Happy Last Day of Work

Today's my Dad's last day of work at his job. Congratulations! I hear he wore a regular tie to work today, just to shake everyone up a little...

Normal Crazy Weekend

It seems like summer weekends have the inherent ability to spiral wildly out of control. Much like the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, all the parties are being squeezed into the same finite amount of time. I intended to post about Sunday before it happened, but then it just sort of happened anyway.

Sunday morning: pouring rain. Then sunshine and blue skies. 10am Pride Parade Pre-Party at Dave's house. 12:30ish, go try to find a place to stand along the parade route. Which was crazy. We usually watch the parade towards the end of the route, where there's a lot less people. This year we were fairly close to the beginning. But we were able to find a nice place in the shade that wasn't too crowded and we could see some things. We saw two ROTC (is that right? they have fake guns and dance. the second one had flags too) groups, and the line dancers, all of which I like. I like the coordinated dancing while walking, it's always impressive.

At 1:30 it was time to skeedaddle. We walked to the red line at Addison, switched to the brown line at Belmont, and were on our way. It started pouring when we got on the brown line, but we didn't mind. The train stopped at Sedgwick, our stop, and then continued on to Chicago. Without opening the doors to our car. Kidnapped by CTA! We called the conductor to tell him the doors didn't open, but they opened at Chicago. We had to run down the stairs, across the street, and back up the stairs, but we made a northbound train and went back to Sedgwick.

There's a new pizza place across from the Sedgwick stop, so we went there for lunch. Two pieces of greasy pizza with a nice crispy crust later, we walked out in the damp. The rain had stopped and the blue skies were back. We went home, got in the car, and drove to the Empty Bottle, where Mary was having an accordian recital. She's been taking beginning accordian lessons. The recital was very fun, our only regret was not knowing how to polka. We stood on the corner and chatted for a while but the sky to the north suddenly turned ominously dark and we all zipped off to our cars.

We drove home through a major rainstorm and decided the day could go no further without a nap. The cats thankfully left us alone and we woke up 20 minutes later. It was raining again in our neighborhood, but there was a report of blue skies at our next destination, so we finished preparing a salad and headed out.

Traffic, as we should have guessed, was terrible. We got off of Lakeshore at Montrose and had to get right back on. We got off at the next exit (Wilson), and parked in an apparently little known parking lot, as it had quite a lot of empty spaces. We walked across the wet soccer fields to Ben's birthday BBQ. It was very fun to see everyone, and we would have liked to stay longer, but the big dark clouds came back and the party decided to disband to a local bar. At that point we thought it was time to call it a day and go back home for good.

Cart Test Run

Yesterday was a test run of what it's like to go grocery shopping without a car. We still have the car, but we are planning to sell it. We thought it might be a good idea to try shopping without a car, to see how it much trouble it might be, and if we need to plan for it differently.

I leave the house with one big new collapsible shopping cart we bought a couple of weeks ago, five cloth grocery bags, a soft-sided cooler with two freezy packs in it, a bottle of water, an umbrella, and my purse. Getting down the street is pretty easy, the cart doesn't stay locked closed, but it isn't a problem. The bus comes right away, getting on is easy. The bus drops me off in a great place, close to the store. Ok, I'm going great!

It then takes me five or maybe ten minutes to figure out how in the world I am going to drag this giant cart around the store and also a grocery cart. Do I just use my cart? Can I put my cart under theirs? (No) Is it dumb to have my cart inside of their cart? (Yes) Isn't there just a little clip on the front of their cart I can use? (No) I finally figure out that I can put my cart upside down in the handle of the regular cart. Problem solved. I have to walk a little funny in the store, but it works.

Grocery shopping happens. I do pretty well, mostly sticking to the list. Notable off-list exceptions being queso fresco which just seems too exciting not to try, apple juice which should have been on the list and just wasn't, and filling in the blank space labeled "fruits and veggies" on my list: red peppers, avocados, grapes, jalapenos, celery, carrots, apples, bananas, and onions.

I go through checkout. The cashier and bagger are super helpful after I explain the situation. Basically I need them to forget the basic concept of creating a bag, and create a cart instead. So they make heavy bags to go on the bottom, and lighter bags to go on the top. Everything cold fits perfectly in the cooler. It's brilliant. It's also really heavy. And now that it's heavy, my cart does not enjoy the concept of cornering.

I learn to pick up the back wheels of the cart and turn in order to corner. I make it to the bus stop, and the bus comes right away. And then the moment of truth: what if I can't lift my heavy cart onto the bus? The metal is too fragile for me to lift from the basket. The nice bus driver lowers the bus a little bit for me, and I just heave the thing up. We make it!

Now just a short, uncomfortable bus ride where the laws of physics involving inertia are demonstrated for me many times. I get off the bus, and immediately hit a bump in the sidewalk that stops me short. The people walking behind me are not impressed. But I maneuver that and some more corners, and make it home.

I don't know if I'd call it an unqualified success, but it's definitely doable. A woman who got in the elevator with me seemed impressed with my cart skills. She sold her car last week, highly recommends it, and is thinking about copying my grocery shopping style. Slightly undermining all this cheeryness, we each wished the other good luck as I got of the elevator.

Great Picture

Thanks to Josh, here's a great way to start the run-up to my birthday month.

So many Charlottes

Johnny Depp is Following Me!

Not that that's a problem.

A couple of weeks ago Ian had a show at a bar called Lilly's, which is on Lincoln just north of the Biograph Theater. Unfortunately for turn-out for the show, the part of Lincoln in front of the Biograph was closed down so that all these old-timey cars could drive up and down it. They were shooting the new John Dillinger movie, which has Johnny Depp and Christian Bale.

Today they're closing off Wells between Lincoln and Eugenie. Sound familiar? I can sit in the lobby of the building, and watch Johnny Depp and Christian Bale shoot a movie. Theoretically. I can at least see it from my windows.

UPDATE:

We received a memo from our building manager who says he must "with much regret inform the residents that Johnny Depp will not be on location." His character in the movie already died by the time this scene happens. We'll hope for Christian Bale, but with this rain we may not see much of anything...

Stupid Junk Mail!

I've always been annoyed by junk mail, probably more than most people. It really bugs me, I don't want the products, and they're just wasting resources by sending me catalogs, credit card applications, all this stuff. I've spent my fair share of time on the phone requesting my name be removed from mailing lists. It's frustrating to spend so much time being mad at people.

There are a couple of websites that have been really helpful and have significantly cut down the amount of junk mail we receive. One is optoutprescreen.com. If you read the fine print on most of those credit card offers, this is the website they say you should go to to get off the list. It seems to work, and you can even be on the list permanently. You probably have to re-sign-up if you move, but it seems worth it to me.

The other site is Catalog Choice. This site lets you decline catalogs that come in the mail. You put in your name and address and customer number as shown on the catalog. We're definitely getting fewer catalogs after registering here.

Of course, it's not as satisfying as getting fun things in the mail, but not getting so much junk is saving me time and stress.

Snow Dreams

Last night we watched Ed Wood, which is a movie about a very bad Hollywood director. So last night the first dream I remember was about being a director of a really bad show. I think it would have been bad anyway, but no one was following what I said, even though I was the director. I was just as glad to wake up and get out of that situation.

The next dream I remember had snow. We were in Vermont at my parents', and there was snow up to the windows of the first floor. Even in the kitchen, where the windows are much higher off of the ground. Lots of people were in the driveway trying to shovel a path out, but it seemed fairly impossible to me. Even if they could lift it, where would they put the snow?

Luckily it's a gorgeous day here, with no sign of precipitation.

Thunderstorms

Yet another thunderstorm in Chicago this morning. Which means that during breakfast the monster cat came down and asked me to open my closet so he could hide. Ok, so really he hid behind my chair and meowed at me, but it's pretty clear what that means when the weather is bad. For being so scary to strangers he's a big coward in real life. So I got up from my eggs, scallions, tomatoes, toast and green tea, walked up the stairs, and he beat me to the closet door. He prefers to sit in my laundry basket, but sometimes when it's stormy that's not quite safe enough. He's currently wedged in the back corner with the lights off. I don't expect to see him for several hours.

Meanwhile small cat here is making all his normal cooing and snoring noises, attempting to sleep on ehs's office chair. And just like yesterday, now that the rain has passed, it looks like a beautiful blue-skied day.

Does This Make Blogging Less Important?

"The best way to waste your life is by taking notes. The easiest way to avoid living is to just watch."
--Chuck Palahniuk, "Lullaby"

Not a Recent Conversation, but Still True

B: I feel that anyone and everyone has limitless possibilities, but knowing when to take a leap, over waiting till the timing is right
B: is not an easy decision
C: it's the hardest decision of all
C: because you're deciding to take action, to follow that drive or potential
C: when it's really easiest to sit back and not challenge yourself at all
C: it's the deceptive pleasure of familiarity
B: and being here shows me how easily it is too sit back and survive
C: exactly
C: but what's the point?
C: we're so much bigger than that, as humans
C: we have a responsibility to use that, to follow that possibility, and fight for it as necessary
B: thats what I am saying, so in reality there is no better time then now

Game Night Group

So, every two weeks 8 or 10 of us get together for dinner and a board game. We've been doing this for almost a year now, with only a few missed dates. We are now challenging ourselves with preparing thematic dinners, based on choices we all put into a hat (technically, a coffee cup at Clarke's diner at 12am, but it works). You heard ehs talk about us hosting "The Other One in the Couple." The next time, Ian created "Formalish Appetizers," which was wonderful. We ate fried plantains, bruschetta, celery sticks, marinated and broiled tofu, I think there was more. Also ice cream.

This Thursday Maria is hosting and her theme is "South Pacific." Particularly appropriate given the Tony's, but I think she's looking at it geographically rather than theatrically. I know I'm excited, we're expecting "pineapple, peanuts, pineapple, tofu or pineapple." All my favorites.

Coming up in the next months are Mary and Dan with "Childhood," which should be interesting, and Matt with "Brinner" as in "Breakfast for Dinner."

I don't think we'll do themes every time, but I do expect we will do them again. Really the best part is getting to see good friends on a regular basis, so you don't feel like you have to catch up all over again every time you see someone. And the food's always great, whatever it is.

Montreal

We're starting to think about our trip to Montreal at the end of the summer. I'll be there for a week (but probably not doing much sight-seeing), and ehs will come up for a long weekend at the end. We're looking for suggestions on any one's favorite things to do in Montreal. So far we're planning to make sure and see the Biodome and the Botanic Gardens, a couple of museums and galleries, the Notre Dame cathedral, the Mont Royal Park, the Old Town, and the boutiquey area of St. Laurent. Please excuse the anglicized versions of these place names. Any other sights we should be sure to hit? Any favorite restaurants?

What's For Dinner?

I recently realized that I seem to spend less time preparing and cooking dinner than many of my friends, even though I often have more time to do it than they do. I've been trying to figure out why that is, and I think I have a couple different ideas.

1. My mom. My brother always wanted Mom to play with him after school, and then he would suddenly get hungry and want dinner right away. Mom had to figure out things that could get on the table very quickly, so this is a familiar concept for me.

2. I clean dishes as I go. Sometimes this means preparing a big sink of hot soapy water, sometimes it means washing while something is cooking. Usually at the end of dinner most of the prep dishes are already cleaned.

3. I choose recipes that I am fairly confident I can finish in the time allotted. Sometimes I miss, but I often don't start dinner until I get the call that ehs is on the way home.

4. I sometimes use canned or packaged vegetables and proteins, especially tofu, seitan, tempeh, quorn, beans, and in the winter, tomatoes. I also use frozen pre-made raviolis, and my food processor. Sometimes I will prep the next night's dinner when ehs is washing the dishes after dinner, marinading tofu, making hummus, etc.

5. I keep a lot of staples in the house that can become a lot of different meals, including fast grains like jasmine rice, pre-made polenta rolls, quinoa, couscous, and pastas. I also keep fast proteins like almonds, walnuts and yogurt in case those seem more appropriate to the meal.

I still have leftovers for lunch the next day, we've been eating leftovers all weekend actually. And we're still eating balanced meals, with grains, proteins, and lots of veggies. We get a variety of grains and proteins, and have some basic veggies that tend to be in many things, but we rotate those too as much as possible.

I get a lot of my recipes from Peter Berley's Fresh Food Fast, Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, and Real Simple. Real Simple is especially great at paring a meal down to its basic components for the sake of time, but still having things that taste good. I find their "Fake It, Don't Make It" section particularly amusing, although I don't often make the recipes shown. Last month I was impressed by the concept of rolling chocolate chips into store-bought crescent roll dough before baking to make chocolate croissants. This month it was making "Ice Cream Cake" by layering and freezing ice cream sandwiches with homemade whipped cream.

Everyone knows I love food, especially real food. We do read a lot of labels, and try as much as possible to make sure that the things we bring in the house are real food without extra weirdness. But you can follow the eat real food rule without sacrificing too much time. You just have to sacrifice being an overachiever on a weeknight. ^_^

Accidental Tony Watching

So, I didn't intend to watch the Tony's last night, but I did after all. I forgot that what I like about the Tony's is seeing the musical performances that happen, always so much fun. And this year was especially exciting if you follow theater in Chicago. Chicago Shakespeare Theater won the Regional Theater Tony. And Steppenwolf's August: Osage County was up for 7 Tony's. They won quite a lot of them too (5), and I definitely felt very proud for them.

There were other great moments, one of the most impressive being the original cast of Rent all coming on stage and singing Seasons of Love together with the current cast. That was very impressive.

One of the things that seemed to confuse and impress the audience in the theater (and certainly me) was the acceptance speech by Mark Rylance, who won for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play.

“When you are in town wearing some kind of a uniform is helpful, policeman, priest, etc. Driving a tank is very impressive, or a car with official lettering on the side. If that isn’t to your taste, you could join the revolution, wear an armband, carry a homemade flag tied to a broom handle, or a placard bearing an incendiary slogan. At the very least you should wear a suit and carry a briefcase and a cell phone, or wear a team jacket and a baseball cap and carry a cell phone. If you’re in the woods, the back country, someplace past all human habitation, it is a good idea to wear orange and carry a gun and, or, depending on the season, carry a fishing pole or a camera with a big lens. Otherwise…I will wrap it up now very quickly…otherwise it might appear that you have no idea what you are doing and you are merely wandering the earth, no particular reason for being here, no particular place to go. Thanks very much for this.”

It sounded off-the-cuff, it sounded rambling, and strange, and beautiful. And it turns out to be a prose poem by Minnesota Poet Lewis Jenkins (minus, clearly, the inserts based on time and thanks). It was certainly different, and held your attention. And was a little less scary than Patti LuPone yelling at the orchestra to not cut her off...

Ah, summer...

What you will see if you're in my neighborhood this weekend:

-lots of women in little dresses and skirts, holding onto their outfits so the wind doesn't turn them into flashers
-many motorcycles, mostly in groups of four or more, with and without riders
-two competing art fairs, one of which serves alcohol and doesn't end until 10pm. Guess which one is busier?
-lots of singing and shouting and honking on the street, presumably caused by said alcohol
-too many cars on some small side streets, cars parked facing the wrong direction, and general traffic craziness

Poorly Named Naps

If it's called a "cat nap," why can't I get my cat to leave me alone when I'm doing it? "Catless naps" seem far more effective.

Could you nap if you had to worry someone was going to take your glasses and throw them down the stairs or behind the bed? Me neither.

Although you know, when I'm not trying to nap, he's really quite good at it.

Iron Man

On Wednesday we went to see Iron Man. We went to a 5:30 showing downtown, so ehs had to rush up after work. I felt a little silly sitting in the theater by myself, but at about 5:20 some other people came in. There were probably less than ten of us in the theater, which still beats the crowd for when we saw Son of Rambow a couple of weeks ago. We had a private showing of that great movie in the theater.

Iron Man was really fun, another example of when taking a comic to a movie really works. Now, I don't remember the Iron Man comics very much, I don't think he was a character I read about a lot. But the movie was charming and exciting, as well as feeling very topical. I loved his interactions with the robots he'd created, there were moments that felt like Pixar had been consulted on the script.

Indiana Jones

This weekend we went to see the new Indiana Jones movie. I've heard it has a lot of negative reviews, and I've talked to people who haven't enjoyed it. I thought it was great. It was everything the original movies are: exciting, scary, lots of action, kidnappings and escapes. It had the same great music, the same moderately strung together plot lines, with dumb jokes and hit-or-miss dialogue.

We seem to confuse nostalgia with quality. I love the original Indiana Jones movies, and I love my memories of those movies. And those two things are not the same. If you can come to this movie with the same sense of wonder, belief, and wish for adventure that you probably brought to seeing the original movies, you'll be fine. If you go to this movie expecting something more now that you're older and wiser and more discerning, you may be disappointed.

Half of the reason we go to movies in the summer is for the air conditioning, and another quarter is to lose ourselves in the excitement of something other than thinking about how awful the weather is. The new Indiana Jones movie met both of those criteria, and additionally was exactly what I wanted from a now older Indy. And yes, we did clap when it was over.

Shopping Lists and the Local News

I glanced down to see a shopping list on my desk that reads:
-catfood/litter
-shopping cart
-recycling
-steering wheel

The good news is that we managed to accomplish all of those things this weekend. ehs took in the recycling when he helped Dan take in his electronic recycling. ehs came home and said, "I just want you to know, I failed you." Although he had successfully dropped off our glass and aluminum recycling, he had managed to come home with one of Dan's electronic items destined for recycling. Oh well, apparently we can use it, and it doesn't take up very much room? These things do happen.

The steering wheel mentioned is for MarioKart for the Wii, which we are having a lot of fun with. ehs got it for his birthday, and we decided to get more wheels so it's even more fun for multiple people to play. I'm usually pretty terrible at racing games, but I can be Baby Peach and drive either a stroller or a motorcycle with training wheels. They both don't have a lot of speed, but have GREAT handling. So I spend a lot less time falling off of the race course.

The shopping cart is a folding cart so I can go get groceries on the bus when we sell the car. We still have to assemble it, but we went with a less heavy model. Hopefully this is going to work really well.

On Sunday we had planned to do some of this required shopping and then there was a major rainstorm. The sky turned dark in the distance, then all the buildings on the horizon disappeared, and suddenly there was rain. The rain started by slamming sideways onto the windows and then we realized it was actually coming IN the windows. So after some excitement involving towels, we made lunch and decided to postpone our shopping. After a while the rain was gone and the sky was basically blue again so we headed out. We crossed the street behind our building to wait for the bus and saw huge tree limbs down all over the park. Then we saw an entire tree that had blown over and we realized that ABC7 news was there filming it. They asked if we'd talk to them about the weather and the damage, so we talked to them until we had to run for the bus. It was a little strange, it made me feel very shy but ehs did a good job. And they put us on the news! People at work told ehs they'd seen him on the news that night and the next morning. He says how sad it is that the tree is down and that he'll miss it, and I just look at him smiling. It's very sweet.

Fluid Geography

I see the geography of cities as fluid
maps instantly constructed and destroyed
as you learn and relearn your neighborhood
realizing proximity and distance are not
what they seemed

we all create our maps based on emotion
experiences embodying place with a place
on the page
a dot, a pin, a mark to say "I was here"
identified by where and when
we had a fight
you proposed
I saw the cutest guy
they had the best noodles there

then the relationship ends or blossoms
the noodle shop becomes a taco place
the unknown becomes familiar
and the map shrinks again
flows into a picture of home

House of Leaves

I finished House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski this week. It's a post postmodern book, using the structure of the book and the text as part of the story. Maybe the main character for one storyline is going through a tunnel that keeps getting smaller, and each page will have less and less text on it. There's at least three storylines, as well as clues and puzzles you're encouraged to take time for throughout the book. But you can read it without stopping for these distractions, and still follow the story pretty well. It's a 700-page book, so I did find that after I'd put some significant time into just reading it I did get some sense of satisfaction out of decoding a couple of things. At the same time, when I realized at the end just how many things I may have missed, I was perfectly happy to say "Oh well" and move on.

So without having solved every puzzle, or even being completely sure I solved the major puzzle of the story lines themselves, it is a good book. It's a scary book, and I definitely had bad dreams the night I finished it. I've read comments from people who said the constant interruptions the book provides in the main story arc keep it from being truly frightening. I'd have to disagree. What was scariest about the book was the thing that might possibly always be around the corner, and the breaks served to heighten my anticipation about what might happen next.

You do have to let go a little of reality and structure in order to not get angry with the layout of the book. But breaking that fourth wall takes you out of control, and certainly added to my sense of fear.

Good Timing

Today I as walked between rains I thought the Chicago wind was simply blowing drops down from the leaves. I lingered at my building, struggling as usual to open the door. Looking behind me through the window, I saw more water than a tree could ever store on its green leaves pounding slantwise onto the sidewalk.

Navigating the Chicago weather takes a certain amount of luck.

The Good Girlfriend Prize

Several years ago, when we were still just dating, ehs's parents received an ipod nano for opening an account at a bank. They didn't think they'd use it, and they asked him if he thought I'd like it. So one day at their house they sat me down and told me how much the whole family liked me, how great I was for him, and how happy they were that he and I were dating. And presented me with a nano. I like to call it my "Good Girlfriend Prize," and I'm very happy to have it. Not only because it's always nice to know that you're a good girlfriend, but also because I have used it, quite a lot more than I expected to.

I didn't think I'd get a lot of use out of it, I don't listen to very much music. But then I learned about podcasts. First I realized I could listen to episodes of "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" that I had missed. Then back episodes of "This American Life" became available. That was a show I'd always wanted to listen to, but never seemed to catch. Now I could access my favorite things about NPR, but at my convenience. This seemed amazing!

So I spent some time wandering around the iTunes podcast library, just pulling everything that seemed interesting. For a while I was learning basic Japanese. I became a fan of the Irish and Celtic Music podcast. I found Podrunner, which has great music to exercise with. They even released an Interval series recently, which has helped make my mornings more interesting.

Recently I found Ayepod.net, which is my fix for traditional Scottish music. Sometimes I listen to plays through L.A. Theater Works, which I thought would be annoying but is actually very rewarding. They Might Be Giants has an amusing podcast that mixes older songs, live songs, and brand new songs all together. I've also been listening to some episodes of SpanishPod101 to supplement my Rosetta Stone Spanish lessons.

My two current favorite podcasts though are The Classic Tales podcast, and Zencast. The Classic Tales is a collection of stories out of copyright, read by a very skilled performer. I have found most of the stories engaging and entertaining. I just listened to "The Lurking Fear" by H.P. Lovecraft, which was very scary. He's read two Mark Twain short stories which were wonderful. And I've gotten to hear a lot of authors and stories I've never really appreciated. As an added bonus, his voice is very soothing. I don't have any problem listening to the stories as I'm walking around or doing things in the house, but some of them (particularly "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow") have been very helpful on long plane rides where I wanted to sleep. Assisted narcolepsy.

Zencast is a series of dharma talks and guided meditations from a variety of Zen Buddhist teachers. There have been talks on many things I had wanted to learn more about. I do appreciate the irony of listening to Buddhist lectures while I'm out walking instead of being fully in the moment of the walk. But it's given me a lot to think about in terms of relating to other people and how I can choose to interact with my emotions.

I especially enjoyed a lecture I recently listened to on the concept of Loving Kindness. There are four kinds of love in Buddhism: Loving Kindness, Sympathetic Joy, Compassion, and Equanimity. You can always find a way to see the best in someone and love them through one of these actions. I liked the description of Equanimity from the lecture, he called it grandmotherly love. It's love without attachment or judgment. The grandmother's been through it all before, so she isn't going to panic or get upset when the kid falls and scrapes her knee. She'll say, "Yes, it's about time that you scrape your knee, you're that age." Equanimity is saying "We may not agree, and I may not approve of your choices, but that doesn't affect how I feel about you." It's equality of love and emotion. Not indifference, it's caring with equality.

And recently in a lecture someone said Buddhists are still part of the world, they still experience emotions and feelings. But those feelings do not control their actions, they can act without being attached to the emotion.

So, many interesting things to think about, and I would definitely recommend Zencast to anyone looking to listen to engaging Buddhist lectures.

first hockey game of the year...

So there was a Stanley cup game last night, Detroit Redwings and Pittsburgh Penguins. Sadly, it was the only hockey game I watched this entire season. It was not as fun to watch a single game, not knowing the history of the teams, the players to watch. Luckily we had picked up some of that information from people who had been following the seasons as well as from the ever-present announcers.

As a kid I really liked the Penguins. But who didn't when Mario Lemieux was playing? Apparently since he stopped playing the team has been really weak and bottom of the pack. Which is actually not a terrible place to be, as it meant they got a lot of first round draft picks over the last several years. They now have a very young, but very strong team. Their goalie is only 22, and in game 5 he blocked 55 shots. They also had a 19-year-old playing.

Detroit on the other hand had 7 guys over 35. And their experience showed. The ice was pretty bad due to the humidity in Pittsburgh, and the Penguins looked tired after the triple overtime game on Monday.

The biggest problem with watching hockey for me is that it really makes me miss playing it. And the thing that makes me happiest about watching hockey is when all the players shake hands at the end. For being such a violent and emotional game (there are no fist fights in football...), it's amazing and wonderful to me that at the end they all line up, shake hands, and say good game. I wish all our sports teams did this. It shows respect and sportsmanship, which is something every sports fan of all ages could benefit from seeing demonstrated.

A Birth Day

Today after dinner we walked to the beach and flew a kite. We had bought a "travel kite" when we were in Washington State, it's very small, has no plastic support pieces, and fits in a little bag so you can pack it in your suitcase. We had never flown it before, so it was a day for firsts. I was happy we went today instead of yesterday as originally planned, because today it felt like it was a celebration for Madeline.

I have my first niece! Madeline Anne Ruhland was born today, 6 lbs 9 oz.


So we stood in the sand and sent up a small piece of fabric into the ever-present Chicago wind, to honor her first day in Georgia.

When I was a baby, my aunt called me "Baby Ceppy." As a kid, I thought it was just a funny story. But in college we all started using full names for everyone, and I became cep again. So initials started to mean more to me than they had before. Even though I like the name, I couldn't name a kid Madeline Elizabeth Sibbald, because then she'd be MES. But now we get to have MAR in the family, and we're planning to call her MARch, at least as long as she'll let us. She's been "Doodlebug" the whole time she's been in the womb, so maybe she'll see it as a step up, who knows. We've got a while before we'll start hearing any concrete feedback. And I think Doodlebug's going to be a name that sticks with her, we all have a great deal of affection for it.

The problem with a baby is you start to plan their whole life, and they're just figuring out things like temperature, and eating, and how to poop. It'll be a long time before they even figure out how to poop without making faces, much less what their favorite color is, what books they like, what they want to be when they grow up, and who they're going to vote for in November. So here I am, excited to meet and know her. She couldn't even make her eyes focus on my face, even if she wanted to. But I get to be around for at least most of the rest of her life, being the best aunt I can be. I guess I can wait for her to get to know me too.