Monthly Archives: April 2006
Like - oh my wow - DePaul University Libraries - TMI!!!
TMI, for those of you not in the know means "too much information," an issue that I'm dealing with right now although not in the usual sense where the abbreviation is invoked.Online research has come so far in the few years since I've had to do a bunch of it. Moreover, DePaul has done a really great job of providing all of the information I could possibly want without having to get my lazy ass to the library. I've got full access to about a hojillion research databases including books 24x7 and Gartner. I can't sort through it all! And with my explorative - must look at every option before making a decision - nature, I'm having a really hard time.
Oh well, I gotta suck it up and get back to work. Seriously though, the tuition is totally worth the access - I can use all of this stuff at work! HoooWAH!
04.27.06 11:53am(3 comments)
Shamelessly stolen from Chelsea Lou’s pants party
So my sorority from college has this really excellent social networking software and one of the features is a running blog rss feed. So I get to read the blogs of all kinds of folks, some I know and some I don't know... which gives me more quiz goodness from which to feed. It's been awhile since I've done one, so here goes:WHAT'S YOUR:
ringtone: "miserlou"
middle name: Elizabeth
job: MIS Director at a legal aid organization
sign: Virgo
WHAT COLOR:
is your hair: Reddish - light brown with bleach blond low lights
are your eyes: blue-ish grey, sometimes aqua
are your socks: hello! springtime! sandals! NO SOCKS!
is your shirt: bright green stereolab shirt
RIGHT NOW:
the closest thing to your left hand: coffee cup from the flamingo - bright pink, a set of crochet hooks from hong kong and a DePaul window decal that I need to put on my car.
what's in your pockets: sandwich bags for picking up puppy poop
are you hungry: not really - it's coffee time!
are you thirsty: see above
what are you sitting on: in my office chair
where are you: in the office side of the living room.
is the light on: yep
ONE OR THE OTHER:
cat or dog: dog
cookies or candy: pfft. both
kiss or hug: BOTH!
school or work: school
shower or bath: shower
Cingular or Verizon: Verizon - SBC/AT&T / Cingular can SUCK IT.
ps2 or Xbox: both - modded.
whipped cream or cherries: BOTH - what is wrong with you people making me choose.. for chrissake.
FAVORITE:
animal: dachshunds! aka poop weasels
coin: toonie
drink: BOOZE of any kind, really. I will draw the line at the beast, franzia, mad dog, wild vines, etc.
pokemon: pika-SHUTTHEFUCKUP. What kind of question is that?
RANDOM:
how many fingers do you have: oh - is this where I'm supposed to see through my hand to see a hole bunch of fingers instead of the 5 on each hand I was born with?
what do you wish you were doing right now: napping with the puppies
what's the last thing you bought: I bought some produce from the local grocer - Chuy's
are you wearing a belt: nope.
LAST:
drink: coffee
meal: leftovers from the cookout on sunday.
words you said: "that's the dog we see walking on ainslie."
words you typed: see above.
place you went: pet suppy store
person you thought about: Tommy
Where did you take your default photo: I didn't take it.
What is your current problem? motivation :(
What makes you most happy? all kinds of stuff.
If you could go back in time, and change something, what would it be? Um, have you heard of causality? No?
Ever have a near death experience? no.
Name an obvious quality you have? Wit ;)
What's the name of the song that your listening to? It's early morning, I haven't managed to make it to any sort of music playing device quite yet.
Any celeb you would marry? Err, no. But there are a few I'd get freaky with.
Name someone with the same birthday as you? Branford Marsalis, Macauley Caulkin, and a few relatives and friends.
Ever sang in front of a large audience? Yup.
What do you usually order from Starbucks?
FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS DRINK STARBUCKS!
Has anyone ever said you looked like a celebrity?
Um, no.
Do you still watch kiddie movies or kiddie TV shows? Heck yeah!
Are you comfortable with your height?
Sure.
Do you speak any other languages?
French and Japanese
What magazines do you read?
Bust, Bitch, Chicago magazine, TimeOut Chicago, Ready Made, Wired, and any number of liberal mags that Tom picks up.
Have you ever ridden in a Hummer limo?
Oh ffs, why would I want to? Those things are *hideous*
Has anyone you're really close with, passed away?
Not that I know of.
Do you ever watch MTV?
No cable.
What's something that really annoys you?
Conversations with really hardnosed type people who have no concept that anyone else could have an opinion or could be right in what they think / believe. People who insist that I'm wrong in a conversation even though I'm pretty sure I'm right - and then I go check reputable sources on the Internet and find out that indeed I was right.
04.25.06 7:40am(1 comment)
Ravinia!!!
So it seems as if I'll be needing to invest in one of those fancy picnic baskets that come with plates, silverware, wine glasses, and convenient little pockets and nooks in which to store picnicky type items because yesterday I threw down a chunk of money to keep Tom and I thoroughly entertained throughout the summer. For a modest fee, already paid, and with the train to the venue two blocks from our apartment, we will be spending many mystical Chicago summer nights listening to the melodious sounds emminating from Ravinia. Now, I had heard of this place / phenomenon last summer, but it really didn't sink in and I didn't have anyone to go with anyway. That and I didn't want to be the loser who was there by herself with a picnic for one looking all forlorn and lonley despite the assuredly excellent music on stage - and for that same reason I missed a lot of excellent stuff last summer although, in my own defense, I did make it to a lot of places by myself but didn't really talk to anyone. I'm not the kind of girl that people start conversations with. It's to be expected especially with the rampant size-ism in this country...I digress.
So here's the lineup! Keep in mind, we only bought tickets for stuff we thought would sell out.
2 ticket(s) for Elvis Costello
2 ticket(s) for Bonnie Raitt/Keb' Mo'
2 ticket(s) for Tom Jones/Etta James
4 ticket(s) for O'Riley plays Radiohead
2 ticket(s) for Tony Bennett
2 ticket(s) for CSO 10-punch lawn pass
- which will get us to 10 chicago symphony orchestra performances, including one of pictures at an exhibition!!!!! WOOOOOOOomgpicturesatanexhibitionWOOOOOOOOO!!!*shows boobies* So I get a little carried away...
04.21.06 9:34am(4 comments)
And another thing…
I forgot a few things -1. I got *really* sick after coming back from the conference. The doctor said I had the flu, but I felt like I had a case of "ass warmed over." I slept all day for a few days between power chugs of green tea and orange juice and was back in business within a few days. Unfortunately, being sickly also made me miss the Clap your hands say Yeah concert, the tickets which I bought for Tom off of ebay. Lura and I were able to arrange a Man-Date between our S.O's and they were able to enjoy the concert in my stead.
2. Thankfully, the union and management were able to reach a collective bargaining agreement before a strike - although it was pretty damn close. The terms of the agreement were pretty good, so I think everyone is happy with that arrangement. Including myself, because I was getting really tired of being the bad guy.
3. The Friday of the anniversary, everyone at work was so happy that we had a CBA that I took Lura, Nick and Eric out to lunch at Taste of Siam and then Lura and I decided to go shopping (especially now since she had been saving for a strike and then didn't have to go on strike and I had some extra money from my *huge* management raises that the union kept talking about that I could use to spend on shoes instead of wiping my ass with 20's). Of course, we headed to the nordstrom rack where I got a pair of cute blue flowered birkenstocks (not the kind that have the straps across your feet, but they actually have one that goes up between my big toe and index toe), a pair of clarks, a brown velvet skirt that was only 6 bucks and two velvet jackets, one dark blue and one bright pink that I've been wearing as my coats lateley because, you know, I'm so fashionable. We headed to Old navy where I picked up some pink flipflops with rainbows on them (!), a peach tank, a brown crocheted shrug (to go with the brown skirt), and this funky tank top that was also only 6 bucks. After that, I headed to Marshall fields to pick up some Frango mints thinking that would be the Chicago equivalent to flowers for boys. I couldn't figure out which mints to get so I got a sampler box, and smaller boxes of the normal mints, dark chocolate mints, and plain dark chocolates. I surprised Tom at work with the mints and he seemed to enjoy that.
4. The pro se divorce video taping went really well and I had a lot of fun even though I had to be downtown at 7am two morning's in a row. Richard, the guy in charge, had his brother from DC, Kristian (with a K!), who is going to film school in the fall, fly up to Chi-town for the filming. He borrowed some really nice cameras from illinois legal aid online and we were in business. I guess there was a lot of gossip in the office about the film and people got all, I don't know, you know how they get when someone is doing something cool and they're not. I didn't care, really. This was one of the few opportunities I got to help out our clients, so I jumped on it. That, and the camera loves me :) Friday night, after it was all over, Richard, Kristian, Tom and I headed to a local dive and had some well deserved drinks for a goodpart of the evening. We all had a really good time and Tom was sly enough to pick up the check when it came while I was in the bathroom. He knew I'd be cranky if they picked up the tab because there was *no* way I would let someone on an Americorps budget pay for my drinks. I mean seriously, they're doing this huge service to the country and they get a paupers wage. WTF-ever.
I think that's it for now. Tune in again for the next installment of kristyland adventures! What challenges will our heroine face? Will she live to see another day? *organ music*
04.20.06 7:43am(0 comments)
So… where was I?
Wow, I've got a lot of catching up to do! While I'm waiting for Tom to finish up at work (we ride the train home together) I'll see if I can get all this down.My Philadelphia story:
After much nagging and constant persistance, I was allowed to attend the Equal Justice Conference in Philadelphia at the end of March. The conference was great - I attended a bunch of workshops and learned a lot of stuff. What I'm most excited about is the idea of using wikis as collaborative documentation. Now of course, the IT dpt is going to try this out first because lord knows we need some documentation up in the hizzy. But just think of how useful a well maintained wiki would be for work groups in different substantive areas of the law. Instead of maintaining dozens of email folders with various blobs of listproc generated info, you could have a well laid out and searchable resource - the possibilities are endless!
I also got to see some ABLE folks, meet and chat about legal services technology with all of the techie high rollers in legal services, and one evening I took the china town bus to NYC to visit with Brandon. It was only 2 hrs each way and 20 bucks total - what a bargain! I hadn't seen B in awhile so it was good to catch up with him and meet his most excellent roomate Alex, who is thankfully not fuck crazy like many of Brandon's former roomates. So yeah - conference = awesome.
5 year anniversary big city extravaganza party blowout:
I must say that Tom and I did it up style when in respect to the anniversary weekend. I think we stuffed about 3 weekends into one, but it was totally worth it and completely memorable. Friday night, as usual, we were both pretty tired from the hectic week, so we just grilled up some steaks drank some wine, ate some fancy cheese, and reflected upon the past five years of our lives together.
Saturday, we got up early and met at the Salt and Pepper Diner with our pal Chris who just happened to have a few extra bleacher tickets to the cubs home openner AGAINST THE CARDINALS!!! What an experience that was - we froze our asses off, drank some old style, ate some corndogs, enjoyed all that the infamous bleachers had to offer, and watched the CUBS BEAT THE CARDINALS. As we said that day and will say evermore - the cardinals can SUCK IT.
Following that we headed home, gussied up and headed out on the town again, this time towards more sophisticated endeavors. Our taxi rolled us right up to Cafe Spiaggia where we had an excellent meal. I had vidalia onion soup and veal which was just out of this world.
Too full for desert, we headed to the the-ater where Tom had scored two tickets to the openning weekend of RENT. Yes, Tom took me to see yet another musical and he enjoyed himself. Yes, it's astonishing. After a long day of being out on the town, we headed home and crashed early.
Once again we got up sunday morning and headed out on the town, this time to The Chopping Block for an early morning knife skills class :) I had also purchased Tom 6 classes with the idea that he could go to the class and then come home and teach me what he learned / cook for me / slave away in the kitchen while I relax with my feet up and some sort of fru-fru drink with an umbrella. Okay, so I'm dreaming. Anyway, We both learned the proper care and feeding of kitchen knives as well as how to hold a knife and how to chop any number of things any number of ways. We walked out of there with a new epicure cutting board and a very nice Global Santoku knife.
After we got our knife on, we were ready for some grub and headed downtown again to yet another fancy restaurant for sunday brunch. Let me tell you, for as little as we paid for the brunch, we got some seriously tastacular food. Starting with the seafood station, I picked up some tuna and salmon negiri, jumbo shrimp, smoked salmon, and a fresh oyster that was fresher than the ones I used to have in new orleans that were pulled earlier in the day (yeah, I don't know how they did it). Then onto the salads, artisan breads, and fancy cheeses. The brunch also included an entree, so I got halibut on greens, which was incredible. All the while, we start talking about all kinds of important life stuff, which will be the topic of a later post. We didn't even make it to the actual breakfasty part of the buffet. With much dedication, I was able to pick up a few of the wee tiny desserts, but was woefully full following my scarfing down the heavenly little morsels. Fortunately, Tom managed to roll me home where we took a nice long nap with the puppies under rays of sun coming through the windows. Yeah it was awesome.
Easter - where Jesus is nailed to a chocolate bunny and dies for our sins only to be resurrected just in time to plant the eggs for the egg hunt:
So my sordid religious past and my various bouts with any number of religions have left me a little jaded, but since my childhood was void of holidays, I've turned into a big holiday whore - I'll celebrate a holiday, no problem, but what I like most is the reason to get all gourmet on your asses and cook up something tasty and fancy. Here's what I came up with this year -
- Orange mango pear mimosas
- Multigrain waffles w/ nutella and berries soaked in chardonnay and sugar
- Smoked salmon en croute w/ a poached egg, capers, red onions, dill and chives (I had planned to put some goat cheese on this, but I forgot - it turned out really well despite)
- Grilled marinated lamb chops with grilled asparagus on greens with shitake mushrooms
- Grilled pears with profiteroles, gorgonzola, candied walnuts, and dark chocolate sauce
I did most of the prep and cookin' while Tom did all of the grillin' (grunt grunt fire good - george foreman bad). Our friend Lura came over to enjoy the festivities leaving her ill boyfriend at home who couldn't join us for obvious reasons. So we ate it all up and it was good. Amen. After the brunch, we watched the original Thomas Crowne Affair with Steve McQueen and Faye Dunnaway and let me tell you that this movie is totally badass and stylish - Wooo! Lura headed home to check in on her man and we mostly relaxed with the puppies the rest of the afternoon.
Easter also marked my Grampa's 77th birthday! Happy Birthday Grampa!
Alright, more news to follow.
04.19.06 6:06pm(5 comments)
Pope Awesome the First
So Tom and I were watching this history of the papacy show on PBS last night where we were reminded that any baptised catholic can become Pope. Tom, being a baptised catholic himself, started to speculate what it would be like if he were the Pope...Pope Awesome the First:
- In his first acts of his "pimp-acy" would allow birth control / abortions, female priests, gay marriage, and most importantly from my perspective, would remove the celibacy vow for priests.
- adds "Bros before Hoes" as the 11th commandment
- After smashing through the wall with his silver hulk fists would decree that instead of saying "Amen" one would say "West-sieeede"
- would decree that he and I do indeed live on the west sieeede of Chicago, not the north side
- Would start selling off much of the relics and properties of the catholic church and give the proceeds to the poor - as there is "fat bank to be had in a gut re-hab of the pope's apartment - Do you know how much people would pay to shit in the Pope's toilet, let alone in the Pope's woods?"
- Would bless flannel shirts, old t-shirts, and jeans as the new pontifical robes.
- is totally keeping the hat.
- will rice out the Pope-mobile with a spoiler, some neon underneath, some sweet jesus decals and a kickin' sound system to be known as "the holy thunder."
- Would call in a favor to the big guy upstairs so that the Cubs would win the world series and the Browns would win the super bowl.
- will make every mass 75% shorter, and will be backed up by an obscure indie rock band du jour - who will, by the way, totally rock out.
So I guess the only question that remains is - WWPAFD?
04.14.06 5:20am(8 comments)
Thank you Chicago Rock City! Good Night!
New City just released its list of Top Chicago Rock Stars. So R. Kelley is #3, but there are a lot of people on there who deserve to be - and a lot of folks I had no idea were even from Chicago.04.13.06 2:07pm(0 comments)
I’m getting a divorce!
Or at least I'm playing a divorcee on TV ;) Or perhaps just a training video - ANYWAY.The only reason I would be up so ass early in the morning would be to do something fun, crazy, and that would help other people out - like starring as the petitioner in a pro se divorce training video for LAF's pro se divorce clinic. And since we can only film before or after the business day, we gotta be there at 7am sharp.
*yawn*
04.13.06 5:10am(0 comments)
roses are #FF0000, violets are #0000FF , All my base are belong to you
Who knew that 5 years ago today, following a linux install fest, sushi dinner, and a very short truth or dare game initiated by my friend Joe that Tom and I would get together - and stay that way...FOR 5 YEARS! HOLY CRAP!
Well, we've been through a lot together, growing up, learning stuff, graduations, new jobs, new states, new states of mind, puppies - It's been really awesome. I could go on and on about how incredible Tom is, how I love him SO much, how his eyes are as blue as the yada yada... yeah I won't do that to my readers. I mean, y'all know what I'm going to say anyway and y'all know how awesome Tom is. Besides, Tom and I have something very special, and that's just for us. Neener neener.
Happy Anniversary to us :) Here's to growing old together :)
04.07.06 10:31am(5 comments)
Phuck you Philly!
and your nasty flu germs. The conference was great, as I knew it would be, and I picked up a lot of great ideas. I also picked up the flu, so I had been off of work for the past few days. I think I'll be okay enough to go in today, which is good since there might be a strike. Ah, good times.04.05.06 7:12am(4 comments)