OXYGEN!!!

Sometimes when I'm feeling pensive or in need of a little oxygen, I take the green line out to the Garfield Park Conservatory.  This is one of my favorite places in Chicago, especially in the winter time.  It's a huge, old greenhouse with room after room of incredible plants.

I was hoping to skip town for the new year, but it didn't work out and I was feeling the need for a little warmth and fresh air.  Ironically, one of the only places to find fresh air in Chicago in the winter is indoors, here at the conservatory.  They usually close at 5pm, but on Wednesdays they stay open until 8pm.  It happened to be Wednesday yesterday and I decided to go and read amongst the plants.  When I arrived, I was surprised to find that, though the conservatory was open, most of the lights had been turned off (or perhaps not turned on, as it is a big, glass building with plenty of natural light during the day).  Reading in this situation proved a bit difficult, so I just walked around and enjoyed the smells and extra oxygen.  Here are some pictures I managed to take with my camera propped against something to keep it steady.  If you ever find yourself looking for a place to escape to in the city, I highly recommend going here, and calling me up.

Some HUGE palms in the main (palm) room.

They're Agave plant is flowering!  This, apparently, is a rare event and the whole ordeal lasts up to a year or so.  The flowers bloom on the tips of a stalk that shoots up from the middle of the leaves and grows up to thirty feet tall.  The stalk, though I couldn't see it well in the dim light, is said to be reminiscent of asparagus (as the agave is related to asparagus).

Cool, green lights on the desert at night.

Chihuly, the famous blown glass artist, had an exhibit here a few years back in which he displayed his artwork along with the plants.  I remember thinking it was very impressive, and I was surprised at how well Chihuly was able to integrate his man-made works into the natural beauty supplied by the plants.  These are a few of the pieces he left for permanent display at the conservatory.

Outdoor Adventure Club Weekend at Kettle Moraine, Wisconsin

The outdoor adventure club's latest escapade brought us to Kettle Moraine State Park, Wisconsin (Nov. 19-21).  Kettle Moraine is a beautiful place with a landscape carved by glaciers over thousands of years.  This was, aside from a very frigid ultimate tournament at UW Whitewater in college, my first attempt at cold weather camping.  The temperature on Friday night was supposed to get down to the mid 20s and we faced a high of only mid 30s on Saturday.  I figured that with all the money I've spent on camping gear, it was time to put up or shut up.  There were six brave souls in the group and we all managed pretty well for the most part (aside from some pretty vicious blisters and poor planning/bad map reading by myself).

 Cigars, Whiskey, and a fire with wet wood.

 Oh yeah, and Spotted Cow

 Farmer brought his HAM radio, but was unable to contact any extra-terrestrial life.

 Did I mention it was the first weekend of deer (and apparently road sign) season?

 Look, Matt's almost as tall as Sarah!

 This is what I looked like when I found out Farmer brought Ginger snaps.

 Matt Woodhead and I made chili for night two.  I thought we would have had enough for lunch the next day as well, but we ate it all.  I guess when you don't eat lunch and you hike 10 miles you get extra hungry.

 We were out of water and the well near our shelter was closed due to contamination so we had to resort to Dark Lord.  Thank you Matt!

 5 or so miles into our hike out on Sunday, we made it to water.  This tasted like liquid iron.  But it was some of the best water I've tasted (which I think was influenced by the fact that I hadn't had any since the day before).  We also met yet another extremely friendly Wisconsin resident at the water pump, which further proves our theory that everyone in Wisconsin is the nicest person ever.

 Victory beers at the cars.

 Did I mention it was 50 degrees and FOGGY all day on Sunday.  Visibility was probably down to about 30 yards.

 More victory beers and a pot luck at the Fifth Quarter.  Yes, this bar was having a pot luck for the Packer's game.  Sloppy Joes, string cheese dipped in cocktail sauce, taco-bean dip = Awesome.

Matt cheated on Sarah with some Packer fans and she got super jealous.

Outdoor Adventure Club Weekend at the Indiana Dunes

I've been trying to make sure I am justifying all the money I spend on outdoor gear so I put together a little camping trip to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore last weekend.  I went there in September with my school (for the middle school retreat) and found it to be particularly beautiful and interesting.  I also am incredibly fond of jumping down dunes.  It's great to be able to get away to some pretty sweet natural setting without driving more than two hours, and considering that the National Park is located between a steel mill and two power plants, the whole place is truly incredible.  They claim (I say it as if they aren't for real) that there are eight separate ecosystems within the park (dunes, oak savannas, swamps, bogs, marshes, prairies, rivers and forests).  We were able to cover most of these in the two short days we spent there and each one was truly beautiful.  I am hoping to get out again before the year is over for a weekend in Kettle Morraine, Wisconsin and possibly stay in a yurt or a teepee.

One of the power plants in the area, as viewed from Mt. Baldy

 Falling off of Mt. Baldy

 Trash we found on the beach

 Dune burpees!!

 This is how ladies walk through the oak savannah

 S'mores with tortilla chips, giant marshmallows and dark chocolate = best idea ever

 Coffee in bed.

 Lake Burpees!

The water was beautiful in October!!

And of course, jumping down the dunes!!

Adorable/Awkward/Hilarious/WTF?! child moment of the day

This actually happened a few days ago, but is well worth sharing with those of you who might be reading my thoughts here...

I almost didn't post this because I didn't want my blog to turn into a collection of fart stories, but who cares!  I'll offer you this disclaimer:
If you appreciate good old fart jokes, keep reading, if not... you're probably lying, everyone likes fart jokes.

So I'm proctoring the standardized testing that is done at my school (standardized tests are now done on the computer, and since I work in the tech lab, I have the pleasure of watching kids take tests for two weeks).  Anyway, I was reading the instructions to the test, which I have to repeat for every class that takes a test, and upon finishing my speech, someone very close by rips a rather loud, and pretty powerful fart.  Bear in mind the fact that this was the seventh and eight grade group and, for once in their lives, they were completely silent at that moment.  I braced myself for the eminent laughter and teasing that was bound to ensue, but nothing happened!  I did my best to hide my disgust (this was a juicy one after all) and my laughter and managed to sit down and bury my face in my computer.  Just when I thought we had dodged a bullet and the kids were settling into their test, I hear another fart.  This one was at least as loud and came with at least as much force as the first.  Still no reaction from the crowd, amazing.  To make a very long (and uncomfortable) story short, this seventh grade girl sitting no more than four feet away from me proceeded to thunderously pass gas in a room with no windows and limited ventilation, filled with her classmates who were to all to be stuck there for at least 45 minutes, upwards of nine times!  I had the dean of students come over and pull her out after number nine or ten, and when asked if she was feeling ok, she replied, "Yes, why?"  And when she was told why we suspected that her stomach was upset, she replied with, "Oh!  Do you think I was being disruptive?"  WTF?!!

She came back and finished the rest of her test without farting.

Somebody kept farting on the train...

Ok, so everyone knows I'm not the best smelling dude in the world (I prefer to think of my scent as an acquired taste), but at least I try to be courteous to other people when we're in close quarters.  Anyway, the story goes like this:

I was having a lovely time NOT driving home from work (riding the Metra train).  I happened to take an earlier train than usual and it happened to be very full.  I found a seat in the upper deck, as I call it, broke out a book and began reading.  Not two pages into my read, I detected a very potent oder in the air.  It was one of those seriously thick ones, you know, the ones you can't avoid because they pretty much have a TASTE in addition to a smell.  I'm not sure if it was because of some seasonal allergies or not, but I swear my eyes started burning at the same time.  It was bad.  No big deal right?  Sometimes you just have to let one go, I can understand that, I can't say I sympathize, but I understand.  Well, wouldn't you know it, no sooner had the not so well vented train car dispelled the oder than I practically saw another cloud of noxious gas rising up from the seats below.  Just when I thought the war was over, another salvo came rising up.  At this point I started looking around for the culprit.  No one was fessing up.  No giggling, no sneering, no over innocent-looking people avoiding my stare.  I did notice a few people doing the same subtle searching I was.  I hoped they didn't think I looked guilty.  I mean, not to say that I wasn't impressed, this took some serious talent, but it wasn't my brand, and it wouldn't be right to be credited for this.

I never figured out who dealt it, but I just want to see A. if anyone reads this anymore, and B. what your thoughts might be on public flatulence.  When is it acceptable if ever?  When is it taboo?  Is it one of those "if no one finds out who did it, then it's ok" kind of things?  What would have been the appropriate punishment for such a person?  Or have they suffered enough with the pressure they had to deal with before their "release?"

Holy Freakin' Woolly Mammoth Batman!!

And then there's one of me holding a tarantula. She was very soft and gentle!

Also, there was a baby Woolly Mammoth. No, not a fossilized skeleton, a perfectly preserved, baby freaking Mammoth from about 20,000 years ago!!!

She was incredible!

I've also always wanted to see someone riding one of these:

Thanks to Florida for hooking us up BIG TIME!! Even though I had to do some things I wasn't proud of with Morley to get a ticket over his girlfriend... But I'd say it was worth it in the end.

Adorable/Awkward/Hilarious/WTF?! child moment of the day

This may fall under "Things to do with 4 year olds on a Friday afternoon when you want to entertain both them and yourself," but either way, I GOT STICKERED!!!

It was in celebration of the 100th day of school, which was actually yesterday, but I wasn't available for stickering yesterday. Remember when 100 was THE BIGGEST NUMBER EVER?!! I do, and I was reminded today when the preschoolers, very gently to my surprise, attached 100 stickers to me as I sat in a chair and submitted to their cuteness. I'm sure I'll have a chuckle later on when I reach in the washing machine and pull out the fifty or so pieces of paper saying "Great Job!" "Shine!" (with image of smiling sun) "WOW!" "KEEP IT NEAT!" and "SUPER!"

Also, one of the preschoolers personally counted to 100 in front of me, showing that he could, in fact, complete the almost impossible task of counting that high.

Reading

I am currently taking a course in "teaching reading" in grad school. Despite some shortcomings in my expectations from the teacher, I am finding the class interesting in that it is making me think back on how I've developed (or in some ways, not developed) my ability to read. I remember really disliking having to read books in school. Even the books who's stories I really enjoyed. Reading seems to be one of the only pleasures in life that I am able to really slow down and enjoy. Perhaps this is better said: reading is one of the only pleasures in life that I am not able to consume at an enormous rate. I remember enjoying being read to very much. I remember memorizing Dr. Seuss books and not letting my parents get one word wrong when they read them to me. I remember laughing, crying, blah, blah, blah. But I just HATE reading on a deadline, and it shows.

Right now, I think I have a book mark in four books, all of which I have been reading for much longer than I care to admit for how short they are. I'm always impressed with those people who can sit down and read for a whole day, just knocking our book after book. I am not one of those people. I'm not sure what it is, but when I am really enjoying a book. I like that I can get my satisfaction in and still know that there will be more the next time I pick it up. There's certainly also a part of me that can't sit still that long staring at a book, which is really too bad, because I don't seem to have that trouble when it comes to tv, even when there's nothing on. Either way, I know that when I get a really good book in my hands, I feel this sense of disappointment when it ends.

I've heard other people talk about how much they just want to get to the end of a book. They just power through and move on as soon as they can. It certainly doesn't work that way with me. I mean, everything else in life, I seem to have no problem taking in excess if it gives me some sort of pleasure. I'll be slurping down a delicious beer or glass of wine or inhaling a tasty (and often expensive) meal without pause, but when it comes to a good story, I (perhaps due to my lacking ability) seem to be able to steady the pace and "enjoy the journey" with ease. I often rate how much I like a book by how much I wish it wasn't over upon reading the last page.

Adorable/Awkward/Hilarious/WTF?! child moment of the day

This could be the greatest WTF moment yet. During an after school "Future Problem Solvers" session in the tech lab where the students were researching disaster recovery in third world countries, one of the seventh grade girls asked (I wrote this down so that I would get it right word for word), "Is there a shipping fee on orphans?"

Wow.

Too soon? Too soon?

adorable/Awkward/Hilarious/WTF?! child moment of the day

So this little boy (a first grader) comes up to me during lunch to inform me that some of the people sitting at his table at lunch just said that god is a made up concept and anyone who believes in god is stupid - yes, the lunchroom conversations at this school involve religion and philosophy mixed with the usual shit talking. He went on to say that they were certainly entitled to their opinion but that he "is a Christian" and found it offensive that they would say that kind of thing. He also mentioned that he knew that "they are Christians" and that they ought to be more respectful of their religion. Finishing his statement he asked me if I would go over there and tell them that what they were saying is wrong and that god does exist.

Sometimes I think these kids take on a little too much emotional baggage...

Adorable/Awkward/Hilarious/WTF?! child moment of the day

So a bunch of kindergartners are in the tech lab using the paint program (killing time while their teacher grades stuff) one of the girls wanted to tell me that she went to a Greek dinner/dance with her father. While she was explaining what they did and that her Greek last name was... she said some word with a thousand syllables that sounded pretty Greek... right after she said her last name, some other boy from across the room pipes in: "Eh, it's all Greek to me."

Not the world's greatest joke by any means, but this was a four year old! Also, the timing was incredible, he hit his cue right on the mark, no pause, no hesitation, and delivered the line without stumbling. Nice job, kid.

11 to 17

That was the score of the first Student vs. Faculty basketball game held today, Wednesday, January 20th 2010 at the school where I work. It was a brilliant game and one truly deserving to be played on today, the 118th anniversary of the first game of basketball played in a YMCA training session in Springfield, Massachusetts. According to one of my colleagues, it was 118 years ago today that James Naismith, a Canadian originally, came up with the game based on an old game he played back up in Canada called "Duck on a Rock." Knowing nothing about Duck on a Rock I can only assume, using stereotypes and prejudices, that it involved shooting ducks while they roosted on rocks and then trying to toss their stiff, lifeless bodies into peach baskets while bouncing a hockey puck off of a curling stone at one's side, all the while singing "Oh Canada" in a booming voice.

However, I digress. This post is really about beating young children in sports in order to make us older people feel better about our selves and to teach these kids that losing's ok and that it will always be the outcome when they go up against us. I must hand it to the students though, they did go on a bit of a run including the only 3-point basket of the day and several second chances converted due to aggressive offensive rebounding. I'll also give a shout out to their ball handling skills, lord knows I couldn't dribble as well as they do when I was their age (and, in the case of some of these kids, I still can't).

Winter Super Adventure Club!

Not to be confused with the South Park version, we actually go out into the frigid Chicago winter and seek out the meager outdoor adventures the midwest provides because we love to explore and be outside.

This was the first adventure I was a part of the activities and I look forward to continuing my involvement. We embarked early Sunday afternoon for Herrick Lake, a Dupage county forest preserve on a search for snow shoeing and cross country skiing. Farmer and I had never snow shoed before so we chose to give that a try while the rest of the group chose the much more high speed activity known as cross country skiing. What I learned from the experience is that snow shoeing, while cool and effective in deep powder, on the packed and groomed trails of Herrick Lake, they simply made walking more funny looking. All was not lost, however, Farmer and I did cut through the woods a bit where the powder was deeper.

Afterward we stopped at REI where I got a sweet new coffee/hot beverage mug.

Then we went over to DAMITZ!!!'s house for some delicious tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches (which I ordered with mini weenies inside, pretty good call if you ask me). I was able to make it home just before my food coma completely set in, and felt wonderfully satisfied. Thanks to Ms. DAMITZ!!! for putting it together! Let's do it again soon!

Gnarly old oak

Juice is vicious from the ground

I've been doing some Crossfit, so now I can hold up trees.

Snow shoes make you jump really far, like those shoes from the Mario Bros. movie (I started this leap right next to Becky there).

Most likely singing.

Adorable/Awkward/Hilarious/WTF?! child moment of the day

Today, as one of the second grade girls was walking out of the room where her "indoor recess" had been held after lunch, she was singing "I like to move it, move it! I like to move it, move it!" While doing a dance that greatly resembled the running man...