chicago '08

it's 88 pages (without appendices), and it's FINSHED. unless I did something horribly wrong, 99% of the writing of my dissertation is over. and it wasn't even that bad.

threadless hosts an online t-shirt design contest, and it's fun to sift through the entries. those that receive the most votes are manufactured and sold via their site. please give goodfeets your vote! they're designed by bourbonnais' own CFC, who uses the best avatar ever on the seemingly defuct forum at optical sloth.

I decided that they're called tease shirts because you can't buy the one you want unless it actually wins the competition.

the boys had a good time playing with airplanes my mother-in-law sent them for easter. how do people remember to send things like easter presents? we got a card and check from my step-grandparents. he is risen, indeed. all the way to the bank.

maybe spring is here! look who's back on my porch. we tried to get him to turn around and smile for the camera, but he was busy eating my birdseed and knocking over the broom.

just found out that Joe Lieberman lives in the neighborhood we're moving into. hey, Hugsband, I have a feeling we're not in a red state anymore.

here it is. we're signing the lease today. the font porch makes it look off-balance in this picture, but it really is beautiful. do you see the chimney that is attached to my fireplace? 

* Hugsband told me that he was going to clean out his junk drawer and disappeared into our home office. when I entered the room a few minutes later, he was standing naked in the bathtub of the adjoining bathroom doing something I told him that I wouldn't share. it was less embarrassing than you're probably thinking (and not even dirty!).

* my mom paraded me around her office last week, and most of her co-workers gushed about how alike we are. now I take more joy than I probably should in our differences. for example, I love blue cheeses and cantaloupe. she hates both. see?

* the fire alarm sounded at work today. probably, some hung-over undergrad pulled it to create an excuse for being late to class. I made up a joke related to the experience: how many PhD's does it take to decide whether it's safe to reenter a building after fire trucks leave? more than 30, apparently.

* my hairdresser called today and asked if I want to model for her at a hair show next week. free color AND a chance to relive my hairstyle guinea pig heyday of the mid-90's. hell yes I will!

looks like the westville place (beautiful old house!!) will happen. we actually have to pay $4000 up front. isn't that insane?

this is the new niece. she wears a lot of pink and sticks out her tongue at every opportunity.

we're back from new haven with a much better sense of the place. we must now choose one of the following apartments:
fancy pants loft- it's in an old corset factory, is less than a mile from my office, and many other fellows from the child study center live there. not cheap
high-falutin' first floor- a beautiful old house!! beveled glass!! a fireplace!!! wood trim on everything!! a dining room!! will have to buy a second car if we live here. the owner, a retired dentist, lives on the second floor. some jerk lives on the third. when we arrived to see the place, we were supposed to be met by Jose, a realtor. instead, we encountered the third floor tenant. an innocent inquiry about whether he was Jose, was met with an angered 'do I look like a Jose to you?' nice.
pepto pink- first floor of an older place in a fun (as evidenced by numerous pride flags in windows- how's that for a stereotype?) neighborhood, awesome landlord, complete decorating freedom, slightly scuzzy
alta vista redux- like our one bedroom place in L.A., only not as nice. cooking odors from neighboring international students... as CHEAP as our place on alta vista was

I don't want the last one. even if it were near free, it would be hard to go back to having such little space and NO charm.

also, a gang of escaped parrots lives in new haven. they're monk parakeets originally from south america. we love them.

Hugsband loves how the words for party and nap are only one letter apart in spanish.

and not just because it's snowing. it was 70 on Sunday, and now it's 28. maybe I should have ranked a warmer climate first??

it's like christmas because in addition to fairytale brownies and beautiful chocolates, I also got an i-pod shuffle for a congrats gift from Hugsband! I love it and promptly applied to every other available ivy league fellowship in hopes of scoring loads more free gifts.

too bad he doesn't really.

and who wouldn't want to take a warm bubble bath with my cute Hugsband? (that's rhetorical- please don't hurt his fragile ego by saying that you don't want to.)

these were a congrats gift from Paul & Toby. my use of the past tense is no coincidence. they lasted about 20 minutes. so glad I restrained myself until after I took a picture!

don't try to touch it, or he'll bite you.

stupid flickr is broken AGAIN.
when it is fixed the following awesome pictures will be posted:
#1- ferret looks at man who is taking a bath
#2- beautiful, shiny & delicious chocolates
#3- bird thinks a cardboard box is his apartment, complete with houseplant

then people can vote and the winner gets free hot dogs for a year. unless it's Simon. he can't have protein because of his gout. also, chocolate doesn't eat hot dogs. Hugsband and Dougie- you're chances of winning are looking pretty sweet.

Rachael and Scott made this adorable kid! can you believe it? doesn't he look like a cuddler and a laugher? I think it's time for them to come to bloomington with their spawn.

I bought Simon a plant for his cardboard apartment.

our little brothers stayed the night last night. in fact, they're still here now watching Jackie Chan go around the world in 80 days for the second time. before they come, Hugsband runs around and hides all of his 'mature' videogames and his valrohna. I don't know which he'd work harder to protect. they probably don't even like our chocolate, but boys are funny eaters. they don't want our wheat bread (Zack) or they want, like, 8 slices (Cane); they hate vegetarian stuff, or they want to eat all of my veggie sausage; they don't drink juice- they want sprite for breakfast; they don't like brown eggs; swiss cheese is gross; natural peanut butter is nasty. I can't keep track of all of their odd food things. I am beginning to see how some parents get to the you'll-eat-what-I-give-you-and-you'll-love-it point.

my NYC and CT zagats came yesterday, and I got 4 CT travel books at the library. let the compulsive researching begin! Hugsband and I play a game where he reads a restaurant description and I give its name. so far, I can only do the most famous NYC restaurants. I do something similar for him with film descriptions. it's all quite nerdy.

I finally mastered the spelling of the state new haven is in. connect-I-cut. thanks for the tip, Hugsband.

I am supposed to be writing at home today, but I spent the afternoon chatting with the washer & dryer repair guy. it wasn't fun. he asked a million diagnostic questions and I had few answers. 'how often do you use the medium cycle?' 'is your exhaust cord (or something like that) clogged?' who the hell knows these things? just fix it. when he arrived, I was in the middle of a search in PSYC-INFO and had several new and promising articles pegged for follow-up. by the time he left, my session had timed out and my search was not saved. he did, however, tell me a juicy tidbit about those stuck up music students who live across the way. (Hugsband helped one of their dads put a HUGE wolf spider out of its misery when he was trying to slaughter it on their porch, and they don't even say hi now!!!) apparently, little miss cello player dropped an entire thing of deodorant in the toilet, and the repair guy couldn't get it out. the whole thing had to be replaced. not so high and mighty now are you, fancy pants?