Prangster in Chicago

Board

Last night, it was pretty windy and cold. There was light rain even. And it was the night I finally decided to go to Target to buy a large cork bulletin board for my photos. So I did. And I also bought some other things. Like pins. And envelopes. And then I walked home from the train station holding the cork board in front of me with both hands. I clutched it tight because the wind was insane and I was wearing my bulky mittens. Crossing the street on Clark in the early evening traffic, I let one hand go for just a moment -- possibly to fix my hair, I can't be sure, but maybe, since it was so windy -- and immediately my cork board caught the wind. It did a sharp 180 or 270 degree turn (whichever sounds more dramatic to you), and it was flying. Like a checkered flag at a Nascar event. Or a flimsy paper fan in the hands of a Japanese geisha. Except crazy style. With as much movement as a slinky making its way down a flight of stairs. Except at the speed of cable internet. Indeed. I almost lost that bulletin board to the sneaky Chicago wind last night, but I didn't. I held on. And I regained control of that $8 board. Then I crossed the street. I walked the rest of the way home. I unwrapped that sucker and I put my photos up. And now, right now, as I touch-type this final sentence, I'm looking at that board and thinking, "Oh, you."

Blinks and links

Ah, I just wrote up from a 12-hour sleep. Nice. This is what Saturday mornings are about. Yes, indeed.

So I wanted to introduce some of the new links I've got going on to the right. These are the blogs of my coworkers here in Chicago: Jessi, Brinky (Christina) and Jody. (Here is the back of Jessi's head.)

Jessi's new blog is called "My 99 Problems." It's about her 99 goals for the year and her progress week-by-week. There's vegan cooking, there's cycling, there's yoga, there's travel...there's a lot going on. She takes really great photos too, which makes me feel jealous and insecure.

Brinky's blog is just her personal blog. She's one of the nicest people I know, she bakes for the office and she sits next to me. How lucky am I?

Jody's blog is "Simple Pleasures Less Than $10." She just started it this past week. She's a shopping freak like the rest of us, so I think the idea for her blog is pretty ingenious.

Another blog is by Brian, a designer on the print side. A truck filled with all his stuff (clothes, books, computer and design portfolio...everything) was broken into and emptied out the night before he moved to Chicago from San Francisco, and this is the blog he started to chronicle all the things he's had to re-buy. It's called "Buy By Brian."

And now it's nap time...

Photo Story: Lien's feet and my feet at the Lurie Garden in Millennium Park. (This was back in September when she visited.) Notice that jade bracelet on Lien's wrist? Well, jade bracelets are my worst nightmare. Sometimes they're so tight you can't get them off. Okay, maybe you can smash them when that happens, but that involves smashing against your wrist.

Meatball Tuesdays

Sometime last year, Hugh and I started sharing meatball sandwiches for lunch. They're huge, delicious meatball sandwiches from the Italian deli a few blocks away from our office. We love them so much that when we had our plant growing contest, the bet was a meatball sandwich. The loser (Hugh) had to buy the winner (me) a meatball sandwich. So it ended up that both of us were winners cause we shared it anyway. Then this year, meatball sandwiches for lunch turned into a weekly thing. And we started getting extra red sauce on the side to pour over our half-sandwiches. And then we got little dark chocolates as post-meatball desserts. We love our shared meatball sandwiches so much that Tuesdays are now "Meatball Tuesdays." (The Italian deli is closed on Mondays...) The best part of all is the sandwich is super cheap. It's never over $6. Here's the one we had today.


Also, I have to mention that it's really sad about Heath Ledger. I just saw him in that Bob Dylan movie, I'm Not There, this past Saturday. And I thought he was great in it. Here's an interview he did with the NYTimes last November.

Also also, today was a slow day at the office so I made this: Cry Baby Traders.

Hey you, wait here

Outside Intelligensia, the coffee house.

With my mittens and a coffee cup

Since my last quality post, I've walked up and down Broadway with my mittens and a coffee cup. I walked into Borders. And into Bed Bath'n'Beyond. And also into the World Market store -- where I browsed a broad range of junk and found myself seriously contemplating buying a pointless woven basket for $6.99. I also experienced the unsettling thought of wondering if I'd walked into a fart cloud when actually, I had wandered into the candle and bath products section. You'll be happy to hear that I was strong and I bought nothing. I walked out of all three of those stores empty-handed. Well, except for my mittens and my coffee cup.

Here are some pictures I took during my walk.

Above: the billboard outside World Market. Not sure what it's advertising. Or maybe it's just there to blow people's minds.

Below: a public service message about recycling.



And this: a row of trees wearing knitted sweaters.

That's acceptable, she said

Jessi and I made an agreement last week not to buy anything that's not food until March 1. Except I bought something yesterday already. I got a jacket from Club Monaco that was reduced from $229 to $29. Yeah, a $200 discount!!!!!!

I felt bad and considered not telling her. But I did because lying feels bad and I don't want to feel bad about saving $200.

So guess what J said.

She said, "Okay, that's acceptable."

Isn't she great?

But seriously. From now on, I'm not buying anything else until March 1. And to get me started, I'm gonna put on some pants and walk over to the Borders near my house to read magazines for free.

You hear that? Free!

Leftovers from Thanksgiving 2007

Didn't post these up last year for whatever reason. They're photos I took while in Orange County over Thanksgiving. The weather was pretty grey and sad in Chicago around that time so it felt really weird to look up and see all this blue.

Unimportant news

1. I bought soup for dinner tonight from Soupbox, which is just around the corner from my building. Picked clam chowder after sampling the butternut squash. Made the first-timer's mistake of ordering a bread bowl. It's a mistake because obviously I can't eat this entire thing without my gut exploding.


2. Also, I have a new orchid. It stands third in line behind my un-killable African violets. Before I went to Taipei, I gave the African violets some water and left them on the kitchen counter. My old orchid I left with someone who would be gone for a week, but would be back to water it and spoil it with hugs and kisses. I really liked my old orchid. When I got back almost two weeks later, the African violets were fine, if not more robust than when I left them. Sadly, the orchid had dried out. But it's okay because I have a new orchid now.


3. I got this bright green multi-plug USB thing in Taipei and it's so freaking cool. That's all. Now I'm going to lie down because I ate so much soup and bread. Never again with the bread bowl...never again.

Resolutions for 2008

1. To give up my 2007 habit of drinking a Sprite Zero with every meal during the work week.
2. To not buy one single magazine (except for Lucky, which I subscribe to because I have a shopping problem and it's 'The Magazine About Shopping'.)
3. To cook more adventurously at home.
4. To see more of North America. And South America, if I can manage it.
5. To better manage my finances and avoid sticky cash-flow situations.
6. To remember my plane tickets when I fly.
7. To never cross paths or make eye contact with my bitchy landlady.
8. To call my family more.
9. To take more photos, write more on this blog, spend more time thinking creatively.

Notice there are no resolutions about dressing better at work. This is because I decided my goal this week is to wear the same new pair of Japanese chinos (that Mum bought me in Taipei) to work every day this week. And I really have to do it because I told Elizabeth and Jessi about it already and they both reacted so enthusiastically. What can I say? I'm a team player.

Mitsuwa

I just spent 40 jetlagged minutes on the phone with AT&T reconfiguring my modem to hook up my internet, so appreciate this. I'm serious. Appreciate it. No, more! Appreciate it more!

Okay, that's good. Thanks.

So I went to the Japanese supermarket Mitsuwa on Sunday afternoon. It was a good 30 minute drive but worth every second. I bought $80 worth of foodstuff like dried soba noodles, Japanese soy sauce, shabu shabu sauce, miso soup packets, frozen edamame and lotus root, a cylinder of cute strawberry-flavored chocolate...the list goes on. Here's a class portrait of the stuff I haven't bothered to put away yet. There was obviously more stuff, but I put it all away already. Can you tell I'm still jetlagged?


So today was the first day of work for 2008. It started with me waking up involuntarily at 5:30, then spending the next two hours trying to fall back asleep. And failing. The rest of the day continued this crappy theme. The only thing that went right was the ticket machine at the train station was broken, so I got a free ride this morning. Except I took the train in the wrong direction and had to take it back...

See what I mean?

Then when I got to work, I received a huge death blow: the major project we've been working on for the past decade (okay, more like 3 months) has to be totally reworked. What does this mean? It means all the creative, cool parts have to be taken out and replaced with boring crap. So essentially, the project will turn from something we loved and were proud of, to something we hate and shudder at the thought of.

:(

It's sucky.