Trevor's gallery had an opening last night for four artists, so I took some photos of Trevor looking very professional and managerial, and Dan and Simona, who came to check out the gallery and the art. We think that Dan should get his portfolio together and show at Flatfile, so we'll keep hounding him until he does!

While poor Trevor worked yesterday, Lisa and I went to the Cubs game. They played the Padres, and although the Cubbies lost, it was a great game. There was a fist-fight in the 4th inning and one fella from each team was ejected (ours was Derek Lee, and the Padres was Chris Young, the pitcher, who is not only a hooligan, but he's 6'8" which is just plain silly for a baseball player.), Julia Louis Dreyfus (Elaine from Seinfeld) threw out the first pitch and sang the 7th Inning Stretch, and we had the most lovely seats: covered from both the sun and the brief sun shower in the 8th inning.
We stopped at Lisa's new condo (it's adorable and so nice and new!), then at Burger Baron for cheese fries, then home to relax. It was a terrific day.

I made us some pancakes for breakfast this morning, and this afternoon we're going to my parents' house to see my dad for Father's day. We got proofs back from our photoshoot with Mr. John Sturdy, and hopefully we'll have those scanned in soon!

Keep cool, True Believers!
borkPOWER!

TREVOR'S NEW JOB!

For those of you who don't know, Trevor got hired a few weeks ago to be the Associate Gallery Director (it's a working title; the owner/founder/director of the gallery may give him a fancier one once she realizes how fantastic he really is, although judging from their communications, she's already fairly aware) at FlatfileGalleries in River West. We're really excited that he'll be working directly with art, and using all of his marvelous client and creative skills. But I'm most excited because the owner, Susan, is known for her unbelievably fabulous clothes and her closet has been highlighted in newspapers. I'm hoping he'll be able to convince her to show it to me...maybe not his first week, though.).

Trevor had his first official new job duties tonight at the gallery, so I nagged him into letting me take a picture of him in his fancy clothes; doesn't he look dapper?

We'll have some more updates after his first full day tomorrow (and hopefully another photo of him in another fabulous outfit).

Until then,
borkpower

Well, we had a fun, if not slightly disappointing Saturday morning this past weekend. Trevor and I rode our bikes over to Fado's Irish pub down on Grand to watch the 9 a.m. Manchester United (yay!) vs. Chelsea (boooooo!) game for the FA Cup. Well, although we got there early, got a lovely table, ate a lovely breakfast of beans and toast and an egg scramble, and although we shared our table with a pleasant English couple and we were surrounded with spirited fans of both teams, our Man U. did not win. It was a tight game the entire way through and we had to go into extra periods. And although Trevor and I (and a lot of other Man. U. fans) will contest that we technically DID win the game when we scored in the first over-time period (the goal keeper ended up behind the goal line hugging the ball), the referees did not agree with us and stupid Chelsea ended up with the winning goal. I shall repeat the aforementioned, "booooo!"

But after the game, Trevor and I met my old roommate Jenn and her husband Jeremy out for a brunch (we ate quite well on Saturday) before they move to Holyoke, MA. Jeremy's going to start a tattooing apprenticeship, and we're already brainstorming about what he can do for us when we get out to visit them after they've settled. We said goodbye to them and headed home so that I could do a bit of cooking.



We spent Saturday night with Mr. Sean Power and Ms. Angelique Williams, the other bride and groom-to-be in the Power family. John and Fran threw them a couples shower, and we had a great time with Neill, Fran, and Destiny, the Walshes, and Fran's sister and brother-in-law. And, of course, Sean and Angi, who seemed to have a wonderful time! We all came back with loads of left-overs, and Angi unloaded an absolutely fabulous flourless chocolate cake she'd brought but never got opened. So Trevor and I get to reap the benefits of that party mistake!

On Sunday I had some gals over (Emily and Jeanette) to get crafty with knitting and paper marbling (Emily's project), but we mostly just hung around, chatted, and, of course, snacked.

It was a really nice and relaxing weekend. This coming weekend we're heading up to Madison, WI, to visit our friend Kate. We plan on doing a lot of hanging around, farmers-marketing, and watching Henry play with Kate's dog, Gill (he's pretty fabulous). I'm sure we'll have more pictures after the weekend, so until then...

BORK POWER!

Trevor and I did a lot of quasi-successful registering for the wedding this weekend. Both places we went to after dropping off the car for an oil change erroneously uploaded our scanned items, so I had to re-do all of the items on-line (although for one of our stores, I've got to go in person because a lot of the stuff we scanned isn't on their website.). But, we had fun and when we were through, we went shopping and Trevor got a foxy new telephone! He was too excited to use it, so we didn't get to photograph the proper "unboxing." Afterwards, we stopped by Pizzeria Uno for a beer and to visit Dan. It was all quite pleasant.

Enjoy the weather, true believers!

my bike ride to work...in two parts

birthday tattoo

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (November 11, 1922 -- April 11, 2007)

I woke up this morning, on my birthday, to hear from Laura that Kurt Vonnegut had died last night. He has been, for a long time, one of my favorite writers. The first book of his that I read was a hardcover copy of Jailbird that Sean had left behind when he moved to Slovenia. It was the first time I can remember becoming really excited by the way a story was crafted. I did not read another one of his novels until a few years later when I myself had moved away from the United States and was living in Manchester, England. While staying in a stranger's room, I found a copy of Player Piano, Vonnegut's first novel, and discovered that his truely unique voice was not just a fluke. Since then I have been reading and collecting his books whenever I came across them. He had not written a novel since Timequake in 1997, but at least while he was alive, I could hope that might write some more. No more. I have known a number of critics of Vonnegut's that have just viewed him as a hack, or just a sci-fi writer. I think they missed the messages in his stories. He was a humanist, and a constant proponent of the importance of humans need to live in extended families and support one another. We have lost the great optimistic pessimist.

To paraphrase Mr. Vonnegut:

Kurt Vonnegut, who once lived in my hometown Chicago, fell and hurt his head several weeks ago. He died last night. So it goes.

I recommend Cat's Cradle if you want to read one of his books.

celebrating easter at my pop's...and a shot of Destiny w/ some cake and milk.

These are from a Critical Mass ride I went on last friday with John, Dan, Simona, and Alan. Both pictures are from before the ride started, while people were congretating in Daley Plaza. The black bike is John's new fixie. I didn't take any pictures during the ride because it was really really cold, and I didn't want to crash from trying to ride and shoot at the same time.

Well, although I had a wonderful time today, going to a movie matinee at 1 p.m. on a Tuesday afternoon, I stuck myself with a real dog, "The Hills Have Eyes," part II, if you can believe that. I stopped at a great coffee shop to get some studying done before the movie, and I wasn't sure what was playing at the Western Avenue theater. They have a $5 feature and small popcorn day each Tuesday (though they've eliminated the free parking, so I had to pay $2 for that...), which was my reason for going there today. So after I finished some great coffee and cranberry scone at a cute place called Ipsento Coffee, I headed up Western to see what movies would be playing around noon. The pickin's were pretty slim, and the only 12:30 p.m. was of 300, which Trevor and I had seen (and loved!) a few weeks ago. So I decided to wait until the 1 p.m. of "The Hills Have Eyes, II" after eliminating "I Think I Love My Wife" (which got bad reviews) and something called "Pride" which I didn't know anything about.

So I waited for about forty minutes, eating my free popcorn and reading up on Writing Across the Curriculum. I even splurged on a wild cherry icee; they offered free refills but I didn't take them up on it. Although I hadn't seen the remake of "The Hills Have Eyes" which came out last year (or the year before?), I'd seen the original Wes Craven movie, which is quite good. I had the feeling that this wouldn't be much more than an over-the-top bloodbath, and I was right! Gratuitous gore, axe-wielding mutations, and a none-too-subtle political message that maybe war is sometimes necessary after all, makeshift bayonets and nuclear freaks aside.

But it stunk. Sewer-worth stink. The cast was nicely diverse, but the pretty blonde soldier still ended up in a tank-top after twenty minutes of the movie (though it could have been a mid-drift tank-top and it wasn't). It opened with a tortured and bound woman giving birth to a still-born mutated baby, and getting killed for it by the mutators who'd impregnated her. That tipped me off that I might be in for a doozy. Aside from a few good jump-in-your-seat startlers, it was wholly disappointing. The bad guys were just bad, though there was a token kind-soul mutation (though he was still a cannibal) who jumped in to help out the group, then disappeared. And if the remake was supposed to have "toned down" the original's rape scene (as rumor had it), this sequel sure tried hard to out-do it. And I just won't say anything more about that.

What I can say is that the script wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been; there weren't any awful comebacks or tough-guy throwaway lines, and there easily could have been a script full of them for a movie like this. And the nicely diverse cast was a plus, although the two black soldiers were killed (though they were both commanding officers) and the hot-headed Latino blew himself up, and we ended up with the blonde in a tank-top, the pacifist-turned-First-Blood, and the Latina rape victim (of course it wouldn't have been the blonde...). But I've seen worse movies, and I've even seen worse movies in the theater. At least this one is laughably bad.

The best thing about the movie wasn't the film itself, it was the audience. I guess that Tuesday afternoon is a likely draw for the over seventy set, but I was surprised to see a lot of grandparently types at a grind-house horror movie. As we all left the theater, I walked behind a seventy-something woman chuckling about the awfulness of the movie to a dapper fellow in a nice, blue-striped suit, french cuffs and cuff links, and sporting a wooden cane that I suspected might have been a tad more fashion accessory than necessity. He agreed that the film was a stinker (though he was much more elegant than that), then tottered off down Western Avenue.

All in all, it was a very pleasant morning and afternoon, and once I got home Henry and I beat the rain and got some quick fetching done at the park (without the police surveillance this time). More to come!

Bork Power!

SPRING BREAK 2007--PARTY ON!

Or, finish grading East-West final portfolios, turn in the quarter's grades, go to the library to get a new library card and a new book, ate lunch at the South Loop Club and drank a beer at 12:30 on a Monday afternoon, finished the book I started, started new book, went home, took Henry to the park, almost got busted by the mean old lady who calls the cops on unleashed dogs in the park, got a friendly warning from the policeman about the "woman who hates all pets," finished my new book, regreted that I'd only gotten one new book until remembering the books I still haven't read yet from Mr. Madel, greeted Trevor back from Monroe, WI where he checked out some new products from Swiss Colony (candle warmers, collapsable scarecrows, breakfast nooks, ornamental squirrels for your yard trees, and much, MUCH more!), and he described the home of the Freeport Pretzels (coolest high school ever, ever, ever), and am now currently debating what we'll have for dinner while watching CBS sitcoms.

It was a long day, and though it's my first official day of Spring Break since 2003 (and that was graduate school Spring Break, so it doesn't really count since I was still working 35 hours a week...), the craziest I'll be getting will be celebrating my friend Emily's dissertation defense on Thursday night (a bit of tapas and a bit more karoke). Whoooo!

More to come this week, as I take breaks from grading papers!

Henry and I had our first picnic of the season this afternoon. After this morning's rain, the weather got beautiful, so after our walk, Henry and I went up to the roofdeck to enjoy the sun. It was fabulous, if not a little windy. Hopefully we'll get to barbecue soon...

THIS IS NOT MY MAID OF HONOR'S DRESS...
...but this is my Maid of Honor! Isn't she pretty?

Wine update:

Here's our next bottle of wine, though my recollection of it will be a bit non-specific; not because of the wine's effects on me, but because we drank it this Friday/Saturday night, and it's currently Sunday afternoon and I'm having a time recalling what this particular wine was all about. And perhaps that says something about the wine.
I do recall that it was not bad; it was fairly light and had a bit of a bitter (or acidic?) aftertaste. It was mild except for that, and kind of bland. But not bad. Trevor doesn't recall much of the wine, either. I had some in the early evening when I started knitting a scarf for my mom (which I subsequently had to rip because I screwed up on the slips in the pattern I was working [paying more attention to the "Anthology" album by The Clean that I had dusted off and was listening to while Trevor hunted strange man-o-war type jelly monsters in his video game] but it turned out all right because the new version will be straight and longer than the original, which is always nice for a scarf.), and continued sipping through our viewing of "The Prestige" (a film we both quite enjoyed. My pre-teen crush on Christian Bale continues on nearly twenty years later, Trevor has a crush on Scarlett Johanson, and we both liked the magic tricks and plot twists). And although we spent a bit of time with the wine, it doesn't stand out at all.
So, there you have it. A bland wine with a nice label. I think we spent between $8.99 - $13.00 on it, and we've certainly had better for the price range.

In other news, we had brunch with my parents, brother, and sister-in-law this morning. On the menu from my mom were poached eggs with diced potatoes, mini jelly-filled pancakes (which looked like little flying saucers; there were adorable and delicious), sausage links, grapefruit halves, toast, and multi-fruit coffee cake. Quite delicous. We gabbed about our wedding plans, asked my dad to help us with our taxes, and had a generally lovely morning! Paula gave me a disc with the pictures from our meet-the-parents dinner in January, and I'll post them here this week.
Until then, drive safely, everyone, the weather is grotesque.

Bork Power

The prop books are Laura's favorite thing about the studio that I work at.

Wine, Wine, All the Time!

Trevor and I have decided to add a category to our general blog; Wine! We drink a bit of it and thought we might try to keep track of what we like (and what we don't), not only for your reading and tasting pleasure, but to serve our own memory as well. Since after all of that wine, our memory tends to get a little grapey...

So, what we're currently drinking is something we picked up this afternoon at Randolph Wine Cellars for $11.99. It's a Merlot, and although I'm usually not a fan of merlots, we decided to try it because 1. we liked the label (a current reason for our purchases) and 2. the wine man said it was a nice vineyard and they usually do their wines in small batches. The merlot was the only type they had in stock, so we snapped one up. And I'm glad we did; it's nice and tasty. From my untrained palatte, it's not very dry (so does that make it wet, or is there a more technical term I should be using?), kind of fruity (much like us!), and pretty mild (not smokey or tangy or anything.) It's a pretty light wine, which is nice, because we haven't yet eaten dinner. And there's not much of an after-taste, which means I've had to take three sips to write this review.

So, if any of this sounded appealing, go out and spend $11.99, and have some tasty wine! We have 2 more bottles from Randolph Wine Cellars, so we'll be updating this throughout the week (and, most likely, into the weekend).

In other news, Trevor's new camera came (check out the photos, aren't they nice?!), which is very exciting. Hopefully he'll be shutterbugging around the city for the next forever and we'll have lots and lots of pictures--good pictures--that haven't been taken by me (i.e. blurry, too close, poorly lit, etc.). Thank god.

Well, my glass is now empty, so I'm going to go get another sniff of wine. I'm meeting a high school girlfriend for a drink later tonight, so I'll save the rest of the bottle for Trevor.

Adios!
Bork Power!

photo taken with my new camera

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY, 2007!

So a year after I got a heart full of chocolate, I got a heart full of buttons of love! Trevor made me a set of 8 buttons: an "Aswang" button for the movie that prompted our very first conversation; an "a. boy loves you" and an oddball zombie fellow for his first secret Valentine to me (slipped between volumes one and two of the complete Sherlock Holmes); a "love, loved, lovers" button for my love of nouns; a "four square" button for the party theme of our first date; an aerial shot of the corner where we had our first smooch; an outline of Door County; and a button for the date of our wedding. It's the best present ever, and I don't want to take them off of his card, but I want to wear them. It might look odd to wear all eight at once, but I might not be able to resist.

We also got a photographer lined up for the wedding (check out her link!). She's a fabulous woman Trevor knows from school, and she's just what we wanted. It's all coming along...


I also got a new addition to my Sherman the Reading Robot tattoo. It's a small book that he's already read and set by his robot feet. As soon as it's done scabbing I'll post a photo.

We're going to have a nice cozy night tonight for V-day: some stuffed gnocchi, wine, candy for dessert, and the second episode of Lost. Low key, and fabulous.