I don't break stride

I had a very nice walk from work to the train station tonight. It wasn't raining but the streets were wet from melting snow and it was fairly mild out. Nights like this get me thinking again about how beautiful changing seasons are. It's definitely starting to feel spring-ish. The earth is starting to warm up and the cold air isn't as strong as it was a few weeks ago. Knock on wood, we'll probably get a huge winter blizzard now that I'm talking about spring, but I thought I'd share a couple pics with you that I took on my walk.




On the way TO work this morning, my bus had to be re-routed due to a man threatening to jump off the top of a crane 27 stories up. There were several fire trucks and State Street was blocked off. Fortunately, the man was brought down uninjured, but it sure gave me a horrible feeling in my stomach when i heard what was going on. Let's hope the coming warm weather lift spirits a bit.

trip

I'm going to see Sar today!! This will be the first time I'm going to Grand Rapids to visit her and I'm SUPER excited to get out of the city and help her with her post-exam relaxation therapy :)

all good things do come to an end.

alright, so i know pretty much the only thing I talk about is my exhibit, but i have to talk about it again because it's almost done. In exactly 1 week, the first group of 'outsiders' will view the show (the press.) It's exciting to think that it's almost done and the finished product is so close, but I'm also kinda sad about it. I've gotten to meet so many cool and interesting people working on this project with me and when the whole thing is done, I won't be working with the same team any more...or any team at all for that matter. it's a little bittersweet. I'll still be at the Field, it's just going to be an adjustment working on my own much smaller projects.

sidenote: I found my thumb ring...and i feel a little foolish about getting so worked up about losing it since it was just lost in my messy apartment :P

Get at least 1 of these right and you can call yourself my friend.

Everyone loves a good challenge, hopefully you can get to know me a bit better or show off how much you already know about me. Check out my quiz by clicking on the title.

brief glimpse of my thoughts

My thumb feels empty today. The weather is cold outside. I have the taste of chicken stir fry in my mouth. Plus/Minus is playing This Is All (I Have Left) on the radio. The lingering smell of Valentines Day chocolate is in the air. My eyes feel the strain of the glaring computer screen. And I have a headache.

I lost my thumb ring yesterday. Actually, my ring disappeared. I have 2 rings that I've worn everyday for about 2 years. Whenever I take one off, I take them both off. Tuesday I took them off when I went to bed and put them on my desk. Wednesday morning I put them both on. Or, at least I thought I put them both on. On the bus to work that very morning I discovered that my thumb ring was missing. This is very peculiar. Had there only been one ring on my desk Wednesday morning, I would have realized that because my rings live in pairs. One never exists without the other. But now they do. I can't find my thumb ring! I thought I had it on Wednesday morning, but apparently all I have is amnesia and a very empty thumb.

The temperature was wee bit frosty today. A mere 5 degrees on my trek to work, but currently a more manageable 10 degrees. But you can hardly call that managable.

I had chicken stir fry for lunch today. I made it myself. Things taste good when I know what they're made out of and how they're made, and even better when I know I've made them. I like food.

Chocolate is good food. It's the day after valentines day today, so there was a lot of chocolate to go around at work. People sharing so they aren't faced with the guilt of polishing off a delicious box of chocolates on their own. I'm ok with helping.

the world's got me dizzy again, you'd think after 22 years I'd be used to the spin

woohoo! the exhibit opens in less than a month. phew. things have really calmed down in the graphics department since our deadline was a couple weeks ago and it's really REALLY exciting to see things coming together in the exhibit. here are a few sneak peeks for you:


the photo above and below are cases in the Aztec gallery of the exhibit.



above and below are cases in the Leadership gallery

below: 1 of the 11 cultural intros that I designed


I saw the movie 'Because I Said So' on friday night with jen and becky. I thought it was pretty cute, definite chick flick and pretty predictable, but ya gotta have those kinds of movies on occasion. Diane Keeton was great. I'd recommend it.

Oh, and I cooked risotto yesterday! haha, i surprised myself cuz I don't cook very often, but it turned out and was really tasty. mmm...

How Many of Me

Click on the title. Something for a bored person to do.

There are 761,920 people in the U.S. with the first name Sarah.
Statistically the 58th most popular first name.
More than 99.9 percent of people with the first name Sarah are female.

There are 870 people in the U.S. with the last name Franken.
Statistically the 30847th most popular last name. (tied with 1665 other last names)

There are only 2 people in the U.S. named Sarah Franken.

groundhogs tout more weather prediction power than your local weatherman

It was Groundhog Day yesterday and according to the 'official' groundhog day website (groundhog.org) Phil, the groundhog, didn't see his shadow. That means spring is right around the corner!

Here is Phil's forecast in his own words (obviously a groundhog who can or can't see his shadow is also able to speak):

El Nino has caused high winds, heavy snow, ice and freezing temperatures in the west.
Here in the East with much mild winter weather we have been blessed.

Global warming has caused a great debate.
This mild winter makes it seem just great.

On this Groundhog Day we think of one thing.
Will we have winter or will we have spring?

On Gobbler's Knob I see no shadow today.
I predict that early spring is on the way.

(Phil's official forecast as read 2/2/07 at 7:28 a.m. at Gobbler's Knob)