Henry and I walked over to the gallery the other night to pick Trevor up from work, and while we waited for him to finish up, Henry appreciated some art.

Pictures and the Galapagos Islands!

We're getting all of the wedding pictures today, though anyone who's interested can check them out here:

http://www.collages.net

Enter: Laura and Trevor
password: 7097

Trevor and I can't wait to see them all, but these nice ones tided us over until we get the whole slew of them from our fabulous photographer. Also, Greg and Paula are currently wandering around the Galapagos Islands on their vacation, probably checking out the Blue Billed Boobie, or seals and stuff. Maybe they'll find a new species! While they're gone, I'm dog sitting for the girls, and last night we (Tequila and I) watched the X-Files in HDTV, which was pretty awesome. I'm going over there this morning to check on the dogs and Trevor's asked me to tape the Manchester United game that will be played this afternoon (or this evening, depending on how you look at it). That one will be even better to watch in HD than the X-Files. We'll be able to see their untied shoelaces and their sweaty hair flying in the wind (87% of the soccer players today need haircuts in a terrible way). It'll be pretty neat. Trevor also got me some excellent birthday presents, and he even let me open two of them before today! I got a great new functional cooking apron (the one I have is decorative, though just lovely), a tea thermos (so I can infuse tea and take it with me to school! I've been eyeing them for months now!) and one of my favorite current movies, Stranger Than Fiction. Henry got me a movie, too: The Host, which is a Korean horror movie about a mutated fish that attacks Seoul. It's pretty funny (a critic called it Little Miss Sunshine with a monster) and great to look at (Trevor and I saw it in the theater last year), so now we can watch it whenever we like! Trevor was worried that he and Henry had gotten me the same movie, but it was worry for nothing.

Well, I have some lesson plans to work on. I have my five hour class tonight (Trevor and I are going to meet friends out for a drink tomorrow night for post-birthday celebrations, and we're going out for food with a group of high school pals on my friend Lisa's b-day, Friday.) so my birthday will consist of teaching and drinking tea out of my new thermos. Not too bad, really! And my students might get out early tonight...
Adios,
Pooooooowwwwwerrrrrrrrrrr!

It's been a month since our last post, and it's due to one part procrastination and the other part post-wedding-reorganization. We've put away all of the gifts and written all of the thank-you notes (whew!), opened a joint checking account (wheeee!), I've changed my name everywhere except the Social Security office and on my passport (our honey-moon tickets are under Bork, so I wanted to make sure I'd be let back into the country after our trip...although, Spain wouldn't be a bad place to be stranded, really...), which is just weird. I'm not so keen on my new signature, but I've already signed it at the DMV and the bank, so I think it's fairly stuck. Some of my students are calling me "Bork-Power" because they think I sound cool. Don't they realize I'm pretty cool already? Guess not.

I've also been sort of a cooking fool, using all of our new kitchen-related wedding gifts. So far I've been baking mini-bundt cakes (brownies and banana cakes), hummus using our Cuisinart, casseroles using all of our new bakers, and our mixing bowls have seen everything from eggs for quiche (it's in the oven right now...we'll see how it turns out) to cream-cheese frosting dyed black for Halloween (and when we enjoyed the black-frosted pumpkin cupcakes during scary-movie-Monday with our friend Suzanne, it turned all of our lips and tongues black. Not the best look, though they tasted good, and we were too busy laughing at "I, Madman," and getting scared at "The Ring" to notice.). And I really don't know what I did before I got my wooden spoon with the little point at the end for scraping things. I didn't know that I had all of this cooking-excitement in me, but it's been pretty fun. Last night I baked a pumpkin pie (from mid-scratch--the shell was pre-made and the filling was canned, but I added eggs and milk!) and cut out "Eat Me!" and a ghost to bake into the top. It made me giggle. Trevor just thought I was a nerd. Like he's one to talk.

Also, we finally picked up the fabulous bookshelf Mr. John Power crafted for us months ago. He built it according to measurments we took and a design we came up with, and then we put off renting a truck to come bring the mammoth 300 lb. piece of furniture home. It's just purrrrfect and fits 85% of our books (we're going to enlist him to build a much smaller one to go under the window, though we'll probably wait a while before we spring the request on him...although he might read this, so that plan has failed.). I find myself just sitting and staring at it, smiling in a dazed sort of way. It makes the apartment look a lot bigger, too, because it's not as deep as the other shelves we had, and it goes nearly all the way to the ceiling (T.'s Vonnegut hardcovers, my Wodehouses, and my Salinger first editions are on the top). It's the greatest thing.

Martin Lawrence, our feisty jerk of a cat, has found a new home. Well, we found it for him, he really had nothing to do with the selection process. He really couldn't stand Henry (who constantly batted him around every time he was on the floor, the couch, the bed) and he took his angst out on us (our books, pictures, shoelaces, specifically). So a former co-worker of mine who was interested in getting a cat adopted him from us, and he's now the only pet again, and happily enjoying lounging around on the floor without fear of harassment. And we can leave our books on the table without fear they'll get gnawed to pieces. We can also have plants (Martin had developed a taste for my houseplants after Henry came along...he never liked them before.), so I'm growing a bean of some sort that I got as a "Thank-You" gift for pledging to Chicago Public Radio last year. The bean itself has "Chicago Public Radio" branded onto it, so the plant now has the logo, too, which is neat.

School is going really well for me. I'm applying for some adjunct positions at a couple of City Colleges of Chicago for the Spring, which, if I got some classes at the two Southside locations, would cut my commute by about 200-300 miles a week, depending on the schedule. I'm trying not to think about how nice it would be, though, in case it doesn't work out. (Ahhhh, the gas money we'd save...I'm picturing new shoes [for Trevor, too! And maybe even Henry!!]).

And Trevor is kicking some butt at the Gallery. He recently got a new computer and is using it for both home and work. He's getting a lot done at home (don't worry, we watch soccer games while he inputs artists' inventories) and is more organized for work. They've been selling a lot, which is great for everyone, and I helped him out at an event he worked a few weeks ago. It was a fundraiser for a youth organization, and after the night was through, I was completely astounded at the amount of work Trevor does. He'd worked a 7 hour workday, then a 6 hour event. The time on his feet alone must have been exhausting, not to mention the thinking, organizing, over-seeing, and managing he'd had to do. So, he's kind of my hero.

He's off to SOFA Chicago (a showcase of functional art at the Merchandise Mart) with his friend Dan (not Dan Segar, but another Dan. He calls him "tall Dan," or "double-D" so I don't get confused) and I've opted to stay here and grade the many, many papers I have to grade, and organize my lesson plans for the week. Don't worry, I'll also be listening to music, watching t.v., or eating leftover quiche.

We'll have more to come soon, and hope everyone has had a happy Halloweeeeeeen!

POWER (formerly bork-power)

p.s.
Here's Henry after a long day of doing nothing. What a life.

These five lovely ladies are my Columbia College, Missouri English Composition class. Our last class meeting was last night, so Maria, the gal on the right side of the picture, brought homemade tamales, hot chocolate, and a dessert that I can't remember the name of, but was deeeelicious! They've been so much fun to have in class--five ladies, once a week for five hours at a time, and they were teeerific. Lucky for me, some of them will be in my next eight week session, Comp. 2, that starts on the 22nd. Though I'll be glad to have a break for a couple of weeks from the five hours each Wednesday night.

More to come soon!
The POWERS!!!

TOUGH TEACHER

That's me! One of my adult students is a police officer, and she brought her vest and belt to class the other night for me to try on. Although the gear was heavy to hold, it all felt oddly comfortable once I put it on. A few weeks ago she'd come to class straight from work with her sidearm, and she let me look into the gun's magazine and hold the bullets. It's all very strange. And hopefully it will be my only taste of law enforcement that close to home (and to classs)!

I went with my friend Dr. Emily Anderson (she recently got her Ph.D. and I just can't help calling her "Dr." whenever possible) to Tatu Tattoo in Wicker Park to get my pre-wedding tattoo. Here's a photo of Eric, my artist (who was so proud of his work that he called each artist over to check it out, then took a picture of it for his portfolio), working on my ankle. Trevor and I are getting excited for this wedding business! And what better way to show that than body art?

We might not have too many posts until after the wedding, so until then, True Believers!
borkPOWER!

Trevor spotted this dress on Michigan Avenue while shoe-shopping with Dan (for the wedding--otherwise I don't think Trevor would be found doing much shoe-shopping). Although it's a sculpture, I'd still like to wear it. I'm hoping that it comes to life after midnight of a full moon and makes it to our neighborhood where I can wear it...

The season has gotten off to a rocky start, but I think our boys have it in them to keep the Premiership trophy at Old Trafford.

I've fallen in love with Beowulf. I didn't think it would happen--honestly. But for the past week I've been sucked into the whole Geat and Dane extravaganza. Yesterday I woke up with the whisper of 'Halfdane...Halfdane..." in my head and I couldn't get the word out. I've been teaching my first literature class (English lit. through the 18th century), so of course the epic poem is standard syllabus material. I was dreading reading it and teaching it, but it's been the best kind of gorey word-feast a horror fan like me could ask for! "Blood-slurrys" and loping Grendel and sea monsters and dragons and lots and lots of treasures. Awesome.

Here's to hoping that The Canturbury Tales is half as interesting...

It's been a while, and we've been busy! The first weekend in August, Trevor and I met up with Rachel and Letty, Sean and Angi, Neill, Fran, and Destiny, in Door County to visit Grandma and Grandpa Madel and Jim. The weather was great, and even though Trevor and I got up there later than everyone else, we still got in a solid day and a half of hanging out with the group. We went to the beach and enjoyed the sun and Lake Michigan waves with Henry (we discovered his amazing capabilities as a swimmer), ate some great meals, and went through some boxes in Jim's garage of Power and Coleman family heirlooms. Trevor and I came home with some of Maureen's old books (including a copy of Ethan Fromme she'd had in high school; it still had her class notes written in the back cover--so cool.) and other assorted treasures. All in all, it was excellent. Relaxing and good to catch up with everyone, and we listened to a great book on tape during the drive to and from (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime").






I've started classes at all three of my schools now, and I have a feeling I'm going to have a nice semester. One class only has five students--all women--and although it's a once-a-week class, five hours long (not an exaggeration), the ladies are really nice and excited to be there. I'm also teaching my first literature class: English Lit. through the 18th century. It includes Beowulf and The Canterbury Tales, Shakespeare, Marlowe, and Johnson. I'm over my head, but it's fun, and the students are miles different from my composition students. These lit students actually enjoy reading and are thrilled to talk about literature. It's marvelous!

And wedding plans are running smooth as can be, so we're getting geared up for that as well! Trevor's gallery is prepping the next show, and even though they're not officially open to the public, they've been selling art like mad! All is going well over there, too, and his decision to move makes us happier and happier each day.

Well, until next time, True Believers, stay cool and dry, and enjoy the last days of summer!
Bork-Power!

Henry and I hung out on the deck this afternoon. We're picking Trevor up in a couple of hours, and then we're heading up to Door County to meet up with the Power newlyweds, Rae and Letty, Neill and Fran, Jim, and Grandma and Grandpa Madel. We won't have too much time with the whole clan, but we plan on making the best of it all! Word on the street is that Jim has a new puppy, so we'll see how Henry feels about sharing Vader's attention.
More to come when we get back!

Well things are popping all over the place!

Trevor sold two big paintings this week, which is very exciting. Work is keeping him nice and busy, but not too busy. I got a call this morning from my department chair at McHenry County College offering me a literature class in the fall, which of course I snapped up! It's English literature up to the 18th century, so I'll have to quickly (very quickly) familiarize myself with Beowolf, Chaucer, and Shakespeare (though that won't be altogether too hard...) before August 21st. I'm thrilled to take on this challenge, and as long as I don't think about how much work it will be, I'll continue to be thrilled! Right now I'm avoiding the pile of portfolios and final papers from the summer's two classes, but I'll tackle that tomorrow morning...or Sunday afternoon...or Sunday evening...hmmmmmmmm.

Trevor, Sean, and Dan Segar have been nerding out over their video game systems and "Gears of War," which they can play on-line together and talk to each other over little headsets. Angi and I find this to be hi-larious and exemplifies what we love about our Power fellas, and I'm sure what Simona loves about Daniel. Nerds.

The wedding planning is coming together and things still need to be done, so Trevor and I are busy making lists and lists, and more lists. We do enjoy our lists. We're planning a trip to Door County next weekend, and Sean and Angi Power--the newlyweds--will be going, too, along with Neill and Fran, and Rachel and Letty (whoohoo!), so we're anticipating a wonderful time full of sun, drinks, more sun, and napping.

For now, Henry and I will go for a walk, perhaps to the video store to rent "Hot Fuzz," which can only aide in my portfolio grading. Seriously. Really, seriously. (HA!)

SEAN AND ANGELIQUE GET MARRIED AND DAD HAS A BIRTHDAY!

So, we've been long absent for no good reason, but while we've been gone, we've had some very fun things happen. Sean Power and Angelique Williams are the New Mr. and Mrs. Sean and Angelique Power! They got married on July 6th and it was just beautiful. Their ceremony was officiated by Lisa Williams, Angi's sister, and it was personal and wonderful and made the whole house cry. Unfortunately, neither Letty, Rachel, or I had brought any tissues, so we sat there shedding tears of joy and wiping our noses on our wrists. Ah, but it was worth it! They had a dinner of mini-cheeseburgers, mac&cheese to cry all over again for (in the very best tears-of-joy way), pizza, mini grilled cheeses, salad (yes, it was part of the healthy portion of the meal), and the best chocolate cupcake I've ever eaten for dessert. Yuuuum. The bride and groom looked beautiful, and they danced to Nina Simone and Angi and her dad danced to a version of Moon River recorded by her sister on the piano, which was great, and the rest of everyone did a lot of dancing, too. I shook a tail feather and it was pretty fun (and a little sweaty). I even got Trevor to dance with me between his photo-taking. Once he goes through the pictures he took, we'll have some up here for all to see!

In addition to their celebration, Mr. Gregory Bork, Sr. had a birthday yesterday, so he and my mom took Trevor, me, Greg Jr., and Paula out to dinner. It was delicious and we all ate too much, and Dad liked the grill and grill accessories we got him! It was very successful all around.

The above picture was taken last weekend after breakfast with Kate G. and her friend Meg at Rodan (deeeeelicious!). Kate and Meg had gone to the Pitchfork music festival, which we skipped, but they said it was a lot of fun, very hot, and quite crowded. Henry and I are hanging out today, doing to house cleaning, and I got a pedicure this morning. It was great and now my feet smell like strawberries! Henry's pretty excited about that.

That's all that's going on right now! Trevor's job is going really well; I've got about two weeks left of summer school, then a week off, then the fall semester begins! We're going to Door County the second weekend in August to meet up with Rachel and Letty, and Sean, Angi, Neill and Fran and Destiny will be going, too, which should be a lot of fun! More to come on that in a couple of weeks (I can't believe that summer's almost over...). Until then, True Believers!

borkPOWER!

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.