Fatherly Advice?

Sorry I’ve been rather clipped in my entries this week.  Work got back to busy with a vengence.  And I’ve been moving at a slower than average pace this week just out of sheer relaxed-ness.  Which is not a bad thing, it just means I’m multitasking less and sticking to the absolute necessities.
So, Father’s Day is coming up and I have no clue what to buy for my dad.  There are a few things you need to know about my dad:  1) He is obsessed with golf.*  2)  As such, he tends to hurt his back playing golf and 3) He is a retired IT professional.  Thus, anything I get him will be related to golf, golf injury, or computers.  I (conveniently) got a new Think Geek catalog today, but I am stumped…
*I am not exaggerating.  While I was home, my dad watched the Golf Channel for 4 hours straight.  He also has a spreadsheet tracking all of the courses he has played and how he performed on each hole, updated regularly to reflect his improvement. 

Here It Is, Your Moment of Zen

Today I learned that when you drop the excessive expectations of yourself, others, and life in general, what remains is very, very enjoyable.
Do with that what you will.

Going to BlogHer?

I’m not! :p
But if you’re coming into town for the event, and want to say hi, give me a shout. I’m always up for coffee with a fellow blogger.  Well, almost always.  As long as you’re not creepy.  And don’t show up randomly at my house.  Otherwise, we’re golden.

Priorities

So, Lindsay Lohan is in the news again.
And Maxim Magazine names her the hottest female celebrity of 2007.

Does anyone wonder why I wish and hope that when/if I have kids, they are girls? 
I did not realize cocaine and DUI were the new sexy.  All that coke sure makes those Hollywood starlets skinny!

I Need To Pack

Yes, I keep thinking about this fact. Uh, moving = need to pack.
But coming off a long weekend where I finished two books, all I want to do is read.  I started a third book last night and fear it won’t be revisited until the next time I have to do laundry. (p.s., thank goodness I am getting a laundry room in the new place, as the laundromat I frequent has closed its doors!  The sign said, “No trespassing, tennant evicted”–no wonder theirs were the cheapest washers/dryers in the block!)  Actually, to be more specific, I want to be on the beach, sitting in the sunshine reading.  Ah well.  Shortly after the move, I will be going to Florida and doing just that!
Meanwhile, I attempt to remember what the heck was happening at work before I left town on Friday.  It’s tolerable when I have New Order, The Chemical  Bros., and  Suzanne Vega to entertain me on Last.fm.  My stomach was still doing acrobatics this morning, but I pushed through it and took all the appropriate medicine.  I just have to be cautious about my eating this week. 
It’s supposed to get up to 87 today and I’m trying to dress as cool as possible.  I don’t want to bother installing the air conditioner when I just have to move it in about a month’s time anyway. 
Sigh.  Back to all those resumes that came in over the weekend…at least I get to have lunch with H. today!

My Trip to Ohio - Good and Bad

On the bad side:
1) My Thursday night flight was cancelled, my luggage went to Akron/Canton while I went standby to Cleveland on the first flight Friday morning, which involved waking up at 4:45am.  Blagh.
2) My luggage was not retrieved until 6pm, after talking to about 6 different people who had no idea where my luggage was.
3)  I got sick both ways.*
4)  I missed everyone, including the kitties.
5) In total I only got to play with my cousin’s kids for 2 hours.

The good!:
1) I finished 2 books.
2) I got to sit in the porch swing on a warm, clear night.
3) I got to color, cuddle, and play outside with my cousin’s kids.
4) I had delicious cheddar baked potato soup at Bob Evans!
5) There was much quiet and much relaxation.
And while I’ve wanted to keep this blog anonymous, this photo is just too cute not to share:

(me holding baby Lex)

*This air sickness thing has been new in the past year and may be related to my IBS.  It also can be a product of aging, as the particles in your inner ear get out of whack as you age.  It can also be a product of hormones and is more common in women.  Yay. 
Why did I not get this sick when I flew to New Orleans?  Well, I did not feel great at first, and I was taking a lot of my medicine.  But I think it also helped that the plane I flew on to NOLA was about 4x the size as these dinky planes I am taking to Ohio and back.  Also, I had a lot more to distract me from my feeling of losing equilibrium.  Regardless, it will not stop me from flying, but a visit to the doc may be in order as I experiment with ways to control the queasiness.

Back!

It is nice to be back in Chicago, though I am not terribly excited about the return to my “packed to capacity” schedule.  Right now I am feeling a bit ill, a bit loopy from the half a dramamine I took on the plane, and a bit emotional for reasons I can’t quite explain.  So I am going to rest on my bed and snuggle with the kitties, both of which I am so, so, SO happy to see again!  More to come…

Out!

I’m leaving at 4:30 today to head back to Ohio for the weekend.  I’m sure I’ll pop in to blog here and there, but likely with less frequency.  Everyone have a great Memorial Day weekend, and eat lots of grilled food!!

ZOMG!

Z-O-M-G!!!

I can’t even talk about the LOST season finale yet.  I think I am going to have to watch it all again tomorrow.  The end!! The end!! It blew my mind!

And there were so many cheerworthy moments!

And we had margaritas!  And hot cheese dip!! And we (the LOST-watching crew, which has nearly doubled in size, plus one girl’s boyfriend, who has been on-again off-again with LOST but was cheering right along tonight!) decided we are having a “We Miss LOST” reunion party in July where we all get to dress up like our favorite characters. (I may be Rousseau–the only other one I even vaguely resemble is Kate and I can’t stand Kate, even with the perfect makeup job and ‘tude she was sporting at the end)

Ah, I will have to post my thoughts over on Snackie TeeVee some time tomorrow once I have the night to process everything.  I hope I can get wireless reception at the laundromat this time…the last step to packing is to wash a couple pairs of pants and a multitude of shirts…

Things I Learned While Getting My License Renewed

Remember that whole debacle when I had to get my license reinstated?  Yes, that all worked out, with me filling out a form that said basically, this car that was not brought in for emissions testing?  It is owned by someone else in Ohio now.
However, I (stupidly) missed the April 16th expiration date on my license.  Doh.
All went remarkably well though. I didn’t even have to provide proof of address, just my old license.  They took my word on my current address (which will be changing in 60 days anyway–oh well).  I paid a scant $10 and ended up with a surprisingly cute photo. Here are my lessons:
1) The Express License Bureau is aptly named, and is the first government department I’ve encountered that moves extremely fast and extremely efficiently.
2)  In the summer, once school is out, an awful lot of Paris Hilton wannabe chick-lettes are on the Metra and downtown, with perfectly pedicured toes and terribly annoying hoity-toity rich kid laughs.
3)  Be nice to everyone a the DMB and it will come back to you three-fold.  If the person is older than you and the opposite sex, a little flirting never hurt.
4)  To achieve a non-horrible photo at any photo booth setup, look down a little.  For some reason the way those booth cameras align cause you to look like you are staring off into space like an idiot.  But don’t look down too far or you’ll look evil like I did in my original license photo.
5) Do not apply mascara while on the train heading downtown unless your goal is to look like a goth kid.  However, if this is the look you are going for, you might also wish to look down as mentioned above to make yourself seem a little more evil.