it's go-time

I have 15 minutes before my auction on ebay ends. I'm bidding on 3 Wicked tickets for this weekend. Let's hope I get 'em otherwise I'll be spending upwards of $120 per ticket....not that this ebay thing will be any cheaper. Who knows. Ebay is tricky...you really gotta be on your toes in order to be the one with the highest bid at the last possible second. I'm not much of an ebayer normally, so this is sorta new to me. as you can tell, I'm trying to waste time here.

total freak out...what have I become??

I finally buckled down tonight and committed to doing my laundry. I really hate doing laundry at my apartment because there are only 3 washers and 3 dryers. It's pretty cut-throat competition to get there after work and actually get a machine.

So, tonight after work, I rushed home hoping that I'd beat the post-work laundry night rush. (It was raining really bad and the bottoms of my jeans were drenched up to my knees...ugh!) When I got to my apartment, I quickly gathered and sorted all my clothes and set out. Just as I walked out my door, I heard the elevator door close. I got the slightly paniced feeling that someone was just ahead of me and heading for the laundry room. I ran down the steps as fast as possible with a laundry bag full of towels and jeans, but it wasn't fast enough. She beat me. She beat me! The worst part was, the laundry room was completely empty. Not a single machine was being used and you know what she said? "You're gunna have to get in line, cuz I'm going to use all three of these washers."

I don't know how I would've reacted if she had been a little more polite, but I did not take this very well. I said in a very sarcastic voice, "yeah, right. You couldn't even let me use one of those washers?"

She went into all this baloney about how she hasn't done laundry in a really long time and she NEEDS all three machines. I was like...whatever. I scoffed, packed up my stuff and took it all the way back up to the 4th floor (I rigged the elevator so she couldn't used it too).

It took me a while, but of course, my conscious got the best of me and I felt very stupid about the way I acted...like a child! A half hour later, I figured she'd be done with the washers so I tried it again. She was in there when I got there so I apologized for the way I acted. She said it was not big deal, but she never apologized for not sharing the washers. She just complained about how much she hates this building, the tenants, and the landlord (I'm not a big fan of the landlord either). But this lady was still very rude-spirited. I don't know how else to put it. Some people I can deal with, but if they're still rude even after I apologize, it makes me wonder why I should have to put up with that....

running chicago

Today was the 29th annual Chicago Marathon. My plan was to wake up around 6:30 so I could meet Becky H and her sister downtown by 8am so we could watch the start of it. Yeah, that didn't happen. Becky called me at 7:59am and i was still in bed. Whoops. It worked out ok though, cuz the runners were scheduled to run right by my apartment around 8:30. So even though I didn't get to see the HUGE mob of runners at the starting line, I was able to cheer the leading runners on around their 8th mile.


The picture is blurry, not because I couldn't hold the camera steady....they were just running that fast. It was pretty incredible. They're from Kenya, where 'who knows what' is in the water.


Here's the lead runner coming into the finish line. We were standing about 50 yards from the actual finish line, but right before he was about to cross it and break through the ribbon, he slipped on the wet street, hit his head and got a mild concussion. They kept replaying it on the big screen right by us, and I'll tell ya what, when you know something like that is coming, it get harder to watch the more times they play it. He's ok now, though he didn't get to stand on the podium during the awards ceremony.

The whole day was pretty inspirational. Even though these guys are obviously professionals, there were a lot of 'normal humans' running (as Becky called them). A surprising number of old people, dads and moms (their kids cheering and holding signs) and women not much older than me. I think I'll be cheering Becky on next year as she's running it, she sounds like she really wants to do it. Go Becky! I'm behind you all the way!

I, however, better just start with the Shamrock Shuffle 8K in March :)

fall

I wish this time of the year would last ALL year. I love fall. I love the brisk air in the morning and hunting out the crunchiest leaves on the sidewalk. I love not having to wear a parka with scarves and mittens and I love not sweating buckets walking to the bus stop. I love fall.

Night in the Museum

I just have to post the link to this movie trailer. My co-worker showed it to me and I couldn't believe it. First off, it looks ridiculous. Secondly, it SO reminds me of the Field Museum it's creepy. All the artifacts and different rooms, and SUE! the big T-Rex. That's ours!

right now, the stones are rolling

This evening, right next door to the Field Museum, was a Rolling Stones concert. It took place at Solider Field, home of the Bears, and traffic was CRAZY. That's really the only insight on the concert that I have because, oh yeah, I didn't have $185 lying around to get an actual ticket for the concert. At least that's what I heard they were. When i was leaving work around 6:30, there were MOBS of people coming to the concert. I felt like a tiny fish trying to swim against the current.

font problems...solved

If you have corrupted fonts on your computer, download Linotype FontExplorer X. I had a bunch of corrupted fonts on my computer and they were causing it to run slowly. This free download software allows you to restore your computer to it's original system fonts by pulling out all fonts that didn't come with the computer and putting them in a folder on the desktop. Then you can either back-up the fonts you want to keep or delete the entire thing...which is what I had to do. After restarting my computer, it's back all back to normal. phew.

a TRUE underdog...er, bird...story

So this morning I was patiently waiting at the bus stop, minding my own business, and sort of dazing off listening to Imogen heap on my ipod, when out of no where a pigeon swoops down and lands on the sidewalk right in front of me. Apparently there was a piece of bread there, and he began pecking at it. It didn't take long for the rest of the pigeon population at the corner of State and Lake to want their share of the feast. Soon there was a flock of about 14 pigeons battling each other for the rights to the slice of bread. It was quite entertaining for me. Seeing all these clumsy looking birds pecking away at the bread, capturing it in their beak, just to have another pigeon steal it away. What I found even more entertaining was when a tiny little bird, no bigger than my fist joined the flock. At first he just stood outside the circle, hopping in and out, awaiting his chance for some bread. And then, just like that, he got his chance. He got the bread in his tiny little beak and he took off. I saw him fly away while all the pigeons scrambled around trying to find the missing bread.

What a little stinker. He was less than half the size of the pigeons and even though the 'physical' odds were stacked against him, he wasn't afraid to jump in. He had brains, and in the end, that's all he needed. I like that.

kindergarten wasn't that long ago

I enjoy reminiscing. Not sure if that's how you spell reminiscing, but whatever. I still enjoy it.

Recently I got into a discussion with Dani about kindergarten and whether or not one could remember anything from that long ago. I wasn't sure if I could at first, but it didn't take long for my mind to be flooded with memories from that critical year in one's education. So, I thought I'd share a few of my kindergarten memories with you

• The magic carpet. Everyone has had a magic carpet at one point in their life. That year it was olive green.

• The class mouse (or gerbal). I remember this very vividly because I accidentally pulled it's tail off when I tried to pick it up. I swear someone told me I could do that, but apparently he/she was just a kindergartener and didn't know any better.

• The letter people parade. I was "O" and I remember having an orange taped to my paper bag. O is not a very exciting letter.

• Learning to spell our names, and memorizing our addresses and phone numbers. I remember this because the boy right before me in the alphabet could never remember how to spell his last name. I'm not going to name names, but I felt sorry for him. I'm sure he's ok now.

• Sitting in a circle on the magic carpet, right next to my best friend that year, and switching shoes to see whose feet were bigger. Really random memory, but I even remember the shoes...hers were those slip on canvas shoes and mine were pink jellies. Remember jellies??? You just dated yourself if you do.

• Bundling up for recess during the winter. We weren't allowed outside if we didn't have snow pants, scarves, mittens, earmuffs, coats, and snow boots. It was slightly embarrassing if you were stuck inside because you forgot your mittens.

what do you remember about kindergarten? anything?