My cow-orker Bovina has returned from her vacation or family leave or whatever. She normally logs in at 830, but is always here way, way early. So this morning she put her name on the sign up sheet for “down-time” (an unpaid time off request) at 8:15 frickin ACK EMMA. She wasn’t even officially “here” yet. A fact that was pointed out to her, in a joking/not really joking way, by a couple of other people. The fact that she signs up every day there’s a down-time list posted has become a joke to more than a few folks. I…
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Directory of clips from the Daily Show that include Asscroft evading a charge of Contempt of Congress and generally being a holier-than-thou, know-better-than-thou jerkwad under questioning. Swiped with love from BoingBoing.
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… well, because I’ll never be a guru, actually. But after the extremely humbling trudge I had hiking around at Starved Rock last weekend, I finally decided it was time we started working out again. Granted, it was hot on Saturday, which totally wipes me out. But come on, I was passed by an elderly couple going up the stairs. Jeebus. I’d have felt slightly better about it if they hadn’t been light-heartedly humming and chatting, while I stood to one side gasping for breath and sweating like a Clydesdale hauling barrels full of skunky bad American beer. So anyway…
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The East-West Tollway’s name officially was changed to the Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway. Bullshit! Bullshit bullshit bullshit bullshit fucking bullshit. Wait, let me tell you how I really feel. What a steaming load of low-grade assfault. Laid on by a bunch of sycophantic political buttlickers. Who are all ghost employees padding the payroll for their necrotic shirttail relatives. The Trib is already calling for new nicknames, noting that the “Eisenhower” (It’s I-290, people) is usually called “The Ike” by people trying to sound cool. Well, my name for it is “The Gypper.” And yes, I spell and pronounce it that…
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Well, this is the big news: BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Bryson wins £10,000 science prize but I think I envy Bill Bryson more for getting to live in a small village in Yorkshire (for a while, at least – it’s not clear if he returned there from his stay in the States). I need to read more of his books as soon as possible.
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Holy Crap! We’ve GOT to go to the Browncoat Ball! They’ve got a Captain Tightpants competition, too. Hmm.
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Barack Obama appears in the third hour of Al Franken’s show on AAR today.
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My very dear friend Ellen lives in Germany – her husband David Beard is the Academic Director for the Oxford Experience, a study program that takes place in Oxford each summer. This would be SO cool – meals are taken in the Great Hall at Christ Church, which was the setting for the dining hall scenes in the Harry Potter movies. They have a really interesting program of subjects, and I wish that I could do this. Maybe some year. Ellen has been telling me about these for years, and each year I grow increasingly more and more envious. I’d…
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We’re going to the Art Institute on July 10th to see “Evolution of La Grande Jatte.”David’s parents are members and his mom loves to include us when she gets tickets to the big shows. It’s always a pleasant outing – we generally drive in, meet them on the steps if it’s a nice day, do the special exhibit, and head off for lunch. If there’s time we browse other temporary exhibits. The last time we went, my MIL and I wandered off to find the Mesopotamian section, because I think at the time we were in the process of invading…
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A long-planned hike to Starved Rock today nearly came to naught because I, unlike Ronnie, am not the Great Communicator. However, we made it to the park and hiked, which consisted mostly of walking up and down stairs and along boardwalks. There are normal trails also, but the area is underlain by a layer of soft sandstone that erodes VERY easily, so the high-traffic areas are boarded. We met up with Steve and drove down to Starved Rock to join Jill and her friend Gina. I screwed up by not checking directly with Steve to be clear on a change…