This past week has been fairly crazy for us here in Chicago.  It was one of those weeks that the cosmos aligned properly for absolutely everything to go wrong, and even things that you didn't think could go wrong some how managed to go wrong.  Nothing huge -- no hospital visits for us, no sicknesses -- just general mayhem all week long.  We are both glad to see the week over.  We also both excited that there are only a few weeks left of this term.  We can't decide why we don't start a week or two earlier in the summer though.  We've not had a break all semester and our first one will be Thanksgiving.  We're both burned out along with everyone else around us.  And after we come back from Thanksgiving we will only have a week of classes then a week of finals and the term will be over.  It hard to believe that this term is already over, but especially after the general mayhem of this past week, we are ready for it.  That means I need to get more serious about finding a job, so hopefully that will go well. 

It has been unseasonably warm, and we're sure that means we'll be in for it once winter finally arrives.  We've even thought of turning our air conditioners back on and we have definitely opened the windows again.  We think the drastic weather is somewhat responsible for the illnesses going around campus.  We've managed to be lucky though and not get sick. 

It's November?

Well, we have a couple of weekends off before Thanksgiving. We don't really have much planned except to stay home and rest up. We're still not sure about Christmas plans so if you know when you are going to be in the Tulsa/OKC area please let me know so we can try and work something out.

We've got four weeks left of this semester. It's wild to think that in a few short weeks this too shall pass. Hopefully the meetings I've suggested to debrief from this semester will form and be productive. The meetings will make both Chris and my life easier, so now to get my boss to comply and then show up!

Overall this past week went well. Monday I had an esophageal manometry test (they stick a catheter down your throat and measure how the muscles work together as they pull it out 1 cm at a time) and a 24 hour pH test done. I'm not sure about the results yet, but the tests are done. I had the manometry done because I perpetually feel like there is something stuck at the back of my throat. The doc says that any GI oriented auto-immune disease can cause that, and since I've actually got 2 different GI based auto-immune diseases, she thinks that's really it. I had the pH test done to monitor stomach acid and such. I'm not going to put much weight on that test -- I wasn't able to eat much with a catheter stuck up my nose, down the back of my throat and into my stomach. And we know that if I don't eat then I don't get sick or feel bad. However, we're not exactly pleased with the idea of me not eating... After starting a week like that the rest of the week seemed very uneventful.

We've had really pretty summer like weather here this weekend. We had thought about putting the a/c covers on the beginning of October because it was cold and rainy all the time. For the past week we've had nothing but sun for the most part and though we've got slight rain forcasted this week, we're going to continue with the above average temps. I just hope we don't pay for the extra warm weather come January and February.

That's really it from this part of the country. We'd always love to hear from you and hope that all is well with you.

A shot of history

For Halloween we got to go to the Illinois-Michigan game at Illinois. We weren't sure if we were going to get to go or not since our friend with the tickets was supposed to work. Friday he called though and was like, "I get the weekend off. Still down for the game?" We said yes and piled in the car Saturday morning. We drove down to Champaign and went to the game. It was interesting going to a Big 10 game. Chris and I still contend that no one plays football like the Big 12 South, and that we're just simply spoiled by being able to watch good football. We walked around campus some and then walked to the stadium. Since it was Halloween several people were dressed up so there were all sorts of fun costumes to see. Linda and I went as butterflies while Chris went as a "serial killer" or Morpheous (as a kid on the street called him) but in reality had his trench been leather he would have made a good Neo. Our seats were high in the balcony, and on the end zone, but we got to see several second half touchdowns. We were also amid both Michigan and Illinois fans so it was interesting to hear the banter. While we had been out walking we heard someone try and compare the rivalry to OU-Texas. The fact that the fans can sit peacefully in the stands together is a red flag that the rivalry doesn't compare to OU-Texas.

The first half of the game Michigan seemed to have control of the game. After the half though they got denied a TD because the guy's knee was down on the 1. So they had a 1st down and 1 to go. They ended up not making the TD from there and that really seemed to beat Michigan down. Illinois ended up scoring 3 TDs in the third quarter. Then in the fourth quarter they got a turn over and ended up scoring another TD and a FG. At this point the banter between the Michigan and Illinois fans around us got pretty heated. One Michigan fan was like, "Orange is an awful color. I hate this state." and so on and on. Since Juice was the QB she was even talking about how stupid a name Juice was and how she never wanted any juice again. Illinois ended up winning at home -- something they hadn't done since 1983. A pic of the final scoreboard...
Other than that not much has been up here. We're glad that October is finally over because hopefully that means it won't rain as much. Since it is now November we're likely to start getting cooler temps and snow. If it snows as much as it rained in October we'll easily be under several feet of snow. I honestly think we've been under a flood watch the entire month. We've got so much water around everywhere it looks like spring floods after all the snow melts. We're not really looking forward to the time change either because now it will start getting dark at 5, and the days will only be getting shorter until Christmas. I'm getting excited about the prospect of snow, but Chris isn't really. School is almost over as well, so we're getting excited about that. Not much else is new right now. Hope all is well with you.

Pumpkins and Fall Fun!

Since my last post a lot has happened. After Stoops and Seven left we had our small group over. It was small, but it was fun. Its nice getting to know a few more people around here to hang out with. I'm also playing volleyball with them for the winter, so moving to indoor volleyball has been interesting. We really need to have a team practice, but can't seem to find the time to practice.

The weekend after that was OU/Texas. We went downtown to the OU sports bar and watched the game with other OU alum and supporters. It was great to have everything in the bar decorated in Crimson and Cream and see random people who we didn't know, but were all cheering for the same team. After the LONG OU/Texas game I ran a 5k. It was kind of chilly, but it went well. It was my first 5k of the year. I did 8:40 miles, and managed to not get soaked or filthy (impressive since it has pretty much rained all of October and the course was a chat trail). After the race we went to my friend Sara's place for an apartment warming party. She and her boyfriend have a GREAT view of Chicago and the lake. We managed to see fireworks off of Navy Pier which was really cool. The skyline was decorated in pink for breast cancer awareness month.

That Sunday we went to a pumpkin patch with Linda and John. We tried going to a pumpkin farm but it was way to long of a line for way too much money to even think about it. Plus it was geared for having children with you, so we just went to a small pumpkin stand. We managed to find four pumpkins to carve. We actually carved the pumpkins yesterday and ended up with some fun ones. I still have one left to carve, but not sure what I want to carve into the pumpkin.

I've been working at the zoo the past couple of weekends. The zoo has a special dinosaur exhibit and other fun Halloween stuff to do. We're actually talking about going there for Halloween to ride the Tram of Terror, the Haunted Carousel, and see the animatronic dinos at night.

We've both been busy with school as my project has gone live. When the students actually start working on the research projects and no one has read the module it causes all sorts of headaches for both Chris and me. We had a TA think it wise to put paper in an oven and a whole host of other fun things like that last week.

I went to the doc on Friday. I have to have another scope done, as well as a 24 hour motility (to see why I'm having trouble swallowing) and pH test (to see why I still have heartburn). That actually happens next Monday and I'm not sure about the next scope.

Here are some random pictures from the month...

Toy Story in 3D

Our big excitement from this past week was getting to see Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3D. We watched the first one, had a 10 minute intermission with Toy Story Trivia, then watched the second one. We went on Saturday with a few hundred other parents and children. We bought our tickets early that day and then showed up about an hour before the movie was to start. We had to stand in line, and we were the only ones without children. It was crazy, and we even got to see a 4 year old dressed up as Buzz! That unfortunately was the only costume we saw. I suppose though that those adults who dress up for Star Wars and Harry Potter don't really dress up for animated kids movies they grew up on so that kind of makes sense.

The movies were really neat. I did not get to see them in the theater the first time around so seeing them on big screen wearing crazy glasses was fun. It was funny to see kids reach for things they thought they could touch. Several of the kids around us did that several times thoughout the movies, so I think the 3D was realistic enough. It was also really cool to hear the gasps and exclamations of surprise for the effects that happen in the movie. You know like when Buzz proves to Woody that he can fly and the angle was from Buzz's helmet, with the movie being in 3D it actually kind of felt you were doing the car track yourself.

It was also nice to go out on a date. Since we can't go out to eat anywhere we've kind of become homebodies and don't ever go out. We still weren't able to go out for dinner after the movies, but it worked.

We've also really gotten involved in a small group from the Lutheran church we've been attending. They started a new group that meets later so we don't feel bad about showing up late, since we start later and that makes it less likely that we will be late in the first place. We're doing a "One Church" study -- so imagining what could happen if all the denominations stopped fighting and bickering over minute things that don't matter and all truly focused on doing God's work while here on earth. It reminds me of Mosaic in Little Rock and how they didn't care what your theological background was, just that you had a passion for serving Christ.

Anyway, I need to get going with my day. I hope everyone is having a good day and that all is well.

Race for the Cure

Last weekend was the Race for the Cure here in Chicago. They added a 10k race this year and I decided to participate. Chris discovered that if I have some external motivation (like races to run) that I stick to my diet significantly better than if I don't have some external motivation. I decided to run the 10k because of the challenge the distance would bring. I've been regularly running 4-5 miles for 4-5 weeks now, so taking an extra couple of miles was something I thought I could handle. I did well. I averaged 10 min miles, which is very slow for me. I also had to walk several times and so know that when I was running I was doing significantly less than 10 min miles. I'll get the time down, but I was just happy to be out there. It was a pretty run, even though it was so humid we felt like we were swimming. We ran through Chicago's Grant Park and on the Lake Front. The lake was steely gray and choppy. I missed having my mom there this year, but am looking forward to next years race. We are trying to get a team of people together to do the race next year so think of us! If you want to plan a Chicago trip to do the race with us you're more than welcome to! :)

Last week was pretty mild. Fall finally came and we had warmer temperatures the first few days of fall than we did most of summer. Last night though we had wind, as in 50+ mph standing wind. The wind whistled as it went through the screens and the air conditioner. Normally it only does that when we are getting a lot of snow (and having the phenomenon of blowing snow -- which really really sucks by the way) so I expected about 6 inches of snow when I woke up this morning. Apparently I even dreamed that it snowed so when I got up this morning and there was no snow I was kind of disappointed.

Other than that, I'm finishing up my first round of midterms for this semester. I can't believe it is week 6. I have been prepared, but its wild with everyone catching on to the fact that we are over 1/3rd of the way through the semester. I do have an exam tomorrow, so I'm off to bed. Hope all is well with everyone.

White Sox win!

We had the opportunity to go to a Sox-Royals game last night and we took it. We took a very slow train in and then managed to get lost in the stadium. We've decided that U.S. Cellular (or the Cell as it is referred to around town) has the worst signage of anywhere. We sat behind the bull pen for the Royals. The Sox ended up winning 13-3. The Sox hit two grand slams. Since my interest in baseball is all of zero (or approaching zero if you want to take the limit of it) Chris was like, "If you were waiting for something exciting to happen, it just did."

Anyway, we went with some friends from church, actually it was the softball team. They've even asked me to play softball again with them next year. We'll see if that happens. Who knows what will be going on next summer. We've decided that we kind of like our holding pattern right now -- we are managing with our jobs and we like the Chicago area, so we don't really want anything to change. That's typically a good recipe for change though, so we'll see what happens.

Right now we're just waiting for the season to change. We're having a nice Indian Summer here and it finally rained today. We're not really looking forward to the autumn equinox coming up this week -- that means we'll start seeing less and less of the sun. But we do have some fun trips planned for the winter that will allow us access to sun in normal daylight hours. This will be our third winter in Chicago, hopefully it won't be as bad as last.

We've got a busy week ahead -- Chris is alternating working early and late shifts at work since his co-worker is back. I have a pchem exam, and work to do with my adviser so we can get undergraduates in the labs starting the 28th. Does anyone know where September went?