It took 2 more attempts before I could find a yogurt with the fruit in it like it was supposed to be. I think I'm going to send them an email and see if they'll send me some free stuff.

weird incident of the day

This is as unimportant as things get, but I was somewhat amused by it: my lowfat blueberry fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt had no fruit on the bottom. Weird.

In other news, I really need a weekend. And a vacation.

Caution: Falling Ice

One of the things I didn't know about skyscrapers before working in downtown Chicago is the amount of ice that forms at the tops of the buildings in the winter....and then later, falls in big chunks on the sidewalks below. Lots of buildings have "Caution: Falling Ice" signs, but today was the first time I actually saw chunks of ice raining down. There was so much falling from one building that they actually had a guy with a shovel clearing it off the sidewalks. Fortunately these chunks were fairly small and couldn't hurt anyone! I think people have actually been injured by falling ice (hence the warning signs).

It's funny, I have mixed feelings about winter in the city. On one hand, I love the Christmas decorations and the falling snow, and the lakefront is really pretty with the ice and snow, but I really hate the piles of slushy brown snow that I inevitably end up walking through, and the biting cold wind. But I guess I shouldn't be too negative about it, though--I have another 3 months, at least, before it warms up!

Snow!

I know it's freezing cold, but I always like the first real snow, where we get a couple of inches of snow and it looks nice for a while. I'm hoping this one lasts a little while. It has definitely helped me get more into the Christmas spirit! That, and the realization that we only have a few weeks left to do lots of shopping, wrapping, decorating, party-attending, and traveling! I actually had almost all of my Christmas shopping done a long time ago; it's those last few difficult gifts that I'll probably buy online at the last minute. :)

Scared of Santa pics of the day

Scared of Santa

One of my favorite holiday traditions is the Chicago Tribune's annual "scared of Santa" photo gallery. Anyone can submit a photo, and they've amassed quite a collection. Here's last year's gallery, and here's this year's. SO cute and funny and sad at the same time.

Parking Lot

There's something so satisfying about looking down out of the train window onto the unmoving traffic below on the expressway. Not that I wish lateness on others...just that I'm glad I can take public transit!

ha, ha

The Apple store website won't load on my iPhone. Oh, the irony.

Vacation days, Attempt #2

Due to some circumstances beyond my control, I ended up not being able to take a day off on Friday. (Needless to say, I was not a very happy camper when I discovered this on Thursday afternoon.) I worked from home, though, and because there was no one around, I was able to get a ton of work done on a project that had been put off for way too long. So, this week I'm going to take Thursday and Friday off to make up for it. I wouldn't have thought I'd be that productive at home, but really it came down to no one being able to interrupt me with one urgent request or another.

Today could turn out to be a long, stressful day, and the same with tomorrow. But I'm clinging to the hope that I'll have nothing hanging over my head on the long weekend!

Caffeinated

I don't think I realized how caffeine-dependent I am until I decided not to have coffee this morning when I arrived at work. I could barely keep my eyes open. I still really want a nap. I think in order to be productive this afternoon, I'm going to have to make a Starbucks run.

[yawn]

I am taking the day off on Friday (no particular reason other than my last few vacation days will expire if I don't use them) , and it just hit me how much I have to do before then. I have a draft of a major project to finish up; a report I'm supposed to design, print, bind and ship that I haven't received yet; a lengthy conference call; and my monthly invoices to prepare. (In a small company one tends to wear lots of hats.) Now I REALLY need to go get that coffee!

Soundtrack of my day

A while ago, I started keeping track of songs that just make me smile when I hear them, and created what I refer to as my "happy playlist" on my iPod/iPhone. I've started listening to it in the morning on the way to work, while I work around the house, when I'm coming home from a bad day...it's amazing the difference it makes! Music has always had a big impact on me, so it makes sense. As far as what's on my playlist, I'm keeping it to myself because some of the songs are just goofy. And I wouldn't want anyone to laugh. :)

crazy day

A couple of weeks ago, I had one of the toughest, craziest work days in a long time, possibly ever. I had two major project deadlines at the same time--both of which involved writing, editing, graphics, printing, binding, Fedex... today, I am finding myself in that situation again, for the same two clients. What are the odds of that? I actually sort of enjoy the rush of kicking it into high gear and getting all of the last-minute stuff done. I'm not an adrenaline junkie in the typical sense...I guess I'm more of an "office-adrenaline-junkie."

story of my day

I just had someone print out a Word document containing photos, ask me to scan the photos, and make JPEGs of them so he could put them in another Word document. No lie.

"I don't want to keep my fork!"

Funny column by the Tribune restaurant critic today...he's finally been asked one too many times, "would you like to keep your fork?" No! I want a clean fork, thank you! You go, Phil.

Microsoft Strikes Again

So, someone in my office got a hand-me-down laptop from another member of the firm, and it fell to me to clean it up, connect to the network, set up email, etc. It took more than 10 hours, spread over 4 days, because it was so messed up and slow. Turned out most of the problem was that they'd bought the "home" version of everything, including Windows, instead of "pro." No big deal for many features, but I just spent half an hour discovering that a "pro" feature we use is available on the "home" version, Microsoft just renamed it, gave it a cutesy little logo and made it much harder to use! Stupid Microsoft.

Eek, someone just left the office swearing and mumbling. This isn't going to be a good day for somebody! I get to be here by myself all afternoon, so that "somebody" isn't going to be me. :)

Google Street View launches here!

Google's latest mapping venture, Street View, is incredibly cool and just a little bit scary. It just launched here in the city. In addition to Google's regular maps and satellite images, you can now get a street-level view. Here's where I spend my days:




I know privacy advocates are concerned because occasionally there have been identifiable people in the photos. (Which you can ask to have removed.) But I'm really excited about this. How cool is it that you can actually "visit" a neighborhood, see what it looks like, and get a much better sense of a place than you can with a map or satellite image? So far I haven't found myself in any photos, but I'm going to keep looking. Looks like most of the city and a few suburbs have already been mapped. If nothing else, this could prove to be a really fun way to waste time!

I have always been fascinated by the variation of social norms and practices across cultures. Take, for instance, the concept of "personal space." I'm rather protective of mine, as are many people, but I remember a display at the Indianapolis Children's Museum that showed how close people from around the world stand when they talk. And right now, I am sitting on the train next to someone who apparently has no concern for personal space whatsoever. No idea if nationality has anything to do with it. I'm squashed up against the window, and I'm struck by how uncomfortable I am. And not just by trying to fit myself in a third of the seat so I don't have to touch a stranger. Most of the time, people go out of their way to keep their distance. Anyway, this is no big deal, just something I find interesting.

Moving in slow motion

I'm having one of those days where I feel like I'm moving around slowly, in a fog. Like I'll see something, then it'll take my brain a second to catch up. It's the last day in a very long week; major deadlines at work this week. I didn't get home til after 8pm last night, and then I had to work at home, and went to bed at 2am, and got up at the usual time and started all over again. And no napping on the train, either--had to work then, too. But gigantic project #2 this week is now written, edited, illustrated, designed, printed, bound, and shipped out. Now I get to start on a few little minor tasks, clean up my desk so it doesn't look like a tornado went through here, and then move on to the next deadline. Which might prove to be difficult considering I'm totally unable to focus today! (Focus my eyes and my brain!)

I'm looking forward to going home and sleeping!! I wonder if anyone in the office would notice if I left early this afternoon? Most days, probably not, but I still wouldn't do that. :) A little too honest for my own good.

Another new iPhone user

I just found out my brother got an iPhone! Seems like he likes it a lot. What he doesn't know is that he is now the one person I know on the AT&T network. So I just might start calling him all the time for no reason. :-) Ha!

Happy Monday!

In spite of starting my day by splattering coffee down the front of my white shirt (and then not noticing for 3 hours, giving it time to dry, and walking around like that, oblivious), it's been a really good day! I had a fun but tiring weekend...it just so happened that we were invited to a variety of activities (lunch with friends, dinners with friends/relatives, a boat ride on Lake Michigan), all on the same weekend. We ended up missing one get-together, unfortunately, because of the jam-packed-ness of the schedule.

And the Cubs won--doesn't get much better than that!

you learn something new every day

After I heard someone at Starbucks order a "black eye," I had to consult Wikipedia when I got back to the office. It turns out that a "red eye" is one shot of espresso in a regular coffee; a "black eye" is two shots, and a "dead eye" is three shots. Ha, ha! So funny. I would feel a little funny walking up to a counter and asking for a black eye, though.

Amazon Mechanical Turk

Has anyone heard of this? It's been getting some press of late since it's being used to help find adventurer Steve Fossett who went missing in Nevada. The basic idea is that humans still outperform computers on certain kinds of analytical tasks--in this case, visually analyzing satellite photos. The term "Mechanical Turk" comes from a supposed automaton invented in 1769 by a Hungarian nobleman. By showing off its complex gears and machinery, he convinced people that it really was able to beat people in chess, though in reality there was a human chess master hidden inside. The idea behind Amazon's tool is that if you aggregate the observations of hundreds or thousands of people, you can not only observe a lot more data, but also sort out the totally useless pieces of information.

So in searching for Steve Fossett, users look at thousands of small square pieces of satellite photo and flag those that might contain a clue. There has actually been at least one plane found--where 10 people flagged the same square and then searchers can see if this is an old plane crash site, or what. I'm completely fascinated by this technology; I even logged in with my Amazon account and searched through a few images.

Thursday Afternoon "Adventure" (a.k.a. "The Most Expensive Lunch Ever")

Leaving the office for the day at 2pm would ordinarily be a really cool thing. But leaving due to an allergic reaction to mango that I didn't know was in my lunch salad was not so fun.

Starbucks Curry Chicken Salad...$6.00
Benadryl...$7.00
Cab Ride to the Hospital...$10.00
Copay for ER visit...$100
Prescriptions...$60.00
Learning that I have not outgrown my childhood food allergies like everyone thought I would....Priceless.

If you thought you were a Cubs fan...

....this guy's got you beat.

He's building a scaled-down replica of Wrigley Field in a public park in his hometown of Freeport, IL. It's got everything from the ivy-covered brick wall (Cubs officials sent him clippings of the actual ivy), to the Harry Caray cartoon over the WGN press box. Lucky little league kids (and anyone who wants to rent it for $35/hour) will get to use it starting next year. Here's my favorite part of the article:

"Like so many ideas - both good and bad - the concept for Little Cubs Field was born in a bar. Five years ago, Garkey and a group of friends took a road trip to a baseball mecca: Rookies Food & Spirits, a sports saloon and restaurant in Mazomanie, Wis., which - as its main attraction - boasts a professional whiffle ball field.

Garkey looked out at the field that day and thought to himself: "It's too bad it doesn't look like Wrigley." Then a thought occurred to him. Why not build a little Wrigley Field? A few days later, he sat down with his wife and said, "Honey, I've got a crazy idea." Judy Garkey - an endlessly patient woman - told her husband, "Go for it." (Five years later, she says she doesn't regret supporting her husband's idea, but she does acknowledge that he has become "obsessed with completing it.")"

CSI: The Experience

We went to the CSI exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry on Sunday; it was really cool. It was actually an interactive experience where each person or group is assigned a case (there were 3 options), is given a clipboard, and you start by examining the crime scene. Then you move on to various labs (trace, toxicology, autopsy, digital evidence, etc.) to figure out what everything means. There were lots of videos done by CSI cast members, as well as actual experts. Everything was very well done---looked amazing, and was both fun and educational. I left wishing it was longer, or that I could have solved all 3 cases. It's only around for another week, unfortunately. But it looks like it'll be at other locations in the future.

After the Storm

There may be a calm before the storm, but the aftermath is anything but! There are huge tree branches, and in some cases entire trees, littering the area near home. The photo here was actually one of the clearest portions of the sidewalk on the way to the train this morning. I'm very thankful that we didn't get any damage to our building or our car.

The river has flooded the main road near us--River Road is actually now a river in one place as well as a road. The traffic is being diverted down our street. Quite a mess. The view from the train was spectacular; I'll try to get some pictures later today.

It's so weird that much of our neighborhood--and even our block--has electricity but our building doesn't. We're going over to our friends' house at dinner time today with our cooler full of frozen meat---time for a barbecue! I had to empty the rest of the freezer and fridge this morning, which was already starting to drip onto the kitchen floor. It was a good opportunity to clean out some of the past-their-prime sauces and dressings. Now I have to actually clean the inside of the fridge, and we'll be ready for a load of new food! I think this is the third time in 6 years that we've lost a freezer/fridge full of food. I guess the lesson is to not keep it too full, since we don't have a big chest freezer or any other kind of backup plan.

Since the emergency lights only lasted 4 hours, it has been genuinely creepy in our condo building, even during the daytime. The interior hallways and stairwells are completely without natural light. We've been using flashlights, but I didn't want to take one to work with me, so this morning I used my phone to light the way down the stairs. Pretty funny, I thought.

The Tribune now says that there are still 245,000 people without power. I wonder how long it will be until ours is restored? Oh, well; at least it's summer and it's light for a long time, otherwise we'd have a more difficult time getting ready in the morning, or doing anything, for that matter.

I'm so glad it's Friday. I am looking forward to a nice weekend spent with family and friends, and enjoying our last use of our Museum of Science and Industry membership before it expires. So glad we get to see the CSI special exhibit.

iPhone to the rescue (sort of)

I discovered a very nice benefit of the iPhone: internet during power outages! The storm knocked ours out at home. I was able to see the weather radar. Our car had a near miss with a downed tree branch today, too. We're now on the way to our friends' house for dinner. We already had dinner plans and it's a good thing since we can't cook anyway.

Of course, lots of phones can access the Internet, but this one looks cooler. :)

Flooded streets + tree branches + rush hour = really bad traffic! But since the worst is over, this is much better than being at home in the dark!

new gadget!

So, I'm not usually the first person on the block to get a new gadget (though I always wish I was), but this time around I lucked out. My employer got me an iPhone (and they're going to pay my cell phone bills). So what if the intent is to keep me better connected to office email? It's very cool. There were a couple of glitches in the set-up and activation process, but overall it's really easy to use, and it is going to be nice to check my email on the train on the way into the office.

Post-vacation recovery

I've been home for 3 weeks, and I think I have finally made it through all of the digital photos, receipts, piles of stuff, etc. that resulted from my trip. It would not normally take that long, but I've spent the last 2 weeks recovering from a cold/sinus infection. I only missed a few days of work, but if I hadn't had a huge project due, I would have missed more and probably recovered faster. Oh, well...it's good to be needed at work. :) I "only" printed 120 of the 500+ photos that I took on the trip, and managed to get them all in an album already. It's not the prettiest looking album I've ever created, but it works just fine.

Last post of the trip?

Who knows, we may find some wireless access at the airport, but I have my doubts. Anyway, London was great, though we didn't see half the things we wanted to. I guess I'll have to come back!

I wish I could post some photos today, but the computers we're using have everything disabled, so there's no way to do it. Oh, well. I'll upload the rest of the pictures later.

I need to get some sleep...tomorrow will be a very long day--it'll feel like a 30-hour day due to the time change. For those of you back at home, I'll see you soon!

Bad Wiessee, Germany

Today was a great day. We were able to see Bad Wiessee, the little town in Bavaria where our dad was born. It was a little more of an adventure than usual, with almost zero English speakers (no other American tourists). It was an hour train ride from Munich to Tegernsee, and then we road a boat across the lake to Bad Wiessee. We walked around quite a bit, sent a couple of postcards, took some pictures, and then unfortuately had to hop on a bus to Gmund to make our train back to Munich.

Bad Wiessee seems like the kind of place where one could really relax and have a peaceful, quiet vacation. More knowledge of German would be very helpful. The surrounding area is full of opportunities for hiking, biking, water sports, and just general relaxation. Lots of health spas. I imagine it would be a very different place in the winter; today, most of the people we saw were elderly, but I'm sure the ski crowd would be substantially younger.

Now we are sitting at the Munich airport, awaiting our flight to London. Not much time left! This week has gone so fast.

Munich

Somehow, we have ended up climbing hundreds of stairs everywhere we go. Cinque Terre was nothing but stairs to get anywhere (180 just to get to our room at night); in Rome there were lots of things to climb; and in Munich we climbed to the top of a church tower to get a panoramic view. And the view was great! It was worth it. I'm not sure my feet agree, but we at least enjoyed it after we'd made it up the 12+ flights. Tomorrow, we're hoping to get to Tegernsee.

There are so many things to see here, and even more things to see in the area that require a day trip (castles, other towns, etc.). I could probably fill 2 weeks or more with interesting stuff. The museums in Munich alone could take a week to even start to fully see.

Photos from Yesterday (Cinque Terre, Day 2)

Deutschland

Blogger knew I was in Germany...when I logged on, everything was in German and I couldn't figure out what to click!

The train ride last night was...interesting. It turned out that we didn't have beds reserved after all, just seats in a 6-person compartment. There was a lady who was loud, trying to smoke in a non-smoking compartment, opening the windows, and trying to talk to people while others were sleeping. Sean slept like a rock, but because of the lingering smoke smell and cold air, I didn't sleep much at all. It's ok, though, because I saw the sunrise over the Austrian countryside. Honestly, it was breathtaking. I felt like I'd been dropped into the filming of The Sound of Music. I haven't ever seen grass that green, or towns that picturesque. Later in the morning, I tried to take some pictures out the window, but this doesn't do it justice. The tops of the mountains were bare rock; I was trying to imagine the Alps in the winter---I'd love to see it sometime. Unlike Rome and Cinque Terre, I think I'd need a couple of weeks to see everything I want to see in Germany. Lots of castles and other attractions require a day-trip (or a half day), and unfortunately we don't have a whole lot of time here.

We are staying in quite possibly the world's greatest hostel...free wireless, private rooms, very clean, great location, quiet, free breakfast, and dirt cheap!! But now we're off to explore the old center of Munich and get some good food for lunch.

Ahh, Gelato

I'm so sad...I just had my final serving of gelato (we're leaving Italy tonight). Lots of good food here, among other things, of course! Sean went kayaking, I went wandering, and we have a long night of train travel ahead of us. We have to take 4 different trains to get to Munich. However, the last train ride is 8 hours and we will be able to sleep.

Photos from today

Cinque Terre

This is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Cinque Terre, or 'Five Lands', has somehow maintained its historic atmosphere while catering to floods of tourists. We are staying in Vernazza, which so far I think is the nicest and most picturesque. This is the region in Italy where pesto was invented (along with some really good wine). We had an amazing dinner at the base of a castle/fortress at the highest point in the town. The day was spent hiking between towns. The longest stretch was 90 minutes of extremely steep hills. Most of it was right along the coast. For the intrepid hikers (not me), there are lots of longer, more difficult hikes that go higher and inland. We have seen all but one of the towns--that one is tomorrow. My feet and legs are begging me to stop the madness, so I think I will explore a little less tomorrow.

The waves crashing against the rocks provided a peaceful soundtrack for our day, and the occasional breeze gave relief from the heat. In the springtime, the hike would not have seemed strenuous, but in this heat, it was rather difficult.

It's really fun to have internet cafes everywhere to stay connected to the real world. We're staying in a rented room, not a hotel (there aren't any real hotels in Vernazza--just a collection of individuals who rent rooms and apartments), so there isn't wireless internet here. I think the hostels in Munich and London have free internet access, but who knows. Our Rome hotel advertised internet in the rooms but didn't have it. Anyway, it's fun to read your comments and emails!!!

Lots of stair climbing...

Here's what we did today:



More info and photos later.

Rome Highlights

Rome was Beautiful

Vatican City

We are currently awaiting our tour into the Vatican. Oh, and it's official...Sean and I can share pants. They actually look good on him. More later.

Rome, day 1

Our day started a little late, but it seems like we saw EVERYTHING today! I am the good kind of tired right now. We found a fancy hotel with a nice guy who is letting us use the internet.

Today we saw the Colosseum, Circus Maximus, several beautiful churches, a panoramic view of the city from the top of a building, Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, saw a really great street performer, had a very good meal at an outdoor restaurant on Piazza Navona, marveled at the sheer number of fountains, sculptures and other cool things everywhere you look, and walked our feet off. Tomorrow we head to the Vatican. There, you have to be dressed modestly (no bare shoulders or shorts) or they won't let you in. Here's the hilarious thing: Sean didn't bring pants, and after a fruitless search for affordable pants on Sunday when stores are closed, he decided that he's going to try to wear my pants (jeans). THAT will be a sight to behold. I have no idea how they will fit. I'll definitely take a picture, assuming they fit at all.

This is very fun so far...I'm looking forward to more good Italian food in the days to come. If I keep walking this much, there's no way all the food will affect the waistline.

Time for bed (almost). More soon, I hope. (Our hotel advertised internet access, but doesn't actually have it. Bummer.) Have a great day, everybody!

In Italy

Getting here was a bit of an adventure (flights delayed out of london, took 2 hours to get baggage), but we are here!!! We slept way too late this morning, but I really needed it. On our way to the Colosseum right now. More later!

Landing in London

I'm here!

I am wandering around in London a bit today, not much time to see things, but it's good to not be in the airport! I walked farther in Heathrow today than I ever have in any airport...including O'Hare. It's so crowded in the airport; everyone seems to be leaving for vacation right now.

The flight was good; I am officially a fan of Virgin Atlantic. Very comfy, cool seat-back screens with on-demand movies (I watched Night at the Museum), games (Tetris! Need I say more?), a little bag with toothbrush/paste, socks, eye shades...and the food was pretty good, too. One nice discovery was that the drink carts actually have a full-service bar--even for those in the economy seats. So I had a cute little glass of white wine with dinner.

Will: I think Ralph Wiggum (or someone that sounds just like him) was sitting behind me. !!

Brett: I agree, it's really great to fall asleep on an overnight flight and wake up in another country. Definitely the way to go. Though I'm rather tired right now.

I took a few photos when we were approaching the airport; I'll try to upload shortly.

Credit Card Fraud

Well, just like in the funny Citibank commercials, someone has been using my credit card number to purchase thousands of dollars' worth of stuff at Harley Davidson stores around the country. Lovely. I've bought and reserved quite a few things for my Europe trip with that credit card; so now I have to go through and figure out who needs the new number. Arrrgh. At least I'll get a new card by tomorrow. (Kudos to Citibank for noticing this and calling us!) 24 hours without a credit card...what on earth will I do?? :)

I wonder how that happened? I've made so many online purchases in the last week, it's hard to say. I'm hyper-vigilant about checking for the "secure" symbol on webpages. Now I just have to hope and pray that they don't have any other information. And I'm changing every password I can think of, and putting fraud alerts on my accounts and credit files.

I just want to get on that plane and fly away!!! This is nuts.

This time next week I will be here:

(Vernazza, Italy)

Hooray for elected officials!?!

This post may turn out to be premature, but we'll see. I leave for Europe in 7 days, and still do not have my passport (I sent in for a renewal almost 4 months ago, not thinking I needed "expedited" service.) The passport agency won't even talk to you if you're not going somewhere in the next 14 days. Well, I called a week ago, and after several hours (not exaggerating) finally got through. They upgraded it to "expedited" which did absolutely nothing. At 9 days from travel day, I started to panic and called to schedule an appointment at the Chicago passport agency. The automated appointment system, groaning under the weight of the excessive call volume, took 35 minutes to tell me that there aren't any appointments until July 25, and I leave on the 20th. Out of desperation I called our Senator's office. Which must have worked, because today I talked to someone at the passport agency, and she mentioned a note in my file that there had been a congressional call requesting a 24-hour passport issuance. It should be sent via Fedex later today.

So, hooray for democracy. Or something like that. (Never thought I'd be so grateful for a politician.) I'll have to remember to send his office staff a postcard from Europe.

When it rains...

...it pours. Literally, around here. Last night we noticed a weird section of our dining room wall near the ceiling that looked like it was inflated like a balloon. It turned out that it was filled with water. We punctured it, drained, it, and water continued to spurt out of the drywall. The paint basically peeled off of a 3-foot by 1-foot section of wall. We soaked up as much as we could, and pointed a fan at it to help it dry. Then we went and talked to our upstairs neighbor to find the source of the leak. Today they had a plumber come, and he thought he fixed it, but wasn't sure. So, we have to wait a week or so before we can fix the wall. It looks so bad, but I guess I'll just have to deal with it.

Tonight, I went into the other room to turn off the desktop computer, and it wouldn't turn off. Then it started making a clicking noise and I knew--hard drive failure. Bummer. All of my music files are on there, but hopefully nothing else important is. Hmmm, more stuff to do. Oh, well!

Sandwich heaven

There's a street corner near my office where you can see 3 sub shops within a block of each other--Subway, Quiznos and Jimmy Johns. Somebody needs to call Blimpie and tell them they missed the party.

My Last Birthday

It just hit me that I'm turning 29 this weekend, and this is my last year as a twentysomething, so I have decided that I am not going to have any more birthdays after that. I'm just going to stay 29 until further notice. The only other "age milestone" left is retirement age, 65, but what are the odds that Social Security is going to exist then to pay out for me, anyway?

On second thought, I do enjoy birthday gifts. Hmm....maybe I could just celebrate my birthday every year, but keep telling people that I'm 29. What should I do?

It's official...I have to check my luggage

This is going to make me sound like a nut, but last night I weighed a bunch of stuff on a digital postage scale to see if it's even possible to go to Europe with just one bag. I got to the 13-pound limit pretty easily, without any clothing (thanks in large part to my camera). So, guess I'll have to check something. Oh, well. (And no, mom, I'm not going to wear all of my clothes at once on the plane. Thanks for the suggestion, though.)

At least if they lose my bag, I get to go on a shopping spree in London. Granted, a self-funded one. :)

Defective String Cheese

As I thought of what I was going to write, it occurred to me that my daily life is boring. Really boring. (I have one brother living in Alaska and one in Spain...infinitely more interesting than my long days of staring at a computer screen.) But here goes, anyway.

The string cheese I brought with me for lunch today is defective. It's not stringy. It's crumbly. Still tastes fine (not exactly gourmet, but just fine for string cheese), but there's something so satisfying about peeling apart the layers of cheese before eating them. All of my attempts with this batch of cheese, though, have failed, and I end up with just a torn off chunk. Oh, the tragedy. How ever will I be able to move on?

Carryon Luggage

I was optimistic when I found out that there's a carryon weight limit on Virgin Atlantic for my flight to Europe of thirteen pounds. Yes, only 13 pounds. But I had really wanted to fly without checking any bags. I do it all the time for business travel, and I can easily pack for a week in the smallest rolling carryon size. But my hopes were dashed today when I used the postal scale at my office to weigh my purse and found out it's 5 pounds. Unless I plan on only taking 1 change of clothes, I guess I'll have to check a bag. Oh, well.

I love ebay

I love buying (and selling) things on ebay, and occasionally I find a description that's really amusing. Like this title, for instance, that came up when I searched for a rolling backpack:

Black Rolling Wheel Backpack Hiking Duffle Luggage Bag

At least they're thorough.

new red shoes

At the risk of sounding too girly, I love the fact that I'm wearing cute shoes today. I think a cute shoe day is on par with a good hair day.

Design Craziness

I'm a proponent of good design--in whatever form it may take. But I ran across something a bit ridiculous today: a plastic (and, admittedly, cool-looking) clothes hanger that costs $35 for a set of two. Two! I understand that people will pay a lot for cool home furnishings, sculpture, etc. But a hanger? Do people display these? Doesn't the good design get covered up by clothing? I'd have to permanently leave one hanging on the back of the bathroom door for all guests to see to justify the price. Here it is...

Invisible

It's only 9:30 in the morning and already I've had several incidents that make me wonder if I'm invisible to others today. Someone jumped in front of me and grabbed the seat I was about to take on the train, several people have allowed doors to slam on me, and a couple of people have cut in front of me in line (to go down the stairs, get breakfast at the deli, etc.). It's too bad that people can't see me today, too--I'm having such a good hair day. :-)

"Chi-Town?"

I read an interesting discussion on a Tribune columnist's blog today...the fact that no one who actually lives in Chicago calls the city "Chi-town." I know a lot of people who say that, but none of them live here. I'm apparently not the only one who's made that observation before.

The original article that started the whole discussion was about a guy who ended up with a tattoo that said "CHI-TONW"--a misspelling of an already dumb idea for a tattoo.

ewww

I guess when you're in Walgreens 3 times in 24 hours, the odds of finding a weird product go up. (I keep having to go back because W. is sick.) So, this is really gross:

Chicken Poop chap stick. (Contains no poop.) I was tempted, but I didn't buy it.

Photos

I thought I'd share some of my favorite scenic photos that we took during the past year. I'm hoping to add some photos of people at some point.

Scenic Shots 2006

Airborne

I sat next to someone on the train who was coughing the entire way home. Eww! I'd better not get sick. I've had my fair share of illness this winter. I need to take some Airborne (it's this fairly gross tasting but surprisingly effective herb+vitamin supplement that dissolves in water like an Alka Seltzer and is supposed to jump-start the immune system). I highly recommend it. Who knows how well it works, but whenever I get exposed to sick people or start feeling sick, it at least makes me feel like I'm doing something.

free stuff is cool

We perused the Abt Electronics store last night, just looking at all the fancy plasma screen tvs, appliances, and personal electronics that we'll never be able to afford. We've been looking into getting an additional power cable for our Bose SoundDock (awesome Christmas gift!) so we can more easily move it around (the cable is threaded through the back of a bookcase), and I stopped at the service desk to see if they could order one. Well, several minutes later, the guy reappeared and plopped one down on the counter. We asked how much, and he said "free-ninety-nine." I thought he said $3.99 at first, which is crazy because Bose.com was asking $50+ shipping. But then it registered that he was giving it to us. That totally made my day! I guess the service dept. sign, "The answer to any reasonable request is YES!" was an understatement. Then we went out to dinner at Benihana, which was almost "free" since we'd just saved so much cash.

Update: yay, giant tax refund! I knew that Shady Guy would come through! He sat there for an hour running numbers different ways on some things to come up with the best scenario for us. He's one of the top-tier tax preparers at our tax place, and he's worth every penny that we pay him.

drumroll please...

We're getting our taxes prepared tonight. We've got a tax preparer that we call "shady guy" because he seems to know everything and gets us a huge refund each year. Our tax situation has changed every year for the past 5 years (working in 2 states/starting school/buying a home/ending school/stock sales/capital gains/etc.), so we don't even try to do it ourselves. We have a tradition of going out to dinner afterwards. Though we might go home and eat leftovers if we don't get a refund this time. Oh, the suspense...

breakfast

What's the difference between a cupcake and a muffin? Muffins aren't good for you anyway, so I don't see the difference. Both are high in calories. And they make chocolate chip muffins, and muffins with sugar coating. Is it just the bread vs. cake texture? (I just ate a cupcake for breakfast and I'm trying to justify it.)

Funny Chicago Tradition

Something about Chicago winters that I find to be funny is the concept of "dibs" on parking spaces. During the winter, people work hard shoveling out their on-street parking spaces, and don't particularly want to share those spaces with someone else when they leave. So, they put lawn chairs, barricades, planters--anything--there to reserve the space until they return. The even funnier part of this, is that it actually works, and the city lets them do it.

let it snow

I had to be at home anyway today, waiting for a repair person. But I am so glad I didn't have to go outside today. It keeps snowing and snowing. This picture is from yesterday, when we already had a few inches of snow. It doesn't seem like much plowing or shoveling is happening out there, so it's pretty messy. A friend of mine drives a snow plow for the tollway...today is probably a very busy day for him.



I just heard a plane fly overhead, which is somewhat surprising given that so far more than 750 flights have been cancelled and everything is delayed. The 40mph winds are pretty scary. Glad I'm not flying today.

fire hazard

My "duh" moment of the day-- a closet light bulb + duffel bag on the top shelf = fire. Or at least, melting plastic and smoke. Whoops. At least I was standing right there.

Wrong Number

I just got a call on my cell phone from someone who was trying to reach a museum/tourist attraction that my family used to visit when I was a kid. I looked it up online, and it turns out that they do have my exact same phone number, with a different area code. Their website had a notice advising visitors that their 800 number is temporarily suspended and to use the local number. I wonder if I'll get any more calls intended for them.

Sick Day #4

So, I get 10 sick days and it's only January. Though I suppose since I spend up to half of every day working at home and not sleeping, maybe those only count as half of a sick day?

My interesting observation of the day was that the humidity in our house was less than 25%. From what I've read, that's not a good thing. Since I'd rather not spend all day in one room, I've been dragging the humidifier between rooms, along with our indoor/outdoor thermostat that also shows humidity levels. (A very cool Christmas gift from my sister 2 years ago, I might add.) It's currently 18 degrees outside, but a very balmy 75 degrees in here. And that's without turning the heat on--thanks to the new window insulation and all of our neighbors in the building who apparently do turn their heat on.

Ok, getting tired. Time to get some more sleep. I wonder when The Price is Right comes on? That was one of my favorite sick-day activities when I was a kid. It's so cheesy it's cool.

Sick Days

Is it a bad thing or a good thing that the office fell apart when I was gone for a few days? I had computer issues, had to call a printer repair person (the printer was jammed beyond my ability to fix it), and there are several deadlines approaching that all need my attention. I suppose it's good to be needed, but sick days don't seem like sick days if I have to work twice as hard when I come back.

Incidentally, I'm not actually better. I just knew I had to come in or things would get totally out of hand, and I was right. I think I might be developing bronchitis or pneumonia or something...I guess I'll find out at the dr. later today. Ok, back to work!

Go Bears!!

Oh, yeah...the Bears are going to the Super Bowl! Believe it or not, I can still remember watching the 1985 Bears on TV with my dad.

Speaking of family, I hope that the Bears vs. Colts thing won't cause a rift between us and our Colts-loving family members in Indiana. I'm kinda tempted to send some Bears souvenirs to them in the mail as a joke, but I'm not sure they'll think it's funny.

In the hour-long news broadcast following the football games last night, the Chicago CBS news anchors were talking live with a reporter from the Indianapolis CBS affiliate, trading a little friendly trash talk. The Chicago news people suggested that the two TV stations do the same thing that mayors often do, make a little wager over who will win, and the loser has to send a care package with items from their city. Well, then they said, "but I can't think of anything I'd really want from Indianapolis." OUCH! Ha, ha, I'm still laughing about that one!! (Apologies to my Indiana friends. Actually, I think almost all of my friends who know about this blog live in Indiana. There goes my measly readership.)

I'll try to be nice as the Super Bowl approaches, but I can't promise anything.

Go Bears!

Customer Disservice

I feel like I'm in some kind of customer service Twilight Zone. I have known for a long time that good service is ceasing to exist as we once knew it, but the last couple of days have been ridiculous. I just sat on hold for 10 minutes waiting for someone to answer the phone at Target Optical. Last night someone at a store in the mall was so unbelievably indifferent to us that we looked at each other in disbelief (Lenscrafters...they told us on the phone that they could fit us in to the schedule, then when we arrived they suddenly couldn't. When I asked about some eyeglass frames, rather than show me where to go, she waved her hand and said "over there.") I'm not explaining it well, but it was awful. Then, when buying something at Best Buy, W. was in line with the most inefficient, chatty, annoying cashier ever. He actually had to say to him, "hey, I just want to buy this. Now." Twice in the last few weeks we've had to work our way up to supervisors on the phone just to get anything done. In one case, it worked (auto insurance claim); in the other case, it hasn't yet (student loan consolidation problem). For the latter problem, we're considering calling state regulatory agencies, the Tribune's "Problem Solver" guy....anything. I realize the customer isn't always right, but I think a lot of people in the "service" industry need to look up the word "service." W. thinks that the decline of customer service is a warning sign of the decline of the American civilization, and I'm starting to agree with him.

Near Miss with a TV Crew

I narrowly escaped being on the evening news...a TV crew interviewed the woman directly in front of me in line at Starbucks. They were asking for comment about the news that Starbucks is going to stop using trans fats in all of its food items. I'm glad they didn't pick me. Bad hair day.