Playboy

Here's something worth blogging about...

I went to Playboy Headquarters on Thursday evening for an exclusive tour. Their offices are not open to the public, but they have a fantastic art collection. The curator is one of my fellow Aids Marathon runners, and so the Aids Foundation of Chicago invited those of us who ran the Marathon this year and signed up again this year for the private tour.

Needless to say, it was really fun! We saw most of the artwork, the offices, and the photo studio. Surprisingly, 40% of all playboy photos are taking in the Chicago studio.

Yep, that's Heff. In all his 70s glory.

Loyola... here I come!

Just a quick update to let you all know that I was accepted into Graduate School at Loyola! I start the School Counseling Program in August! I decided to start with School Counseling, but the program is really transparent for School Counseling and Community Counseling, which will make me a licensed counselor. The potential goal is to one day be a clinical psychologist. But that's still many, many years away....

There is something I understand now...

Retired people are always busy and never have time for anything. I've always wondered why that is.
I've finally figured it out...

When you're working every day for, say, 40 years, there are a lot of things you can't do because you just don't have the time. Throughout those 40 years you make mental lists of things you want to do once you have the time, and when you finally retire, you start working on that list. As a result, you never have time for anything and are always busy (but at least with things you've been wanting to do).

That's how I feel. I spent two years in school where every weekend I did homework. The list of things I've been wanting to do with my weekends instead has gotten longer and longer. And it's boring stuff - painting, hanging pictures, repotting plants, sorting through 2 years worth of mail. But it needs to get done and takes time.

Foolishly I assumed that once I graduate, I would have time to do things and catch up with my friends. But instead, I'm catching up on the things I haven't done in the last two years.

It never stops... But at least my condo is no longer boring beige... :)

Haven't really felt like blogging much lately, because life has been too busy. I thought after being done with school I would have more time, which is in theory true. However, I've been so busy at work that every night when I get home I'm just exhausted. On top of it I have taken on the project of painting my apartment, which kept me busy the weekend before last. Last weekend was the first time in a really long time where I just got to do what I wanted! And it was fantastic!!! The weather even cooperated, so after a nice Saturday by myself, I spent Sunday going to the library and strolling through the zoo with Keith. Good times!

I also signed up again to run the Chicago marathon, so I've been trying to run more. Not very successfully at times, but I'm trying. I'm sick of the snow and making my way to the gym through the snow hasn't been great either.

Not much else has really been going on. I haven't really done anything worth blogging about. The only new development in my life is that I'm currently in a cooking phase (Annabelle - you'll appreciate this!!). I've been cooking every night and have found a pretty good audience in Keith. He looooves that I cook for him :)

That's all for now. I'll blog as life happens, but life isn't so happening right now.

Done!

Woohoo!! It's finally all done...

I'm a U.S. Citizen and have a Bachelor's degree in Business Management. :)

The almost-US-Citizen

On Wednesday at noon I finally become a US citizen!!! :) WOOOHOOO! I'm so excited!

Oh, and 10 more days until I'm done with school!



(Sorry I haven't been updating the blog much lately. Things are busy and a bit crazy. Those of you who have called me recently - I am not blowing you off. Just haven't had a chance to sit down long enough to call you. And if I did have enough time to sit down, I was usually so tired I fell asleep. Don't take it personal. I still love you!! I'll call you soon)

What??

I went to the Secretary of State today to change my address on my drivers license (no worries... I didn't move again. I just never did it when I moved 8 months ago). Granted, I went to the Express branch downtown and not to the regular Secretary of State, but... I was the ONLY person there!! In what twisted world does that EVERY happen?? I was in and out of there in less than 10 minutes.

Is all the good Karma finally paying off? Hmm....

I'm still alive...

...it's just been busy. I've been getting ready for the GRE test, which I will be taking on saturday. I need the test for my grad school application for Loyola. I've already applied to DePaul and have been accepted, but would prefer Loyola. Keep your fingers crossed!

As the studying seems to be almost over, I just found out this week that I have an interview for US citizenship on January 22. YAY!! I have to take the civics test the same day, so after the GRE is done with, I need to study for that. Can't fail the citizenship test...

Keith and I went to the Wisconsin Dells over Christmas and learned how to snowboard. Not very successfully I may add. I'm going back for more in a couple of weeks and hopefully it'll go better then. We still had a great time in the Dells (the waterpark capital of the world - what's not to love??).

On top of all the things that have been going on, I have been sick all week and been in bed ridiculously early. That doesn't leave much to blog about.

Oh... except... I'm graduating in less than 6 weeks!!!! :)

The new job

I've been meaning to tell you about my new job, but just haven't had the time yet. So here it goes:

I LOVE MY NEW JOB!! It worked out so much better than I could have ever imagined. As you may know, I was layed off by Air France on September 30th. All summer long I looked for a new job and must have applied for 200 different positions. Finally, two weeks before my last day at Air France, I got a call from Gohagan and Company for an interview. I interviewed the first time on Tuesday, the second time on Thursday, and on Friday I had an offer that I gladly accepted.

Gohagan is a wholesale tour operator that specilizes in trips for non-profit organizations. This includes mainly University Alumni Associations, such as Harvard, Yale, and about 200 others, plus a few other organizations, such as the Chicago Art Institute, Smithsonian, and National Geographic. Our clientelle is very well educated, very well off, and in most cases very old. My title is Program Operations Manager, and my job is to plan the trips :)

Let that sink in for a minute.

I get to plan trips for a living (and if I may add - it's a better living than at Air France). The programs I am responsible for in 2008 are a cruise of the Western Mediterranean, a cruise down the Danube River through the old Habsburg Empire, a trip to experience village life in Malta and Sicily, and a cruise down the Russian Waterways from Moscow to St. Petersburg. So what exacly do I do? I arrange for everything from the time a passenger gets to the airport until they leave again (except for airfare... I don't do that). That includes a minute-by-minute itinerary with excursions, cruise times, meals, hotel nights, lectures, etc. It's a very detailed job, but it's really fun! And the tours all sound amazing!

For 2009, which we have started planning already, I will have a cruise down the Danube again, but this time from Vienna to Istanbul, a different cruise through the Mediterranean, a one week stay in a French Chateau in the Loire Valley, all the programs from 2008 that will be repeated again, PLUS a cruise around Australia and New Zealand. This one I am especially excited about, but I haven't started it yet.

Do you ever dream about work at night and wake up either pissed off or feeling like you forgot to do something? When I dream about work now... I wake up feeling like I just went on a trip and saw the world! :) I love my job!!!

And here's another one about religion...

A story about a teacher with no bad intentions, who happens allow for her class of 7 year old to choose the wrong name for a teddy bear. I know this is a very extreme case, but I find it so outrageous!

Read the article...

Salvation Army

Along the same lines of religion...

Why does the Salvation Army have to have a company wide opinion about so many issues that are related to religion, but have nothing to do with helping people?

Click on the link to check out their website and see what I'm talking about...

The greatest thing ever!!

I was recently in need of a new vacuum, and after doing a little 'research' on Amazon, I found out that there are vacuums that also scrub your floor. Intrigued by the idea, I decided to go for it. At this point I should probably mention that I'm not very domestic at all, and the absolute pits is mopping the floor. I will clean toilets before I get out the mop.

So a couple of days ago the Hoover Floor Mate arrived at my door step, and today I finally put it to the test. It effing rocks!! Ok... it doesn't vacuum all that well. But what it lacks in sucking power, it makes up in mopping and scrubbing power. And let's face it, THAT is what I bought it for.

I LOVE THE HOOVER FLOOR MATE!!

Woohoo!

I ran 4 miles today, and it felt awesome :) No pain, no aches, and I wasn't even out of breath. (ok, so we were running pretty slow and taking it easy, but still...)

Religion

I read this article about religion in the Economist last week, and there are a few things I need to say about it...

1. What is Pentecostalism, where did it come from, and how come I've never heard of it before?? Ok, so you can find the information on what it is and where it came from here, but that doesn't answer the question why I have never heard of it before. According to the Economis, it is "the most remarkable religious success story of the past century", and they now have something like 400 million members, most of them (about 30 million) in the United States. WHAT? I just find it so bizarre that I've never heard of it.

2. That whole 'seperation of church and state" thing is such a ruse! We are made to believe that our religion shouldn't really matter, and has no business in governmental affairs, but if we're honest... is that the reality of it? I've said this before, but I have to say it again now: Our president has based decisions about war on the fact that if he prays, god will help him make the right decision (which clearly it didn't). And if religion had no place in politics and matters of the state, then why are all the presidential hopefuls telling us what religious affiiation they have? Because unfortunately it does seem to matter - at least to some people. Regardless of Mitt Romneys political beliefs, he is disregarded as a serious candidate by many because of his religious beliefs. Would a Mormon really make a worse president than a Catholic?

And worst of all, it's all a double standard. How can Bush pray for guidance on war decisions, but little school chilren can't have a visit by Santa in their schools? It's ok to bring religion into the state when it serves the right people. But why can't politicians be politically correct and stop talking about religion as much as they do!?!

3. And here is my last point (although I could go on about this all night): Religious wars. Hmm... let's look at some of the conflicts that are happening in the world: Isreal and Palestine. Sudan. Northern Ireland years ago. Sri Lanka. Iraq. And of course the U.S. and other western countries against whoever the current enemy may be. While the main reasons are usually not tied to religous beliefs, almost all wars have an underlying relgious issue? Secular conflicts between governments and countries exist, but they are rare and always have been. As the Economist says "A squabble over land (which can be divided) or power (which can be shared) or rules (that can be fudged)becomes a dispute over non-negotiable absolutes" as soon as religion enters the equation. "If you believe that God granted you the West Bank, or that any form of abortion is murder, compromise is not really possible". Hmm... that's something to think about.

So what does this mean? Does it mean that as long as people have different beliefs, and strong beliefs, there will always be war? Most likely. How does that equate to a seperation of church and state?? Will this go on until there is only one religion left in the world, or will we one day be able to accept each other for what we believe? Or will we one day stop believing?

Halloween

Because I'm so tired of seeing the same slutty costumes for Halloween, this year I decided to go the exact oposite way - as a nun. It was the lowest maintenance costume I've ever worn... Keith and I met up with David at his friends house for a great party! There were some awesome costumes (including ours of course). Keith went as a fabulous 80s rocker... beautifully layered blond curly hair and all, and David was the cartoon version of Robin Hood (the fox - I didn't get why he was wearing makeup until it finally clicked today and I realized he was not just Robin Hood, but also a fox).

Check out some of the pics...

It's only been a little over a week since my last post, but it seems like forever. There's been lots of news I've been meaning to write about - like a new job, a new man, and a million other things that have popped in my head during the past few weeks that I've been meaning to blog about. I just haven't had the time to do it yet. So here is the first of more posts to come...

I've been in Germany for my grandma's 80th birthday, and although it was only a 5 day trip, it was fun! We took my grandma and grandpa to Speyer for the weekend. I had never been there myself, but my parents had. True to herself, my mom booked this really nice spa hotel, which was great, but way too fancy for my grandparents, especially because they have never traveled. It's funny how we are so used to things that others have never seen. For instance, when we handed grandma the room key, she looked really confused. She had no idea why we were giving her a card instead of a key, or how this would ever open her room. It was cute.

The highlight of the trip for me was a visit to the Technik Museum. They had an assortment of airplanes on display that one could walk through and check out. Very cool! Among them was an old Lufthansa 747 that was displayed high up in the air. For me that wasn't anything new, because when I worked at Lufthansa, the 747 was one of the airplanes I was certified to do the weight and balance and ramp supervision for. But it was fun showing my parents the cargo hold and other things they have never seen as passengers. Even cooler, we got to walk on the wing and then exit via a slide instead of stairs.

And that was pretty much all that happened on the trip. It's maybe noteworthy that on my way there, my flight and train worked out perfect... the first time EVER since I had worked for Air France. I hate Paris and will always choose another airport to fly to because there are always surprises and delays. But this time I had no choice, and so I made it home approximately 8 hours before the French Railway workers went on a three day strike. Whew! The way home unfortunately did not go as well... When I got to the airport in Frankfurt, I was told that now Air France was on strike in Paris, and therefore my flight would be delayed, causing me to miss my connection to Chicago. Since I had an employee ticket (my "seperation ticket"), they could not book me on another airline. And because I was not actually an employee anymore, I was not able to purchase another standby ticket on another airline either. They basically told me to come back the next day. I freaked out (quietly, as one should in airports), because I was supposed to start my new job the next day. Long story short... I ended up calling my friend Arthur who is a pilot for United at 3am Chicago time and he issued me a buddy pass on United. Thank you Arthur!!!

That was it on Germany. More to come some other time... :)

Another great one... Faster

I'm obviously on a motorcycle kick tonight. I got a little taste of the Speed Channel again a few days ago and have been thinking about these two movies - Faster and On Any Sunday - the last two days. They're always so much fun to watch! These guys in Moto GP are just amazing!

On Any Sunday

This is one of the greatest movies ever made!! If you haven't ever seen it, I suggest you go find a copy immediately (or come over and watch it with me - I own it)...

Camping / Cabining

This weekend the girls (and Chris) and I set off on a trip to Devils Lake in Wisconsin to go camping. Since it was as cold as it was, we ended up getting a cabin, rather than camp in our tents, so it can't really be called camping, but rather cabining. After a really slow start, we finally got on our way Friday night and got there just before midnight. Thankfully the Backstreet boys kept us up during the drive!!

There's not really much else to report other than we had a great time! We went hiking all day Saturday, spent the evenings by the fire, and drank plenty of ... em... milk (we were staying at a 'Family Campground' that didn't allow alcohol, therefore milk... wink, wink).

Here are some more pics...

Da Weekend and Da Bears

I meant to post this a few days ago, but I haven't had any time to do it yet. I don't know how being on vacation translates to having absolutely no time, but it somehow does. As a result, I ended up canceling the trip to La Reunion. There are just too many things going on that made it really hard to leave town right now. I even made one of those cheesy Pro and Con lists this morning, and could only find one good reason why I should still go on the trip. That reason was "it would be fun". Needless to say, the Cons outweighed the Pros, so I'm staying. I'll still go to Germany the following week, and I'm now going Camping with my Running girls (and a few boys) next weekend instead. I'm actually really excited that I'm staying.

Meanwhile, my mom is visiting and we're enjoying the last few days of summer. How about having 90 degree weather the day of the marathon?? That's crazy! As you all know, I'm not going to be able to run the marathon because of my injury. But I'll still be there and will finish the last half mile with my group just to say I crossed the finish line.

My trip to Detroit was fabulous!! Nena and I had the best girls weekend ever! I spent Friday with my hostfamily, Saturday with Nena shopping for maternity clothes (for her, not me!!), then we sat around and talked all evening, and Sunday the two of us went to the Bears-Lions Game at Ford Field. We got free tickets from Nena's husbands friend, and we had been excited about it for a month! Although the Bears lost, we had the best time!! After the game we hung out for a bit to look around Ford Field, and when we walked out we happened to see all the Bears come out and get on their bus. Ricky Manning Jr. was cool enough to take a picture with us :)

After the game we went to Lafayette Coney Island downtown Detroit for some Coney's and headed home. What a great day and great weekend!

Happy Last Day!!

I've been MIA lately, not for lack of things to write about, but for lack of time. A lot of great things have been going on, but I'll fill you in on those some other time. It's been a really busy few weeks, but I wanted to say I'm still alive.

The next few weeks won't really be much different, so don't plan to hear much from me either. Today is my last day at Air France (woohoo!!) and tomorrow I'm off to Detroit for the weekend. Nena and I are going to the Bears game on Sunday :) Following the weekend in Detroit, my mom is coming in for a week on Wednesday. The original thought behind that was that she wanted to watch me run the marathon. Now that I can't run it, we'll just go to watch it together and cheer for Becky, Stef, Cathy and everyone else! Two days after the Marathon, I'm going on vacation. The location is yet to be determined, but it looks like it will be La Reunion. I want to go canyoning again, and it's supposed to be one of the best places for it! After a week of that, I'm headed back to Germany for my Grandma's 80th birthday. On October 21st I come back to Chicago, and on October 22nd I start my new job!! :)

So... I promise to take pictures of wherever I go, and I'll update when I get back (or if I have time, while I'm gone).

Oh, and on a sidenote... I'm currently winning the Fantasy Football League :)

Have a great few weeks!!!

Oh what a Fantasy

Finally our Fantasy Football draft happened today and it actually worked this time. We had to do part of it over again because Yahoo was having server issues and didn't save our picks. My team isn't as good as what I picked last week, but it's ok. It's all fun and games, right? :) Keith and Mick were here again and helped me draft, so I must give them some credit for this (or blame if my team sucks!!).

Here's what my roster for this week looks like:

QB - Tom Brady - NE

WR - Roy Williams - Det

WR - Laveranues Coles - NYJ

WR - Vincent Jackson - SD

RB - Shaun Alexander - Sea

RB - Edgerrin James - Ari

TE - Tony Gonzales - KC

K - Jeff Wilkins - StL

DEF - Chicago :)

Benched this week will be:

RB - DeShaun Foster - Car

QB - Rex Grossman - Chi

RB - Fred Taylor - Jac

WR - Muhsin Muhammad - Chi

TE - Randy McMichael - StL

DEF - Dallas

Helpful tips and suggestions are encouraged and appreciated! It's my first ever Fantasy Football Fall, so I certainly need it!!

Chicago Marathon

After having the results of my MRI evaluated last week, my doctor called me yesterday to tell me that I do indeed have a Stress Fracture just above my knee and should be resting my leg. That means no running for me for at least 4 weeks to let it heal.
The Chicago Marathon - for which I have been training for 6 months - is in 3 1/2 weeks, and therefore out of the question for me. This sucks in so many way... I can't even tell you! I'm totally bummed.

My girls have all been amazing in trying to cheer me up, and have told me that we would go and find another Marathon this winter (in some exotic location). We'll just make a trip of it :) So this isn't the end of it all, but just a little break. I'll be back!

And hey, at least I did a great thing for the Aids Foundation of Chicago!! I was able to raise $1715 for their cause, and even if I'm not able to completely finish my goal, I achieved many other goals through this!!

United Way and Payton Manning

Book Library

You may notice there is a list of books on the right side of my blog now. I've been reading like crazy lately and those are some of the books I've read recently... To give you some inspiration :) If you click on the link, you'll see a full list of books I've read (at least those I remember or own).

Quickie

Quick little update on life....

It's been busy although I don't really know what I've done all week. Last weekend was Annabelle's going away party and I'm sad to say she's gone now :( It's been so quiet and lonely at work, but thankfully I still have Barbara!! After Annabelle's BBQ I met up with Katie for a few drinks, and finally went to Pablo's 30th Birthday Party.

Monday I ran some errands and later met up (in front of our door) with my neighbor Mick and some of his friends for a few rounds of Bags. Turns out, I ROCK at Bags! Me and Kate were an unstoppable team and the boys just couldn't beat us.

Tuesday we did our Fantasy Football draft! I'm in a league with Nena, Mick, and many of Mick's friends. He and Keith joined me at my place for the draft, and we had a great (man) night. Football, the Cubs on TV, pizza and beer. All that was missing was porn and video games I think. But... it was great fun and I drafted myself a nice team. Unfortunately we found out the next morning that Yahoo was having some server issues, and only our draft order and our first four rounds were saved. We will have to do it again (starting at round 5) next week thursday. That sucks, but at least we still have our first picks. And we'll get to have a fun draft night again :)

I haven't been running for three weeks now, because my knee is still injured and hurting a bit. But I finally got to see an orthopedic surgeon this week. He sent me to get an MRI because the believes it may be a stress fracture. I should have the results of the MRI on Monday, and hopefully it will be nothing serious. The marathon is coming up in only 4 weeks!!

Otherwise, I've been doing lots of school work this week. The class I currently have (Public Relations) is ending this week AND I'm only 3 more classes away from getting my degree (with a current overall GPA of 3.7 I may add)!!! Woohoo! In preparation for the future, I went to an open house at the Loyola School of Education tonight to learn all about their Counseling programs. I've attended one at DePaul recently too, and have talked to both schools (and several others) many times over the past few months. Loyola has been so helpful and great to me, and they are definitely my first choice!! Not to mention they're a great school! They got me really excited about it all tonight, and I can't wait to start the program! Unfortunately it's a long time until then, as they only admit students into the program once a year in September.

I'm still looking for a new job and it's getting scarier and scarier every day. Katty told me about a website I should check out last weekend, and I've applied to quite a few jobs through them. It's been a GREAT tip!! It's only three more weeks until I loose my job at Air France, so something has to happen soon. I've been helping all sorts of homeless people in an attempt to keep Karma on my good side and not end up homeless myself soon. I hope that's working out for me. :) I got a chance to chat with one of them for a bit tonight, which was nice.

So that's been it. Turned out to be more than a quickie, I guess. I'm glad it's the weekend!!!

It's not TV, it's HBO

On a sad, sad day a month ago I decided to cancel HBO in favor of saving some money. I was really bummed because I love Entourage and Real Time with Bill Maher. I figured Entourage is a show that I will be able to catch up on later, either on DVD or at friends houses who watch it too. But Real Time is more difficult because it discusses current events. And watching it a year later just doesn't have the same effect anymore.

Last night I found that Real Time with Bill Maher is available as a free Podcast on iTunes!! Oh happy day! And I downloaded and listened to it at work this morning...

Busy Busy

The last few days have been rather busy, but fun at the same time! It was supposed to start with a Red Sox Party on Saturday night, but I ended up not making it there. Sunday was Aaron's Farewell Party, since he is moving to Orlando on Wednesday. We had a BBQ on his roofdeck, followed by swing dancing at the Holiday Club on Irving Park. So much fun!! The view from his roofdeck (here with Aaron's friend Tom) is just amazing!!

Monday night we had a dinner at Cafe Iberico. One of my collegues from Miami is celebrating her 40th anniversary with Air France this month, and he was in town this week for a company meeting and her official anniversary celebration. She's been a life long Cubs fan, and last week our boss Silvio announced that he managed to get four tickets for the Cubs-Brewers Game for tuesday night. He got the tickets through a friend who is the manager of a few local radio stations. Since he was only able to get four tickets, he decided to take Carol for her anniversary, and Annabelle and myself as a going away present. We had no idea how good or bad the seats would be, and to our surprise and delight, the seats were amazing! In the eights row... close enough to almost smell the grass (and the Brewers sweat). ;)

In true Cubs Game tradition, Pablo was also at the game (it seems I only ever see Cubs games with Pablo). He and his friend Ron met up with me during the game sometime and we decided to get a drink later. Silvio told me his friend made sure we would have access to the Club Lounge (or whatever that bar is called), so after the game Pablo, Ron and I decided we would check it out. After some name dropping and spelling (S-C-H-M-I-D) we were in, although I don't think the name of actually on the list. Either way... we celebrated the Cubs win with another drink and then headed home...

The not so happy news of the weekend/week is that I somehow managed to injure my knee and I had to miss our 23 mile training run this weekend. I still went to the run to help out, and it was fun to be out there although from 6am until about 8am it was pouring like there's no tomorrow. Hopefully by next week I'll be back and I'll make up the 23 miles in two weeks just in time for the marathon in 5 weeks!

Seinfeld - The Switch

I love Seinfeld! Even if I have seen each and every episode about 10 times, they still make me laugh every time.

I love Chicago!!

Today I biked the Lakefront path from top to bottom and back. I did it to support the Chicago Parks District and their "Bike da Lakefront" program from Foster Beach to Rainbow Beach at 77th Street :) It's a total of 36 miles both ways. I've been wanting to do it all summer, and today seemed to be a perfect day for it (except the damn wind on the way back).

I wish I had brought a Camera along for the ride, because it was just gorgeous! Not only was it nice and sunny, but the airshow practice was going on, which was fun to watch. I must also say that to my surprise the South Side Lakefront is awesome!! The beaches are nice and clean, and not nearly as crowded as on the North Side. The view of the city if great, and the Bike Path is virtually deserted. Everything made for a perfect ride (again, except the wind) :)

This was Chicago at its best! And it once again confirmed that I live in the GREATEST City in the World!!!

To the Moon and back...

I found this website three days ago that lets you enter ever flight you have ever taken, and calculates all kinds of interesting info for you.
Unfortunately I don't know if this is 100% accurate. I have records of all my business trips, and remember where most of my personal trips went and why, and not when. So... this is what I came up with:

I have flown 510,428 Miles (821,454 km)
I have flown around the earth 20.5 times
I have flown to the moon 2.1 times
I have spent 1041:23 hours on a plane. That's 43.4 days. Or 6.2 Weeks. Or 1.45 Months.
Overall, I have been on 257 Flights. 128 of them Domestic, 8 Intra-Continental, 93 Intercontinental, and 28 others (which are probably Intra-European)

My longest flight ever was from San Francisco to Sydney (7,432 Miles = 13:47 hours). Although, my longest flight was really from Washington DC to Johannesburg, South Africa. But that doesn't really count as one flight because it stopped in Accra, Ghana although we didn't get to leave the airplane there.

My shortest flight was from Frankfurt to Luxembourg (109 Miles = 42min).
My average flight is 1,986 miles (4:03 hours).

My Number one Airport is Detroit (129 Flights started or ended there), followed by Boston (69 Flights) and Frankfurt (65 Flights). Chicago O'Hare is fourth with 59 Flights. I should say that I'm not sure how many of my flights went to O'Hare or Midway, so the Chicago airports total is 77, which would make it my number 2.

My number one Route is Detroit - Frankfurt - Detroit (for obvious reasons... my family lives there and I worked for Lufthansa in Detroit). My number two is Detroit - Boston - Detroit (in part due to a 1 year long distance relationship).

To my surprise, my number one airline is Northwest! Guess it comes with living in Detroit. Plus those Detroit - Boston flights were always on Northwest. I have flown with them on 67 flights. Lufthansa is second with 39 Flights.

I have flown 113 different routes to 13 different countries, 42 different airports, and I have traveled on 19 different airlines.

The stats about my flight class are incorrect because I don't remember what I have flown. For the most part, I travel in Business Class between the US and Europe, and travel in Coach domestically. Although I do have some flights in First Class for both as well.

A little statistic this website of course doesn't capture is that most of these flights were free!! :) Most of them were business trips, free passes from other airlines, or even ID90 tickets (airline employee tickets that cost 10% of the fare). Maybe 10% were actual real tickets from before I worked for an airline.

I love this website!! And if the info above wasn't enough for you, click on the link to see a map of all my flights...

Half Marathon

Woohoo!!

I ran the Chicago Distance Classic today! My running buddy David ditched me last minute because he couldn't bring himself to leave Market Days yesterday to go pick up his race packet. So I was left to run on my own. Or rather, I joined another Aids Marathon Group.

Long story short... the race was awesome! Since this was my first long distance race (I've only done 5K's until now) my goal was modest: to finish! I ended up finishing it in just over 2:40. Not bad for someone who's never run before :) I'm proud!

Fastest Money I've ever made...

Yep! I made $100 in about 5 minutes today. A few weeks ago I signed up online with Adler Weiner Research Company to do market research surveys. They're on the same floor as my office, so I always see people going in and out of there. Although I was a bit skeptical at first, within a few days I got my first email inviting me to do a study. I couldn't go because it was the day I left for Germany, but I soon got two more emails for different studies on different dates.

So today was my first one. It was a study on Oral Care, would take about 45 minutes, and I would be paid $100 cash. Awesome!! At the scheduled time, I went over and took a seat in the waiting area until my name was called. I then went into a meeting room with a girl who explained the process to me, and then asked me a couple of questions about mouthwash. Then she said she was waiting for something that she needs for the survey (visuals I assumed) and she would have to go see if they are there yet. When she walked in a minute later, she apologized because the materials had not come in yet, and therefore she would have to let me go. And here's the best: I STILL GOT PAID!! Woohoo :)

On another note, I had a second interview with a company two days ago. I think it went pretty well, but I'll have to wait and see. If all works out, I will hopefully have a new job September 1st.
Not much else has happened since I got back from Germany. I ran 20 miles on saturday, and that pretty much killed my weekend. Walking was out of the question the rest of the day. This Sunday David and I are running the Half Marathon, which should be fun!

Oh, and I know I said I would post about my Germany trip soon, but there's really not much to report. I came down with a wicked cold the day of my cousin's wedding, and it was quite miserable, but I did get to spend some time with my little cousins which was fun as they are now getting to an age where they at least remember who the hell I am and what we did the last time I was in town. Here are a few pictures from the wedding and of Duesseldorf. And I made friends with the photographer at the wedding, and he just emailed me and said he would send me some pictures soon. I'll post them whenever I get them.

"If you could live an eternity and not change a thing or exist for the blink of an eye and alter everything, what would you choose?"

Moment

--

Let him wish his life

For the sorrows of a stone

Never knowing the first thread

Of these

Never knowing the pain of ice

As its crystals slowly grow

Needles pressing in on the heart

--

To live forever

And never feel a thing

To wait a million lifetimes

Only to erode and become sand

Wish not for the stone

But for the fire

Last only moments

But change everything

--

Oh to be lightning

To exist for less than a moment

Yet in that moment

To expose the world to every open eye

Oh to be thunder

To clap and ring

To rumble into memories

Minds and spines

--

To chill the soul and share the very ground

Pounding even the sand

Into smaller pieces

Or the mountain

Brooding, extinct

Yet gathering for one fatal moment

The power to blow the top clean off the world

Oh to last the blink of an eye and leave nothing

But nothing unmoved behind you

--
- Vincent Guilliano

Where do our taxes go?

http://www.truemajorityaction.org/oreos/contest.php

Good deed of the day...

Two weeks ago I read in the paper that there was a blood shortage in Chicago. Wanting to help out, I convinced Annabelle to go and donate blood with me after my trip to Germany. We made an appointment and today for lunch we set off to do our good deed and donate blood.

I've given blood only once, and it was many many years ago in Germany, so I kinda knew what to expect. They asked a lot of questions, for example about countries we traveled to, if we are prostitutes, if we are men who have ever had sex with other men, or if we ever had sex with a man who had sex with another man. One of the questions asked if we had been to Africa, South America or if we ever spent more than however long in the U.K. or in Europe. If anything, I thought I would be turned down for having traveled to Costa Rica in the past 6 months. But that apparently wasn't a problem. Then I was asked where I had traveled to in Africa, and having been in South Africa two years ago wasn't a problem either. Great! I thought that was it and I was good to go.

But not so fast... The nurse then asked about the time I spent in Europe since 1977, and I told her I was born in Germany and lived there until 1995. THAT of all things disqualified me from donating blood. Ever! I couldn't understand why that would disqualify me, so when I asked her, the answer was "Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease" (aka Mad Cow Disease). ....Oh.

Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease is very rare, and occurs only in 1 out of a million people. If you have the disease, you will live an average of 4 months, up to a maximum of a year. It's always fatal and there is no cure. I think it's safe to say that if I haven't lived in Europe for 12 years, and I haven't died yet, I probably don't have it. But... for the rest of my life... I will have been exposed to the risk and will therefore be banned from donating blood. (except in Europe, where apparently it isn't a problem that you've spent more than 5 years there).

Aside from Europeans, gay men, and people who have EVER in their life visited a list of Central African countries are excluded from donating blood. People who have traveled to South America or have spent longer periods of time there also seemed to be disqualified, although I didn't get any info on this since it didn't apply to me.

No wonder there is a blood shortage....

I'm back!

But too tired to write more than a few lines now... But I wanted to say I'M BACK! :)

Trip was good, but more details to follow some other day. The actual flights worked out pretty well too. Over breakfast two weeks ago Aaron promised he would upgrade me on my way out, but of course when it came down to it he was missing in action. Thankfully I have learned not to count on him, so I had a backup and was upgraded anyway :)

The return today didn't go nearly as smooth. There are two flights from Frankfurt to Chicago on Lufthansa, and both were oversold. The first one was oversold by nearly 40 people, and required me getting out of bed at 4am. The second was only oversold by 10 people, but was one of the last flights of the day to the US. A so-called "Trash Collector". You can never count on those flights, because they could fill up last minute with people who missed their connections throughout the day. My suspicions were true, and 5 minutes before departure the flight was done and full, and paying passengers were still standing at the gate with no seats left. I snuck over to the gate agent to tell her that I am an ID passenger (=employee) and that I would take a "jump" seat if I would get one. Jump seats are the seats the crew usually sits on (the ones that fold down) and airlines are sometimes able to give them to their employees at the captains sole discretion. Sometimes they allow it, sometimes they don't. Today they did, although I work for Air France and not Lufthansa, they put me on a jump seat :) This was my first jump flight in my 6 year airline history. What a way to go out on my last flight.... I must say it was still a really nice flight thought. The flight attendants were great, and even made me a hot water bottle (literally) during the flight to keep warm, and kept bringing me hot tea (it was freezing on the plane).

Unfortunately, my bag did not make it. Supposedly it will be delivered tomorrow. We shall see...

Anyway... I'm glad to be home :)

Annabelle

She's leaving me for Fort Lauderdale in 6 short weeks :( She is one of the few who decided to take the company relocation package and is moving the beginning of September. And she's not the only one headed to Florida - Aaron was just named Station Manager in Orlando, so he's outta here soon too. I'll miss them both...

I'm sure I'll post more about this later, as the reality of Annabelle leaving sets in. I'll have to share some classic Annabelle/Christine moments before she leaves. We certainly had very few dull moments during our time together :)

For now, here's a picture of the two of us....

Nach Hause...

I'm off to Germany tomorrow for a week for my cousin Simone's wedding.
Will try to post while I'm there and maybe put up pics, but I'm not taking my laptop, so I'm not sure how easy that will be.

Have a great week everyone :)

Human Rights and Justice in Guantanamo

I first read the story of Murat Kurnaz last October in a German magazine. I was outraged about it then, and am still now!

Murat Kurnaz is a Turkish Citizen who was born and raised in Germany. His father was a "Guest Worker" in Germany, which is the reason he was not granted German citizenship, but rather indefinite legal residency. At the age of 19, in late 2001, he was in the process of getting German citizenship and was engaged to be married in a few months. Before starting this new life, he wanted to travel to Pakistan to learn more about his faith - Islam.

While traveling he was captured and turned over to US authorities as a terrorist suspect. He was shortly held in Afghanistan and later transfered to Guantanamo. The story gets more complicated from there, so I will at this point refer to this article for further information. There are many others out there if you google his name, this is just one of many that I read.

What outrages me about this story is that he was classified as an enemy combatant after only a short review and no substancial evidence. Clearly it was wrong and he was later ordered released. Later turned out to be a total of 4 years and 8 months. He was held by the US without any rights, for the most part without legal representation, without the involvement of the German or Turkish Governments, and - worst of all - without any human rights. The kind of torture that he describes from Guantanamo (and from German soldiers while in Afghanistan) is sick. And his story isn't the only one that confirms this. Many others who have been released explain the same conditions. Many of the people that are being held there were captured in Afghanistan or Pakistan, and turned over to the US by warlords for bounties, and have absolutely no ties to terrorism. Yes, they were bought by the US for an average of $5,000.

Some people are questioning if the tales from Guantanamo are true. WHY is nobody REALLY questioning what's going on there? Why are foreign governments staying out of it? After the release of Murat Kurnaz, Germany initially said he can't return to Germany because his resident alien permit had expired since he didn't renew it on time. They reconsidered after all the attention that was given to the case. Amnesty International and the United Nations have asked for the closing of the Guantanamo prison, but why isn't the rest of the world standing behind this? The few former detainees that have tried to take this to court in the US had their cases thrown out because it would jeopardize US security. Yes, the people that are involved in terrorism should be detained and pay for their crimes. But what about the others? There have been many suicide attempts (some successful) of detainees who have been held in Guantanamo for years, and who have yet to be charged for ANY crime. Many of them are known to be innocent, but continue to be held. When you start reading through some of the stories, it's unbelievable why they are being held. In most cases there is no reason at all, or one that can be easily cleared up by a little investigation (for example in one case it was a mistranslation between the arabic word for tire vs. airplane).

I encourage you to read some of the articles out there. Here's another one. But there are hundreds, not just about Murat Kurnaz, but about others too. They are all very interesting and give you lots of things to think about. Not just about the Bush Administration, but also about life in general and being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Riding

I was just watching the Tour de France - which is weird because I don't usually watch it. Maybe I have a new found connection to it because I went last year and it was so much fun! These guys are just amazing! (well... maybe not THESE guys below)

I've been meaning to check if the Tour would go through Carcassonne again this year, where Matt and I saw the finish of one of the stages last year. This year it is coming through there again, and I think it might actually be going down the road where we were staying too (outside of the city in the beautiful countryside). It doesn't finish in Carcassonne, but it goes through on the way to the Pyrenees. It'll be during stage 14 this sunday. It's gorgeous there and we had a GREAT time there last year! Making dreams come true and all... So it could be really fun to watch... See where we were riding around (on horses and not bikes), etc. Good times... I love seeing places I've visited on TV :)

Today

My horoscope today said:
"You can take on a lot more risk right now in your life, but before you book a flight for a gambling vacation in Las Vegas or decide to take up skydiving, listen up: the universe wants you to avoid anything that involves too much physical risk or fiscal risk. The only risk you should be investigating is emotionally oriented. In other words, it's time for you to put your heart out there. Let yourself be a little bit more vulnerable than you're used to. It will pay off."
HA! I'm the queen of putting my heart out there and letting myself be vulnerable. I'm not sure I could be any more vulnerable and out there if I tried. But.... we'll see if this is right....

Anyway... I had a job interview today and I think it went really well :) I should find out in a few weeks. And to make things even better, I have another interview with another company next week. Woohoo!! Keep your fingers crossed for me! Or as we Germans would say... Press your thumbs for me ;)

Great Week!

Aside from missing out on reconnecting with a long-lost friend, I had a great week!! I got to ride my new bike to work, I'm reading a really good book, I did my first official 5K run this week, I activated Karma by doing all kinds of nice and thoughtful things for people, and best of all, I have two job interviews in the next ten days!! Woohooo!! I also figured out a few more options for Grad School, which will be awesome if they work out :) Very exciting!
The weekend sounds promising too... starting out with a 17 mile run tomorrow morning at 6am.
Better get to bed then... Good night!

Carlos Matesanz - where are you?

I saw an old friend on the street yesterday, and I'm so mad at myself right now because I hesitated.

This guy and I used to work together at the Lakehouse at Eastern Michigan University from 1997-98 (greatest job ever!!). He was from Spain and eventually went back home to Madrid. One day in 1999 I got a call from him that he was planning on coming back to Michigan and I offered that he could stay with me until he find an apartment. He ended up staying on my couch for about a month before he found his own place and moved out. Shortly after, I moved back to Germany and we lost touch.

A few years later I was in Madrid and tried to call him and his brother (who also worked with us), but their number was no longer valid. I had given up on ever seeing them again...
Until yesterday. I was walking to Corner Bakery by Northwestern Hospital with Stef, and we walked by a guy that looked familiar. It took me about five seconds to put two and two together and recognize Carlos! I stopped and turned around to look again, but he was just crossing the street and walking towards Michigan Ave. And I hesitated to run after him because I wasn't sure that it was him. But as I watched him walk away, I recognized the walk too, and I KNOW it was him. But it was too late... he was already at the corner of Michigan, and... well... there were a million people.

I missed him. Damn it! I find a long lost friend and he walks RIGHT by me, and I don't react? I'm soo mad! I activated my undercover Spanish citizen finder to see if maybe he could activate his sources and come up with anything. I also emailed our Alumni Person at the Rec/IM at EMU, but the only record she had was a positive write up in his personnel file. Not very helpful.

So... Carlos Matesanz... if you're out there somewhere, if you happen to accidently come across my blog, or if you're reading this right now and you know Carlos, email me! :)

New Bike!

I decided to look at the fact that my bike got stolen in a positive way and decided to use this time to upgrade to something better!! I knew Pablo's friend Melissa was selling her bike, but I wanted to look around a bit to see what else is out there.

This is the one that got away: The 2003 Bianchi Vigorelli. *sigh*

I hesitated too long because although it felt fine too me, some people who didn't actually see me on it questioned if it would fit. By the time I checked out a few other bikes, got properly sized at a store, and made up my mind, it was of course already sold. But things happen for a reason, so I went with Melissa's instead. It doesn't have the same cool factor as the Bianchi and it cost a little more than I wanted to spend, but I'm told it'll be a good first bike for me. And it is still a cool bike! :)

So... this is my new bike: The 2005 Trek 1000.

Going to pick it up tonight after work... :)

Fireworks

As a kid, I was sooo afraid of fireworks! In Germany we generally only had fireworks on New Years Eve, and I remember one NYE when my parents and their friends were all in the back yard shooting off fireworks, and me and my neighbor were at the front door too afraid to move... in any direction, but especially towards the back yard.

Those days are looong gone! I think my real love for fireworks started somewhere on a beach in Newburyport, Mass, on what may have been the most romantic first date ever. Except, it wasn't really classified as a first date. It wasn't the greatest first date I'd ever been on - that happened much later - but it was still pretty memorable. I couldn't have melted faster... All I need to say is there was a beach with no people (except obviously two of us) and fireworks immediately in front of us. If I didn't know better, I would have thought it was totally arranged. But it wasn't... To this day I don't know why there were fireworks, and who the target audience should have been. There wasn't anyone else around!

Ever since then, or probably even before, I have LOVED fireworks. I saw the Boston Fireworks two years in a row, and the first year was absolutely amazing! We ended up finding one little patch of grass in between a million people (literally) and it turned out to be the most perfect spot! The fireworks were being launched right in front of us, and it felt like they were coming right at us each time. It was like the show was just for us.

Since I've moved to Chicago, I've attempted to see the Navy Pier fireworks many times but never quite made it. I wanted to go tonight, but nobody else wanted to go. Since I was pretty tired from running around all day, that was actually fine with me. I considered going by myself for a while, but ended up staying home. At around 9pm took a little walk through my neighborhood. I certainly got my fix of fireworks there!! They were all around! I wish I had a roof deck to watch it from, but seeing them from the street was still pretty cool :) I'm back inside my place now and it's still going on. It actually sounds like a war out there.... kinda scary. Still, love fireworks!

Pablo told me yesterday about this Fireworks competition in San Sebastian, Spain. That's just awesome!! I've added it to the mental list of 'things to do before I die'. Thanks Pablo!!

The Taste

Becky and I went to the Taste yesterday, and it was so much fun!! So much more fun than last year. Becky was really hung over and didn't get moving until the afternoon, but I made her pull herself together :)

Yes, there were tons of people there, and remembering my experience from last year and the effort it took to go, I didn't want to go this year at first. But I'm so glad I changed my mind and went!

We had great food (the greatest Potstickers I've ever had), then rode the Ferris Wheel (YES!!) and finally sat by the Harbour and watched the boats go by for a while. Ahhh... that's what a Chicago summer is supposed to be like.

Not many words are needed...

Fuck!

TGIF!

I got THE most gorgeous Lillies today!! And they smell amazing! I wish you could smell them. Maybe try to get your nose really close to the monitor and take a big whiff. Can you smell it?

Happy Friday!! Woohoooo...

I went to the doctor today because I was really dizzy again yesterday. This happens to me from time to time. It happened the first time three years ago, and was extremely severe then. I was in the hospital for two days and in bed for another two weeks without being able to move. Every time I would move, I would vomit. It was the worst feeling ever! Since then, I have been dizzy from time to time, but not nearly as severe as then. I've gone to several different doctors, but none of them figured out anything. The first time when I was in the hospital they told me I just had the flu. The flu??

So today I went to my trusty Doctor, Dr. Lenet. I love that man! He did a few different tests with me that involved a lot of head turning. Basically, he made me dizzy to figure out what makes me dizzy. At the end of it all, he determined that I probably have "Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo". He gave me some reading material about it, and it sounds about right. What sucks is that it doesn't go away.

The good thing is that it doesn't happen that much, and when it does, it doesn't last too long. Except that first time, I never had it longer than a day. It comes as goes at random times. What sucks about it is that there are things I used to do that I can't do anymore. I never really made the connection, but on the way home from the doc I started thinking about it and it all makes sense. I used to be a competitive Figure Skater and could spin around in circles endlessly without getting dizzy! Now, I can barely dance different ballroom dances that involve me spinning. When I worked at Arthur Murray I used to get sick dancing hustle all the time (the ballroom version of hustle, not the wedding version). I've also been getting sick on rollercoaster during the last few years, which never bothered me before. AND I seem to get seasick now.

Maybe all those things were unrelated and I should give them another try to find out?

Oh, and worst of all... I got caught in the storm on the way home from the doc. I've never been so wet in my life. It started when I was about 15 steps away from the Grand redine stop, and I was SOAKED by the time I got to the station. I got on the train and a couple of fellow smartass riders asked me if it's raining outside. Haha. It kept pouring until I got to Lawrence and as I was getting off the train I was told to 'stay dry'. Again... haha! I did everything but! I took the bus back to Beacon and walked the few steps home. But my street was flooded, so I was walking in water up to my ankles. It was disgusting!

Crosstown Classic

On Friday afternoon Pablo and I went to the Crosstown Showdown at Comiskey. It was great!! We met at the red line after a half day of work, and had a few "Wifebeaters" (=Stella Artois) on the way to the game. That usually doesn't work out so well for me, but somehow I managed to keep it together :) (While googeling Stella I just found out that I'm not the only one that gets really f-ed up on that stuff. That's reassuring).

The Game was excellent and the Cubs beat the Sox 5-1. But that wasn't the only beating happening... there were SO many fights in the stands. Pablo got some nice videos of a few of the brawls. Check out his website for the footage. Another fun fact is that Comiskey, or U.S. Cellular Field, or whatever it would like to be called, has a nice assortment of ... well... everything. They had dippin dots - the ice cream of the future!! Yumm!! And of course the mandatory hot dogs and Miller Lite.

After the game we went to China Town for dinner, and then to Melissa's for the after party. Her place was awesome and she had a fabulous roofdeck with gorgeous views of the skyline. We had some jungle juice (bad idea after lots of beers), made some new friends, and caught up with some old friends (=Dave). Fun!

The next morning didn't turn out to be so much fun. I had a wicked hangover that I wasn't able to properly nurse because I was having my own little party that evening. My party was really fun too, although there were only a few of us. We had some great wine, cheese and homemade guacamole, and just sat around chatting until 3 in the morning.

Overall it was a nice weekend. I did skip running and still haven't been able to make up for it because I'm seriously exhausted. Not just from the weekend but from everything that's been going on (work, looking for new job, school, running,...). But at least that made the weekend even more worth it :)

Oh, and Pablo sent me some pictures last week for our good old Detroit times. I realized when I uploaded them that the date they were taken was in April 2004. That's how far we go back!! Back then I was living with Caterina and Gerard, and Nena and I had just met and become friends. Hard to imaging we haven't been best friends forever :) T.K was also in town visiting, and we all went downtown Detroit to "Blue". The pictures are hilarious, especially the ones of T.K. dancing ;)

Dreams

Have you ever had a dream that felt so real, when you woke up you weren't sure if this actually happened? It's kind of nice when it's a good thing you dreamt about, but it sucks when it's something bad. I used to have very real-feeling dreams while I was having sleep issues and taking Ambien for a couple of months. But before and after Ambien, I've only had three dreams that really had me worried, and one of them last night...

The previous two dreams happened years ago, and both were about me. In both dreams, I ended up dying. The dreams themselves were so stupid and unrealistic, but the feeling I had when I woke up was not. For example, in the first one I was chased and eaten by a dog, and I can still remember seeing my own face as I was dead. It was so scary!! For weeks I was a bit scared of dogs, and even now when I see a German Shepherd or a Rottweiler I wonder if this is it. The second dream was more bizzare, and thankfully someone woke me up before I actually saw myself die again, because I was tossing and turning and making noises in my sleep. The story in the dream involved an old high school friend from Germany and planets. I had heard in the news that day that there was supposed to be a meteor shower that evening, and that must have stuck in my head. In the dream my friend and I were watching the meteor shower and suddenly they all started coming at us. Everything was spinning, including the planet we were standing on, and it kept getting smaller and smaller. Planets, meteors, stars and whatever else my imagination held came just flying by us and at us. Think starwars, but you're just two regular girls standing on a planet that is spinning around, while being bombarded with anything that can fly (and in dreams, ANYTHING can fly). Weird dream. But it still felt real and had me freaked out a bit. Wow... i just realized that ever since then I've had issues with dizziness. Hmm... I wonder if that's related.

The third one happened last night and wasn't about me, but about someone I really care about. I don't really want to get into the details, but it had me worried. Nobody died, but the person was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident. I was in the dream too, but I wasn't able to help. I cried so much in the dream that I almost kept going when I woke up because it felt like it had really happened.

The REAL question about dreams is what they mean. I guess we won't ever really find out, but supposedly when you die in your own dream it does not mean that you're actually going to die (well one day, but not quite yet). I've read before that it means that a part of your life is ending. If a loved one dies in your dreams, it supposedly means that the relationship with that person is 'dead', and you should let go of it. But what does it mean when someone you love gets seriously injured? Does that then mean the relationship is injured but not dead?

Who knows.... Dreams are weird. That reminds me, has anyone ever seen the movie with Gael Garcia Bernal called "The Science of Sleep"? THAT's a weird movie about weird dreams!

Home Sweet Home

This is the lovely building I live in...

And this is what you will find when you google my address....

Outlines Chicago December 1995
Crime Report
Arrest made in brutal murder of Uptown woman
Lolita Wilson, 29, of Bloomington, Ill., was arrested Nov. 15 and charged with first-degree murder in the death of Theresa Gibson, whose body was discovered in a basement at [my address]. Gibson was killed on or about Jan. 22 by wounds to her head, inflicted by a hammerlike object, Area 3 Det. Sgt. Frank Kajari said. Her body was found only a few days before the arrest; there had been an attempt to hide it, and some parts of the body were missing, he said. Reports indicate the two women had a "domestic argument" before the slaying, he said.
Wilson was being held in Cook County Jail, Kajari said.

That gives me such a warm and fuzzy feeling. There are still body parts missing!?! And today I got the keys to the basement storage unit. It's not really scary down there at all, and everything has been completely redone. But it still creeps me out. Maybe it's haunted!! And apparently someone thought it would be funny to hang up a glow in the dark skeleton in the corner. I jumped when I saw that. I won't be going into the basement much....

Finally!

It's the first day of summer!!!

And tomorrow we are going to the Cubs/Sox Game and we'll be drinking beer and eating bad food all day long. Wow, that is so needed! I'm blowing off running on saturday morning...

Personality

After Pablo posted the results from his Myers Briggs Personality Test a few days ago, I read through his personality traits and decided I must be the same as him - an ENFP. I even read it to Annabelle, and she agreed 100%.
I then took a compacted version of the test and it turns out I am an ESFP. I read through those personality traits, and most of them were true as well, except a few little things, and when it comes to relationships. In other cases the ESFP applied more than the ENFP, and in others it was reversed. I decided I must be somewhere in between an ENFP and ESFP. Here are some of the highlights, but if you're interested, click on the links at the bottom.
Also, if you're interested to find out what YOU are, click on the link above to take the test. Let me know what you are...

ESFPs generally have the following traits:
Live in the present moment
Are stimulated and excited by new experiences
Practical and realistic
Warmly interested in people
Know how to have a good time, and how to make things fun for others
Independent and resourceful
Spontaneous - seldom plan ahead
Hate structure and routine
Dislike theory and long written explanations
Feel special bond with children and animals
Strongly developed aesthetic appreciation for things
Great people skills

ESFPs are good at many things, but will not be happy unless they have a lot of contact with people, and a lot of new experiences. They should choose careers which provide them with the opportunity to use their great people skills and practical perspective, which will also provide them with enough new challenges that they will not become bored.
Possible Career Paths for the ESFP:
Artists, Performers and Actors
Sales Representatives
Counselors / Social Work
Child Care
Fashion Designers
Interior Decorators
Consultants
Photographers

Most ENFPs will exhibit the following strengths with regards to relationships issues:
Good communication skills
Very perceptive about people's thought and motives
Motivational, inspirational; bring out the best in others
Warmly affectionate and affirming
Fun to be with - lively sense of humor, dramatic, energetic, optimistic
Strive for "win-win" situations
Driven to meet other's needs
Usually loyal and dedicated

Most ENFPs will exhibit the following weaknesses with regards to relationship issues:
Tendency to be smothering
Their enthusiasm may lead them to be unrealistic
Uninterested in dealing with "mundane" matters such as cleaning, paying bills, etc.
Hold onto bad relationships long after they've turned bad
Extreme dislike of conflict
Extreme dislike of criticism
Don't pay attention to their own needs
Constant quest for the perfect relationship may make them change relationships frequently
May become bored easily
Have difficulty scolding or punishing others

There are a couple of difficult relationship areas for the ENFP. The first problem is that many ENFPs have a problem leaving bad relationships. They tend to internalize any problems and take them on their own shoulders, believing that the success or failure of the relationship is their own responsibility. As perfectionists, they don't like to admit defeat, and will stick with bad situations long after they should have left. When they do leave the relationship, they will believe that the failure was their fault, and that there was surely something they could have done to save the relationship.

So, what do you think? Does that pretty much summarize it? I would say I'm a little bit of both. Here are some links to the full pages.
The ESFP - The Performer
The ENFP - The Inspirer
ESFP Relationships
ENFP Relationships
ESFP Careers
ENFP Careers

What a day

I've been meaning to blog about our work meeting last week where our job relocation to Florida was announced to us, but I've been too busy (or maybe annoyed) to discuss it. So I will save that until I'm at work this week. Afterall... what's the point of working if they're letting me go anyway?

Today was an event all on its own. It started with Comcast ringing my doorbell at 9.50am. I had an appointment with them for today to set up my telephone service, and I'm so glad they actually showed up this time!! The last time they didn't, the time before that they couldn't fix it, and the time before that I had forgotten to bring my modem. So this was progress!! It was two guys, as one was apparently in training. They started working on the setup, and assured me that in a few minutes they would be gone and I could go back to bed (which I actually had no intention of doing, but it was still nice to hear). 4 (!!!) hours later they were still there! By now we were all sitting on my couch, drinking water, chatting about everything and nothing, and watching the Cubs Game. (Because there were problems with the setup, and not because we hit it off so well they didn't want to leave...) It was at times actually quite challenging to keep the conversation going. But that's never really been a problem for me, and in preperation for a potential future career in couseling I decided to practice my asking and listening skills. It turns out, one of the guys works at Comcast full time and does construction work part time. He doesn't have a single day off, but that's ok with him. His motto is that no job gets left undone, which is why he's doing well with the construction business, and that's also why my Comcast job wasn't abondoned. On a sadder note, he just had to foreclose on a house, because he wasn't able to find a tenant for it fast enough. Not even the bank would take the property back! But still, business is doing well and money is coming in. In fact, he was just offered a job managing 50 apartment buildings for 50k/yr. But he turned it down because it seemed like too much responsibility. The second guy and I go way back already... he set up my original connection when I first moved in a month ago (What are the odds of having the same Comcast guy come to your house twice??). I'd like to say if he had done it right the first time, he wouldn't have had to be back (and two others in the meantime), but I didn't want to be rude. After all, I wanted to get this done now! This guy wasn't quite as chatty, and all I found out is that he's a Sox fan, and he thinks the TV ad that claims you can get money for your old cellphone is bogus. He's probably right about that.

What exactly the problem with my Comcast service was... I have no clue. Seemed to be a wiring issue. What matters is that they fixed it and now my TV, Internet, and Phone are up and running. Yay! Unfortunately my wireless router did not work when the guys finally left, so I was forced to call linksys. I once spend 2 hours on hold with linksys, and just the thought of calling them really annoyed me. But I did anyway and was only on hold for maybe 10 minutes :) The problem was fixed within a few minutes and I was able to get online with no wires too.

After that I spent 3 hours working through Accounting problems. I had been doing that all week and couldn't really make sense of it. I emailed my team and professor for help, neither of which were able to. The professor didn't even bother answering. But I'm proud to say, I did figure out how to calculate the Net Present Value, thanks for my friends at Wikipedia.

Then I decided to cook.... god help us! Cooking for me usually involves pasta, and so it did again today. As I was excitedly cooking away with my new pots, I realized it was getting a bit smokey. And about a second later the fire alarm started beeping as loud as it possibly could. I quickly opened all the windows and doors, and the alarm shut off. Whew! As I was quietly saying to myself that I really don't belong in the kitchen, I realized the smoke was coming out of the oven, which I had turned on to bake some Texas Cheese Toast (Yum!). But the toast wasn't actually in yet. What the hell was the smoke from?? I opened the oven, and immediately the alarm went off again. I must have dropped one of my oven mits into the oven when I opened it to make sure nothing was inside. And of course the mit was not quite on fire, but totally scorched. I grabed it with the other mit, and tossed it out the back door onto the back porch. Ahhh! The back porch is wood, and the think now had a small little flame on it! I managed to grab it again, bring it back inside and throw it in the sink before serious damage could have been done. Disaster avoided.

Just had my lovely dinner with Texas Toast, and must say it was all worth it. I may cook again sometime...



And as if this post wasn't already long enough, I need to share that I signed up for the Chicago Distance Classic Half Marathon today, and a whole bunch of other little 5K runs.

Oh, and for those of you who haven't seen one... I was out in the country (aka suburbs) yesterday and saw my first cicada. They're super loud, and look a little too much like Cockroaches for my taste. But it was cool to see and hear them. Who knows where I'll be in another 17 years. Here's a picture of one:

Have a great night everyone!!

Marathon Update

WOOHOO!!

Here's some info about today's training run. We ran 12 miles (from Foster Ave Beach all the way to Oak Street Beach - AND back). I think that's slightly insane, and my body doesn't like me very much right now, but at the same time it feels so great :)

Overall, we ran the 12 miles in 2:35 hours, with an overall average pace of 13 minutes per mile.

Child Molestor?

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Map

I biked to work again today and tracked my progress with my nifty Garmin watch. I think I may have figured out how to post it finally....

Take a look at the map.

I'd like to point out that the map says it took me 9 hours and something to complete the 12 mile ride. Well... I'm not THAT slow. I left at 8:10 and came home at 5:58, but I was at work in between. It took me a total of 52 minutes to get to work and back.

What a fun and totally unnecessary toy!! I love it!

More to come as I REALLY figure out what it can do.

Pictures

It's been a really busy couple of weeks, and this weekend I finally found the time to take care of some thing and to upload the pictures from the last few weeks.

My mom and dad were here, so there were lots of pictures taken. I only posted a few that we took at my place, when we went out to dinner with Mieske (my high school friend who lives in Amsterdam) and from the Odessey Brunch Cruise I took them to for mothers/fathers day. I noticed when after I uploaded the pictures that I still have an obsession with sailboats. I've wanted to learn to sail for years, but had a little set back when I got sick sailing last year. Maybe I should give it another chance... Oh, and I finally got a chance to take a few pictures of my place, now that it's decorated. I know some of you have been asking me to do that for two weeks now, and I finally got to it!!

And I posted a few pics from this weekend :) On Friday I attended a dinner party at the Sofitel for the Union of French Expats, mainly for the free dinner (no pics). On Saturday Pablo, Becky and I went to a BBQ in Andersonville and then to the Mid-Sommarfest, followed by a fundraising party for one of my running buddies David. Exhausting day because I also ran 10 miles in the morning. But we still had a great time at the parties and the Mid-Sommarfest. The highlight of the evening was seeing a woman who had a sushi roll tattooed on her back. Yeah, that's right... a Maki Roll. And on Sunday Annabelle had a BBQ for her birthday (it's her birthday week!). Oh, and Annabelle - I posted the Air France pics for you too!

Well then...

I've been spending the past two months or so looking for a new job because I don't really like mine. No wait, that's a total understatement... I fucking hate my job, the company I work for, and my boss. And I must have applied for at least 50 jobs in the past month, with little or no responses. Part of the reason for this is that I'm trying to get into a different field, and with no experience in anything but airlines, that is proving to be more difficult than I thought.

Well... the last week there have been rumors going around our office that "things" are happening. What things exactly, nobody really knew. There has been some speculation that some jobs are being eliminated, but again, nothing was confirmed. My boss called me on friday to tell me that we will be having a meeting on June 14th to discuss the future plan of the company, but she didn't make it sound like a big deal, so I kept telling everyone that they are just being paranoid. My boss is in Detroit, and I am in the office in Chicago with the entire Chicago team (which I'm not part of). And after some converstations with others in New York, Houston and L.A., it turned out that every sales office in the country is having a staff meeting at the same time on that same day. Hmm.... suspicious.

So today I asked the Sales Manager of the Chicago team if he would write me a recommendation for Grad School. I didn't want to ask my own boss, because I don't like her. And I really like the Chicago boss and I know he likes me too, so I thought he would probably give me a better recommendation. As we were discussing grad school, he asked me to come into his office and close the door. Hmm... again, suspicious.

As it turns out, he thinks it's a great idea that I want to go to Grad School and he thinks this is a great time for it. Hmm... Then he swore me to secrecy (maybe posting this on the internet is violating that a little) and he told me this:

My position is being centralized. It will be announced during the meeting on June 14, and my options are to move or find a new job. And all this will happen before September.

Now, what pisses me off about this is not that it's happening. There have been plenty of rumors, and I've been wanting to leave anyway, so I'm almost happy about this. However, it pisses me off that MY OWN BOSS hasn't said a word about it, although she knows I just bought a condo. Stupid bitch!

So... I'm obviously not moving anywhere. I need to find a new job, and I need to find one soon. I've been looking for a while, so hopefully it'll soon happen. If anyone knows of any jobs that are meaningful and worthy, let me know. I'm trying to get into non-profit work because I want to help people and do something better with my life than create excel spreadsheets. Plus that will get me into a field that is more related to my potential Masters that I plan on getting.

Oh, and I'm calling in sick tomorrow!! I might as well spend the day with my parents before they leave on Wednesday.