This is fun for me

A couple of weeks ago, Mom and I went to the Container Store (it's so nice to have them in the city--we popped over to North and Clybourn for breakfast and then a bit of organizational shopping, and neither of us had to brave the highway!). Both of us got these plastic earring holders, and that evening, this is what I did:

I found that I had earrings I hadn't thought about in years! I re-discovered the first real pair of earrings my parents got for me (those little gold hearts on the top left), and I saw that I had more than enough yellow earrings, and that the blue feather earrings I got a couple of years ago aren't as spazzy-gaudy as I thought (or are they? I, of course, still probably have a biased view), and I might actually wear them in a non-costume sense. This took me about an hour, and after seeing Mom that week, she told me that she'd done the exact same thing with her organizer. Two peas in a pod, I tell ya'.

I forgot to blog last time about two very important things:

1. Mom and Dad Bork are now city dwellers!

I'm sure you got that from the statement I made earlier, but as I typed it I realized that I'd completely forgot to show you pictures from Moving Day (July 1). So here are a few that don't really showcase their new digs, but do show Mom putting the first things in her cupboards. Which is very exciting.

That last one is a little blurry, but blurry is just how we felt seven hours of unpacking and breaking down boxes. As I said, these photos don't do the space justice; the boxes are all gone now and you can enjoy the beautiful floors, windows, furniture, and view. More pictures will come next time I remember.

2. Two Fridays ago, my cousin Erica came down from Park Ridge to join me at Edelman Gallery's opening (T's new gallery, and if you haven't checked out their website, check it out! Now!). After snooping around their terrific new show and some other openings in the 'hood, Erica and I had dinner at Oggi and then I showed her our roof deck before escorting her home. Here are some shots from the roof:

Of course the second one is blurry because I'm not good at taking self-portraits, especially when there's someone else to focus on. But isn't she cute??!! Yes.

That's about it from our camp. Thursday is my last class for the summer semester, and I just have to read some revised student stories and then turn in their grades by next Friday. I've been busy the past couple of weeks getting together a mailing we're doing for Faculty Development to announce the faculty workshop in August. But that's going out (finally) this week, so now I can concentrate on other things. Like the next workshop in January! Ha!

I'll have about a week off in early August with little to do but read, watch horror movies, and hang out with Henry. I'm really looking forward to it, and will update you on my laziness with relish.

Until then...

BORK POWER!

Life is a bowl of cherries.

And a nice glass of wine, of course.

This posting will be light on text because I must get to sleep or I will fall over. But last weekend my friend Angie and I went to the Midwest Fabric and Folk Arts Fair. Yes, it sounds like a nerdfest. But it was fantastic. And this is what we did:

There will be a lengthier posting to come this weekend, but I'd like to leave you with this image of the boys:

Sleep well, everyone!

Surprise Presents!

My office-mate, Katrine, saw this apron over the weekend and thought of me. It's pretty fantastic. I wore it tonight to serve me and Trevor up some pizza slices (Henry looks distressed because he was not offered any pizza. I think he's considering eating my toes in retaliation.). Next time I'm having people over, I'll throw it on over something pretty (prettier than jeans) and french looking.

What's funny is that around the time Katrine was getting me this awesome apron, I was at P.O.S.H. (one of the greatest places to buy...anything in Chicago!), saw this little trinket hanging on the wall, and thought of her! She likes religious iconography, so this carved wooden cross covered in Mexican milagro charms is perfect for her (there are a couple of cats on this one, which is why she got it).

So we did a spontaneous gift exchange, which turned out to be fitting because she'll be moving into a single office down the hall at the end of the month (July, not June). They're sort of "good-bye for now, it's been nice rooming with you," presents. Either great minds think alike or eleven months is the time when the brains of two people who spend a lot of time in the same small space start to meld. Meeellldd. I guess it's best that she's getting out before we start dressing in identical sweater-sets.

Tomorrow morning, the elder Borks are FINALLY MOVING DOWNTOWN! Just as a reminder, this is what their condo looked like last July. I'll have pictures tomorrow afternoon of the "final" product. Though I doubt Mom will let me take too many until they've unpacked. They've been living in that fantastic hotel in the A.H. for three whole months, and I think it's safe to say that they're anxious to do a few things in their new home (make a pot of coffee, sit in a comfortable chair, use an oven, not have to eat a continental breakfast with 87 Alabaman tourists...). We'll let you know how they settle in.

It was a lovely weekend

The weather was finally cooperating with us, so we thoroughly enjoyed the weekend: a low-key Friday night, dinner with the Neenans and Fratinis on Saturday night before Jeremy N.'s (Julie Papadia's fiance) birthday party, Simona's Sunday afternoon baby shower (see photos below), pizza with Brenda and Derek who were visiting from Fargo for the AFSP Overnight walk (they had a great time and walked 20 miles like champs), then lunch with them this afternoon between laundry, homework, and Facebook futzing. Tonight I plan on sleeping like a log while the breezy evening flutters around outside our window. And I plan on falling to sleep while mentally putting together tomorrow's outfit. I'll let you know what I come up with...

Suburban Oddities

On Thursday evening I had dinner with my friend Jen in downtown Crystal Lake. I was a little early, and since I had never really explored the CL downtown area, I wandered a bit before going to the restaurant. And this is what I saw:

Weird, right? This shop was closed, but it looked like a thrift store/regular clothing store/fabric shop/junk shop. I really wanted to go in (morbid curiosity), so I might come back when I have an early afternoon sometime this summer.

My dinner with Jen was fantastic and we were so caught up with chatting that I had to run for my nine o'clock train (the next one wasn't until midnight). Thank goodness I was wearing sensible (but sequined) shoes, and I made it with seconds to spare.

The weather, as I'm sure you all have noticed, has been grotesquely hot this week. But on Wednesday I sat on the roof deck for about an hour (without melting, thank you very much!) and graded papers.

I managed to burn only one small portion of my body: my knees. Strange, right? I had doused myself in 45 strength sunblock, but I was using a clipboard as a hard surface for my papers, and I'm guessing the metal clip reflected the light directly onto my knees. So I had saucer-sized red spots on the center of each of my knees for about three days. They're gone, now. Just in time for me to go back on the roof!

We've got a really pleasant weekend planned. Tonight is dinner at West Town Tavern with friends and then a birthday party at the Five Star bar up the street. Sunday afternoon is Simona's baby shower (I went overboard yesterday with presents...) and then in the evening we get to have dinner with Brenda and Derek, who are in town for the AFSP Overnight walk. We haven't seen them in months, and I can't wait.

Don and Danielle Prabish are also walking tonight (20 miles through Chicago), so I'll be thinking of them and everyone else who is doing this for such a good cause. Part of me wishes I'd gotten myself together to do the walk again this year, but another (more convincing) part of me is happy to just donate, think good thoughts, and then snore the night away.

Have a good weekend, all. Enjoy the weather because it might be snowing on the Fourth of July!

Touristing

I've lately felt as though Trevor and I have been acting like tourists in our own city, and it's been pretty nice. Last weekend the two of us went to the MCA to see the Olafur Eliasson and Buckminster Fuller exhibits. They complimented each other perfectly and we could see Fuller's influence on Ellasson's time, light, and spacial experiments. Among so many of the cool pieces (a black room with a sprintzing misting rainbow of water, a hall of yellow light that turned everything black/gray and white, photographs, sculptures...) was this wall-o'-moss that's actually living and will change color slightly as the exhibit lives in the museum:

You can sort of see the colors already. Up close it looked like millions of millions of dried out dandelions. Really cool. (And no, we were not supposed to take this picture.)

We left the museum and got picked up and whisked down to Summit by Dan and Simona to eat at their favorite Lithuanian restaurant, Grand Duke's. I've never seen so many potatoes on one restaurant's menu before, and I've never put so many delicious potatoes into my belly. It was so good, and we were in a spud-stupor for the rest of the day. After dinner we went over to the deli portion of the restaurant and got some treats: cookies, Lithuanian thyme tea, beer, and Trevor got sprats. He hasn't tried them yet, though he says he will soon and he sounds excited about them. I have a feeling that they will sit in our cupboard until the next millennium.

We were supposed to go to Madison to say bon voyage to Kate (she's moving to North Carolina. Well, she's moved already, actually) before she left, but Henry decided to barfy, so we had to cut out the trip. But, I just look at it as an excellent opportunity to visit a state I've never been to before in the very near future. It's supposed to be pretty there, and since Kate's arrived, I'm sure it's even better looking.

This weekend was Fathers' Day, and we first went out to Yorkville Saturday night to hang with the Power clan. Almost the whole gang was there (missing our Floridians of course, who were apparently swimming in the ocean this weekend, those little sprats), sans Destiny who was then headed down for her summer mission trip to New Orleans. We ate good food, had good conversation, and then played many rounds of Catch Phrase, which was fantastically fun even though our team sunk like a brick.

On Sunday we went to the City Bork's for ribs and fixin's from Smoque, one of the joints visited this past winter by my Rib Supper Club (where my friend Angie said the brisket was the best she's had to-date). Greg and Paula got plates and plates of ribs, cornbread, mac-and-cheese, and corn-on-the-cob. There was cake and pie for dessert and then a nice Smoque-stupor for the rest of the day (we're quite fond of food-induced stupors). The girls were also in rare form, and Trevor was good enough to capture them:

And then when he was finished snapping, he got to pose:

When we got home, Henry was beside himself with confusion as to why he hadn't been invited to the party, especially since he'd gotten to hang out with Greg at the house on Thursday night when I kicked the boys out for my Bunco group to come over. But, he'll get over it, I'm sure, and hopefully he'll get to see Pepper very soon.

Today I finished up being a tourist by heading up to the Prime Outlet malls near Kenosha to meet my friends Kate and Jim and their fantastic kids for some shopping and lunch. I, of course, found many good things and bought most of them. Kate and Ella did very well, too, though Jim and Keenan spent a good portion of the shopping time walking around so Keenan could nap. It was, as usual, great to see them. And now you can, too!

And now, full of dinner and procrastinating reading student papers, I am blogging, doing laundry, and sipping the coldest water I could get out of the tap (I tried not to mention the weather until now. What happened to those beautiful days of early summer? Of 75 degree days with light breezes? Instead it's WHAP! right into August humidity.). But I'll go with the promise to report back here soon. Stay cool!

A Bittersweet Week

Our week began with the highest of anticipation and expectation. The Champions League game starring our Manchester United and Barcelona (also sort of our Barça) was on Wednesday, and, sadly, United did not win. However, if someone had to beat us, we're okay that it was them. They were certainly the better team on Wednesday and they absolutely deserved the title. We played bumpy the entire match and just never really pulled it together. Such is life. Hopefully we'll reclaim the title next season. As spectators, though, we did have a great time. Neill came in to join us, we picked up Dan and Mona, and we got prime bar real estate at the Globe for lunch, pints, and ninety minutes of tension.

On the 'sweet' end of it, Trevor and I went shopping on Thursday to get him some new work gear, and we were hugely successful. A great pair of boots, five pairs of pants, three new shirts, and socks (that I made T. buy because they're labeled with the days of the week. Just in case he forgets. Also they're super cute.). 

We trained out to the 'burbs that night for one of the last times to have dinner with Mom and Dad Bork at La Tasca. The food and wine were delicious, and the company was better. They're counting down the days, now, until they're in the new place. We're hoping by the mid-June we'll have some new photos of the big move-in.

We spent a chunk of the weekend zipping around on the bike, and thankfully so since the weather is supposed to be crumby tomorrow and Tuesday. We had drinks and snacks with the Segars last night at a new place, Rootstock, and we're certainly making plans to go back for more wine and cheeeeeeese. They have an entire six-cheese plate on the menu, but since Trevor and I had eaten just before meeting up with Dan and Simona, we weren't hungry for too much. Although the tiny samples of cheese we did have were terrific (served with prunes cooked in Earl Grey tea--the tastiest thing I had all night), the flatbread was mushroomy heaven, and the wine was refreshing. And the pièce de résistance was bacon-bit toffee. Yes, you heard me right. They had a "dessert" of chunks of toffee with bits of real bacon inside. Weird. I've yet to make up my mind about it. The toffee was soft--perhaps because of the extra fat in the bacon?--and I like my toffee crunchy. But it was sweet, and the salty bacon surprises were strangely tasty. Or just strange. I'm still thinking about it and will probably have to try it again next time, just to be sure. 

Today we drove down to Pilsen for lunch at Simone's, saw Dan, Russ, and Desiree, had a good meal, and then took the long way home to enjoy the weather. When we got home, we farted around for a while reading, and then I had to finally start the laundry (boo). We also watched Valkyrie this evening after dinner, and it wasn't as bad as I was anticipating it to be. Actually, it was quite interesting. After the movie, both Trevor and I said we'd sort of hoped that they would have changed the outcome so that the coup had been successful and history was changed. What a feel-good movie that would have been, right? Hitler assassinated by Tom Cruise! Wha-hoooo! Alas, they were true to basic principals of history and we got a pretty decent movie, if not a still feel bad history of Nazi Germany. But Tom Cruise wasn't overly Cruisian, which helped. And Eddie Izzard was in it, though not in drag.

And that's where we are now: about to turn in for the night. One more day before Trevor starts his new job, and we'll fill you in on that later in the week. Happy Monday, everyone!  

Summer Vacation for the Whole Family

Because we all know that Henry really needs a vacation, what with all of his playing, walking, napping, eating, and sleep-running (a pretty hilarious sight to see. If we had a video camera, you would all be watching him pant, whine, and "run" in his sleep right now. But since we don't, please just imagine it.). 

Trevor and I, though, are certainly enjoying the time off from work. I finished the semester at the end of the first week of May and don't start summer school until June 8th, but I was on campus a few days last week for a job search committee I'd volunteered to be a part of. We were interviewing for a new English Department faculty, and we found a super duper shining star. I hope she accepts the job, but we won't know that until mid-June. Trevor actually came with me to school on Thursday to put together a table we'd got at Ikea. I have the idea to rearrange my office because my officemate, Kat, will be moving into a single at the end of the summer. I'll be getting the new faculty hire as a new officemate, but it's a perfect opportunity to make the office a bit more efficient before she moves in. Trevor had to talk some sense into me, though; I wanted to rearrange immediately (you know when you get the yen to do something--get a haircut, alphabetize your books, redo your filing system--you've got to do it now, you know?), but he explained to me that moving big heavy bookcases and filing cabinets while they were, um, full, would be a lot harder to do than to wait and move them when they're empty. So, logic wins and I'll be waiting for Kat to clear out her clutter before I shift the room. Bah, logic.

Trevor found out last week that he starts his new job June 2nd, which means he still has one more full week of "vacation," although it's much nicer to be on vacation when you know that you're starting a new job in a week. So this week, after I go to work tomorrow for a few hours (meeting, schmeeting), we've got the whole week to frolic. And frolic we will. 

Wednesday is the Champions League Game, and our lads are playing against Barcelona. It's going to be an excellent game, though hard for us to watch since we do really like Barca (it is, after all, where we spent our honeymoon...). United is our team forever, but it'll be difficult to root against Barcelona--not nearly as much fun as it was rooting against Chelsea last year for the game (booooo Chelsea. You stink like rotten fish.). But it will be a great time because both John and Neill Power are coming into the city on Wednesday morning, and then the four of us are going up to the Globe to watch the game among the fans. Trevor and I had tried to watch last year's match there, but we didn't anticipate the crowds and got to the bar a bit late. We're making no such error this year, and we're going to be waiting on the sidewalk for them to open the doors. I'm so excited, and it'll be even more fun to watch it with more fellow Powers. Now if only Sean could get the day off, it would be perfect. (Hint: Sean, if you or Angi are reading this, take the day off.)

We've also got to take some time this week for clothes shopping (you don't need to twist my arm). Trevor's new gallery requires that he wear a step up from jeans and tee-shirts, which is fine (fun, actually!), but it means that we've got to get his wardrobe into shape. We'll most likely go on Thursday morning when the shops won't be too crowded. I'll make sure that we've eaten a nice breakfast, are wearing appropriate shopping shoes, and take time throughout the day to hydrate and snack to keep up our energy. And if he gets too tired, I'll send him home and continue on my own. These are the sacrifices I am willing to make for my husband.

On Thursday night, we'll go out to the suburbs to meet up with Mom and Dad Bork for some tapas dinner. They won't need to be in the 'burbs for much longer; they got word last week that their new crib will be ready in a couple weeks. Mom saw it and said that the tiles are up and the powder room is finished, and that the painters told her that it's their favorite unit in the building. I'm certainly not surprised, but it makes me even more excited to see it! 

Although we're not doing much on this rainy Memorial Day, we were able to see our friend Kate yesterday for the morning and afternoon. In three weeks, she's moving to North Carolina (from Madison, WI), so we won't get the chance to see her for a while. We had a tasty brunch with her, her friends Bari, Meg, and Ross, and then Trevor, Kate, Bari, and I headed down to Pilsen to visit Dan

and drink some bloody mary's, and this delicious melon drink he fixed up for me:

Yes, that is a Dum-Dum lollipop in that drink. It was delicious and I'll have to remember it for the next sunny afternoon we spend hanging around.

Because of the nice weather, Trevor was able to spend most of the weekend on his bike, and I was along for the ride. We went from Belmont and Elston, down to 18th street (not all in the same trip), and it felt so nice to be breezing around the city. Hopefully this week will afford us more good riding weather. Though the current picture from the window doesn't look too promising. 

But we'll keep you up to date. Hope you are all having a nice Memorial Day and thinking about all of your veterans (thank you Grandpas Bork and Bosco and Madel!).

Success!

We had some nice successes last week. First, Trevor got a new job! Flatfile Galleries closes at the end of this week, and he's already got another gig lined up as the Associate Director of Catherine Edelman Gallery, a very well established (over 20 years) all-photography gallery in River North. He'll most likely have a few weeks off, and we've got some super fun things planned: a visit to the dentist, a bathroom fix up (finally after the water leakage from upstairs over the holidays, we're getting a contractor in to fix the walls, the tile, and give us a new paint job!), and dog-sitting for the Borks. We're going to try to fit in a trip up to Door County, too, and I think we can just about squeeze it in.

MCC organized and hosted a writing competition for our eight-college conference, and it came to a close at a festival on campus last Thursday. Apparently the college (which shall go unnamed) originally slated to host this year's festivities is under such disastrous organization that they had to forfeit their turn, so Talia--the events coordinator at MCC--and I got "asked" to do it late in the Fall semester. So...we did! The two of us put our butts to the grindstone and cranked out quite a fun little party. Three of the twelve winners and runners-up came from MCC and two of those three are my creative writing students (and the work they won for they'd written for my class!), so of course I was the proudest of the proud. Here are some of the photos from the event. 

And now that it's all over (thank God), I only have to deal with the end of the semester. This is the last week of the semester, then finals week where all I'll do is grade, grade, grade, and then I'm done! I'll have a few weeks off with Trevor (dentist, bathroom, etc.) and then I'm teaching a section of Creative Writing again over the summer. I'm excited to be doing it right after this class; I've been able to tweak the syllabus and fix some of the kinks. I was also just appointed as Co-Chair of Faculty Development, so I'll be busy all summer organizing our big Fall faculty workshop and rest of the year's curriculum for our sixteen new faculty. Yahoo! But getting the new gig means that I'll be able to drop one class, so I'll have a lot lighter teaching load, which makes a huge difference.

The students from this semester's Creative Writing class are so sad to see the class come to an end (that's not ironic) that they talked to me after Thursday's festival about starting a writing workshop student club on campus. I'd actually been playing with the idea for a few weeks before they brought it up, so naturally I accused them of reading my mind. Those sneaks. I'm really excited about it and know that they'll do a better job of organizing this club than my Science-Fiction club guys (by the by, Sci-Fi club is no more. They decided to disband. Ah. Fickle pickles.). But this club is much more up my alley anyway, so I'm really looking forward to it. 

I might not write again until May 8th (when grades are due), or I'll write every day lamenting the stacks upon stacks of papers I have to get through in four days. We'll see.

Our new parking spot!

Mom Makes The Times!

I know she won't be thrilled that I put this picture up here, but read this article! Or at least read the title, the caption, and the first few paragraphs. Doesn't she look so cute and worried? She told us about it tonight, and I already had a few of my friends on FaceBook posting questions about it. I just wish she'd been in the news for winning a Greatest Librarian in the World award instead of this sad stuff.

Anyway, enjoy, and tomorrow is Friday!

Lights Out

Trevor and I took part in Earth Hour last night at 8:30 p.m. CST by turning out all of the lights and not using our electronic appliances. We spent the hour playing a game of Rummikub (thanks Kate G., for introducing it to us last summer!) by candlelight. Trevor beat me, but I challenged him tonight and won, so I think we're even. 

I start class again tomorrow, and I am, as usual, underprepared. I've done a bunch of work over the break, but it's never enough and I always spend more time doing things around the house (today it was laundry, cooking dinner, and playing Rummikub) than I spend doing my lesson plans and prep. But I guess that's what the train ride in tomorrow is for, right?

And I'm sure you all noticed the SNOW today! We looked out the window this morning to what looked like a couple of inches, and it continued to snow for the remainder of the morning and a bit of the afternoon. Luckily it all seems to have melted--or have been washed away by the slushy rain--by now, so I might not have to break out my snow boots tomorrow. We'll have to see. 

Well, before I turn in for the night, I should get a bit more work done, so have a cozy night, all.

It's Spring--Can't you feel it?!

Spring break is coming to an end, and I haven't done too much of anything. I spent most of the break sick, and then recovering from being sick. I got what seems to have been a minor dose of pink eye (gross, I know), and though I have finally gotten my voice back (my students will be thrilled on Monday when I no longer sound like a frog woman), I have that cough that follows a cold and always lingers for weeks beyond when you should be all better. 

But, I got a bit of work done, and Trevor and I discovered and enjoyed Battlestar Galactica--one of the greatest television shows in this known universe. On the few days I did venture out of the house--on the really nice, sunny days, I went to a new pie shop in the neighborhood, Hoosier Mama Pie Company (adorable, right?), and down to After Words (my old bookstore stomping grounds) to visit my friends Angie and J.C., spread some birthday magic for Angie, and pick up a few absolutely necessary Agatha Christies (two Poirot paperbacks I haven't read, and a hardcover of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd [one of the most famous mysteries ever, and one of her best. Also the reason I solved Three Act Tragedy by the fourth chapter (that's right--I solved it!)] in great condition). 

I also got to spend some time with Destiny, who's also on Spring Break and who'd just returned on Thursday morning from Florida with Neill and Fran, Fran's sister and her daughter. It sounds like they had a great trip: the weather was beautiful, they got to see Rae and Letty at the beach, and they went to Busch Gardens. She and I ate some pizza on Thursday night and then watched Twilight (we heart Edward). Luckily Trevor was working an event at the gallery and only had to endure the last ten or so minutes of the movie, and then he and Dest got to play X-Box (must more to his liking). On Friday, Dest and I went to see Coraline at the old Logan Theatre, and we both quite enjoyed the movie and loaded up on popcorn and Reese's Pieces. I dropped her off at a Metra station very close to our place but that I didn't even know existed, and then headed home where Trevor and I started Season 2.5 of Battlestar Galactica. Did I mention that BG is one of the greatest t.v. shows ever? It is. 

Yesterday was the last day that T.'s gallery was open to the public. Today they started the process of taking down the current show and cleaning up and sending out the rest of the artists' work that they've been storing. He's been working at Flatfile for two years, and it'll be strange when the business itself is no longer in that space. It's been a nice two years, though, and he's moving on to different things, which is always an adventure.

In other news, we've discovered that Henry won't eat lettuce. A piece of lettuce had fallen on the floor a few days ago when I was making dinner, and we decided to let him have it. He mouthed it around for a while, and about five minutes later, we found that it was still on the floor, uneaten. Tonight again, a piece must have fallen off one of our salad bowls while we ate dinner and sat on the couch watching World Cup qualifying soccer (Portugal v. Sweden), and Trevor discovered it moments ago, sitting untouched next to Henry's bed. At least we know now the one thing he's picky about. Not sticks. Not dirt. Not yarn. Not plastic. Not rubber. Not even glass. But lettuce. What an odd fellow he is. 

The Borks are still packing up and readying to move out the second week of April. Next weekend, Trevor, I, Greg, and Paula are going to the house to plunder the house of some furniture and go through the remaining bits of nostalgia from our childhood that Mom has still kept in the basement. I think my cheerleading jacket is in there, and I'll be sure to take a picture of you all to show off how many patches and pins I had. 

Well, the Portugal game is almost over, and we still have quite a bit of BG Season 2.5 left to watch, and we still have 1/4 of a pear-apple pie to eat for dessert, so I'll leave you to your watering mouths and a picture of a sad Spider-Man I saw a few weeks ago:

Let's hope that tomorrow, the last day of my Spring Break (emphasis on the SPRING), doesn't turn into the disgustingly snowy Sunday the news has been promising. Stay warm and dry!

It's been a while, I know...

And we'll have more to report, but for now, I'm just checking in. I've been sick all weekend with the gross flu that is apparently going around school and the rest of the state. The achiness has dissipated and the illness is just a hacking cough. Lovely, I know. Trevor's had to deal with it all night long now. But he hasn't gotten sick yet, which is excellent, and I hope to keep it that way!

A couple of weeks ago, John and Fran Power came over to help us put in a new bathroom sink, and they really spruced the place up. Of course we have yet to paint , but it looks so much better already, don't you think?

The light fixture is new as well, and the shower head, which you can't see. Of course, the Swamp Thing and Gumby do their own hard work to fancify the bathroom, but a coat of glossy off-white paint will do wonders. We're going to have the insurance contractors take care of that once they fix the water damaged wall (they've got to rip out the wall and most of the tiles. Ugh, ugh a-lugh). But I'm sure once it's finished, it'll be glorious. Cross your fingers.

Our neighbor, Sarah (lovely woman whose wall I drove through...), finally had her own unit fixed up after the flood of water, and it looks gorgeous. Black marble subway tiles in the bathroom shower, nubbly green granite counters in the kitchen and bathroom, and brand new shiny blonde wood floors. Really nice. 

Mom and Dad Bork will be moving at the beginning of April, so they're in the middle of packing and tossing things, and we'll be going through what's left of my childhood junk next week. And, speaking of next week, it's Spring Break! Yahoo! No plans for a trip to Cancun or Padre Island or anything, but a nice relaxing few days reading papers (or taking naps and reading mystery novels) will be just what the doctor ordered.

Hopefully we'll check in again before then. Lots of St. Patty's Day Love--Bork Power!

Phew.

The Borks sold their house in the suburbs, and they're officially moving to the city in April (or early May...)! A lovely young engaged couple is buying it as their first house, so I picture it filled with tiny kids (tiny only as long as they're kids...they'll grow, of course) within a few years. It's a nice picture. 

And of course we're thrilled to soon be joined by the Borks! The New City Borks. Trevor has offered them our couch for a while because the new condo won't be exactly ready when they are. I think they'll accept the offer, especially when they realize that they could be licked awake in the face each morning by Henry. Who wouldn't be interested in that?!

There's also some family tattoo news--and it's not ours! Rachel and Letty got some really nice work done last week, and although they said they think it hurt more this second time around, looking at the pictures alone makes me know it was worth it. Check it out:

Rachel's is the Celtic rose knot (her second piece), and Letty got an addition in honor of her sister Carmen, who recently passed away, to the fire sign piece she got last year. They both look kind of amazing.

This Friday is the near-monthly meeting of my Ribs Supper Club with my fellow rib loving friends J.C. and Angie--we're going to Fat Willie's Barbecue. I'm sure I'll have some tasty reporting to do about that, so until then, goooooooo ribs!

School makes the news again...

...and this time, it's not because of me! One of our Political Science teachers gave a lecture last night, and apparently it caused a bit of a ruckus as school. Here's the article. He's a pretty cool cucumber and it sounds like he took it all in stride, though I wish I'd been there to see it myself. 

A couple weeks ago, one of my students asked if I'd be the faculty advisor for a new club he wanted to start: The Science Fiction Club. That's right. The Science Fiction Club. It's a club for Sci-Fi fanatics to get together and talk about robots, aliens, space travel, time travel...Doesn't it sound like heaven? Yes it does! We only had three people at the first meeting on Tuesday, but I think the word didn't get out and around school enough; I'm going to spruce up the flyer and plaster it over every inch of campus next week, and I have a feeling we'll attract more nerds. I mean geeks. I mean super cool people just like me. I can't wait until we cover the X-Files!

Russ and Desiree's new bar, Simone's, opened this week, and Trevor, Simona, and I went to the soft opening on Tuesday night. We ran into Greg and Paula, and Audrey, who I hadn't seen since the wedding. We had a great time and ate some really tasty food (portabello fries and a slice of tres leches cake were the highlights for me--not on the same plate of course). Wednesday night was Bunco night with the girls, and I lost $20, but had a great time with everyone. It was the most friend-packed week I've had in a while, though next week, I'm having another dinner with the gals, and the Rib Supper Club at Fat Willie's on Friday, so I'll have to rest up this weekend.

For Valentine's Day, we're getting a new washer and dryer--it's getting delivered tomorrow, and I'm already mentally sorting the laundry. I am also hoping that Trevor will get me some candy. (Trevor, hint hint) So Happy Valentine's Day, all, and we'll have more to come soon.

Resident Eeeeeee-vil

The title of this particular blog entry, though only barely tangentially relevant to its contents, is more of an eye-catcher than, say, "While I sit on the couch on a Sunday night." Trevor is seated beside me, and he's playing the demo of the Resident Evil video game (Can we still call them video games? These slick and shiny, bloody and gory fantasies?). And while I watch him fight overly animated zombies, I find myself asking a very important question, which was not originally intended to be the focus of this entry (see where Resident Evil gets me?):

When was the last time you saw a fat zombie?

My creative writing class got on this topic during Wednesday's class workshop. One of the students used the phrase "zombie-like skin" to describe a chubby woman in a painting, and some of the readers/students had issue with the correlation between a zombie and chubbiness. And of course, being interested in zombies myself, I actually let them talk about this for a few minutes.

We don't see many overweight zombies, which is odd, and frankly, a misrepresentation of the human population. Since zombies rise from the grave (due to various reasons and according to various philosophies), there should be quite a number of heavy, thin, short, tall, male, female, old, young, one-legged, four-fingered zombies. Right? Once they're out of their graves, ambling around and picking off humans as fast as their zombie-legs can carry them, the white and gray matter of the brain might not be super nourishing, but do you know how long it would take a zombie to lose weight? Well, I don't really have an answer to that question, but I'd imagine much longer than it takes the average zombie survival team (gang of misfits fighting to survive the zombie apocalypse) to kill those zombies. So, why don't we see more size diversity in our undead?

Sooo, now let's talk about Macbeth. From zombies to Shakespeare...it makes complete sense. My friend Angie and I went to Chicago Shakespeare Theater for The Scottish Play. Both of us worked there for a while, but neither of us has been there in years, so we were excited to see both the show as well as the theater itself. We recognized a few familiar faces and had a beer in the pub before we took in the show, which was above average. As was expected, the production was superb and the acting was solid. There were a number of artistic choices that I really could have lived without (Mike Nussbaum was one of the 'weird sisters,' and I really [and I mean really] could have done without seeing him, all 85 years of him, dressed in S&M bondage gear. He was a great porter, though.), and I frankly preferred the performance of Ben Carlson, who did the Short Shakespeare! version and the last Macb. production I saw. This Thane of Cawdor was fine, but I want better than fine. The "Tomorrow," soliloquy was okay, but other than that speech, he yelled a lot. The fight choreography was great, though, and the set was super fun. The whole night was a huge hit for me and Angie, just getting to the theater again. Twelfth Night is playing in the spring, and we're going to go again, this time with Trevor.  

So it's now way passed my bedtime, and I want to finish my Agatha Christie novel tonight, so I'm off like an itchy pair of socks. Until next time, true believers!

Cheeseburger in Paradise

I ate dinner tonight with a girl I went to junior high school with. It's the lovely part of Facebook: you reconnect with people you haven't talked to in sixteen years. And then you think about the fact that you were sixteen years old fifteen years ago, just a hair younger than the students you're currently teaching. And then you feel kind of old. 

But, dinner was fun. Jen (formerly Jenni) and I met at a restaurant in Algonquin, which is close to her house and on my way home from school, called Cheeseburger in Paradise. As you might have guessed, it's a beachy Jimmy Buffety themed place that specializes in burgers (though the menu was quite extensive). They also had fried pickles. I'll repeat that. They also had fried pickles. Of course, Jen and I couldn't resist ordering them, and we were pleasantly surprised at their deliciousness. I mean, they were really, really good. The burgers were good, too, and the coleslaw had golden raisins (!yahoo!), which is a major turn-off for some, but it's high up on my list of coleslaw "do's" so I was thrilled. 

In addition to the food, Jen and I got to catch up, which was so nice. I don't keep in touch with anyone from the "olden days" (as my students would call the Eighties. I'm not kidding.), so we swapped some stories and then she filled me in on what's been going on so far this decade. She's married, teaching high school English at Maine West (West is Best!), and raising a little boy named Nate (whose picture I've seen--he's a totally adorable peanut head.). She lives in one of the towns I drive through on my way to work (one of a dozen), so we're planning to get together frequently. 

And that was the night. I'm currently writing this to put off doing a lesson plan on writing poetry, and I should probably finish it up so I'm prepared for tomorrow afternoon's class. Poetry is something that still confounds me, and I'm finding it a bit difficult to teach. Fiction, no problem. Creative non-fiction, super. Poetry. Huhflawwh? Before the semester started, I went through a few of my old poetry journals to get inspired, but it only made me realize what kind of themes I'd be likely to see from my own college freshmen: parties, broken hearts, teenage angst, post-teenage angst (totally like, much deeper than, like, regular teenage angst), sneakers, and sex (wanting it, not getting it). I'm hoping that this first assignment my students wrote, using any piece of art from campus that they choose, will elicit more interesting fare. 

So, here's to hope! Have a good night, true believers.  

School Days Are Here Again

And I've just survived fifteen of them! The third week of Spring semester is over, and so far the term is off to a nice start. My Creative Writing class is even better than I'd hoped for. The students are all writing workshop nubies, but they've had two rounds of workshopping their classmates' work, and they've been terrific--they've given insightful and respectful criticisms and compliments. I'm so proud of them. And, as a little personal perk and ego boost, one of my students in that class was in the Comp 2 class with my crazy religious student, and in front of Creative Writing class on the second day, she brought up that she'd noticed my new syllabus statement (warning students about potentially sensitive material). My returning student went a little crazy (good crazy) about how irritated and angry she was at the newspaper article, and how it didn't have all of the facts and that the student was untruthful about the final exam only being on the 'offensive' book. Of course, I knew that the article wasn't accurate, but it was so satisfying that my student not only felt the same way, but brought it up in class. My students had a brief discussion about academic freedom, and my returning student made a comment about what a good teacher I was, at which time I cut off the discussion to get into the lesson plan before my ego inflated too big to fit in the room. It was such a great way to start off the semester. 

My other classes are going well, too. I've got two Comp 1 classes and two Intro classes, so it's quite a good balance. I've been busy with plans for a writing festival the college is hosting in April (a festival that I'm planning. I was not aware we were hosting it when I volunteered to "help out."). And I'm the literary representative this year for our lit magazine, which is shaping up to be a lot of fun, though it, too, will be a lot of work. The designer wants the magazine to be round (in shape. Yes, I know. It's a book.). I'm a bit worried about the logistics of that, but we'll work it out. Hopefully she'll realize how expensive the printing of a round book will be and we won't be able to do it. Or, if we do, it won't be as odd as I'm imagining it as. 

Trevor's keeping busy at the gallery, getting the word out about the August switch-over to an event rental-only space, and he's having quite a bit of reward so far. Also, quite a few cookies! The Limelight Catering folks were over for a tour of the space last week, and they brought him a box FULL of delicious cookies. If you guys remember, Limelight catered our wedding, and we still remember how goo-hooo-hood the food was. One of the girls in the tour group was actually at our wedding (she remembered the books), and Trevor told them how frequently we refer them to other people. And, needless to say, the cookies were a hugely welcomed treat. There were these bar cookies with a peanut butter base and a jelly like substance on top, and my GOD were they tasty. And of course, there were ginger snaps, chocolate chippers, oatmeal raisin, shortbread hearts dipped in chocolate, pistachio biscotti, and some others I can't remember. There are still a few left, but there won't be for much longer. 

Tomorrow we're going to a Superbowl party at Greg and Paula's, and although we don't really have a team affiliation, we plan to eat a lot of junk food and yell a lot at the television about touchdowns and field goals and holding. Now that's some serious fun. 

Speaking of football, our football team, Manchester United, is first in the English Premiere League, and our goalkeeper has gone almost eighteen game hours without giving up a goal, which is a record. AND he's thirty-eight years old, which is also kind of a record. And he's just plain fantastic.

I have a lot of papers to grade tomorrow, and a bunch of other work, but I think I'll spend at least a bit of time drinking coffee and watching Barcelona whip some other Spanish league team into shape. So goooo Steelers! or gooooo Cardinals! Gooooo snack foods!! 

This won't scratch the surface...

...but here's a mini-update before I turn in for the night, so you can whet your appetites for the longer version to come tomorrow. 

Trevor and I had a holiday extravaganza starting the night before Christmas Eve. We went to Greg and Paula's for what was supposed to be a Bork and Nichols pre-holiday feast. Mother Nature didn't like the idea, however, because she tossed down what seemed like 18 feet of snow and 85 mph gusts of wind down on Chicagoland. The future city Borks, still doing the suburban thing, couldn't make it to the current city Bork's, but Trevor and I and the Nichols muscled our way to Humboldt Park for some delicious food and festivities. Henry came with us and had a marvelous time playing with Pepper and driving Tequila and Peanut crazy. The future city Borks were sorely missed. 

Christmas Eve was at the Bosco's, and although there wasn't any snow, it was cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey (yes, I said it!). We opened presents, ate good food at a very long table, and had an all around good time. 

Christmas Day was spent at the future city Bork's current suburban location (Dare I say the last party there? I dare!). The food was excellent, start to finish, and the mood was perfectly post-Christmas Eve low-key. Or as low-key as the Borks, Boscos, and Buxes can get when they're all in the same house (i.e. it was very loud and not at all low-key. we had a great time). The cousins resurrected (or brought back from hiatus?) our Christmas Day movie tradition to see Marley and Me, a super tearjerker that, as Trevor put so well, was a bit too true to life (a study of how a married couple can truly be unhappy at nearly every step of their lives together while still being in love). It's not exactly the "feel good movie of the year," as some of the ads were claiming, and it's definitely one that many people we know should avoid (Anyone who's ever owned a dog, met a dog, or seen a dog on t.v. Anyone who's ever had a baby, thought about having a baby, met a baby, thought about meeting a baby, or seen a baby on t.v.). 

The day after Christmas was spent doing a bit of shopping and prepping for a get-together with the Power clan at our house on Saturday. The evening, though, was spent at the River Forest Madel's house with the Power Brothers, spouses, Grandma and Grandpa Madel, Jim, and RACHEL POWER! Yes, you read right, folks! That sneaky sneakerson had snuck her way up from Florida to Chicago with the help of one Mrs. Angelique Power. Rae surprised everyone, though the Power Brothers showed their excitement with muted utterances (actually, Neill did a good, "Rachel!" so just T and S are the muted utterers). I think Angi was excited enough for the entire family and nearly had a heart attack with each surprise. Needless to say, we had an excellent reunion and were able to spend the next two days with Rachel. 

And the next day was spend with most of the Powers, really (well, the U.S. Powers). The gang came over to our house at noon for fun and present opening and then we headed to the corner Italian restaurant for lunch. Then it was back to our place for games and fun and more games and more eating and a movie (Better off Dead--on VHS no less), and more games and then exhaustion around midnight. 

Sunday morning, Trevor dragged me out of bed to get ready for breakfast with Kate, Jen, and Jessica V. at the Bongo Room (Trevor's first time there, and my second). There was--shockingly--no wait out the door and onto the sidewalk (thank God since it was subzero temperatures) and we only had to hang out by the breakfast bar for about ten minutes. Then it was breakfast burritoes and BLT eggs benedict all around. We spent the rest of the day digesting. Jessica and Kate came over after breakfast to play a good few games of Catch-Phrase (while we managed to eat a few cookies...), and then Trevor and I napped before heading over to Angi and Sean's to have dinner that night (Shrimp Po' Boys!!) and watch Dark Knight and two episodes of CSIs: one in NY, one in Miami. We were hoping for the hat trick with a Vegas episode, but we'd have had to wait until two in the morning. We probably could have done it, but Angi had to work in the morning and we didn't want to keep her up wondering about forensic evidence. I think Angi, Rachel, and I could have spazzed out to television all night long while the boys talked about video games, but alas, we abstained and Trevor and I went home to a still pooped-out Henry, who was still hungover from so much company over the weekend. 

Monday we packed up the car and headed up to Door County to stay with Jim and visit with him and the Madels of Wisconsin for the week. It was chock full of action as you'll be able to tell from this day-by-day itinerary: 

Monday

Arrived around 6 p.m., ate pizza with Jim, watched television, went to sleep.

Tuesday

Drank coffee and watched movies on the couch while a family of deer and a trio of wild turkeys (animals, not pints of liquor) frolicked about outside. Found the tire of our car was flat. Had a winter adventure at Valmy Motors (tire had a near miniscule piece of metal in it, and the kind gentlemen removed it and patched up the tire for $10.). Winter adventure lasted no more than one hour. Had dinner at the Nightingale Supper Club with Jim. Came home, watched movies, went to sleep.

Wednesday

Drank coffee and watched movies on the couch while a family of deer and a trio of wild turkeys (animals, not liquor) frolicked about outside. Had New Year's Eve dinner with the Wisconsin Madels and Jim at Stone Harbor. Rung in NYC New Year with the WI Madels and Jim at 4030 Glidden drive, then Central Standard Time New Year with Jim at 4553 Glidden Drive. Went to sleep.

Thursday

New Years Day. Remained in pajamas entire day (Trevor changed into jeans at one point) while a family of deer and a trio of wild turkeys (animals, liquor) frolicked about outside. Read on couch and drank coffee. Knitted. Watched movies. Made chili for dinner and cherry pie for dessert. Read. Went to sleep. 

Friday

Drank coffee and read on couch. Went into town for breakfast/lunch, and hit the yarn store to stock up (greatest yarn store in the world: Spin). Watched movies back on the couch while a family of deer and a trio of wild turkeys (...) frolicked outside. Went to WI Madel's for shrimp curry (deeeelicous) and great conversation. Went to sleep.

Saturday

Packed up the car and came home. Ate take out from Butterfly. Read. Went to sleep. 

And that's pretty much where we come to now. We had a great time, though we did very little. Well, we did little with our bodies. I read two books, Trevor's half-way through with his (To be fair, I spent a lot more time with mine...I'm engulfed in the young adult Twilight series enough that I couldn't seem to put the books down during the week. Only one more to go!), and we exercised our minds and eyes with a bunch of movies (Severance [super-fun English horror film Trevor let me rent b/c Tootsie at Grand Slam doesn't have it], The Fall [beautiful and lovely follow-up to the interesting and just as beautiful but creepy instead of lovely The Cell], Gonzo [Hunter S. Thompson bio-documentary. Really interesting], August [interesting though not completely fullfilling Josh Hartnett movie about the dotcom bust], The King of Masks [our New Year's Eve movie--entertaining and "sentimental" (as Grandpa put it) Chinese film], and last but absolutely not least, Cannonball Run [self-explanatory I should say]).

So now it's Monday night and the larder is stocked, the house is clean, the laundry is done, Henry is still barely able to go on a real walk from all of his frolicking (he wasn't able to do any frolicking with the deer or turkeys, but he did enough on his own. see below), and we're recovering from our exhaustingly relaxing vacation. We had an excellent time, and I'm actually ready to start school next week. 

Oh Good Lord. I start school next week. 

Okay, so I'll leave you with that and some pictures of Henry our abominable snow dog. I just realized that I filled you in on everything and it's much later than I'd intended to be up. Ah, just as well. I can sleep in tomorrow now! 

Good night and Happy Belated New Year!