Good thing we got out to Morton Arboretum yesterday, it looks like it’ll rain all day today. We even got on the bikes to ride one of the loops although I had trouble downshifting. On the way down we listened to Car Talk and I actually submitted an answer to this week’s Puzzler via my trusty iPhone. I know why the cement mixer will get a quicker start than the dump truck, do you? Yeah, another post by iPhone. Lately it seems I use Google Reader to stay current and they recently added the ability to add notes to the…
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Animal fat leak halts Metra trains — chicagotribune.com Commuter rail service on Metra/s Union Pacific West Line has been halted indefinitely at the height of the afternoon rush hour because a stalled freight train is leaking animal fat onto the tracks, Metra officials said Friday afternoon. It’s a sticky situation: high winds and high humidity and high temperatures, plus an unGodly amount of spilled animal fat that’s forced all the roads that cross the tracks in a long section of the Metra West Line to be closed, except for IL-83 and York Road, which cross via underpasses. Also, I-355 and…
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This morning when I got to work, I had a notice that one of the hotels where I’ve got a group booked was going to be in the office with treats. After dealing with some morning stuff (why can’t people plan in advance?) I wandered in to the board room where they were set up. MMmmm! Breakfast pizza! That’s nice and fattening and full of calories and sodium! (and it was delicious too). This evening, after futzing around meal-wise, David and I decided to forage in the cupboards and fridge. I had a vague idea I’d heat up some soup. “Oh,…
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I changed themes again, this time rather painlessly, so that I could add a Google Reader share widget to the left column. I’ll be customizing the various header images over the long weekend and perhaps softening the color scheme and changing font. This theme is called Cutline and seems to work okay right out of the box. I have to add in my custom style stuff, but the photos page looks okay as – is. I’ll be uploading a lot of pictures to Flickr from the East Coast trip and some backlog too. But first we have to catch a…
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It’s hard to tell here, but the Episcopal church in Boothbay Harbor is brand new, and made in a very clean and updated “shingle” style on the outside. On the inside it’s a clean, fresh, open plan space with a sanctuary that has a high wooden ceiling supported by big, nautical-looking timbers along the sides. The people were really open and welcoming, too. I had a number of great conversations with people and did my best to wave the big alto flag. They didn’t have a choir, but I had introduced myself to the organized, Eleanor, who became my buddy…
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Father Paul pulled out a very beautiful old Pete Seeger Custom banjo and sang a few lines of “Plastic Jesus” today in church; he’d have had a sing-along going if he’d thought to print out the lyrics, and as it was a lot of people at the early service knew the song and helped him remember the middle section. I told him about a terrific interview my husband David and I heard on Bob Edwards Weekend, which airs on Sundays on WBEZ. I’m tracking down all the related links I can for it to send to Fr. Paul by email.…
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It’s the most underwhelming office holiday of the year: it started out being a feminist holiday to encourage daughters to dream of careers. Now it’s devolved into an excuse to bring your kid to work instead of dropping him/her off at school or daycare. Most years, the kids are kept busy with activities. Some years, the designated wranglers drop the ball and the l’il dollinks wander around on their own or in packs. This year seems to be in the latter vein – a couple of boys have been mooching around on the work floor looking bored and have had…
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Today being the third Saturday of the month, some of us from the “nurturing” team at Holy Moly/St Nicholas were at Asbury Park for the ecumenical service we do. On my way in, I spotted this on the schedule board for the day: there we are at 10:30, in direct competition with the Wii Bowling. And let me say, the Wii virtual bowlers were kicking ass and having a great time, from the sound of it. We had a pretty good time too – Tim from choir showed up, so we “made a choir” and stood together. Finished with “Amazing…
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I’m already having a bad day, and it’s not even noon yet. All seemed normal until I went to leave: the garage door was stuck halfway open. I didn’t notice it until I checked the rearview mirror and couldn’t see the street. There was enough light to see by when I went out, so my blinkers were on and I thought “David left the garage door open.” Well, not quite. I couldn’t open it or close it, and last time it got stuck, the red release handle caused the whole thing to drop down and bust the springs, which were…
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Tornado sirens activated as funnels sweep NW suburbs — chicagotribune.com The muggiest air of 2007, which first reached the area Sunday, exploded Wednesday for a fifth consecutive day into downpour and funnel-cloud producing t-storms. Doppler radar velocity measurements identified tornadic rotation around 2:45 p.m. Wednesday afternoon in northern Kane County. A flurry of funnel reports ensued from Maple Park to Schaumburg, prompting the activation of tornado sirens. It’s been awfully, awfully wet, humid, hot, and stormy for days, and yesterday was highlighted with a little trip to the basement for us at work. I started hearing people talking about the…