Happy 1: At church today the pastor taught us a little about Halloween. Apparently, Christians wore masks to make fun of the evil spirits. And beggars would go door to door for treats and in exchange pray for the people within that home. Interesting, eh? I like that explanation of Halloween traditions.
Happy 2: Today was endless. Have you ever had one of those days that just goes and goes and never seems to come to an end? Yeah, today was one of those days. I got nearly all of my weekend To Do list done, went to church, took a nap, participated in Halloween festivities, and watched a movie. I love productive days.
Crappy: Some CSers and I partook in Chicago's Halloween celebration; we went to the North Halsted Street Halloween Parade at six o'clock. The girls looked it up online and thought it was for little kids. Uh, they were wrong; very, very wrong. It was essentially a costume parade for adults. What kind of costumes did they wear? It is safe to say that the majority of the males were dressed as females. And the females were dressed in little to nothing. Gross. Disturbing. Inappropriate. Disgusting. However, there was a cool float with fire-breathers and flame-throwers. A guy breathed fire right in front of us and I could actually feel the heat from the flame. Other than that, there was no entertainment. We were standing on the sidewalk to watch but we were smushed up next to the rows of people ahead and behind us. I was so close to throwing up my hands and leaving but I couldn't move. The parade was a bust, the costumes were appalling, I was tired of having some dude's witch hat and hair in my face, and claustrophobia was threatening to take over. Never, never again. We rode on the same train as Batman, Robin, a priest, and Freddy Krueger. It was scary because we were underground and the lights went out for at least ten seconds. When it's Halloween and Freddy is on your train you get a little freaked out. Good thing we had some super heroes to protect us. When we got back to the apartment, Rachel and I wanted to watch a scary movie/psychological thriller. This is generally not my style, but in the spirit of the holiday I thought I'd give it a try. We watched "Memento." The story line was intriguing and the filming was well done. But it was terrible. One of those movies that leaves you with a yucky feeling inside. There was also mega overuse of a certain curse word; it's one thing if it fits the character but in this movie it was definitely forced. Not a movie for the kiddies. (I read my Bible and listened to Christmas music because I was freaked out. God makes everything better!) Halloween in Chicago...crappy.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Day 62
Happy 1: Little drummer boy. I heard the sound of drumsticks pounding on buckets in the distance. The music called to me and I was drawn to it. There was a black man with sweet hair, kind of longish and braided. And sitting next to him was this little tyke, probably six years old. So cute! They did this responsive playing where one would go and then the other would mimic. They also played together, and it wasn't super easy stuff. This little guy was really impressive. He even twirled his sticks and kept the beat. A crowd gathered to watch, mostly because of the kid. Everyone that passed by on the sidewalk had a huge grin on their face. To support the arts and encourage the duo, I gave them one dollar. Wow, I'm amazed at my own generosity.
Happy 2: Ferris Wheel + Fireworks + Navy Pier = Awesome! A group of girls and I went to Navy Pier to watch the nine o'clock fireworks and participate in the Halloween activities. Rachel and I spent six dollars just so we could ride on the gigantic ferris wheel. It was big and pretty with white lights. The view was spectacular, with the skyline and the lake, but it was a little scary too. I admit that there was a lot of nervous laughter that may or may not have been me. Give me a break, we were up high and it was windy. Just before we got to the bottom the fireworks started out on the water. It was absolutely worth the money.
Crappy: Trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble right here at the CTA. Okay, not as catchy as The Music Man but I tried. Rachel and I were on our way back from the Children's Film Festival that Kristin (my other roommate) has been working on at her internship. Since she's on the staff, we were put on the VIP list. That's right, I'm a very important person. Anyway, on the way back to the apartment, my U-Pass didn't work at the train station (which is really unhandy because I use that pass at least twice a day and usually more). So I talked to the CTA lady and she slid her magic card through for me. In the meantime, she saw Rachel with her fancy video camera. She wagged her finger and said, "Uh-uh, gurl you can't be bringin' that up in here. Mmm, you could get in big trouble for that and get sent off to jail. What you need to do is go to such-and-such a street and axe the one department, no I think it's the other department, no it's that one. Yeah, go there and axe for permission and they'll give you a badge that you just wear and nobody will give you no trouble." It went on in this fashion for a good five minutes. Rachel and I got the point after about thirty seconds. Good thing Rachel already got the footage she needed. The lady meant well but she was sure long-winded.
Happy 2: Ferris Wheel + Fireworks + Navy Pier = Awesome! A group of girls and I went to Navy Pier to watch the nine o'clock fireworks and participate in the Halloween activities. Rachel and I spent six dollars just so we could ride on the gigantic ferris wheel. It was big and pretty with white lights. The view was spectacular, with the skyline and the lake, but it was a little scary too. I admit that there was a lot of nervous laughter that may or may not have been me. Give me a break, we were up high and it was windy. Just before we got to the bottom the fireworks started out on the water. It was absolutely worth the money.
Crappy: Trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble right here at the CTA. Okay, not as catchy as The Music Man but I tried. Rachel and I were on our way back from the Children's Film Festival that Kristin (my other roommate) has been working on at her internship. Since she's on the staff, we were put on the VIP list. That's right, I'm a very important person. Anyway, on the way back to the apartment, my U-Pass didn't work at the train station (which is really unhandy because I use that pass at least twice a day and usually more). So I talked to the CTA lady and she slid her magic card through for me. In the meantime, she saw Rachel with her fancy video camera. She wagged her finger and said, "Uh-uh, gurl you can't be bringin' that up in here. Mmm, you could get in big trouble for that and get sent off to jail. What you need to do is go to such-and-such a street and axe the one department, no I think it's the other department, no it's that one. Yeah, go there and axe for permission and they'll give you a badge that you just wear and nobody will give you no trouble." It went on in this fashion for a good five minutes. Rachel and I got the point after about thirty seconds. Good thing Rachel already got the footage she needed. The lady meant well but she was sure long-winded.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Day 61
Happy 1: Prepare yourself, here comes Excel nerdiness at its best. Today I put the final touches on the Excel project that I've spent at least twelve hours working on. At the bottom of the page I was supposed to have the page number and date and some other information. The date had to be linked to the front page so that everything would automatically update. My supervisor told me there was a way to put text and a formula in the same cell. He was going to show me but I preferred to learn by trial and error. Here's the final product. ="[MainStreet Advisors Tactical Asset Allocation Portfolios - "&TEXT (Cover!Q38, "mmmm yyyy") &" " & "page 3]". This super sweet formula produced this: [MainStreet Advisors Tactical Asset Allocation Portfolios - November 2010 page 3]. It took me a long time to figure out the whole ampersand thing, but now I'm a heck of a lot smarter.
Happy 2: I succeeded in annoying the receptionist again today. If this were a contest, I'd be winning. She doesn't like me and the feeling is mutual. Since she "talked" to me a while back about not being in the little conference room when she needed it during lunch, I have tried to take my break at roughly the same time every day. More for my convenience than for hers. If I wait until she goes, then it's a whole hour before I can take mine. While she's running around the office filing things, I go on break. That way there's no way she can say I went in the room when she needed it. About 30 minutes later she opened the door and said, "Do you mind if I eat lunch in here?" I said, "No problem!" and I moved my things over to one half of the table. She left to go get water or something and didn't even close the door on her way out. When she returned she closed the door loudly, almost sat down, sighed, and left the room in a huff. Whatever. I think she thought I would let her have the room all to herself. Like that would happen. One, I was there first. Two, the large conference room was available. Three, see reason number one. I continued doing my Bible study and smiled to myself as I heard her throw her things on her desk and sigh every two seconds. Ah, the pleasures of thoroughly annoying the people you don't like. This shouldn't be in the "happy" section, but this is my blog and I can do what I want. Don't judge.
Crappy: Several of my co-workers acted like middle schoolers today. They like to nit-pick at everything this one girl does. Yes, she's not a particularly good worker, but that doesn't mean people should talk about her behind her back every time she's out of earshot. So, I was packing up my stuff to leave for the day. They were talking and I'd had it up to here (I'm gesturing at the forehead/eyebrow region) so I decided to say something. I said my piece, but I don't think most of the people got my point. One lady said, "Yeah, it makes you wonder what it takes to get fired." Well, yes, but that was not what I was talking about. Whatever. The main culprits just kind of looked at me. One guy said, "Let's talk about such-and-such." He's obviously not one for confrontation. Then the other guy that is in my work space said with a mischievous grin, "Join our side." The whole situation was pretty awkward. I'm glad I did it because it's been on my mind for a long time. Don't get me wrong, my co-workers are great but they can be not nice sometimes. Unfortunately, it was my job to bring it to their attention (in a nice way).
Not Necessarily Happy, Not Crappy, Just an Experience Worth Mentioning: My roommate, a fellow CSer, and I went to Chinatown after work. We wandered around and saw the Nine Dragon Wall and a pretty courtyard with stone zodiacs. For supper we ate at this legitimate Chinese/Vietnamese restaurant. There were hundreds of entrees and beverages on the menu, and that is not an exaggeration. We each ordered an appetizer and shared (I ordered crab rangoon, of course). The wait staff was on top of things because they filled our water glasses after each sip. That may or may not be an exaggeration. In any case, it was much too frequent for my liking. Do you want me to fill up on water or your food that I actually have to pay for? Some people next to us ordered fish that still had a tail and a head and bulging eyes. Nasty! That is a little too authentic for me. After supper we stopped at a Chinese grocery store. The smells were overpowering, mainly the meat. I walked down the meat aisle and nearly lost my supper. The meat was out there for everyone to see; there were turtles in a bucket and clams and other squiggly things in see-through containers. It didn't help that the aisles were narrow and there were lots of people walking around. I prefer Fareway any day. On the way back to the apartment, we met a huge group of bicyclists, we're talking hundreds. These were no ordinary bicyclists, they were all decked out in Halloween costumes. One guy rode by and waved at us and then continued to stare at us even after he went past. I feared for his safety. Keep your eyes on the rode, buddy.
Happy 2: I succeeded in annoying the receptionist again today. If this were a contest, I'd be winning. She doesn't like me and the feeling is mutual. Since she "talked" to me a while back about not being in the little conference room when she needed it during lunch, I have tried to take my break at roughly the same time every day. More for my convenience than for hers. If I wait until she goes, then it's a whole hour before I can take mine. While she's running around the office filing things, I go on break. That way there's no way she can say I went in the room when she needed it. About 30 minutes later she opened the door and said, "Do you mind if I eat lunch in here?" I said, "No problem!" and I moved my things over to one half of the table. She left to go get water or something and didn't even close the door on her way out. When she returned she closed the door loudly, almost sat down, sighed, and left the room in a huff. Whatever. I think she thought I would let her have the room all to herself. Like that would happen. One, I was there first. Two, the large conference room was available. Three, see reason number one. I continued doing my Bible study and smiled to myself as I heard her throw her things on her desk and sigh every two seconds. Ah, the pleasures of thoroughly annoying the people you don't like. This shouldn't be in the "happy" section, but this is my blog and I can do what I want. Don't judge.
Crappy: Several of my co-workers acted like middle schoolers today. They like to nit-pick at everything this one girl does. Yes, she's not a particularly good worker, but that doesn't mean people should talk about her behind her back every time she's out of earshot. So, I was packing up my stuff to leave for the day. They were talking and I'd had it up to here (I'm gesturing at the forehead/eyebrow region) so I decided to say something. I said my piece, but I don't think most of the people got my point. One lady said, "Yeah, it makes you wonder what it takes to get fired." Well, yes, but that was not what I was talking about. Whatever. The main culprits just kind of looked at me. One guy said, "Let's talk about such-and-such." He's obviously not one for confrontation. Then the other guy that is in my work space said with a mischievous grin, "Join our side." The whole situation was pretty awkward. I'm glad I did it because it's been on my mind for a long time. Don't get me wrong, my co-workers are great but they can be not nice sometimes. Unfortunately, it was my job to bring it to their attention (in a nice way).
Not Necessarily Happy, Not Crappy, Just an Experience Worth Mentioning: My roommate, a fellow CSer, and I went to Chinatown after work. We wandered around and saw the Nine Dragon Wall and a pretty courtyard with stone zodiacs. For supper we ate at this legitimate Chinese/Vietnamese restaurant. There were hundreds of entrees and beverages on the menu, and that is not an exaggeration. We each ordered an appetizer and shared (I ordered crab rangoon, of course). The wait staff was on top of things because they filled our water glasses after each sip. That may or may not be an exaggeration. In any case, it was much too frequent for my liking. Do you want me to fill up on water or your food that I actually have to pay for? Some people next to us ordered fish that still had a tail and a head and bulging eyes. Nasty! That is a little too authentic for me. After supper we stopped at a Chinese grocery store. The smells were overpowering, mainly the meat. I walked down the meat aisle and nearly lost my supper. The meat was out there for everyone to see; there were turtles in a bucket and clams and other squiggly things in see-through containers. It didn't help that the aisles were narrow and there were lots of people walking around. I prefer Fareway any day. On the way back to the apartment, we met a huge group of bicyclists, we're talking hundreds. These were no ordinary bicyclists, they were all decked out in Halloween costumes. One guy rode by and waved at us and then continued to stare at us even after he went past. I feared for his safety. Keep your eyes on the rode, buddy.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Day 60
Happy 1: The Chocolate Milk Diet. Here's what happened. This guy in my office, "John," is rather rotund. Every day his wife packs him a healthy lunch. And every day he eats it and then goes out to get some non-healthy food. Today, another guy in the office, "Mike," found some papers on the printer. He flipped through them and said disbelievingly, "Who printed off the Chocolate Milk Diet?" There are two girls in the office who always talk about their weight and dieting, but it did not belong to them. So, we're all speculating and wondering who the heck it printed it off. Then "John" comes out of his office and said, "What are you doing with that? That's not for your eyes." And he snatched the papers out of "Mike's" hands. The office roared with laughter. It was extra funny because it was from Women'sHealth.org. A little later, while "John" was out of his office, my co-workers went to town. They went to the store and bought a jug of chocolate milk and placed it on his desk, printed off a picture of a glass of chocolate milk and taped it to his office door, and changed the background on his computer to chocolate milk. They're pretty hard core when it comes to making fun of people. I really enjoy good natured teasing.
Happy 2: I got together with my supervisor and my "second" supervisor to discuss the projects I've been working on. No pressure. I was pretty nervous because a lot of the stuff they have me do just runs together; it's all so similar to me. My biggest project is the SRI (socially responsible investment) research I've been working on for several weeks, pretty much since I started. I didn't know if it was what they wanted, if it would be useful to them, or if I displayed the information in an easy-to-read fashion. When I pulled up the file, they scrolled through it and told me it was exactly what they were looking for and that it would help them decide in which funds to invest. I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Good jerb, home slice.
Crappy: More office stories. Remember me talking about good natured teasing? This isn't it. There is one employee that no one particularly likes. She has been known to play Internet games and watch movies at work, while she's on the clock. This is an actual employee, keep in mind, not just an intern. (Not that I would do that). Apparently, she did something really silly yesterday and one of the guys reenacted it for the enjoyment of practically everyone in the office. Come to find out, we thought she was at lunch but she was in an office ten feet away. I don't think she heard or realized what was going on in her absence, but that shouldn't matter. What is this, middle school? I don't laugh at their comments, and I try to stick up for her and give her the benefit of the doubt on most things, but nobody has any of that. Yes, I admit that playing games and watching movies while you're on the clock is unacceptable; someone needs to bring that to her attention. Doing something not so intelligent at work or talking ridiculously loud (which she does), not such a big deal. Leave the poor girl alone.
Happy 2: I got together with my supervisor and my "second" supervisor to discuss the projects I've been working on. No pressure. I was pretty nervous because a lot of the stuff they have me do just runs together; it's all so similar to me. My biggest project is the SRI (socially responsible investment) research I've been working on for several weeks, pretty much since I started. I didn't know if it was what they wanted, if it would be useful to them, or if I displayed the information in an easy-to-read fashion. When I pulled up the file, they scrolled through it and told me it was exactly what they were looking for and that it would help them decide in which funds to invest. I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Good jerb, home slice.
Crappy: More office stories. Remember me talking about good natured teasing? This isn't it. There is one employee that no one particularly likes. She has been known to play Internet games and watch movies at work, while she's on the clock. This is an actual employee, keep in mind, not just an intern. (Not that I would do that). Apparently, she did something really silly yesterday and one of the guys reenacted it for the enjoyment of practically everyone in the office. Come to find out, we thought she was at lunch but she was in an office ten feet away. I don't think she heard or realized what was going on in her absence, but that shouldn't matter. What is this, middle school? I don't laugh at their comments, and I try to stick up for her and give her the benefit of the doubt on most things, but nobody has any of that. Yes, I admit that playing games and watching movies while you're on the clock is unacceptable; someone needs to bring that to her attention. Doing something not so intelligent at work or talking ridiculously loud (which she does), not such a big deal. Leave the poor girl alone.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Day 59
Happy 1: Today in my diversity class we watched a documentary about black migration in Chicago. "Promised Land" was really interesting and I especially liked it because it was narrated by Morgan Freeman. Class was made even better when the professor let us out thirty minutes early.
Happy 2: Two words - Lion King. Chicago Semester treated us to a Broadway showing of the Lion King. Well, they bought the tickets with the leftover money from my Fine Arts fee from the beginning of the semester. So technically, I paid for the ticket myself. They were $25, which is not much at all for Broadway. As you could probably guess, we were in the nose bleed section. It was still amazing. I sat on the edge of my seat because I was so enthralled...and because that was the only way I could see the whole stage. The opening scene, "The Circle of Life," was impeccable. It nearly brought tears to my eyes. Seriously. Words can't describe how great this show was. I saw it at the Civic Center in high school and seeing it a second time did not disappoint. One of my favorite scenes was after Simba and Nala ventured into the elephant graveyard against orders. Mufasa and Simba were out in the field and Mufasa took off his "king" hat and laid his "weapons" on the ground. This is really symbolic of him stepping out of his role as king of Pride Rock and stepping into the role of Simba's dad. Then he sings "He Lives in You," referring to the past kings. But I took it to mean God. Nice connection, huh? Boy, I'm getting good at this analysis stuff.
Crappy: The people at Chicago Semester told us they would provide bread and peanut butter and jelly for us to make sandwiches on class days. Well, that is a bunch of lies. The last two weeks there has been no bread. What is that? I count on that free food. I think I'm paying enough for them to provide one PB&J a week.
Happy 2: Two words - Lion King. Chicago Semester treated us to a Broadway showing of the Lion King. Well, they bought the tickets with the leftover money from my Fine Arts fee from the beginning of the semester. So technically, I paid for the ticket myself. They were $25, which is not much at all for Broadway. As you could probably guess, we were in the nose bleed section. It was still amazing. I sat on the edge of my seat because I was so enthralled...and because that was the only way I could see the whole stage. The opening scene, "The Circle of Life," was impeccable. It nearly brought tears to my eyes. Seriously. Words can't describe how great this show was. I saw it at the Civic Center in high school and seeing it a second time did not disappoint. One of my favorite scenes was after Simba and Nala ventured into the elephant graveyard against orders. Mufasa and Simba were out in the field and Mufasa took off his "king" hat and laid his "weapons" on the ground. This is really symbolic of him stepping out of his role as king of Pride Rock and stepping into the role of Simba's dad. Then he sings "He Lives in You," referring to the past kings. But I took it to mean God. Nice connection, huh? Boy, I'm getting good at this analysis stuff.
Crappy: The people at Chicago Semester told us they would provide bread and peanut butter and jelly for us to make sandwiches on class days. Well, that is a bunch of lies. The last two weeks there has been no bread. What is that? I count on that free food. I think I'm paying enough for them to provide one PB&J a week.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Day 58
Tuesday, October 26
Happy 1: Fire Drill at the office. The lights flashed and a voice from above told us to evacuate to the 33rd floor. Once we arrived (we meaning the people from the top five floors), the fire marshal said, “This is not the magic floor you go to in an emergency.” No, really? He also mentioned that Floor 37, which may or may not be my floor, needed to drop everything and listen to instructions. Did we just get reprimanded? I think so.
Happy 2: This week's art event was at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Similar to other abstract and contemporary art events, I was not impressed. However, on our way out we stopped at the gift shop to look around. What did I find? The amazing 2-Carat Cup. This is no ordinary mug, oh no. The handle is really an over-sized ring. When you grab the mug, one finger slips into the handle and it looks like you're wearing this gigantic diamond ring. It's pretty sweet. Why not look classy when you're drinking your steaming mug of hot chocolate?
Crappy: Rain, rain, go away. Come again some other day. I like rain, but in the city it is not so fun. Sure, I had an umbrella, but umbrellas don’t protect your feet. My nice dress shoes sloshed with water the whole way to work and my pants were wet up to the knee. Well, almost. No matter, it was a pretty yucky morning. Keeping in mind that I have to ride the train with other wet, umbrella-carrying individuals. So much for calling Chicago the windy city.
Day 57
Monday, October 25
Happy 1: More. Cupcakes, that is. More is the name of a business that only makes cupcakes. Apparently, they have a truck now, kind of like an ice cream truck, only it’s for cupcakes. To celebrate, More was giving out free cupcakes to the people following them on Twitter. I do not, nor have I ever, nor will I ever, Tweet but my roommates do/have/continue to do so. They found the location of the truck, right in the Gold Coast, and we waited in line to get a cupcake. I got a red velvet one because I’ve never had that kind of cake before. It was beautiful and ginormous, and scrumptious.
Happy 2: My roommates and I have been bonding over the show Prison Break. It’s pretty fantastic. Violent and conspiratorial and kind of evil, but fantastic. My favorite character is this guy that plays, as in manipulates, everyone; he has at least three names. He’s really a bad guy but I can’t help but be impressed with his talent.
Crappy: Little did I know, my supervisor and my second supervisor were out of the office today. They did not leave me any projects to work on. I was bored out of my mind. Sure, there is this one long, never-ending, tedious project for me, but I can only work on that for so long.
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