And I have fallen behind on responsibilities...

Wow...so since the last time I wrote...so much has happened...so much. I have had family visits, friends move and interviews. Time has flown these past few days and I have been reading...a lot...just all kinds of different things. The purpose of this blog is being defeated, but this is ok. I am not too worried about it at all. Things will get done. Oh yeah, and since the delay in writing, it is all of a sudden summer in Chicago. Wow. A lot has happened.

This past weekend, I had the party of my life. My cousin Eva and her friend Christie came into town. Now, initially, Eva said "There will be no sleeping while we are up there." I laughed it off. She said "Are you sure you don't mind toting around two 40 year old women? We might ruin your game." PSSH. I think I ruined their game. I could not keep up.
To highlight the weekend:
They got here at 7:10AM Friday morning...to spend the entire day in Chicago.
We ate at Toast in Bucktown. All of us had stuffed French toast which was AMAZING.
We then went to my place and they met Bridget.
After, they got manicures and pedicures at Jeff's spa in Old Town. They laughed because they have not had this done in years and Christie had never had a mani before. They were treated in Chicago. I also had a mani/pedi. I laughed so much because it tickled...I never have problems, though, when people tickle my feet.
After, we went to Uno, the original Uno Pizza, on Grand and had a Stuffed Numero Uno. It was NICE.
After, we went to Northbridge Mall to pee. We then ate Vosages Chocolate ($7 candy bars) to wait out the storm moving through. We got a Black Pearl Bar (ginger, wasabi, black sesame seeds, dark chocolate), a Bacon Bar (bacon, sea salt and dark chocolate), and a spicy bar with peppers in it.
After, we walked through underground Wacker.
Then, we went to Millennium Park. Then, after being worn out, we went back up North to home to get ready to go out. This was the beginning of the first night of fun. We were out til 4 in the morning. We ate at Nookie's with Tim and Jeff at 3. Then, sleep. For only three hours.
Then, Saturday began. Saturday was Baha'i Temple. We then went to Oak Park for Frank Lloyd Wright.
Following was Garfield Park Conservatory.
Following was an architectural boat tour which was awesome. We got to see all of the buildings along the Chicago River and learn the history of them. We also got to go through the Chicago Locks to get to Lake Michigan. I did not know they had locks. They had to close the back lock and let the water rise one foot to match the level of the lake, then we got to sail on in. The view was beautiful. I have been fortunate to see the view of the city from the lake through sailing, the Prom and now through the boat tour.
After, we went home to get ready for night 2.
We went to the Hancock Signature Room for drinks.
After, we went to a bar and danced. It was crazy. No sleep. Only three hours.
Sunday, I took them to Skokie to get real bagels made by real Jewish people.
Wow...six hours of sleep and a lot of fun.

Sunday night, Bridget and I had a get together for Jeff because he is moving to Alaska for three months to work on the railroad. We told him to get whomever he wanted to come over. He only wanted it to be the three of us, Tim and his friends Stefano and Sergio. He ended up cooking everything with Bridget while I entertained. HAHA. They made chicken, stuffed peppers, porkchops, ice cream brownies and more. We had cheese, crackers and grapes for appetizers. Tim brought French Toast cupcakes for dessert. Holy crap they were incredible. It was a fantastic time. And for the record, one of our guests was an escort. HA.
Monday, I had my hand sealed up in a nice brace. I had an orthopaedic appointment at 737 N Michigan for Chicago Hand Surgeons. They discovered I have de Quervain's Disease. It is an elaborate form of tendinitis. So, I got a steroid shot (too bad it doesn't go to my muscles because I have not worked out in a long time...haha) and a brace made to fit me. Fun, Fun.

Monday night, Jeff wanted us to come out again. We all went to a Thai restaurant and then out to a bar called Delilah's. On Tuesday, he flew out. All of us were bummed. Jeff has been a fixture in everyone's life. He is my roommate's personal assistant. So, we all went out drinking...me, Tim, Bridget and Fabiola to the Glenwood in Rogers Park. It was fun.

The Asians wanted the white people to be Asian, too.

Now, here I am today. I have an interview at Homewood at 10:45 in the morning. Round 2. They called today and told me that I could come tomorrow or Tuesday. If those didn't work, I could choose whenever. They want me to meet with faculty. I think tomorrow will be a wonderful day. :) Keep me in the prayers.

So, this is about all of the fun for now.

I have been reading The Cardturner, Me Talk Pretty One Day and a couple of other things. I will get back on track, I promise. :)

She decorates her home...

Today, before I went to Barnes and Noble, I went to the gym and cleaned. I had a great run outside. It felt so nice to run in the breeze along the lake on N Sheridan. The sun was out and the sky was so blue. I kept a great pace, which was nice, as well. I had a shit ton of laundry to fold. It took $18 at a laundromat on Broadway last night. That is a lot. There was so much to fold. I think it was around 150 pounds...this is not an exaggeration. It was depressing having to climb the flight of stairs to my apartment after having to walk to the building from my car. But, it is done.

Well, apparently before I went to Barnes and Noble today, there was a little shoplifting incident...or a big one...however you see it. The store caught a middle aged woman placing stuff in a bag. She was taking all of the sensors off. Overall, it was around $300 of merchandise. The mall security, Barnes and Noble management and the Skokie Police Department were all involved. I heard she started tearing up. It is sad when someone has to resort to stealing to get their kicks. The woman is a regular customer from what everyone told me...which is even sadder. I hope it is no one I bonded with at any time. The biggest kick: she said she has decorated her house in Barnes and Noble...which means she has been stealing a lot. How do you decorate an entire house in Barnes and Noble? Well, it must be possible. I think it should be a new show on HGTV. Decorating for free at the expense of corporate America. What a scandal.

Well, the evening ended in rain. I have continued reading The Cardturner and learned more about playing Bridge. Tomorrow morning, Eva will be getting in at around 7:20 and it is supposed to rain. So, now it is time to think of an indoors day. Won't be too hard to think of in Chicago. Well, I think it is way past bedtime...time for some sleep so I can wake up at 6:25 and trudge along the freeway to O'Hare.

:)

The Song that Never Ends

Today was one of those days full of errands and fun. I feel as though it never ended. I woke up and drove to Park Ridge to pay my dentist office for the x-rays I had a couple of weeks ago. I then went to Wal-Mart in Niles to look for storage. I then went to my Barnes and Noble in Skokie to check in on Bethany, the new Children's person, to see how her first Storytime went. I then went back to Chicago for an appointment with Olya, a personal trainer, for tips on working out with a gimp wrist. Then, I went to Addison/California for grad school. Then, I went to Bucktown. Then, I went to Target for storage containers, then I came home to Rogers Park. Here, I finished my closet. I knocked it all out. I then re-located Emma and got my dirty clothes ready for washing. Tim and Jeff came over this evening to hang out with Bridget and me. Now, I am just about ready to go to bed. I finished printing out cover letters/resumes and letters of intent for my interview with AUSL Elementary Turnarounds in the morning. Whew. So much.

The gym appointment was great. Olya did not charge me for one! WOOHOOO! She pointed me in many directions. I loved it. She then stretched me and scheduled me next week to make sure I was doing what she preached the correct way. So, I will have her one-on-one again. After, I got on the elliptical and read The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe. I should not be reading it, but I got it last week in Homewood while I was waiting to interview. It was for my entertainment. The book is about the Salem Witch Trials. It is very interesting.

So, I have my interview at 9AM and it is close to 2AM and I have to wake before 7 to get down there.

Have a good night!!!

Louis Sachar

Author Louis Sachar

Today was a very LONG day. I woke up early to begin cleaning my closet out and preparing for the weekend of my cousin Eva and her friend coming to visit. I need to clean my closet out anyway and this is great incentive. Now, I need to find a professional service, Office Max for instance, to shred every last bit of my crap I do not need laying around. The other half of everything is going to the Brown Elephant on Halsted...Brown Elephant is basically a His House fro all of those things in your life that are ready for a new home. When I finished Phase I of cleaning out my closet, I found that most of the reason there is no room is because of dirty clothes and the lack of hanging things. Tomorrow, this will be corrected. I am taking a trip to Wal-Mart to find the most inexpensive option for keeping my closet organized...containers, hangers, etc. Then, I will clear out the shredables, take them to my car, drive them to Office Max and be done with that. The next step will be clearing out a hole to put Emma's cage. She needs to sleep more in the day. Now that I actually have an apartment I feel like I live in, I am up and about a lot during the day. She is not getting the proper amount of Chinchilla sleep. She is going to go into a crevice in my closet and I will bring the cage out at night. Phase II will encompass all of this. Hopefull there will not be too many other phases of cleaning it out.

So, with all of THAT being said, I don't even know what my point was by any means. I went to the gym after my first closet cleaning. I did a nice little stint on the elliptical. I need to start watching my eating a little bit more. I am healthily adding a couple of pounds that need to healthily come off. Tomorrow, I have a one time visit with a personal trainer, Olya, at Bally. She will get me on a nice eating routine and workout routine for the summer. This routine will also embody exercises that do not mess with my wrist too much. I am excited to see what will happen. Olya is soooo nice and I am looking forward to her helping me out tomorrow. She is so helpful and she is always pressing me anytime I am in the gym.

Today at work was eventful. Author Louis Sachar had a reading and signing. Sachar was born in New York and now lives in Austin, Texas. He has a wife and a daughter. Sachar's writing career has been going on for 32 years. He has written 25 books that are widely popular. Tonight, the purpose of Sachar's visit was to promote his new Teen book, Cardturner. Cardturner is the book I have been reading this past week to prepare for his visit. I wanted to make sure I had read most of it so I could be able to introduce him. The book is about a 17 year old boy trying to figure out life. Alton helps his great uncle Lester (Trapp), who is blind, play Bridge. They begin to develop a great relationship and Alton begins to learn Bridge. The book is not only about the card game Bridge, but it is about bridging parts of life together.
Sachar has also written the book Holes which was the winner of the 1998 (?) Newbery Medal. Holes has been in the school curricula ever since it won the medal. It is a great story about growing up and believing in yourself. Middle school students are able to relate to the book. I actually used it in my Service Learning classes to talk about character development. Holes was made into a movie by Disney with Sigourney Weaver and Jon Voight.

The way I opened for Sachar was very simple. I gave a quick background and talked about his Newbery Medal. But then, I changed things up a little. I talked about how reading Sachar is a developmental process. I talked about how I grew up hearing his Wayside School stories in elementary school, reading Holes in middle school, watching people write lesson plans for Holes in my teacher education program in college and then actually writing my own lesson plans based on Sachar's books as a certified teacher. I have grown with him as he has with me. Today, I got an e-mail from Sandie Moore saying how her students always wanted her to read one chapter a day of Wayside School; she said it usually turned to three or four. I was very pleased to have Sachar come to the store. It was really refreshing meeting such a humble author. He signed The Cardturner, Holes, Wayside School and Small Steps for me. Other books by Sachar include Marvin Redpost and There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom; he has also written more.

I am excited about the prospect of having more authors come to the store in the future. I am so fortunate to have met some really cool people since I have worked there. It is nice to work in a big events store. By the way, someone asked if we sold Communion wafers today. Go figure.

Well, tomorrow is going to be a big day. I am going to the dentist in Park Ridge, Wal-Mart, Olya's appointment, the beginning of Summer Session in grad school and laundry!

Have a wonderful night! :)

Green Market

Today was such an amazing day in Chicago. Although I worked, I felt like it was productive and a lot of fun. I learned about a couple of things in the city in which I had no clue. I like to think of myself as an expert on the goings-on of Chicago, but apparently I am not completely up to date. There is so much to do that I did not know about, obviously. Today, I went to the Green Market in Lincoln Park with Dena. It is basically a farmer's market amidst the skyscrapers. They sell everything. Green Market happens every Wednesday and Saturday during the summer. Dena bought potatoes, basil, onions and apple cider; she bought me a sage plant. To the eastern corner of the Green Market is the Lincoln Park Farm. The farm is a farm in the middle of the city. It is fascinating to see a farm with the John Hancock Center towering above it. The great part is that it is a fully functional farm. They have cows, pigs, chickens, horses, rabbits, etc. There is a windmill, a John Deere tractor, a General Store and a cow milking building. I was completely surprised. I knew it was somewhere within Lincoln Park, but I did not know it was actually hidden in the middle of everything. It pops up on you pretty quickly. It is a traditional farm with a silo and it is all painted red. The rabbits there are gigantic. The chicken is gigantic, as well. Nuclear waste must be disposed of somewhere within the farm.
Backing up to right before Green Market...I went to the Lincoln Park Zoo yesterday morning. As I was walking through the fields on the way to the zoo, I came across the ending of a walking marathon. Well, I witnessed a couple of the celebrations. One such celebration involved a girl around 15 years old. She was doing these amazing backflips...Olympic gymnast style...through the grass. As she landed in her final stance, her pants fell down! She still had her hands in the air and was smiling. She noticed everyone laughing and looked down. She realized her pants were around her ankles. She started screaming. To top it off, it was the traditional pink polka dot panties. Oh sad. SCHADENFREUDE.

So, I kept walking. There is an interesting area of the Southeastern corner of the park where the park officials have painted tree trunks and all of the limbs blue, orange and yellow. It is pretty cool to see a blue tree with very bright green leaves sprouting out. I am not sure the reason why they are like that, but they are. They are sitting right on the channel next to Lake Shore Drive; I always see them and their reflections in the water when I am driving by. Every time, I want to stop and look at them.
In the zoo, I saw wolves, monkeys, flamingos, tigers, otters, swans and MILLIONS of seagulls, mallards and CANADIAN GEESE. I watched them bite a little girl. SCHADENFREUDE. It was such a productive day before work. I am really glad I got to get out and about. I am going to check out the Green Market on Clark and Division next week. I saw it as I was walking to the zoo.
Last night in Barnes and Noble, I put a couple of teen girls in their places and told them they will learn how to respect other people and time. They walked in right at close and said "We gotta pee" and brushed past one of my co-workers. It was the rudest thing. I CHEWED their asses out. They ran.

Time for work!

:)

I will get more consistent in writing blogs again.

Assigned an Interview

This morning I woke up and had an e-mail from AUSL...Academic Urban School Leadership. They are the group that is turning around some of the Chicago Public Schools. So far, they have had their hands on about eleven schools in the Chicago area. AUSL, I believe, is a little more successful in Turnarounds than CPS...which does not surprise me at all. They probably have a few more resources they can find than CPS since CPS has to work within the budget of...CPS. Well...the e-mail stated You have been assigned to an interview. I have been assigned. I don't think I have ever been assigned to an interview. It sounds like I was sent an e-mail from a robot. Who assigns interviews? I always thought there was a "Does this day work better for you than this one?" No, not AUSL. They have assigned it. I guess it ensures that if someone is really interested in a job, they will make the effort and time to take off of work to get to their interview. I am supposed to work Barnes and Noble next Wednesday...the interview is on the 19th at 9-11:30. I guess I will have to switch shifts with someone...and that is no problem with me. I can handle that. I really have an amazing feeling that I will have a good job next year.

My interview in Homewood at Millennium School went extremely well yesterday. The principal and assistant principal both interviewed me. I think they have an excellent program from what it sounds. There is a PMA (Parent Music Association) at Millennium that ensures music will not get cut. The parents do all of the fundraising which is amazing. Last year, the parents bought a grand piano. WOW. I cannot believe it. The principal also said everyone goes to see the Chicago Symphony Orchestra every year. That is quite a feat for a public school and a music program in this day and age. The part I love most about the job is that everything meets within the school day. NO MORE SHOWCHOIR!!!! How wonderful. So, at the end of the interview, the principal said I am so happy we called you. That should be a good sign. Right? So, in two weeksish, I will find out whether or not I made it to round two of the interview process. I have all good feelings and reason to believe I did. I felt very comfortable at the interview and I think the two ladies really liked me. Unless my judgment is off...which it could be. But it is not.

I have been enjoying my days off from Barnes and Noble. It has been wonderful lounging around the apartment and going to the gym to get my cardio and abs and legs on (since I cannot lift at the moment due to my wrist). Today, I went to IKEA with my roommate and Jeff. We had a great time, except all three of us were overwhelmed by the end. They don't like being in there too long because it gets a bit overwhelming. I can feel them on that 100%. We ate lunch there, looked at what we needed to see and got out!

Last night, a group of us went to a bar to watch and hear people sing karaoke. It was fun. I want to sing karaoke from Avenue Q. I think I will do that when Stephanie gets up here this summer. She and I could blow that out of the water. I know we could.

So, I have not been reading that much lately. I have been in Sachar's Cardturner still. I have to introduce him on Monday. So, I need to make sure I know what I am talking about. I tell ya, I never would have thought the game of Bridge could be presented so interestingly in a book. Well, it is.

So, that is all to report for now. Sorry I have been slack in the blog. I am tired. Time for bed! :)

Vacation!

Today begins my time off until Friday at 4PM. I am so excited I get time to chill out and sleep or do whatever I want to do. Tomorrow is my day to interview with Millennium School in Homewood, Illinois. I am really excited about going. I think the interview is going to be successful. I have no doubt I will be able to land a job there. I think it will go well. I will be heading down there at around 11 in the morning to get there about 1.5 hours early to explore Homewood and be there right on time. I don't think it is supposed to rain, but even if it does, it should not be a bad commute.

I continued reading Cardturner by Sachar. He is very creative to have written a book about bridge that flows. I wouldn't have realized. I made sure not to read any of the back cover or flaps before reading it so I did not get set up for anything. I like the fact I knew nothing about it. That way, I could form no opinions prior to reading. Like I said, it is worthwhile.

Well, that is all to report today!