Last post of 2008

Midnight and 2009 will soon be upon us. Never one to do the whole resolution thing, I prefer to think about the things I have learned over the last year. A few of my accomplishments in 2008 include:

Making my first lemon pie
Discovering the secrets to soft, chewy cookies
Finding more of my own voice in relation to advocating for myself and others
Increased comfort with Chicago - to the point tourists asked me for help on several occasions

Fun times. There were, of course, many other happenings in my life during the past year, but Shrek 2 is on and I actually figured out how to work Justin and Carrie's set-up!

Happy New Year!

Love!

~g

Breaking the Silence

So yes, I have been uncommunicative. Manners dictate I should apologize for this, but really, I am not that troubled by it. I find, more and more, I relish the occasions when I disconnect/unplug/etc. from our now-normal existence of 24 hour communication. Unfortunately, there are those that do not appreciate my lack of response, if the volume of missed calls and text messages I have received lately are any indication.

A question on this. I feel that if a person calls but does not leave a voice message, then the call was not that important and it is not my responsibility to return a phone call simply because I noticed a person tried to contact me. Am I correct in this thinking, or does the responsibility lie with with me regardless the fact the caller did not make it known a returned call is appreciated and/or necessary?

My time at home has been nice, if not exciting. I spend most of my time pleasure reading and petting my cat. I did make the trip to Chicago with Mom to rescue Marshall and Sarah, but other than that have been staying close to home. Christmas came and went with very little fanfare this year, and I suspect New Year's will be the same. I struggled a bit with how spiritless our Christmas was, given my overall seasonal spirit was very strong only weeks ago. I suppose I am growing up a bit; I just hope that does not mean the magic and wonder of the holidays I felt as a child must go away.

I spent some time this past week, while we were all under one roof again, trying to figure out my new place in our family. With Justin and Marshall both married and more focused on their own family, and Mom still ruling as the matriarch but also letting go a bit more each day, I find myself wondering just where I fit in. I no longer quite fit the little sister role, nor the baby child role, but with no significant other to count as my family, and with emerging as a full-fledged adult as my school days draw to a close, I do not seem to fit anywhere at the moment. It is a scary and lonely place I am at, and I pray this stage of my life does not last too long.

Friday I will head back to Chicago and prepare for my final semester. Although school will not resume until January 12, my job picks back up on the 5th and I have plenty of Capstone requirements to take care of during my down week. I will only have class on Monday evenings this semester, for which I am grateful. I have never been a fan of losing my entire day to work and my entire evening to school. I know, as I begin in earnest searching for jobs, those jobs that will allow my nights and weekends are more attractive.

On the school note, thanks to a last minute altering of a grade scale, I actually ended up with 3 A's this past semester. Thank goodness! Unless everything falls apart with my Capstone, I am set to graduate May 8, 2009 at 10 am CST.

There is not much else to report. It has been a blissfully quite few weeks which hopefully serve me well as I return to my big-city life.

I hope you all had a happy holiday season.

Love!

~g

Winter Wonderland

We certainly have one here in Denver, IA!

In a span of about 8 hours last night over 10 inches of snow fell in Denver. Digging out this morning was quite the chore, only made easier by the fact there were 4 of us. Once the snowplow came by we had to go out again and re-clear the roughly 4 foot wide, 2 foot tall drift he placed at the end of our drive.

More snow, up to 4 inches, predicted to fall this weekend.

Dad, we so totally have you beat.

Love!

~g

Snow

I thought it was not supposed to snow when the temperatures were below zero.

Oh well. Yayy for a potentially white Christmas!

And for warm homes and blankets.

Love!

~g

Happy cat

I suppose it is about time for another post.

I am home in Denver for the next three weeks, in my own room, surrounded by family, and being constantly assaulted by a completely ecstatic cat. I love coming home!

The semester has officially wrapped, and I think I will come out alright. I'm predicting two As and one B, which was hard earned. I won't know until next week for certain, but I am alright with those grades. Unlike Marshall, I will not graduate from grad school with a perfect 4.0, but I will be pretty darn close and perfectly happy with my achievement.

This past week was fairly quiet, especially when I got past my final on Tuesday. After that all I had to do was work and relax. We had our office holiday party (it's a state university and we therefore have to be politically correct) complete with Secret Snowflake gifts. I happened to catch one of the world's best freak-outs on video during our party, courtesy of the service graduate assistant, Samantha, but have not yet decided on whether or not I will share the video with the world.

Saturday Mom and her friend and her friend's daughter came into the city to get me and spend some time doing traditional Chicago holiday things. The highlight of the day had to be eating dinner in the famous Walnut Room (located on the 7th floor of Macy's, formally Marshall Fields) while sitting around the Great Christmas Tree. We were literally seated at the base of the 45 foot tall tree and had a wonderful time with our meal and our server, Rich. Pictures to follow just as soon as I download from my camera and get the pictures from Mom's friend.

Today was a relatively short drive home and general vegging out. It is getting bitterly cold here (wind chills have us down in the -30 range this evening), so we are hunkered down inside and feeling blessed we have the ability to do so.

That's about it. Yayy for vacation!

Love!

~g

More about the disgraced

More on the arrest of the Illinois govenor, Rod Blagojebich.

Official affidavit here

Awesome quote as a result of the event -

"If it isn't the most corrupt state in the United States, it's certainly one hell of a competitor," said Robert Grant, special agent in charge of Chicago's FBI office. "Even the most cynical agents in our office were shocked."

~g

This is why...

It is awesome to study public administration in Illinois.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28139155/

You go, Blago.

~g

So dumb!

Ok, whenever there is a crime in which a UIC student, etc. is involved, the campus police email an "Urgent Crime Alert" to all UIC students, faculty, and staff. Usually the crimes are crimes of opportunity, i.e. the victim did something dumb that opened them up to becoming a victim. One of my favorites up to this point is the undergrad walking home at 2 am who decided it would be alright to take a shortcut down an alley. At least, that was my favorite until today's crime alert. Below you will find the text of the email, in it's original form except for the emphasis formatting I added at the especially awesome parts.

Sunday evening at 6:10, a UIC student was the victim of an off-campus strong-arm
robbery at the Marathon gas station at Ashland Avenue and Roosevelt Road. The
student was putting air in a car tire when two offenders approached and asked
for change to get on the bus. The student pulled out a wallet and gave
them change. The offenders grabbed the wallet, pulling the student to
the ground, and fled east on Roosevelt with the wallet. The student had
minor abrasions to the knees but refused medical attention.

The offenders are described as follows:

1) Male/black, 5-9, 150 pounds, wearing black sweater and black jeans
2) Male/black, 5-6, 150 pounds, wearing black jacket and black jeans

UIC Police recommend *not* giving coins or cash to people who ask for money,
both for your own safety as well as to avoid contributing to possible substance
abuse. Consider donating to a shelter or charity instead. If you choose to give
an individual money, exercise caution.

UIC Police *do* recommend complying with a demand for money or possessions if a
weapon is displayed or a threat of violence is made.

Note that while it is not illegal for someone to ask you for money, aggressive
panhandling, even without a physical threat, is against the law. Notify police.

Awesome! Seriously, you are going to pull out your wallet?! And then not let go of it when they grab it, causing you to fall down and hurt yourself? Not to mention this pair seems to be hitting this neighborhood lately, working as a team and getting a lot of money, cell phones, and Ipods. They never really hurt anyone, although they often claim to have a weapon. The kicker is this pair has been described in MULTIPLE crime alerts over the course of the semester and this kid STILL pulls out his wallet. I understand wanting to be a decent human being and help out your fellow man, but my generosity in the city only goes so far.

For those of you who are wondering, the place where the robbery took place is just about a mile from my apartment. UIC has multiple campuses. I live near and work on the East campus, the medical campus is about 1/2 mile to our West, and South campus is just across a road from East campus. This pair of bandits work the West side, preying on sleep deprived medical students who are not as vigilant.

That's all. Just found it hilarious. Time to study.

Love!

~g

p.s. yes, I carry self-protection devices with me, including incredibly potent mace laced with a dye that is illegal for civilians to carry in most states (but not this one!) and a "screamer" that at the push of a button starts wailing at 125 decibels (a jet taking off is 118). Really, though, if something were to happen I would just hand over the goods and not risk the possibility of a weapon being used on me.

I thought we were the golden standard of civilization and decency.

Favorite Holiday Website

http://www.komar.org/cgi-bin/christmas_webcam

Seriously rad. Seriously gaudy.

~g

Policy

Somebody PLEASE take my policy final for me!

Thank you.

~g

Capstone

I found out my capstone assignment today! The semester is not even over and I'm already working on material for my next and FINAL semester!

My program does not have a thesis requirement. Instead, everyone is required to take a capstone class in one of their final two semesters. This class is designed to integrate all the material we should have learned in the last two years and use it to solve an actual issue. Government agencies, nonprofits, etc. from around the city are approached by the teacher and asked to submit a project that can be completed, free of charge, by students. The teacher combs through all the proposals, selects those that are most applicable to the program, and submits them to the enrolled students. The students then go through and list their top four preferences. Out of these, the teacher creates small groups and assigns each group a project.

I will be working with two other students, Ben and Adrianna. Our client is Chicago Public Schools, working on program information collection and database creation and administration. The actual task, scope, etc. will be finalized in the next few weeks. For certain, I am going to need to learn Microsoft Access inside and out!

So yeah, exciting news. Other exciting news includes the fact that the semester is almost over and that all I have left is one final. And some phone calls for work that I have been putting off all week. Too bad these are the phone calls that cannot be delegated to a student. I have to make the calls tomorrow, although I would REALLY rather not. Oh well, so it goes. Sometimes one just has to do what one does not want to do.

I am excited classes are almost over. I have my most favorite class tomorrow, and then I am done and just have to finish presentations and tests. For the second time in the course of my program, I am enrolled in a class that is under review. Like my personnel management course last fall, I am in a class this semester that is being taught by a first-time teacher. And when I say first-time, I mean first time, not just someone who is new to this particular course. My teacher in policy just got her PhD this past spring and is getting her feet wet in my class. She is terrible but will not acknowledge it, even though she has been told at least three separate times over the course of the class through evaluations.

Given the amount of complaints the department was hearing, they sent a tenured professor who used to teach this class to sit in on ours, gather information from the students, and provide the current teacher with the equivalent of a performance review. It was after this visit the department put the entire class under review. They are waiting for the final evaluations and grades to make a decision. If the evaluations are poor and the grades uncharacteristically low, the department will re-adjust all grades and most likely release the professor. I am guessing the outcome will follow the worst-case scenario, just as it did last fall. We filled out the evaluations last night, and because of my connections, I know only 2 of 26 had anything somewhat decent to say. And because people are angry and talk, I know 4.0 students are getting the equivalent of Cs and Ds. Heck, I may be one of them! I have not asked to know my grade as I am sure it would only make me upset with no recourse. I particularly feel for all the new students, as I went through this last fall and know exactly how disheartening it is.

It will be interesting to see how it all turns out, especially since this same teacher is slotted to teach this same class in the spring!

Oh, the drama. So much fun!

Other than all of that there is not a whole lot going on. I can't believe it's already been a week since Dad and Jody were in town! Holy bananas!

I have a cat curled up next to me, trying her darned best to get as much orange and white hair as possible on my navy blue sheets and black pants. Gotta love the kitties!

I need to get back to an assignment. Semester is almost over but I'm not quite there yet!

Love!

~g