it's been one of those weeks...

I've been feeling decidedly discouraged. No single event brought this on, just all the circumstances of life combined I guess. I'm looking forward to some good news one of these days... and to feeling like our life is in a forward motion and not so much a standstill.

Last week I finished listening to "I, Robot" (Isaac Asimov). It was very good, although much different than the movie. I really don't even see why they share a title. They are both good, but just very different. The book is composed of short stories, some of which involve same characters and all of which have to do with the struggle between robots and humanity to co-exist. It's a very good book. Now I'm listening to "the Colorado Kid" by Steven King; I haven't decided what I think yet.

The "Lost" season finale was last night (complete with a 15 minute power outage during it due to the storm). That show never ceases to amaze me... and irritate me.:) I think every episode creates more questions than it answers. I don't know how they'll possibly ever get everything to make sense. It's pretty crazy and very good. It has to be the most intricate tv show ever created.

At work yesterday a customer sarcastically said to me: "well aren't you friendly and smiley today." Not quite sure how to respond I said: "what do you mean by that?" At which point she gave me this annoyed look and said: "you're just very cold." This was after a very brief buy interchange in which I had just been my normal self and was just doing my job. I found it incredible that she felt she could pass that kind of judgment on me after we had only spoken a few words to each other (not to mention the fact that she didn't seem like much of a peach herself and knows nothing of my personality or my life). I'm not sure what she expected me to be like. I realize I'm not the smiliest or bubbliest person you'll meet, but I always strive to meet customers needs and to be friendly in my own way. I was glad that the other employees standing in the vicinity of the incident had no idea what triggered the woman's statement and thought she was out of line. Customer service is always interesting. People never cease to amaze me.:)

Sorry this is a bit of an eclectic post. I was having a hard time formulating my thoughts so I figured I'd just include it all.:) I'm looking forward to hitting up Chicago and the Green Festival this weekend. I feel ready to get away for a couple days and do something different. Chicago is always a good time and we've planned in some "chilling out" time, so that will be nice.:) 3 days off from work!

a weekend in chi-town

Luke and I had a great time in Chicago and South Bend last weekend. We enjoyed getting away just for a bit and doing something different. We stayed the night at Steph and Jeremy's Thursday and then took the train to Chicago Friday morning. The train got in about 10:30 so we had plenty of day left to tool around town and try to figure out the transit system (thankfully Luke has amazing map skills and an inate sense of direction:).

Friday, after checking into our hotel, we went to Wicker Park area. The park itself still had a bit of the winter dead feeling, but it was a nice warm day so we enjoyed walking around a bit. There's also several cool shops in the area. We particularly liked Reckless Records (they sell used vinyl, movies, cds etc) and Myopic Books (awesome used book store!). After Wicker park we headed to Wrigleyville to check out Goose Island Brewpub (great beer). That evening we went to Rosebud's on Rush (highly recommended by Elliot and Ashley) and had some amazing Italian food.

Saturday Steph and Jeremy joined us in Chicago. It was a bit cold and rainy, but not too bad. We went for a late breakfast at Yolk (an excellent breakfast/lunch joint) and then headed to the Art Instititue. I've been there a few times, but always enjoy going back and taking in more of it. One of my favorite pieces I saw this time was "the Picture of Dorian Gray" by Ivan Albright (who has been dubbed a magic realist). Having recently read the book it was based off of (by Oscar Wilde) it was pretty cool to see it depicted in painting form. I believe this piece was done for a film adaptation of the book. I don't think I had ever studied any of Ivan Albright's work before; it's pretty amazing stuff. His detail is really unbelivable. You have to see it to fully comprehend it.

After the Art Institute, the four of us grabbed a bite to eat and headed for the train. We had an uneventful, but enjoyable trip back. It was fun to get to visit with them. Luke and I spent the night at their place again and then headed back home Sunday afternoon. It was a great, relaxing weekend. We're hoping to get to Chicago more, now that we know our way around.:)

i suppose it's time for a post:)

I don't really have a whole lot to say, but I figured it was time for a new post.:) Life has been alright... not a whole lot has changed, which sometimes gets discouraging. We have a lot to be thankful for though, so we are trying to focus on that.:) We really appreciate everyone's prayers for Luke's job situation and all that it entails.

We celebrated Luke's birthday last week-- he now joins my age group and can no longer call me "old" as he likes to do for that month and a half that we are different ages.:) His birthday fell on my day off, which was nice. We were able to sleep in and go see "Slumdog Millionaire" (highly recommended) and then I prepared the meal of his choice (italian beef, asparagus, mashed potatoes, balsamic strawberries and lemon glaze cake:).

Luke and I will soon be celebrating our 2nd anniversary (time flies:). I have the weekend off and we haven't really been anywhere in awhile, so we decided to do an inexpensive South Bend/Chicago trip. We wil be driving up to SB Thursday night and staying at Steph and Jeremy's and then taking the train to Chicago Friday morning and staying over to Saturday evening before returning to SB. Using priceline we were able to get an awesome deal on a hotel and we are hoping to maybe go to a museum and just do some sight seeing. Steph and Jeremy are going to join us Saturday for the day, which will be fun. We are looking forward to it!

Another fun thing we did since my last post was to go see "the General" at the IMA. This is a Buster Keaton classic, but neither of us had ever seen it. It's a silent film and the IMA presented it with a live chamber orchestra playing the score. We both had a great time. The movie is hilarious and having the live music made it pretty awesome. I loved the emphasis on visual humor that the movie employed. If you haven't seen this movie, you should. You will enjoy it. I guarantee this.

I guess I had more to say than I thought...:)