Chi-Town Fun!

The bf came down for Easter weekend! Yeay!! We met up in Chicago. Cheaper flight for him, and a lot more interesting things to do than the town where I currently reside. He flew in Thursday evening. I was late to the airport. It wasn't entirely my fault this time though. I got to Chicago around 12:30pm. Had lunch with a grad school buddy. Turned in my mailroom key because the chem. dept. wanted it back. Apparently, they are short on room and I didn't check my mail often enough. I don't really care. Anyway... I also had to scan the homework key and then upload it onto the web for the idiot students. Blah. Then, out to the suburbs for my salon appt. And this is where I got off track. I knew that I was going to be cutting it a little close but had about a half hour buffer. Well, the salon girl was running behind. My appt. was for 3:15 but I didn't get in until after 3:30. Uh huh. Do the math. There went my buffer. I got out and drove back to Evanston to park and take the el into the city. I didn't want to pay $20 a day to park at the airport or $40 a day to park at the hotel. Particularly if I could park for free with a $1.75 el fee. Got on the el and took the Purple line to the Red line to the Blue line and was at O'Hare. Yeah, that sounded like a lot of transferring and sitting, right? It was. It took over an hour and a half. I got to O'Hare about five minutes before the bf's flight was suppose to arrive. But, alas, it had already arrived. And by the time I got to the pre-arranged meeting place I was four minutes late. Grrr. The bf hadn't been waiting that long (or so he said) and so we walked back to the el and jumped on and headed back to the city.

We stayed at the Hyatt Regency. It was nice. And the bf sprung for the upgraded room so we had nice linens and decor. Not that all rooms wouldn't have been nice but the extra bit was certainly enjoyable.

The hotel is right next to the Mag Mile and the loop. Very central to everything. Well, it is if it isn't freezing. Damn. We made the best of it. We went to the Hancock building and had a drink in the lounge on the 96th floor. It was kind of cloudy but I enjoyed the view anyway. I really like being high up. I must have been a cat in a former life.

We went to the Howl. It is a sing-along piano bar that we both really like. I drank too much but it was sooo much fun. And that was the night that MSU defeated Duke. Woohoo!

We went to the aquarium. I am a dork. I really enjoy educational crap like that. We went on Good Friday though. Yikes. It was _very_ busy. We had to wait outside (in the cold with the wind coming right off the lake) for quite a while. I have already blocked out in my mind how long. I think it was about two hours of waiting all said and done. Maybe and hour and a half outside. I think the aquarium in Boston is the best one I have ever been to but this one is really cool too. They have a section on the lakes and rivers in addition to your traditional ocean fauna and flora.

All the meals were good but one was really tasty. We decided to go out for a nice dinner Sat. night but neither of us had really dressy clothes so it had to be nice but trendy (making jeans and any shirt okay). The concierge sent us to Vong's Thai Kitchen. VTK for short. It was sooo yummy. Good wine, good food, and good company. It was a great evening.

Sunday we took the el back up to Evanston and got my car. We spent the rest of the day looking for a cooler. My mom wanted me to bring back scallops and shrimp. The last time I did that, the bag that the shrimp were in leaked and my car stunk. I mean... S - T - U - N - K !!! So, we were determined to find a cooler for them this time. Have any of you tried to find a cooler when it isn't summer on Easter. Geez. This was no easy task and we spent the rest of the day looking for a place that was open that had one. We finally found a cooler at a Big K that my brilliant bf remembered seeing on his drive from the airport to hotel on his first trip to the area.

The bf flew home and I got to drive straight into gridlock from the airport. Easter weekend travel via auto. I knew that was going to be slow. I was not wrong. But I did get home all safe and sound eventually.

It was the best visit with the bf yet. We both left work at the door and just enjoyed spending time with each other and being tourists. Weeeeeee!!!

%(^*& Evaluate This!

Well, I have now been teaching for more than half a semester at a local community college. I'm an adjunct instructor for an intro chem class created to fill a pre-nursing program requirement. The thing is, some of these students would be better off taking the standard two semester version. It moves at a slower pace. But, the college doesn't tell them about that advantage. So I have people in the class who don't have the math background, the time, or the interest to pass this class. Oh what fun. And they get to evaluate me...

If you are an adjunct, the students get to fill out evaluations half way through the course. Regular, full-time instructors do not have to do this. So, if I could dupe the college into hiring me, I don't get reviewed until the end of the semester. Um, yeah, okay. Good system. Riiiight. Oh, and I should mention, they didn't tell me that the students do the eval thing. Nope, not until after I was supposed to have handed them out. I get a call from the dept. secretary asking where they are. Um, WTF? I didn't know what she was talking about. She then explains (as if she can not BELIEVE I wouldn't notice them) that they were left to me in the lecture hall on the desk. My question then is this, "WTF??" I have a stupid mail box that I check every evening when I get there... why didn't they put the envelopes in that? An e-mail or note telling me I had to have the students do them (since it is the FIRST FUCKING SEMESTER I have been there). Oh, and I'm suppose to be regularly looking at the desk which has had papers piled on it since I started teaching to see if there is something there for me??? And lastly, there is a "main" desk which spans the front of the lecture area. Then, the desk where the evals were is off to the side. Un-Be-Liev-Able!!

So, suffice to say, my students did not fill them out when they were suppose to. They filled them out the day we got back from spring break. sigh.

And I just got the summaries Sunday when I got back from Chicago. (Side note: I will blog about Chi-Town later this week)

You might wonder... what do I have to say about the evals? Fuck those lazy-ass dumb shits.

I actually had people give me 1 out of 5 (the lowest grade) for organization!! Okay, if you know me at all then you are probably sitting there with your mouth ajar or laughing. Yeah, me, unorganized! What? Were they filling out evals for me or some other adjunct? Oh, and I had someone write in the comments section that if they had know that it was my first time teaching that they would have signed up for a different section. Okay stupid - I gave my background the first day of class and made it clear that this was the first time I had taught entirely on my own. You could sign up for a different section until the third week. What the fuck were you waiting for?!? I get paid if I have 50 students or 5. Be gone. Please.

I also had people give me 2 out of 5 for promptness with regards to grading. What is that shit? I post exam grades online the NEXT FUCKING DAY after an exam and they get lab reports in the next lab section. How much faster did you want them? Should I be able to just touch the paper and give you a grade? I hate some of them. I don't know who they are but I hate them. Some job application instructions tell you to send copies of eval summaries. And this is what I am going to have to send. That some people think I am disorganized and untimely. Greeeaaaat. I ... Hate ... Them!

I also got low grades for my ability to explain concepts. Okay, if you are lost and it's week two - it doesn't matter how I explain concepts in week eight - you ain't gettin' it! I was so upset that I was even considering calling in sick yesterday. I mean, just let me out of the contract and I am just going to work on the thesis and enjoy the nice weather (finally!). sigh. But my upbringing has ingrained the idea that you shouldn't walk away from something that you committed to doing.

But then... the most unexpected thing happened after lecture last night. A student, who has made it clear doesn't care for me or my teaching methods, came up after class and complimented me! She said that she had taking chem at a major university (EMU) and that O-chem had been completely confusing and she hadn't gotten any of it. Further, that my lecture was so good that now everything made sense. I was floored. It was enough to put me back into a positive frame of mind for the last six weeks of school. Although, I'll be honest, I can't wait to be done. This professor thing is exhausting.

Snow, GDFS

I am so sick of this GOD DAMN FUCKING SNOW! And I have no problem using the Lord's name in vain. It's all his fault. Him and his stupid axis tilt, elliptical orbit, four season bullshit. If there is a him... anyway...

It snowed again today. It was too warm so it initially turned into a slush. Then... the sun set. Oh what fun. Now it is frozen and icy. Weeee. I am suppose to be driving down to Chicago on Thursday this next week. Do ya think it's going to snow? You would think Easter weekend would be a safe bet for a no-snow travel zone. But, my curse is looking geared up to make my life miserable. Sigh.

I am looking forward to this trip quite a bit. The bf is coming down from the North for a long weekend. Only thing is - he wants to meet some of my Chi-town friends. All good except for it being Easter weekend. The three chicago friends I have are all out-of-town because of the holiday. I think we will find things to do (haha - wink wink) but I hate to disappoint him yet again on the friends' meeting thing. Can't be helped but we do seem to have particularly bad timing about this. On the upside, that leaves more time for sleeping. Yeah, that's what we are going to do with the free time we have since all the buddies are out of town... sleep. riiiigggght. I am SO looking forward to this visit!

Still Snowing...

sigh. It was snowing again today. Just flurries but it is ass-cold outside. Um, can someone do a rain dance or something? That's got to be better than this. sigh.

I'm completely unmotivated to work on the thesis right now. sigh.

Actually, I am completely unmotivated to do anything. I'm blaming the weather. Hahaha. I think that I was just too damn productive over the past week and I am tired. My baby sister is in FL. I'm jealous. However, my other sis is taking me out to a comedy club tomorrow night. Don't know what that says about me... either I am a complete downer or the only person she could rope into driving her. In any case, it will probably be fun. My sister's an interesting cat so it will be amusing no matter what. Yeay!

Maybe friday will be a better work day... sigh. And my arms STILL have twinges.

Frosted Flakes are Greeeeaaaat!

Sorry about the title, I had a "Tony the Tiger" moment. What ever happened to him? Is he still around and I'm just watching too many adult shows on TV now?

Recently went to the gym for the first time in MONTHS (see prior blog as to some reason of motivation). I decided to start with chest and tri's with legs at the end. Also timed my arrival to coincide with pilates. Oh.... My.... God. I clearly have no appreciatation for the state of complete lack of fitness in which I currently reside.

Pilates was a bust because the instructor was terrible. She was doing the moves really fast, had the music turned up so loud that you couldn't hear her, and didn't use any sort of elevated platform so you couldn't see her either. We (best friend and I) gave up about 15 minutes into the class. It was terrible. Afterwards, we went to lift weights.

The bench press, incline press, and flys went okay. Did what I consider to be embarassingly light weights - 25, 20, and 20lbs respectively. 3 set of 15 reps. I'm looking to tone so I wanted to use weights that I wouldn't go to fatigue with a high rep set.

Then, and here is where I done fucked up, I rotated in between the chest exercises to tri exercises. I did kickbacks and the one that you hold the weight overhead and drop down then lift up - but I don't know the name. I (accidentally) went to fatigue on the kickbacks. Then again on the fly press. Shite!! And boy, did I pay for that! I have been walking around for two days now without being able to comfortably touch my nose.

I'm suppose to go again today. I am really not looking forward to that. I don't know if I can do bicep curls because I can't actually curl my arm completely without weights as the tri is so tight. This is really a quandry... I don't want to be the only fattie on the block but this HURTS. Hurts my pride (these weights are just weenie), hurts my muscles, and hurts my head. It hurts my head to think about how long this is going to take to get me back to the place I like to be.

I guess talking about it never got anything done. Off to the gym.... or at least as far as the fridge to eat something first so I don't pass out.

Gravity Sucks!

I think I am the only one who is not currently trying to improve his or her health. My friends in MI are going back to the gym, buying elliptical trainers, and joining adult sport teams. My friends in IL are eating better, also returning to the gym, and generally trying to be better to their bodies. I, on the other hand, am sitting in front of my computer, eating jeno's pizza rolls, and missed a chance to go to the gym with a friend this morning because I was sleeping.

And this lifestyle that I have adopted (inadvertantly) is letting gravity get the better of me. Ugh. I'm wondering how I should go about trying to incorporate more exercise into my daily routine. I keep thinking that it is going to get a little nicer out and I can start riding my bike again. But, over the course of the last two days we got eight inches of snow. Ha. So much for that plan.

I have now "borrowed indefinitely" my sister's gym pass. I am planning to go to the gym "for sure" with misha on Sat. and then working on the DREADED THESIS. It will be the first time in MONTHS that I have done a cardio workout that consisted of more than trying to walk 'faster' than a stroll. At least, that will mean I will get work done afterwards... I won't be able to walk away. baahaahahha. So sad.

Hope everyone has an excellent weekend!

I LOVE Waterpolo!!

Have you ever experienced that moment when you realize you can't go back. It doesn't matter what it is. Something like college... you go back for a football game and realize that you will never be a young co-ed ever again. That time has passed. Now when you get together with your buddies you rehash the old stories not create new ones. Well, I had just such a moment this past weekend.

The NU women's waterpolo club had it's annual home tournament. One of the things that they always schedule is an alumni vs. club game. It is always on Sat. evening, the last game, and then we go drink. I decided to make the drive down and subject myself to endless teasing about my grey hair and flabby arms. Figured it would be fun times.

This past fall (I was still in the chicagoland area) when the team would practice I would join them. Nice to have some sort of exercise regiment no matter how uninspired it was. So I would go and splash around the pool twice a week. The team went on a pre-season tournament trip and asked me to go along because they needed a goalie (the starter goalie couldn't make it and they had no secondary). Sure. Okay. I'm up for a little weekend polo fun. The point of this whole paragraph is to establish that I did actually spend a little time with the team this year so I am not a complete stranger to the freshman.

Now, fast forward to this past weekend. NU signed up an A team and a B team. Miami of Ohio and Iowa both brought B teams as well. Thursday (the day before the tournament starts), the coach calls and asks if I would be the goalie for the B team. Apparently, the secondary (a freshman who started training shortly after the pre-season tournament) has taken a hiatus from the team for person reasons. So, again, the team finds themselves short a goalie. Sure. Okay. I'm up for a few more games of waterpolo. I know the girls on the team. It should be fun. Weeeee.

Saturday rolls around... now the master's team from the chicagoland area is having problems fielding an entire team. Could I play goalie for them. What am I? All-goalie all the time?? Sure. Okay. A few more games of waterpolo. Oh wait, the games are back to back?? Shit. Well, now I am just an old lady trying not to drown. By the time the alumni game rolled around, I was hurting something terrible. The club team beat the alumni team. I'm blaming it on the fact that we were all tired from playing in the master's games (I wasn't the only one recruited). That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Then, afterwards, off to the bar. I kid you not, I went to go to the ladies room and was walking with a limp. Both legs were lame. So I was limping from one foot to the other. Oh man. It was not pretty. This is when I had my moment... I played six games in one day two years ago when I was on the team. I won't go into that other than to say, I was fine that evening afterwards, I slept in a really uncomfortable bed that night, and felt fine the next day.

Flash forward to now and... I'm calling it a night around 1am because I was afraid that they still arrest you for passing out in a bar in that stupid conservative little town (even if it is from exhaustion and not drunkeness). I don't care what the other girls think of me because I am not drinking excessive quantities nor closing down the bar. And there is no way I am playing any more polo on Sunday. I'll be lucking if I can still walk.

Of course, I would do it again in a heartbeat. So it seems I'm a glutton for punishment even if I can never return to my glory days. I badly miss playing so whenever I have the opportunity... Polo On!!

I guess if the move to the arctic circle happens I will have to take up ice hockey. A team sport that involves a small number of players (including a goalie), two nets, physical contact (bring it beeeach!!), whistling refs, and water, albeit, frozen. I'm not as good with a stick as I am just using what nature gave me but I'm pretty mobile on ice. Should be interesting.