Dana In Chicago

Jargon

2011-06-15T14:08:00.002-05:00

I am moderately repulsed by jargon. It creeps in everywhere, kind of like mold or mildew, and spoils a perfectly good... well, anything. From the slimy world of business speak, which has produced gems like "synergy optimization" and "dynamic engagement solutions," to that of academia, which prompted me to write a whole essay about my distaste for the word "hegemony," jargon just grosses me out.

Of course we need specialized vocabulary to describe certain things, but the way these words, many of which are just total fabrications, get tossed around, without consideration for what they actually mean (or don't mean), drives me crazy.

It's true that I may be known as someone who tends to trail off mid-sentence as I think about what word I should use to express my next thought or even as someone who prefers not to talk at all unless I absolutely have to, but I'd much rather be the quiet person than the one spewing nonsense into the already heavily polluted atmosphere.

So there (end of rant.)

Flag Day

2011-06-14T09:40:00.003-05:00

It never occurred to me that one's Flag Day celebration need not be limited to exalting the American flag. Technically, yes, this is what Woodrow Wilson had in mind when he proclaimed June 14th Flag Day in 1916, but in our anything-goes modern world, why not take liberties with the holiday? Isn't that what America is all about anyway?

In D.C. apparently, Flag Day brings together people who have tattoos of the district's flag. They hold a rally for Congressional representation and generally revel in their tattooed-ness. I heartily support this.

Meanwhile, you can buy almost anything emblazoned with the Chicago flag, even skateboards and high tops. I'm also partial to the California state flag, which ranks up there with those of Texas and Maryland as most recognizable state flags. (The grizzly makes California's by far the most ferocious flag though.)

So don't just let your freak flag fly. Prance around in ritualistic adoration today. If Wilson really wanted us to focus on one specific flag, he should have said so!

Our Nation's Capitol

2011-03-06T15:30:00.002-06:00

I just can't seem to abandon this blog for good. And surprisingly, it hasn't gone away on its own, so here I am again, with more pictures. Last weekend we were in D.C., a month too early for the cherry blossoms but still we got to enjoy one 60+ degree day and some time outside in very bearable conditions the rest of the time.

I've been to the Washington Monument many times, but it never fails to impress me. The views across the Mall and toward the various other monuments are supposed to make a person feel reverential and patriotic, and I am only human, after all.

In the sculpture garden next to the National Gallery, we found this tree that looks like it is made of liquid silver. Unfortunately, touching is not allowed.

This map of the United States (at the National Portrait Gallery) is full of television monitors of various sizes, looping images that the artist associates with each state. Not surprisingly, the screens in Oklahoma were showing nothing but clips from Oklahoma!

Some of us had never been to the Georgetown campus (while some of us had visited as part of our southern states college tour, during which we decided we didn't want to go to college in a "southern" state) so we headed there on Sunday. As a neighborhood, I find Georgetown appealing in a "I'd never actually want to live here, but look at how cute it is!" type of way. These Easter-egg colored row houses just add to its charm.

If I had a big blank cement wall on one side of my house, I too might decide to paint a reproduction of The Great Wave off Kanagawa there. Even though it's pretty ubiquitious, I am a fan of this painting and enjoyed stumbling across it in Georgetown.

All in all, D.C. is a great city. I could see myself living there, were it not for the abominable humidity in the summer months.

Rocky Mountain High

2009-08-21T11:13:00.004-05:00

At the beginning of the month, I spent a week in Colorado, cycling in a big loop around the central southwestern part of the state. We rode our bikes up mountain passes during the day and camped at night. These are some of my favorite pictures from the trip.

Remember Me?

2009-06-17T20:00:00.003-05:00

Yes, it's Dana, and I'm still in Chicago. The picture above proves it. In fact, the picture above pretty much sums up the spring so far here. I guess it sums up the whole spring since it's actually almost summer.

Speaking of summer, I'd like to post more to my blog this summer. I'm going to give that a go and see how it, um, goes.

That Toddling Town

2008-11-22T08:01:00.005-06:00

It's been weeks since the election. Everybody's already on to the next thing: cabinet appointments, the choice of school for the first daughters, the inauguration. But before we rush back to Washington, I think we should stay focused on Chicago for a little while. As much as I've been scoffing at this article from the New York Times (probably because I was raised to scoff at anything printed in the New York Times), I can't help but feel proud of this city.

In theory, I should feel like an outsider here. I was raised on the east coast, in the suburbs of New York. Sure, I knew Chicago existed. I knew it was somewhere in the vast void of land between New York and California, but then, what else did I need to know? I'm sure I've written before about the shock I experienced the first time I actually came here - my definition of the term lake needing major modification after I realized that Lake Michigan was not at all on the scale of the second largest lake I'd ever seen, Lake Winnepesaukee - but it's true, for all of you skeptics out there, that this is a real, honest-to-goodness big city, the third largest in the country in fact. And we have most of the positives and very few of the negatives of cities #1 and 2.

I'm torn, really, because there is so much I love about the Northeast: the autumn leaves (which we have here too, but it's not the same), the close proximity to other states and cities, the landscape, the colonial architecture and that Yankee feeling of pride rooted in the history of the region. But despite the fact that New England is my home turf, where I was born, raised and educated, I've never felt such a strong feeling of belonging as I do in Chicago. For some reason, it's just so easy to feel at home here, not just for me but for many of the people I've met who come from all different parts of the country and the world. Sure, the cold winters present a significant barrier to entry, but through collective suffering, you begin to bond with your fellow Chicagoans. Before you know it, you're rooting for the Cubs, your short "a"s are getting sharper and you're eating deep dish pizza (OK, well maybe not that last one...)

And let's not forget that Barack didn't grow up here either. He came from everywhere else and arrived here after college, but no one questions his declaration that Chicago is his hometown. The city welcomed him like it welcomed me and put up no resistance when we started to get comfortable. And now it is ready, in a way, for its real moment in the sun.

Flashback

2008-09-11T14:54:00.003-05:00

Today I was digging around in our closet that is the most full of junk to find the Halloween decorations. I found them, eventually, underneath another old box that was full of stuff I used to have hanging in my dorm room. I decided to check out what was in there, just because it seemed like I might rediscover something interesting.

An hour later, I have read:

1. a journal I kept while I lived on Martha's Vineyard one summer (I worked at the Black Dog)
2. one of the only love letters I've ever received
3. a little book called "Dana the Track Star" that a friend made for me in high school

Reading all three of these was an emotional experience. Each one brought me back to a point in my life and sort of resurrected the me that was living my life at that time. The journal was the most detailed, obviously, and brought back memories my brain had let go of. But the letter was the most touching, and the little book was the most heart-warming. Looking back at all of these little relics, though, makes me marvel at my past selves. I had no idea what would happen the next day, let alone 10, 8, or 7 years from the moment I wrote or received these written things. I've been struggling a lot with time lately; I feel like it's got me in a vice-grip right now, so I guess seeing these pieces of the past is particularly poignant. (Yikes, please excuse that crazy alliteration there...)

And to top it all off, once I put these things back in their box, I happened to notice the postmark on the cardboard lid (I'm sure the box was originally carrying a care package from my mom). The date on the postmark? September 11, 2001, exactly 7 years ago today, a date none of us are ever going to be able to forget.

RIP Dentyne Soft Chew

2008-08-20T15:21:00.003-05:00

My favorite gum was discontinued sometime around the beginning of this year. I'm not sure why, but Dentyne decided to stop producing their Soft Chew line. In short, this was devastating for me. I'm not proud of it, but I had definitely developed an addiction to the Cool Frost flavor. It got so bad that I regularly scoured the internet, looking for obscure online candy dealers who still sold the stuff. But finally, last month, the well ran dry. There was none left, anywhere. So I was forced to switch to Orbit. What was really so great about Soft Chew? For one, it was soft; none of this Chiclet crap that Dentyne now peddles under the ridiculous product names of "Ice" and "Frost." Pop either one of these kinds of gum in your mouth, and within 30 seconds, you will be gnawing on a rock-hard pellet. No thank you. And unlike other brands, like Stride and, ironically, Extra, the flavor of the Dentyne Soft Chew really lasted (an extra, extra, extra long time, in fact). I've resigned myself to Orbit, because it seems to be the least crappy of any of these other brands. I'd still say that it loses its flavor pretty fast, probably after 3 to 4 minutes of chewing, but in other ways, it's relatively similar to the Soft Chew. Still, I really don't understand why a candy company would so abruptly deny the world of a much-loved confection. Oh, the injustice...

The Hungry Hundred

2008-08-17T13:34:00.007-05:00

The list of foods below is defined by the British food blog Very Good Taste as the 100 foods "every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life." You're supposed to copy the list onto your blog, bold the items you've tried and cross out the ones you'd never eat.

Since I can't figure out how to format the text here to show anything as crossed out, I've only shown what I have already eaten. I also italicized things I'm pretty sure I've eaten but can't remember when and where. Huevos rancheros, for example: I'm sure I must have eaten them, or something close enough, but I can't give you a time and a place.

All in all, it's pathetic how few of these foods I've tried. I can only claim with absolute certainty that I've had 34 out of the 100, and some of the 66 I haven't tried, I'm pretty embarrassed about. Pho, for instance: I live less than a mile from the largest concentration of Pho restaurants in all of Chicago, and I know for sure I've never had it. Perhaps I'll have to remedy this situation in the near future.

Other things, I know I'll never try. Insects, horse, snake and probably the tasting menu at a Michelin three star restaurant. As much as I'd like to bold that last one, I don't think it's in the stars for me.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart (I'm counting it as the same thing from a vendor at sporting event...)
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel (I actually cooked this myself, for the famous Currier Feast of the Seven Fishes Christmas Eve Debacle)
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut (I don't understand the hype.)
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin (You should follow the link on this one...)
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong (I hate this.)
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish (I think I tried this for the first time at Berkshire. I don't know what possessed me to do that...)
95. Mole poblano (Yum.)
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Madison Memories

2008-08-16T08:09:00.004-05:00

It's been over a week since we returned from our mini Madison vacation, but, like any vacation, I still wish it weren't over. The photos from above are of Lake Mendota, the farmland southwest of Madison, the capitol building, and the little fountain in the courtyard of our B & B.

You know you're a roadie if you wear tight shorts

2008-07-28T08:20:00.007-05:00

This weekend the Tour de France ended and a new race, the Chicago Criterium, took place downtown. It's been a big summer for bicycling, at least for me. I rode up some serious mountains in Italy. I learned (er, started to learn) what it's like to ride in a group, inches off someone else's back wheel in the pace line, waving my right hand around to signal turns and stops to those behind me and yelling things like "Hole!" and "Door!" at the top of my lungs.

It's a new world for me, but it's one that I've been sucked into now, and I don't want to leave. I'd consider cycling the third sport I've now seriously pursued, in addition to running and crew, and I've noticed an alarming trend: all three of these sports require wearing tight and/or minimal clothing. While running allows the athlete to choose looser fitting attire, crew and cycling virtually demand that you wear spandex exclusively, at least on the bottom. This is something I guess you get used to, although if I were asked if I enjoy wearing this fabric, I'd have to say no. I do, however, appreciate the necessity of wearing it for both riding and rowing. To refuse to wear spandex shorts basically ensures extreme discomfort.

Meanwhile, my competitive side is getting anxious. While I have absolutely no desire to participate in a criterium, I am intrigued by the prospect of competing in an "ordinary" stage race or a time trial. Also, why not a triathlon? All that's really stopping me from doing one of those is the swimming. I can swim, but not fast, and I know my form is far from perfect. But at least I don't have to worry about adjusting to the uniform. If a small amount of spandex is what's required, then I'm more than ready to plunge in.

What I did on my summer vacation

2008-07-21T09:25:00.005-05:00

And why I wish I were still there...

Surrender

2008-03-15T08:04:00.005-05:00

I told myself I wasn't going to post yet another picture of the cat, but lo and behold, that's what you're getting. It's just that every picture I take these days is of the cat. Of course, these pictures I've been posting really just show one side of his Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde personality. More often than not, he's tearing around the house at a speed that no camera could document. But in his quieter moments, he's hard to resist.

I'm in love...

2008-02-04T20:17:00.001-06:00

Now if only he wouldn't race around our apartment like a lunatic and wake us up at 3 am...

Owen's Arrival

2008-01-21T20:29:00.001-06:00

For a long time now, I've wanted my own cat, and Saturday, I got one! This is Owen, the newest addition to our little family. He's an 8-month-old tabby who already weighs close to 11 pounds. He's going to be a big guy, that's for sure, but that's OK. The nicest cat I ever owned (out of the 3 my family had when I was growing up) was a giant orange male named Watson. He was a gentle giant, though; my mom recently reminded me that I used to dress him up in doll clothes, and he barely batted an eyelash.

Owen is kind of a firecracker right now. When he's awake, he's all up in your business, dancing on the keyboard, head butting your hand away from the mouse (even now, as I type this), but I love him already. What can I say? I'm an unabashed cat lover and a sucker for those big green eyes.

Heat Wave

2008-01-08T13:46:00.001-06:00

For the past three days here in Chicago, the high temperature has climbed into the upper 50's and lower 60's. Need I remind you that it's January? The picture above was taken a little more than a week ago, in northern Wisconsin. While I doubt that it's as warm up there as it is here, I will say that every drop of snow and ice in the city has disappeared, and I'm pretty sure I saw a robin poking around, wondering why he didn't get the memo that spring was starting 3 months early this year.

Many people are enjoying the balmy weather, but to me it's just disturbing. I know it's more of a fluke than a sign of impending doom, but I can't help but feel like Al Gore is hovering behind me, shaking his head. It's disturbing, you know, to feel hot when you wear a jacket outside just a few weeks after Christmas. Maybe if I were in Florida, sure, but... Chicago? Come on. I'm sort of cringing here, waiting for the ground to start smoldering and the waves of both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to start lapping at either end of our block. Maybe I'll go recycle something to make myself feel better...

Irresolute

2008-01-02T08:11:00.001-06:00

Over the past few days, I've thought up myriad New Year's resolutions for myself: learn Italian, get a cat (see photo above), make soup every weekend so that I can stop eating the crap out of a can during the week. I know that most of these are just sort of fleeting aspirations. While I may make an effort to follow through on one or two of them, I don't see myself becoming a maestro of the Italian language or an expert soup-maker. I do have one other resolution that I want to take more seriously, though, and that is to let it go. "It" can be almost anything, anything that makes me angry, anxious or annoyed. So that makes a lot of its. Basically, I want to stop making myself crazy over things I can't control. Simple, right? This might be the most challenging resolution I've ever made for myself, but I also think it's the most important and will provide the most benefit if I succeed in releasing (even the tiniest bit) the death grip I always want to have on my life.

So there it is. I wish you all the luck in the world in sticking with your own resolutions this year, but even more I wish you happiness and acceptance once you realize those resolutions weren't all that important, and you simply let them go.

L.A. Vines

2007-12-19T10:21:00.000-06:00

I'm here in southern California, watching the rain beat down on the normally parched hills north of L.A. The weather has been less than ideal: colder than usual, kind of windy, and, for the last two days, very wet. Luckily, we've been able to find ways to enjoy ourselves indoors. Take, for example, our trip yesterday to Agua Dulce Vineyards, a boutique winery about 40 minutes from my mom's house. We watched a video, tasted 5 different reds and came home with 6 bottles. We are definitely no experts when it comes to wine, but this stuff was pretty good and well within our price range. Watching the rain soak into the charred earth up there (Agua Dulce was in the path of the wildfires a few months ago) only added to the experience.

Don't slip on the peel...

2007-12-07T12:59:00.000-06:00

Want to make banana muffins? Click here.

It's all whipped cream and marshmallows

2007-12-05T08:32:00.000-06:00

The first major snow of the season came last night, light and feathery in the air but thick and pillowy on the ground. It was a very quiet storm, this Alberta Clipper that came in last night, but it left a 6" blanket of snow in its wake. The shot above was taken from our front window, where our tiny tree and other decorations are set up. It has continued snowing off and on all day...

A church near our house and an icy intersection...

Berries and other holiday greenery buried in a mound of snow...

One last tree has held on to its yellow leaves.

This is perhaps my favorite Christmas decoration in our neighborhood. He's a little snow-covered, but this is actually a deer head mounted on a plaque with a lit-up, red nose. Yes, we have our very own Rudolph up here on the north side.

Thanksgiving Retrospective

2007-11-29T10:32:00.001-06:00

Lots of food... and a gorgeous tablescape executed by a newly acquired sister-in-law. Have a look-see.

TURKEY!

PIES! (pumpkin, mince, pumpkin)

SALAD! (spinach with pears, Gorgonzola, toasted walnuts and a citrus dressing)

BEANS! and GRAVY! and BRUSSELS SPROUTS!

MY GLORIOUSLY OVERLOADED PLATE!

OK, I'll stop with the capitol letters and exclamation points now. I know it was a week ago, and everyone has moved on to Christmas, but it is still November, at least for 2 more days, so I'm going to revel in the Thanksgivingness of it all. In fact, I could go for a whole 'nother Thanksgiving meal right now. Turkey, cranberries, stuffing... bring it on! Luckily, my mom and I are planning a very Thanksgiving-ified Christmas dinner. I guess my pictures of that will be quite similar. I bet you can hardly wait!

Re-emergence

2007-11-21T16:36:00.001-06:00

And like a phoenix, I rise once again from the ashes, yet it's true that my brain is actually smoldering this time. The months I spent studying paid off, however, and I am now... well, nothing different really, except one step closer to getting a PhD. Unfortunately, there are still several more steps (which means several more years) between me and that degree. But progress is progress, right? Now it's time to fall into a tryptophan-induced stupor... Happy Thanksgiving!

Saying Adieu to Summer

2007-10-13T20:46:00.001-05:00

I am studying a lot of French literature these days. That, along with attempting to feed myself, run, teach my TA sessions and run my workshop, has me just about tapped out. I have been excited about the cooler weather coming in this week, but part of me is sad to say goodbye to summer. The picture above was taken on a perfect late summer night. The sky was just getting pink like this at around 7:30 pm. We grilled outside and then watched a movie projected onto the fence in the backyard. All this living that gets done outside does not happen so much in Chicago, and I'm sad that it will be another 8 or 9 months till it can happen again.

Lake Michigan

2007-09-30T21:03:00.000-05:00

Love Hangover

2007-09-17T18:02:00.001-05:00

Yes, it's another picture of flowers. But these aren't just any flowers. This was my bouquet. For my wedding. See, now I'm married.

And, to follow up on the last post, I again feel like I just went through a life-changing experience. But not for the obvious reasons. I really don't feel any different because I'm married. I feel different because I just spent a weekend surrounded by people that I love and that evidently love me just as much. It was profoundly exhausting but also kind of like paradise for me. Never have I had so many close friends and family members in such close proximity at one time. It made me feel fantastic, and it made me feel like I take these people for granted too much of the time. I'm really hoping I don't forget how great these people are and that when opportunities present themselves to see these people in the future, I snatch them up because I remember how great it was to spend time with them this weekend.

Of course, I'm also glad they went home. I love them to death but I don't think I could have handled one more second of such happiness. And I mean that very literally. My body doesn't seem to be equipped to deal with constant joy and excitement. I need a vacation consisting of loneliness and ennui just to get over it all.

A Whole New Me?

2007-09-06T20:15:00.001-05:00

It's hard to actually watch yourself change over a given period of time, but I think this summer seems to have been an exception. I can safely say I am a different person now. Of course I'm not sure how exactly, and a lot of my characteristics (good and bad) seem pretty much the same, but there is an undeniable feeling that I have transformed into something that I was not before.

The part of me that hates all change (a part that takes up a good 90% of me) hates this. Vehemently. But the other 10% thinks I may have gotten a little stronger, a little better at focusing on perhaps the more important things in life. And I hope that this makes me a better person.

I keep thinking "When my life settles down again, I'll figure this all out" but the problem is, my life isn't going to settle down again any time soon. But maybe that's just it. There is no moment of settling down and figuring out. Time keeps going and nothing sits still long enough to be understood or controlled or managed in a satisfying way. This is maddening, but maybe I'm an iota closer to accepting it now. Maybe. We'll see.

p.s. The picture above is of a trio of dahlias. They're gorgeous, no?

Welcome Back (Ha!)

2007-08-27T16:25:00.000-05:00

After weeks of bouncing from one coast to another, living out of a suitcase, I'm finally back in Chicago to stay. And how do I transition back into life on my home turf? With a bike ride that goes terribly wrong and results in this:

Let's just say that I will never again ride my bike along the lake on a beautiful Sunday afternoon when the entire population of Chicago has decided to do the same thing, particularly when many of the citizens of our fine city feel no need to supervise their young children who treat the bike path is if it were their own driveway and show no awareness of other cyclists.

Of course my ambulance ride and four hours in the ER were probably completely unnecessary, but given that my head ached and I had no idea what a concussion felt like, I wasn't taking any chances. Today, all I'm left with is a beat-up bike, a beat-up shoulder and a strong desire for my life to become a little less eventful, please.

Thank goodness for strawberries

2007-08-06T10:34:00.000-05:00

Things have been crazy lately. OK, that's an understatement. But I'm still here, and there are still things to smile about. Like strawberries, for example. Not to mention blueberries and raspberries. And I've been lucky enough to be eating all three regularly for the past few days. If I can still appreciate the little things, I think I'm OK.

Sleep, at last

2007-07-29T16:26:00.000-05:00

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Beachy Keen

2007-07-07T22:48:00.001-05:00

Happy Fourth of July!

2007-07-04T22:16:00.001-05:00

Want to make this tart? Check out the recipe I posted on Drive Thru.

Chop Chop

2007-07-03T20:33:00.001-05:00

I just like this picture. The light is good and the parsley looks so green. That is all.

Lobster Killah

2007-07-01T10:34:00.001-05:00

Lobster
Originally uploaded by Dana Currier

My mom and I took a cooking class the other day, and the main dish we made was paella. The sweet, succulent meat inside this little guy was featured prominently in the dish, and a couple of the middle-aged women in the class with us actually had to leave the room while the teacher dropped him in the boiling water. They swore they'd be able to hear him scream.

Exploration Adventure: Oak Park

2007-06-29T10:04:00.001-05:00

Last Saturday we took a little day trip out to Oak Park, Chicago's first western suburb. It is much more charming than the auto mall/Ikea-filled expanses that stretch out further to the west, and most of this charm is thanks to the presence of Frank Lloyd Wright's first home and studio and several buildings he designed there (including the house above.)

The photo above is of a column outside of his studio and features storks, architectural scrolls, and some kind of branch with berries on the top. Our tour guide (nicknamed "The Todd") left something to be desired, so we were never really sure what the significance of each element was. He actually said, "You know art. It always has to mean something. I'm just not sure what."
And this is the Unity Temple, the first poured concrete structure ever built. It was pretty, uh, imposing.

As of yesterday, I've left the mid-west to spend a few weeks in SoCal. I've got my camera, and I'm hoping to post more often out here. Stay tuned...

If I only had a brain...

2007-06-04T12:36:00.001-05:00

So it's finals week here at school but I have no finals. (Well, that's not true. I have a Spanish exam on Thursday, but I am merely auditing the class, so I don't consider that a real "final.") I do, however, have a humungo-gigantic exam in October, and the only way I seem to be able to motivate myself to study more than an hour or two a day is to stoke the embers of fear within me. I am plenty scared of this test, but since it's still 4 months away, the anxiety is somewhat dulled, especially when I look around and see everyone else gearing up for summer vacation.

So I force myself to stay in the library for as long as I can take it. This morning at 11, I started going stir-crazy though. Instead of wasting the hour before lunch, I conjured up a few more books that I needed to obtain and headed off toward the stacks. Of course I already had a tote bag full of books I had been planning to drop in the return slot on the way in but which I forgot about until I was already settled at a table on the fourth floor. Instead of going back down to the first floor and unloading these before I trekked through the stacks on the second and third floors, I decided it would be better to haul them around with me for the next half hour. Why? I'm not sure...

Over the course of the next 25 minutes, I managed to almost trip and spill everything, leave my planner on a random shelf on the third floor and not realize it until I was already at the circulation desk and, when I was finally on my way out, set off the electronic book detector (or whatever it's called). Do you ever have one of those days when you wonder what happened to your brain? Maybe mine's still lounging in bed at home, having decided that my lack of final exams gave it the right to a little R and R.

May (into June) Flowers

2007-05-31T18:40:00.001-05:00

Well, my birthday has come and gone and so has Memorial Day. (Yesterday, it took me about 5 minutes to figure out whether or not it had actually happened yet or not. Then, I rememembered, "oh yeah, that's why I was here at home on Monday...") I had to post some flowers, because they are everywhere here in Chicago these days. (I do have to confess, however, that these particular flowers were shot in southern California.) What I have yet to see is a cicada, though everyone assures me the suburbs are full of them, the seventeen-year kind that flood into northern Illinois and swarm all over everything. They tend to stick to less-developed areas, though, so I'm hoping they decide it's just not worth it to come into the city anymore ...

Renaissance

2007-05-11T17:27:00.000-05:00

It has been almost a month since my last post, but I am back and better than ever. And almost 27 (T-3 days)! Blogging has obviously been taking a back seat to other activities in my life, but that doesn't mean I can't show my face around here every once in a while.

The birthday cake you see above was not made for me but for my dad a few months ago. It is a "white" cake with caramel frosting. For my own cake (which will be made next week when I am out visiting my parents), I have requested a hybrid gingerbread/carrot cake with nuts and raisins and, in lieu of frosting, whipped cream and strawberries on the side. What, me? High maintenance? Nah!

The Cruelest Month

2007-04-13T10:19:00.000-05:00

A pretty shot of the view off the Palos Verdes peninsula to let you know I'm still alive and kicking here. April is trying to bring me down, but I'm not going to let it. Happy spring to those of who have been lucky enough to have caught a glimpse of it.

Local Color

2007-03-24T12:49:00.000-05:00

Here in southern California, things are a lot more colorful than they are in Chicago. I've had a hard time resisting taking pictures of all these riotous reds, yellows, greens, blues and oranges. Especially at the farmer's market.Flowers here are blooming a lot more than they are in the windy city.
But root vegetables are still the big sellers. I guess winter is going to hang on as long as it possibly can, even in L.A.

Tournament Trauma

2007-03-18T22:12:00.000-05:00

I am currently in last place in my family's NCAA Basketball Tournament pool. I am a pathetic 19 points behind my dad, who is now in first. (Just this afternoon, he overtook my mom, who made her picks based on personal associations with the schools playing in the tournament. For instance, if she had visited the school or knew someone who attended the school, she picked that team to win.)

Meanwhile, one of my final four teams lost in the first round (Georgia Tech). Yesterday, I watched Xavier, who I had going all the way to the championship game, blow a 9-point lead and lose in overtime. Of course, my method for picking my teams was no more scientific than my mom's, but every year I naively convince myself that even the most rabid college basketball fans won't be able to predict the future, and I have just as much of a chance of winning as anyone else. And every year I end up in dead last.

Fortunately, the picture above was taken at a Bulls game I attended last week. I couldn't really care less about the NBA so mostly I just took in the spectacle that is a professional sporting event and tried to concentrate on not passing out from vertigo since our seats were so high up that I was convinced if I tripped or stumbled, I would end up plummeting to my death. It was a good time.

Babies and Bread

2007-03-07T09:00:00.000-06:00

Wow, I have really left all you faithful readers hanging here. That was not my intention, but that's what happened. Since I'm in the middle of paper-writing, of course, time is of the essence and I've decided I can definitely squeeze in a post, my first post in way too long. So here we go.

I made bread this past weekend and wrote about it on Drive Thru. I'm not sure how much other members of my household liked it, but I thought it was thoroughly decent for the minimal amount of effort that went in to making it. I also baby-sat for the first time in probably 6 or 7 years. It was so easy! Yes, the baby was asleep before we got there and made only the tiniest of peeps the entire four hours that we stayed, but still. Why does everyone claim this baby-raising is so hard? I could do it with my eyes closed. (In fact, I did for a little while Saturday night...)

No, that's not my kayak on the roof of the car...

2007-02-21T20:33:00.000-06:00

Believe it or not, these are salt and pepper shakers. They were on the table at our New Year's Brunch this year, which means they really have nothing to do with anything I've been doing in the past few weeks. They're cute, though, and you know how I love the visuals. My life nowadays has been crowded full of reading medieval literature, teaching college kids how to pronounce the word for frog in French (it's "grenouille" by the way, and it's pronounced "gren-noo-yah," running in the nearly tropical 45-degree weather, and writing about food. If you're dying to read more of my eloquent prose, check out this, this, and this. Here's to the speedy arrival of spring (spring break especially)!

Pull up to the second window...

2007-02-14T20:45:00.000-06:00

It's here! Drive-Thru, a new Chicago-based food blog, is up and running, and I've already published 4 posts since it launched on Monday. So what are you waiting for? Go check it out!

(Plus go to the "About" page and scroll down to read my bio...)

Fish Heaven

2007-02-10T10:53:00.000-06:00

Since certain people I live with refuse to acknowledge the deliciousness that is the fruit of the sea, I tend to gorge myself on fish when I visit my parents. They've always lived on one coast or another (my family tends to grow uneasy when they find themselves more than a hundred miles or so from an ocean) so the seafood is always fresh and plentiful.

Last night, my mom and I made fish stew. It was chock full of clams, scallops, red snapper, and more scallops - almost 2 lbs worth of seafood. I had to restrain myself from jumping into the pot and bathing in the seafoody goodness.

New Adventure

2007-02-07T16:43:00.000-06:00

Mmmm, bread....

Goodness me, it has been way too long since my last post. And when I look at it now, I feel silly because of course, the Bears lost. When your team loses, you needly to quickly move on to the next thing and pretend the loss never happened. It's the only respectable thing to do.

Anyway, my next thing is a new project I am lucky to be a part of called "Drive Thru." Yes, I am moving up to bigger and better things in the blogging world, and I am going to be one of several contributors to this Chicago-centric food blog that will be run by Gaper's Block, a Chicago-centric, well, everything blog that I have been reading faithfully pretty much since I started living in the windy city.

Drive Thru is supposed to launch Monday, so keep your eyes peeled for another post here, announcing its arrival. It is a project that I have neither the time nor the energy for, but I am super excited about it nonetheless. Stay tuned!

Bear Down

2007-01-31T21:23:00.000-06:00

It's only a few days now until the big game. There have been many big games this season for Chicago, it's true, but this one seems to creating quite a stir. There are buildings ablaze downtown, lion statues wearing helmets and calls for a "Wear the Bears to Work Day" on Friday. It's all quite festive and convivial. I'll be cheering, doing the Shuffle, and for sure, wearing my hat.

Go Bears.

Yes I'm still here...

2007-01-23T08:07:00.000-06:00

Once again I find myself writing one of those apologetic posts in an attempt to explain my prolonged absence. I don't have a good excuse. Life is busy. There you go.

I'm hoping to increase my presence on the Internet soon enough though. Stay tuned for details.

Kitchen Retrospective

2007-01-06T16:10:00.000-06:00

You're definitely right if you're guessing there are probably many more productive things I could be doing than taking pictures of my kitchen, but there's a reason for it, I swear. Today we were supposed to have our new dishwasher installed, the dishwasher which has been sitting, swathed in bubble wrap, in our basement for a week and a half. It is supposed to replace this thing, which currently makes enough noise to compete with overhead air traffic.

The point is, the dishwasher has not yet been installed. And I don't think our chances are good that the dishwasher man will show up at 4:30 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon. But I suppose you never know.

Meanwhile, I've decided to take you on a tour of our kitchen. The photo at the top of the screen shows our longest uninterrupted stretch of counter space, between the sink and the stove. It is often cluttered up with small appliances, such as our beloved coffee grinder.

Opposite the counter, we have one of them baker's racks, which I actually bought a couple of years ago for clothing storage (yeah, I don't really know what I was thinking.) It works much better for pots, pans, soda, etc.

My two favorite parts of the kitchen are the fridge...

... and the magnetic spice rack.

We don't have so many spices right now, but the essentials are all there: cinnamon, hot pepper flakes, cumin, rosemary, cinnamon, garam masala, and cinnamon.

Meanwhile, the reason I love the fridge so much is that it provides ample space for displaying ridiculous things like these Tidy Cat ads, which I find absolutely hilarious.

On that note, I think I'll sign off and spare you any more of my random kitchen tour ramblings. But if you made it this far, you must really like me or at least have been extremely bored.

Cheers, and happy Three Kings' Day, Epiphany, or Orthodox Christmas to you!

I'm dreaming of a white New Year's

2007-01-02T10:21:00.000-06:00

This is what we woke up to on the first morning of 2007. After a day of rain the day before in the North Woods of Wisconsin, a three inch coating of honest-to-goodness snow fell overnight. The sun shone in a cloudless sky and the world had been transformed into a winter wonderland.

It was already warm enough for it all to begin melting by mid-morning, but here in these pictures taken in the early afternoon, there is still a powdery blanket coating everything. It was the first fresh snow I'd seen since early December, and from the way things are going here in Chicago, it may be the last I see this winter. (Of course now that I've said that we'll have non-stop blizzards from now until May.)

My Christmas vacation is almost over. Tomorrow I hit the books again hard and the only real break I'll see until mid-June is the one measly week we get for "spring break" in March. To be honest, part of me is glad the holidays are over, though. I love Christmas, which is why I start celebrating so early, but I'm definitely burned out by Dec. 26th. So by the time New Year's Eve/Day rolls around, I'm done with the gaudy decorations, the annoying TV commercials and the heavy food.

New Year's festivities up north were as ridiculous and amusing as they've been for the past four years, so nevertheless, I had a good time riding out the end of the holiday season. It's hard to leave the natural beauty up there, but it's always good to be back home again here in the city of big shoulders. Happy New Year, everyone...

Just because I can...

2006-12-30T08:57:00.000-06:00

I am posting a few more photos. Enjoy.

Point and shoot

2006-12-28T11:26:00.000-06:00

Here it is, the fancy new camera with which I will now be shooting mad photos to add to my thrilling blog posts. It is a Canon Powershot SD630, a pretty sweet piece of machinery with a giant 3" LCD screen on the back. Yeah, you wish you had one.

Anyway, look forward to more of my pictures and less of my ranting in the coming months. The photographer in me is screaming "I'm back baby, and I'm better than ever!"

Merry Merry

2006-12-24T14:44:00.000-06:00

For those of you who hang on every word I write, a new post is here. I have been busy this past week, flying from the midwest to southern California, having tea in fancy gardens, touring elaborate villas, trying on wedding gowns (or bridesmaid's dresses, one of which I will probably wear as a wedding gown), doing Christmas crafts, and making Christmas cookies. I have also been busy strolling on the Strand and running 5ks in the sand (which was a real treat for my reluctant running partner.) So I have not had a whole lot of time to write elaborate posts.

Still, I carved some time out of my busy schedule to wish you all the merriest in this holiday season. Eat well, sleep well, and enjoy your friends and family. Joyeuses fetes!

Gift Anxiety

2006-12-13T07:15:00.000-06:00

I'm not sure when gift-giving became such a difficult task. I remember when all it took was a few hours and some construction paper and markers for me to make enough presents to please everyone in my family (except perhaps my brother, who really just wanted a Sega Genesis game.)

Nowadays, the process of giving Christmas gifts is more like a giant guessing game which you're almost certainly going to lose. Most people for whom I buy gifts make lists, so it's not as if I don't know what they want. But as I've grown older, I've fallen into that sticky trap of believing that the best gift is the one that's not on the list, the one that the person has yearned for for years but has forgotten about and neglected to put on his or her list. This is the gift that will make him or her beam with glee upon opening it and say "I can't believe you remembered I wanted this! I didn't remember I wanted this!" Then he or she will proceed to immediately put it on and admire him or herself in the mirror, open it up and start reading, or break it out of its box and begin tinkering with it.

But obtaining this perfect gift is of course near impossible. It involves intense mining of your own memory and/or telepathy. It also leads to panic attacks when you realize that it's two days before Christmas and you still haven't bought anything for the person because you were waiting for this stroke of inspiration to hit you and point you toward this elusive "perfect gift" you've decided you have to find. It's ridiculous.

And even should you find yourself in front of some item in a store which you believe might indeed be this perfect gift, if you're not absolutely sure and you decide to chance it and buy it anyway, and the person hates it and thinks "I gave her a list. Why didn't she just get me something off my list?" well, then you're royally screwed.

Maybe I'll just go back to the construction paper. I'll give everyone a handmade bookmark or a coupon book full of things like "one free carwash." Except that nobody washes their own cars in the city and no one really needs another bookmark.

Oh, the agony...

Say Cheese

2006-12-10T17:08:00.000-06:00

This afternoon Baker and I had our picture taken for an engagement photo. This whole shebang was a generous gift from his parents. There was no pressure, of course, but still, I was nervous. I don't really do professional photo shoots and I usually consider myself not that photogenic. But I guess these attitudes are pretty universal, so it's not as if I were any more unprepared than the next guy.

Anyway, we arrived at our photographer's studio, and he started snapping away. We were told to turn this way and that, and within minutes my smile muscles began to ache. The photographer and I quickly discovered that I have absolutely no natural "posing" ability. (There goes my professional modeling career.)

Still, I think we managed to avoid the really cheesy poses (no gazing into each other's eyes) and when he downloaded what he had in his camera onto his computer, I was pleasantly surprised that several of them seemed to turn out quite nicely. There were of course several in which I had my eyes half-closed, but these shots were relatively few and far between.

So I guess you could call it a success. Not that I'll be going in for head shots next week or anything, but all in all, it was a positive experience. And now we'll have a visual aid to give those relatives who ask, "You're marrying WHO?"

All Written Out

2006-12-04T16:37:00.000-06:00

Why I should want to use my little break from writing my papers to write a blog post, I'm not sure. But here I am, doing just that. Excuse me if my thoughts are completely incoherent. My brain is a little fried.

Still, writing in English goes so much faster than writing in French. Big shocker, huh? As always, the main challenge remains maintaining the momentum, which means finishing a 2 or 3 hour stint of writing one paper only to take up the fat stack of freshly printed pages and begin revising one of the others. It's quite exhausting.

Momentum maintenance was not something I did so well this weekend, especially yesterday when the temptation of watching Rex display such a profound lack of skill while the rest of the Bears managed to make up for it and bungle to a win proved too much for me to resist. After that, of course, I had to check out the local gym and then indulge my shameful predilection for The Girls Next Door. (Please don't ask me to account for my taste for this show. It is horrible trash, yet I love it all the same.)

But alas, it is now time to attempt another half hour or so tickling the keys of my laptop, hoping to coax out genius. Good night and good luck to you all.

The Cold White Stuff

2006-11-30T08:15:00.000-06:00

I'm writing this as rain falls outside.

Right. Rain. Not snow. But it's coming. At least it's supposed to.

I cite here the National Weather Service:

The National Weather Service in Chicago has issued a Winter Storm
Warning... which is in effect from 3 PM this afternoon to 12 PM
CST Friday. The Winter Weather Advisory has been cancelled. The
Winter Storm Watch is no longer in effect.

"Snow is expected to develop late this afternoon and this evening
and continue into Friday morning. The snow may be heavy at times
with snowfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour at the height of the
storm. Exact storm total snowfall amounts will vary... but current
information suggests 6 to 10 inches of snow will be possible by
by noon Friday.

The snow may mix with sleet or freezing rain overnight. If this
occurs... expected snowfall amounts will be less.

A Winter Storm Warning means significant amounts of snow...
sleet... and ice are expected or occurring. Strong winds are also
possible. This will make travel very hazardous or impossible."

Of course, this is all hype. Perhaps we will get only a few token inches. Perhaps it will flurry for a few hours and a light dusting will settle on the grass. Perhaps not a flake will fall from the sky.

Or, it will be Armageddon.

One never knows with these "winter storm events." Something in me dreads their arrival, but something else in me relishes the threat of such excitement and chaos. I'm not sure this is the best timing for our first winter storm of the year, but when is it ever good timing for one of these things? I only hope it comes with a vengeance or doesn't come at all. Wimpy sleety snows that "make travel very hazardous" but provide no real excuse for not making it to your destination are the worst of all. Give me 5' high drifts or give me nothing.

Stay tuned to the Weather Channel to see what happens next...

Black Friday

2006-11-24T08:30:00.000-06:00

Why anyone would go shopping today is a complete mystery to me. I think I might rather shoot myself in the head.

Yet that's what people do the day after Thanksgiving. Perhaps it's because of the sales. Perhaps it's because of the cheesy give-aways. (At the King of Prussia mall, for example, the first 1000 shoppers of the day received a free shopping "survival kit" including bottled water, Starbucks gift certificates, and massage coupons for soothing away the shopping-induced stress.) But really I'd like to give people more, or perhaps, less credit than that.

I think people go shopping today, even though they know they will have to endure hell on earth, because they want to be part of something, this ridiculous phenomenon of greed and consumerism that manifests itself on the first day of the Christmas season. It sounds bizarre, but can't you picture it? That battered person returned from the front lines (i.e. the mall), bearing his or her purchases like a badge of honor. "I made it in," her or she will say, "and I made it out alive. And my new 42" plasma TV was only $799!"

Of course he or she had to trample three small children and an elderly woman to grab one of those babies before Walmart ran out, but that's just part of the fun. It's hysteria, chaos, anarchy sanctified by the corporate gods. How can you resist throwing yourself into the melee?

Now, don't get me wrong. I love to shop as much as the next guy or gal, but the conditions under which the shopping is to be done must be orderly and serene for me to extract any enjoyment from the experience. I prefer to shop at about 10:30 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, when the stores are almost empty and the merchandise is pristine and untouched. Why anyone would subject themselves to the torture that is Black Friday... well, I've already claimed not to be able to understand it.

The only thing I really want to buy today is bananas. But part of me fears even entering a grocery store. Maybe I'll go late this afternoon or evening, once the mobs have crawled back to their cars and gone home to collapse in front of their new TVs and their leftovers. I'll quietly pay for my bananas but I'll still feel ashamed for having spent money in a commercial establishment on this blackest of days. Maybe I'll just wait 'till tomorrow...

A Glutinous Mass

2006-11-19T17:59:00.000-06:00

I really wished I still had my digital camera this afternoon so that I could have taken a picture of the sticky glob of pasty goo that represented our attempt to make mashed potatoes. It could have been used to spackle a hole in the wall. It wouldn't leave the pot except in one oozing mass. We even killed our stick blender in an attempt to make it better. But little did we know, by beating it more, we were really only making the situation worse.

Evidently, the actual mashing of the potatoes can only be done in one of two or three very specific ways with one of two or three very specific kitchen tools that we did not have. Any deviation from these methods results in a break-down of the potato's starch molecules, which in turn produces the dreaded glutinous mass and, in extreme cases, also leaves you with a broken appliance. Needless to say, we cut our losses and dumped the whole operation into the garbage.

Because these potatoes were destined for Thanksgiving dinner, this situation fazed me a bit more than it might have otherwise. Now we are left with a bit of dilemna. Obviously, as you can tell, I am completely traumatized and may never again attempt a mashed potato recipe.

But that doesn't mean we are off the hook for Thursday; we're supposed to show up promptly at 3 with a steaming dish of the fluffy, whipped tubers. We've admitted our defeat however and are hoping for a change in assignment. I can do salads. I can do roasted vegetables of any kind. But please don't ask me ever again to mash a potato. I will look both ways and run like hell before the you've even finished the question.

A Recommendation

2006-11-14T08:12:00.000-06:00

Today is my half-birthday. I am 26 1/2 today. That sounds old to me.

I have been having trouble sleeping on and off lately. I had a good week last week. I had a bad night last night. I got to sleep eventually but those hours of tossing and turning are pretty brutal. I am too exhausted to deal with the frustration and I let myself dissentigrate mentally and emotionally in those moments. Maybe it's necessary to do that sometimes but not in the few hours before bed. Nothing positive can come of it.

Meanwhile, this morning, I discovered a new weblog that seemed to ring out loud and clear to me. (Those obnoxious academics among us might say that it "resonated" with me, but I hate that expression so I won't use it.) It's a blog written by Kristin Armstrong, Lance's ex-wife. I find myself continually fascinated by Lance for a number of reasons. One, because he is such a freak of humanity, really not a human being at all. His physical accomplishments are so immense (beating cancer, winning the Tour de France 7 times) that he can scarcely be believed. He is also a royal asshole, leaving behind him in his wake former-friends-turned-enemies who curse him and rue the day they met him. He is a complete enigma.

Kristin Armstrong could have easily adopted the role of bitter ex-wife, but amazingly she seems to have sort of risen from the ashes of their sudden divorce. She often writes for Runner's World and other magazines, and as I've said, she recently began writing a blog that is posted on the RW website. It's about running, of course, which Kristin took up and obviously fell in love with after the divorce.* Therefore, it might be hard for those who are not under the spell of running to understand the value of this blog. But she also just writes about life, her spirituality, and the daily challenges she faces, especially being a single mother of 3 kids. Her latest entry ends with a pledge, based on a lesson she learned while running a difficult race. She says: "I will give less energy to dread."

Her style is a little much sometimes, but if you get a chance, skim through her posts. There are only four up there now but I will definitely be following closely to see what she has to say in the future. I am already anxious for her next entry.

*Coincidently, Lance himself recently took a foray into the world of running. He ran the New York Marathon and called it the hardest physical task he ever had to complete. If that doesn't confirm the difficulty of the marathon, I don't know what does.

Down but not out...

2006-11-12T08:56:00.000-06:00

This weekend is all about football. Yesterday, I watched my poor alma mater get pummelled by our rival via a satellite feed from NESN to a bar in Wrigleyville. Sure it was hard to watch, but I regained confidence in the superiority of my school when I saw the latest version of the anti-Williams shirt that the Amherst kids were wearing. It read simply: "Amherst:Williams/ Chocolate:Poop" Juvenile, yes. But hilarious and remarkably astute as well.

Tonight, we shift our gaze to the NFL. The Giants, team of my youth, take on the Bears, my current home team. All season, the Bears have looked great... until last weekend, that is. They're pretty unpredictable it seems, but I can't help rooting for them. Sure Grossman looked, well, gross last Sunday but I'm hoping he can redeem himself tonight. We'll see. Until then, help me sing this song...

Bear down, Chicago Bears
Make every play, clear the way to victory!

Bear down, Chicago Bears
Put up a fight with a might so fearlessly!

We'll never forget the way you thrilled the nation
With your T-formation

Bear down, Chicago Bears
And let them know why you're wearing the crown!

You're the pride and joy of Illinois,
Chicago Bears, bear down!

Ignorance isn't bliss

2006-11-05T02:28:00.000-06:00

This past week everyone in my department received an email entitled "Wanted: French Interrupter." It was forwarded by our department secretary, who had received it from the Human Resources Manager at a big corporation with a regional headquarters somewhere he in the city. The e-mail went on to specify that he was "looking for a French Interrupter to interrupt semi-technical documents from French to English" and that he anticipated "90 documents needing interrupting." Because the word was repeated so many times, I thought I must have missed something. Maybe there was such a thing as an Iinterrupter, a special person whose chief duty it is to shout out in French during the middle of meetings, bringing everything to a halt.

But when I started talking to my classmates, I realized this was indeed a horrible gaff on the part of the HR guy. He obviously did understand the procedure of translating one language into another and had taken a wild guess at the correct term, falling far left of the mark and consequently, making himself the butt of many jokes. I just hope none of them actually made it back to his ears.

This situation made me wonder, though, why such seemingly horrific errors are so disturbing. I remember once flying from Chicago back to the northeast and discussing with the woman in the seat next to me where we'd each grown up. She was born and raised in Chicago, but I'd said I was from Connecticut. Soon it came out she had no idea where Connecticut was. I think she may have asked me if it was anywhere near Massachusetts. I tried my best to hide it, but in all honesty, I was appalled. How could anyone who had lived her whole life in the U.S. not know where Connecticut was?

Somehow, these moments of ignorance exposed aren't just humorous or pathetic. They're really kind of frightening, at least to me, and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because my vision of the world is rocked when these moments arise. I expect adults, especially people in positions of authority, to be wiser than I am. And when it comes out that one or two of them are not, I am shocked. Part of me is ashamed for judging these people who suffer only from a lack of education, but another part of me needs to laugh it off in order to avoid losing my balance. And part of me wants to accept that there is another explanation for these gaps in what should be standard knowledge: maybe in some far more complex technical context, when drafting documents in a foreign language, the specific services provided by an Interrupter are absolutely essential. Maybe I'm the one who has yet to learn just how important an Interrupter really is.

'Tis the Season...

2006-11-01T22:02:00.000-06:00

I know what you're thinking.

You're thinking: "Wait a minute! 'Tis so NOT the season yet!"

But look at the calendar my friends. November 1st. That means the holiday juggernaut has been put in motion. Look around. See the Christmas lights in Walgreens? See the tinsel lining the shelves?

'Tis the season? You bet your sweet bippy.

Instead of grumbling about the rampant over-commercialization that is the modern "holiday season," I say let's embrace it. I for one will be breaking out the Christmas carols in the next few days. I'll probably have to wait on the garlands and lights though; I think Baker might strangle me in my sleep if I push my early holiday cheer on him too soon.

But hey, it's like I always say: if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. So start wearing your Santa hat around and wishing everyone a "happy, happy." They might give you a bewildered look or simply glare back, but you won't care. You're already going to be in the holiday spirit, with a warm glow in your heart and a merry glint in your eye...

The little things

2006-10-24T22:46:00.000-05:00

I just discovered the Vermont quarter. It depicts a guy collecting sap from his sugaring buckets. This makes me smile, but it also makes me miss New England. It is still my favorite of the state quarters, though.

Also, I'm back to chewing gum. Obsessively. It's only a matter of time before my jaw locks up and I have to quit cold turkey again. I'm positive. But man is Dentyne Ice good.

That is all for now.

p.s. The picture above is from the United States Mint website.

Laughing out loud

2006-10-22T07:36:00.000-05:00

It's amazing how much fun laughing is. Sure I let out a polite twitter or a sarcastic "ha!" pretty frequently but it's not that often that I get to go in for a prolonged bout of genuine laughing. And last night, after a friend recounted her experience seeing David Sedaris read a few of his essays live the night before, we really got going. Reliving some of Sedaris's funniest stuff with someone else who relishes it as much as you do is a really good time. Story by story, the funniest pieces come back to you and before you know it each one of you is yelling, "Wait, but remember the one where he...?!" and sometimes you can't even get to the end before you start cracking up.

I know I'm hardly original for losing it over David Sedaris essays. He definitely has a large following and some people have no taste for him at all. And it's also true that some of his stuff leaves me cold. But I don't think anyone can deny that he's an excellent writer. He crafts each essay in a way that makes me wildly envious of his ability. If even one of my blog entries could compare, I'd be happy for life.

But analyzing his style and technique is not what interests me. He's funny, and he makes me laugh. And I benefit deeply from that experience. So anytime you want to sit around, quoting from his books or radio pieces, don't hesitate to ask. I'll be there in a second, looking forward to a good laugh.

p.s. For all those sceptics out there, check out this essay for a good example of Sedaris humor. I challenge you not to find this at least mildly amusing.

Da Bears

2006-10-17T08:00:00.000-05:00

Well I promised, so here we go...

First of all, a short explanation for my long period of blog truancy: things have been busy. I started class again, began teaching a double load of TA sessions, the brakes on the car broke, and oh yeah, I got engaged. So that's a lot to deal with. I didn't have much time left over for blogging, and I still don't. But I'm going to make a go of it here.

Instead of writing about any one of those major time-sucking activities, I'm going to write about what I did last night, which was ignore every one of my responsibilities to watch a football game. For the first couple hours, I regretted that decision. The Cardinals were winning, mostly because the Bears were sucking it up big time. I'm sure you've heard the stats by now: 6 turnovers, only 3 points scored by the offense. In fact, at the half these supposed "Monsters of the Midway" were down 20-0. And all this after listening to the guys on ESPN radio shoot down every caller who even suggested the Bears might not go 16-0 this season. It was pathetic.

But then something happened. The defense kept recovering fumbled balls and stumbling into the endzone. Some guy named Devin Hester returned a punt for 83 yards and scored another touchdown. And in the end, the poor Cardinal kicker Neil Rackers missed a field goal. Suddenly, the Bears had won, 24-23.

Was it fair? Hell no.

Was it a great game to watch? You bet your sweet bippy.

Are the Bears gonna go all the way? ...

HUH?! ...

Before we start grunting "Bears!" in unison, I think we should be a bit more prudent before answering that one. If Grossman (and the rest of the offense) continues to play the way he did last night, the Bears aren't going to go anywhere but straight into the toilet.

Still, it is nice to see a Chicago team winning. Even if it is by the skin of their teeth.

Like a pheonix...

2006-10-15T15:33:00.000-05:00

It has been a long time since I last posted and alas, I have no time today to break the silence with a witty or meaningful post. But I did want to put something new up, just to show you all that the blog lives on. I will do my best to put up something more exciting in the next few days. She will indeed rise from the ashes.

Molding Young Minds

2006-09-04T18:07:00.000-05:00

For the past month I've been tutoring a high school student who wants to get into A.P. French in this, her senior year. School starts for her tomorrow and in the next few days, she's slated to take the exam that was given to the honors level junior year French class in the spring. If she passes, she gets into the A.P. class. If not, she stays in the regular-level senior French class. I reeeeeeeeally want her to pass.

We worked on everything to the point of exhaustion: relative pronouns, comparatives and superlatives, si clauses, even the dreaded subjunctive. I worried a lot that I wasn't teaching her these concepts very well, that I was presenting them to her in a way completely opposite from the way the teachers at her school taught them, that I was leaving out essential points. But I must say that despite all that, I really enjoy tutoring, which I suppose makes sense. When I was teaching high school English, the only part I actually enjoyed was the one-on-one extra help sessions I had with my students. I'm definitely not one to get off on "performing" in front of a class.

Anyway, if such a thing is possible, I might be more nervous about this test than my tutee is. I feel like I've nurtured this little fledgling as carefully and as diligently as I could, and now I have to turn her out into the wild where she'll either sink or swim. Of course the stakes aren't quite so high, but I have still have my fingers and toes double-crossed for her. I guess you could say that somewhere along the way I got pretty invested in this whole thing.

Stupidest-est Invention Ever

2006-08-30T16:51:00.000-05:00

Segué, originally uploaded by Rich_Lem.

I hate segues.

There are completely ridiculous and should be forever banished from the earth. If you ride one, you look like an idiot. A lazy idiot.

So there.

Rear Window

2006-08-25T18:46:00.000-05:00

So I am sitting here on our back "porch" (it is fully enclosed but lined with windows) watching a family across the alley. They just pulled a large cover off an old '70's-era car (I know nothing about cars so I cannot, from 100 feet away, identify the make and model of this particular vehicle) and now all 4 of them (2 men, 2 women) are peering under the hood. The younger man just threw up his hands in a gesture of confusion and frustration while the 2 women watched him. Now the older man's head is buried in the engine.

I should also say that the sky is currently turning black and it appears as if the heavens might open up at any moment. Why these 4 people should be compelled to come outside and scrutinize this car at this particular time I have no idea. It is pea-green color and of that hideous 70's type automobile design (think El Camino). Perhaps this is the younger man's car (he seems the most interested in it) and it refuses to start. Perhaps he needs the input of the entire family despite the fact that the 2 women seem to have nothing to say on the matter. Perhaps this car cost a ridiculous amount of money and all parties present are heavily invested in its well-being. Who knows. But watching it is kind of like watching TV with the sound off. The soundtrack is completely up to you and almost anything could be happening.

Meeting the Man

2006-08-13T20:37:00.000-05:00

Today I met Floyd Landis. And by "met" I mean he signed a poster for me. But we did have a real conversation. He expressed surprise at seeing such a large photo of himself and I explained that Baker and I had been given the posters because we'd been gracious enough to give up our front row seats (which were mistakenly left open) for the V.I.P. s at the event. I'm sure the exchange will be forever etched upon his memory.

This epic conversation took place at the grand opening event held at the new Chicago facility of VisionQuest Coaching, a company run by Robbie Ventura, Floyd's coach. I found out about the 2-hour presentation on the VQ website during the last day of the Tour. I signed us up, sure that Floyd wouldn't actually show even though he was on the list of special guests. When the whole doping scandal broke out, I was even more sure he wouldn't show. In fact, we had decided to scrap the whole thing. Until we got an e-mail last week from Robbie himself, assuring all those who registered that Floyd would indeed be there.

Overall, Landis seemed somewhat subdued but still in good spirits. He made a crack about not wanting to be held liable for giving people training advice that might be dangerous. He said he was already being sued by enough people. Robbie had tried to recreate the famous Bicycling magazine interview printed before the Tour, in which CSC rider Dave Zabriskie asked Floyd a set of questions. The two are supposedly really good friends and seem to do incredibly inane and stupid things when they get together, like challenging each other to cappuccino drinking contests in Italian cafes. (And we wonder why Europeans see Americans as animals?) Zabriskie lived up to his reputation as a 12-year-old trapped in a 27-year-old's body except today he seemed more like a ridiculously worn out adolescent as opposed to a hyper, caffeine-crazed one. He said a few things in a dopey voice and then sat slumped in his chair the rest of the time.

Unfortunately, I can't say that my faith in Floyd has been restored as a result of my interaction with him today. I've resigned myself to the fact that his true actions will forever remain a mystery to me. I'd really like to believe he didn't cheat, but it is impossible to know either way. Regardless, I'd hate to be him right now, even if I were still receiving standing ovations and being asked to sign giant pictures of myself. Even if he succeeds in eventually proving his innocence, he's got a long, hard road ahead of him to get there.

To the victor go the spoils

2006-08-09T19:08:00.000-05:00

Today I won a contest. No, it wasn't "most beautiful woman in Chicago" or "most intelligent person east of the Mississippi." I won a contest in which I had to correctly name the inventor of the bicycle. (Do you know whom it is?) Or at least I had to correctly name the guy who invented what would later be called the precursor to what is now known as the bicycle.

Anyway, it was a contest offered via e-mail. The message said that prize would go to the first 2 people to respond correctly. Since I didn't even look at the e-mail until 2 hours after it arrived in my inbox, I thought my chances of winning were slim to none. But I was wrong! This morning, a lively e-mail bearing the subject "YOU WON A CONTEST!!!" greeted me when I opened my mail. It was fabulous.

So what have I won, you ask? Oh, nothing less than the most thrilling prize you could ever imagine. I am now the proud owner of 2 free tickets to the 7 p.m. screening of this weekend's Bicycle Film Festival! These babies were going for as much (and as little) as $10 a pop, but I didn't have to spend a cent. The no-cost-to-me tickets will be waiting for me at will call at the theater on Friday night. Aren't you jealous?

To be honest, the prize is really, well, beside the point. I am just content to bask in the glow of my winner status. Of course I've always claimed to have been a winner in the figurative sense. But now I have the proof. How do you like them apples?

My get-up-and-go musta got up and went...

2006-08-02T19:04:00.000-05:00

I am currently attempting to rewrite a paper for which I received a less-than-stellar grade. Every time I sit down with my computer to work on this project, I decide that I would rather stick burning hot needles into my eyes than look at this paper again, and inevitably I end up looking up recipes that use basil or planning my courses for next fall. It's become so bad that I feel close to exhausting all my sources of procrastination.

Meanwhile, I wonder why doing this rewrite has become so excrutiating. Or really what I wonder about is how my tolerance for such pain got so low. In the height of any given finals period, I've been known to withstand great waves of crippling frustration and mind-bending paper-writing agony in 2 or 3-week stints. But now, when I have virtually nothing else to work on except this one paper, I've been reduced to a spineless, whimpering mound of jelly with not even an ounce of willpower left. I don't know what's happened.

I'd like to blame it on the heat. That would be convenient, eh? But damn it, the 5-day streak of 98 degree temperatures is about to end. Then I'll have no excuse. Argh. Maybe it's just the fact that it's summer, and the elementary school student in me still just wants to play all day. I hope she gets it out of her system soon, cause this paper definitely ain't going to re-write itself...

Waiting to Decide

2006-07-28T10:36:00.000-05:00

photograph by Wladyslaw Sojka, taken from Wikipedia

I'm surprised I didn't see it coming, but I certainly didn't. It fell out of the sky like a ton of bricks and now every newspaper and television news program is beating it to death.

Floyd's positive urine test.

I have to say first off that I have totally suspended judgment on this. I am waiting until the B sample comes back, and I think everyone else should too. But I can't express how disappointed I will be if it too is positive. It will break my heart.

This whole situation reminds me of my days as a high school English teacher. It happened so many times, much more frequently than I ever thought it would. I'd sit down with a stack of papers written by my class and start reading. Halfway through a 4-page essay on Macbeth, I'd stop short. The language would change dramatically, from confused, 15-year-old, "I-don't-get-this-Shakespeare-guy" kid-speak to ridiculously highfalutin, academic, professor-type words and syntax. It was so obvious. Every time, I found myself dumbstruck that the kid thought he could get away with it.

I'd type the sentence into Google, and immediately the source would pop up. Usually, it would be straight from PinkMonkey or Cliffs Notes; they didn't even plagiarize quality writing. Discovering these stolen sentences made me want to scream. It made me want to beat the kid over the head with his laptop and fail him for the rest of his high school career. But more than that, it made me want to cry. I took these instances of cheating very personally and wondered what had happened with the world to make the kid resort to such measures.

Now, as I consider this newest doping scandal, I feel exactly the same way. If it does turn out to be true, I wonder why, why it had to happen. On the one hand, I'm certainly no morally pure person. I've done a few questionable things, like we all do: told a few white lies, talked behind peoples' backs once or twice. Even in school, I've taken shortcuts here and there, read a few (OK, perhaps several) books in English that I was really supposed to read in French, etc.

But the vast majority of these dubious behaviors occurred, like they did with my English students, when I was younger, still figuring out what was right and wrong and who I am as a person. As a teacher, I had to get over the urge to pummel the plagiarists in my class. Often, when I confronted the kids, they were (or at least seemed) genuinely ashamed of their actions. I didn't believe that all of them would never cheat again (in fact, I'm sure some have and will), but I did believe that they were still young and could learn from this experience and that they weren't yet doomed to become corrupt and evil people.

In the case of a thirty-year-old cyclist in the world's biggest bike race, I'm not willing to cut him the same amount of slack. Floyd Landis is a big boy. He should know right from wrong. As I said, I'm not making judgments yet. And God knows I'm hoping with all my might that he can prove he's clean. I put my trust in him and rejoiced in every triumph he made during the Tour. But if he's dirty, then I think he should suffer every consequence there is. You only get so much time to learn how to do it right, and for kids to learn to be good people, they should see the cheaters disgraced in front of everyone.

Ups and Downs

2006-07-20T17:58:00.000-05:00

There have been a lot of those lately. Let me list a few:

1. The Tour de France. Yesterday, Floyd Landis completely blew up on La Toussuire. I mean, he might as well have gotten off his bike and pushed it the rest of the way up. Well OK, not really, but he did lose 8 minutes and fall into 11th place, giving up almost all hope for victory. But then today, out of nowhere, he opened up his suitcase of courage and blew away the entire field. Now he's 30 seconds out of first place.

2. My mom's flight. She was supposed to leave LAX this morning at 10:59 on a flight to Chicago. First that flight was delayed 4 hours. Then it was cancelled. We thought she wouldn't make it. But she got on a different flight, and now- finally- she's on her way here.

3. The weather. Tuesday was gorgeous. But today it rained so hard I nearly slipped out of my water-logged shoes walking across campus. Luckily, tomorrow's supposed to be beautiful. If my mom actually arrives, we should be in for a fabulous weekend.

4. German. It's finally over (well the class is, but there are still a few assignments to turn in) and boy did we end with a bang: a doozy of a translation test which nearly wiped me out. And during the test, my phone was blinking wildly with various messages reporting the status of the infamous flight.

So I've had about all the stress I can take. I'm sure it's nothing a nice ride out to O'Hare won't take care of. There is, however, one "up" with no corresponding "down" (at least none that I've identified so far), the publication of my latest article on the Digs website. It's a light, fluffy piece, but it was fun to write. And trust me, after reading it, you will indeed be able to throw a killer housewarming party. So don't say I never teach you nothin'.

Frying in Chi-town

2006-07-16T17:49:00.000-05:00

It's hot.

But apparently, it's not just hot here in Chicago. It seems to have hit 115 degrees in Pierre, South Dakota, today. That makes the weather here seem practically polar.

Anyway, even though I almost died in the probably 15 minutes in total I have spent outside of any air-conditioned indoor space, many people have chosen to live their lives as if everything were completely normal. The Gay Games continue at locations throughout Chicagoland. The Cubs are playing. People are throwing cow chips. If you were viewing all this activity from the comfort of your living room, you almost wouldn't realize the heat was so oppressive... until you tried to walk outside and slammed into the giant wall o' humidity. I'm sorry, but if I can't even stand outside for less than 5 minutes without completely pitting out my tee-shirt, then there's no reason I should be compelled to ever leave the climate-controlled cocoon in which I have ensconced myself. It's just not worth it.

Meanwhile, let's all say a little prayer for my digital camera, which went M.I.A. last weekend and for which I have given up all hope. He was a loyal friend, except for the pesky red-eye he inflicted on everyone, and I like to think he's gone to a better place. Needless to say, my blog will be sorely lacking in photographic displays until a new camera can be procured. If you'd like to speed this process along, I am happy to accept any and all donations toward the purchase of this new Canon PowerShot SD450. Think about how much you will benefit from this donation and all the beautiful pictures you will soon enjoy. Operators are standing by...

Tracking the Yellow Jersey

2006-07-05T07:19:00.000-05:00

I may have failed to catch World Cup fever, but I definitely seem to have become addicted to the Tour de France. Maybe its because I got to watch it live and in person last year or maybe its just because I am so in awe of the athleticism these guys display, but I have found myself spending 3 or 4 hours in front of OLN everyday since the Tour started.

This year's doping controversy essentially catapaulted the 3 main favorites right out of the race the day before it started. I think some people believe its not even worth paying attention to some ridiculous French bike race, especially now that Lance isn't even there to further the American dominance. What those people don't realize is that there are several Americans (George Hincapie, Floyd Landis) who now have a good shot at winning. And if its excitement you're after, you should know that there can be as much carnage in any given stage of the Tour than there is in a Nascar race or NHL game.

Part of me wishes I were back in France to see the Tour again live, but most of me is glad to be here in the States with my OLN. Without those cameramen hanging off the back of Vespas and the overhead helicopters, it would be impossible to see as much of the action. Plus, spending hours planted in front of the TV is America's greatest endurance sport.

Framed

2006-06-27T10:44:00.000-05:00

As part of our slowly progressing redecorating project, we framed two posters that I received for my birthday and hung them in our dining room last week. If you couldn't tell, the frames cost about ten times what the posters did.

If we'd had them custom-framed at a regular frame shop, they probably would have made an even bigger dent in our wallet. Instead we went to The Great Frame Up, where I had a gift certificate. At stores like these, you can frame your own art. Baker remembers clamping down, gluing, and nailing strips of wood himself as a wee young boy at this place, but now building a frame here "yourself" means cleaning the glass and shooting little metal points into the pre-constructed frame so the posterboard doesn't fall out the back. It's hardly a do-it-yourself process.

And even though it's not super cheap, the results are pretty impressive. It's amazing how much hanging framed art can do for a pair of bland white walls.

Deutschunterricht

2006-06-20T07:59:00.000-05:00

Yes, that's right. I'm taking German. (For those of you not familiar with the language, this post's title means "German lessons.") Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to roam the streets of Munich or Berlin making friendly conversation with my fellow street-roamers any time soon; the course I'm taking is called "German for reading purposes."

And it's going to kick my butt big time. By Thursday, I've got to teach myself the first 6 chapters of our textbook, do a translation, and prepare for a quiz. So much for summer vacation.

Viel Erflog to me...

p.s. The first cool thing I've learned about the German language is that all the nouns are capitalized. I think I like that. It changes the significance of name and identity. If an apple becomes an Apple, does it become equal to a John or a Mary? Something to think about.

Summertime

2006-06-17T07:05:00.000-05:00

I guess there's no more denying it: summer is here. Yesterday the mercury climbed up to near 90 degrees and today it's supposed to soar past that. Chicago forecaster Tom Skilling even predicts that today will be "2006's hottest day to date." Bizarrely, that sounds kind of crude, doesn't it? As if I were talking about a top-notch Trixie (see second definition) instead of an early summer scorcher.

In any case, it's 74 already here at 7 a.m., but the light is beautiful. We're coming up on the longest day of the year, which is easy to lose track of (but shouldn't be for me, since it's also my brother's birthday.) It's at this point that I come full circle from where I usally am 6 months from now, when I'm cursing the fact that it's pitch black at 4 p.m. : do we really need so much light? I like a 7 p.m. sunset just as much as the next guy, but beyond that, my circadian rhythm is ready for some darkness. Plus, more daylight hours just means more hours of burning hot sun searing in the sky.

Anyway, I was inspired to take these shots before the heat became oppressive. At least the flowers seem to get a kick out of the strong sun and the even stronger humidity.

Happy sweating...

This American Television Show

2006-06-14T13:59:00.000-05:00

Last night, I had the opportunity to view the pilot of the new This American Life TV show. Because I'm friendly with a few high-level WBEZ donors, I got invited to the show's first public screening. Before and afterward, Ira Glass, the host, asked and answered questions, told stories about filming and generally rambled on about the whole process of making a TV show out of a radio program. It was fascinating, actually. I didn't discover This American Life until a few years ago and I'm hardly a die-hard weekly listener, but I'm always captivated when I stumble across it on Friday evenings. It's just such a good idea for a radio show, and there really seems no end to the compelling stories out there that are dying to be told.

I recommend checking out the Staff Favorites at the website. You can download whole shows and listen for free. And if you're lucky enough to get Showtime, you'll eventually be able to watch the TV version of the show. I'm not sure if it's a little better or not quite as good as the radio version. Obviously things are gained and lost when you move from one format to the other....

In any case, if you haven't stumbled across TAL yet, I suggest you give it a try. Listening to the show never fails to brighten up the day of this literature student, who often forgets that most everyone is in some way still moved by a great story.

Trials

2006-06-09T19:43:00.000-05:00

Life has not been particularly easy for me or the people I love over the past few weeks. But despite all the things there are to be sad about or to worry incessantly about, I still find myself doing things like noticing beautiful flowers and laughing. I guess it is possible do those things even when you don't think you'll be able to. I guess that's a good thing (as Martha might say.)

Unfortunately, as has been the case since maybe sometime back in high school, I find myself underwhelmed with excitement for the coming summer. Sure I'm looking forward to warm days, but most of them will probably be uncomfortably hot. And I really do tend to miss the absence of routine that the summer seems to entail. Of course I've done my best to cobble together some kind of regular class and work schedule, but it's loose and ambiguous at best.

I'm going to be taking German of all things and working for 3 weeks in August from 6 to 9 p.m. This is bizarre and troubles me because I like French and I like working in the morning. But this is what I've been given, so this is what I'll do.

I hope to do other things this summer as well, which are only possible when the routine is less structured. I want to cook more, buy potted herbs which I will attempt to keep alive on the back patio, run a few road races (provided my knee holds up), read books for no academic benefit whatsoever, and redecorate a little.

I'm not sure how long the trials will last, what will happen next, how I will feel. But I think I will emerge stronger; in fact I think I already have. I'm no Superman, but I'm definitely tougher than I thought I was. I hope I can continue to surprise myself.

Who doesn't love a wedding?

2006-06-05T12:36:00.000-05:00

I'm a complete posting delinquent. I apologize. But there's a lot going on right now in my life. Papers. Tests. Weddings (see above.)

I will return with renewed vigor in a few weeks. I hope.

Two Hundredth Post

2006-05-25T15:40:00.000-05:00

I have neglected this blog for far too long, and mostly out of anxiety over writing this, the 200th post. I knew it had to be good - no, not good - great, and the pressure was too much for me.

So, as usually happens, I have totally psyched myself out. And now I have no choice but to own up to the blogger's block and move past it. This is what this post will be, then. Not a great post at all. Just a place-marker.

So happy 200 posts to my blog. It's not easy to be 200-posts old. (Do you know what that is in dog years?) In the context of the internet and the so-called blogosphere, this blog has not been around very long. But I hope to keep it going until all of this blogging stuff becomes irrelevant and passe (that's pass-ay, in fact - I don't even know yet how to put accents in to this format). I hope you'll keep reading until I stop writing.

Happy (Belated) Birthday to Me!

2006-05-15T20:40:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was my birthday and two days ago I threw a party for myself. We went all out with streamers, balloons, and even funny silver swirly decorations I found in the party store and couldn't resist. I also couldn't resist the special light-up margarita glass that had "Birthday Girl" written all over it (not literally, but what screams "It's my birthday!" if not a glowing pink margarita glass?)

And now all the hoop-la is over and I'm left here, one year older, with a first-year PhD. exam staring me in the face. It's a wee bit depressing.

Shoe Fetish

2006-05-07T09:37:00.000-05:00

If there were ever a girl not to have such a fetish, I thought it was me. In fact, I distinctly remember opening a friend's closet in high school and failing to understand why she had 3 pairs of black strappy sandals. She insisted they were different, pointing out that one pair had three straps over the toe and one had two, while one pair had a silver buckle and another didn't.

I still tend to wear the same pair of shoes until they fall apart but I think I am beginning to appreciate the finer points of footwear. I couldn't resist buying these two pairs Friday at Payless. It's hard to feel guilty spending 35 bucks on two pairs of shoes, and surprisingly, last night I walked almost a mile all told in these babies pictured below without even the hint of a blister. I'll test the ones on top this afternoon.

They are Payless shoes after all, so the comfort level is always questionable. Still, I do think that Payless has dramatically improved the style and quality of its shoes from what they were a few years ago. And $15 is about all I can afford for shoes right now, so call me satisfied.

Longing for a Green Thumb

2006-04-28T16:49:00.000-05:00

In hopes of seeing actual live green shoots spring from the soil, I planted a little herb garden today. Parsley, basil, coriander, and thyme...

I'm 95% sure nothing will ever emerge except perhaps a little mold. This is usually what happens when I attempt to grow herbs, flowers, you name it from seed. And if I buy a plant already living it tends to die within a matter of weeks.

Mostly I stick to cut flowers. They last only a few days, but they are glorious days. Especially where irises are concerned.

Give me (more) drugs, man

2006-04-24T10:42:00.000-05:00

Just about 13 1/2 months ago, I wrote this post about buying Sudafed-type products at CVS. Doing so involved a tedious process of visiting the pharmacy window and subjecting myself to monitoring by state officials tracking drug fabrication.

Now, 13 1/2 months later, I am suffering a similar sinus-related illness. To put it bluntly, I feel like someone has shoved tightly-packed cotten balls up my nose until they filled every possible crevice underneath my eyes and in my nostrils. This is an extremely unpleasant feeling.

However, if one wishes to buy Sudafed-type products on a Sunday so as to alleviate this feeling, one is, of course, S.O.L. The pharmacy is closed and there is no one behind the counter to record every last iota of your personal data and then relinquish the drugs to you.

So yesterday I had to find some other remedy that would sufficiently clear my nasal passages so as to allow me to fall asleep last night. Evidently, Comtrex does not contain the evil Pseudoephedrine and therefore does not need to be locked up behind the pharmacy counter away from all of us frenzied crystal meth-producers. The real question was, would it work?

I did fall asleep last night but did not wake up improved by any measure. Oh well, I guess I can't expect miracles, especially from over-the-counter medications so benign as to be deemed unworthy as ingredients in popular recipes for illegal recreational stimulants.

What will be most interesting will be to see whether or not I can manage to breathe and talk at the same time as I deliever my presentation in class this afternoon. Let's all keep our fingers crossed.

Live and let dye

2006-04-16T15:19:00.000-05:00

Even though I had no real reason to do it (especially since the chances of having a hunt this afternoon are slim to none, what with severe thunderstorms ripping through Chicagoland), I decided to dye eggs Friday night. My mom had sent me a box of Paas egg dyes, so what else could I do, let them go to waste? Not an option.

Besides, I like hard-boiled eggs, particularly when they are mixed with tuna and vegetables in a Nicoise-like salad. I'm not sure I'll be able to eat a dozen before they go bad in the next 3 days, but whatever.

These pictures give you an idea of the process itself and the final results. I made the obvious discovery that the eggs take on a much more rich hue when left longer in the dye. This is something I never really let myself discover as a child because I was always too impatient and couldn't resist pulling them out after 5 minutes.

Nevertheless, it was fun and festive. And isn't that what Easter is really all about, the chocolate and the Bunny and the sacred multi-colored eggs?

Going Clipless

2006-04-08T17:05:00.000-05:00

I still don't feel like a true cyclist, but I suppose I took one step closer to becoming one when I bought these shoes last weekend. For the uninitiated, that big hunk of red plastic on the bottom is the cleat, the piece that snaps into the pedal and therefore essentially locks your foot to the bike.

Isn't that a bit scary? you might ask. And it is, but not really all that much more than shoving your toes into plastc nets at the front of the pedals, which is what I was doing up until now. Plus these shoes just look so darn bad ass, I manage to ignore the fear.

Of course this is probably because, so far, I've only done one ride with these babies on. And I didn't find myself in any situation where a quick stop and foot plant was required. It's almost inevitable that I will at some point be forced to slam on the breaks, at which point I will panic, forget how to free my feet from the pedals, and tip over sideways. Maybe after this rite of passage, I will be able to call myself a true cyclist.

p.s. What's really difficult to do in these shoes is walk. They're slick as ice on the bottom and the cleats force your toes skyward. I'm worried I might do more harm to myself wearing these off the bike as opposed to on it.

Getty Images

2006-03-30T10:08:00.000-06:00

There's something about the Getty Center in L.A. that brings out my inner photographer. I just can't seem to resist snapping away, constantly holding up the group and demanding "just one more shot."

Sadly, the products of my limited picture-taking skills hardly do justice to the place. Every time I go, I'm amazed at the architecture and the views. When I went last week, I was so distracted by the surroundings that I found it hard to pay attention to our tour guide, who was very intent on pointing out the "frames" created by architect Richard Meier and the fact that even architecture can be considered art.

Still, I did get some good shots. Take a look at the ones below.

Land of densely-branched, spiny trees

2006-03-27T08:27:00.000-06:00

This is the Palos Verdes peninsula, where I was Friday, the most gorgeous day of the week. You can see the characteristic California smog/haze/marine layer in the background, but you wouldn't have minded it one bit if you had felt the soft ocean breezes and the warm sun. My nose and forehead absorbed perhaps a bit too much of that sun, but I don't mind because now at least it's obvious I spent my spring break somewhere warm.

That morning, my mom rented us a pair of bikes on which to ride up and down the South Bay Bike Path. We made it from Hermosa Beach to Palos Verdes and back. After a short wait, we nabbed a table outside next to the Strand at Good Stuff, a quintessential California restaurant where the rice is brown and the condiments are low-fat, but the avocado is always ripe and plentiful.

And now here we are in the final few days of March and temperatures are still in the 30's back here in Chicago. The days are noticeably longer, though, and the green shoots are multiplying rapidly so I think spring is truly on its way. Warm days aren't quite a dime dozen here like they are in southern California, but they'll arrive soon enough. Just before the crushing humidity sets in.

p.s. A "palo verde," literally translated, is a "green pole." Therefore, Palos Verdes does not mean "green hills," as I was led to believe. The name of the town comes from a type of plant that grows there, the aforementioned "densely-branched, spiny tree" that often sports "showy yellow flowers and blue-green bark" according to TheFreeDictionary.com.

L.A. Story

2006-03-24T09:52:00.000-06:00

Activities here in southern California have been so numerous and so all-consuming that this is really the first chance I've gotten to post. The pictures above and below are of Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

Even though I spent my childhood traveling to L.A. at least once every 2 years, I had never before visited this most famous of landmarks. It was, of course, swarming with camera-wielding, fanny-pack-sporting, toddler-toting tourists, but still, where else do you get to compare the size of your feet with Ron Howard's?

Other highlights so far have included trips to Disneyland and the Getty Museum, a drive down Rodeo, a stroll through Santa Monica, and 7 hours spent sitting in bumper to bumper traffic between here and Santa Barbara, mostly on the 101, which runs right through the Valley. It's hard to complain about traffic, though, when the temperature is perpetually 60 to 70 degrees and the only clouds one sees in the sky tend to drift about harmlessly without the slightest threat of rain.

I'm all about the Mouse...

2006-03-17T09:13:00.000-06:00

Hey Dana, you just finished your final papers! What are you going to do now?!

I'm going to Disneyland!

It's true, I am. Next Wednesday I'll be going back to the Happiest Place on Earth for the first time in over 5 years. That's a long time for me to go without a fix. We used to go at least biennially when I was little.

The only disappointment is that I read on the website that Pirates of the Caribbean is closed for renovation. Despite its lack of twists and turns, bumps and big drops, Pirates of the Caribbean is by far one of the best rides Disneyland has to offer. At least the Matterhorn still seems to be alive and well. It's true the Abominable Snowman has always made me "worry," but I will never turn down the chance to climb into one of those fake bobsleds and zoom around the fake icy cliffs.

California, here I come...

p.s. Picture is from: http://www.erickson-foundation.org/disney-logo.gif

Pseudo-spring has sprung

2006-03-11T15:24:00.000-06:00

I refuse to actually call it spring because it's not. It's just a cruel joke Mother Nature likes to play every year, throwing one of these 65-degree days at you in the beginning of March, making you think that winter is over. A few days from now there will be some kind of a crazy blizzard, mark my words.

Anyway, the flowers outside our apartment were certainly fooled. They felt those warm 65-degree breezes and burst into bloom. And those that weren't ready to flower sent green shoots sprouting up through the muddy ground. Poor little bastards probably think it's mid-May.

Pug-a-licious

2006-03-04T21:11:00.000-06:00

If there is one type of dog in this world I have ever been tempted to adopt, it is the pug. Today I spent part of the afternoon working at Savor the Flavor, a coffee shop in Lincoln Park, where the owner occasionally allows her pug to romp around among the customers. This dog is quiet, small, and well-mannered but has loads of personality, pretty much like every pug I've ever met.*

Some people might place pugs decidely in the "puntable" category, but I have a feeling these little guys are so packed with muscle and moxie that they wouldn't let you get away with attempting a kick. I imagine a pug might grab hold of the punter's leg and not let go.

Don't get me wrong here. I'm a cat person now and forever. But I think I'd be eternally happy with a cat or two and a well-behaved, potty-trained pug in my life. Too bad they don't typically come that way.

*The first pug I ever met was Penny, the loveable yet perhaps somewhat less well-mannered pug from the house at the end of Marianne Road.

photo from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:PugPetronije.jpg

All the color has gone out of my life...

2006-02-26T17:45:00.000-06:00

I am sick and have spent the weekend doing little besides moaning and lying on the sofa between brief attempts at getting work done (which have been unproductive, to say the least.)

Meanwhile, I have let more than a week pass since my last post, and I am heading into the last three weeks of the quarter, better known as "grad student hell." If you were expecting to come here and find something witty, uplifting, or poetic, stop reading now.

I haven't got much to say. My brain is swimming with analysis of Diderot's depiction of pantomime, dream sequences in Georges Perec's work, and the tension between similarity and difference in Louis Le Roy's view of French history. Never before have I had to write 3 15-page papers over the course of one final's week. I tried to start early, but I fear it wasn't early enough.

If you are looking for some light-hearted humor, I do have one suggestion. Hunt down the episode of Trading Spaces in which the production staff hires Chicago actors to play the homeowners and the whole team pulls one over on Hildi and Doug. It is absolutely hilarious, even if you're not that into Trading Spaces. Trust me, this is some funny stuff, especially when you stumble across it after realizing you have to bail out on a game of Lazer Tag with friends because you just too feel too crappy to play.

Bowling and the Brauhaus

2006-02-18T20:13:00.000-06:00

Last night I bowled for the first time in forever. And even though I was wildly inconsistent and ended up with a whopping total score of 79 for the first game and 78 for the second, I did hit two strikes and a spare.

We played at the decidedly old-school Lincoln Square Lanes, where scoring is still done by hand and you might be missing a pin or two when the lane gets reset each time. It had the ambiance of a typical seedy bowling alley, which is exactly what you want when you go bowling. I still remember the old Rip Van Winkle Lanes in Norwalk where I used to bowl growing up. It had an awesome mural of the sleeping giant painted all along one wall and one of those old arcade games with a big glass box full of stuffed animals and a metal claw you could steer around in hopes of grabbing one.* Now it's a nightmare in teal, orange, and violet with computerized scoring and a deluxe snack bar that sells soggy pizza for $7 a slice.

OK, so I may be exaggerating. I have no idea how much the pizza is, but I'm sure it comes freeze-dried from the AMF corporate headquarters somewhere in Missouri or something. And that's just not the way bowling was meant to be. Am I right, or am I right?

Luckily, time seems to have stood still in Lincoln Square. After a few games, we hit up the Brauhaus where certain members of our party got to cut a rug with one of the older gentlemen who seem to frequent the German restaurant, prowling for pretty young things. It was all in good fun, though, and the night of retro entertainment left me so exhausted that I'm planning to be in bed by 10 tonight. What else would you want to do when it's 2 degrees outside?

*Rip Van Winkle was never quite as cool as Bowlarama in Stamford, which, according to the the Internet, may or may not have gone out of business by now.

European Wanderlust

2006-02-15T20:21:00.000-06:00

What with all the television coverage of the Olympics, I've begun to miss Europe a bit. It's been six or seven months since I left France, which is just enough time for the memories of blazing summer heat, pathetic bathroom facilities, and surly shopkeepers to fade. Now all that remains is the images of the bucolic countryside, the lilting sound of the French language in the air, and the taste of actual, honest-to-goodness cheese.

I've never actually been to the Alps, and the current omnipresent panoramic views of the snowy peaks and the pale blue winter sky have left me yearning to go. Just to see varied terrain would make me happy at this point. Here in Chicago, the only change in elevation I make is when our car goes over a speed bump.

If it weren't for the ridiculous cost, the miserable overnight plane ride, and the complete lack of convenience in everday life, I'd be planning my next trip overseas right now. But alas, I don't see it happening anytime soon. I'll just have to content myself with my current Francophile tendancies and the Olympic hype. But I won't stop mourning the absence of cheese.

Tax tips from yours truly...

2006-02-11T17:44:00.000-06:00

My taxes are done, and gosh was it painless! (Not that I want to rub it in the faces of those who find themselves juggling returns from multiple states... )

Since I find myself with all this extra time originally dedicated to tax-related activities, I have decided to write "Dana's Guide to Bustin' Up Dem Taxes." Here are my top three tips:

1. Forget about incidental deductions.
Let's do the cost-benefit analysis on this one. Are you really going to save that much by itemizing all your little expenses, like your books for school or your moving van rental? No. And filling out all those extra boxes takes so much time!

2. Use H & R Block online.
The benefit of this doesn't really kick in until you've used it a couple years in a row, but start now and you'll be thanking your lucky stars next year at tax time. They save all your information from one year to the next so all you have to do is punch in is this year's numbers. Name, address, AGI from last year? It's already all up in there, baby!

3. Make very little money.
This one may seem counter-intuitve, but when it comes to doing your taxes it really helps to have an income of next to nothing. Hey, the less you make, the less the federal and state governments can pry from your impoverished little fist!

So there you go. Take it from me: you follow these three simple guidelines and you too will find yourself with a much easier task in front of you when it comes to filling out those 1040's, those schedule M, R, and T's and any other incomprehensible forms they can throw at you. Good luck, my friends!

The Olympic Spirit

2006-02-10T07:24:00.000-06:00

Sometimes it's difficult to keep up with all of the various hysteria being stirred up by the media at any given time, but I for one am making the Olympics a priority this year. I've been reading about various athletes, from the crazy to the cutesie. I've also been learning about the various sports, some of which demand amazing athletic ability, others of which seem to be more about show-boating and putting on display that all-American, cowboy, dare devil attitude.

I'm trying to be open-minded, though. Figure skating can't really be called a "sport," can it? But it's probably the most-watched winter event. Still, I hold a special place in my heart for those who take part in the more hardcore events, those that demand pure athletic prowess, those that are based on ancient methods of survival and show man's triumph over nature.

What? What about the guns? You're asking me how I feel about a sport that involves shooting a fire arm?

Oh. Yeah, I guess I'm against that. Hmm.

Let's just politics aside, shall we? The Olympics are about international brotherhood and the glory of the athletic spirit. Let's enjoy ourselves as we watch those athletes pummel down the frozen slopes and glide across glassy sheets of ice. To quote Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games, let's cheer for those who go "Citius, Altius, Fortius" or "Swifter, Higher, Stronger."

p.s. Image posted above comes from: http://www.comune.torino.it/www2/brochure/img/logoto2006.jpg