Three Day Weekend

Home from the Holidays

2008-12-29T08:24:00.002-06:00

Home again, home again. Well, our apartment doesn't exactly feel like home these days considering we are almost entirely packed and ready for our January 1 move. The last week and a half have been a whirl of activity and it won't stop for another couple of days. We celebrated Christmas with the MacRaes the weekend before Christmas. We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas feast and somehow managed to fit in most of our traditions into a 30 hour period of time.

We left and came home to an empty home. For those of you who don't know, we had to put Duchess down last Friday. It's been an adjustment coming home and not having her welcome us. I know Jarrett is especially missing her. And I even found myself a bit sentimental. On Tuesday we packed up more of our house and then our car and headed to Tennessee. The weather was awful getting down there but we drove through snow, ice, and rain and ended up in Dayton and enjoyed a 70 degree Christmas. That was a first for me! It was wonderful seeing Chloe and the rest of the Knoxes.

So now we have returned to Chicago and work. The move comes Thursday. Oh, and just because we're both excited I'll tell you about some of our favorite Christmas gifts! After many years of wanting snowshoes, Jarrett got me a pair and a promise that we will go snowshoeing soon. I think we were thinking similarly because I got him some stuff for a spelunking adventure. Jarrett got a bow and arrows, shoes, and a pen. I got a steam mop :), rain boots, and fun accessories from Nepal.

I would promise pictures of our Christmas but we forgot the camera on top of the fridge. We're actually looking to buy a new one and hopefully that will encourage us to take more pictures.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We look forward to inviting you all to our new home. Hopefully it will feel like a home in no time at all.

Update from the Knoxes

2008-12-03T17:09:00.003-06:00

I forget to post and then time passes and I don't know where to begin. But in an effort to catch people up on the happenings here, I'll try to give ya'll the highlights.

1. We're moving. Today is took 1 hour 15 minutes to get home from Highland Park. Yucko. So we're heading up to Lincoln Square- close to the trains for both of us to take to work. It's a cute little apartment right off the square. We're both excited but a bit overwhelmed at the amount of work it will take to get ready to move during the holiday season. My to-do list keeps getting longer.

2. Despite the commute, the job is going quite well. AND I have a lunch break. Perhaps the first lunch break ever in the history of my careers. So I read :) Today it was the Test Kitchen Ultimate Guide and another book I'm really enjoying... OH, and some food magazines at Borders.

3. Jarrett got to go to a Bull's game last night and had a blast.

4. Our tree is up and beautiful. Not as beautiful as last year since we had to forgo the real one for a fake, but it's nice.

That's it for now. I'm heading to get Jarrett from the train... Only 17 more days of these commutes.

Thanksgiving with the MacRae side

2008-12-03T17:01:00.005-06:00

30 people for Thanksgiving, 2 pregnancy announcements, 5 children ages 4 and under, tons of delicious food, and meaningful times with all... we had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

back to work

2008-11-10T21:17:00.002-06:00

I'm six days in and starting to feel a bit more settled at the new job. It's fine but it's definitely a change of pace from 30 5-year-olds! So here are my lists:

5 things I miss the most from my time off:
1. waking up at 7.30
2. breakfasts with Jarrett
3. having the day to bake, cook, clean, sew, and read
4. not having to spend my life in the car
5. friend time

5 things about this job I like better than the past three:
1. OH MY WORD, the bathroom is finally clean (school bathrooms are gross)
2. it's not stressful
3. no one screams
4.

well, I'm coming up with only 3 so I'll end it there. I'm thankful for this job. It's in the field of education and honors teachers for their hard work. I get to organize and do some event planning. But at the same time I'm still wondering if this is it. Well, it works for now and for that I'm thankful.

A New Endeavor

2008-11-10T21:00:00.006-06:00

Recently, Cath and I have taken on a new hobby: buying old furniture and "rehabbing" it a bit. Here are a couple of our bigger projects.

BEFORE: a pretty dinged up old dresser

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Plus, one more we really like. We don't have a BEFORE picture, though:

Cath and I hard at work.

More Pictures... with Jarrett :)

2008-10-29T08:19:00.003-05:00

Good News!

2008-10-28T19:03:00.004-05:00

I was offered the job today. YIPPEE! I will be working for a non-profit that works with early literacy and managing their annual teaching awards. I'm excited! Not so excited about the commute to Highland Park but I already borrowed a book on cd from the library in preparation for the drive. I start Monday so all my projects need to get finished in the next couple of days.

Since our last blog we've been busy...

Here we're in Rockford at the apple orchard picking raspberries and eating apple doughnuts/cider with the fam

Also, we went to an estate sale and loaded up on great stuff for the house. I'll try to update with pictures soon. I've been bad at this lately... my apologies. But for this week I have just a few more days of reading, baking, errands, sewing, crocheting, and getting ready for next week. It's been a great season not working and I feel rested and ready to go! Thanks for all the prayers!!

Home Again, Home Again

2008-10-11T15:13:00.002-05:00

I just flew in a few hours ago from Virginia. Monday I heard that my grandfather had been in the hospital with bronchial pneumonia. He was released but needed someone to watch after him for a few days while he regained strength. I flew out Tuesday. It was a great trip and Grandpa is doing better. I busied myself in the kitchen and hopefully he has enough food to last him a few days more. I'm sure he would still appreciate your prayers. If I can get the pictures off my phone I'll post our lunch date to Chick-Fil-A and Grandpa sitting at the kitchen table (where we spent many hours just talking and enjoying one another). All in all, the trip was great. I was glad I was free and had the chance to spend a few days in the home my mom grew up in! And Fredericksburg is just beautiful right now.

Hope to see you all soon and check up via email. I am just reentering life after no internet and VERY limited news. It's good to be home!

Woo Hoo!

2008-10-01T09:08:00.002-05:00

ILLINOIS BOARD OF ADMISSIONS TO THE BAR

625 SOUTH COLLEGE STREET

SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS 62704-2521

TELEPHONE 217-522-5917

FAX 217-522-3728; -6589; -9341; -9327

BEFORE THE CHARACTER AND FITNESS COMMITTEE

Dear Mr. Knox,

We are pleased to advise that you have passed the July 2008 Illinois bar examination.

Our records reflect that you have satisfied all of the requirements for admission to the bar of Illinois pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 704 and will be certified to the Illinois Supreme Court as eligible to take the oath of admission.

Very truly yours,

Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar

yummo

2008-09-30T12:54:00.003-05:00

We ran in to old friends at church the other day. They moved from Chicago a year ago and said among other things they especially missed the food we have in Chicago. Jarrett and I have spent the last week or so enjoying Chicago dining so I'll tell you a bit about our finds. We did Argentine and Tango Sur last week and had AMAZING steaks (lousy service but the guy did look like johnny depp!). Jarrett and I went to UrbanBelly on the recommendation of Josh and Mallory. Swanky noodle place that was very reasonable for the deliciousness of the meal. The dumplings were great and the noodle dishes were better than any noodle dish I've had before. And last night we went out to Noon-O-Kabab up in Albany Park for Persian food. We went with my parents and Mallory and all ordered different kababs and passed around plates. The hummus and tabouli were amazing as well.

still no word on the job front but as I'm typing I have granola in the oven, a whole chicken boiling making some broth, two pieces of furniture we bought at SalArm we're going to paint and resell, and yarn/crochet needles for my latest hobby. I'm enjoying these days :)

job update from catherine

2008-09-18T15:13:00.004-05:00

I had an interview this morning. I guess it went fine. I usually go to interviews hoping I get offered the job before I leave. I know it sounds ridiculous but it worked a few times during my teaching career. I got to Highland Park after over an hour car ride (I'm not sure I can handle this commute) and was greeted by Lou who asked if I was ready for my test. "Huh?" OH, he forgot to tell me I would be taking an EXCEL test. He sat me at a computer with the past 3 years worth of money from donations and then all of the expenses and told me to balance it all... total the columns and then the rows, blah, blah, blah. Oh! and I only had 12 minutes. I actually like excel and do our budget in it so it wasn't foreign to me but having never seen the document before it was a bit of a challenge. Oh well, we'll see how I did. I didn't get offered the job :( but he did ask for references and told me he'd be in touch. I'll let you all know! In the meantime I'm back to being a stay-at-home... ummm, yeah, what do I do?

If anyone wants to check out the rest of Costa Rica pics just go here but just to warn you, there's a lot.

Bar Exam

2008-09-18T14:29:00.000-05:00

Other things have happened this summer. For one, I took the bar exam. After about two months of studying, on July 29 and 30, I sat for the bar. I took a bar prep class, Barbri, which nearly every other recent law school graduate takes to aid in studying. Barbri more or less “reteaches” law school in about ten weeks. The bar exam tests students on about 20 different areas of law, including constitutional law, criminal law, wills, secured transactions, and commercial paper. Many of those subjects, I’d never studied in school, so while some days of Barbri were review, many were my first exposure to the substantive area of law.

So, I took bar prep classes everyday from 9 until 12:30 or so (some Saturdays, some full days), then studied outside of classes for 6 hours a day for the first 6 weeks, about 8 the next two weeks, and 10 – 12 for the last two weeks building up to the bar exam. It was incredibly mentally exhausting, but I was in good company. Several thousand other students across the country were readying themselves for the same two-day (in some jurisdictions, three-day) exam.

The night before the exam, I knocked off early, and Catherine and I headed downtown to her sister’s apartment to crash for the next two days. She lived about 5 blocks west of my testing site, so instead of depending on a bus and a train to take me back and forth everyday, we decided to swap apartments for the nights of the bar exam. It worked out great, because we also got hour-long breaks for lunch, and I was able to come “home” to get away from the hordes of freaked out test takers.

I won’t comment on the actual test – we don’t find out our passage results for another 4 weeks or so now. Only, it was pretty much everything they prepare you for, both on paper and emotionally/psychologically. Hopefully, I only have to do that once.

2008-09-16T12:31:00.017-05:00

It’s been a very, very long time since we last blogged. And it’s not because we haven’t been busy. I guess we’ve just been adjusting back to life as normal. The biggest thing that happened, for sure, was our trip to Costa Rica. These are my top 5 of the trip:

1. Venado Caverns. Hands down, the BEST thing we did in Costa Rica. At our second destination of the trip, La Fortuna, it rained torrentially for a couple of days. It wasn’t really that big of a deal, because we were mostly doing some hiking there in the national parks, and there was enough tree cover that it didn’t slow us down. But there’s only so much hiking you can do (sort of). So, one day, we planned a rainy day activity – Venado Caverns. We had to drive about 17 km to a small town outside Fortuna, and we would get a guided tour of these caves there. We started on our trip only to find the road to Venado was much more treacherous than we expected, and a 17 km trip turned into an hour and a half drive. So, we got to Venado just as the tour guides were shutting down shop. But, luckily, our guide was willing to hang around a bit longer and take us into the cave. Amazing! The cave had not a single modern amenity (like many of the cave tours in the states I’m used to). There was a river flowing through it, tons of bats, cave spiders, crabs, and even fossilized coral reefs inside. We waded, army crawled, climbed and descended for about an hour and a half. It was thrilling for me!

(Road to Venado)

(Venado Caverns)

(Petrified Coral Reef in Cave)

2. Selvatura Park. This is a close second, because this day was a blast. You see these canopy tours all around Costa Rica – basically a zip-line/walking bridge tour through the rain forest. I have to believe, though, that Selvatura was the best. Our guide books recommended it, and the park was stunning. We first did a suspension bridge tour over the rain forest, then did a 15-platform zip line tour. That was an absolute blast. It culminated in a tarzan swing, which is basically a free fall off a 30-foot platform over the rainforest valley.

3. Manuel Antonio. This was toward the end of our trip, and a much different feel than the rest of our stay in Costa Rica. Manuel Antonio is a small national park on the Pacific side of the country. It has beautiful beaches, where we spent much of the day relaxing. We also saw more wildlife in the smallest amount of time here than we did the rest of the trip: LOTS of monkeys, sloths, lizards, raccoons, and even deer!

(Sangria at Ronny's outside Manuel Antonio - mmm!)

4. Arenal National Park. This was a beautiful National Park built around an active volcano. We went hiking here one day and stayed at a lodge where our room faced the volcano. At night, the sky around the top of the volcano glowed red because of the lava. It was a really beautiful location, and we did some of the best hiking here. Everywhere throughout the park, though, were signs warning you not to wander off the trail because of the high risk of volcanic activity.

5. Food! We had some amazing food on our trip. Most mornings, we had a big breakfast, consisting of fried plaintains, eggs, cheese, fresh fruits, banana pancakes, local coffee, and a whole lot more. We ate most of our meals at roadside "sodas," which are kind of local restaurants serving typical food. A lot of rice and beans, for sure, but they were great, and a little different tasting everywhere we went. A lot of the restaurants also had some of the most beautiful views we saw on the entire trip.

(...and very good beer)

Leaving in 3.5 hours!

2008-08-04T00:10:00.002-05:00

Well the bar is over for Jarrett, I've been making calls regarding my job change for next year, and we are packed and set to go to Costa Rica. (That doesn't mean I have a new job, I'm just saying goodbye to the one I did have...eeks!) We were with friends and packed all day and leave the house tomorrow morning at 3:30! Thanks Bill for helping us get there!! A few things before we go:

1. We absolutely love spending meals with Nate and Kelley and are praying and hoping for the perfect job for Kelley... followed by their return to the city
2. The Runyans have been gone for TOO long! I meant to post on our fun date to a wine bar but will have to do that later... how the time slipped away! Jarrett and I both have appreciated their support through all of Jarrett's school and bar stuff.
3. We'll try to post a time or two while we're down there!! See you in 10 days!

he's off!

2008-07-29T07:57:00.002-05:00

Jarrett and I are staying at Mallory's place for a couple of nights so we can be close to the testing center for Jarrett. He left this morning and starts the bar exam around 8.30. OH MY GOODNESS!! If you're reading this today or tomorrow I'm sure Jarrett would appreciate your prayers. We relaxed last night with a picnic in Millennium Park and watched a rhythm group. It was fun and a good distraction. So now we're at 32 hours or so and this whole thing will be behind us! YIPPEE!!!!

Mamma Mia vs. the Dark Knight

2008-07-20T21:04:00.005-05:00

This weekend we were with the rest of the country at the movie theater seeing the summer blockbusters. Friday night we went to see The Dark Knight with Eric and Emily. If you ask anyone, it was a great movie. Heath Ledger did a great job, and he was creepy as all get out. If you ask me, I should have known better. First, I hate long movies, and this one was 152 minutes. I won't bore you with my complaints because really, I might be the only one who didn't enjoy the movie... BUT the next night I went to Mamma Mia! with Mal and Sarah and LOVED IT! I guess I'm just a song and dance kind of girl. Funny that Jarrett and I saw Sweeny Todd the other day, and I liked that one too. Even though it was bloody, it was a musical, and Johnny Depp was fantastic. Maybe that is our compromise.

SO these are our days: Jarrett wakes up at 5.30 and starts to study. I sleep for a few more hours, and then we have b'fast together for J's mid-morning break. Then Jarrett studies for the next 8 hours, and I see him later in the evening. We have 9 more days of this, and I don't know who is more excited to have this all done. He's working hard, and I'm proud of him. July 29&30!!!

this is mal and I at the zoo with the giraffes :)

ravinia...

2008-07-14T09:20:00.002-05:00

A Man Walks Into a Bar (Exam)

2008-07-13T16:55:00.001-05:00

I'm studying Secured Transactions. A quote from my outline:

"If the proceeds are proceeds of proceeds, all intervening proceeds must be cash proceeds, proceeds of the same type as the original collateral, or accounts relating to the collateral..."

Huh?

On to Year 2...

2008-07-09T08:23:00.003-05:00

We celebrated our first anniversary on Monday. We brought out the cake that has been in our freezer for an entire year and toasted to starting year two. The middle of the cake was actually pretty good but the flowers and icing tasted exactly like a freezer.

We talked (and recorded) highs and lows for the year including new jobs, honeymoon, holidays with family, dates in Chicago, and fights about the dog... I think you can guess which was the low :)

Here are some pics of the evening... ALSO, Jarrett gave me an ice cream maker which is something I've wanted for over a year and had my FAVORITE ice cream waiting for me when I got back from my trip to TN. It was amazing! (I'll try to put some TN pictures up when I get them from my parents camera)

Sad Goodbye

2008-07-02T22:00:00.004-05:00

The other night we helped Al and Taylor load up the truck before they headed off to Louisiana. SO SAD THEY ARE LEAVING. It was hard especially at the end of the night knowing that they wouldn't be just a call away. Jarrett's known Taylor for so long and she was the one that introduced us!! I will miss them terribly. But I am excited for them in this new stage of life. In looking through my iPhoto i found this picture from summer '05. Crazy! We were at Ravinia. Jarrett and I had been dating just a few months and I think Al and Taylor were just at the flirting stage :) How fun!

This will be us in 6 weeks- YIPPEE!!!!!!

2008-06-27T13:11:00.001-05:00

I CAUGHT A FISH!

2008-06-26T20:25:00.002-05:00

This one's for Sheree

2008-06-25T16:49:00.003-05:00

What do you do with four pounds of peaches and an entire day of no plans??? Thank you Sheree for the Rustic Peach suggestion (I also made a peach chutney that was pretty delicious :) I only wish you were here to enjoy it with us!! Come visit me in Chicago!!! But we were able to share dessert with Eric, Emily, Eleanor, and Katie. It was fun hearing all about their trip and I'm so glad to have them back. Living so close to people you get used to running into them!

P.S. I am praying very much that Kelley will get this job in Chicago so they can move back to the city. How fun to have them close again!!!!

ALL THE DAYS

2008-06-22T15:21:00.004-05:00

This is my husband...

So I've had to stay busy doing this and that. I've been potting herbs, baking, cooking, trying to keep something in the cake plate, seeing friends and sweet little Molly. I told Kat, Rachel, Sara, and Stacie I'd get the banana bread recipe to them. This is my favorite one these days.

P.S. this is my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. Jarrett said they were the best he's ever had :) Did I mention how much I love allrecipes.com??

Study Breaks

2008-06-20T08:26:00.004-05:00

I've been studying a whole lot lately. So much so that Catherine's even taken over the blog responsibilities.

But, I've definitely taken quite a few study breaks as well. I think that's what it's all about - balancing my time well. Or, that's what I tell myself anyway.

This past weekend, we hung out all day on Saturday with our good friends Nate and Kelley out in Glenn Ellyn. We rode bikes, ate dinner, played games. It was fun - I miss them living right down the street from us. Sunday was Father's Day, and Cath's parents came over for dinner and a movie (Indiana Jones - eh).

Wednesday, we went to our first summer concert. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss played a sold out show at Ravinia. They put out a great album last year, and the show was really amazing. Ravinia itself is a blast. We had lawn tickets, so we picnicked early and sat back in the grass to enjoy the music all night.

Then, last night, we went to the Metro (it was my first time there) - a huge music venue in Wrigleyville - to see my friend Crawfie's band play.

Oppositionally Defiant

2008-06-18T15:57:00.004-05:00

This happened at school just the other week. Up on the second floor we have our primary special ed room. One of the students is (among other things) diagnosed as having oppositional defiant disorder. Before you totally deny the existence of this and argue it should simply be called "not able to follow directions" listen to this:

Omar was in line with his class at the beginning of the day and was smiling from ear to ear. Our reading specialist said, "Good morning, Omar!" and he went on to tell her how excited he was that today was the day he was line leader. She said she was happy for him and wished him a good day and left for her room. Later in the day she saw the class again but Omar was in the back of the line with his arm crossed and obviously very upset. The reading specialist asked Omar's teacher what happened to Omar. "I thought he was supposed to be the line leader today." "Well," his teacher responded, "he was the line leader but got angry at the other kids for following him and hollered at the class so much I had to put him at the end of the line."
True story.

Costa Rica Here We Come!!

2008-06-13T18:57:00.003-05:00

Jarrett is spending his time studying... all his time studying these days. So it is up to me to blog. I am done with school and very relieved to see the end of the school year finally here. I packed up my room not knowing if I'll return, or even teach again. We'll just have to wait and see. But while my husband is going to class, outlining, and reviewing flashcards, I did some research and booked us a celebratory trip for when it's all done!

This is one of the cloud forests we'll go to as well as going to a volcano, beach, and San Jose :)

So it begins...

2008-05-27T16:47:00.002-05:00

Started BarBri bar prep classes today.

These are my 42 pounds worth of books to memorize over the next two months.

This blows.

Our Newest Hobby

2008-05-25T08:26:00.003-05:00

Fishing. Okay, Cath's only gone this once, but she's saying she's really into it. I've gone a few more times with my buddy Art, but this was my first "successful" trip of the year. I'm hoping for the big one soon.

Graduation Weekend

2008-05-18T21:19:00.004-05:00

My parents and little sister were in town this weekend. On Saturday, we took them to the Garfield Park Conservatory in our neck of the woods. It was a beautiful day.

Then, we went on a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright Homes in Oak Park. This is just one of the many adornments of Wright's home and studio.

On Sunday, was graduation!

Then, we all headed back to our place for dinner and a delicious ice cream cake creation Catherine made.

Basic Bikes with Mike

2008-05-15T08:58:00.003-05:00

After our recent car incident, I decided to become more reliant on my bike for transportation. I've wanted to start riding it more, and now I've decided to ride it to and from the loop everyday for work/bar study classes. But, to get it in a ridable condition, I really needed to get a tune-up/overhaul for it. The brakes were moderately functional, the front wheel was slightly bent and wobbly, and the gears were sticky. Catherine's bike was in much the same condition. But, we didn't have the money to have them both tuned up, so we found out about a bicycle workshop in town called West Town Bikes.

They offer bike mechanics workshops in addition to youth programs (the bulk of what they do). Once or twice a month, they offer a class called Basic Bikes with Mike. Mike's a volunteer for West Town Bikes and teaches this class to familiarize you with all the basic parts of the bike as well as how to perform a basic tune-up. There were only four of us "students" there last night, so it was a great chance not only to learn the parts of a bike but to get some individualized instruction, too.

So, for a donation of $10 apiece, Cath and I both got bike tune-ups (we did it ourselves) and learned how to maintain our bikes (at least a little) on our own. If you own a bike in Chicago and want to become more reliant on it (Bill), I'd highly suggest this class.

Finally, a Blog-Worthy Event

2008-05-10T09:22:00.003-05:00

Last night, Cath and I decided to go to Millennium Park for a simulcast the Chicago Opera Theater was doing of Don Giovanni. The Theater group was performing the opera live in the Harris Theater down the street, and they did a live simulcast on the "jumbotron" at Pritzker Pavilion. It was a little cold, but we hung around for most of it. It's always fun to go to Millennium Park - a beautiful part of the city we don't visit nearly enough.
As we were leaving downtown, we stopped off to pick up a video and jumped on the train to meet our car that we'd left at the Ashland Green Line station. We got there and started driving home when we noticed the car was riding sort of funny. So, we pulled over and found the front right tire totally flat. Catherine drove the car to a nearby gas station, and I got out, ready to change the tire.

"Don't worry, babe, we'll be out of here in ten minutes," I said.

I started jacking the car up when a man came by carrying one of those large squeegee things you wash your windows with.

"Y'all got a flat? I can help with that. I used to work in a tire shop."

"Oh, thanks, but I think I've got it. No big deal," I said.

"Look, man, I'm just a man out trying to earn a few bucks," he said.

"I understand that, and I really appreciate it, but we don't have any cash, so we really can't help you out I'm afraid."

He started to leave. I jacked the car up and placed the wrench on the lug nuts. I twisted and lurched and jerked the wrench - nothing! I tried every lug nut with the same result - not gonna budge.

Our friend with the squeegee came back.

"Man, you don't know what you're doing. Here, let me do it."

"Be my guest," I said, "it won't budge."

The man gave it his best effort, too, with no movement.

This went back and forth for quite a while; both of us jumping up and down on the wrench and none of the lug nuts moving at all."

Finally, Cath convinced to call a tow truck for help. We called a nearby service station, and they said they could send someone out within 45 minutes. So, we sat in the car and waited. I fumed, sulked, and lamented the blow to my masculinity, while Cath tried to cheer me up - "at least it's not snowing, at least we're together..."

Finally, after being there for about an hour, a tow truck comes. The driver is a short, stocky guy with a goatee and a name patch reading "Jimmy." He's got a mostly-smoked cigarette dangling from his lips as he approaches the car.

"You gotta jack?" he asks.

"Sure do. And I gave it my best effort. Those lug nuts are really stuck."

He proceeded to do the exact same thing we did with the exact same outcome.

"Son of a bitch, son of a bitch..." he kept saying. "Those sons of bitches are stuck there good."

We finally decided we'd have to tow it somewhere. At this time, it's 11 pm.

"I know a guy on Western and Touhy who might be open."

Umm...no, I think. For those of you outside Chicago - that's very far away from Grand/Ashland. Jimmy continues to make phone calls, speaking exclusively in Spanish, and finally he turns to me and says "You just hit the lotto, man. I know a guy on Chicago and Cicero. He owns a pneumatic drill, and he's willing to do it for you tonight. You just hit the lotto."

Now, I'm thinking I'll take Western and Touhy - Chicago and Cicero (though very near our house) is a pretty bad neighborhood. And it's 11:30 when we're going to get there. But, really, we're pretty much at this guy's mercy here. So, we go.

Jimmy turns out to be a nice guy, telling us about his "lady" and the mustang he just bought for her. Catherine is sitting between us, and she slowly comes to the realization that Jimmy might be drunk. Yikes!

We finally get to Chicago/Cicero, pull into a dark alley, and some guy with a drill comes out and changes the tire instantly. I was terrified, but the guy was incredibly nice and only wanted to charge us $5.

We paid the man and Jimmy and finally headed home. Whew!

Law Student No More

2008-04-25T06:08:00.001-05:00

I just finished my last law school class yesterday. Surreal. I mean, I still have exams, but I don't have to sit in a lecture ever again!

Things they don't do in the suburbs

2008-04-13T08:32:00.002-05:00

Friday night, Catherine and I went to the western suburbs to meet up with our good friends Nate and Kelley at this divey little Mexican place (my kind of restaurant). Then yesterday, we went to Oak Park to read at Borders for a while. Sometimes, it's so different to be in the 'burbs that it feels worlds away. I noticed a few differences. Things they don't do in the 'burbs:

- honk when coming out of an alley (tried this one - people stare).

- tow cars (we left ours in a parking lot for several hours while we left the restaurant. A big no-no in Chicago).

- open any stores past 9pm (save Starbucks, which was surprisingly open until 11).

- charge you to park (I know a lot of these are about cars, but seriously - that's a huge deal in the city).

- walk, apparently (everything was very far apart. We would drive for empty stretches then come upon a strip of stores, then empty street again).

So, these are a little dumb, but it's very different nonetheless. Sometimes it's nice to get away from the busy, tow-friendly, open-all-night city, though.

Since that time

2008-04-10T07:23:00.005-05:00

We've taken a hiatus from blogging (apparently). For no good reason.

Maybe it's because nothing eventful has really happened since that time. Here's the highlight reel:

March 21: We were still in Tennessee, and it was Good Friday. My parents' church was having a Good Friday service, so we went to that and afterward met up with some good friends from high school at McDonald's (where else?). It was really nice to reconnect and get updates on life.

March 23: Easter. We went out to Rockford for church with the in-laws (and parents - C). It came complete with fog machine, strobe lights and white Jesus impersonator. Then, dinner with the family - good times shared with extended family and friends over lamb and mint jelly.

March 24: Back to school. End of story.

March 28: We had friends from church over for dinner, then headed out to the Mars Gallery late that night for a secret cigar and wine party.

March 29: Dinner at Gioco in the South Loop with Nate and Kelley, our good friends who now live in the 'burbs. It was great food and great company - then back to our place for coffee and conversation.

March 30: Shamrock Shuffle. 8k with Bill, Eric, and Ryan. Then a mad sprint to Mallory's apartment to shower and change and still make it to church by 11:20.

April 1: Community Group at Josh's apartment. Cool digs.

April 3: Cath out with Rachel for dinner; me bumming it on the couch in front of the Office reruns.

April 5: We drove to Louisville for a wedding of a friend of mine from college. It was good to reconnect with them and others from my friend group at Carson-Newman. The wedding was great, and the homemade ice cream afterwards just as nice.

April 6: Drive back to Chicago (5 hours). I always love taking long road trips with Catherine. We end up having good conversations and just "being" with each other - something we don't always get the time to do. Then, that night, Catherine's aunt and cousins came into town to stay with us, and I went fishing with Art, Noah, and father-in-law Bob.

April 7 - 8: still have guests. They had a baby, too, who loved Duchess. She crawled all over her!

So, that's pretty much it. And, okay, some of it is less "highlights" and more mundane, but at least you're caught up.

A Hike at Piney River...then Sonic!

2008-03-21T14:26:00.003-05:00

A Day in the Park with Niece Chloe

2008-03-18T13:46:00.009-05:00

And Starring in the Role of Idiot...Man!

2008-03-10T17:31:00.003-05:00

There's a commercial on TV put out by Pizza Hut. The whole idea is that it's Dad's night to make dinner, and the kids and mom are all dreading it. Only, in the end, they're suprised and pleased to find that Dad didn't actually cook anything - he just ordered pizza. You see, he's too incompetent to cook anything - that's women's work.

What is it with men being portrayed as idiots on television these days? Or has it always been that way and for some reason, I'm just more attuned to it right now? But, let's see...there's the classic fat slobby guy with beautiful wife (According to Jim, King of Queens), the dumb father (Everybody loves Raymond), and the Neanderthal-esque grunting man who desperately needs woman for any rational thought (okay, I'm sure this one's still on TV, but I don't watch enough sitcoms to know their premise...but Home Improvement was a classic example). And...dare I say...The Simpsons. But, okay, Homer is animated and not really believable as a man. All of The Simpsons is exaggerated to make a point, so that one doesn't count.

Why is this okay, and where did this idea come from? Catherine and I were talking about this recently, and she's the one who actually pointed it out to me because she was so offended. Why wasn't I offended first?

It seems, though, that maybe this trend is passing. And maybe it's because of the writer's strike or the fact that there's really no good sitcoms on anymore (save NBC Thursday nights), but hopefully this ends soon. Men should be offended by this, don't you think?

Or do you think that maybe that's just what comedy is about? Something that every man can recognize in himself (certainly I see in myself Tim Taylor's need to fix and build everything myself or the laziness of those other guys) only taken to the extreme to be funny.

But, the point is, this doesn't happen with women as much, does it? Typically, the woman in these situations is competent, bright, and completely capable, whereas the man is utterly hopeless. I think that situation only serves to further stereotypes that men are emotionless, driven only by their appetites, and unthoughtful. That's gotta stop!

In Effort to Remember

2008-03-07T15:48:00.007-06:00

We had friends over last night and we were looking at our honeymoon pics.
SO I'm putting up some pictures...8 months later :)
Portland and then Seattle and some great places along the way.

Maybe Argentina this summer?

2008-02-26T07:37:00.003-06:00

It was a good weekend. We spent Saturday just hanging out and running errands. Cath and I did a crossword puzzle at Starbucks and browsed the books at Borders. I really like lazy reading days. Then, Saturday night, we had fondue with our friends the Hacketts and watched Tina Fey host SNL.

Sunday was Cath's mom's birthday celebration. We had tickets to a show at the Steppenwolf: Harriet Jacobs. It was based on the book Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl written by Jacobs. Great play - a bit of a downer, but I think that was part of the point. It told of a 15-year-old's experience in slavery, living on a large plantation in Virginia. It did a good job portraying the exploitation of slaves, beyond just the fact of them being a piece of human property. Slaves were sexually abused and grossly mistreated by their masters.

Things like that always make me wonder what are we going to look back on one day and think, "how did we ever justify acting that way?" I mean, it's very difficult for any American today to imagine ever treating an entire race of people that way, but in every generation, there's something similar. For our parents, it was the Civil Rights movement. What will it be for us? Gay rights? Immigration rights? I tend to think, at least, that one day we will look back on our treatment of immigrants with great disdain and amazement that we could ever act that way.

Growing up in East Tennessee, in a small farming community, we would annually see a great influx of Mexican families, moving in temporarily to pick the tomatoes and strawberries in the fields. School populations would increase by 25% or more for the first semester before trickling back to a normal class size during the winter break. I can't attest to how the migrant communities were treated back then, because I wasn't very aware of what was going on (unfortunately). But, I do know how immigrant day laborers are treated in my town now.

A couple of years back, I became interested (along with the 2 I worked with at the time) in a group of men who congregated outside our local grocery store early every morning. There were dozens of latino men crowded into the small parking lot. Occasionally, a large white van would pull up (or a pick up truck), and men would rush the vehicle before it would quickly pull out of the lot. These were contractors or factory owners, picking men up to hire them out for the day. The men were told how much they'd receive in wages for a day's work, and they'd be off to work in whatever pursuit the white man in the cab had lined up.

I know from those men's stories that often, they would work a full day and only be paid half of what they were told they would get. Or nothing at all. Men and women alike were sexually harassed and abused by their supervisors. Even when they were paid, it was often far below a living wage - one that any white high school kid could earn.

Let's face it, too, our country is really built on the back of this type of cheap, disposable labor, isn't it? I believe (and hope) one day we'll look back with great disgust on how we treated human beings in these situations.

What message would you give your 15-year-old self, if you could?

2008-02-21T10:49:00.002-06:00

Just about everyday, I check out one of my favorite Chicago websites, Gapersblock. On the righthand side, there's a column called "Fuel" that posts a question for readers to respond to every couple of days. The past few days, the question has been, "What message would you give your 15-year-old self, if you could?". Pretty interesting to read some of the responses on there. Particularly, I like...

"NOTHING is really going down on your permanent record."

"Don't lose your Garry Davis "eyeball" skateboard -- in 20 years it'll be priceless."

"breathe deeply, smile, and don't worry about being perfect."

"Oh, and there are LOTS of different people in the world. Just because you were friends with the Jewish guy and the black girl in your graduating class, doesn't make you cosmopolitan."

"No one is judging you as harshly as you think they are (and if they are, so what?)"

"All of the grandiose ideas you have for moving away, becoming an writer, and living in the middle of nowhere will manifest themselves as a wife, a good job, and a home you own. You are happier with that."

...anyway, there's more. Many are dumb, but it's an interesting thing to think about, anyway.

P.S. on the weekend

2008-02-18T13:27:00.004-06:00

When Sheree comes to town I get to do the Chicago things I love. One of my favorite places in the world is Julius Meinl and we shared the cheese plate. yum. AND we also went to the Edward Hopper exhibit at the Art Institute. It was great and I was glad to be enjoying Chicago again.

Weekend

2008-02-17T13:12:00.003-06:00

This has been a good weekend.

Friday night, Adam's friend from out of town was passing through Chicago, so Cath and I, Kelley, and Byron met them for dinner at Flo. I had the mussels, Cath had the shrimp quesadillas. And a pitcher of sangria all around.

Then, Sheree came to town from Seattle. She and Cath hung out all day Saturday, then we finally checked out this new bar in the neighborhood we've been wanting to try - Weegee's.

We played Greed at this table for a few hours before it got really crowded. Cool bar though - kind of a throw back to 30s-40s era bars with a nice tin ceiling, old wooden bar and little lamps at the tables.

Oh, and I learned one more game. It's a Wikipedia game. It's called Six Clicks to Jesus. To play, go to Wikipedia home page and click "Random Article" from the sidebar. Then, you've got six clicks (on clickable links within the article) to get to the Jesus entry. Pretty fun.

Who's Excited??

2008-02-14T11:16:00.001-06:00

Happy Lenten Season

2008-02-07T10:42:00.000-06:00

So, it's Lent. Are you giving up anything this year? I'm not. I have in the past, but for some reason, this all sort of crept up on me. (Wasn't it just Christmas like last week?!)

Tuesday night, Catherine and I had a Mardi Gras party at our small group from church. It was a lot of fun and a lot of great food! We had jambalya, gumbo, rice and beans, cornbread, bread pudding...it was a feast!

We're really enjoying our small (community) group. We'd intended to become a part of one for a while, but somehow it never worked out. I always had a night class during the time they were meeting or we were busy planning a wedding...whatever. But this year, we decided to make it a priority. So, I created my class schedule around it, and here we are. We landed on a group in the Logan Square neighborhood because it's very close to us. We meet at Bob's (our pastor) house, and every week, we do a deeper dive into the past Sunday's homily. Bob emails out a homily recap which includes passages and thoughts on those from Sunday's message. I really like taking the time to look at those passages deeper, because honestly, I sometimes miss it on Sunday mornings. Our worship service at Grace is designed in such a way that it all climaxes at communion. Then, the homily follows that, and by that time, it's sort of too late for me to take too much in.

Lately, though, we've been following a theme of union with Christ. Bob began the series by looking at the temptation of Christ. He used the passage in a way I'd never heard it communicated before. Typically, I've heard that passage as a sort of "to-do list" for fighting temptation. You know, when faced with temptation, recall scripture to fight it. Certainly that can be taken from the passage, but is that the real thrust of the story? Maybe the passage represents Christ's love for humankind and saving solidarity with fallen human beings. The 40 days and 40 nights of temptation would have evoked images of Israel's 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. During this time, Israel was often unfaithful toward God.

But where Israel was faithless, Jesus was faithful. New Testament theologian (and Chicagoan) Scot McKnight said, "He rolls back history to become what Israel was so he can undo what Israel did." This represents Christ's mission: to live faithfully before God for us so that we might live faithfully before God in and through him.

So, all that's still sinking in with me, but I like that. I like that I'm still recalling things we talked about several weeks ago and that I'm challenged by them. It's been refreshing for me.

Interesting Article

2008-02-04T16:45:00.000-06:00

Interesting Op-Ed piece in the New York times today. Seems people are beginning to awaken to the idea that evangelicals are more than Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell but that we also care about the poor, human rights, the environment, and global issues.

So Proud!

2008-02-01T10:11:00.001-06:00

Also, a note of pride on my friend (and former roommate Byron Clarke). He runs a Cubs blog with a few other friends call Goat Riders, and his site made it on the top Chicago websites list of Chicago Magazine! Way to go. Check out the whole list here.

Politics And Taxes

2008-02-01T09:41:00.000-06:00

If you live in Chicago, make sure to vote on Feb. 5. Of course, you probably know who you're voting for for president, but there's a whole lot of local elections happening that day, too. In Cook County, we elect our judges, and typically, once elected, that judge stays on the bench forever. Chicagoans vote the incumbent. But, really, a lot of judges only make it on the bench because of patronage and nepotism and actually have no place ruling on matters of law.

Every election year, the Chicago Bar Association puts out an evaluation of all the running judges, grading them either HQ (Highly Qualified), Q (Qualified), or NR (Not Recommended). There's a handy pocket guide that you can even take with you when you vote. Get your copy of it here, and don't forget to vote on those! It's actually very good and very accurate.

Also, taxes are soon upon us. My beautiful and caring wife recently pointed out all the crazy characters that come out around tax time (the oversized-headed Uncle Sam, the lady in the Statue of Liberty costume) to lure people into their tax services. Poor people inevitably get ripped off by these chain tax prep places.

BUT...The Center for Economic Progress will do your taxes for free, if you qualify under their income guidelines. For families (more than one person in the home), the income max is $40,000, and for individuals, it's $15,000. AND, they're conveniently located in 39 communities throughout Chicago. So spread the word! Get a flyer for it here.

2008-01-30T14:16:00.000-06:00

Feeling much better today. I got my stints out on Monday, and since then, I've been able to breath much better! My nose is still really dry, though, so it's difficult to gauge how much better it's going to be. I've been using a saline spray - any other suggestions?

Septoplasty

2008-01-26T06:47:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I had a septoplasty and turbinate reduction to realign my deviated septum and reduce the sidewalls of my nose. Before, apparently, I had 80% blockage of my airways, so hopefully this will fix it.

The day was...no fun. First, I've never really had surgery before. I had my wisdom teeth extracted several years ago, but I couldn't afford anesthesia, so they just gave me a shot and I was awake for it, and it wasn't bad at all. But, yesterday, I was full-blown knocked out. First, I wore one of those embarrassing gowns with a butt flap that, when you're tall, only comes down to your knees. So, when you're laying down on the bed, you're on full display.

Then, the IV. My first nurse was very sweet, but couldn't quite figure out how to get the needle in my hand. I normally don't mind needles that much, but this one hurt! She put it in the back of my hand and sort of moved it around a bit to try to stick my veins. No luck - so she pulled it out, apologized, and said she was too chicken to try again and would get another nurse. Nurse 2 - she trys the other hand - still no luck. I have plenty of veins and have never had a problem getting needles in (I mean with a doctor getting them in - not me personally, of course). So, Nurse 3 - nothing, finally anesthesiologist comes in and on her second try, she strikes oil! Finally. So, I've been poked many times in not fun places. The anesthesiologist said I have a strong basal...something...reaction, so there's plenty of veins, but they close off quickly when anything enters them.

Well, all the pricking and prodding of the needles left me a little frazzled. They wheel me into the operating room, and my body is sort of freaking out. I remember getting onto the table, then it's pretty much gone from then until recovery room.

Right after surgery, I had a bad headache and achy nose (of course) and threw up a little, but by the time we got home, I was doing okay. There's been a lot of bleeding, but I think that's pretty much passed by today, too. All I have left are these stints stitched in my nose and this "moustache dressing." Monday, I got get the stints removed, and I'm supposed to breathe much better!

The Loop

2008-01-16T10:44:00.000-06:00

This is the intersection where I work...only in 1941!

Happy Birthday!

2008-01-10T09:29:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was Catherine's birthday. She turned 26 (at which age, you're officially older than half the world!). We celebrated with a party forthcoming and dinner out with her family. We went to this new restaurant in Logan Square called Rustik, which was excellent. It's thing is comfort food with a modern twist, I guess. Delicious.

So, if you're a regular reader (do we have those?), wish Catherine a happy birthday and come celebrate with us on Friday night!

Yer not from around here, are ya?

2008-01-06T08:05:00.000-06:00

Catherine got that a few times when we were in Tennessee this past week.

We drove down to Dayton to see my parents for "Christmas" on January 2. We hadn't been able to exchange presents with them this year, and since Catherine and I still have Christmas breaks, we decided to drive down and spend a few days celebrating with my side of the family. After a stop at Chick-fil-A for lunch (of course - I always get it when I can), we drove through Nashville and picked my little sister up from work downtown, then we all drove home. On the way, we stopped at Fazoli's for dinner and had an interesting time. This Fazoli's was in a little interstate town between Nashville and my home town, Dayton. I ordered the Ziti with meat sauce, Leah got the spaghetti, and Catherine got the pizza...no wait, the salad...no wait....um...er....(Cath, hurry up, the locals behind you are getting restless)...the lasagna? That's when she got the..."Y'all aren't from 'round here, are y'all?" Oh well.

We had a nice time, though. It's always fun to go to my parents' house. They live in a very small town, and coming from Chicago, it's a nice change of pace. We always walk down to the town square to go to the little shops or to the post office or something. (In fact, when Catherine and I went to the post office, there was one sheet of paper from the local newspaper sitting on the counter, and it was dated March 7, 2007 - it was the page that had our engagement announcement and picture on it. We felt famous).

We ate well and ate lots! Turnip greens, black-eyed peas, cornbread, sausage biscuits, beef stew...not all at once, but it was all delicious!

Now, we're back to Chicago. Nice in some ways, but the impending busyness looms on the horizon.

Happy New Year

2008-01-01T13:41:00.000-06:00

It's 2008, and our first official item of the new year is to watch football - lots today. Currently, Michigan and Florida are tied at 14 in the Capital One Bowl, and Tennessee just pulled out a victory over Wisconsin in the Outback Bowl.

In other news, we've not told anyone officially about our blog, and it's probably time. A couple of our friends have stumbled upon it, which is nice. The problem is, how do you tell people about a blog? Borrowing from a good friend of ours, we're going to just list our friends' names in hopes that they Google themselves and thereby find our blog. So, if that's you (and you know you do it), and you found our blog that way, PLEASE comment and let us know!

Leah Knox
Quentin McCuiston
Rachel Hackett
Arthur Hackett
Wes Jones
Jeremy Pietsch (and Stacy)
Bill Smiljanich (Katie)
Sheree Goertzen
Stacie Parlee

There's many more...maybe we'll do this again soon depending on the success of this trial. Others of you (Nate and Kelley, Eric and Emily ... we know you already found it - kudos to you).

Just like a tourist

2007-12-29T22:34:00.000-06:00

After a very busy semester and Christmas, Jarrett and I decided to spend a few days in Chicago doing all the fun things that keep the tourists coming to Chicago. We started out going to Macy's to see the giant tree. But even more impressive than than was the bedazzled old lady playing the grand piano in the lounge. She must have been 80 or more (I actually saw her 4 years ago too!), and she knew hundreds of songs by heart. When we caught up with her, another lady was singing along to "Dradle, dradle, dradle."

Then, we ate lunch at the Walnut Room - the dining room surrounding the giant tree.

After lunch (Crab cake BLT, Lobster Bisque, and Creme Brulee - Mmmm), we went to Daley Bicentennial Plaza for ice skating. It's just across Columbus Drive from Millennium Park, but much less crowded and $2 cheaper, too!

Finally, we headed home for a bit of a rest, then went to Catherine's favorite cafe, Julius Meinl. It's a Viennese coffee shop with only one U.S. store - in Chicago. Live music, a melange, and a fantastic cheese plate topped off the evening.

This was Our Christmas

2007-12-27T11:59:00.001-06:00

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-25T12:55:00.001-06:00

Be Vewy, Vewy Quiet!

2007-12-24T13:18:00.000-06:00

This morning, I went hunting for the third time in my life. My father-in-law and I (plus his hunting buddy, Steve) went out into the woods and sat in trees for three hours starting at 6:00 a.m. I saw nothing but a field mouse and two woodpeckers (and a partridge in a pear tree). But, I'm really enjoying it, actually, and looking forward to the day when I actually see something plus I can shoot it! It was capped off with a nice breakfast at the "Potato Shak".

It's Christmas Eve, and we're keeping busy. Well, Catherine is - I've resigned myself to the sofa, mostly to stay out of the way. Lots of baking, errand-running, and carpet-cleaning going on. But, it all smells good, and dinner's in only three hours!

Merry Christmas!

This Car Gives Me a Headache!

2007-12-21T13:49:00.000-06:00

In the next chapter of the never ending saga that is my car, I now can't even get rid of the thing for another month! Not even if I wanted to and if there were a waiting buyer with just the right amount of money. Nope - because my title has an error in it, and Springfield won't be able to fix it for at least a month. Maybe more, what with the holidays and all. You see, when I originally applied for my title, I indicated that the odometer read 11,061 miles (which is correct), but somewhere things got lost in translation, and what ended up on my actual title was 1,061 (wrong!). But, who ever checks that? Well, you should, because now I can't sell the car - even to CarMax - because of the error in the title. It looks like I tried to set back the odometer 10,000 miles, so I have to get it fixed.

Sounds simple enough, but nothing ever is. If there's one thing I hate about Chicago, it's the bureaucracy. Nothing can ever be simple, and nothing can be done quickly. I went to the Secretary of State today, only to have three employees either not know what to do (which is okay, they could just direct me to someone who does), tell me the wrong thing to do (also okay, if they're honestly mistaken, but I sensed it was in an effort to come up with a quick get-out-of-my-hair answer), or shuffle me around endlessly. Finally, I got Evelyn. Evelyn, I salute you - you took time to really help me with my problem, and even called Springfield to make sure you were right.

Anyway, that's not the first of problems I've had with my car. For one, the license plate on my car has been stolen FIVE TIMES! I've never heard of anyone having their license plate stolen, much less five times! Plus, all of the windows were smashed out one night (save the driver's side ones), but nothing was taken from inside. Another time, someone ran a tire iron through the trunk. Then, there was the time someone tried unsuccessfully to break in by breaking the door handle. Finally, the driver's side window was shot out (there's a bullet indentation on the door to mark the occasion). Not to mention the countless parking tickets and violations I've gotten (my fault, yes, but still...).

So, now I'm trying to get rid of the thing. It's just a hassle, and we don't really need the added cost of an extra car anyway. So, anyone interested in a (possibly) cursed vehicle?

All Done!

2007-12-21T07:34:00.000-06:00

Well...almost. I'm done anyway. I took my last final on Wednesday, and, as Catherine pointed out, I'm 5/6 of the way done with law school! Very teacher(ish) of her. I don't go back until the third week in January!

Today is Catherine's last day before her Christmas break, which, of course, means wild kids thinking of nothing but Christmas and having two full weeks off. We'll be heading out to Rockford tomorrow to spend Christmas and a few days with her family. Then, back to Chicago for a little down time before heading down to Tennessee after the New Year's to have Christmas with my family. Lots of traveling, but this is our last ever big Christmas break together, so we're taking advantage of it.

In other news, there's a new Chicago Housing Authority requirement that residents will have to work 15 - 20 hours a week to remain eligible for housing. This requirement will also be extended soon to the thousands who receive section 8 vouchers to subsidize their rent. Obviously, this will affect HUGE numbers of people. Read about it here.

Finally, you know it's Christmas in Chicago when that big house on Logan Boulevard lights up again. This house is so covered in lights from the roof to the sidewalk, that, I'm sure, it drains the whole neighborhood of any extra power. Nothing says "Merry Christmas" like light up reindeer and levitating poinsettias.

Sometimes I wonder

2007-12-17T21:04:00.000-06:00

Today I was driving home from school, and I saw a man get beat up and robbed. He was an old man, walking north on Pulaski at Augusta (five blocks from my house), and these two teenagers just walked right up to him, pushed him down, kicked and punched him, then stole his stuff and ran off into the alley. I was shocked, and it really took a while for it all to sink in. I called the cops, pulled over, and stood with the guy 'til someone came. I talked to the cops and paramedics, who were all really great people, actually.

But this was five blocks from home! Normally this stuff doesn't faze me much (which is sad). Maybe it was because I actually called the cops that it hit me more, but I kept thinking this very easily could have been me - or worse, my wife! I walk home from the train up Pulaski all the time. And everyone tells me not to do it or at least asks if I'm afraid, and I've never been afraid. I get yelled at sometimes, and people will mumble things under their breath (actually heard - "I'm gonna beat yer white ass" once), but it's never made me afraid that anyone would actually do anything. But, today, I'm really affected...

2007-12-17T12:25:00.001-06:00

Last night, we had house dinner at our house. Every week, the whole house (including honorary lifetime members - Byron) gets together in one of the apartments for house dinner. When we're all there, there's seven of us. Each family brings something - main dish, salad, side item, dessert, or drinks.

Yesterday, we had Christmas dinner instead and invited a few friends. We had 11 people crowded into our dining room! It was great. We took a few before pictures, but sadly, we didn't take any pictures of the actual dinner. Too busy enjoying it, I suppose.

I do love house meals. It's a great time to intentionally catch up with one another, relax over a meal, and enjoy a good controversial topic or two (thanks, Emily). Last night was particularly nice. It's good to be with friends, and it's good to be reminded of those times when conversation is perfect, the roast beef tastes so good, and everyone enjoys each other. The Runyans blogged about it too. You can read their post here.

2007-12-15T12:52:00.000-06:00

We don't see many movies these days. I don't know why. Or if we do, we see them at the second-run theater close to our house, the Logan. I actually really like that place - it's an old-style movie theater and shows only cost $3. Or, we'll rent something from the Red Box or Blockbuster. Last night we saw this French movie we rented from Blockbuster - "Blame it on Fidel." It was worth watching.

Last weekend, we saw "Lars and the Real Girl." It has a sort of...questionable (?) premise, we initially thought, but after seeing it -- it was a really great movie. Lars (Ryan Gosling) is suffering under a delusion that this "doll" is his new fiance Bianca. Lars' brother Gus has a really hard time dealing with it, because to help him out, they're supposed to go along with it, pretend she's real. There's a lot about Lars growing up and becoming a man and what a difficult journey that is for him. One scene, I thought, was particularly good. Lars and his brother have a strained relationship, but throughout the movie, they're growing closer together as Lars is sort of growing up. This scene was sort of their turning point:

Lars: I was talking to Bianca, and she was saying that in her culture they have these rites of passages and rituals and cermonies, and, just all kinds of things that, when you do them, go through them, let you know that you're an adult? Doesn't that sound great?
Gus: It does.
Lars: How'd you know?
Gus: How'd I know what?
Lars: That you were a man
Gus: Ahhh. I couldn't tell ya.
Lars: Was it... okay, was it sex?
Gus: Um. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's uh, yeah, yeah it's kind of - it's uh - no. Well, it's kind of sex but it's not uh, you know? I don't know. I don't know. It's - uh - good question, good question.
Lars: Yeah, but I have to know
Gus: [dryer buzzes] Hold that thought.
Gus: [in basement] You know, you should ask Dagmar [Lars' shrink/doctor]
Lars: I did ask Dagmar. And she said that I should ask you.
Gus: Okay, you know I can only give you my opinion.
Lars: That's what we want
Gus: Well, it's not like you're one thing or the other, okay? There's still a kid inside but you grow up when you decide to do right, okay, and not what's right for you, what's right for everybody, even when it hurts.
Lars: Okay, like what?
Gus: Like, you know, like, you don't jerk people around, you know, and you don't cheat on your woman, and you take care of your family, you know, and you admit when you're wrong, or you try to, anyways. That's all I can think of, you know - it sound like it's easy and for some reason it's not.

Do Students Shed Their First Amendment Rights at the School House Gate?

2007-12-12T07:52:00.000-06:00

I'm finishing up my senior paper for my First Amendment Seminar class (finally!). Before you can graduate, you have to take a seminar class on some area of law that interests you. I took the First Amendment Seminar more for the professor who was teaching it. He's an excellent teacher, who is incredibly knowledgeable on the Constitution. He was my Constitutional Law teacher my first year, and I really enjoyed his classes (though he scared the crap out of me - he'd randomly call on people to lead class discussion, and if you weren't prepared, he didn't move on - he'd stick with you, prodding you throughout the class).

Part of the seminar class requires writing a law review-type article on a more narrow topic of law that stems from the broader course subject. I'm writing on public school students and their freedom of speech. It's a pretty relevant topic, because this past summer, the Supreme Court just handed down a decision in Morse v. Frederick, only their fourth-ever case dealing with student speech rights at school. Maybe you heard about it? It all centered around this sign: "BONG HiTS 4 JESUS." A group of students in Juneau, Alaska attended the Olympic torch rally as it came through their town and held this banner to attract the attention of the television cameras. They had been given permission (along with the rest of the school) to attend the rally during school hours as a school-sponsored outing (sort of). The high school principal quickly ordered the students to put the banner down, and all but one student did so. Joe Frederick kept holding the banner, asserting his First Amendment rights to speak at school. He was suspended for it.

Okay, so the message is a bit...idiotic? Not at all eloquent, complete nonsense, and not a very important message to try to assert your First Amendment rights on, but was he right? Did he have a right to hold that banner? The Supreme Court didn't think so. They found in favor of the school principal, finding that she "reasonably interpreted the sign to be a promotion of illegal drug use."

Now, maybe you find the sign offensive, or at least really stupid and embarrassing to have your town identified with on national television. But, is it really promoting illegal drug use? I don't know. Frederick said it was a nonsense sign, meant to evoke a strong reaction and attract attention, but not meant to encourage drug use. And would any student read this sign and be likely to try drugs as a result? And what does this do for student speech? If now it's permissible for a school to suspend a student for a statement like this one that arguably means nothing, but references a drug phrase, what else is permissible? What about honest discourse on the legalization of marijuana? Suspendable conversation?

Or maybe this is necessary to control the classroom environment and ensure that students aren't exposed to disturbing or offensive ideas. What do you think?

2007-12-09T14:02:00.000-06:00

Friday night we had people over to "celebrate" the fellowship. Mostly, it was just an excuse to have a party and see our friends. It was a lot of fun - I felt like it was one of those parties where there's different groups of friends all mingling together. I think that makes a party a success. Sadly, we took no pictures. We've really got to get in that "blogging" state of mind so we can get some real pictures of our life up here. Then, last night was our church's Christmas party. Always a lot of fun. We enjoyed hanging out with our friends, and we even met a few new people, too. And we had Christmas ham!

In other news, I've done zero things to study this weekend. But I find excellent ways to waste my time here and here (thanks for that one, Nate).

2007-12-07T07:47:00.001-06:00

Winter is a hard time to blog. For one, we just got a massive snowstorm this week - lots of shoveling snow (for my landlords, anyway - thanks, Bill & Eric), digging the car out, and pre-warming the car so Cath can get to work. It just snowed a little bit more last night, which is actually kinda nice, because it keeps the snow looking clean and white. Soon, it will all be a slushy, gray mess. Such is winter.

In other news, you should check out this blog. The folks at Facets Multi-media are posting one holiday movie clip a day on their blog for the whole Christmas season. I can't personally vouch for the quality of the films posted, but they usually have pretty good taste.

In a similar vein, as I'm overwhelmed in studying for law school finals right now, I'm posting a video of what I wish I could do...sometimes.

Fellowship

2007-12-04T11:12:00.000-06:00

A few months back, I applied for a fellowship that would allow me to keep working at the place I've been volunteering (Legal Aid Bureau) for another two years as a staff attorney. I'd be manning my own project, which I designed, and would be paid a salary, benefits, and even have access to a loan repayment program at the end of my fellowship, which would be huge! This would be a great gig for several reasons -

1) I've wanted to work in public interest since I started law school, and this would allow me to do that;
2) It's really hard to get a job in public interest law, especially in Chicago; and
3) I'd get a significant portion of my loan paid off - which is great because law school has been very expensive!

Yesterday, I found out I got it! I still have to call back and accept it, but what a relief! The program itself is pretty prestigious and it's a blessing to be offered the fellowship.

2007-12-02T21:25:00.001-06:00

Yesterday, we got our first Christmas tree. It actually turned out to be much bigger than we had expected once we got it in the house, but we like it. (Well, I thought it would be much smaller. Cath says she knew!) It's hard to get a good picture of a tree with lights on it, so sorry this is a little blurry, but squint your eyes a bit and imagine you're here. It's great!

We listened to Christmas music, drank egg nog, and it even snowed outside while we decorated it.

The second picture's also a little hard to see, but it says "Our First Christmas." Cheesy? Yes. But, we embrace the cheese.