Holy Sh*t!

I saw the news about John McCain's running mate. Not that I know who Palin is, but she has to be tough to govern Alaska.

To think, come November, there will be incredible history happening, as if there wasn't enough already. We will have a man of African descent or someone who isn't a man elected to the Presidency or Vice-presidency.

That is pretty damn exciting.

First Day of School

I woke up at 3:45 this morning. And in a good mood.

In one way it was the end of my completely out of control week last week - working until 7:30 or later most nights. All sorts of last minute folks wanting to sign up for classes. We have to accommodate them - our numbers are down from last year. I'm hoping that most of them stick. Most of them seem genuinely interested and excited at the prospect of getting back into school. That's why we do what we do and bend over backwards for folks that, for whatever reason, are latecomers.

While parents of school aged children everywhere cheer for the first day as they send their kids back to school, I, who have no children, cheer for the first day of school because it means that our kids are back on campus. Sure, there are some summer school classes and the program in which I work runs year round. But there's something a little sad about a university without the bustle of the traditional students. I love the joy and optimism so many of them have.

Sure, the copiers have broken down. The elevators have stopped working. New instructors are coming in with no idea as to where they belong. Yes, it is loud as classes let out, much more so than it has been all summer long. But it makes me happy. It's the first day of school.

Maybe it IS falling...

Our office manager who has been here for about a year resigned. Guess who gets to take over a lot of her work until we replace someone? Just take a wild guess?

Actually, we are making an effort to distribute them but I know a lot is going to end up back on my shoulders for a while. And then I'll get to train the new person.

Fantastic, eh?

Maybe the sky isn't falling

I started another post a few days ago. I did. And didn't finish it. But it was a happier post. Something happy about managing to hit the 500th post. I wanted it to be all celebratory and exciting and give-away-ish. And I wanted to have edited previous posts so that I could post a link to my blog at my Flickr account and not worry that people I know (like my family or co-workers) might find their way here. I have not accomplished much of that unfortunately.

So even though I've wanted to write, I kept myself from it because I wanted it to be something that, at this moment, I just can't do.

Work is taking over my life right now. I have a 13 applicant files sitting on my desk that need to be dealt with. I've been here at work late at least an hour (3.5 hours last night) this entire week. But that's how it is the week before the fall semester starts. Suddenly everyone wants to start classes. And who can blame them? School is a marvelous thing.

So, just to reassure you, I'm alive. We'll pretend this post never happened and maybe next week I'll pull out the party hats and streamers and throw a proper party.

Just a teensy bit of panic

I had a bad dream last night - almost to the point of waking up sobbing - due to the lack of a car. Truthfully it was more about disappointing people because I couldn't get to them when I needed to, had promised to, because I didn't have a good means of transportation. I feel as if I'm getting to the end of the large purchase staples that I've had in my apartment - toilet paper, cat food, cat litter. The things I usually get at Target and then slowly haul up to the apartment. But I haven't been for three weeks because of the car-lessness. It's just hard to carry a 25 lb box of cat litter up 3.5 flights of stairs, much less haul it onto a bus or the train. But it's getting near the end. I need to figure that all out if I'm going to be without personal transportation. What I do know is that this is not going to be fun.

At least it was a beautiful morning to wait on the train.

Oh the goodness of Free Art

It's Yours, Take It Canada went up yesterday, a little late due to poor weather last weekend. But yesterday was sunny and the site was great judging from the photos.
Here's the folks that picked up my circus aminals. Photos thanks to Relish, the curator of the show.
Hooray!

This makes me want to go paint some more.

Summer Reading?

I think I mentioned the other day that I finally got a Chicago library card, mainly for the free admittance to museums. But, today as I was putzing around their website I saw something that made my heart flutter; I can download audio books! How is this awesomeness even possible? You download the book and apparently three weeks later you are supposed to delete the audio files.

I may never open a paper book again! Except that I bet most of my textbooks won't be available in the audio format. They never are...

I don't actually know if they've left Chicago

I've been playing host to my brother and his girlfriend since Thursday. This is not so fun without a car. Thankfully I live near the L and they were attending a little music festival out this way some know as Lollapalooza so I could just say "Here's a 7-day L pass, that's the entrance, here are some keys." Which is largely what I did. I worried a little about food - she's a vegan so I don't have much experience with that whole genre of food. But I bought some soy milk and some cereal and some fruit and figured it was good enough. And, since they were gone most of the day anyways, it was.

Today we went to the Art Institute (of course) but since I had managed to get a free admission pass from the library, it was, well, free. We left so that we could have a late lunch/early dinner at the Chicago Diner, a famous vegetarian restaurant that the girlfriend really wanted to visit. I have to admit, my food was good. And the dessert was delectable. Afterwards the brother and I wandered toward Wrigley Field where a Cubs game was about to get underway. No time for a game but he was able to grab a t-shirt and get his picture taken with the stadium and scoreboard in the background. He had really wanted to do that but we didn't think he would have time. We were feeling pressed to get back to my place so they could pack up quick and hop on the train to get to the airport.

Of course, then we were hit with severe weather and thunderstorm and tornado watches and warnings. So their flight that was supposed to leave at about 9 was pushed to 11:30. Then a second round of bad weather came through. Now it says 12:45. Poor kids. That's not the way to end a nice little vacation. We'll see if they end up back here tonight.

**Update: They made it home at about 6. Pobrecitos.