I got the Hippie Hippie Shakes

So Cindi says to me on the way home, "I'm really craving these scones that one of my co-workers brought in to work before. She gets them at Whole Foods. Any idea where there's one by us?" I told her that I hadn't seen one around and I really just wanted to get home. So we get home and the first thing Cindi does is pull out the phone book and I knew what was on her mind. Luckily, she didn't see me roll my eyes and attempt to hide my discontent. "It's at 3300 North Ashland. You know where that is?," she said. "Yep, let's go, we need some pop anyways," I muttered.

Whole Foods turns out to be an organic grocery store. Some of the things were quite interesting (ostrich burgers and filets) and expensive too. I felt like I entered hippie heaven. If Jerry Garcia was still alive and he lived in Chicago, he definitely wouldn't be afraid to shop there. He would have to go somewhere else for his Coca-Cola fix though, as it was nowhere to be found.

I walked around, separate from Cindi, checking out the meat items for sale and looking for some bagel chips. I thought I was talking to a different person when she came up to me and said how she saw some rosemary tofu at the salad bar that actually looked appetizing and that she wanted to try it. I made a face that said "go ahead, try it but don't expect me to."

We found some snack items like Belgian frites style potato chips, vegan chocolate chip cookies, bottled water, bbq chips, pita chips and a $4.39 bag of sea salt and pepper kettle chips. We must have looked like we were hanging out all weekend at a Phish concert or something.

The last purchase was truly magnificent. I carefully perused the beer selection and saw that they had tallboys of Fat Tire Amber Ale. Hallelujah! They just recently began supplying Chicago with their bodacious brew. Their beer selection was small but pretty decent.

All in all, I think we were sold on going back. I'll be going back to try out an ostrich burger with a Ben and Jerry's pint for dessert. They'll be no tofu for this cowboy.

Guitar God

"See ya in a bit Cindi. I'm off to Best Buy." Or so I thought. The trip to Best Buy took nearly two hours. What was my detour, you might ask? While walking by the video game section I heard the familiar strains of stadium rock from one of the try it before you buy it video screens. The game playing was Guitar Hero for Playstation 2. The controller is a small plastic replica of a Gibson SG guitar with 5 color buttons for the frets and a strum bar for the strings. The main section of the screen tells you which notes to play and when. I watched a young guy struggle through a song and have the video game "crowd" boo him off the stage. I HAD to try this game. I'm quite sure that I had the same look on my face as when I saw the BBQ pit in the store, but Cindi wasn't with me to verify that.

I started off with an easy song, "I Wanna Be Sedated" by The Ramones. I'm pretty sure that the version on the game is tougher than the actual guitar part in the song. I rocked through that song and several more. I played "I Love Rock N Roll" and got through that without too much trouble. I nearly got booed off the stage after the guitar solo in "Thunder Kiss 65."

I was really into this game. It's too bad that Best Buy was out of the game or I would have bought it immediately. I had the whole head bob and foot tap going. I resisted the urge to get up on the shelf racks and do a David Lee Roth-esque jump off of it with a Pete Townsend windmill strum on the landing. I wanted to duck walk down the aisle like Chuck Berry then light the guitar on fire a la Jimi Hendrix.

I'm putting the band back together. I'm on a mission from God. The man upstairs and I just need to wait until I get the game shipped in from Amazon.com. Rock on!

Corporate Sell Outs

Mikeandcindi.blogspot.com is now open for corporate advertising to the highest bidder(s). For the big players out there, we prefer Coke over Pepsi, Miller over Budweiser and GM over Ford.

Mike needs some extra money for a Plasma TV for the spare room and Cindi needs cash for a new designer purse and Sony PSP.

Cindi sent me an email she received from Liberty Tax Service. Apparently, one of their people did a web search and found their name on our blog. We got an email from them for a web site to get a $20 coupon off their services.

A church by any other name...ok, it isn't the same

There was a bit of an snafu regarding that church that Mike and I were going to be married in. Our officiant recommended a little convent chapel. We went and viewed the chapel, loved it, took lots of pictures and decided it was perfect! We went back to our friends' house and called the sisters to make arrangements. Our friend, Rachael, spoke to one of the sisters who said that this was a very busy time for them and that we should call back after Christmas. Ok. We decided to contact our officiant who had "contacts" within the convent. Christmas came and went and we still weren't exactly sure what was going on.

Finally, Rachael and I reached the point where we were like, "We just need to know. Yes or no...can somebody let us know what's going on?" The sisters were reluctant to have a wedding there, so it seemed. They weren't saying no but they wouldn't really commit to a yes either. Our contact with the convent told Rachael and I that they could probably "twist the sisters' arms" and get them to agree to have the wedding there but I am reluctant to begin my marriage by putting the hurt on nuns. Luckily, Rachael is resourceful and knows a lot of very, very nice people. They scouted out another church, sent us some pictures and reserved our wedding date.

So behold! This is the church in which Mike and I will be getting married on April 22, 2006. In the top picture, if you look closely enough you will see our friend, and Rachael's beloved husband, Aaron. He is waving. The picture was taken to show that even though the church has a cemetery in front, we could take wedding pictures outside without the gravestones showing.

The second picture is the inside of the church. One of our requirements for a church is that it be small-ish. We're not having a huge lavish wedding and so I wanted an intimate atmosphere. No sense having a ceremony attended by about 15-20 people in a venue that holds 1,000. Know what I mean?

Today I started looking at "memorial candles" for the wedding. I don't know why I put that in quotes...I just felt like it. Anyway, besides making me cry at work (which is never cool), they cost around $40! $40 to put my brother's name on a candle that would cost me (maybe) $5 at Wal-Mart. I guess it just proves that weddings are big business. Feh.

Well, I must finish preparing for my drama class which starts in 31 minutes. I'll end with another quote from one of my favorite playwrights, Wendy Wasserstein.

"Because of Mozart, it's all over after the age of seven." - W. Wasserstein

Goodnight Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are!

Ok, so it's not February 10th but who knows if I'll get a chance to post again on that exact date! This is close enough. But, Cindi...what's Feb. 10th? (I hear you ask) Why, my darling children, that is the birthdate of the late-great James Francis Durante...also known as The Schnoz. Yeah, that's right...I'm a bottomless well of useless factoid trivia. Big whoop, wanna fight about it?

I started this post earlier in between my classes today and it quickly turned into an "I hate everybody and teaching sucks!" rant. I found that I was tired and cranky. Deciding that perhaps tired and cranky was not the best mood to be in when one seeks to entertain...or at least inform, I decided to break for lunch. Then I got busy. Everybody and their dog is looking for me today. It's midterm week and all the lazies who haven't been to class in five weeks are trying to hunt me down and explain why they deserve a chance to turn in all the work they've missed. Not to mention that I gave my midterm exam in my "Intro to Drama" class. I have frantic phone calls from three students who missed the exam. Two had just been involved in car accidents and one girl has pink eye. So I called everyone back today and, with the proper documentation, they'll be able to make it up. I also got an e-mail from a student in one of my composition classes. He missed class today because he has tuberculosis but he's planning to be in class on Thursday. I was like, "Dude...STAY HOME." Geez.

But I'm off on a tangent...what was I talking about? Oh yeah...I hate teaching. Well, not really. But that's how I felt this morning. I hated everything this morning. Too many people trying to hunt me down, not enough time in the day to sleep, not enough money to buy a playstation portable (I swear that thing's going on my bridal registry!!!!) , not enough time to buy a donut before class, too much homework to grade, not enough room in my bag for all the junk I have to carry around...you name it and I complained about it in my head this morning. Then - to top it ALL off - we got copies of last semester's teaching evaluations in our mailboxes today. I picked mine up when I went to make copies of the quiz I'm giving tomorrow and groaned to myself. Last semester I was working full time at the museum and teaching a full load of classes. I was tired and cranky 98% of the time (it's true...ask Mike), I never had any time to prepare anything extra or (in my opinion) all that interesting for the classes, I was never at school unless I had to teach that day...I was sure that my students hated me last quarter. Or at least felt like I was completely incompetent. I mean, none of them took their classes seriously, I couldn't get anybody to read anything ahead of time for class and getting them to turn in homework was like pulling teeth! Whitney Houston may believe that these children are our future but I was NOT convinced. I decided that today couldn't POSSIBLY get any worse, so I tore open my evaluation envelope. Wonder of wonders...they freakin' LOVED me last quarter. I got a 4.81 out of 5 in my College Reading classes and 4.78 out of 5 for Speech! Not only that...but these kids (most of whom I wasn't sure were even literate) wrote COMMENTS on the sheets. I would like to sample a few of my favorites:

"Very respectful of our feelings"
"I think she is really nice and respectful to everyone in the class"
"Miss Harris is an excellent instructor. She provided the class with the knowledge needed."
"She relates to us."

And I got five that said:
"She is a very good teacher."

I did get one guy (I know it's anonymous, but you can't tell me this isn't a guy) who gave this suggestion as a way to improve our College Reading course, "Less reading." Um...dude. The class is called College READING.

So I decided that perhaps these children may be our future. (Sing it, Whitney...'Teach them well and LET them lead the way') After all, they do have great taste in teachers.

I'm so sad!

Goodbye, Wendy Wasserstein

"We're all concerned, intelligent, good women. It's just that I feel stranded. And I thought the whole point was that we wouldn't feel stranded. I thought the point was that we were all in this together." -from The Heidi Chronicles by Wendy Wasserstein

Portrait of a Grown Man Enjoying a Pop Tart

I must have missed more than I thought when it came to being a kid. Oh sure, I played baseball and football and any other outdoor sports you could think of, had a Nintendo the first Christmas it came out, bikes, fireworks, a pool, the whole nine yards. But I'm nearly 29 now, and I had my first pop tart last month.

Imagine me, a child growing up in the 80s, never enjoying a pop tart as they were meant to be enjoyed. It's a wonder that I wasn't suspected of being a Communist and shipped off to Moscow. A sample of the home raid would have gone something like this: "You're kidding me, right? He doesn't eat breakfast cereal either? He's definitely coming with us! He will be a perfect member of the Young Communists. We shall call him Mikhail. Grab your coat, boots, long johns, and several rolls of your fancy 2-ply toilet paper, comrade."

I guess that the Hypercolor t-shirt, denim jacket, and fake Air Jordans (they were decent facsimiles with the red, white and black color scheme, only without the Nike swoosh and the trademark Jordan with the ball and outstretched arms and legs; come to think of it, they were a very memorable pair of shoes) must have made me look semi-normal, even if I didn't eat what every other kid did.

Anyways, last month we were visiting Rachael and Aaron in Tennessee and she knows that Cindi and I both are extremely picky eaters, so she offered me two of Aaron's pop tarts (Frosted Chocolate Fudge) for breakfast. "Sure, I'll give em a shot," I said, not expecting too much. Aaron may have been disappointed that I was dipping into his pastry stash, but he didn't show it. To my surprise, they were pretty damn good, so I had several more the next day, and the next after that. I think Aaron was secretly glad we weren't staying for much longer than a weekend.

Just as I am writing this, Cindi came into the office and glanced at my post. She said, "Oh, wow, I was just thinking about having a few of your pop tarts." I think that I need a better hiding place for them, or perhaps a safe.

A challenge...

This post today is dedicated to to the poor, unfortunate souls who parade around on your city or suburban sidewalks in freezing weather for a lousy $7 an hour. Yes, that's right, I'm talking about the costumed wavers for Liberty Tax Service. I'm sure that you've seen hundreds out there as I have, dressed up as Uncle Sam or The Statue of Liberty, unloved and unappreciated as they wave unnoticed for hours at a time.

What I propose is a contest to give something back to these people and make them feel at home on our streets. The points system is as follows:

Waving back while in your car (a smile is optional) (1 point)
Honking your horn as you go by (2 points)
The honk and wave (3 points)
Buying them a cup of coffee or hot chocolate at a gas station or Dunkin Donuts (5 points)
Buying them a Venti Starbucks with an overpriced dessert (10 points)
Writing your Congreesman and/or Senator to move back the tax return date to September 15 (15 points)

Feel free to have a handy-dandy notebook at your side in your car to keep track of your daily points as I have.