chicago '08

Hugsband has a new car. I had to keep the old one, and it now looks like this. I followed Hugsband out to his fancy car this morning to kiss him good-bye and wish him good luck. then, I went to my car to get my umbrella. when I shut the door, the tiny back window fell out.

later in the day, I got lost in the bowels of the hospital with only ancient, abandoned gurneys to help guide the way to my office. I was lost for more than 20 minutes. next to being lost in a deserted carnival, I can't imagine anything worse. it was like jacob's ladder.

I think it's time for chocolate and another Nero Wolf episode. Chris lent his boxed set to Hugsband, and we've been watching one each night.

after watching zombie movies, it's kind of exciting to leave the house for an evening walk through the neighborhood. it gets boring quickly, however, when no opportunity to kick butt emerges. zombie movies are never my first choice of entertainment, but I was too weary after work tonight to put up much protest. Hugsband knows how to catch me in a vulnerable moment and ply me with food before throwing in a horror DVD.

dear work,
I promise to never again say that I have an easy week, if you promise to never again make me super busy in retaliation.
love,
Rachel

p.s. did you know that the fellow from UCLA has never chewed gum in his entire life?

amazingly, I don't think I have yet posted about the carts. what an oversight! my office is next to the yale-new haven hospital. in between the child study center and the hospital is a concrete courtyard, and each day at lunchtime the courtyard is filled with food carts. not nasty carts you'd be afraid to eat at. awesome, interesting carts. on any given day, I can find vietnamese, thai, indian, mexican, chinese ("healthy way, not greasy, not oily" reads their sign), japanese, middle eastern, eritrean, italian, etc. I can find bubble tea, a lovely salad with strawberries and feta, and yummy burritos every day of the week. I haven't seen anything priced over $6, and most veggie selections cost $4. the carts are busy with patients, social workers, psychologists, and people in scrubs with stethoscopes around their necks.

it's one of the best things about my new job.

our across-the-street neighbors, Linda and Teddy, have a folding table set up in their front yard. the entire top of it is covered in ripe tomatoes. a plastic grocery bag filled with other grocery bags is tied to the side of the table, and a coffee can sits on the ground next to it. all day people walk up to the house, get a bag, fill it with fruit, and leave cash the coffee can. there are no written instructions about how much to pay or how to otherwise complete the transaction, but no one seems puzzled. the patrons have clearly been coming for many summers. from time to time, I see Linda emerge to empty the can and walk towards the local coffee shop. she returns a little later with what appears to be a giant espresso drink.

I lied about going to manhattan on tuesday. we went yesterday. taking the train into the city is fun. it reminds me of 'send me no flowers' and other films of that era in which the women stayed at home in lovely connecticut, while the men commuted to the big city. Hugsband and I agreed that I was clearly Rock Hudson, and I was trying to make him be Tony Randall when he turned to me and said, "are you kidding? obviously, I am Doris Day." he is SO right.

we had a great time in the city. we walked every inch of it, I think, and then I slept for 10 hours. the highlight was Jacques Torres' shop. I had a wicked iced mocha and a liquid caramel and giggled with contentment.

after 2 months at our new place, the seminal event that signals an end to the moving-in period occurred last night. we were recognized by the guy at the indian place. now, he didn't give us free samosas like the guy at shanti would have, but the food is better than shanti (bloomington) and curry palace (l.a.) put together. AND they have northern and southern dishes. AND there really is no they. the owner is the chef and waiter too. when there are only 6 tables, such things are possible.

I don't really have to be at work until wednesday. I have reports to write and small things to do but no appointments. my supervisors and clients are all at the cape or the vineyard or the litchfield hills. they all seem to think that new england=europe, therefore they don't have to do any work in the month of august. to celebrate my surprise vacation, Hugsband and I are going to manhattan for lunch on tuesday.

is the pilot penn tennis tournament on tv? if it is, and if they show shots of a nearby neighborhood, look for a big white house with a pigeon coop in the back. there, that's us. see my new haircut? the aging punk lady did that 2 weeks ago. I like it fine, but I am going to someone else next time. she was depressing.

Ramsey Lewis is playing at a free concert on the town green tonight. if I knew for certain that he would play his my cherie amour cover, I would go. however, there's something about his covers of beatles songs that is very unappealing. I have to calculate the stevie to beatles ratio and see if it's worth attending.

because I know that everyone wants to see some of the best bird photos in existence, I will share a secret.

Hugsband is back, and he has been going to teacher orientation every day. isn't that cute? he got a canvas bag from the teacher's union with an apple on it. awww.

I made a t-shirt for my niece, Lilly, with an owl saying "hoot" on it. when my mother-in-law was dressing Lillly the other day, she pointed to "hoot" and said, "what does that mean?" Lilly said, "it means Aunt Rachel loves me." who knew that 3-year olds could read?

also, taking care of Abe's pigeon coop has been more fun this week. there are 2 new pigeon babies. one of them doesn't even have any feathers yet.

something odd has been happening at chez Abe. at night when I go to turn on the sprinklers in the backyard, they are already on. it happed each night for the last 3. now, it's freaky enough to be alone in a town where the only 3 people I know are my coworkers, but this lawn thing is pushing me over the edge. I need to set a boody twap and catch the culprit. I suspected the 3rd floor tenant, but the sprinklers are sometimes on when his car is not here. and he doesn't seem to be part of Abe's forced labor corps.

all 3 of my coworkers/compulsory friends were otherwise engaged today, or so they told me, so I was left to my own devices to occupy myself on a Hugsband-free weekend day. I went to a tern seminar sponsored by the new haven bird club. terns are like cooler gulls. I spent 2 hours watching shorebirds with smart, socially awkward people. I felt like I should have been paid at the end of it. I saw some interesting birds. however, I decided that I enjoy the gestalt of the experience and not the compulsive, rigid labeling of everything with wings. it gets pretty tedious. don't tell the new haven bird club I said that. I don't want to burn any bridges in case one of my coworker friends doesn't pan out.

I remember trying to dig traps in the woods in kankakee as a kid, the kind of trap that's basically a hole covered in leaves and sticks. I don't think I should dig a man-sized hole in Abe's backyard, but the trap that suspends the captured person from his foot in a tree is entirely possible. we have the perfect tree for it.

Hugsband took an unexpected trip to kankakee. Abe and Zoia are in the czech republic. that means that I am on my own in a 3-story house with a lawn and pigeons and Dougie to take care of. (that guy on the 3rd floor is really worthless- he doesn't count.) it's not that the work amounts to much, but the feeling of responsibility for an enormous old house is heavy. it's also very quiet without H's lengthy movie anecdotes and cheerful humming. he packed my lunch earlier this week and gave me ants on a log- celery with peanut butter and raisins. isn't that adorable? if you're in kankakee/chicago and you love Hugsband too, you can call him at his parent's house or on his cell.

I have been giving cognitive assessments to kids with high functioning autism/Asperger syndrome the last couple of weeks. I love it. my favorite moment came when I asked "Timmy," a very bright 20-year old man with autism, why we have child labor laws. Timmy explained that if we didn't have those laws, children would be making crappy products because they haven't developed very good skills yet. it's really a quality control issue.

if you didn't read the comments on my previous post, please make sure to read CFC's comic.

we went to the peabody museum of natural history today, which was awesome. some of the exhibits are described with actual letters stuck to felt board and seem unchanged since the museum opened in 1050A.D. it was creepy and fun. the skulls of the early humans are the scariest. I am going to have nightmares about Lucy tonight.

Hugsband and I also went on our regular bike route today: down alston ave to try and figure out which house belongs to Joe Lieberman, over to Yale's stables to pet the horses, and through Edgewood Park to visit the wild parrots. however, we didn't make it to the parrots. at the lake, where we stopped to look at the geese, Hugsband spotted a cygnet flapping around excitedly without actually going anywhere. it appeared to be caught. he rushed into action and pushed past some oh-no-what-should-we-do types. by the time Hugsband made it to the bird, it was lying limp in the water. he waded in, grabbed it, and worked the fishing line out of its bill, with angry swan parents hissing at his back all the while. by the time we left, the cygnet was swimming with his/her siblings and seemed healthy.

back at home, Abe told us about sleeping with pigs and sheep in a barn for 2 years when he was in the underground. every night he slept with a gun between his knees. he also told us that Lieberman lives in the last house on the right (that's what I guessed!!), and he's selling his place for $400,000 more than he originally paid for it. Abe congratulated Hugsband on his new car by saying, "good luck with your new car, sir. how much did you pay for it?" and shaking his hand. Hugsband bought a new car.

those horses at the stables don't like to be pet anyway. I think they're stuck up polo horses, since the polo grounds are right there. Hugsband thinks they're too raggedy to be polo horses, but honestly, what do either of us know about polo?

since last week, an air meter has been posted outside my office door. it's measuring asbestos levels. there's some kind of construction going on in a nearby hallway, and, in addition to the signs suggesting I don a hardhat, are warnings about the quality of the air. guess why we don't see clients with OCD in our offices? my lungs hurt.