In demand

We've come a long way, baby! Now even churches are pursuing the gays.
Nice.

Spring is here, "for reals"

Check it out!

Random shopping cart

This is a picture of my shopping cart from a recent trip to the
grocery store. The order came to about $100, but I didn't even buy
food for a meal! Instead, I got this random assortment of things on
our grocery list - pineapples, strawberries, mac-n-cheese, eggs,
tobasco, Easter cards, and some stuff for the weekend. Funny
assortment of stuff.

One week down

So I finished my first week backat work. I thought maybe I deserved a
new car as a reward. Maybe something like this Rolls Royce. It's
practical and affordable on a state employee's salary.

Disaster - part 2

This picture shows more of the choppy lake. I swear it was more rough
than this. And the wind was fierce. At times I felt like I was working
as hard as I could but not making any forward progress. Almost as if I
had a parachute behind me.

Disaster!

Ok, so maybe I should have learned. But I didn't. One of my new
colleagues and I decided to run home from work together today.
Unfortunately, she had to cancel. No big deal, I can run by myself.
But I couldn't decide whether to run through the city (lots of traffic
and pedestrians) or on the lake front (potentially windy but no
traffic). I opted for the latter. Bad decision. First, I got lost
trying to get to the lake front. No worries, eventually I made it. But
it was very windy. Seriously. The wind blew me sideways as I struggled
to run in a straight line. I made it to lake shore and the wind was
now squarely in my face at about 35 mph. At one point, I was trying
to run forward and picked up my right foot, but the wind blew so hard
that I actually stepped backward. All this is nothing when compared to
the disaster.

I passed navy pier and headed to the scene of the crime - the place
where inde tripped me up a month ago. The lake was rough and the waves
were crashing over the sidewalk and sand was blowing in my eyes. I
bravely continued. Partly because the subways were flooded so I could
not cross under lake shore. When I reached the curve (aka the scene of
the crime), I realized that the water was flooding the path. I tried
to time my run in between waves. It didn't work. I turned the corner
and encountered water up to my ankles in front of me, so I stopped. I
looked to my right and saw a wave about to crash over the path so I
started running as fast as I could. No luck. The wave crashed over the
wall and the water rose up to my knees. For a second, I thought I
would be swept into the lake. Nope. But I was soaked. I couldn't feel
my feet as they hit the pavement. 5.5 miles to go. Nope. I took the
bus. I still had to run a half mile after freezing on the bus. Overall
- near disaster. This picture does not do it justice.

Stripper pole

When I was in high school, my math teacher told me that he played a game using the letters on license plates to fight boredom on long drives. For example, if the plate reads TKL123, you have to make a word out of the letters that starts with 'T', ends with 'L' and has a 'K'
in the middle - like 'thankful.' Naturally, when I saw this plate, I read 'stripper pole.' Was I wrong about that? Isn't this a vanity plate that reads stripper pole 1?

Oops! I forgot to wash my hands!

Imagine my surprise this evening when I went to the restroom at work and there was no sign imploring me to wash my hands! I didn't know what to do. I thought, why bother washing my hands? I'm only going to get on the el with all the other great unwashed and commute home. Why should I wash my hands when I'm just going to touch all sorts of germs
on the el. Don't worry, I washed!

'Tude

Funny that this sign should appear in the same parking lot where I recently photographed the cement pillar that had been knocked down. I guess the person who knocked that down had the wrong kind of attitude. Not me, I have a safety attitude. Except when I'm crossing the street, then I'm sort of reckless.

Back at work means more hand washing

I know you've been missing these signs. Please, just wash your hands.
Yes?

A close second

Peeps rock, but these eggs are also amazing. The best comparison I can
make is: it's like sucking on a colored bag of sugar. Omg, it's so good.

Hangin' with my peeps

Every holiday has a great candy and Easter is no exception. As a kid,
I loved peeps. I liked to let them get just a little bit stale before
I ate them. Yummy!

Nothing but sides

I swear I've written this post before. Or, maybe I've just made a meal
of sides before. Who knows. After my first day back on the job, I
celebrated with an out of town guest at a local eatery known for its
comfort foods. I think having only sides at a place known for comfort
food is taking comfort food to a new high. I had: tator tots (you know
you love 'em), Rosemary roasted red potatoes, mac-n-cheese, and baked
beans. Beat that! And I have leftovers!

Chutney!

My first attempt at making Lips of Faith chutney. The chutney is
simmering on the stove - a triple batch in the hope that I will have
some left over. Planning to serve it with pork chops, as suggested.
Could be great, could be lousy. We'll see!

Nothing beats a home-cooked meal

After a long week on the road, it's good to be home. And nothing beats
a home-cooked meal: grilled chicken spiedies, grilled garlic bread,
pan cooked potatoes and tomato / mozzarella salad. Yummy!

This Dark Horse is a winner!

I stopped at the brewery on the way back to Chicago and picked up a
few trinkets. Then I went to the grocery store, Wacky's, which lived
up to its name, and picked up some DH. And a powerball ticket. All it
takes is a dollar and a dream.

Great seats for hockey

I took this photo from my seat in the 17th row, which I bought for
face value from ticketmaster about a week before the game. I can't get
seats like this for the Blakhawks, at least not at face value. More
than anything, though, I miss my season tickets to the Flyers.

Not this year!

I went to a Red Wings game on Thursday night. It was an exciting game
(even though the Wings won). In my trip around the concourse, I
noticed this display. As if the multiple banners hanging from the
rafters were not enough. My second thought was, not this year,
Detroit! Go Blackhawks!!

I see London, I see France

Oops, I mean I see Windsor, Canada. Do you know where they keep the
inflatable beavers and Mounties?

8 Mile

Your friend, he's so 8 mile with his hoodie. Been there.

Another beer emergency!

Ok, so I stopped at another craft brewery and picked up 10 more
bottles of beer. I'm going to have to buy another cooler. Oh, yeah,
and then I checked in at the hotel and discovered that one of my fancy
no-cfc styrofoam coolers was leaking. Ugh! I guess I have to buy a
new cooler. Or two.

Really?

$999 seems a little steep for a fish fry, even if it is all you can eat.

Everything is bigger in the Midwest

I'm not sure what else there is to say about my lumberjack friend,
Just another interesting piece of Americana.

Good bye Boyne Mountain

Although I didn't ski, I had a great time! I met some fun folks in the
hot tub and then at the lodge bar. The hill was small for skiing, but
big for running!

Scary

What a way to end the ski trip. I went to dinner and met this
gentleman. He drives a 911 or a Ferrari, depends on whether you
believe his sweatshirt or him. He said he Invented a watch that
allowed people to see what happened before it happens. Hmmm. Ok.
When asked if he is happy, he said, "I've killed people." check please.

Outdoor pool in March?

Here is the indoor / outdoor pool where I have spent a good percentage
of my time in the last two days. There are two outdoor hot tubs, one
on each side. This was a relaxing two days, except for the beer
emergency and dinner tonight with this wacky stranger. More to follow.

Save the beer!

I've done this once before and thought I'd learned my lesson. Turns
out I had another lesson to learn.

The first part of this plan went off without a hitch - drive around
Michigan sampling beer and buying my favorites to bring back to
Chicago to share with friends. Check. Last time I tried this, it was
three degrees below zero and I had to bring all the beer inside my
mother's house so that it would not freeze and be skunked. No problem!
It's March and the temperatures are in the 40s. The experts at the
breweries assured me the beer would be ok as long as it didn't get
above 50 and my car was in the shade. Two problems: it's 55 without a
cloud in the sky and there is not one shady parking spot on the
grounds of this resort.

If you have some serious cash invested in excellent craft brews, you
cannot take a chance. I debated for about a minute - gym then swim in
the outdoor heated pool or drive into "town" to buy a cooler. Easy
choice. I headed into town. Three coolers and one additional six pack
later and I'm back in the parking lot filling coolers with beer and
snow.

Slingshot!

This is a little out of order, but it's worth it! At the Griffins
game, during the first intermission, the star wars characters used a
giant sling shot to send people down the ice and into an inflatable
goal. It was entertaining.

Half way point

The weather today was beautiful - sunny and warm - felt like we were
just a little closer to the equator.

Edge of nowhere

I think the road was called the Devil's Ledge or something. The sunset
was amazing.

My second favorite use for snow

Unfortunately, the hilly run left my knee a little sore. Fortunately,
there was still enough snow for a nice ice pack. This is my second
favorite use for snow. Now that I'm done icing, I'm off to the indoor/
outdoor heated pool and hot tubs in the sun!

Where snow machines go to die

It's a little hard to see, but there are about 20 snow making machines
in this field. I guess you stop making snow when the temperature hits
50. It was a great day for skiing or for running. I chose the latter.
The nice woman at the desk Showed me a route on the resort map that
she said was about 8 miles. When I asked her if the route was flat she
said yes. Wrong on both counts! The route was 5.8 with a 300 foot
climb - twice! I know, that's not too bad, unless you run in Chicago
where the only change in elevation is when you go under lake shore
drive. I'll stop complaining, though, because it was beautiful. And I
saw these snow machines, too.

Detour!

I saw the sign that warned of a detour to get to Traverse City, but I
didn't know that meant that the highway was entirely closed.
Apparently some bridges were washed out. After my own backwoods
deliverance-style detour, I finally made it to TC. And it was worth it.

As I said, they take cleanliness seriously.

This sign reminds me of the signs at work. C'mon, we're all adults. Do
you really need to tell us to wash our hands?

Catching up

For my loyal reader(s), I apologize for not keeping you up to date on
the driving tour of Michigan. You see, I have either been driving or
drinking (never at the same time), but each hinders blogging in its
own way. I have a little down time now so I will try to catch up.

I stopped at a Meijer because my last trip to a Meijer was such a
smashing success. I should have known that this one would be different
when I saw the faux barn storefront. They had a small selection of St.
Patrick's Day junk that paled in comparison to the last holiday trip.
I'd give it a 7 - based mostly on the fact that the bathroom was clean
and spacious. And they had fun beer goggles.

The table is set

But nobody is home! Grand Rapids is busy on a Saturday night, but a
ghost town on Sunday morning. The pedestrian bridge has a giant table
and two chairs built over it. I don't know why, but then I never
understood quad art.

Grand Rapids

After an exciting hockey game, the fourth over time game in a row that
I've seen in person (5 if you count the gold medal game on tv), I
visited Founders brewery. This is not a picture of my meal, which was
fantastic, but was the discarded meal of a group next to me. I guess I
should not be surprised that they didn't finish their food because
they had to resort to two 5-hour energy drinks, as you can see in the
picture.

Holland rocks!

The first day of vacation has exceeded expectations. I took the tour
of the New Holland brewery and met some cool people. This is a picture
of the Poet aging in bourbon casks. On my way to Grand Rapids to go to
Founders then the Griffins game. Nice.

Hills?

Driving with the cruise control at about 74 in the Prius when, all of
a sudden, the gas engine revs up, laboring to maintain the speed. I
panic, then realize it's only a hill; we had both forgotten what it
was like. Bring it, Michigan, we're ready.

Vacation begins now.

I am about 30 minutes into Michigan. So far, it's not completely flat
like Illinois, but it's not that exciting either. I'm not sure what
lower Michigan has to offer except for the Lion's Den adult bookstore
- three billboards and counting.

41 is the melting point for Lincoln Park

It was sunny out and looked warm, but looks can be deceiving on a
Chicago winter day. I knew I should take advantage and go out for a
run, but I was feeling tired and lazy, so I decided to take out the
garbage instead. That is when I realized that it was more than warm,
it was downright hot, at least in the sun. So I went back inside and
decided to get my lazy butt out for a run. Good decision; 41 degrees
and sunny is a great combination for a run. Once I got over to
Lincoln Park, I noticed a lot of older residents out walking. I run
basically the same route to the lake every time I go out and I have
not seen this many people in ages. I decided that 41 degrees must be
the point at which old people, like myself, decide to venture outdoors
for some exercise. Overall, a beautiful day and a good run with Inde.
She is now curled up on the couch and snoring. Ah, a dog's life.

*For those of you looking for a picture for this post, close your eyes
and visualize a blue sky over the lake and remember that sometimes I
am motivated by what I am feeling, not just by the stupidity of our
fellow Chicago residents.

Inde's island in the sun

Inde has always been one to lounge around in the sun. Today, as a
special treat, I pulled back the curtain and put her pillow in the
sun. She curled up and took a nap. I went upstairs to fold some
laundry. She came up about ten minutes later panting and her coat was
on fire. She is a silly doggy.

There's something to be said for not making a car payment

Like, it saves you a bunch of money each month. But if you are making a car payment, your car likely is covered by the warranty, so when something goes wrong, it gets fixed - for "free." I have not made a car payment since August. That's a good thing. I just had my first repair bill for this car since I bought it. That is both a good and a bad thing. It came in just about the same price as removing that tiny bump from KC's tail ($800). So the cost for each is running about the same for the last 8 months (taking into account gas & insurance vs. food, litter and clean up). If I had to get rid of one, it just might be KC. Sorry, cat, but I just can't ride you to the store.

Slower than Molasses

But not tastier! I decided to make a batch of molasses cookies last night. I used to make these with my mother when I was a kid and I always enjoyed rolling the cookie dough into little balls and then covering them with sugar. Yum. I did not remember the process being quite this labor-intensive. Everything went well, up until the baking part, which is sort of important. The first batch looked good (puffy and golden brown, just like the recipe said), so I took them out and let them cool on the air bake sheet before moving them to a cooling rack. Problem number 1. The cookies were a little undercooked on the bottom, a problem I experience frequently with the air bake sheets. It was late and I was sort of tired (problem number 2), so I made a bad decision. I thought I would just throw the cooling rack in for a minute to give the cookies a little more time. Now, if you've never made molasses cookies, you might not be aware, but molasses stays sort of liquid as it cooks, until it cools. My 12 or so cookies melted all over the bottom of the oven, dripping everywhere (problem number 3). And then continuing to cook / burn (problem number 4). I don't know how, but I managed to prevent the smoke detector from gong off (no small feat because I have set it off with far less smoke)! I learned my lesson and the rest of the cookies turned out ok. The house went from smelling like wonderful spices to smoke. Maybe some of it seeped over into my new neighbor's house -- seems he has a new roomie and they are smoking, which somehow finds its way over to my place. I cleaned the oven this morning and all is well.

The vinyl project continues

This is a massive undertaking, which I guess is why I had not started
it before. When I start something, I like to do a complete job and
finish what I start. That is usually what prevents me from starting to
clean. If I don't have time to make it spotless, I'll settle for dirty
rather than a lesser job. I have been working for a few days on this
project and it is slow going. It has been worth it, however, because
I've rediscovered some great music.

I have a few albums like this one - with a picture on it. This is the
soundtrack from the movie The Return of the Living Dead. This movie
always makes me laugh.

Strike Two against Inde

Today just is not Inde's day. First the turkey incident and now the running incident. We went out for a nice slow run along the lake shore this afternoon. The wind was blowing up to 25 mph and the lake was rough. The southbound run was ok because Inde was on my right side (away from the lake). After we turned around, however, Inde was still on my right side, but the lake was to her right. A wave crashed into the cement along the shore, scared Inde and she jumped to her left - straight into me. I went down in a pile of human and canine limbs, right in a slushy, muddy puddle. Somehow, her leash was wrapped twice around my ankles and I could not get up. Needless to say, I was soaked. Silly dog. I now have an egg-sized bump on my elbow, but that seems to be the only damage. I will know better tomorrow. OK, Inde, that's two. One more and I'm putting you up for adoption.

Turkey carnage or my dog is smarter than a fifth grader

I finished my errands and came home to a very excited Inde-monster,
who wanted to go outside. I obliged and when she was done I even let
her back inside. She raced upstairs where the groceries were still on
the counter. She tore into the sliced turkey as if I had been starving
her for days. I was only about thirty seconds behind her! She is now
in a down stay and will be until 2011. She has that look in her eyes
- yeah, I did something wrong and you're angry, but it was worth it!
My dog food tastes like crap!

New month, same story

Two months of unemployment are behind me and I actually have a start date of 3/22 to return to work, but it was no easier to get out of bed this morning than it was in February. I was left with a "to do" list of about 10 things, in addition to my list of projects I would like to complete before I go back to work, but I just did not want to get up to do any of it. Inde and KC made it even harder because they jumped up on the bed and curled up next to me. I think they are very perceptive or intuitive animals because they have been looking out for me these last few weeks. Eventually I got out of bed to start my day, but I'm still sitting at the computer even after I finished paying my bills. I decided not to turn the heat on because if I get cold, maybe I'll go out and run my errands.

I have not had this much time to reflect on my life in quite a while. Although I may not have liked my job at the law firm all the time, it did keep me busy - same routine every day, often weekends, too. And then one day I woke up and realized that none of it really made a difference. And when I left, they just plugged someone else in and kept going without me, but me, I feel sort of like Major Tom. Listening to all the music I am converting from vinyl to digital has brought back a lot of memories, which may be contributing to my malaise. No answers, only questions and doubts. And unorganized rambling.