6!!!

I wasn't sure, when I started my workout today, if I was going to make an attempt at the elusive six-miles-in-an-hour. I just took three days off from working out (Friday was a planned off day, but Saturday and Sunday just sort of worked out that way because of my random weekend schedule...), and I was trying to decide if I wanted to do a kettlebell workout, or just walk for a while, or what. Plus, it was about 95 degrees here today, and quite warm and stuffy inside my condo (I had the A/C set at 78...). But I decided to at least go for a 5K run on the treadmill and then see how I felt...

I hit three miles at 30:52, and I realized, "hey, I only have to shave off 52 seconds in the next half hour to reach six miles." And since my first mile is always really slow (it's my "warm up" mile), I thought MAYBE I'd have a chance... Or at least I thought I might have a chance once Rick happened to walk by the treadmill and I asked him to lower the A/C temp to 76... (I would obviously not last long on an outdoor run in the summer...)

Besides, I had all my awesome Indian music queued up for the second half of my workout:

I was starting to really lose energy by the time I hit five miles, though, and I was pretty sure I wasn't going to reach my goal. Which sort of annoyed me. I can be a very competitive person at times. At least when it comes to competing against myself. And once I decided I was going for that six miles, nothing less was going to work. I got to 55 minutes and I still had a half mile left... so I sighed a big, exhausted sigh and decided to just see if my tired legs could keep going. And then, at some point, I looked at the treadmill display and realized that I was running at an 8-minute pace, that I had ONE lap left to go, and that I had just over two minutes to finish it. Using my exemplary math skills (hey, why didn't anyone tell me there would be math on the treadmill??), I told myself that all I had to do was maintain my pace for that ONE last lap, and I'd have my six miles...

Of course, this was the point when my body decided it HAD to have one last drink of water... water, posthaste! Water, forthwith!! And I have still not mastered the art of drinking water while running -- I always have to slow to a fast walk, otherwise I'm sloshing water everywhere. So I slowed down, took one last quick drink, and then just went as fast as I could... I could tell it was going to be REALLY close... and just as I started questioning the wisdom of that last drink of water, I finally crossed the six-mile mark... at 59:58.

Yeah! I did THIS many! (Yep, I'm a weirdo...)

I promised myself new perfume when I reached this goal (it's better than promising myself, say, a couple dozen cupcakes... or a Ghirardelli sundae every week for the rest of the summer...), so I'll be surfing Sephora's website to see what looks good. I guess 6.25 miles in an hour is my next goal... and THEN I'll eat a Ghirardelli sundae every week for the rest of the summer...

Just kidding. Maybe... :)

By the way, this is what Riff was doing the entire time I was on the treadmill:

(I just washed those sheets... he likes to burrow into freshly washed laundry...) It's good to know I wasn't the only one who was working hard... 

By the numbers...

2 -- Cups of coffee I plan on drinking while I'm writing this post (which will, by the way, be reheated an innumerable number of times because I never drink my coffee quickly enough).

0 -- Riots in my neighborhood during NATO last week. I would also like to point out that my condo building did NOT burn down, as Eric warned me it would. He'll probably say this is because of his hard work, and Rachel's hard work, and the hard work of the thousands of other Chicago police officers who managed the chaos last week. (Okay, seriously -- the CPD did an awesome job during NATO... Eric and Rachel, you guys rock... :))

3 -- Number of times I happened to see President Obama's motorcade within two blocks of my condo over the weekend. There were about a million motorcades passing by during NATO, all of which managed to gum up the traffic, but Obama's was unique -- every street was completely blocked off until the path for the motorcade was abandoned... then a single black car drove by (the "scouting car"??)... followed, five minutes later, by a police car... followed, after another five minutes, by six motorcycle cops... then shortly followed by several police cars, a couple big white vans, and finally the telltale black cars of Very Important People. And, while most of the motorcades over the weekend were full of unmarked cars with no flags (darn it), the president's motorcade included American flags and the flag of the president. This was the best picture I managed to get:

5,782 -- Approximate number of calories I consumed at dinner last night, when we tried a new (to us) restaurant called Epic. Tonight I'll be eating celery sticks and lettuce leaves. And maybe an orange slice for dessert.

6 -- Miles I am still striving to run in under an hour. It's going to happen this week -- I can feel it. At least it better happen this week, if I ever want to eat anything other than celery and lettuce again...

5 -- Average number of high-energy Indian songs I listen to at the end of my workout when I'm starting to get tired. They're better than Gatorade, I swear...

75 -- The very nice, quite perfect temperature today... Sunday is supposed to be near 100. I never thought I'd live in a place with weather more temperamental than Austin weather, but Chicago weather is crazytown banana pants (Community?? Anyone? :)).

2 -- Loads of laundry I SHOULD be doing instead of blogging... I suppose I'll go do something domestic... Hope everyone has a good weekend!

I'll never eat another cookie again... (Ha! Just kidding...)

So far, NATO weekend has been quiet here in my neighborhood, even though I can see at least five police officers out on the sidewalk and about half a dozen transit authority people with bright orange vests halfheartedly directing traffic (which isn't really in need of being directed at the moment). At one point yesterday, the transit authority people blocked off the street right outside with traffic cones, and cars at the next intersection were being herded to the left -- I stood at the window waiting to see if a Very Important Person's motorcade would come zooming down the street, but nothing happened. Absolutely nothing. So either the Very Important Person snuck into town in an old Toyota (which, let's be honest, would be a great way to remain incognito), or the street blockade was a result of some Very Important Person a few blocks away.

Rick mentioned the possibility that some of the dignitaries coming into town could have those little flags of their nations flying on their cars... which got me all excited, because I have a weird obsession with flags. Of course, that would totally negate the "incognito" thing, so I'm not sure if anyone will actually advertise their country on their car... But now I'm really hoping for some kind of cool foreign Very Important Person motorcade, complete with flags... and also, if anyone would like to bestow upon us gracious NATO-hosting Americans any kind of gifts from your specific country, that would be all kinds of awesome. I really like foreign chocolate. And I'm right on your way into downtown if you're coming from the airport, so you don't even have to go out of your way to drop it off... I'll even meet you out on the corner... you don't even have to STOP -- just toss the chocolate out the window.

We figured we'd better go out last night, since we're planning to stay in the rest of the weekend (although I'm still not convinced that my building is going to burn down, as Eric has warned me it will once the protesters find us...). So we walked back over to Bull and Bear, the site of last week's awesome brunch. Dinner was also really good, although the service was sloooooow. But since it's a sports bar, there were TVs everywhere, some of which were broadcasting the Yankee game. So even though Rick and I were sitting across from each other, we each had a TV to watch the game. Which was nice, because it removed the threat of that whole "awkward conversation" thing. (I would like to mention that Rick is the one who pointed that out when we were at dinner... and I'd also like to mention that it's a joke... :))

And then after dinner, somehow THIS happened:

Uh, yeah -- this was described on the menu as the "ridiculously huge chocolate chip cookie." I didn't believe the "ridiculously huge" part until it arrived at the table. If you can't tell by the really dorky look on my face, it was like waking up on Christmas morning and seeing tons of presents under the tree... Seriously -- that thing was easily big enough for four people... probably even six...

Well, I'm off to wait for a Very Important Person motorcade, in the hopes that someone will toss me some chocolate...     

So very random...

1) I broke my own 5K record today -- my best time previously was 31.15... today I manged to hit the 3.1 mile mark at 30.26. Which averages out to 9.7 minutes per mile. I have NEVER, in my entire life, managed to finish a mile in less than 10 minutes. As previously mentioned, I am the SLOWEST "runner" on the face of the planet... but I've been working on (very gradually) increasing my speed and distance. (I've also been trying to get to 6 miles in under an hour... so far, the best I've done is 5.87 miles in an hour. Strangely, I've done that exact same distance in the exact same time TWICE in a row...) 

2) I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day yesterday. We went out for a Mother's Day brunch... we tried a (new to us) place not too far from here called Bull and Bear. (Sadly, neither Rick nor I figured out the basketball/football reference until after we'd been there for a while... sitting near the bar... where fifteen televisions were broadcasting sporting events... and a ticker gave running updates about various players and scores... Rather, we assumed that "Bull and Bear" was some kind of stock market thing. We're super smart like that.) They had an awesome brunch menu -- I had one of the BEST Belgian waffles I've ever eaten. We need to go back there soon...

3) Rick avoided the "breakfast-y" part of the menu and settled on a Santa Fe-style salad. I tried a few bites, and it was GOOD. So good that I decided I needed to attempt to recreate it for dinner tonight. (One thing I've noticed after working out: as soon as I'm finished and showered, all I can think about is food... mostly cupcakes... Gosh, I wish I had a cupcake...) For my own version of the salad, I cooked some chicken with salt, pepper, cayenne, cumin and chili powder, and then tossed it together with a bunch of lettuce, tomatoes, red peppers, corn and beans. And then drizzled it with a dressing I made with nonfat Greek yogurt, a little bit of olive oil, lime juice, garlic, and the same spices I used on the chicken. The finished product was sooooooo good. But decidedly lacking in cupcakes...

4) Why do I have cupcakes on the brain right now?? I suspect it's because I know the store across the street is already closed, so I have no chance of running over there to buy one tonight...

5) Three days in a row now, the fire alarm out in the hallway by the elevator has annoyingly and randomly decided to sound. Fortunately, it's not as jarring as the sound made by home smoke detectors (which are ear-drum-popping loud), but it still causes the cats to stand at attention and stare suspiciously at the door... Piva actually meows with an intonation I can only assume means, "make that stop, please. Trying to sleep here..." (It's still not as bad as waking up at 2 in the morning to an intermittently beeping smoke detector that has decided RIGHT AT THAT MOMENT to run out of battery power...)

6) Cupcakes. (Wait, that's not really a complete thought... is it???)

That's it for now... hope everyone has a good week...

Auf wiedersehen, mein Auto...

So I just found out a few days ago that my beloved little green Audi A4 (which we'd managed to keep in the family, so I felt like it was still around) has gone on to meet its auto-Maker. (I guess that means that when an Audi dies, it goes to Germany??) I was actually SAD when I heard this news -- I've never really been emotionally attached to a car, but I did love that Audi... But I suppose it was getting "old" as far as cars go... it was a 1999 (actually, a 1999-and-a-half... did you know some cars come out in half years?? I had no idea until I got my 1999-and-a-half A4...).

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before: the only reason I even gave the Audi a chance was because I'd just seen the movie Ronin... and the awesome car chases in that movie piqued my curiosity about driving an Audi. (Um, Faisal? Have you watched it yet?? Or do you just not trust me anymore after the whole Galaxy Quest thing? Although, honestly, how can you NOT love Galaxy Quest?? Best. Sci-fi spoof. EVER.) Anyway, one Audi test drive, and I was sold. (I also loved the fact that Audis were pretty rare a decade ago... I felt like I was the only person in Austin who had one...)

I'd only had my new A4 for about a week when I was driving down a highway and a truck kicked up a stone that flew into my windshield. The volume of the subsequent "crack" told me that the glass would not remain unblemished -- I was quite dismayed to see the nickel-sized chip in my brand-new windshield. Rick later found out that Audi glass was known to be softer than the glass used in most cars -- this was a fact that would soon become even MORE obvious...

Not two weeks later, as I sat at a red light in my brand-spanking-new, shiny, unblemished (save for one annoying glass chip), practically-as-awesome-as-the-cars-in-Ronin Audi A4, I watched as a Ford Bronco made a left turn right in front of another SUV... and I watched the SUV broadside the Bronco... and then I watched as BOTH of those vehicles screeched across the pavement directly toward my brand-spanking-new, shiny, unblemished, eeeEEEeeeeEEEEeeeeeekkkk!!!!! (I'm fairly certain some sort of squeaking, high-pitched, half-scream escaped my lips.) Seeing as I'd been completely stationary, frozen at the red-light intersection, there was nothing I could do in the way of reaction. My mug of coffee, which had been safely cocooned in the cup holder, flew across the car and ended up on the passenger seat, and floor, and dashboard, and window... the front left axle was bent, and the driver's side door was rendered inoperable... and the large rear window of the Bronco shattered when it hit my car -- thousands of little projectiles rained down upon the notoriously soft Audi glass, and in an instant, that one little annoying chip turned into hundreds of little chips. Every window on my car was chipped. (Was this some sort of payback for my whining over the original windshield chip??? I will never complain about a chipped windshield again...)

Fortunately, no one was hurt (although I had some nice bruises on my hip from the seat belt buckle, and on my knee from hitting the center console... but if you know anything about me, you know I bruise WAY too easily anyway...), but the driver of the Bronco was uninsured. (Even though he repeatedly insisted at the scene of the accident that he WAS insured. That became a bit of a hassle, although years later -- seriously, YEARS later -- my insurance company sent me a check for the deductible we'd had to pay for the accident.) And the Audi was taken away on a flatbed truck to be repaired, having only been driven for a few weeks.

And this is one drawback to owning an Audi -- many of the parts had to be ordered from Germany, which drew out the repair process for months. I drove some kind of horrible loaner car for almost half a year (I can't even remember what it was... I just remember that it smelled faintly of cigarette smoke and whatever was used to cover UP the cigarette smoke...). And the day I was finally able to pick up my little green Audi -- every window replaced, every scratch buffed out of the paint, the interior cleaned and detailed -- I wanted to wrap my arms around it and give it a hug. When I think back to that accident, I remember how BIG those two SUVs were that came barreling toward my little car... but that Audi was SOLID -- many other cars would've been much more badly damaged, I'm sure. It may have been small, but it always felt substantial, and sturdy, and safe.

RIP little green Audi -- we had some good times... I mean, minus the whole horrible screeching accident thing...

(Not actually mine... but this IS what it looked like... :))

New shoes equals...

New cat bed!

(Seriously, I love this cat... never a dull moment when he's around. :))

Now if I could just discourage him from jumping into the refrigerator or onto the kitchen counter when I'm trying to cook...

Friday night random stuff...

1) The weather here is weird. Yesterday was 80, today was 50-something, tomorrow is supposed to be 72... I'm so confused. Although I suppose it's not unlike Austin weather, which also used to confuse me on a daily basis. Austin, however, would see such temperature fluctuations on the same day -- it made choosing an outfit for the day a complicated matter...

2) I cannot believe that Mariano Rivera (the Yankees best closing pitcher, for those who are baseball-deficient) tore his ACL during batting practice... and not even doing anything particularly strenuous, at that. Just... running. Why, Rivera?? WHY??? But c'mon -- he injured his KNEE, right? And he's a PITCHER. Which means he can still throw. Stick him in a chair and let him pitch -- he'll be fine. (What?? Do they not allow chair pitching in major league baseball?) There was some speculation that, since he's out for the season and he's 42 (which I guess is "old" in baseball years... they're like dog years -- baseball players age more quickly), he might just retire and be done with the game altogether. I would not stand for that. Not Rivera. Rivera cannot end his career with an injury -- it wouldn't be fitting. So I was encouraged when I read this on the Yankees website tonight: "I'm coming back," Rivera said. "Write it down in big letters. I'm not going down like this. God willing and given the strength, I'm coming back." THAT'S what I wanted to hear...

3) So I just started reading Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie. If you'll recall, I read The Satanic Verses a few years ago, after my more-than-a-decade of curiosity about the book finally got the best of me. It was one of the best books I've ever read -- part literature, part acid-trip, part work of art... and Midnight's Children is cementing, in my mind, Rushdie's place as one of my favorite writers. I am mesmerized by the way he laces words together... his writing is very stream-of-consciousness, and I'm guessing it's a style that readers either love or hate. I happen to love it... but I'm not sure I know many people who I'd recommend his books to. If you're as weird as I am, however, definitely give one a try...

4) There was a notice on our door today from our property manager to remind us that the NATO summit is going to be in a town in a few weeks. They're expecting tons of traffic... probably a bunch of protests... lots of crazy people... And, in addition to the NATO summit, the Cubs and White Sox are playing a crosstown series, AND the Bulls are in a playoff game... basically, it's a trifecta of horrendous crowd situations. I'm already planning to grocery shop the week before so we can hole up in the condo all weekend and not venture outside.

5) I suppose I should post this before midnight (in the central time zone, anyway) so I can still say this is FRIDAY random stuff...

Hope everyone has a good weekend...

Curiosity only kills cats, right?

I just read that the giant Marilyn Monroe statue on Michigan Avenue is about to be moved to a new city, and will only be around for a few more days. Rick and I have walked past it several times, usually on our way home from Millennium Park or when we've been out wandering aimlessly on a weekend walk around the city. It's the famous "standing over a subway grate" pose:

And every time we walk past it, I say that I want to walk underneath it, so I can see if she's wearing underwear. (Oh c'mon -- you KNOW you want to know... I mean, she's like 30 feet tall -- does Victoria's Secret even carry her size?? And if she's not wearing underwear, what's going on under that dress? Is it like a smooth plastic Barbie doll? Or is it... uh... well, never mind, but you know you're curious, too, so just shut up...)

I guess, according to these guys in an AP news story photo, SOMEthing is going on under there:

But every time I say I want to walk underneath it, Rick tells me not to. I can't believe HE doesn't want to know what's going on within those flouncing fabric pleats... And now Marilyn is moving to a new city, so unless we take a walk over by Michigan Avenue within the next few days, I may never know for sure...

I guess Victoria can still keep a FEW secrets... 

Random Friday stuff...

*I'm watching Tron on one of the movie channels (the new one, not the old one... I've still never seen the old Tron...). Lately I get sucked into this movie every time it's on (hmmm... not unlike how Sam gets sucked into the cyber realm at the beginning of the movie), and lately, that's about every two days or so. They've been airing this movie a lot... Rick watched it a couple weeks ago and pointed out the fact that Jeff Bridges has amazing hair -- seriously, have you seen this guy's hair?? There's a scene at the end of the movie in slow-motion, where the wind is blowing and Jeff Bridges' hair is waving around like a lush field of coconut-oil-conditioned wheat...

Marvel... marvel at my head of awesome hair... (That's what I imagine he's saying at this point...)

*Mom and dad head back to Austin today... and while I'm sad to see them go, it's probably good that I can return to eating lettuce leaves and celery sticks now. (Okay, I'll probably eat a little bit more than that... but I've eaten far too many cupcakes over the last few weeks... :))

*But speaking of eating cupcakes -- I have been striving to increase the distance and speed of my treadmill workouts for the last couple of months. I've been working out regularly for years and years, but I've NEVER been much of a "runner"... I've never even been close to a "jogger." Even in high school, I would struggle to finish a mile on the track in 12 or 13 minutes. I was always the LAST kid to cross the finish line, except for the handful of kids who were exempt from running due to asthma or just being overweight (seriously -- I remember some fat kid who never had to run... shouldn't the fat kids ESPECIALLY have to run??). Needless to say, running on the track was pretty much my LEAST favorite thing to do in gym class... well, except for volleyball... and baseketball... and softball... (I went to school to LEARN stuff, not to work out, okay???)

But I digress... my point is, I've been slowly increasing my speed and distance. A couple days ago, I did 5.87 miles in an hour... which averages to a 10.2 minute mile. Still not impressive by "runner" standards, but way better than anything I was ever able to achieve in high school. My next goal is to get to an even 6 miles in an hour... And this is all so I can keep eating cupcakes. Lots and lots of cupcakes. (That's a joke... sort of... :))

*That's about all I've got for today. But here's a cute picture of Connor just for fun:

Hope everyone has a good weekend...

Happy Earth Day??

About once a year, I get super-political for about five minutes. So here's this year's political diatribe: I really hate "Earth Day." That is all.

Oh, and I like this video. Sorry for the politics.

No, really, I am. :)

What I did today...

As I mentioned in my last post, I occasionally receive cooking/baking requests from friends or family. Actually, in Eric's case, he brings up the topic of chocolate chip cookies just about every time I see him... and lately, he has leverage in the form of Connor -- Connor is the one who really wants the cookies. (Seriously, how can I feel so guilty about not making cookies for a five-month-old with no teeth?? :))

Today's request was chocolate cupcakes -- I made some last week for my mom's birthday, and she liked them so much that she requested more for dessert tonight. And since I'll use any excuse to bake a dessert which includes either the word "chocolate" or "cake" (but preferably both), I made these cupcakes my afternoon project...

I can't take credit for the cake recipe -- it's actually from an old restaurant in Austin called Green Pastures. I've never been to the restaurant, but they published their chocolate cake recipe in the Austin American-Statesman about fifteen years ago, and it's been my go-to chocolate cake recipe ever since. The recipe makes enough for a two-layer cake, but I only wanted about a dozen cupcakes for tonight's dessert... so I decided to make a third of a recipe. And by the way, trying to figure out a third of a recipe already rife with fractions isn't as simple as you'd think. If these cupcakes end up tasting good, it will be a testament to my awesome math skills. I gotz mad math skillz, yo...

Mmmmm... butter...

After the addition of several mathematically rearranged ingredients: mmmmmmm... chocolate...

Which then magically transforms into: MMMMMMM... CUPCAKES... (Yes, in my head "CUPCAKES" is in all-caps...)

But my favorite part of any cake-baking enterprise is the final step -- the frosting. And this MAY be my favorite part because I don't use any particular recipe, I just mix things around until they start to taste right... which means I have to taste-test the frosting. A lot. It's a requirement. A while ago, I mentioned that I bought some ridiculously expensive vanilla beans at the grocery store -- but I just found vanilla beans for $2.99 at World Market. Score! (I could seriously spend three hours just in the food section of World Market... I love that store so much I want to dress up in a frilly gown and ask it to prom...)

Vanilla beans are cool -- you have to slice them open with a knife and scrape out the little vanilla seedlings inside (I have no idea if "seedlings" is the correct term, but I'm going with it).

See all the little seedlings? $2.99 is still a lot to pay for a couple vanilla beans that will only last for one or two recipes, but I LOVE the way vanilla bean tastes in this frosting... and I don't make it very often, so I don't mind the expense...

Uh, yeah... clearly my cupcake-decorating skills are right on par with my math skills...

Maybe some colored sprinkles will distract from the haphazard frosting placement...

They'll still TASTE good, regardless...

P.S. I may or may not have licked most of the leftover frosting out of the bowl when I was finished frosting the cupcakes. Don't judge me. I spent all afternoon baking -- that has to burn SOME calories, right?? :)

Even MORE weekend randomness...

1. I obviously need to update my blog more. I have been such a slacker lately.

2. It is the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Rick and I actually just watched an episode of Supernatural a couple days ago in which an angel changes the timeline so the Titanic doesn't sink... mainly because he doesn't want to listen to "that horrible Celine Dion song" anymore. Ha! That made me laugh... :) I can still remember when the wreckage of the Titanic was discovered back in the 80s (which is weird, because I couldn't have been more than, like, oh, let's say, three years old) -- I thought it was so cool that someone had manged to find it after so long, and I pored over all the pictures and information I could find. I remember one particular picture of a ghostly, white, hollow-eyed doll head lying on the ocean floor... I found it immensely creepy... I don't think I slept for a week after that...

3. My mom's birthday is in a couple days, so we had a birthday dinner at mom and dad's condo last night. Mom always requests fajitas, which I'm happy to make, especially since for the most part, they're pretty simple to cook. Although a few years ago, I decided to try making my own homemade pico de gallo, and everyone loved it so much that I am now obligated to make it every time I make fajitas. And strangely, this is the most time-consuming part of the entire fajita process, just because of all the vegetable chopping. Yesterday's batch included thirteen tomatoes, two jalapenos, an onion, a few cloves of garlic, some lime juice and a sprinkling of cilantro. Plus a random habanero pepper just for the fun of it. After I made it, I had to take a shower... because I felt like I'd turned into a giant onion/jalapeno/garlic bulb... But it IS pretty tasty stuff. :)

4. It seems like Indiana Jones movies have been playing on TV constantly lately. I was just thinking yesterday, as I watched the Temple of Doom for the sixty-seventh time, how well these movies have stood up over the test of time. I mean, Raiders of the Lost Ark was made in 1981, but even 31 years later, it still looks good... and while digital special effects have pretty much taken over in movie-making, there's something to be said for the old-fashioned props and stop-motion effects of older movies. And you can NOT find a better movie-scorer than John Williams. (Don't get me wrong, there are some great movie-music guys out there -- Hans Zimmer and James Horner come to mind -- but John Williams is THE movie composer.) Thirty years from now, will we still watch something like Inception and think it's cool? Or Avatar? (Remember how cool it was to see the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park for the first time? But now it's like, "oh, yeah... CGI dinosaurs... yippee... can we move on to something else now?")

5. I broke down and, for some reason, joined Twitter the other day. Why did I do that?? If I ever actually use it, I'll have to put a link up on the blog...

6. I think that's it for now, since I need to go jump on the treadmill or toss around some kettlebells or do some other form of activity that will count as exercise... hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Weekend random stuff...

"It means," said Aslan, "that though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of Time. But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read there a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards."

A great Easter allegory from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis... :) Happy Easter! 

So did everyone have a decent week? Mine was quiet, mostly because Rick traveled to Portland and Seattle this week for his new job. So I was on my own for a few days... but for some reason, I'm a strange person who actually enjoys solitude now and then. Maybe I should've been some kind of monk... taken a vow of silence (noooooo problem there -- I would OWN that vow of silence thing)... spent time reflecting on life (or whatever it is monks reflect on)... eaten lots of chocolate (what? Monks don't eat lots of chocolate?? Okay, never mind... forget THAT...).

We went to see 21 Jump Street Friday night with Faisal... who, incidentally, is acquainted with pretty much every television show that aired in the 80s... even weird, obscure ones like Killer Ice Cream Cones From Mars and My Friend the Helicopter. Okay, there's a possibility that I'm making up these titles. (Although I'm pretty sure I recall that he mentioned some 80s show about a helicopter once...)

Speaking of Faisal, I managed to convince him to supply me with some more songs to support my Indian music addiction (did I mention we just saw 21 Jump Street? I'm stuck on drug metaphors at the moment...). Several of them were immediately stuck in my head, but this one has been steadily growing on me over the last few days (plus, I really appreciate the addition of the lyrics in this video... I always look up the lyrics to these songs, even though I don't comprehend any of the words...)--

Now, can someone explain to me why this was going on at the Catholic church across the street from us this morning --

One boy is juggling, and the little group behind him is playing various instruments. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the unicycle (yes, there was a UNICYCLE), or the beginning of this little scene when the boy was juggling swords. Swords. He was juggling swords. ??????? Is there some sort of Easter Circus tradition that I'm unaware of?? I will say this: that kid could JUGGLE.

And finally, here's a picture of some of the spring color that has recently appeared in the courtyard of the building across the street:

Hope everyone has a good week...

Take five...

Is it weird that I feel guilty if I don't post often enough? It's been a busy week... and Riff will not stop bringing me hair bands (which he recently discovered in the bathroom), dropping them in front of me, and quite insistently meowing and pawing my arm until I toss them for him to fetch. Yes, my cat plays fetch. (That has nothing to do with anything, I just think it's funny...)

Must go throw myself into busyness again, but until I can write a more substantial post, here's a picture to tide you over:

I should probably eat a lot of chocolate, too...

My Apple computer is even cooler now than it was a few days ago. Check it out:

Yep, I got a sweet purple cover for it. (Okay, so maybe I'm the only one who thinks it's cool... :))

We've had no food in the house for the last couple days, having eaten everything up before we left for Austin. And Rick has been busy with the new job, so we haven't made any grocery runs lately. (And yes, I COULD, theoretically, walk the eight blocks to the Jewel Osco and buy a few things on my own... but I'd only be able to bring three, four bags at the most back with me... and we need more than that. I suppose I could also DRIVE myself to the Dominick's not too far from here... but don't get me started on the topic of me and driving. I'm weird. Have I mentioned that??) Where was I? Oh yes... we have no food. So we walked down to P.F. Chang's the other night for dinner...

I'm not usually a huge fan of P.F. Chang's, but when we were in Austin, we met our friends Bill and Marcia for dinner at Maggiano's (which is Italian, not Chinese, but hang with me here...), and they ordered fried zucchini. I'd never tried fried zucchini before, and was pleasantly surprised by how good it was. This started a conversation between us and our friends about fried vegetables in general (frying makes everything taste better, right? :))... and at some point, Rick mentioned the fried green beans at P.F. Chang's. And from that moment on, I was struck with a fried green bean craving. So as soon as we got back to Chicago and I realized we had no food, I suggested P.F. Chang's. Which I hardly ever suggest. But I really wanted some fried green beans...

And after our oh-so-healthy dinner (hey, they're vegetables... they're good for you), we received the requisite fortune cookies with our check. I opened mine first:

Well THAT sounds rather ominous... And then Rick opened his:

So wait a minute -- apparently my own death is imminent, but once I'm gone, things will be all rainbows and puppies and daffodils for Rick?? Well... that just doesn't seem fair...

At least I survived long enough to hang out at Eric's place a couple nights ago so I could retrieve my house keys from him. Well, that was the excuse I gave him for going over to his place... really, I just wanted to see this guy:

Cutest. Baby. Ever. (Okay, so I'm probably biased... but still... :))

And now, I'm off to enjoy some coffee in my favorite mug... because if those P.F. Chang's fortune cookies are accurate (and why would I have a reason to doubt a P.F. Chang's fortune cookie??), I need to drink as much coffee as possible while I still have a chance...

Returning to random...

Back in sunny (but much cooler than when we left it) Chicago. It was funny -- the mornings in Austin started out much cooler than the mornings here in Chicago, but by afternoon, it was always in the 80s. When we left, Chicago was in the 80s every day, too... but now it would appear that Chicago has remembered that it's only March, and perhaps 40 or 50 or 60 would be more appropriate. I may have to turn the heat on for a little while...

Random stuff:

Today is Rick's first official day at his new job. Since he's working from home, this means that his commute consisted of walking across the hardwood floor to his study. Such an inconvenience on a chilly day like today -- that hardwood gets really cold. :) (He'll actually be traveling a lot, so his "commute" is about to get a lot more complicated...) His new work laptop arrived while we were in Austin -- it's hard not to laugh at the fact that it's a Dell...

It was nice to see Austin looking so green when we were there -- last time we visited, they were still in the middle of a drought, and everything looked rather dead. In fact, as we were flying in, I looked out the window of the plane and attempted to guess our location. I was thinking, "it's too green to be Texas... maybe we're over Arkansas..." And then the pilot announced that we were beginning our descent into Austin. Well... I was WAY off... The grass is green again, the trees are green, the bluebonnets are blooming -- it's nice that they have something to show for all the rain they've been getting lately...

We weren't lucky enough to be upgraded to first class again on our flight home. Oh well. :) We DID, however, score a couple exit row seats... exit rows are good for the extra leg room, but the downside is that they're right over the wing, and the droning engine noise can be annoying. I actually had to pull out some earplugs last night -- I always carry them when I fly, but I hardly ever use them. But I was already fighting off a headache, and the constant engine roar was starting to make my head feel perilously close to implosion. But stretching my legs out whenever I wanted was definitely a plus...

Hey, I just noticed there's a tree across the street covered in green... spring has definitely arrived in Chicago earlier than last year, when the trees were bare until after we returned home from our California trip at the end of April. We're a good month ahead of schedule. Or maybe last year we were behind schedule... I haven't lived here long enough to know for sure...

Well, this morning's oatmeal breakfast is failing to stave off my hunger any longer, so I'm off to find lunch. Hope everyone had a good weekend...

A is also for...

That would be Austin, for anyone not familiar with the skyline. :) Rick starts his new job next week, so we thought we'd take our free time and spend a few days here. I'd say that we wanted to escape the Chicago cold... except at the moment, the weather here is almost exactly the same as the weather there. A few random odds and ends:

We got bumped up to first class on the flight up. I love it when that happens. Not only because the seats are bigger and there's more legroom and if you're reeeeaaaally lucky they feed you (nuts and a chocolate chip cookie this time -- but it's better than nothing, I suppose...), but also because first class is so close to the bathroom. I have a weird sort of phobia about walking past fifty rows of tightly packed passengers to get to the bathroom in the back of the plane. I always feel like everyone is staring at me... although I'm sure that must not be the case, because I never give anyone a second look when they're walking to the bathroom. But still, every time I stand up on a plane, I can't help but feel like I'm in a packed theater and the audience is waiting for my performance. It's unnerving. (And yes, I'm also good with the LAST row of a plane, because it, too, is so close to the bathroom... man, I'm weird...)

Speaking of weird hang-ups -- we were talking about food aversions at dinner tonight. Like how Eric hates mayonnaise and I hate fish... and ground up meat... and food with little seeds... and carrots. And we were wondering if Eric has ALWAYS hated mayonnaise, or if there was a certain point in time when he finally decided he'd had enough of that repulsive egg/oil emulsion. I, for instance, actually used to eat fish all the time when I was a kid. I ate fish sticks, and we used to get fish and chips at a place called Arthur Treacher's in Buffalo. And I ate tuna fish well into my 20s... but at some point, the smell and taste of ANY fish became completely unappetizing to me. So maybe in ten or twenty years I'll LIKE fish again? And maybe Eric will love mayonnaise... I'm going to keep sneaking it into his sandwiches until he likes it again...

Speaking of Eric... he's cat-sitting for us while we're gone, because he's awesome. (Thanks, Eric!! I'll refrain from sneaking any mayo into your sandwiches for at LEAST another week or so... ;))

I'm off to watch some TV with my mom and then maybe head to bed early... flying always seems to drain my energy... maybe it's all that worrying about walking past the audience to the bathroom... :)



A is for...

Yes, that's right -- I am blogging from my brand new, barely out-of-the-box, can't-believe-I-actually-own-one Apple computer. I've been a die-hard PC user forever, and never thought I'd turn to the proverbial Dark Side. Specifically, Rick and I have used DELL computers for as long as I can remember -- purchased, no doubt, partly because Rick worked for the company... and, since his expertise is in sales, he knew all the reasons why a person SHOULD choose a Dell computer.

And don't get me wrong -- I've never had any major problems with any of my Dell computers (with the exception of one particular laptop case that cracked/was replaced about three times...). In fact, I've always been quite happy with my Dell computers. But I do, at the moment, have a slight issue with Dell as a company. Because if you lay off Rick once (as they did back in 2008), perhaps you can use the old "it's not personal, it's business, you were just the new guy on the team" line... but if you lay him off TWICE (as they did just a few weeks ago), well, that's just colossally rude... and maybe I don't want to buy my computers from your stupid mean company anymore, Dell...

But really, this all works out great -- because not only has Rick already found a new job (which he's much more excited about than he ever was about his Dell job), but the "you must always buy Dell" guilt dropped away the moment he was laid off, paving the way for something new.

And so far, I'm really liking the Apple. The only other time I've ever used an Apple computer was a million years ago when I worked at a law firm in downtown Austin... and they were using Apples that were old for a million years ago. The ugly, bulky, monochromatic kind that still had that little guy with the x-ed out eyes that popped up when the computer crashed. Which happened a lot. I mainly just used the computer in the file room to keep track of file numbers, and to delete the sexist jokes that were constantly distributed throughout office email. (I've always thought it was ironic that the only place I've ever felt like I honestly could've filed some kind of sexual harassment lawsuit was when I worked at a LAW firm...)

But now, Apple computers are about a million times cooler and more interesting. For instance, I've been having lots of fun with the photo options on this laptop:

Andy Warhol pop art... (Ah, so THAT'S where all those people who use this for their Facebook profile pictures got it from.)

 Pencil drawing...

 Scary pencil drawing in which I look like I want to kill someone...

The "glow" setting -- I think I like this particular setting. It removes all those little wrinkles/imperfections/etc. (My mom will tell you that I have no imperfections to begin with, but that's just because she's my mom... ;))

I tried to get Riff to sit still long enough to get a picture of him with the "comic book" setting (because I think he'd make a great cartoon character, anyway), but he moves around too much. I'll keep trying... comic book Riff would be cool...

Anyway, like anything new, it's taking some getting used to... but I can definitely see the appeal. So perhaps my years of absolute PC-loyalty were unnecessary. Maybe I CAN get used to an Apple... maybe the Dark Side isn't so bad, after all...

Friday randomness...

Hello from ridiculously unseasonal Chicago:

(Yes, so I'm posting ANOTHER skyline picture... but it's not because I'm weird and obsessed or anything...)

We had a couple days in the 80s this week, and I've actually been running the air conditioner at night because I like it cold when I'm sleeping. And the condo hasn't been cooling down very quickly... I think it's pretty well insulated, what with all the concrete and brick. Last year at this time, I was still bundling up in coats and hats and scarves every time I left my abode, and I was keeping my eye on the trees in Lincoln Park for any sign of green. Last night I walked to dinner in jeans and a t-shirt. But I'm still keeping my eye on the trees (in the Office Depot parking lot) for any sign of green...

Speaking of green -- why do my cats instinctively KNOW when I'm preparing any kind of leafy green vegetable, and, consequently, jump on the counter and attempt to steal bits and pieces? Riff tends to hang out with me when I'm in the kitchen anyway, but Piva never bothers me at all when I'm cooking -- UNLESS I pull out a head of lettuce or a bag of spinach. Then she's on the counter, very insistently nosing her way close to me, while I attempt to shoo her and Riff away long enough to wash/dry/chop the leaves. This is the same reason why I can never have fresh flowers in my house. What is SO intriguing about leaves??

Also speaking of green -- tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day. And I can't say that I really care. I guess I'm not Irish enough. Although I keep seeing recipes on the web for chocolate cupcakes made with Guinness and frosted with Bailey's Irish cream frosting. And even though I've never been much of a beer fan, I really want to try these cupcakes. (Or maybe I could just go across the street to the cupcake store, where last night I saw a picture in the window of their seasonal Bailey's cupcake...)

This morning, as Rick and I were innocently walking down the sidewalk, a high school kid in a school bus at a traffic light yelled out to us through his open window... it was something about how I was a stunning vision of beauty and Rick should consider himself lucky to have me. Okay, actually, that's my clean translation... the actual words, which I can not repeat, suggested an activity which would've been incredibly rude to participate in right there on the sidewalk. Rick said I should take these words as a compliment, since apparently the hormonally-overrun high school kid thought I was attractive enough to warrant a comment... but it's hard to know, in these sorts of circumstances, whether to be flattered or just disturbed...

And now, in an effort to maintain my status as every high school kid's fantasy  stay in relatively decent shape, I'm off to jump on the treadmill for a while. Hope everyone has a good weekend...

  

When there are no words...

... Lisa posts pictures! Yesterday we had the chance to see Faisal's new condo up in Lincoln Park, just a couple blocks from where we used to live before we bought this place. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't totally jealous, because he stole my old view. You remember my view, right? No? Maybe this will refresh your memory:

Or how about this:

Or maybe this?

Surely THIS one will jostle your memory:

And I'm certain this one will look familiar:

Or this?

How about this one:

Okay, I give up.

It's not like I was abnormally obsessed or anything...