Day 52: Time machine

I used time machine on my computer for the first time. It was cool because it was really easy to use and very satisfying to recove a document I'd saved over.

Day 51: Date

There are no fancy or clever visuals and I will not give any lengthy personal descriptions but I went out on my first official date in 8 years if you don't count my whole marriage. Maybe I should just say that I finally went on my first date since I got divorced. It was blind, not too scary, relatively enjoyable. It will probably not lead to another marriage but at least has pushed me further along the path away from the failed attempt at marriage.

Day 50: Dance Shoes

I bought my first pair of dance shoes today so that I can learn to Tango with the proper footwear. I'm headed off to an informal class to break them in.

(I won't quit my day job to become a product photographer.)

Day 49: C25K

I joined the gym. I waited the enough days so that I could be fashionably late and not be considered part of the New Years Resolution fad crowd. Since I want my resolutions to wait throughout the year I had to wait until after Valentines day to make sure it sticks. My first workout at the gym was the first day of the Coach to 5K App that a friend turned me onto. It consists of 3 workouts doing intervals of walking and running a week for 9 weeks and it promises to have me running 30 minutes straight without rest or walking at the end of 9 weeks. I did the first workout of the App without a problem today and I can feel in my body that I worked out. It may be the perfect program for me to follow to ease myself back into shape.

Day 48: Stack it tall

When it doubt or lacking a good idea for something new for the day, I can turn to the "365 Daily Creativity Journal" by an old friend, Noah Scalin, for an idea for the day.

Day 48 is a challenge: How tall can you make something that stands up on it's own? Since I used things with legs, I got all the way up to the ceiling.

Day 47: Meat

Three times a year we have an All Staff Quarterly meeting when everyone has to be in the office for two days and we share ideas, review the state of the union and have social lunches and sometimes a special dinner out. Tonight we went to Brazza, a Brazilian Steak house and truly feasted on a lot of delicious food. The "salad bar" includes tasty vegetables like asparagus & broccoli as well as smoked salmon and brazed ahi tuna and creamy, super yummy mushroom risotto. On top of that they come around with a huge assortment of delicious meats. It was a delightful evening with my co-workers.

Day 46: Skipped school for work

A few colleagues came to town a night early for our quarterly staff meeting so there'd be a bit more time to catch up. By bad luck I've had class every night there's a work related event in the evening. So I skipped class to greet my colleagues and have dinner with them. I have to do the same tomorrow night for the more formal gathering. I can make up the missed class work.

Day 45: Spring crush & The Squids

I started the day composing poetry about how the neighborhood is melting and Spring is whispering to us… but I never really captured those fleeting lines of poetry, as wonderful as they sounded to me at the time.

So instead, I offer an old Punk Band that is new to me today: The Squids

Day 44: Anti Caner soup

Most of my day has been consumed with writing a paper for class but as it has been my habit to cook a large meal for the week on Sundays, I tried a new recipe today: Anti Cancer soup. It involved fresh juice from my new juicer (which I'm rushing past but should be highlighting as a super cool new thing). The main ingredients are pulverized zucchini (one of my favorite veggies) onions, leeks, kale and fresh carrot and celery juice. The soup turned out well and is super yummy. I am definitely anti-cancer so I'm happy to brew up a batch of anti-cancer soup.

This shot isn't in focus but I selected it because it looks like the bowl is teetering on the edge of the counter and I know that'd make some people nervous.

Day 43: On stage

Chicago runs a bunch of cool programs including "Winter Dance" where there are free dance classes for the public and then open dancing to live music. The winter classes are on stage at the Pritzker APavilion in Millenium park. It was super cool to be dancing onstage and look out at the snow covered field. Today was tango and my neighbor was teaching. They got a stage full of several hundred people, almost all beginners, moving in the same direction in the same step.

Day 42: Recharged Car

Just after the storm last week I found that my car battery was too weak once again to start the car. I haven't really needed my car, in fact I've left it dead so that I could focus on my mid-term and not get distracted with errands and different events. It was time finally to get my car battery replaced. I found a body shop around the corner able to replace my battery. I brushed off all the snow, scraped some of the ice, found someone to give me a jump and drove it halfway around the block to a local body shop. I probably didn't get the best possible deal but I got it done quickly and I supported a local small business.

Day 41: Banana Cream tart

I had dinner with a good friend I hadn't seen in awhile tonight. She met me at m.henrietta and we had a really tasty wholesome meal that was all new and all good. I had a banana cream tart for dessert, which is not something I'd usually order. It was mostly cream. Delicious but I didn't really need it and I'm not so sure it was worth it.

Day 40: Midterm

I had a midterm exam in my Environmental Health class. It was easier than I could have imagined. I guess if actually prepared and after really studying all the material the test should feel easy. It was easier than that. At least I find the material really interesting. I have learned a lot so far this term about vector borne diseases, zoonotic diseases, pathogens, toxins and heavy metals.

Day 39: Bad eggs

I got a craving for something sweet and I decided to make some cookies.  The eggs I have in the fridge have been there long enough that I don't remember buying them.  I think I may have bought them just after the egg recall in August.  I've heard before that bad eggs float.  So I filled a glass with water and I dropped one in after the other and I found I have half a dozen bad eggs.  I'm going to try to blow them out and save the shells to paint for Easter.

Bad eggs didn't deter my craving for cookies.  I found an eggless peanut butter cookie recipe on cooks.com http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1616,148191-241205,00.html and I made half a batch.  They ran into each other and look kinda funny but they tasted fabulous.  I've over dosed on sugar.

Day 38: New Sandwich

It had been a long time since I'd eaten at Hannah's Bretzel and I found new things on the menu.  I tried the Param ham & goat cheese on fresh soft pretzel bread.  The asparagus really made the sandwich.  Definitely worth checking it out!

Day 37: The Guy’s fries

On the way home from a study session at school I stopped to get a burger and fries at 5 Guys.   The burger was delicious and the fires looked like they should be the best fires ever but the felt and tasted like they just weren’t quite cooked.  I brought my leftovers home and recooked the Guy's fries.  I pre-heated the oven really hot, sprayed a baking sheet with PAM and stuck them in the oven for 20 minutes.  A few of them were better but I basically charred ‘em.

Day 36: Silent study

I didn’t talk to anyone today. I may have spoken a few words aloud to myself at some point during the day but I didn’t see anyone else and I did not talk on the phone. I got out of bed and opened my textbook. Between reading and note taking I got up to get more coffee and to heat up leftovers from the fridge. I basically spent 12 hours in the same seat reading & studying 6 chapters. Saturday Feb. 5, 2011


Yesterday's post went up without a title:

Day 35: Stars in construction

It was a work-study day where I worked from home and then when I closed out of my documents and e-mail, I moved to the coach and opened the books to start studying for my mid-term next week. I took a little creative break and cut out a bunch of stars using the decorative star candleholder that should have been stored away with the x-mas decorations, as a pattern. Friday Feb. 4, 2011

Day 34: Snow Sculpture

I don’t think that I’m especially good at creating creatures but I gave it a try with chunks of snow. I created a mini-snowman. Night had fallen so the lighting is a little low and the images a bit blurry so here are pictures of the creature in early development. Thursday Feb. 3, 2011

Day 33: Snowpocalypse continues

One of the draw backs of being able to work from home is that when the city is shut down and everyone is snowed in, I can continue to do my work uninterrupted. Honestly, I felt bad for businesses that had to be closed and felt grateful for the technology that let's me work uninterrupted from home.

I did walk around the block morning noon & night and enjoyed the adventure of navigating through the massive snow drifts and the incredible work some folks put into shoveling walkways and alleys and blocked in cars.

My favorite photos today are of Lake Michigan.

My street also looked rather peaceful and amazing before it got plowed.

And a few other for good measure...

Day 32: Thunder Snow!

I was jealous of the imposing weather and multiple snow days the East Coast has had this season. Chicago has had super cold weather; some freezing drizzle and even days when it has snowed all day but had only left an inch or two behind. So I’d actually mused that I wish we’d have a big storm, it makes some of the cold and misery of winter more interesting and entertaining.

Snowmageddon couldn’t be more entertaining. The suspense has been building all week. Days before a flake dropped the news was all over it and we were making contingency plans for postponing projects and e-mailing each other various weather reports and debating the degree of danger vs. media exaggeration. Maybe an inch of snow dropped yesterday and this morning it was clear. Then school shut down, businesses announced they were closing, all the offices downtown closed early and the crowds descended on the train and buses in worse than rush hour madness.

I’ve been home for hours watching the wind sweep swirls of snow in all directions creating drifts and clouding the screens. I was tempted to go out and just have a look as visibility became worse and the wind picked up. I actually had to say to myself out loud, “I’m not going out there because I’m not that insane.” But I knew one of the remaining things to do with the day was do something new and I realized that I had to go outside and have a look down the block at least.

I got really bundled up with the monster Chicago coat with a hat under the hood and the tall duck boots and I stepped out into the night, surrounded by speedy winds to take some pictures of Blizzard 2011 in action. While I was out there the sky lit up with lightening followed by thunder. The weather forecasts were not kidding, this is the biggest storm of the season, and maybe the biggest Chicago has had in 40 years. That remains to be seen once the storm has run its course.

The power just went out as I was attempting to upload pictures. It looked like the block was out because the neighbors moaned and the streetlights went out. It was just long enough for me to unplug a few things and have a flash of worry.

What the pics don't capture is the fine mist of snow blowing in my face and covering everything. I love how it sticks to the lines in the bricks but has blown off of most of the cars.

Day 31: First Pass

Today I made a new rule. I get to give myself passes every once in awhile. There were new things today, like an interesting guest speaker in class. But I decided to let the day go and not write anything up.