World Cup Mania

Unfortunately the USA is now out of the World Cup.  We've watched all the US games and managed to watch a good portion of the other games as well.  Currently I'm actually streaming the Argentina-Mexico match, well streaming the radio at least.  The game is on ABC and I just didn't want to deal with people to see the match.  Both teams have been playing really well, so it will be unfortunate which team gets to advance.  While it was great that the US made it to the Round of 16, I was kind of hoping they'd make the quarter finals again.  Once again though, it seems Ghana has our number and is a young up and coming team.  Maybe they'll go on to win the whole cup and we'll have a host of records broken -- like the first cup in Africa being won by an African side.  While I'm saddened that the US is out, I'm glad that I'm not so emotionally involved with other teams.  The possible exception being Germany.  But even watching the game this morning I didn't have the same desire for Germany to win as I've had for the USA to win. 

We watched the Germany-England game this morning.  England looked like they had velcro on their cleats and were bogged down while Germany looked fluid and fast.  It was kind of ridiculous.  Twice this cup Germany has scored 4 goals in a game.  This is ridiculous for most youth competitive teams, so having four goals against you in the world cup seems incredibly excessive.  Portugal beat North Korea 7-0 though and that was definitely excessive. 

The past week has brought heat, t-storms and tornadoes here.  Fortunately the past few weeks of course I've been talking about weather for my Earth Science course.  We got to go outside several times and look at clouds.  The zoo has been the zoo and we're getting TONS of surveys.  We regularly get about 500 surveys a week.  We're managing to keep on top of the surveys and the databases.  It wasn't something I thought the team of RAs would ever get together, but am quite proud that we did manage it.  We can now color when we have free time as opposed to cutting stuff, copying stuff, and entering data.  

Chris is in the midst of summer school.  We forget how much work goes into summer school, and is is wearing us both out a bit.  Well, its now halftime for the game so we're going to get some stuff done and I won't be at the computer. 

Hope everything is well and cool where you are. 

Just a few minutes

I want to procrastinate working on my powerpoints for Earth Science so I'll blog instead. 

The pasta I wrote about last time turned out really really well.  We're going to make more in fact.  It was a nice buckwheat pasta and it was tasty with tomato sauce.  I know that isn't how the Koreans or Japanese traditionally eat the buckwheat pasta, but it was tasty none the less.  Today I'm going to try to make a simple rice pasta.  It shouldn't be too difficult, but it will be me going at it alone instead of with Chris's help.  We'll see how big of a mess I make.  I just need to remember to keep the dough small. 

I've got a day off of the zoo and am not going to the University since I'm not sure if my boss would be around.  I also am going to go downtown tomorrow to watch the US beat Algeria and advance to the round of 16 in the World Cup.  We've been watching a lot of World Cup lately.  We managed to have someone taking pics of us at the sports bar across the street during the US-England game.  During the US-Slovenia game I was told off by Linda for being too loud.  Chris had said I couldn't have a vuvuzela and now both Linda and Tom (co-worker of Chris) agree.  They were surprised that Stoops in TX couldn't hear me. 

After making pasta I did a triathalon.  It was a lot of fun.  I had a late wave start for the swim and so it was interesting.  We had to be out of the transition area (where you keep your gear for the other legs of the race) by 645 since the elite people started at 7.  My swim wave started so late that those people were done before I even started swimming.  I did quite well though.  My overall time was 1:30.  I did a 14 min 750 swim, a 46 min 23k bike, and a 24 min 5k. I had 6 minutes in transition time as well so that's great.  I participated in it with Jolene.  Chris and her boyfriend, Tim, came out and cheered us on.  It was quite a bit of fun wondering when I was going to see them and where they would pop up.  I surprised them several times by how quickly I was riding and running.  Afterwards we went to breakfast (well, lunch) at Mimi's cafe and I didn't get sick.  They have a gluten free menu and I just had an omelet, but still that's something.  I couldn't have the muffins (which is a tragedy) and then I couldn't have the potatoes.  One of these days I'll figure out what I can eat and go from there. 

Other than this not much is going on.  We haven't had anything damaged by the recent storms, we haven't even lost power.  There have been some great lighting storms and if only I had a good camera to catch the lightning it would have been perfect.  Friday it was great because in my Earth Science course we were talking about weather.  It made the perfect day to discuss what creates weather and how weather might be different from climate.

Anyway, I should get on my earth science lectures and go with the topics of fronts and wind patterns that we'll talk about this Friday.

Pasta Making

I realize that it has been a few weeks since I blogged anything.  Fortunately many people don't follow this blog weekly so most won't even realize it.  I'm waiting for pasta to set before I can cut it so I have a few minutes to sit down and write. 

For the most part summer has started with a bang.  In the end of May we did stuff with friends for Chris's 30th birthday.  We started the weekend going to a Fire game on Thursday night.  Then Friday night Chris had friends over for a wine and cheese party.  Then Saturday we went paintballing so that everyone could get shot.  It ended up being an experience and I'm still wearing a few of the bruises.  One of the bruises in my thigh still hurts when I run.  Sunday night we went downtown and simply hung out for the most part.  Then Monday we took a train out of the city and got to rest before a busy week. 

I've also started working at the zoo and at a place called Westwood College.  I'm teaching Earth Science on Friday nights from 6-10.  It is going well I think.  I'm not the "traditional" teacher, and most people seem to prefer how I teach to the "traditional" way, so that's a step in the right direction.  The zoo is crazy.  We are taking about three times as many surveys this year as we did last year, and we've got a few in the works that we are trying to get ready to roll out by the end of the month.  It isn't that difficult to get a nine hour day in there if that tells you how much stuff we have to do. 

We had our 5th anniversary this week.  It was Thursday and it was a lot of fun.  I went for a bike ride and a run, and then we went out for supper.  We went to the Chama Gaucha restaurant.  It is a Brazilian steakhouse.  We went there for Mother's Day and hadn't been back since.  The manager remembered us though so it was quite interesting.  I didn't get sick for a second time, and I even ate the bread on teh table!  There is something to be said about being able to eat the bread on the table. 

Today I didn't have to work since tomorrow I'm participating in a triathalon.  I'm quite excited and nervous, all at the same time.  I'm scared to admit what time I will be getting up in the morning, but hey, it's all worth it.  My friend Jolene and I are doing it, as well as a few other ladies from the church.  We'll see how it goes.  It has been much more fun to train for than a half marathon is.  I do a lot of the stuff as cross training anyway, but this way it is required.  Hopefully I'll make a good time. 

Not much else is new here. 

Master Carolyn and such

Since grades came out this week I officially got my masters degree in Chemistry.  I'm currently looking for a position that will use my degree and such.  I was able to get an adjunct teaching position at a community college near me.  I will be teaching Earth Science on Friday nights from 6-10.  It should be interesting.  It will probably be like teaching high school again to some sort as the college is for less "traditional" types of students I've been told. This means that starting Memorial Day weekend and going for 8 weeks I will be working three jobs!  It should be interesting to say the least.  I wanted to teach two sections of earth science so that I didn't have to work at UIC for the summer, but couldn't make the time fit with hours I need to keep at the zoo.  One of these days I'll have one job that I make enough money in so that I only need one job, and I'll be using the snazzy new chemistry degree I've got as well. 

Other than that, this week hasn't been super exciting.  The weather has been rainy and so we've not been riding bikes.  Though today was great.  Jolene and I rode about 22 miles to a town called St. Charles.  It was neat to be on the flooding Fox River.  As we rode, we could see the dirt and sediment from where the water was last week.  It was especially nice coming back because the trail had cleared up quite a bit and we were able to get a good cadence going -- we did 19 mph for a while there into the wind and it was GREAT!  Maybe tomorrow I will be sore. 

This week I also made a rosemary foccacia loaf, a chocolate pound cake and red velvet cake.  Neither of the cakes are as "creamy" in texture as regular flour stuff, but they taste close enough that they will work.  :)  Sweet success in the kitchen like that is always a good thing.  For the foccacia I used chickpea flour and it turned out really well.  I'm going to investigate how hard it is to grind up chickpeas because I could do that myself.  I've also started researching pasta making methods as we're wanting some variety in pasta and my mom got me a pasta attachment for my kitchen aid for completing my masters.  It looks snazzy and should be all sorts of fun.  I just have to figure out some easy way to dry the stuff. 

This week should be interesting -- tomorrow my office mates are throwing me a party and I get to meet with my advisor.  It also looks like it might be sunny some of the time so we'll be able to ride to the train station some.  We'll see what happens I suppose.  I hope that everyone has had a good week and has a great week coming up.  Enjoy the wonderful spring weather -- whether it brings tornadoes or brilliant blue skies. 

Mother's Day Weekend

Mother's Day weekend started Friday with my mom coming to Chicago.  We went up the Sears Tower and this is part of the display that you might see and get to read a lot while waiting to go up the tower on a busy day.  There were all sorts of interesting facts about the tower that I didn't know!  It was neat to see everything from 103 stories up.  When the lady asked my mom for the credit card and told her the price of three adults she said, "And what does that come with a souvenir or anything?" because it was shocking to her.  A list of the neater things we got to see:  A comparison of how many "you" it would take to get to the height of the Sears Tower,  a movie about the completion of it, a comparison of different buildings as you went up the elevator, the entire city of Chicago from 103 floors up, the "ledges." Here's a picture of our "feet" on the ledge.  There had been school groups walking out and laying down, but we decided that just our feet on the ledge would be enough.  I'm still not convinced that it is worth

For Saturday we went to a White Sox game with the group from church.  The Sox ended up winning so that was a nice change from the rest of the season.  We got to see some rowdy people kicked out by security -- they had been heckling the right fielder and security came for them.  It was funny to see them wonder what they had done.  It was funny to listen to them trying to get under the opponents skin, but they apparently went a bit far.  It was a fairly cool game -- in the mid forties with a nice wind.  We busted out the beanies for the game!  Here's a picture of us at the game:

We stayed the night in the Palmer House Hotel.  It had a GORGEOUS lobby, they really don't make lobbies like that anymore.  Overall it was just a hotel and quite loud for our tastes -- there didn't seem to be any sound dampening in the hotel.   Today for Mother's Day we tried a new Brazilian Steakhouse -- and it was good!  I haven't gotten much other than a nasty headache (and it could be much much worse) so we may go back.  We didn't think about what they fried the plantains in until after I had put one in my mouth.  We then thought about it a second and realized they probably fried them in an oil that I shouldn't eat.  We'll go back to the restaurant and see if I don't eat the fried stuff how I feel.  The manager was great even though he remarked, "And you don't really eat anything ever." upon seeing my card.  The waiter asked, "Allergic to all of these things?" when he looked at the card, so we'll add that to my collection of stumping the wait staff at a restaurant.  However, this does increase our number of Carolyn approved restaurants to three, so we're stoked -- I mean that's 50% more places I can go out to!  The other really neat thing about this place was the rolls -- they were made of yucca root flour!  This meant I could have the bread that was put on the table!  How cool is that? 

Anyway, we've taken a part the fridge and need to put it back together and get to bed.  We'll see how this week goes, but after the weekend it promises to be more mundane. 
 

May already?

Well, softball season is going full swing.  Bad pun, but hey, its late.  I'm actually blogging now as I am rather wired and tired all at the same time.  It is finals week and I took a final today.  I also thought I was going to get an allergy shot after my final -- but I ended up with 4 shots instead.  After the first one, I itched a little and so the doc suggested we do a second as he knows that I'm more than willing to speed things up on the shot department.  Well, apparently the second one was a bit much.  I got ended up getting 2 epi shots (one for each arm), an antihistamine, and some prednisone before I left the office.  I also believe that my doc didn't want me playing softball.  He didn't believe that I play a mean benchwarmer/sub.  He kept me for observation for a long time and I ended up missing a train able to make me even close to time on the game.  Overall the epi is doing wonders, though my body is really sore now.  Last week for softball I got to play second base.  I had my shining moment for the season with an out!  Apparently you have to run around base defensive players (I think the people not hitting are considered defensive players) when the ball is near them.  I stood in the way of the 200 lb man running from 1st to 2nd, got bowled over, didn't really realize what had happened but he was out!  Everyone on my team was worried that I took such a bad hit.  He hit my butt though and so I just kind of rocked on my feet.  Who knew that you couldn't knock a soccer player over by running in to them? 

This week is finals week at the university.  This means that Chris is working on getting the labs ready for the summer session that starts the second full week of June.  I'm taking finals -- I took one today and should end up with an A in the course.  I take my next one (and FINAL one) on Friday at 8 am. 

I also have an interview with Argonne tomorrow morning.  Hopefully I'll be able to get enough sleep that I can be coherent enough to make them give me a position.  It would be doing inorganic chemistry in air sensitive environments (I really like working in air sensitive environments actually -- the big gloves are GREAT!! and I'm just a nerd like that) on batteries.  We'll see how it goes. 

Really not much is new here.  It is getting warmer and looking much like Spring.  If anyone wants to come visit let us know. 

Anyway, I should probably go.  Not much is really up or exciting here. 

Fire 2, Dynamo 0

Last night we went to the Chicago Fire game.  Chris has been telling me for two years now to simply pick a game I want to go to, get tickets, and we'd go.  I've been wanting to see a MLS game since the league started and I finally got to go!  We had tickets to the Miller Light Party Deck.  It was a deck behind the southern goal.  It has some GREAT seats and great views of the goal area.  We went with John and Linda and froze our butts off.  It was about 50 degrees with a nice stiff 30 mph wind and rain.  Thankfully the deck was covered and we only got the rain being blown on us.  We have decided that going to more Fire games is definitely the way to go.  I also think that we have found a Chicago team that can win games!  (A small feat considering the Sox, the Cubs, the Bears and the Bulls all seem to be failing miserably lately.  The Hawks have been winning for the most part, but are always forgotten about.) Anyway, here are a few pictures from the game to demonstrate our seats and the game in general. 

Kick off.  Fire is in white and Dynamo is in Orange. 

It was nice to see the pros couldn't form a wall 10' feet back and had to be moved by the ref, much like the 10 year olds.  :)

This is where we stood, they thankfully lowered the net once the game started. 

The Dynamo keeper.  He did this a lot since the ball was blown to our end of the field regularly.  It was a long game for this keeper and he wasn't happy having his goal so close to the enemy party deck.