the haze
early storm warning. unfortunately when i wanted to take another photo we were ushered indoors.
saturday, grants farm with the kiddies. 7 kids and not one of them mine! :(
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
photo barrage
the haze
early storm warning. unfortunately when i wanted to take another photo we were ushered indoors.
saturday, grants farm with the kiddies. 7 kids and not one of them mine! :(
Friday, July 21, 2006
busch blasted
braves vs. cardinals
last night we headed down to st. louis to see the 3rd game of the series. 7 pm it's 98 degrees and they just get done throwing out the first pitches. yeah, plural. off in the east a wall of darkness approaches. 7:10 they drag out the tarp and have difficulty keeping it down. poor groundskids. they start dragging out every motorized vehicle to hold the tarp down. gusts of wind stir up dust from a nearby construction sites. a haze covers the stadium.
luckily our seats are covered so we're not too worried about anything. we sit for another 10 minutes. the temperature drops 10 degrees. all of a sudden it starts pouring rain. not that big a deal. a little rain never hurt anyone. kids are playing in it, most of the players are still in the dugout, pitchers are signing autographs in the bullpen. all of a sudden the rain starts coming in from the right. yeah, horizontally. so much for the covered seats. everyone starts running for cover. the field starts to flood.
aaron wants to wait it out. ushers start telling us we have to go below, into the galley area. they are making announcements but we can't understand anything. the winds are blowing hard. i'm a little worried. are they announcing a tornado approaching? we head below. cramming in with the thousands of other fans. it's not as bad as we thought. had plenty of room to move around. when the rain dies down around 8 we decide to head home. thinking there's no way they can play with the field as wet as it was.
we drive out and turn on the radio and hear about the traffic problems on the bridges. tractor trailers overturned, bricks flying off buildings onto the eads bridge. we decide to head to mlk. on our way, we see tree branches in the streets, street lights lying in the middle of the road, construction barricades spewed everywhere. a pretty big storm. we get an hour away from st. louis turn 1240 on and awesome the game's in progress! unbelievable, no monsoon is gonna stop baseball. second time we've left a game that they ended up playing 2 to 3 hours later. if we didn't live so far away, we would have stayed. but we're old, we work and driving home at 1 in the morning doesn't sound appealing to either of us.
deryk and melissa were going to the game as well and ended up spending an hour in their car in the parking lot waiting out the storm. deryk wrote us today and said they're still without power. 102 degrees today...i don't know what melissa did with two little ones. we're supposed to head down there this weekend to see all aaron's med school buddies at deryk's. hopefully the power will be back on by then. crazy evening.
$40 tickets
$10 parking
$20 food
$40 gas
cards win 8-3
i took photos but i haven't located that camera cord...goal for tomorrow: find cord.
last night we headed down to st. louis to see the 3rd game of the series. 7 pm it's 98 degrees and they just get done throwing out the first pitches. yeah, plural. off in the east a wall of darkness approaches. 7:10 they drag out the tarp and have difficulty keeping it down. poor groundskids. they start dragging out every motorized vehicle to hold the tarp down. gusts of wind stir up dust from a nearby construction sites. a haze covers the stadium.
luckily our seats are covered so we're not too worried about anything. we sit for another 10 minutes. the temperature drops 10 degrees. all of a sudden it starts pouring rain. not that big a deal. a little rain never hurt anyone. kids are playing in it, most of the players are still in the dugout, pitchers are signing autographs in the bullpen. all of a sudden the rain starts coming in from the right. yeah, horizontally. so much for the covered seats. everyone starts running for cover. the field starts to flood.
aaron wants to wait it out. ushers start telling us we have to go below, into the galley area. they are making announcements but we can't understand anything. the winds are blowing hard. i'm a little worried. are they announcing a tornado approaching? we head below. cramming in with the thousands of other fans. it's not as bad as we thought. had plenty of room to move around. when the rain dies down around 8 we decide to head home. thinking there's no way they can play with the field as wet as it was.
we drive out and turn on the radio and hear about the traffic problems on the bridges. tractor trailers overturned, bricks flying off buildings onto the eads bridge. we decide to head to mlk. on our way, we see tree branches in the streets, street lights lying in the middle of the road, construction barricades spewed everywhere. a pretty big storm. we get an hour away from st. louis turn 1240 on and awesome the game's in progress! unbelievable, no monsoon is gonna stop baseball. second time we've left a game that they ended up playing 2 to 3 hours later. if we didn't live so far away, we would have stayed. but we're old, we work and driving home at 1 in the morning doesn't sound appealing to either of us.
deryk and melissa were going to the game as well and ended up spending an hour in their car in the parking lot waiting out the storm. deryk wrote us today and said they're still without power. 102 degrees today...i don't know what melissa did with two little ones. we're supposed to head down there this weekend to see all aaron's med school buddies at deryk's. hopefully the power will be back on by then. crazy evening.
$40 tickets
$10 parking
$20 food
$40 gas
cards win 8-3
i took photos but i haven't located that camera cord...goal for tomorrow: find cord.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
when you open this valentine...
i've been going through my senior slam book and it's amazing all the crap i saved from high school. yes, a majority of it is crap. for some odd reason, i have taco bell burrito wrapper dana sent me in there. i think it was to remind me of all the things we didn't have living in germany. i also saved receipts where i wrote the name of the movie on the back: candyman, love potion ..9, zebraman. what the hell. it's so funny looking back on the things i thought were important at the time. and you know what, i'm not going to throw any of it away.
when you open this valentine, think of me...
...that way, we'll be thinking about each other!
Happy Valentine's Day Susan,
I hope you have real cool day.
a. What are you doing tonight?
b. Do you want to do something?
Anyways...I"m glad your finally back from Berlin.
I really have missed you while you were there.
I think of you all the time.
Well I'll talk to you more later.
Love Erik
silly boys.
when you open this valentine, think of me...
...that way, we'll be thinking about each other!
Happy Valentine's Day Susan,
I hope you have real cool day.
a. What are you doing tonight?
b. Do you want to do something?
Anyways...I"m glad your finally back from Berlin.
I really have missed you while you were there.
I think of you all the time.
Well I'll talk to you more later.
Love Erik
silly boys.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
saga continues
here's my letter of resignation:
6/27/06
Sharon,
I am writing to you today to officially tender my resignation from Illinois Times effective Wednesday, July 26, 2006. I no longer have any desire to work at the Illinois Times either on a full-time or part-time basis. I will start working part-time next week to help Joe transition into his new position. I will not need any health insurance while working here part-time.
Susan
6/28/06
Susan - I'm very sorry to hear it, as I'm sure others will be.
I would like to sit down for a few minutes this afternoon after the paper gets out - not to change your mind but to hear what's on it. At 2pm? 2:30?
Let me know.
s
7/9/06
Ive very pleased to let you know we have a new face joining our production dept Monday morning: Please take a moment to say hello to Kim. Kim recently completed her post baccalaureate study at the Art Institute of Chicago after earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts at Bradley University in May 2005. Her family lives in Galesburg (convenient for visits to our printer) -- so shes new to Springfield. (She and her dog are still looking for the right place to live if you have any hot tips for her Im sure shed appreciate hearing them.) Kim will be easy to pick out of the crowd since she has a broken foot and comes equipped with crutches!
Everyone already knows Joe but somehow I failed to properly introduce him when he arrived about a month ago. (Im very sorry Joe) Joe is a Springfield native, graduated from Lincoln Land Community College with a liberal arts degree in May 2002 and completed his BA in graphic design at Eastern Illinois University in May 2005. Joe has already done some fine work for the paper now he and Kim will have the chance to work together and do even more.
Of course the sad part about all this is that after nearly 5 years on staff, Susan will be leaving the paper in a few weeks. Last week she officially scaled down to part time (look for Susan Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning) By early August she will fade out of IT altogether to take on freelance assignments and get ready for her wedding this fall. Susan has done wonderful work and been a tremendous asset to the paper sharing her creativity, efficiency at multi-tasking (!) and commitment to always getting the job done. Later in the month well figure out a good time to buy her a few beers and let her know how much she will be missed. In the meantime were very grateful to have her here to show our two new production staff members the ropes.
s
TODAY
Susan - when you get a minute this morning would you come up and see me? (I have an 8:30 meeting but it shouldnt take long)
Obviously, despite our very best efforts were back to square one finding the second person for the department so it is critical that I understand what you can / cant do in terms of time as I try to resolve this hiring situation.
Thanks.
s
new girl quit after one week.
i had to edit and take out names. i came back monday morning and joe told me kim had quit over the weekend. this was a surprise to me, i thought she was adjusting just fine. apparently she decided to take a scholarship and attend grad school. i don't understand, if this was a possibility, then why did we hire her. my personal opinion, she was completely overwhelmed. apparently sharon took kim and joe out to lunch on friday and soon after she decided to quit. i'm sure she said something that didn't sit right, she always seems to put her foot in her mouth. joe found out kim was making more money, so he's gonna demand more. sharon's in for a rude awakening.
6/27/06
Sharon,
I am writing to you today to officially tender my resignation from Illinois Times effective Wednesday, July 26, 2006. I no longer have any desire to work at the Illinois Times either on a full-time or part-time basis. I will start working part-time next week to help Joe transition into his new position. I will not need any health insurance while working here part-time.
Susan
6/28/06
Susan - I'm very sorry to hear it, as I'm sure others will be.
I would like to sit down for a few minutes this afternoon after the paper gets out - not to change your mind but to hear what's on it. At 2pm? 2:30?
Let me know.
s
7/9/06
Ive very pleased to let you know we have a new face joining our production dept Monday morning: Please take a moment to say hello to Kim. Kim recently completed her post baccalaureate study at the Art Institute of Chicago after earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts at Bradley University in May 2005. Her family lives in Galesburg (convenient for visits to our printer) -- so shes new to Springfield. (She and her dog are still looking for the right place to live if you have any hot tips for her Im sure shed appreciate hearing them.) Kim will be easy to pick out of the crowd since she has a broken foot and comes equipped with crutches!
Everyone already knows Joe but somehow I failed to properly introduce him when he arrived about a month ago. (Im very sorry Joe) Joe is a Springfield native, graduated from Lincoln Land Community College with a liberal arts degree in May 2002 and completed his BA in graphic design at Eastern Illinois University in May 2005. Joe has already done some fine work for the paper now he and Kim will have the chance to work together and do even more.
Of course the sad part about all this is that after nearly 5 years on staff, Susan will be leaving the paper in a few weeks. Last week she officially scaled down to part time (look for Susan Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning) By early August she will fade out of IT altogether to take on freelance assignments and get ready for her wedding this fall. Susan has done wonderful work and been a tremendous asset to the paper sharing her creativity, efficiency at multi-tasking (!) and commitment to always getting the job done. Later in the month well figure out a good time to buy her a few beers and let her know how much she will be missed. In the meantime were very grateful to have her here to show our two new production staff members the ropes.
s
TODAY
Susan - when you get a minute this morning would you come up and see me? (I have an 8:30 meeting but it shouldnt take long)
Obviously, despite our very best efforts were back to square one finding the second person for the department so it is critical that I understand what you can / cant do in terms of time as I try to resolve this hiring situation.
Thanks.
s
new girl quit after one week.
i had to edit and take out names. i came back monday morning and joe told me kim had quit over the weekend. this was a surprise to me, i thought she was adjusting just fine. apparently she decided to take a scholarship and attend grad school. i don't understand, if this was a possibility, then why did we hire her. my personal opinion, she was completely overwhelmed. apparently sharon took kim and joe out to lunch on friday and soon after she decided to quit. i'm sure she said something that didn't sit right, she always seems to put her foot in her mouth. joe found out kim was making more money, so he's gonna demand more. sharon's in for a rude awakening.
Monday, July 17, 2006
phishing
the past couple of weeks i've been listing items from my grandma's on ebay. first item i listed sold for $686. the whole family watched the auction down to the last second. it literally shot up $100 with 5 seconds to go. we were all amazed and excited. i don't think anything else will fetch as much. what sold? a tin switchboard operator toy. a freaking toy!
in all my excitement with ebay, i let my guard down. today, i have a james bond model kit listed and i got an email asking me if i'd ship to new jersey. hello?? i hit respond, type in my username and password and type: yes, i ship to all 50 states. i'm thinking, "what a moron." it clearly says i ship throughout the united states in the listing. ding! damn it, i quickly backtrack and sure enough i got burned by a phisher. i start freaking out. why? because i'm the moron that uses the same password for everything involving cyberspace. i change my password for ebay, hotmail and attempt to change my paypal account. of course paypal is much more difficult than anticipated and i have to call and sit on the phone for an hour to get this done. i think i'm ok now. hopefully i can remember all my new passwords. so far, so good.
in other news: can we have a moment of silence for aaron spelling.
in all my excitement with ebay, i let my guard down. today, i have a james bond model kit listed and i got an email asking me if i'd ship to new jersey. hello?? i hit respond, type in my username and password and type: yes, i ship to all 50 states. i'm thinking, "what a moron." it clearly says i ship throughout the united states in the listing. ding! damn it, i quickly backtrack and sure enough i got burned by a phisher. i start freaking out. why? because i'm the moron that uses the same password for everything involving cyberspace. i change my password for ebay, hotmail and attempt to change my paypal account. of course paypal is much more difficult than anticipated and i have to call and sit on the phone for an hour to get this done. i think i'm ok now. hopefully i can remember all my new passwords. so far, so good.
in other news: can we have a moment of silence for aaron spelling.
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