So busy!!

Yeah, it has been awhile. Stupid life getting in the way.

School has commenced. In the two weeks of classes (during which time I should have had six classes) I have attended all of three. Labor Day took care of one, and another course I have yet to begin. The teacher has been out of town at conferences for the past two weeks and has yet to hold class. It has been an interesting start to the semester!

I have come to the conclusion that work is going to be a real challenge this year. With all of the transition politics, new expectations, and a redefined list of duties for my position it is very confusing, tiring, and difficult. I am doing more than I did last year, playing a much more vital role in the programs I oversee. I have no problem doing this but feel in some ways I have been left without the proper support to ensure the programs are a success. It seems more like a sink or swim on my own deal. The real problem is not that I am executing the programs that fall under the scope of my position, but rather that I am executing someone else's vision of the programs in my realm. It is a struggle.

I have begun attending the gym quite regularly, both because I would like to lead a healthier life and because I have to do something with my work stress and anger. I have been constantly sore for the last several weeks and am a bit frustrated by a lack of physical changes. I know those will come in time if I keep up my schedule and eat healthier, but in the era of instant gratification I would like to see results faster. That being said, I am growing to appreciate my strength if not my appearance. As I have become fond of saying, "It may be a bit flabby, but it's strong!" My legs, especially, are amazing. I'm pretty much have the strength of a newborn bird in my arms, but boy howdy can I push the weight with my legs! I broke 200 pounds this week on the thigh abduction/ adduction machines and was able to run for 2.5 miles straight today. Go me with my gym self!

On the home front, things are going well with the new roommate. Having never lived with males other than my immediate family I was a bit hesitant to take on a male roommate but now find myself regretting not having done so earlier! There is no drama, the place is cleaner than it was with the old roommate, and there is no crazy significant other or drug dealer. Ryan came around at the right time and was the perfect fit.

The new neighbors in the apartment upstairs are also much better than the girls from last year. We have a Justin, Sarah, and Joe living upstairs and have started to get to know them. We're planning a grill-out this weekend with them and anyone from the front building that would like to join. Last night Justin and Joe came a'knockin at our door with the proposition to share our wireless. We have a great, well-established connection with a pretty strong router while they were running into difficulty after difficulty in getting any service. They have been able to see our signal which is, of course, protected and knew it would work in their apartment. We agreed to give it a try and gave them the password. It works very well, so now there will be six of us paying for wireless access, meaning smaller bills all around. Yayy!

I have to say, Joe is a total cutie. I had not met him before last night, but wow! He and I share a wall. Maybe we'll become friends and have a knocking code.

I'm a dork.

For the record, I think that idea is silly.

On the political front, the less I say, the better. My opinions seem to be a bit too straightforward for some. I will leave it at "God help us all if McCain/Palin actually figure out how to rig yet another election for the Republicans and steal the White House."

I will try to post more regularly.

Go Broncos!

~g

FINALLY!!!!!

It has take 11 months, but I have a new shower!!! It's so pretty! When I saw it fully installed this afternoon I literally jumped in the air and squealed. I won't be able to use it until Friday as the caulk needs time to dry, but very soon I will be able to use my all new, completely clean shower. It's a good day!

I have been enjoying spending my evenings watching Olympic coverage. The swimming, diving, gymnastics, and equestrian are my favorite sports to watch. I do feel the USA deserved the gold in women's gymnastics, not because of their performance, but because there is no way some of China's girls were of age.

Work has been challenging lately. The office dynamics are changing dramatically and it's exhausting to be in the middle of it. On the other hand, it's a good learning experience.

With the completion of my shower the repair projects in the apartment are coming to a close. It will be nice to have my home back. Now we just need to get everything back where it belongs or find a new place for things, and life will be very good.

Not much else going on. Busy as usual. Life continues. I love and miss my family.

~g

Hrm.....

The short version of the events in my life recently:

Turned 24
Was surprised on my birthday by my mom
Experienced one heck of a storm
Took two finals
Finished summer classes
Got a new roommate
Cleaned the apartment top to bottom
Moved furniture
Packed a storage room

The next two weeks will consist of working, getting to know the new roomie, catching up on sleep and personal things, prepping for the start of fall classes, and trying to have some fun.

I'm tired....

~g

Chuck

This is Chuck.
Chuck thinks he owns both the front and the back buildings.
Chuck yells at anyone who dares invade his courtyard domain.
Chuck especially hates our cats.
Chuck can eat an entire chocolate square, peeling the wrapper off and everything.
Chuck is an acrobat.
Chuck, like Chuck Norris, is the most awesome thing ever.
I am honored to know Chuck.

~g

Cat Profiles

Three cats allow me to live with them. I have talked about these fantastic felines with many people and now feel each kitty deserves to be highlighted on their own.

This post is dedicated to Isis.

The name Isis comes from ancient Egyptian mythology. Isis was a goddess revered for her kindness, gentleness, and compassion. She heard the prayers of all, from the slave to the emperor. She was honored as the ideal wife and mother.

Our Isis is a bit different. She is the smallest of the three cats, weighing in at just over 6 pounds. She has a tiny voice, but that makes it all the more shrill when she's sitting at the door screaming to be let out into the courtyard.

Isis may be the smallest of the three cats, but she is the fighter and the hunter. Our home is bug free, she's apparently taken on a mouse in the house, and I most recently found her ready to jump on the fence surrounding our courtyard in pursuit of our resident squirrel, Chuck.

Isis has a face fetish, rubbing against anything and everything. She does not like to be held, or even petted that much. She's very much her own cat, and all the more adorable for it.

Isis is the Princess of the house whom we cannot imagine living without.



~g

Chicago Pictures

People have been asking me for a year for pictures of my place and the city. I finally got around to taking some decent pictures, which are below and include helpful captions.

The courtyard between the front building and back building. The screen door in the middle of the picture is my front door. The black & white cat, as well at the two cats sitting behind the screen door, are the three kitties who run our apartment.

The 290 Expressway. I walk over this every day on the way to my college. This is about half a mile to the East of my apartment.

The view as I walk from my college to my job on East Campus. Again, this is roughly half a mile to the East of my apartment and I get this view almost every day.

The view from the center of my campus, looking East.

I have to admit that the pictures make it look very pretty.

~g

Favorite Songs

"Almost Home" Mary Chapin Carpenter
"Anyway" Martina McBride
"Mary, Did You Know?" Kathy Mattea
"Shower the People" James Taylor
"The Change" Garth Brooks
"We Shall Be Free" Garth Brooks
"End of My Journey" Harry Stewart
"Don't Give Up" Josh Groban
"O Holy Night" Martina McBride
"Everyday" Kim English
"What A Wonderful World" Louie Armstrong
"Singin' In the Rain" Gene Kelley
"Heal the World" Micheal Jackson
"Man in the Mirror" Micheal Jackson
"True Companion" Marc Cohn
"She's Becoming Gold" Marc Cohn
"We Can Get There" Mary Griffen
"My Place in this World" Michael W. Smith
"Proud" Heather Small
"Fields of Gold" Sting
"The Boys Are Back in Town" Thin Lizzy
"The Riddle" Five for Fighting
"Waiting for my Real Life to Begin" Colin Hay
"The Wedding Song" Kenny G
"I Believe" Blessed Union of Souls
"The Vision" Bill Miller
"Mary's Eyes" Gaelic Storm

And that's the short list....

~g

No Show

Daley did not show up this morning.

His entourage did, as well as some press, but not him. No forewarning, either - he just flat out did not show up.

So much for the catered food and the new floors that were installed just for him (the college would argue that point, saying the floors were scheduled to be redone anyway. They just moved up on the schedule a lot of spaces when Daley said he would be coming by).

I did find out what the meeting was about. He was to have met with a professor in Urban Planning who has done a lot of research regarding Chicago's readiness and capabilities for handling the 2016 Olympics. Apparently Daley does not care as much about Chicago's Olympic bid as he says he does. Nor does he seem to respect experts in institutions of higher learning.

I got a new kitchen fixture today! And my shower will be replaced shortly! And the walls painted! And the carpet will be professionally cleaned tomorrow!

I like new things.

Mary Chapin Carpenter's "Almost Home" = Absolutely Fantastic

For an awesome waste of time go here: http://icanhascheezburger.com/

~g

THE Daley

So, if everything goes according to plan tomorrow (Tuesday) I may be one of the few who is blessed enough to gaze upon the formidable Mayor Daley in person.

Apparently he and his entourage will be dropping by my college for about 10 minutes to receive information of some sort from one of the esteemed professors. I have no clue what the meeting is about, but I've got the connections that will let me know when Daley is going to be there. I was already planning on being in the building to use the computer lab, so I will just have to drop downstairs for a few minutes. The meeting is closed, but the hallways are not restricted!

I'm just trying to have another Chicago experience. We'll see how it goes.

Term paper coming along nicely. Down to my personal opinion and interpretation. I will easily finish it tomorrow and have time to spare for studying. Yayy for time management!

It was HOT here today! Uber hot! Stupid humidity and concrete.

I made my travel plans for the fall semester today. I will be back in good 'ol Iowa over Labor Day weekend to renew my license and pick up a few things. Then back again mid-October for a dental appointment. I also have the day before Thanksgiving off so I can be traveling to where ever I will be, although I may not actually leave the city. Mom and I had grand Thanksgiving plans for last year that got royally messed up when I came down with a bad chest infection. I had planned on staying in the city last year to see the Thanksgiving Day parade and eat out. Maybe we'll do that this year! Or maybe I will go see Marshall and Sarah! The possibilities are endless.

I washed my sheets this morning and I am thinking it is about time I put them back on the bed so I can be crawling in and curling up.

Less than 24 hours until a potential Daley sighting. Pins and needles....

~g

Floors, Pt 2

After the troubles with the scheduling for the floors we thought we would have to wait a few weeks on the hardwoods. Not so! This past Wednesday I talked with my landlord (Mike... he's a good dude) about the time line for repairs and he says, "Can you be ready for the flooring guys Friday morning?" He caught me off guard but I wasn't about to pass it up, so I said sure. We hadn't moved anything back so it was just a matter of getting the rest of the room emptied Thursday night. Angela and I tackled it and had the room cleared out in just over 2 hours. Except for the sofa. We left that for the flooring guys to handle.

Bright and early Friday morning our bell was ringing. Angela was long gone to work and I was running out the door. I had enough time to hold the front door open while they moved the couch and tell them to avoid opening the door to the bedroom that held all three cats and I was gone. Returned around 6 that night to a whole new floor and LOTS of fumes. Saturday morning they were back to put on the second coat, so Angela and I kicked around our area of the city all day.

One thing I learned this weekend - when you are forced out of your home and have to stay away for a designated period of time all you want to do is go home.

We hit up Panera first for breakfast and free WiFi. Spent about an hour and a half working before we both decided Panera's air conditioning was just too much for us to handle. We were in a little shopping complex neither of us had taken the time to check out, so once we left Panera we walked around a bit. Then back into the car and back home to see if there was any way we could sneak in and get sweaters. No such luck.

We hung around a bit before heading down to Taylor Street for lunch at Potbellys (Think Quiznos but WAY WAY WAY better). After lunch we headed a block down the street to the local hardware store to get felt pads for our furniture. We knew we would need them once we could move things back onto the floor.

After that it was into the car and over to the west of the hospital complex to a family bakery for some cannoli. Angela has been telling me for a year I need to try this stuff. It lived up to her hype, although it was not nearly as good as my first experience with cannoli two years ago in Colorado. From there it was up to the West Loop area to browse Blockbuster and then sit in Starbucks for a bit doing more studying.

We had to park the car a few blocks from the Blockbuster and Starbucks. We were parked directly across the street from Harpo Studios - home of the Oprah Winfrey Show. Let me tell you, that place is not impressive. It's a giant warehouse surrounded by other giant warehouses. On our walk to Blockbuster we passed the Oprah store. Out of curiosity we stopped in, stayed for all of 30 seconds, then left. It was a ridiculous shrine to Oprah that you could pay an arm and leg for to take home. I am not as enamored with Oprah as others are. I think she's overrated.

Anyway, we stayed at Starbucks for a bit but headed back to the car when the time ran out on the meter. We decided to just come home, thinking we would sit in the courtyard for the hour or so more we were to wait before walking on the floor. Mike was out front when we pulled up, so we stood and talked with him for a bit. He introduced us to the new tenants in the apartment above us - a girl named Sarah, a boy named Justin, and another boy named Joe. From what I gathered in the few minutes we spent talking yesterday I think they will be decent neighbors.

Mike was as antsy as us to check on the floors, so we threw the door open and started feeling around about 4:30, and found, much to our delight, the floors weren't nearly as tacky as we expected. This was good, since it meant we didn't have to wait to walk on them. Yayy!

Angela came in and went straight to bed for a nap. I went straight to the kitchen to start cleaning up the huge mess the sanding had left behind. Everything needed to be washed, even the dishes in the cupboard. Thank goodness we have a dishwasher that can do large loads!

I kept up the cleaning and reclaiming of the kitchen today. Everything is now washed and back in its rightful place. I even got Angela to agree to let me throw out the pots and pans that are not fit for cooking anymore. We put them in the alley for the scavengers to take.

We got our couch back in the living room, the "entertainment center" (really, it's a table with a drawer that the TV and stereo sit on) back, the coffee tables and end tables, as well as the glass hutch put back. The living room portion of that room is completely back the way it should be. The north end, typically thought of as the entry way although it's just as big as the living room portion, is still empty. The walls in that portion of the room need some painting to repair water damage from the apartment above us. That should happen sometime in the coming week or so. Even when it's done it will be a bit before the north end is put back together. The furniture that was there is not coming back. Instead, Angela has decided it is time to purchase a storage hutch. Once she decides which one she wants, she will order it. We just need to time its arrival for coincide with the completion of the apartment repairs, as well as a visit from her boyfriend so he can assemble it for us.

In the coming weeks the following will happen in my apartment:
1. The kitchen light will be replaced
2. The entire place will be cleaned by a hired cleaning lady
3. The carpets will be professionally cleaned
4. My shower will be replaced
5. The walls will be repainted/ touched up
6. The courtyard landscaping will be redone/ finished
7. We will reclaim our storage space and move old furniture into it
8. We will get new furniture
9. We will get a new roommate
10. We will have an entirely new apartment

As far as the roommate goes, we had a girl by today to take a look at the place. Her name is Quince, she's from North Carolina, and she's moving to Chicago for law school. We liked her and hope she liked us. We'll know by Wednesday if she will be our new roommate or if we need to keep looking. Keep your fingers crossed.

Things I learned about myself through all of the apartment repairs:
I do not like unclear itineraries
I do not care for chaos
I don't like mess
I need things put back to normal as quickly as possible after disruption
I prefer minimalism in possessions
I do not like being kicked out my home
I can be incredibly polite even when inconvenienced
I do not care for eating out every meal of the day
I am unsettled by change
Others can find a good portion of these traits annoying

Around all of this I have been working on a term paper for my legal context course. That's not due until Wednesday and I'm just over half way through, so I'm feeling pretty good. I only work a few hours tomorrow and have all of Tuesday off, so finishing it will not be a problem.

Get this - the sexual harassment portion of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was added at the last minute by Southerns in an effort to highlight the ridiculousness of an anti discrimination law. Furthermore, the provision was meant to derail the legislation and keep it from passing.

Worked well, didn't it?

If you have a free minute, check out this website: http://www.postcardsfromyomomma.com/
It is hilarious! I have even sent in portions of emails from my mom, and they published one on the site this past weekend. "Drifting Mind" belongs to none other than Ms. Tanjala Jo Kole.

With that, it is time to wrap this up and get back to my paper.

~g