Work, Illinois, Work
I meant to blog, really I did. I thought, "I will have computer access on vacation and have plenty of time to blog while taking it easy." I like to think bringing Lily along spoiled my plans. The early mornings I was up could have been spent blogging instead of feeding and walking the dog. Also I was busy vacationing and visiting friends and we were busy. Painting, eating, cutting a matte, drinking, making a shade and drinking. The first day back at work was a difficult one as I was not yet out of my vacation mode. Very bad considering that we have big deadlines coming up and my boss leaves for Mexico this weekend for one week. For sure tomorrow I will work as I have not worked before...or at least better than I worked today.
First let's talk about my trip. I may get two big fat tickets from the state of Illinois. I knew they changed the tolls, but if they would have changed the signs leading up to the tolls I may not have driven through the iPass lanes where I am certain they have a photo of me holding change in my hand and mouthing the f*word. The first time I did it, I thought to myself "I need to be very, very careful leaving Illinois that I read all signage carefully." I read it carefully. It just wasn't correct and it wasn't safe for me to cut over 3 lanes of traffic to deposit my 80 cents. If I get a ticket (or two), some lucky innocent employee is going to have the fight of their life...unless it is $2. I will happily pay $2. Maybe $5. Definitely not $200. I also walked Lily in the pet exercise area, but she waited to poop until we were in the nice grass by the bathrooms at the rest area which I had no bag to pick up. This life of crime is exhausting. I'm determined to reform.
Once in Champaigne/Urbana where Janine lives, we set about planning to paint her study. I totally convinced her to go with orange...until we started painting and she said it looked too much like a halloween oreo. She has discovered I like bright colors on the wall and don't care if it surprises me. I've discovered she likes beige on her wall, but will paint her furniture bright colors to bring joy to the room. I did like the final color. Janine has a knack of finding free or supremely cheap furniture and painting it to be happy. I may have to steal some of her ideas but must be careful how I paint the furniture so that people don't get circus songs in their head when entering my house. We finished painting Saturday and spent the rest of the time walking the dog, shopping and eating. The only shadow on the trip was Sunday morning when we took the dog for a walk and I thought I gave her heat stroke. First I should say I probably should not have taken her for a walk in 80 degree weather, but I did bring her water and thought I was monitoring her closely for any sign of fatigue. I gave her regular drinks, but when we were in the alley by Janine's house she started making gagging noises. I gave her some water and she laid down and rolled her head in what water had spilled. I had carried her a couple of times during the 40 minute walk, but she seemed fine every time. Now I was concerned. We sprayed her down with the garden hose outside and brought her inside and turned on the window air conditioner. She stopped panting after about 10 minutes, but I felt so bad. I did realize she would be fine when she had no problem at all sharing a bagel with me. But still, it scared the crap out of me.
Sunday I drove through a crazy rain storm to get to Chicago and hang out with Wendy and David. We went to La Scarola for dinner and it totally rocked. Really, really good italian food. The next day I was lazy and spent the morning watching cable television (a guilty pleasure I like to indulge in on vacation), then took the bus into the city to meet Wendy for lunch. I got to say hello to Andrew Arganbright at Chicago Public Radio where Wendy works (I used to work with he and Wendy at Minnesota Public Radio), say hello to Stephanie and meet Wendy's assistant that she raves about. I miss working for public radio. I miss working with Wendy and Andrew most of all. Too bad I don't want to move to Chicago (I'm so cocky that I would actually get hired) and also that I'm banned from working at MPR (long story). Thank goodness I'm still allowed in the building. Wow, that sounds very stalker. Enough of that tangent.
Wendy, David and I met Tesia at Bob San for sushi and also drinking. Then we hung out on the roof top deck and partook of more drinking. Tuesday night was much the same except David cooked and I drank more than I had the night previous. It seems I will never learn.
Wednesday I dragged my butt out of bed early, packed up the car, packed up the dog and assured Wendy and David's two cats that I was taking the dog and they could reclaim their home. The two of them were terrified of Lily. Amusing since I'm pretty sure they could take her. Tag team torment and they totally missed out. Poor kitties.
Other than a repeat of law breaking, the drive back was uneventful. Enough rain to clear off the windshield, not enough to be annoying. I got home around 2pm, put my clothes in the wash and took a two hour nap. Vacation over.
First let's talk about my trip. I may get two big fat tickets from the state of Illinois. I knew they changed the tolls, but if they would have changed the signs leading up to the tolls I may not have driven through the iPass lanes where I am certain they have a photo of me holding change in my hand and mouthing the f*word. The first time I did it, I thought to myself "I need to be very, very careful leaving Illinois that I read all signage carefully." I read it carefully. It just wasn't correct and it wasn't safe for me to cut over 3 lanes of traffic to deposit my 80 cents. If I get a ticket (or two), some lucky innocent employee is going to have the fight of their life...unless it is $2. I will happily pay $2. Maybe $5. Definitely not $200. I also walked Lily in the pet exercise area, but she waited to poop until we were in the nice grass by the bathrooms at the rest area which I had no bag to pick up. This life of crime is exhausting. I'm determined to reform.
Once in Champaigne/Urbana where Janine lives, we set about planning to paint her study. I totally convinced her to go with orange...until we started painting and she said it looked too much like a halloween oreo. She has discovered I like bright colors on the wall and don't care if it surprises me. I've discovered she likes beige on her wall, but will paint her furniture bright colors to bring joy to the room. I did like the final color. Janine has a knack of finding free or supremely cheap furniture and painting it to be happy. I may have to steal some of her ideas but must be careful how I paint the furniture so that people don't get circus songs in their head when entering my house. We finished painting Saturday and spent the rest of the time walking the dog, shopping and eating. The only shadow on the trip was Sunday morning when we took the dog for a walk and I thought I gave her heat stroke. First I should say I probably should not have taken her for a walk in 80 degree weather, but I did bring her water and thought I was monitoring her closely for any sign of fatigue. I gave her regular drinks, but when we were in the alley by Janine's house she started making gagging noises. I gave her some water and she laid down and rolled her head in what water had spilled. I had carried her a couple of times during the 40 minute walk, but she seemed fine every time. Now I was concerned. We sprayed her down with the garden hose outside and brought her inside and turned on the window air conditioner. She stopped panting after about 10 minutes, but I felt so bad. I did realize she would be fine when she had no problem at all sharing a bagel with me. But still, it scared the crap out of me.
Sunday I drove through a crazy rain storm to get to Chicago and hang out with Wendy and David. We went to La Scarola for dinner and it totally rocked. Really, really good italian food. The next day I was lazy and spent the morning watching cable television (a guilty pleasure I like to indulge in on vacation), then took the bus into the city to meet Wendy for lunch. I got to say hello to Andrew Arganbright at Chicago Public Radio where Wendy works (I used to work with he and Wendy at Minnesota Public Radio), say hello to Stephanie and meet Wendy's assistant that she raves about. I miss working for public radio. I miss working with Wendy and Andrew most of all. Too bad I don't want to move to Chicago (I'm so cocky that I would actually get hired) and also that I'm banned from working at MPR (long story). Thank goodness I'm still allowed in the building. Wow, that sounds very stalker. Enough of that tangent.
Wendy, David and I met Tesia at Bob San for sushi and also drinking. Then we hung out on the roof top deck and partook of more drinking. Tuesday night was much the same except David cooked and I drank more than I had the night previous. It seems I will never learn.
Wednesday I dragged my butt out of bed early, packed up the car, packed up the dog and assured Wendy and David's two cats that I was taking the dog and they could reclaim their home. The two of them were terrified of Lily. Amusing since I'm pretty sure they could take her. Tag team torment and they totally missed out. Poor kitties.
Other than a repeat of law breaking, the drive back was uneventful. Enough rain to clear off the windshield, not enough to be annoying. I got home around 2pm, put my clothes in the wash and took a two hour nap. Vacation over.
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