they said "Bonus" on NPR

I was listening to NPR on my drive home from work today par my usual. apparently I think the hour I spend listening to the news while driving to and from work makes me a better more informed citizen. (that and the CD player in my car likes to get messed up and requires opening the trunk to fix and well basically I hate morning radio and I always forget my ipod)

my afternoon drives are normally a mix between talking with my mom and listening to NPR so I hear the headlines but miss the minute details. today however my mom was at the art institute and thus too cool to talk with me so I was fully tuned into the stories.

they were talking about enhancing traffic reports using the GPS features in peoples' phones and eventually that could branch into advertising and spam as you walked by a store and the reporter says "so imagine you're walking down the road and you pass a snow cone stand and get a data message coupon that says $2 off a snow cone. you get this message and think $2 off a snow cone. bonus."

personal language mediocrities validated.

now if only he had said "coups" instead of coupons and if they could slip "truth" in there in response to a question...

they sure don't make music like they used to

I was reminded again yesterday afternoon why the only radio station I listened to until I was in 6th grade was oldies 95.

my mom and I went to see Jersey Boys, a fabulous musical chronicling the history of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons the band responsible for the catchy melodies of the 1960s and 70s including Sherri, Rag Doll, Big Girls Don't Cry, Walk Like a Man, Let's Hang On, Will You Love me Tomorrow, December, 1963 ( Oh What a Night), and My Eyes Adored You.

if any one of the above songs are not recognizable to you I recommend you head straight to your local record store, buy a CD and appreciate good music.

the show was fabulous. the Acting and singing and dancing (all choreographed from TV footage of the real Four Seasons) and phenomenal. And it has an open ended engagement in Chi-town...so if anyone wants a friend to go see it with. I am there.

where'd my weekend go?

while last week tuesday night felt like sunday, this week sunday night feels like friday.

my weekends normally consist of a bunch of laying on the couch, playing rock band, pretending to lesson plan, napping, watching movies, cleaning, sunday morning grocery shopping, actually lesson planning (about 8 pm sunday), and more napping. this weekend however there was none of that, except for the real lesson planning which started about 9 pm sunday night.

Why you ask, well my parents were (well technically still are) in town, and I'm really not good at not attempting to show people a good time when they visit my fair city.

friday night nick and I caught a purple line express and met up with my 'rents at their hotel with a little effort, they had told us to go up to their room, we went, knocked on the door, no answer. found out they were in the lobby tried to get there, but got lost in the mess of elevators that is the palmer house, eventually went up to go down and found them. drinks were bought by one of my dad's mooched off individuals, a fabulous german dinner---weiner schnitzel and spatzel---was finally eaten around 8 at Bergoffs, and nick and i got back to evanston at 11. just in time for a couple of hours of sleep before day 2.

saturday morning I woke, and headed downtown to meet my mom. I found her standing in line for cheap tickets to see a show and after promising that I wasnt going to take any of the 40 available tickets finally managed to squeeze in out of the cold. we hit up some state street shopping, scored some deals, then headed for our matinee performance of Jersey Boys, a fabulous musical about the four seasons.

if you like good quaity oldies you'll love this show. how i wish they still wrote music like that. we had front row seats which sounds wonderful...except that the stage was 2 feet in front of us and raised 4 feet off the ground, so while we were sitting you couldnt see anything that happened less then a couple of feet off the ground or at the back of the stage. fortuantly, most of the action happed up front so we could see the sweat glistening on the actors' forheads.

after the show we met up with my dad, tried to mooch some more drinks, then headed to evanston for dinner. needless to say my dad is not one for cold weather so this was an adventure since it was about 4 degrees outside, and we had to do a little walking from the el stop to my place, and from the parking garage to the restaurant. and it took a little while to warm up once we got inside.

sunday I didnt make it down town till 11 since I needed at least some lazy of a weekend. my mom and I headed to michigan ave and water tower place for this days adventures. we of course went to a borders and both bought big books early on in the journey thanks to some unfortuante planing. but I did score more deals ($80 pants for $10) at the limited thanks to our luck of hitting the "one day only half our our sale prices sale" one day only that had been extended for several days I believe since my cashier asked my mom's cashier "are we still doing 50% off?" and the other cashier replying "yep it's all in the computer" I then followed up wih a trip to dunkin doughnuts...my mom's favorite and they dont have them in KC. yummy apple fritter to end the day.

I headed home tonight with windburned cheeks around 6 so I could get a little work done and hopefully log a decent amount of sleep...before the adventures with the 'rents part 4 begins tomorrow.

it feels like sunday

often these entries are random highlights of small little funny moments or things...I thought I'd try to start including some entries that actually tell what is going on in my life for those folks who aren't here to experience it all for themselves.

it feels like a sunday here after a 5 day weekend...friday we woke to temps around -18 with wind chills nearing -30. I believe it maxxed out that day at -1. (it hasnt been this cold in chicago since the early 90s) and they decided to call school despite the fact that it had been just as cold the day before, then the typical weekend, MLK day monday and inauguration day today (our school decided to give the girls the day off, but to give them assignments for each class relating to obama's speech....he is from chicago afterall)

we had no snow to go along with the cold temps, just the remains of the foot left from the previous weekend. but that was ok. nick and I went outside that sunday afternoon (the 11th) to dig my car out. it took us 45 min, and the loan of a nice stranger's shovel but we eventually got it out. pre-shovel I was standing bent over, legs apart digging in the snow like a dog does in the yard. I wish I had had my camera but I couldnt leave nick out side digging out my car while I went on a camera retrieving mission. I went a bought a shovel the next time I was out like my dad had suggested months ago, and it hasn't really snowed since.

I had had big hopes to be productive this weekend, but the first thing I thought when my phone rang telling me I didnt have school was that my textbooks for my classes were sitting on my desk. locked away under both key and alarm. we did go to the library saturday afternoon and get a different edition of my book so i could work, but the motivation had just been lost entirely. so I'm in the same condition I've been in all year....frantically looking for ideas the night before, and sometimes deciding what I am going to do that day on my drive into school.

but we did take a lot of cute piccolo pics...here is another for your enjoyment. I like to call this, "why I dont iron" and will use it as an excuse for when my clothes are wrinkled, but my cat is smooth in the future.

what arrr ye doin' right now?

what is it about pirates and pirate speak that has the general population enamored? this I dont know but i do appreciate the option to have my facebook page language set to English (Pirate) it makes the hours of my life wasted there all the more enjoyable, and adds a little challenge for translation.
my new vitals:
Fleets:
Notre Dame Crew o' 2007
Kansas City, MO
Missouri Grad Crew o' 2008
First Set Sail:
That Thar seventh month 2, 1984
Anchored in:
Evanston, IL

I be much there enjoying this.

I cant find that one on the map.

watching the news this morning (something I dont normally have time to do) the traffic report came on, reminding me of my daily confusion as I drive to school listening to NPR and the flurry of highway names. and by names I mean nicknames. nicknames that aren't printed on many maps, dont appear on many road signs, and I believe exist purely to confuse outsiders.

hearing a traffic report when I was in the vicinity of my computer I thought now would be the perect time to get to the bottom of this. much to my dismay a quick google search for "chicago highway names" does not bring up what would actually be helpful. apparently it it too dificult to create an image that labels these roads. instead I get a verbal discription of where these roads start and stop, making reference to landmarks or roads nicknamed roads, which again need a key to decode. well, that and a lot of message boards where people like me have posted their confusion.

perhaps the lack of pictures is a cover-up for the real truth. that no one knows exactly where one nicknamed road ends and another begins.

to go or not to go

that is the question.

the question that faces those of us to go and visit others on a regular basis. where is the line in the relationship status that makes it ok to poo/dump/go number 2/write the constitution/fill in your euphemism of choice at the home of another.

for some this line is only crossed under extreme circumstances. aka periods of multiple days with no other opportunities presenting themselves. for others, they blatantly disregard posted signs


and perhaps, as it has been suggested, even schedule visits to extend into their regularly scheduled bathroom visit just to take advantage of the super flush