Silence is overrated

"People have to talk about something just to keep their good voice boxes in working order, so they'll have good voice boxes in case there's ever anything really meaningful to say."
~Kurt Vonnegut

It's funny how you never notice how friendly the people you spend your day with are until you can't do something as simple as saying hello back to them.

I was talking to a friend the other night and she made a comment about how she had always wanted to loose her voice. Something about it always just seemed "fun" to her. I can see where she's coming from. It’s a bit mysterious in ways. However, the novelty of that mystery wears off faster than the novelty of the "Cows on Parade." I had always thought that I would rather not be able to speak than not be able to see. I think I'm changing my mind. Although the thought of not being able to see all the beauty, and at times horror, in this world is hard to grasp, I really don't think it is even comparable to lacking the ability to communicate. It would be hard to not be able to see it all, and I admit I think I would feel like I was missing out on something. But seeing isn't believing.

The ability to speak is something we take for granted. Plus, not being able to talk is just plain boring. I know that come next week when my voice is completely back I'll have forgotten all about my struggles with communicating, but for right now I am ridiculously thankful for the sense of speech. Sure if you permanently couldn't speak you would no doubt learn sign language and would find ways to communicate. But just like the whole world doesn't speak English, the whole world certainly does not know sign language.

So much rests on our ability to communicate. All week long I have felt like all the people who I don't work with on a regular basis have been thinking I'm a jerk because I haven't been saying hi back to them in passing. Well, I try to say hi but either just some weird noise comes out or it’s so quiet they can't hear. Maybe they thought nothing of it or maybe they think I'm a horrible human being. The thing is, either way one of us is getting the message wrong. Nonverbal communication can only take you so far.

Sure a smile is worth a million words, but then you're just that weird girl who is always smiling but never saying a word.

One year later

Well, as of this weekend I've officially lived in Wisconsin for one year (not counting the four years at Marquette). It's really hard to believe it has been a year already. I really think this truly was the fast year of my life. I didn't think I was ever going to adjust to living alone. Now, I don't know that I could ever live with a roommate again. Actually, one roommate would still be nice, but I definitely could never do the five roommate thing again. Hell, I couldn't do that when I was! There is something very nice about living alone though. The mess is all yours so you can't be mad about it. Well, you can be mad about it, but it's not getting cleaned unless you do it yourself. When you just want to be left alone, you don't have to worry about someone coming in the room and insisting on talking. Ok, well that's really all I have. I know it's not much, but I figured I should write something to celebrate this big day.

Thunderstorms and car alarms...These are the things that dreams are made of

While sitting at the picnic tables between the office and the cemetery and eating lunch yesterday it was clear a storm was brewing. There was an almost too calm breeze. The sun was no were to be seen, yet it was still bright out. That annoying kind of brightness where you don't take sunglasses because it is a cloudy day. I only hoped the storm would hold off until I go home since the weekend before I had what seemed like a near death experience driving north on I-94 in Racine. That day, I was sure I was driving into the end of the world, but I digress.

Five hours later I walked out of the office. No storm yet. I successfully make it home without getting stuck in a storm. It still seemed like it was coming though. The night went on and still nothing. There are storms in St. Louis, but Milwaukee is safe still. The news warns of the pending storms. I go to bed. Still nothing.

3:30 a.m. I am woken suddenly. The lightening is illuminating the entire sky. The wind is howling. The thunder sounds nothing like the angels bowling. Instead it is more like hundreds of bowling balls being dropped simultaneously all around you. The water gushes out of the gutter outside my window. The storm is here. This is no storm that you fall right back asleep during. Not only am I awake now, but I am starving. There is no way I am about to fall asleep. Then, another deafening crash of thunder. This time alarms are set off on at least three of the cars out in the parking lot. Clearly, this night was not meant for sleeping.

At some point I finally fall back asleep. However, 5 a.m. comes a lot sooner when you are woken up at 3:30. Like always, I hit the snooze button until the alarm on my cell phone goes off at 5:40. There's no dragging myself out of bed yet on this dark and rainy morning. It is still raining out, though it has let up significantly. Finally, a little after 6 a.m. I get myself up. It's going to be a long day.

You look like a monkey, and you smell like one too

After five years of having to fess up to Uncle Jerry that I still have not been to the Milwaukee County Zoo, I finally made it there. I was a bit skeptical of the quality, having grown up just miles from one of the finest zoos in the country, but I went in with an open mind. The zoo is a very nice area to walk around, but as far as quality goes Brookfield is far superior. There really were not very many animals out, which was a little disappointing. It was a beautiful day for it though. It was only about 70 today -- perfect zoo weather.

There were a lot of peacocks though. Like this one.

There was also a baby peacock. (It kind of blends into the background, sorry.)

Well, that's about it for my adventure to the zoo. Oh, I also had the worst Chicago style hot dog of my life.

Last Friday I spent my free afternoon walking around near the lake front. This is the Milwaukee Art Museum. My batteries died almost immediately, so I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked.

A Parallel to Bob Dylan's life??

"I'd seen and heard trains from my earliest childhood days and the sight and sound of them always made me feel secure. The boxcars, the iron ore cars, freight cars, passenger trains, Pullman cars. There was no place you could go in my hometown without at least some part of the day have to stop at intersections and wait for the long trains to pass...The sound of trains off in the distance more or less made me feel at home, like nothing was missing, like I was at some level place, never in any significant danger and that everything was fitting together."

~Bob Dylan, Chronicles: Volume One

My thoughts exactly. I could not agree more. Although the train whistles are almost annoyingly loud here some days, I would miss them if they were gone. I need that noise. I can't sleep if it's too quiet. I need to know life is going on still outside my windows. There's some sort of strange comfort in the whole thing. At the real root of it though, as Dylan points out, is that it makes me feel at home. It makes me feel safe because it makes me think of LaGrange, my family, my childhood. I can connect so many memories to trains or railroad tracks. Very few of them actually have to do specifically with the trains, but since they were such a presence it all connects back. I suppose it is sort of like the whole idea of how a smell can stimulate a memory. What makes a sound any different?

Bittersweet transitions

Well, it's official. It may have taken me eight months to go through with it, but I am a Wisconsin resident. The man no longer thinks I'm living in Illinois. About a week ago I made my way to the Department of Motor Vehicle in South Milwaukee. The people you'll find at the South Milwaukee DMV are almost as entertaining as the people at the Plank Road Walk in Clinic. Of course, by entertaining I mean totally annoying. Luckily, the time I spent there was probably the shortest amount of time an individual has ever spent in an DMV. A major plus in the whole experience of changing my drivers license and plates.

Unfortunately, Wisconsin passed a law in the last few months that prohibits individuals who are getting a Wisconsin ID for the first time to take it home with them that day. Something about fraud. I blame Illinois good ol' governor George Ryan for this pain in my neck. Apparently some of those truck drivers involved in that scandal then started coming up here to get their licenses. Super. So, I had to wait almost a week for my ID to arrive. This wasn't such a big deal during the week, but it sure did put a damper on any weekend fun.

The whole transition is very bittersweet. It's weird to look at my car every morning and not see Illinois plates, and every time I open my wallet it freaks me out that the ID says Wisconsin. At the same time, to a certain extent it makes me feel like I belong here. I'm not just a college student spending some time here. It also means that I've committed myself to living here for awhile, because I'm not about to go through all that changing stuff again any time soon. That part is a little sad. I love Illinois, and Illinois will always be home. Sometimes, though, you need to just make a commitment and let yourself grow. Living in Wisconsin on my own is letting me grow. As cliche as it sounds, I don't think I'd be who I am if I hadn't been living here for the last eight months. Though, it will be hard to face everyone back home with an Wisconsin driver's license and plates.

I may have made the plunge into life in Wisconsin, but hear me, I am no cheesehead.

My evening at the Plank Road Walk-in Clinic

As far as I am concerned I have never had the real flu and I have never had strep throat. I get colds and sore throats relatively often I suppose, but they never amount to much. I've been tested multiple times for strep, but it always comes back negative. So last Wednesday when I woke up with a sore throat I didn't think much of it and got dressed and headed off to work. The tea I drank in the car did little to sooth my pain, but I took it in stride. The office was approximately -20 degrees on Wednesday. (editors note: an extreme exaggeration for dramatic affect.) Again, I didn't think much of this as a co-worker agreed that it was colder than usual in the office. As lunch time neared and my coldness turned into the chills I started to think maybe I had a fever. I pushed on. During my lunch break I went out to my car to warm up. When I came back in, I still had some time and a co-worker asked me if I'd walk to Shopko with her. I said sure. After all my throat was still killing me and I could use some throat drops. The block and a half walk was horrible. I've never been so dizzy from walking a block in my life. I pushed on. As the day went on my voice started to become unrecognizable, the chills picked increased and I was totally wiped out. I left a little early, barely able to focus because I was so cold. How I made it home, I have no idea.

Upon arrive in my lovely new apartment on the second floor I was grateful for the thermometer my mom gave me for Christmas. I waited patiently as the device measured my body temperature. As I took it out of my mouth and flipped it around to read it I was shocked by what the numbers read -- 102.7. I was one sick kid. I changed and fell asleep almost instantly on my couch. I woke up about three hours later, read a few e-mails and was in my bed an hour later. I slept straight from 9 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. I got up, checked my temperature again and to see if my tonsils were swollen at all. Until Thursday, I did not know exactly where my tonsils were. I know now because I have never seen tonsils so swollen! This time my temperature was 100.5. Excited it had gone down a bit I laid back down in my bed until 7 when I needed to call work and tell them I wasn't coming.

I managed to make it to work on Friday, though I wasn't feeling exactly 100 percent. My throat was still hurting and a little swollen, but the fever was gone. I made it through the day and was happy to welcome the weekend. I took it easy all weekend, telling myself if my throat was still sore and swollen Monday I'd go see a doctor. During the course of the weekend my fever went up and down, but never was very high.

Monday came, my fever was completely gone. I decided I'd go see the doctor though. Coming from a family that doesn't go to the doctor for the sniffles, this was a big step for me. I called the number on the hospitals website to try and find a doctor. The lady on the phone kept trying to find a clinic that had an opening for me. After about 20 minutes she tells me they have two clinics that accept walk-ins and are open until 8 p.m. I tell her I'll just do that. So, I leave work and after making two wrong turns into huge traffic jams I make it to the Plank Road Walk-in Clinic. I sign in at 6:11 p.m.

While sitting in the waiting room patiently I was exposed to some of the most interesting characters. First there was the chubby girlfriend who was acting like it was this huge inconvenience to be there. Each time someone was called before her boyfriend she had to know why. They were sicker, idiot. Then there was the very large black man who was getting restless and kept switching seats. Shortly after moving closer to me he busted out his cell phone to check in at home. Now, this wouldn't be a huge deal, as a few people had made calls, but he chose to make his call on speaker phone. SPEAKER PHONE!! After he hangs up he proceeds to check his voicemail on, you guessed it, speaker phone. About 20 minutes later, after about an hour and a half of waiting, they call my name.

The nurse asks me about my symptoms and tells me about the importance of having a primary care physician. She does a throat swab thing for the strep test and leaves me to wait for the doctor. After another 20 minutes or so the doctor comes in. Not looking at the notes the nurse took at all, she again asks me why I'm there and about why I don't have a primary care doctor. The strep test is negative. She checks my throat, liver and spleen. "I'm going to have someone come in to give you another test. It will only take a few minutes. It's to see if you have mono," she says. Mono, just what I need. I wait another 10 minutes for the person to come in. She pricks my finger, gives me a bandaid and says the test takes five minutes. She leaves the room. I wait. It starts to get very quiet in the hallway. I start thinking they forgot about me and I am all alone in the Plank Road Walk-in Clinic. I wait some more. Finally after about 10 more minutes the doctor comes back. It's not mono. They are going to send the sample from the strep test in for a throat culture. I'll have to wait two more days to find out if it is definitely not strep. She tells me most likely it's just a virus and to keep doing what I was doing since I seemed to be getting better.

At 9:30 p.m. I left the Plank Road Walk-in Clinic. I didn't have strep. I didn't have mono. And that was my evening at the Plank Road Walk-in Clinic.

All moved in

This weekend was moving weekend. Despite a few road bumps (i.e. friends bailing out on helping) the move went relatively smoothly. It is so nice to be up on the second floor. It's amazing how much more light I'm getting. Taking today off from work was a good idea because I don't think I would have ever got everything organized and unpacked. There are still a few things to do, but nothing major like putting all my clothes and dishes away. Last night there was a pretty bad thunder storm and my power went out for about a minute, which was a little creepy.

I actually met my neighbor, which was very nice. Turns out he went to Marquette too. He stopped by tonight and we enjoyed a beer and talked a little. The other two people that live on my floor are old. He told me the lady that lives across from me carry's around a cage with like a bird or something in it. Stay tuned for stories about this woman. I have yet to see her, but now I can't wait to.

That's all I have for now because I am totally exhausted. Peace Out.

The solitary life, Scientology and Sesame Street

It's always nice to have visitors. It makes living alone a little bit more thrilling. However, it also makes you realize just how happy you are to be living alone. For the first time in about a month I didn't have anyone staying with me for the weekend. Although I enjoyed all of my visitors, it was so nice and relaxing to just be here alone. Yesterday after coming off from the Marquette basketball game and lunch I had the chance for the first time in a while to just sit and relax. The previous weekends were relaxing to an extent, but really just weren't the same. I turned on some Bob Dylan and sat down on my couch with some popcorn and the latest issue of Rolling Stone. It was really quite nice.

In the issue, there is an article about Scientology. Knowing really very little, other than I think it's crazy, I decided to read the article and learn a little bit about the religion. Although I didn't finish it because it was just getting too long and I was getting restless (I am part of the MTV generation after all), I did gain a better understanding of the religion. However, I do still think they are a bunch of nut jobs. Children that are raised in Scientology are some what excused, as they were born into it and don't know any better. The same could be said about me as a Catholic I suppose. However, these people who are choosing this path as adults are just plain crazy. Only the highest levels Scientologist, from what I understand, know the full "story" and belief structure of the religion. Plus, it costs like an arm and a leg to be a fully practicing member. It's going to take a lot more to convince me on this one.

Sidenote: It's not so much the MTV generation that has this short attention span and needs the flashy colors and scene changes. Really, it is the Sesame Street generation. The thought behind Sesame Street was that kids need these short snipits to keep their attention. If a segment goes to long, they get bored and disinterested. I don't doubt this is true, in fact I think Sesame Street has done wonders. After all, I can count to 10 in Spanish. The problem is that so many things now have this same format. And people wonder why there are so many kids with ADD, but that's a whole different rant.

Moving on up to a deluxe apartment in the sky!

Well folks, come April 1 I will no longer living in the "garden." Not only will I be moving to apartment that gets light and is warmer, I will have a balcony. Even better, I will be saving $5 on my rent. I know, that's huge! I'm very excited about the move and only hope the next 6 weeks move quickly.

In other news, Gov. Doyle(that would be the governor of Wisconsin all you prairie state inhabitants out there) recently signed a law that requires all children to sit in a carseat or booster seat until the age of 8. Yes folks you read that right, 8 years old. The law goes into affect in June I think. I have no idea how they are expecting to enforce this one. There is only one way to describe this law: RIDICULOUS.

In other Wisconsin news, Gov. Doyle vetoed the conceal and carry bill. At first thought I agreed with Doyle vetoing it because seriously, why does anyone need to have a concealed gun. However after being talked at by a friend who was of quite the opposite opinion on the matter I did start to see the validity of the bill. After all, it's not like criminals are going to not carry guns because it is illegal. They all have them now anyways. Our discussion on the topic was like two weeks ago so I don't remember the details. I wasn't totally convinced, but I am more open to the idea now. What was the most shocking thing I learned during this whole gun debate that has been going on that something like 36 states (might have been more actually) have conceal and carry laws. Who knew? Certainly not me. I say I was talked at about the issue because I think friends should not discuss politics or religion for that matter. Really, I don't like discussing politics with anyone. So to have shared these thoughts today about these laws for all the world to read is quite out of character for me. I feel like talking politics/religion with friends just leads to sour feelings. Unless of course you are both of the same opinion, and then what's the point really?

Oh, and I discovered Rosemary & Olive Oil Triscuits this week. They are absolutely fabulous. I recommend everyone go out and try them.

Life without Internet access is sort of like being a hermit

For about 3 weeks now the Internet connection I was conveniently stealing from someone in my building has been lost. I never realized how dependent I was on the Internet for communication and information. Luckily, Marquette isn't too far away and I can come here to take advantage of all the wonderful computers in the library. It is a little weird, it is a Saturday afternoon and this place is almost completely empty. Why was it never like this when I came to study? I won't complain though because if all the kids were here I wouldn't have a computer to use.

Work is no longer boring. Instead it is insanely busy. I would take busy over boring any day though. I really like it a lot more. I actually feel like I am a necessary asset now. On Thursday night I stayed about 3 hours late. It is amazing how much more you can get done once everyone else leaves. It's just so much easy to work when everyone around you isn't talking. It's amazing anything ever gets done at that place. The lights in the office turn off automatically at 6 p.m. Since we didn't know how to turn them back on, we had to just sit in the dark with only our desk lights and the glow of our computer screens. It was really kind of creepy.

Most people hate when their lives become stressful. I'm different that way I guess though. Now that there is some stress back in my life I feel more like myself. It's like like my life was off balance the last few months because there was no energy behind what I was doing. Now that there is so much going on at work and will be for at least another month, there is something motivating me. I never really saw stress as motivation before, but I really think it can be. That pressure of a deadline that I had been missing so much is back, and I love it! For the first time in almost 5 months I can honestly say that I really like my job.

Hitting the open road

Everyday when I drive to work it is sort of like I am hitting the open road. Today, though, it really was the open road. As the rest of the world enjoyed the Federal holiday, I enjoyed a stress free drive to work. I never saw more than 4 cars around me at any point during the long drive. It was crazy. The traffic going into the city was a little heavier but still pretty light.

I spent all of Sunday night dreading having to go back to work. I decided going back to work after a week off is worse than going back to school after a month off. When you go back to school you are going back to new classes and new adventures and experiences. All that going back to work offers is the pile of stuff to do you left before vacation. It's not nearly as exciting. Luckily I didn't need to try and get ahold of anyone. I felt bad for all the sales people since they basically got nothing done other than leaving a million messages. I really should have tried to call the guy who blew off our interview two weeks ago, but I figured he wasn't there. I'll return to my daily phone messages tomorrow. I'm still annoyed that he blew the interview off. Seriously, who does that?

The Packer's fired Mike Sherman today. A little part of me got a cheap thrill out of hearing the news. At the same time though i felt bad. I know the Shermans and from my experience they are a really nice family. It's really a shame for them. However, I do enjoy watching all the fans suffer.

And that's all she wrote.

"I'll be home for Christmas, you can plan on that"

It's hard to believe that Christmas is in a few weeks. This was probably the fastest three months of my life, but then again maybe I say that every year. I'm not sure if I'm more excited for Christmas and my birthday or for the week off of work that I'll spend in LaGrange. It's snowed enough up here to make it seem like Christmas is actually coming. Now that it's been a few days since the snow first came it's not quite as treacherous to drive in. This is Wisconsin, you would think "they" would know how to handle snow. Yet, year after year the streets of Milwaukee barely get plowed. I don't understand it in the slightest.

I put up my own Christmas tree and, although a little pathetic, it looks pretty good.

Every time I think of something really good to write about, my Internet never works when I get home. That has happened many times in the last week or so. I wish I remembered what all those ideas where now that I can finally update. Oh well, guess this is all you get for now.

This is what being the assistant is all about...

Favorite Christmas song of the moment: Christmas Canon

Today at work my boss was standing outside my cubicle for a little while, looking as if he was thinking real hard. I must have turned and gave him a "what are you doing?" kind of look because then he came in and asked me what was the most unique thing I've seen. I continued to just kind of look at him funny I think. We talked briefly about the Scion and Prius and how they are ugly cars. Then he moved on to ask some other people. He had explained how he's got this idea he's working on and he needs some ideas. He didn't elaborate what this "idea" is. So I spent the last hour of work just kind of staring at various things at my desk thinking of things that might be "really unique," but not having any real direction of what kind of things to be things to be thinking of. After awhile I thought of the Segways, and after spending 10 minutes trying to remember what they were called I walked over to his office to tell him my idea. After trying to describe what I was thinking of, he figured out what Segways were (which I must say because my description was horrible). His response: "That's a good idea. That's a really good ideal. Wow, thanks. Let me know if you come up with anything else." I must say, for such a stupid thing, I really did appreciate the compliment. About half an hour later he came by to ask someone else because he still needed one more idea. I still don't know what he's doing, but he needs to be able to show pictures of these "unique things."

He really thinks I should work on writing a book. In fact he suggested why not start now. I had told him eventually some day I wanted to. He said some day could be now. I've been putting much more thought into it lately and have come up with a few ideas. Then again, all of this could become a book if you think about it. I might need to elaborate on some stuff, but hey you never know.

Today's entry is brought to from my cubicle

Working the day before Thanksgiving is useless. I have no work to actually do and half the office is gone. I've successful done about an hour of work so far today and now I am out of work to do. It's super that I still have three and a half more hours of sitting here doing nothing.

This past weekend was the start of deer gun hunting in the fine state of Wisconsin. This is something that I will never understand. It is not limited to gun hunting, just hunting in general. Why anyone would want to go sit out in the woods, in the cold, for hours on end and not making any noise is so far beyond me. I have no moral qualms with hunting, especially deer hunting. There is after all a mass overpopulation of deer — might as well shoot them. My problem with hunting is that I simply can not begin to fathom how it is fun. I doubt I ever will understand it either, unless of course someone kidnaps me and forces me to hunt and I miraculously have the best time of my life. That of course is doubtful, very doubtful. Besides not understanding the “fun” involved in hunting, I don’t like it because I absolutely hate having to drive behind the car that has a deer strapped to the top of it or hanging out of the bed of a pickup. Kill all the deer you want, but don’t force me to have to look at it for 20 miles while I drive behind you. I saw at least 2 cars on Monday driving home from work that had deer attached to the back.

This past weekend was also the start of Christmas season in Milwaukee. When I got into my car on Thursday after work and turned on the radio my ears were greeted by the sounds of Christmas music. I enjoy Christmas music as much of the next guy, but pre-Thanksgiving just seems too early. However, that has not stopped me from listening to it since then. Mostly I think I’ve been listening to it because the station that plays it is the one that I find the least annoying in the morning. After all, beggars can’t be choosers. Thursday night was also when they lit the county Christmas tree in Milwaukee and had a big Christmas light spectacular kind of thing in Pere Marquette Park. Saturday was the Holiday parade. I guess this way it doesn’t take away from Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving weekend, but if you really think about it doesn’t starting all this Christmas hoopla before Thanksgiving take away from turkey day anyway?

Since I’ve been listening to Christmas music for almost a week I’ve heard that Christmas Shoes song a handful of times. The song is nice enough and I guess tells a good story, but in my book it is the worst Christmas song out there. It is the most depressing song I’ve ever heard in my life. Christmas should not about being depressed, though that’s what it is for so many people; it should be about happiness and celebration. The hippopotamus song is another horrible song out there. However, this song is bad simply because it is annoying. The singer’s voice is annoying, the lyrics are annoying and its ability to get stuck in your head for the entire day is super annoying. Just thinking about it has it stuck in my head now.

Merry Christmas! Oh wait, it’s only Thanksgiving … I forgot. Happy Thanksgiving!

Deadline driven

In my line of work you would expect deadlines to be a very present detail. I am the kind of person who needs deadlines to work efficiently. I need structure to what I do. I need to know how long I should be writing something and when I need to be done with it. Surprisingly, this is not how it seems to work at the magazine. I'm told my stories should be between 1,200 and 1,500 words, but if i need more or less space I should just say so. When I don't have enough information to keep a story going for 1,200 words that is a useful guideline. However, many times I could keep going with a story for pages and pages. I need more structure than that. I also only know when the whole magazine needs to be done by, but am never told when the deadline for my stories are. I've managed to create deadlines for myself, but that still makes it hard because I know that it's not really a true deadline. I need the stress of a looming deadline to work. I always have. In sense, it's why I got into this and stuck with this. I thrived off the stress and pressure of getting something done and to the printer.

Sidenote: I was watching Gilmore Girls this week and one of the characters wrote a book and had it published. I think one day that is something I'd like to attempt. We'll see.

Traveling girl

Wednesday morning I left for my very first business trip. Four of us drove to Grand Rapids, Mich., for the Industrial Woodworking Midwest Expo. To describe the trip in one word, it was interesting. I was really worried about the drive up there and wanting to kill one of the people that went with. However, the 5 hour drive went surprisingly quickly and for the most part he didn't get on my nerves. The show began on Thursday at 9. So from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. I was pretty much on my feet. I was warned that my feet were going to kill no matter what shoes I wore and I would have blisters in places I never had blisters before. I didn't believe the blister part as I've had blisters in every possible area on my feet. Running will do that to your feet. I opted not to argue though and just took the advice for what it was. I expected my feet to hurt by the end of the day, and I even figured my knees would probably be bothering me. What I didn't expect was the intense soreness I had in my hips by the end of the day. It was like nothing I've ever experienced before in my life. Luckily, I spent the 3 hours we were at the show on Friday sitting at our booth. My legs are still hurting today. Hopefully tomorrow I am fully recovered. Over all the show was a good experience. It was a little hard for me to get into the swing of thing because my job consisted of walking up to random people, introducing myself and handing out my business card. It was a lot of shmoozing, which is not my strong point in any way shape or form. It is simply not something I am comfortable with doing. I imagine it will get easier in time when I am going to these things more, but at the same time it just is not appealing to me.

Sidenote: The number of overweight children disgusts me. There is really no reason for little kids to be so fat. A few random chubby kids is normal, but the majority of kids I see are fat and that's not normal.

Don't stop believing

It's been two days now since the greatest day of my life (going to the World Series, duh), and I still don't know if I have the words to describe the excitement and thrill of being there. It was an insane day, but well worth the gas and sleep that I lost and the cold I have now. I'm still trying to recover from not getting any sleep Sunday night, but I'm still trying to calm down from the excitement too. It would have been even better to be sitting with the whole family, but Mike and I had a ball sitting together. There were high fives all over the place, jumping up and down. Sitting in the cold and rain strangers became friends Sunday night on the South Side. It was even more exciting than being at the Marquette game when they won the game that sent them to the Final Four. That was more nerve wracking, but the World Series was by far a bigger moment in my life. There are so many more things I have to say, but I just can't come up with the words to describe it. Unbelievable. Go Sox!

Living room

Dining room