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)

DreamGirls

Saw it last night and it was fantastic! I could definitely see that one again. The good company of Thomas and Twisha helped :)

careening through the universe

I can't believe that i've been in chicago for 8 months already because it has flown by. If ya'll remember, my contract with the Field Museum is only for a year, so come the end of may (a short 4 months away), I'm done. When I accepted the job, I thought, yeah, a year...that's a good amount of time to be in chicago and a good length of time to have my first job. Well, like I said, it's absolutley FLOWN by and now I'm faced with a dilema that I'm not ready to face: Should I stay or should I go??

I've been thinking about this decision for a long time, I dream about it, I pray about it, and I definetely cry about it. Why does this job that I love more than I can express have to be so far from home?

I had a really good convo with a friend last night about growing up. She says there comes a point in your life when you realize that you're your own person, your own little life, and you can make decisions that are yours alone to make. Before you get to this point, all your decisions are affected by how your parents, siblings and others think you should live your life. It's a part of growing up that hopefully everyone is faced with at some point...if not, are we really growing up?

I think I'm facing that point in my life right now. I'm trying to decide where I should be right now, with a strong arguement for me to move home and a very strong arguement for me to stay in Chicago. My family has always been and will always be influential in my decision making process, but I need to make decisions that I can live with myself, and even though I LOVE my family more than anything, my decision may not be what they're hoping I decide.

That being said....I'm staying in Chicago. My boss is going to hire me as a permanent employee as soon as this exhibit is finished. I'm going to be in chicago until God tells me to re-think this decision. Isn't that awesome?! God is allowing me to make this decision for myself...and I know he'll be with me the whole time.

you can't kill soul

Yeah, so, it turns out I didn't have time to think, (see previous post) as I'm just now getting a chance to update my blog. Work has been a whirlwind the past 2 weeks, but things just started to settle down today. I worked 121 hours in 2 weeks when I normally work 70. The amount of graphics my team has sent to the printer is staggering, i don't even know how many, but for sure more than 2,000. That's probably a very modest guess, but whatever.

Time for some serious R&R. I'm sleeping in tomorrow, babysitting tomorrow night and relaxing on Sunday afternoon. I hope to read an entire book this weekend.

I've been in a funk these past 2 weeks due to the stress at work, but I think i'm finally out of it. I began thinking creatively again on my commute to work today, rather than just blanking out for the hour and 15 minutes it takes me to get to work. I like thinking creatively, and i'm very excited to know that I still know how too....work hasn't completely exhausted my creative spirit. When i fully regain my creative story telling, i'll be sure to post something of some interest. but for now...time for bed!

wide awake it's morning

I can't sleep. I've been up for over 2 hours now and it's only 8:30 on a Saturday morning! I have no where to be, no reason for being up this early...I just can't sleep and it sucks.

Well, I guess I do have somewhere to be today, I have to go into work, but not til 1 this afternoon. I know, what the heck am I doing going into work on a Saturday?? Let me just TRY to tell you how crazy busy things are at work:

• In a mere 12 days (including the weekends), we have to have ALL remaining graphics ready to be sent to the printer. This may mean nothing to you, but there are a lot of things that have to be taken care of by then. Whole components of the exhibit are in flux right now as we work to finalize sizes, colors, materials, images, copy, etc.

• Even though the exhibit doesn't open to the public until March 9, we have to have it finished by the 1st. Thats when the VIPs (the directors, board members, president, and the press) all get to walk through and do whatever it is they have to do...critique it, film it, write about it, I don't know. Whatever it is, we have to have the exhibit finished by then.

• Proofing/printing of graphics takes upwards of 3 weeks, installing the graphics into the exhibit takes an additional 2 weeks, which puts us right at March 1.

• Artifacts can't be installed in the cases until all graphics for that case are finished and installed. This puts a time crunch on the production crew who have to pull all nighters to get the cases installed and closed up.

• I've already worked 55 hours this week, not counting what I'll work today.

Needless to say, the next 7 weeks will be interesting, tiring, and stress filled as we wrap up the Ancient Americas. I'll try keep you posted if I have time to think...

The year of james bond...007

Good things are in store for 2007 if New Year's eve was any indication. I went out with Jen and Becky to ring in the new year at a favorite bar of ours. here are a few pics.