual assault survivors from being billed for the cost of their evidence-collecting exams, claiming it would put a burden on the police department to fund the exams.

[House Bill 270, signed into law by the governor] makes it illegal for any law enforcement agency to bill victims or victims insurance companies for the costs of examinations that take place to collect evidence of a sexual assault or determine if a sexual assault did occur.
[...]
"In the past we've charged the cost of exams to the victims insurance company when possible. I just dont want to see any more burden put on the taxpayer," Fannon said.

Glad to see he was looking out for the female taxpayers in his community.

Let's round this out with some Gloria Steinem, who I've always loved. This came to me first via Siobhankha.

Republicans may learn they can't appeal to right-wing patriarchs and most women at the same time. A loss in November could cause the centrist majority of Republicans to take back their party, which was the first to support the Equal Rights Amendment and should be the last to want to invite government into the wombs of women.

And, if Gloria's not your taste, you can always go watch my political tv girlfriend Rachel Maddow over at MSNBC. Love that woman; she's super smart and sassy.

oh, the details...

2008-09-08T13:01:00.001-05:00

I feel like my brain is swimming with all the little details we have to think about for the wedding. What shoes will my girls wear? What shoes am I going to wear? How much should we pay to get our hair done? Give that Anne's mom is the person who usually cuts my hair, where will we go to get our hair done? Then, there's things like out-of-town bags, updating the website, song lists for the dj, writing up the ceremony and program... *sigh* Why didn't I get this stuff done this summer?!

the hell?

2008-09-01T08:24:00.000-05:00

What the fuck is happening in the Twin Cities?! I haven't read anything yet about problems with people flying in and out of the cities, but I'm still nervous that Anne has to travel from there.

another one bites the dust - pun intended

2008-08-28T14:49:00.000-05:00

I'm back home from the dentist. The culprit is luckily not my tooth that got a root canal 2 years ago; it's the tooth right next door, which will be getting a root canal next Wednesday. My heart sank when he put the cold-tester to my tooth and I felt nothing. Oh well. At least I still have all my teeth!

I think I'll take a nap.

rest in peace

2008-08-28T10:25:00.000-05:00

She did a lot of good work. Lesbian rights pioneer Del Martin dies at 87.

second Monday of the week

2008-08-28T09:53:00.001-05:00

I thought we already did Monday! Boo!

Highlights of this week have included:

The folks planning the annual "welcome, new students" traditional ceremony seemingly not giving a thought to how my ~~kid~~ student who uses a wheelchair was going to get into the church. No one seemed concerned at all. I'm glad I went and found out where the elevator was. They should have had someone there to guide her, though. It was their program, not mine.

One of my other ~~kids~~ students fell yesterday and broke her jaw, which will have to be wired shut for 4-6 weeks. She's missing the first day of classes for the wiring part of it.

There's something wrong with the nerve/tooth that I had a root canal done in 2 years ago. When I talked to the receptionist at my dentist's office this morning, she said, "You really need to come in today." On the first day of classes. During my busiest time of the entire school year. She couldn't get me in otherwise until Tuesday. So, in an hour, Jennjer (thank goodness for her!) is dropping me off at the train so I can go to the dentist. I'm totally freaked about what's going to happen to my tooth. It's one of my front teeth, and if, for some gawdforsaken reason, they decide to pull it or something that's going to affect how my teeth look, I'm not coming back to work until it's fixed. Hell, I won't leave the house till it's fixed. Sigh.

And Anne is gone. :( I'm excited for her that she's visiting her parents, going to the state fair, and spending the weekend at her parents' cabin. But it's me and the cats toughin' it out together right now, and frankly, they don't give very good hugs.

an end of sorts

2008-08-23T23:18:00.001-05:00

Well, I'm not going to make it to the finish line of the Ravelympics. I've got a ton done, but I have to work Orientation tomorrow--a session for first-years and their parents, so I have to be, you know, awake and well-spoken. I'm happy with how it looks so far and what I've got done.

Ricky likes it, too.

I've got a few more on Flickr following the project, including a few tonight without Ricky (start here).

the finish line is in sight

2008-08-21T22:42:00.000-05:00

Finished all the squares of my Ravelympics afghan tonight, and I began the assembly, which I'm pretty happy with. It took a few false starts to decide I like it best with the pieces crocheted together. I was so excited I had to take a picture and post it on my Ravelry, even though I'm dead tired.

I'm such a bad person.

2008-08-21T09:19:00.001-05:00

I get periodic emails from Feminists for Life. I believe in know they enemy. When I worked at Catholicland, I used to get emails from the Cardinal Newman Society (Oh, how I LOATHED them!) for the same reason.

Well, the latest FFL email tells me that their office was burglarized Monday night. They lost several computers and have a high insurance deductible.

I snickered when I read it.

for the record

2008-08-20T09:50:00.002-05:00

I hate FTP. HATE. I've tried many times in the past week or so to work with a well-known publisher to access files of a book (for a student with a disability), which they do via FTP. First time, I got on fine, but I sure didn't see any files for download. Now, I can't even log on, and they've given me conflicting information on what the username and password are. Seriously publisher people--FTP?

Mac people, do you use an FTP client that you like? (Not that it seems to make a difference because I can't do it through a browser, either, because the info they sent me is WRONG.)

I may have to break down and call the Unhelpful Desk.

ETA: The publisher set up a completely new login for me, and this time, it worked. Phew. The book is downloading as I write this.

a busy August week

2008-08-19T11:28:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, I think I'm the only person who sweats all the time...and sweats a lot. Geez. I hate humidity. I just walked around campus, and I'm soaked.

Back to work! Which brings me to good news: my grandfather got to go home yesterday. He's still pretty weak, but he's so much better. And best news of all: the tumor they removed with part of his pancreas is NOT cancer. :)

I'm happy to have my house back. As much as I may have complained along the way, I do really love my grandmother. Having her with us made me tired, though. Staying up to watch the Olympics hasn't helped, either.

In my own Olympic news, I'm still working on my blanket. I have many, many squares done and hope to be stitching them together starting Wednesday. I have to finish by the closing ceremonies.

We've got about 150-200 students already on campus. Eep! First-years (who aren't already here) move in this weekend, so the fun really is beginning. Friday, I accompany a group of newbies to Boystown for a Chicago Day. Sunday, I get to talk to parents and newbies about services for students with disabilities. Monday--I'm sure--appointments begin.

Farewell summer. Welcome [back] students!

I'd rather be crocheting.

2008-08-13T13:54:00.001-05:00

Why is it that the one and only website I need to work this afternoon has to continue to fail to load?! I finally got a text for a student who needs it in electronic format, and I need to get the publisher contact info.

In other--better--news, it's Curry Hut Wednesday. Indian buffet, baby. So. Stuffed.

I'm totally engrossed in my project for the Ravelympics, the 17-day challenge for knitters/crocheters on Ravelry. Goodness, how I want to work on it. I've finished all my red "squares," and now the purple are almost done. I might actually finish this project. :)

My grandmother called this morning to report that my grandfather is definitely perking up, which is good, though if he had his way, he wouldn't leave ICU until he's ready to go home. We think he likes the attention. ;)

Has anyone else been completely mesmerized by Brandi Carlile's "The Story" on that GM commercial they keep playing during the Olympics? I get transfixed every time that commercial plays. I want to hear it right now. In fact, I just might go off and find it. Totally productive use of of time, I know. :P But if it helps with my filing...

I'm so full.

2008-08-05T13:06:00.000-05:00

I'll tell you what, those folks in the library might not keep peanut butter around, but damn can they cook! The library summer BBQ was moved from tomorrow to today, which happened to be a day I didn't have time to pack my lunch. Geez, it was so good.

linkspam: Super Mario edition

2008-08-04T20:40:00.001-05:00

Someone has painted a room like Super Mario Bros. And it's awesome.

various and sundry

2008-08-04T13:07:00.001-05:00

Feels like I'm due to write something, so here goes...

Piper has an ear infection. Squirting medicine in a cat's ear isn't as fun as you might think it would be. She's almost completely mended, though.

Which leads me to my grandfather, who should be mended, part 1, on Thursday when he has his Whipple Procedure done to correct his chronic pancreatitis. Following, my grandmother will be staying with us for several days while he's in the hospital. Conveniently, the hospital where he's going (and it's a great doc there, btw), is just down the road from a Metra stop, so I can take her to visit him and then hop on the train for a few hours of work. There's no reason to think anything should go wrong with his surgery, as he's got a doc who does these all the time, but if you can spare some good thoughts on Thursday morning, they couldn't hurt. I intend to work on my sweater crochet project while we wait.

And while we're on crocheting, I'll note that I'm going to participate in the Ravelympics, which involves a 17-day challenge project, mine being an afghan of 4' x 4'. I mapped out the design yesterday, which is allowed, though I can't start the crocheting till the opening ceremonies of Beijing. I hope I can do it.

One recent project is almost completely done: our wedding invitations. I just picked them up from the printer here on campus. The invitations, reply cards, and maps have, so far, cost less than $8 80 cents (I can do math, really) apiece, though I haven't yet purchased envelopes. Damn, that price is good, and I'm ecstatic with how the look. I want to walk around campus with them, going up to people and saying, "Look! Don't they look cool! I designed these! And they were printed on campus for super cheap!" I'm like a kid.

Finally, I'll note that I've embarked on a large project I'll be proud to finish very soon: uploading all of my cds to my computer. I'm nearing the end of the alphabet, and I broke 6,000 songs yesterday. Once I get everything on there, I intend to go through the catalog and mark the files I don't want included as fair game for my shuffle. Plus, I can't imagine my iPod, awesome as he is, is going to be able to hold all this stuff. This is a hell of a lot of music, friends, and I think it needs a little prioritizing. After all, I don't need holiday music on there now, so trimming the catalog a bit is worth it, especially if I don't have to listen to "Elf's Lament" until December.

dry toast, and I'm not even home sick

2008-08-01T10:29:00.002-05:00

Why did I want to come back to the library again? Yesterday, there was clearly a jar of peanut butter in the staff kitchen. Unfortunately, it was today my english muffin and I headed downstairs for a mid-morning snack to find--gasp!--no peanut butter. The honey bear was hard, no honey moving. The strawberry preserves promised to be good till next May, but I was still too nervous about the big red jar in the fridge. And, no butter in sight. Over in the Butch, there wasn't any community food/condiment storage, so everything was a known quantity. Here? Well, who knows how long something's been sitting out or who's put a finger in the jar for a little taste? Also, don't bother looking for a plastic knife. Plastic forks abound, but if you want a knife, it'll be real and followed with the thought about how long it's been since someone washed the dish rag hanging over the sink. Blech.

So, I did what I had to do: I ate my toasted english muffin dry. Always safer with a known quantity, and having had food poisoning once, I can safely say that's not something I want to do again.

At least the cafe in the student center will be open when I go warm up my lunch, meaning I should be able to find a pat of butter for my reheated mashed potatoes. And this weekend, I'm buying myself a small jar of peanut butter for my office. And plastic knives.

the end of summer approaches

2008-07-31T09:22:00.001-05:00

I'm back to work. The students will be back in 2 weeks (RAs and football players). Le sigh. What happened to all that time I was going to have to get things done, like updating my Ravelry? The summer didn't prove to be relaxing. Too many obligations, too many events.

I think maybe I'm in mourning for the summer's end. I can feel it in other folks, too, here at work. We're excited for things, like new staff starting, but that signals the approach of our busiest time of the school year.

I'm going to drop off our invitations at the printer this morning, which is exciting. I'm glad they're done; that's a weight off of me. I also got some importantly big work projects done this week (cleaning my office not among them), which also feels good. I think maybe I'll spend this morning getting my office into shape. Seeing less clutter always makes me feel more upbeat.

are you sure it's not Monday?

2008-07-24T10:49:00.001-05:00

Today's been downright weird in the way that only Monday's usually are. For one, I'm in the office, which I never am on a Thursday in the summer. I needed to unpack, though, as they moved my stuff back to my old office in the library while I was in Reno. It's like coming home. :) I do miss my Thursday morning breakfast with H, though.

Instead, I got an interesting conversation with my pal O. You meet such interesting folks from the College when you ride the train, I swear. O became part of our train crew last fall, and I've always thought he was a cool dude. We talked very openly about his recent diagnosis of bipolar/borderline and subsequent medicating. It's funny how people change for you in only 30 minutes. I have a newfound understanding of O, and I respect the way he's dealing with the diagnosis, namely learning all the can about it.

In other news, I woke up at 4:30 and couldn't go back to sleep. I'm obviously channelling my girlfriend, who fails at sleeping after about that point. The downside for me is that I'm also having trouble falling asleep--both are so unlike me! I'm pooped.

And hungry. I left the house without any food, and I have none here. Poor planning on my part. I actually left sort of frantically, running around desperately trying to find my keys.

Which reminds me: I hate our neighbors. Still. I went out to water my flowers and nearly fell over someone's bike, which was left RIGHT in front of our door. WTF, people? That's gotta warrant a note or something.

I took the day off from everything else yesterday and got all the wedding paraphernalia done. We're talking: invitations, reply cards, and maps. Dear gawd, the maps took for-ev-er, but they look awesome. I'm looking forward to seeing them live and in print, and not just the poor-quality printing I did here in the office (to see how they looked).

Alright, enough break. Back to organizing the office.

Picture it, Catholicland

2008-07-22T17:01:00.000-05:00

I just came in from putting my grill together. Seeing as how I suck at following visual instructions usually, I was pretty proud that I did it in under 45 minutes--and with only one mistake that I quickly (not to mention easily) fixed myself.

My toolbox is in the office, so I stopped on the way to drop off my screwdriver, which I didn't need. Tempting me like the evil woman she is, I heard the call of the internet.

Today's news that's soured my mood: announcements that both the boss I hated at Catholicland and Estelle Getty have died.

Hm.

on my way

2008-07-19T17:27:00.001-05:00

I've been in Reno for 6 days, and I'm finally on my way home. The mountains were beautiful, though I only saw them from afar, and they were hazily hidden too often by the smoke from the California wildfires. What an amazing sight, seeing mountains and then seeing them disappear.

The hotel was meh. I found the cheapest eats, and I'm leaving with a full belly but an empty pocketbook, unsure how much work will actually pay for. I did save my receipts.

I did 5 full days of conference and a 90 minute workshop this morning. The first 2 days of workshop were a pre-conference institute on electronic text for students with disabilities. The possibilities are awe-inspiring. My ideas were plentiful, but my mind was spinning by the end of Day 2. On the third day, everyone else arrived for the start of the actual conference--Association on Higher Ed and Disability. No workshop comes to mind as a dud, some come to mind as awesome. That's about the most you can ask for of a conference.

I didn't make any real, meaningful connections till Wednesday, when I had both lunch and dinner with other folks who work at "independent colleges and universities"--a special interest groups for us folks working at small colleges. Good people. I met some of them last year, and I had a nice time with them.

I kept my eyes peeled on the message board for notice of the Big Gay Outing. I didn't go last year because I was picking up my copy of Deathly Hallows instead. The notice finally went up on Thursday, the same day as a focus group on the organization's diversity initiative, where I spoke my mind about the lack of gay in our talk of diversity. After that, I met K, who was one of the two organizers of the upcoming gathering. We spent the rest of the night chatting. Friday, he introduced me to J, the other organizer, and after a well-attended, supported, and positive meeting of queer professionals at the conference, K, J, and I had delicious Thai food. We headed out to a gay bar in the hills, which turned out to be a country-western dyke bar. We danced our hearts out (J joining in the line-dancing) to "Let's Get Loud," which was fun. We abandoned the alternate-universe that was Reflections (the name of the bar) and headed back to the hotel/casino, where we stayed up laughing later into the night than I'd expected. We parted with hugs, a sure sign we made friends at this year's conference (both of them first-timers and me there for my second). I'm already looking forward to seeing them at next year's conference.

As for now, I'm most looking forward to just going home. I miss my bed, my cats, my girl, my city (not necessarily in that order). In ten minutes, I board the plane to San Fransisco, where I'll connect to O'Hare. Chicago's on my horizon, and all-in-all, I've had a good time in Reno.

I hate our neighbors.

2008-07-09T08:28:00.000-05:00

So we had new neighbors move in next door (on July 1). Their apartment has a different entryway than ours, but we share a deck. On their first day here, they left a keg and a collapsable table on the deck. The next morning, the keg was gone, but eventually the table was set up. Since then, it's been dirtied (and stayed that way). The first day, it had a beer can just sitting on it. It rubbed me the wrong way, but Anne kept telling me to chill out. After all, as she pointed out, it could have been a can for cigarette butts. Good point. So, I moved the can to their windowsill. The next few days, more cans appeared on the window sill. I think her butt-can idea was disproven. This morning? There's a new can sitting on the table (the ones in the window sill are still there), and there are a few cigarette lighters laying on the table. Ugh. The deck area is small. I actually pushed the table back on the day I moved the can so that it no longer blocked the path down he stairs.

I'm happy to share the space, but it pisses me off when people trash it. I've actually tried to make it look nice this summer by putting up my flower box and maintaining my vincas, even picking off dead bits. The neighbors in the condo building next door (there's a fence between our buildings) have nice decks with grills and flowers and party lights. And no trash. How hard is it to take your trash inside when you're done? It just makes me uberpissed when people trash public spaces. If you have to share a space with people, be considerate, damnit. Grrrr.

there's no room left for doubt

2008-07-08T14:48:00.001-05:00

Planned Parenthood Action Fund has officially endorsed Barack Obama.

city life, city love

Baby Fisher, coming soon to a theatre near you!

NOMCY.

Gangs + Cupcakes?

what's exciting this semester?

Chicago's population drops 200,000

Census data also show collar counties grew in numbers, diversity

on my uncle's death

what I've been doing when I haven't been blogging

I recall in my sleep how you changed my life on Magnolia Street...

the world is lovely when you're sleeping (and I'm not)

First World Problems

1, 2, 3, 4, I declare a Blog War*

she may be a fascist, y'all

I had my toothbrush with me; I should have made myself at home.

what the new blog name means, at least today

why is it so difficult to actually get to work?

Does no one around here remember what happened to "Moonlighting"?

look! two posts in one day!

things we do for people we love

I'll try to be better, honest.

exciting happenings

well, if Marie can do it...

"My baby takes the morning train..."

in a mood to write poems

It takes more than three days to make something a habit, doesn't it?

back to work, you slacker

I hear Miss Hannigan...

why I like my colleagues

I got a feeling...

writing on not writing

a weekend with a mix of rain and sunshine

the face of politics

Little Victories

so much to blog, so little time

Apple gets this accessibility thing right

all hail... feet...?

so it's been awhile...

randoms from my trip to NC this week

how to make me squee like a little girl

report: ice cream recipe, part 1

ice cream season begins with an experiment!

friendly reminder

I spend too much time with my social scientist friends

Would I be saved if I were brave?

planning conference travel makes me a little crazy

the coffee problem

another fabulous fail

your fail is my triumph

nightmarish singing and intolerence

my brother strikes again

on my temporary crowns

Sweet!

tutorial: dyeing yarn by the hot pour method

back to it

seeking input

a watched bowl never explodes

on the inauguration

it's a good couple of days here

baby, it's cold outside

killing 45 minutes

winter failures

well, isn't this special

ow.

whoa, iPod

how long till the next mayoral election?

thwarted

pumpkin pie pilgrim

two things

Crap.

Good grief.

Which Peanuts Character Are You?

thanks, BNL

this feeling... it's indescribable... hope

five days to go, kids

various and sundry

various and sundry

um. tasty?

geekiness

I'm an asshole