May 29, 2009

Mr. T

Our avid blog readers already know that we went to the Cubs game on Memorial Day. Unfortunately it was freezing and the Cubs lost. Luckily there was a saving grace - Mr. mo-freakin’ T! He was invited to throw the first pitch then led the crowd in singing “Take me out to the ball game…..” in the 7th inning. Quality!


I love Mr. T! I love him so much that I wish he would have kicked Rocky’s @ss, and I’m a big Rocky fan! Needless to say, I went to bed with a smile on my face that night.

Meg mentioned that I had a funny story from the game. Well, I don’t. I almost had a funny story to tell – but luckily there was a big black security guard that made me think twice about something I was contemplating.

First, I should give a little background to those of you who don’t know me well – those who do can skip to the next paragraph. For some unknown reason I find not only humor, but actual joy in making people uncomfortable. Nothing too crazy, just little things like bumping into somebody in the locker room when I’m naked…..sometimes more than once. Friends most likely have experienced this. Thanks to the creepy factor, family members probably have not. Now that you know this about me you can read on.

The men’s restrooms at Wrigley Field have trough urinals. I have provided a picture for those who don’t know what those are.


Now these toilets do not reflect the setup of what is found at Wrigley Field. There you have troughs facing each other with a 4 foot barrier wall in between. At the tip of the troughs is another round trough. I commissioned a highly regarded artist to create the following diagram, which will give you an idea of the layout.

---Toliet--- l---\

======= l---- <---sink

---Toliet--- l---/

It is important to note that the round trough, which is the sink, is an exact replica of the toilets with the exception of the round shape. It is the same height and color. In order to turn the water on there is a foot pedal which confuses most. Note that I was unaware this trough was the sink, not a toilet.

Well when I walked into the bathroom I noticed groups of people on both side troughs but nobody at the round one at the point. I figured nobody was peeing there because they didn’t want everybody walking away from the urinals to get a first hand visual of their manhood. Perfect I thought, first Mr. T now this! I could capitalize on making a large group of people uncomfortable with one act! All I had to do was pee in the vacant trough and try to make eye contact with everybody that passed. I approached the rounded trough and started to unzip my pants. As I was doing so I noticed Wrigley Field had stationed a security guard in the bathroom, a security guard that was big, black, and standing really close to me. I looked back and he gave me a funny look. I quickly side stepped to one of the side troughs and relieved myself there. In my mind I felt a feeling of defeat. Why did I allow somebody else to make me feel awkward in my attempt to do the same to others? Why should he care where I peed? So I finished my business and was off to wash my hands – but I couldn’t find a sink. It was then that I noticed somebody washing their hands in the toilet.….WTF? Immediately I realized why the security guard was eyeballing me, this trough was not a toilet – it was the sink!

That day I was grateful to learn that not only do I have a guardian angel who wants to keep me from doing stupid things, but he’s big and black!

May 26, 2009

...room with a view

Here was the view from our condo on Friday night. There have been some nice sunsets, (we have west-facing windows) but this is the best one I've seen.



It was a nice long weekend. Half-relaxing, half-running around. We were able to be productive, though. I'm happy to announce that after today we will have seating in our home. Yep, we got couches. I'm excited, but I think Brady is beyond excited. You can't blame the guy, he's going on 7+ weeks of not having somewhere soft to sit and watch SportsCenter. Also, we were one of the lucky Monday morning IKEA customers standing in line to get a great deal on a futon AND free breakfast. So...now you all can come sleep in my den and sit on my couches. Sound fun?

The weather was nice Friday and Saturday and got cooler and rainy on Monday. Too bad that's the day we had tickets to the Cubs game. It was still fun, though, even though we were freezing at the game. I'm talking wishing-I-would-have-worn-beanie+scarf+gloves-cold.

Brady will fill you in with details on the game...trust me, you'll want to read this. (At least I think it's a funny story...)

As far as baby stuff goes....all is well. I'm feeling great and have my first appointment with my new doctor next week.

May 20, 2009

Real Life....

After some long flights, we're back from Hawaii and I'm finally in Chicago. Apparently I am getting back to work as an online hustler/Nigerian Princess. It's not easy.

We had a GREAT time in Hawaii, we had nice weather and it was super relaxing. It was nice to be able to spend 10 uninterrupted days with Brado after not seeing him for a while. Being 5 1/2 months pregnant was not the most fun part, but honestly, it wasn't bad, and I think I did pretty well.


Here is a picture of me in my glorious maternity swimsuit.


Mmm...one of the best parts, shave ice. I have been craving it since I got back.


Brado enjoying his second love, the ocean.


I've been attempting to get settled/organized, but we need some furniture before that can happen. So basically I sit here and look at piles of stuff and make mental lists of what we need to buy. We are definitely doing some shopping this weekend so our place can feel a little more welcoming. Luckily, the weather has been great the couple days I've been here, so I've done a little exploring. I've walked around our neighborhood and down to Grant Park and the lake; it's really beautiful here right now.

On a side note, the day I got out here I found out that my dad had to be life flighted from his work site in Alaska to Anchorage. He got a serious infection that entered his bloodstream and did quite a number on him...He's been in the ICU since Monday. He's been pretty steady; making a few small improvements, but still has a long way to go. It's a stressful situation in the first place, but it's been harder since I'm here and he's in AK. Luckily, my mom was able to fly up there and be at the hospital with him.

May 1, 2009

Last Day!

Today was my last day at work! It was kind of weird...I've been working at the same company for 3 1/2 years, my only "real" job after graduation. However, I am excited to not have to work for a little while before the baby comes and the real work begins. We (my coworkers and I) went to Andy's for lunch today and had some delicious Greek food.

Brady gets in tonight for Chicago. I'm very excited to see him! We leave for Hawaii tomorrow afternoon. I'm excited to be able to relax and take it easy after the craziness of our life the past couple months. Hopefully I don't catch the swine flu on the airplane.

April 29, 2009

Sleepless Night

Last night I was awoken at 2AM by two drunken hooligans fighting in the street. I quickly jumped out of bed and ran to the window. No punches were being thrown, but they were all up in each other’s grills. Being a dude I was quite entertained and excited by the prospect that I might witness a fight. As time went on the two became less violent, a kiss and make up seemed imminent. As not to be awoken without good cause, I decided to “stir the pot”. I made a beeline to the fridge and grabbed a handful of eggs. I crept out onto my balcony, staying in the shadows, and started hurling eggs at them. Just in case they had some crazy ability to scale walls, I retained to the shadows. After the third egg was thrown they realized what was happening. They yelled some quick obscenities then awkwardly began to run away. As they were fleeing I stepped out of the shadows and threw two more eggs for good measure. Then, with as tough as a look as I could muster, I flexed and looked down upon them in my newfound glory! Those shadows quickly became a distant memory to me. The 1600 block of South Prairie Avenue won’t be seeing them anytime soon.

Now, I don’t want to say what I did was heroic – but, it was pretty damn close!

April 22, 2009

Chicagorillas

All I'm going to say is that you'll have to ask Brady about the name and image. It's all his.

Not much new going on with us. Brady got his picture taken for work the other day. Unfortunately, the make-up lady called in sick. Yep, they were going to have a make-up lady come in and do some touching up. We finally got cable hooked up in our condo. So now Brady has something to do in the evenings...watch NBA playoffs and eat black beans and potatoes. I'm pretty sure he thinks he's died and gone to heaven. Except that we don't have a couch yet, so he has to watch TV on our IKEA chair.

I'm counting down the days left at work (6 1/2!!) and getting excited for some time in Hawaii. Luckily we've had some beautiful weather this week and I've been able to get some sun (meaning freckles and red) the past few days.

April 19, 2009

Post Numero Uno

Well....here it is folks. It's been a long time coming, but I finally got harassed enough to do it. I've been reading everyone else's blogs for a long time, but never felt I had anything exciting enough to blog about. Apparently moving to Chicago and being pregnant qualify as being things you guys want to hear about.

Rest assured, Brady has assured me he will contribute to the blog with his wit and humor and that this will not be a cheesy, cutesy blog. (However, there may be some of those posts from time to time for the grandparents out there. They'll eat that stuff up...right mom??)

For now, I'm still here in Utah, staying at my parent's house. My last day at work is May 1st. Brady moved out to our condo on April 30th and has been working out there. He'll fly back to Utah on May 1st, then we'll be in Hawaii until May 12th. I'll head out to Chicago around May 15th. It's been crazy figuring out the logistics of it all, but things have worked out. Luckily, time has gone by pretty quickly. Brady will have to fill you in on all the fun stuff he's been doing with out me!

I've got the camera here with me, so no Chicago pictures for now. They'll come I promise...it's not very exciting right now anyway. Lots of boxes and clutter in the condo still. If anyone wants to offer their interior decorating skills, we'd be happy to accept....

Hopefully I can use all my upcoming spare time to learn how to actually make our blog look decent. Until then, you'll all have to deal with this plain-jane template I carefully selected. Anyone got any good resources for this? Let me know.