interesting trivia

Interesting tidbits I learned from student presentations this summer, if their research is accurate:

The Colorado foster care system allows foster parents who have diagnosed drug, alcohol, and psychological problems. They also offer permanent foster parent licensing, which means once someone is licensed, they never have to be reviewed for continued licensure.

Traditional gasoline tanks are only 14% efficient.

When youths commit a criminal offense, some places allow circle sentencing, where everyone in the community is allowed to sit in and discuss and come to a consensus on how a criminal should be punished. Good times.

The word "tip", as in tipping a server, may have come from the acronym standing for To Insure Promptitude. Some say the history of the tip is that individuals would give the TIP before the service, and the amount given would tell the server what kind of service customers wanted to be provided.

Electric cars rule!

At least in the state of Colorado, establishments employing servers working under minimum wage (to allow for tips) must give their service enough money to make their hourly wage the standard minimum wage, if the servers don't make enough to tips to make up the difference.

my fortune from lunch today

"Life is not a struggle. It's a wiggle."

No lie. That's what my fortune cookie paper said.

trip report

Let's see if I can sum my trip up in fifteen minutes or less before class:

So we left at like one in the morning on Wednesday last week. Drove all day. Across the northern part of Colorado, all the way across Iowa and Nebraska and then across Illinois until we reached Round Lake, where they live. Let me say, for the record, I never want to live in Iowa or Nebraska. It may be closed-minded and I may be generalizing, but I could never see a giant cornfield again.

Thursday, while they were at work, Tony and I used their TomTom (THE GREATEST INVENTION OF ALL TIME) and drove into the city. Priority number one: Chinatown. It was great. We thought it would be more touristy, but we may have been two of ten total "white" people we saw while we were there. We decided we could live there. We ate at a restaurant where no one spoke English (shark fin dumplings were the only thing we got that was sort of weird) and then shopped at what I'm sure was their "cheap Mardi Gras bead" stores equivalent like they have in NOLA, but we were happy. I got a little Buddha for my desk, a handmade paper mobile, and some sandalwood soap. Tony got a tea set. Then we made an attempt to see Little Italy, which was essentially a bust; it's just a regular part of town with maybe a few more pizza places than normal and a lot of dark hair.

Friday we slept in and hung around the house, got coffee, etc. We went into the city around lunchtime, took a few hours to tour around the Art Institute museum (excellent) and then it was raining so we ducked into Bennigan's for lunch. Then we met Chris and Natalie, took public transit all afternoon to get our bags, cars, and get checked into the hotel we were going to stay in that night. We ate at a Mexican place (delicious) and then went to Second City, a comedy club where they do sketch type stuff. Apparently a lot of SNL people got their starts there. That was fun. Then back to sleep.

Saturday we got up and headed to the Field Museum. We cruised there for a few hours and then left. We went to Michigan Avenue and hit a deep dish pizza joint, did some more walking around and then left to go back to Round Lake. We watched TV and went to bed.

Sunday we hung out around Round Lake. Tony, Chris, and I went to see The Dark Knight. Then we went back, I cooked dinner, and we hung out till bedtime. We got up in the middle of the night that night and left, got home last night at around seven.

The best thing about traveling for me is the surreal quality. Like, a few days ago, I was on a CTA train headed to Chinatown. Now I'm in my office like it never happened. It's weird.

One thing I did learn: I am definitely a city girl, I think. I can say all I want about mountains and beaches, but when it comes down to it, as bad as it sounds, nature bores me. I want to take advantage of public transportation. I want to walk the streets with a thousand other people. I want to look at non-city people with disdain as they refuse to cross the road until it specifically says WALK. I will definitely be doing some research into moving closer to a city for sure, and maybe it'll be Chicago instead of Indianapolis as previously thought.

a little bit o' crazy on the train

We took a trip this past week to the fantastic city of Chicago to visit some friends. I may post more about the trip later, but here's the first funny thing that happened.

Tony and I drove into the city the first day we were here and then got a day pass to take the train around, mainly wanting to see Chinatown, which did not disappoint.

So we're on the train getting to Chinatown, and this very muscular and annoying look guy, maybe in his thirties, gets on the train. He has on a crappy t-shirt with the sleeves cut off, some faded nasty looking workout pants, white thick athletic socks, and plastic looking slip on Adidas slide sandals. Disgusting. And it's like 100 degrees outside. Not only that, but he's got a thing tied around his head, like a sweatband thing. He's got a backpack. And he's pushing a massive mountain bike around.

He steadily talks to himself. The entire time. Then he asks Tony what time it is, although he has on a giant watch. He looks at himself in the reflection on the windows and flexes and admires his physique. Then he continually bitches to everyone on the train about how difficult it is to bring a bike on the train. I'm thinking, why do you have a bike if you're taking the train? The best part, though, was that every like three minutes or so, he just screams ROIDS!!!! Every three minutes. ROIDS!!! ROIDS!!!!

He finally got off the train, ROIDSing all the way out of the station. When we get off the train, we notice that there is a giant sign that says, "No bicycles."

goodbye, lohan... hello, disney

For those of you who have seen it and didn't know, Handy Manny, Disney's complete rip off of Bob the Builder except with a Hispanic lead, is voiced by Wilmer Valderrama.

Yes, Wilmer Valderrama. Fes from That 70's Show. Tony and I have mixed reactions... Steady gig v. Lack of star power...

Guess he's not picking up many hot chicks in that gig.

skylarks, suspicions, and other brief commentary

A sign of the times: I got an email in my junk mail box today from Travelocity. The big sell? Fares Are Just $407+ from Denver to Baton Rouge. Book It Today! Oh, really? JUST 407+? Thanks so much, Travelocity.

I made Aidan this CD with all these children's songs on them to listen to in his room. One of the songs is "Alouette". If you didn't know already, it's a song basically about plucking all the feathers out of a skylark. Good times. Since I heard that song, I've not been able to get it out of my brain. "Et le nez, et la tete, alouette..." Wouldn't be so bad except I only know a few of the words and I end up making up the rest. "Et la poo... Et la doo..."

A sign I'm getting old: I took Aidan to the dentist for two fillings the other day and saw a commercial for one of those horrible KidzBop CDs, where they take already artistically lacking songs and then destroy them further by allowing a bunch of ten year olds to shout the lyrics over mediocre covers of the music. As if that wasn't terrible enough, how old did I feel when I literally had not even heard of most of the songs. Like, I had heard that crappy Fergie song "Clumsy", and one of the other songs was familiar in title and tune, but I literally had never even heard of any of the others.

In case you haven't heard, they "exonerated" JonBenet's parents this week. Why, thanks so much, Boulder police. Never mind the fact that the people have lived under the "they killed their daughter" suspicions for twelve years, and that the mom is actually dead now and can't reap the "I told you so" satisfaction. I'd be SO pissed if I were the dad. Of course, I think he's actually dating the mom of that Aruba-MIA girl Natalee Holloway now, so that's weird anyway.

Only five days till our Chicago trip! I can't wait, but I'm worried about the little chonk. He's much more partial to us than Aidan was at that age. I'm worried he won't eat or sleep much the entire time we're gone. His three new teeth finally broke through, so that's better. Traveling without them makes me nervous. Tony could go the entire week and trust that they're fine and never hear about what they're doing, and I would enjoy a live feed from a webcam that I could check out constantly to see what they're wearing, eating, doing... The difference between moms and dads I guess.

coffee and cross stitching

So we were talking the other day, and I am going to go ahead and admit it: I am a Starbucks coffee snob.

If you ever want to get on my last nerve, visit Starbucks and get in front of me in line and then stand for fifteen minutes deciding what you want and asking retarded questions.

The other day, after Aidan's dentist appointment, I went to Starbucks (with him in tow), mainly to get him a vanilla milk that they sell there. (a) I have a three year old with me. (b) He's hopped up on nitrous oxide. and (c) I hate idiots.

So I'm behind this girl in line. She has clearly never been to Starbucks before. And I'm saying, we all had our first time. Preferably, your first time is with someone whose been there before. Like, any time I go with Tony, even tough he's now not a Starbucks virgin anymore, I still have to order for both of us. The key, if you're not there with a person who is familiar, is to stand back and peruse the menu BEFORE getting in line.

This girl did not do that. I am having to reign in Aidan, not to mention that all I was getting was a pack of madeleines, a Starbucks energy drink in a can, and a vanilla milk, none of which had to be made. This girl must have asked literally about fifteen questions. Including the good old "what flavor syrups do you have" -- like they can sum it up in two or three. Then, after taking fifteen minutes to order and pay for her coffee, I had to stand behind her while she slowly organized her wallet and put everything in order in her purse before she moved her behind out of the way.

So I guess it's not just Starbucks, although if you can't immediately walk up and say, "I want a venti iced caramel macchiato" with confidence, you should never get in front of me; it's also poor etiquette at the checkout counter.

On an unrelated note, I've found some cross stitching answers. First, I found a nontraditional cross stitch pattern girl online, who has cool weird things, including the red stapler from Office Space: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=11890590

I also just ordered a hilarious sounding book from a library somewhere else. It's called Subversive Cross Stitching.

bravo, bravo!

So we've been in Logan since Thursday, and may I say, HOW MUCH DO I MISS BRAVO on our stupid cable provider back home? I've spent all day today watching first a Top Chef marathon, then a few episodes of Life on the D List, and now I'm watching Shear Genius. And like a cruel joke, they keep playing the commercials advertising that the next Project Runway is starting like ten days from now. Ugh.

I love Bravo. It's only gotten better. To think I thought it was awesome when it was only Blow Out and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.

On a side note, I've been doing some cross stitching. I found a little kit with a Chinese symbol on it and thought that was okay, so I'm almost done with it. Fun, easy, can do it while I sit with the kids. Only problem: you can definitely tell the demographic they are appealing to when they create these cross stitching patterns and kits. Other than what appears to be next to impossible full reproductions of Thomas Kinkade paintings, the major subject of all cross stitching patterns is cats. Cats cats cats. Anyone getting a picture of a urine-smelling house built in 1930 with original yellow tile and vinyl couch covers?