28 is great

Me and Pedro.

Wade, me and Nicole. Wade is one of our college friends who happens to manage/DJ at the club we went to.

Tammy, Char and Jenna getting a good laugh at their drinks, the Horney Monkey.

Beth, Corrine, Norah, Andrea and Jackie.

Me and Beth.

Not exactly a "pup-tent"

Maverick loves his new tent. Irie's too scared to go in it so it works as a "purrfect" hideout. Thanks, Uncle Carl.

Lily's animal sounds

For some reason the sound and picture aren't matching up completely in this video, but for now it's the best I can do. I'll try to re-upload it later.

Fear the turtle?

University of Maryland's motto means nothing to this Baltimore baby. This kid has no fear!

A soft velvety nose.

Let me at that cow.

At one with the herd.

About to put the goat in a headlock.

Fear the turtle? No way.

One cool kid

Some photos of the new place

Here's the living room.

And one of the new futon/couch. I actually have to say, I'm enjoying it. Not quite as comfy as my old couch, but it's working just fine.

New favorite Irie pic

I'm not sure why I like this one so much. I guess it's just the cock of the head with those big ears. She just looks sweet.

Pictures that make me laugh

Is that a Florida picture frame in a Mexican store? Why, yes, yes, it is.

Bubble bath time. (Again, yes, we have bathing suits on.)

I think the name of the store says it all here. Mass Relax, Viagra, and Diet Pills. Yum.

Here's a close-up of the window display. Work loved it.

Now there's a sign.

Our maid's idea of how bottles in the shower should be displayed.

Photos from Tulum

I think this was a light-house, but I might be wrong. I was really just checking out the sites.

This is Scott and I on the beach of Tulum. Our photographer managed to catch this picture just as a wave crashed over our rock. Scott and I are still blissfully unaware in the photo.

Me in front of, yes, you guessed it, another ruin.

Los retratos de vacaciones

Our first day.

The palms I was so impressed with.

Scott getting some use out of our fabulous tub. We were big fans of the blinds that separated the bathroom from the bedroom. Very fun. And yes, Scott has his bathing suit on.

The Collectivo, our main form of transportation.

Me and one of the MANY iguanas we encountered.

Viva! Viva!

So, from my last post you all know that I am officially home from my Mexican vacation. It's taken me a few days to get back into some sort of routine, get the apartment put together, etc, but I think I'm ready now to tell you about my fabulous trip.

It really was great. We had an awesome room (which had an awesome whirl-pool bathtub, FYI), a nice balcony overlooking the "relax pool" (aka the "adults-only" pool), several good restaurants to choose from, free transportation into town, a spa on-site (great for my last-minute pedicure!), and lots of fun activities (of which I took part in very few, strangely.)

We had a couple of days of just enjoying the weather and hanging on the beach, exploring the town of Playa del Carmen, doing a little shopping, etc. Our best resources turned out to be the random people we met waiting in line to make dinner reservations and in the shuttle on the way to town. Through them we learned of these little things called, "Collectivos". Collectivos are these white vans that run from Playa del Carmen up and down the highway to all the sites for about $2 each way. They were great and way better than the over-priced tours we were thinking about doing!

Thursday we took the collectivo down to Tulum and spent pretty much the whole day exploring the Mayan Ruins there and taking LOTS of pictures. It was pretty amazing. There's something just kind of awe-inspiring about seeing these ancient buildings set against the most beautiful blue sky and ocean. Gorgeous.

Really the only downfall to Tulum was the bathroom. Not the most advanced. Which really would've been OK if I hadn't ended up in a stall next to the grossest stall ever. I'm not entirely sure what was going on over there, but I do know there appeared to be puke all over the floor and the person had to be naked, because there was a pile of clothes laying in the before-mentioned puke. I actually mostly felt sorry for the person until they started pulling on their wet jeans and then I could barely keep my own breakfast down. Needless to say I got out of there as quickly as I could and spent pretty much the rest of the day anxious to get in the shower.

Then Friday we went over to Xel-Ha which is this ecological park nearby that has really great snorkeling. It's basically just this big bay area, so the water is calm and it's just teeming with fish. I really had never seen so many varieties and colors (well, maybe at an aquarium, but certainly not out in the water.) I really wish I would've had an underwater camera with me, but with past experience I've never found those pictures to come out that well anyway. I'll just have to rely on my memory. Closer to where the bay and ocean meet was where the big fish hang out. I'm generally not one to be overly scared of fish, but I must say, I felt a little intimidated. I'd certainly never been face-to-face with fish that size before. I didn't stay in that area very long.

Scott and I turned out to be very good travel companions and we had a really great time exploring. We got several questions about our "status" and had several funny remarks made to us. Probably the funniest was one of the hotel staff labeling us as "practicing" when we told her we were there as friends. Or maybe the guy in town who told us we were "living in sin."

I'd have to say the highlight of the whole trip though was when one rainy evening when we decided to go for a swim in the ocean. There's just something exhilarating about being in the ocean at dusk with rain pelting down on you. A few times the rain was coming down hard enough it actually hurt if you were above the surface. There were great body-surfing waves. Just a good time. And we encountered a very strange animal on the beach when we came out of the water. I'm not even sure how to describe it. The best I could do I guess is kind of woodchuck like, but not exactly. Still have no idea what it was, but it's always fun to stumble on an unidentifiable animal about 2 feet away from you. A magical evening. :-)

I must stop my trip down memory lane now and get back to the real world, but I'll get pictures up soon and maybe some other stories.

First things first

Moving day....

Went pretty well. 4 of my bestest buddies helped me move an amazing amount of stuff from my old place to my new place. It is truly amazing to me how much stuff I have. And honestly, I did get rid of a lot of the crap. The kitchen was probably the biggest surprise for me. I guess when you have several cabinets to fill you can do some serious damage.

The biggest annoyance of the day was that my old couch (yes, the one I bought about 6 months ago and love dearly) does not fit in the doorway of my new place. Yes, we tried everything. We took the door off its hinges, we measured windows, we tried just shoving it. All to no avail.

What does one do in this situation? Well, you unload it on one of your friends, of course. So now my couch is happily sitting in Norah, Andrea and Scott's apartment. Meanwhile I am couchless and looking fervently for a new one. I'm not sure I ever knew how integral a couch is to everyday living. It's just plain weird to not have one. And the animals just keep looking around like, what am I supposed to lounge on now? My plan is to get a futon, I think. At least I can be reasonably sure I can get that through my door.

And how big is this door, you may ask. Well, let me tell you. It's 29.5". What's a standard exterior door? 32", I believe. What's much more reasonable? 33"- 36". Crazy old buildings.

Anyway, outside of the couch debacle, the move was mostly filled with the normal aches and pains. Good friends who like to laugh make it MUCH more enjoyable.

Other highlights from the move include:

• How unbelievably dirty the new apartment was when I moved in. My property management company got an ear-full. I'm still cleaning as I go, but at least the major offenses are taken care of.
• My weird-o new neighbors who threatened to tow my car from a parking space that I hold a lease for. (This has since been figured out, but I'm still a little weary of these folks.)
• A mad search for a free-standing kitchen pantry so that I could actually house the majority of my kitchen stuff.

All of the boxes are now unpacked and aside from pictures and other wall-hangings, I am moved in. It's starting to feel much more like home. Once I get the couch and probably a kitchen cart or something to that effect to store a few more things and give me a little more counter space, I think it will be just fine.

I even made a small pot-roast last night. A place just isn't home until you've made a pot-roast there, right?

Waiting for the disconnect

So I'm sitting in the living room of my old apartment at the moment waiting for my internet to be turned off and enjoying the last few hours of having it.

Pathetic, I know. I'm reminded of the time that in my old position at work I had to shut down our public chat rooms because they were being abused. I had given all of our regular visitors notice that they would be turned off at a particular time and when I went in to shut it down there were all these people there saying things like,

"This is it. I can't believe they're really going to do this."

"What am I going to do without you guys?"

"Hang in there everyone. See you on the other side."

I'm not kidding. And I felt horrible (and kind of powerful) to shut it down. But I also was amazed by how attached all these people seemed.

I guess that's the point of this story. Once my internet is turned off at this place, I won't have easy access to it again until after I get back from Mexico. Just seems so odd. So I guess I'm going through a bit of premature withdrawal. And I'm feeling the need to get that one last blog in!

In other news, I moved some stuff over today - the big stuff will all go over tomorrow with the help of some of my super-fabulous friends. Meanwhile my gas has been turned off at this apartment and on at the other one and I'm trying to determine if the animals and I can make it through the night without heat or if we're going to have to relocate to the new apartment which doesn't have a bed yet. Hmmmm.

Irie will be heading over to boarding tomorrow morning for the entire week. I've never left her for this long before, and I've certainly never left her when I won't be in easy contact. I think my friends think I'm a little crazy for asking them to serve as emergency contacts and to check up on her, but it just seems so foreign to be out of touch.

Apparently I've become much to reliant on things like cell phones and internet. I'm actually looking very forward to the break, but there's still those nagging feelings.

Alright, back to packing/cleaning. Have a fabulous week everyone and I'm sure to have some great pictures from vacation when I next post!

Mav attack

Michael (aka Mr. Zero) recently requested a post about good ol' Maverick and what he's up to these days, so here goes.

Maverick has decided he LOVES Irie's crate. If Irie's not in there, you can pretty much guarantee Maverick is. I don't really blame him. It's got a very nice bed and has that enclosed feeling that Maverick likes.

A combination of weight-control food and running from the dog has helped Mav to lose a pound or two. He's still large by anyone's standards, but every little bit helps! And he's less interested in Irie's food, but I still have to make sure that I put up any of Irie's left-overs before I leave for the day or he will eat them.

Maverick has gotten a little more daring when it comes to el dogo. I try my hardest to keep Irie from attacking him, but when Maverick comes after Irie - there's little I can do. I find it pretty funny, but the yeowling that comes from it are pretty bad.

So that's the 4-1-1 on Mav at the moment.

One of my friends sent me a link to the following video. The cat has a remarkably similar look to Maverick. Check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ860P4iTaM

A bum deal

I normally don't blog about my butt, but I feel the need to today.

It starts about a week ago. I'm standing sideways in my closet, packing up some stuff on a low shelf and I crouch down to pick something up and somehow managed to sit down (very hard mind you) on the edge of my snow shovel spade. Punctured the skin and gave myself a nice little bruise.

Then last night I'm out bowling with some friends and somehow during the third game managed to pull my left glute. To the extent that I was pretty much limping for the rest of the night.

And the third strike... this morning I was going down to the basement to change my laundry over and I slipped on the steps again landing right on my bum. It was a pretty nasty hit and I now have an awesome black bruise that aligns perfectly with the edge of the step. Nice.

I'm hoping the 3rd times a charm and I won't be having any more incidents. All the muscle soreness is super nice as I go into the labor intensive moving process.

Mexico is going to be awesome after all this. Though I might be wearing jeans and long sleeved shirts to cover up all my bruises!

"No, no" you say "that isn't right."

So my trip to Baltimore started out with some extreme entertainment. I had been there no more than an hour when I got roped in to a crazy adventure. It involved the hill pictured above which may look like snow, but it's ice - trust me- and garbage cans. Basically Kathleen and I had our own rendition of extreme sports as we attempted to climb the hill of ice pulling garbage cans up to the road. I think all in all, I wiped Kathleen out twice and she took me down once. Fortunately the only casualty was an empty pamper's box that found it's new home down in the garden. Maybe it will be retrieved this spring.

Lily is the swiffer queen. She's not very effective, but extremely determined.

It's a little hard to see in this picture, but one of my favorite scenes of the weekend was watching Terra (far left), Lily (middle) and Kathleen (right) down on all fours peering under the couch looking for a lost ball. I wish there was sound, but it goes something like this:

Terra: Woof-woof
Lily: BAWLLLLL
Kathleen: Lily no pulling mommy's hair, Terra get off of me!

Ahhh, good times!

Other favorites from the weekend include:

When Lily wants you to read a book, she'll walk up to you until she's about a foot away and then turn around and back into you so she's lined up just right to sit in your lap. Cracks me up.

When Lily's reading "Moo Baa La La La" and it gets to the part where it says, "No, no you say, that isn't right. The pigs say oink all day and night." as soon as you get to the page she yells, "NO NO!" Cute. As an added plus, this phrase goes through my head constantly. Thanks, Carl. :-)

And, of course, all the words. I'm with Kathleen - the high-pitched little "meow" is my favorite. But a close second is definitely "Dog says woof-woof." Oh and maybe when she lifts up her shirt and says belly. Or when she'd repeatedly pull my shirt up to see my belly. They're all good really. I think the best part is how proud she looks when she knows she's right. Or when she's tired of telling you what the animals say and she gives you this look that just clearly says, "If you haven't learned what the kitty cat says by now, I can not help you." Such personality.

If you haven't checked it out yet, I recommend watching the video over at Pumpkin News. It's a little hard to hear everything, but you'll get the idea.

As always, it was a great weekend. How lucky am I. :-)

SNOW DAY!

Work called a snow day today. Yay! Irie and I have been having a good time romping around in the snow, playing inside and packing. Yes, packing. I cleaned out my closet, got rid of a bunch of clothes I never wear, packed up all my picture frames and one of my bookshelves. All in all, a very productive day!

Irie loves licking the snow. Some of the drifts are so high it's above her head! But she barrels through all the same.

"This is way better than being in my crate all day."

A snowy Chicago day.

How I spent my Saturday night....

After my bitter post about my neighbors I felt I needed to post some happy pictures, so here are some fun ones from my friend Beth's birthday party this weekend....

I think Scott is about to eat my face in this one.

Scott, me, one of Beth's other friends, and Allen with "the hat".

Group shot. Good times.

Beth and Mr. Cheese. Don't ask me why he's Mr. Cheese - he just was.

Washer woes

I've had it with my neighbors tonight. It's chilly and snowing, so of course the smoking in the hallway outside my door and the basement has started back up again. But the major annoyance tonight is actually over the laundry.

Monday is generally my only night at home, so I try to do laundry as soon as I get home Monday afternoons. Tonight I put my laundry in as planned and about 20 minutes later my neighbor across the hall knocked. Since they don't speak english (and I don't mean that as a snipe - just a fact), the only thing I really got was "laundry". I told her I have one more load after this one (holding up one finger to signify this.) Generally this annoys me a little anyway, because they always do this. Anytime I have laundry in it's like they immediately determine that they too have laundry to do. But whatever. But then, after I had put in the second (and last) load, they took my wet laundry out of the washer and put it in my basket so that they could put their laundry in the washer. Now, was my laundry done in the washer, yes, but clearly my first load was still in the dryer so there wasn't really anywhere for my second load to go. If they simply had things to wash and weren't going to use the dryer themselves, I could probably handle this. It would still seem a little annoying to me, but hey, I'd get over it. But, no, what really ticks me off is that they still use the dryer so they still have to wait until my second load is done. What makes this even more fun is that when they put my wet clothes in my basket, it leaves me no where to put the dry ones which results in a crazy acrobatic act of holding one load of laundry and loading the other. Why don't I just put the dry clothes somewhere else? Because her little hooligan kids and husband leave the place a disaster. I don't even like to walk down there, let alone put clean clothes anywhere.

I'm ready to move. If only it didn't involve actually packing and physically moving everything. But it does, so one of these days I'll have to break down and start packing. Fun.

Thankfully I'm off to Baltimore this weekend. Nothing like some Lily time to recharge the batteries! And they have their own washing machine....

Irie's eyes

Irie's latest ailment is a scratched left eyeball. I have no idea how she did it, but all day the left side of her face has been drenched from her eye watering and it's all puffy and swollen. Not the most attractive. I took her to the vet this afternoon and they did all kinds of cool things to figure out what was going on. The best was squirting some fluorescent green goo into her eye and then turning out the lights to see if there was a scratch. It worked amazingly well and has also left Irie oozing green eye goo. It would be a particularly cool effect for halloween. I'll have to remember it.

Anyway, now we're on a pain killer/eye ointment regiment. In theory it should resolve itself in a few days. It's so sad to look at her right now though. She just looks pathetic. When we got home from the vet tonight she jumped up on the couch and promptly fell asleep. Very un-Irie. I had to go give a presentation for work in the 'burbs so I had to wake her up and move her to her crate. Nothing sadder than putting a sad, sleepy dog in her crate. She just looks at you with those weepy eyes.... She seems in pretty good spirits now though. Second wind, I guess.

Making today better

The current temperature outside right now is -4 degrees (and it feels like -21). The high today is 5. Apparently this is the worst of it and we should get back into the teens tomorrow, but trust me when I say, IT'S COLD! So in light of the miserable weather, I thought I'd share with you some of my ideas on what would make my life better.

1) long underwear that have a foot hole (kind of like the old-school leg-warmers did) There's nothing better than long underwear that just don't quite cover your ankles....

2) one of those face masks that cover your entire face with just enough slits in them to allow you to breathe and see

3) a cleaning staff that does not close my office door over the weekend so that when I come in on Monday mornings it's like an ice-box in here

4) a litter-box trained dog

5) a device that could teleport me from the comfort of my living room to my office (or other location) without me ever having to step foot outside. (This would make most of the above obsolete, so if any of you out there have ideas, let me know.)

For as much complaining about the cold weather as I do, there are a few positives as well. The first and foremost being, I don't feel bad about sitting on the couch all weekend doing nothing because it's literally too cold to go outside. And the other would have to involve cuddling with my super sweet puppy who's always nice and warm.

Exactly one month from today I will be on a plane headed down to Mexico for a week. Current temperature there: 73 degrees with a high of 85. One more month....

In other news... the Bears lost. But, really, I'm happy for the Colts. Maybe I'm just not a true football fan (maybe nothing - I'm just not) and maybe I'm just older and not in the same crazy crowd that would've been nuts about going to the Super Bowl, or maybe it's just because it's too cold outside, but I really felt like the Bears going to the Super Bowl was nothing big. I mean, I remember the Bulls doing their 6-peat and the streets erupting in chaos. I remember the Cubs just making it to the playoffs and the entire city being insane. But the Bears... yeah, there was a little bit of hype, but just not that much. I kind of understood the lack of enthusiasm about the White Sox, but just seems a little odd with the Bears. Oh, well. Chicago sports.

My office is slowly returning to a temperature that will allow me to unbundle, so I should go get some work done. Hope everyone's surviving the weather - and for those of you in nice climates, well, you just suck. :-)

Gettin' it right

I am generally not a horoscope person, but for some reason today I happened across mine and felt it connected with how I'm feeling today. Thought I'd share....

"You may be feeling battle weary today as you tire of your old familiar games. Your current temperament might prevent you from laying low as you once again join the front lines in social engagement. Even if you have obligations now, remember that you are being presented with an opportunity to begin an important healing process. Don't distract yourself from the real work at hand."

I have had several of those "ah-ha" moments these past couple of weeks. I really enjoy those moments of clarity. They're almost euphoric - just wish I could hang on to the high a little longer! But I think I'm learning that if I spend a little more time exploring them they feel more concrete and tend to stick around longer.

But speaking of distractions from the real work at hand.... I must get back to work.

I know everyone's just dying to know

where I'm going on vacation, so here it is....

... the lovely Riviera Maya!

• 6 nights, 7 days
• all inclusive
• sunny, warm weather (I'm hoping!)
• water sports
• ruins

Ahhhh, I just can't wait!

Payton and Aunt Ingy

...as Sarah (Ches) likes to call me.

Just chillin' after his baptism. Check out the sock that's about to fall off.

And here's the little guy hanging with me as we watched the Bears make it to the Super Bowl.

Decision made

After several months of back and forth about the "to buy or to rent" decision, I put in an application for a new apartment yesterday.

Though I've looked at lots of condos to buy, none of them were really what I wanted and with feeling as indecisive as I am about how much longer I want to stay in Chicago and with the housing market the way it is... it just didn't feel like a good move.

That's not to say that if I found something that I just loved I wouldn't go for it. That's why renting in Chicago is kind of nice. You can almost always find someone to take over your lease.

Anyway, I've been consistently looking for places to rent for the last several weeks and really hadn't found anything - though I will admit my list of requirements were a little tricky.

But yesterday I saw a place that, while it's not perfect, hit just about everything I'm looking for. It's about the same size as my place now, just laid out a little differently. It has space for a dining table, is a 1st floor apartment in a house, has a fenced-in backyard, is 2 blocks to a dog park, has laundry in the building, and is in a very fun neighborhood which isn't too far from the train that takes me to work. Oh, and it has a parking spot included in the rent. All in all, I think it will be great!

I move in March 1st, so now comes the ultra fun task of packing up this place and getting ready to move. Good times.

Working like a dog

Outside of the weekends, I think Irie's favorite day of the week is Tuesday when I take her to work with me. She absolutely loves the office - I think mostly because it's arranged in a big circle so she can run at top speed around and around and around. But when I reign her in and put the baby gate up in my office door she settles for curling up at the edge of the desk and looking out the window. It's really pretty funny. Did I mention I'm very lucky to work somewhere where they not only allow dogs but actually encourage you to bring them? I am.

Irie keeping an eye on the street.

Why are you taking pictures of me? If you're not working - why aren't we playing?

It's a rough life.

Sometimes I just have to laugh

In a recent email at work, I received the following ps....

"ps what is a burning desire i thought it was for some one that really going away but than i heard it was for good things happening can you claify this for me"

Hummm. Apparently I consult on all kinds of things now.

Sigh.

Oh little destructive one

Irie is going through a bit of a destructive phase right now. I'm hoping it will be short lived, but so far we've lost a sheet, the cover of a book, and this morning the cord to a curling iron (not one I ever use, but still....)

The biggest issue seems to be if she gets bored at night. Apparently I've gotten pretty good at sleeping through her craziness. Giving her a rawhide when I first go to bed seems to help. Guess it keeps her occupied for long enough to get her tired. The curling iron was a first for just a random act of destruction. But I was in the shower so maybe it was just the closest thing to chomp on without having to leave the comfort of the bathroom. Who knows.

Anyway, here's a picture of her latest conquest. Really, how can you be mad at that face???

Ringing in the new year with a few resolutions

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone's 2007 is off to a good start. This past week has been a little rocky for me, but I'm bound and determined to start 2007 off right.

First a recap of last year's resolutions and the results...

• Get in 2.5 hours of workout time each week (Yup, I did this. Not every week, but for a vast majority of the year. And usually it was more than 2.5 hours, so I'll give myself full credit.)
• Spend time at the ocean (I spent a little time there. Not as much as I would've liked, but at least got a little in.)
• Visit a new place (I went to Portland, some of the Florida keys, Austin. There were probably others, but those are the ones that come to me right away.)
• Get MaverickÂ’s teeth cleaned (This is a bit of a cheap one, but I did do it.)
• Find a new doctor (I did this one too. I like her much better!)

2007 Resolutions

• Take a vacation. A real one. (Not that I don't enjoy visiting family - you know I love it, but I think I need to get back to taking a week to go somewhere new and exciting that is just something I want to do.)
• Find a new place to live. (Still in Chicago, but get into either a new apartment or condo.)
• Find a new p-doc. I've been putting this one off way too long.
• Put more effort into maintaining my old friendships while still building new ones.
• Break past my indecisive dating patterns
• Be nicer to myself, especially by reminding myself that I'm only human and not above the feelings we all experience

I'm sure there will be more as the year goes on, but it'll work for now.