CH

I must be going crazy because I've suddenly had this overwhelming urge to be in Oerlikon (a little haven of Zurich also known as the "Newark of Switzerland"). I have this craving for the little horn shaped rolls from the gas station and a bottle of blood orange juice. I'm even missing my old coworkers. I always miss working with Eric, but the other two I don't miss at all.

If I were to tell Eric that I want to eat at the Migrol station he's ask me if I were sick in the head.

Coffee Talk

I've been pretty remiss about updating my blog regularly which will come as no suprise to anyone. But, I'm sitting here early in the morning, big cup o coffee in a Jiminy Cricket mug and listening to Norah Jones. Can you tell I'm procrastinating the inevitability of the start of the work day and the commute.

Last week or sometime in that time frame I blogged about driving past alligators, turkeys and mushrooms. I had a real winner last Tuesday. I was on a path and after I crossed a bridge there was a deer standing on the path. I'm not moved by deer as much as I might have been once upon a time. I lost my sense of awe when I used to hike in Bull Run and there were more deer than mosquitos. And I caught a deer tick (and yes, I got it off and didn't need to go to the Redneck ER to get it taken caer of). My parents also have a deer infestation problem too. But anyway, I was really in a precarious situation because I was riding downhill, across a wooden bridge, over alligator and water snake infested waters, one handed, talking on a cell phone with my boss/friend and there's a deer standing in the path. I said to Kim, "Umm...I might have to go. There's a deer in the path...and I'm five feet away from it...four feet...three feet...OK, the deer is NOT moving.." when I was eyeball to eyeball with it, it finally ran into the woods.

Yesterday's ride included five wild turkeys, a jumping squirrel and a feral cat. Apparently I live on the less clipped side of the neighborhood.

Also in the news yesterday, the official peak of Hurricane Season has passed which hopefully means Central Florida will have been unscathed this year.

I pinned a new piece of artwork to my wall - it's a laminated cover of the Chicago Sun Times from September 25th, 1989. It says "Cub win fan-tastic" - the Magic Number was 3 and the Cubs were heading to Montreal to clinch the division. I love this picture because it smacks of autumn in the city, cooler days and shows Shawon Dunston holding his arms outstretched to the Bleacher Bums. I found that picture yesterday in my basket o memories and had to pin it up.




I just can't believe it's been SIXTEEN years since that day. What the hell have I been doing the last sixteen years?

I guess I went to college, moved to Naperville, then to Chicago, lived in four apartments while I was there, was promoted four times before taking a job in consulting. Then I traveled and worked in all the major financial business cities in the US and Europe. Then I burned out despite lovely holidays to Tuscany, Venice, Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland and Scotland and sold my condo on the river and bought a smallish house in Florida where I left black boots for flip flops and then burned out again. So I quit the consulting gig and got a job managing 100+ poverty level clerks until that drove me crazy and I wound up in a hybrid job of consulting and management and am taking a holiday 15 miles away from my house before taking a three day jaunt cruise to the Bahamas.

That sounds about right.

And the Cubs have still not won a world series, the Bears have sucked but at least the Bulls did damn good for awhile.

Now I better go to work before I add "got fired for strolling in late."

As Harry Caray as my witness..

May Harry Caray beat me with a thousand lashes of Budweiser cans should I ever criticize the Bubba'ed and the Gummed one again.

His speech was excellent and clearly not written by him. Here are some of the highlights (and this will totally bore you to tears unless you have any conception of the Chicago Cubs in the late 80's and 1990's.

That's what I loved most about the game, how a ground out to second with a man on second and nobody out was a great thing.

But Harry [Caray], who was a huge supporter of mine, used to say how nice it is that a guy who can hit 40 homers or steal 50 bases drive in a hundred runs is the best bunter on the team.

There was Shawon Dunston and Mark Grace, and together we were a double play combination for ten years. Shawon Dunston,
who knew three weeks in advance if we were facing Nolan Ryan and
always had a hamstring pull playing the day before. Mark Grace,
who made sure Shawon knew he was supposed to get every popup
from foul line to foul line on the infield. (<---best line of the speech!)

Dawson, the Hawk. No player in baseball history worked harder, suffered more or did it better than Andre Dawson. (YES!)

It reminds me of the guy walking down the beach. He finds
a bottle, pops the cork and a genie comes out to grant him one
wish. The guy says my wish is for peace between the Israelis
and Palestinians. Here's a map of the Middle East. Genie takes
the map, studies it for hours and hours. Finally gives it back
to the guy and says, is there anything else you want to wish
for? This is impossible. The guy says well, I always wanted to
see the cubs in a World Series. The genie looks at him, reaches
out and says, let me have another look at that map.


And by the way, for what it's worth, Ron Santo just gained one more vote
from the veteran's committee.

hahahaha

For all Cubs fans, here's a quote from Ryno's speech,

"I know this will come as a shock to all of you. But I am nearly speechless."

:"-D what a card! Ohh, Ryno, you're just a stitch! I could listen to you allll day!

Ahem.

Ohh - he just mentioned Zim, Sut and Chuck Cottier. Those names sound sooo old to me now.

I sure hope that when Maddux goes to the hall of fame, he goes in a cubs jersey.

Ok, I'm going to watch Bubba now. I'm hard up for entertainment, apparently.

Oh crikey

The bad thing about rain delays is the programming that fills the time. Of all the rain delay topics that I have no interest in running downstairs to watch:

Ryne "Bubba Gums" Sandberg.

Borrrrinnnnng.

Corner of Clark & Addison

In the familiar words of Harry Caray, It's a beautiful day for baseball!

Unfortunately for Chicago, it's a beautiful day for baseball here in Orlando and not so much at 3600 North and 1060 West. I'm watching the Cubs-Houston game and it just got rained out. The grounds crew came out to pull the tarp and I spent a reasonable amount of time watching the crew unroll the tarp, run it across the field and grab it like superman's cape to pull it across the infield. I thought about a lot of things. Like how your feet feel when you're standing in SRO Terrace Reserve with soaked feet. Or the feeling of raindrops pushing the part in your hair until the water streaks into your eyes. The way the pitchers in the bull pen pull their jackets or towels over their heads. WGN started showing the cameramen working in the inclement weather and I wondered if they'd show Val's brother Joe. They did. Then I thought about the seats Joe got for me and my friends one year - in the late Arne Harris' seats and we got on TV (though I was paranoid i'd be shown eating a hot dog on national tv).

I thought, too, about Greg Maddux body surfing on the tarp the year lights came to Wrigley Field. He caused a stink because he had stitches and wasn't off the DL yet. Obviously it did not impair his career in the slightest.

I thought about how the year the Cubs almost went to the series (the Steve Bartman year) that I didn't feel it would be "right" for me to occupy a seat in the park since I hadn't been to a game in so long. Until my sister reminded me of my years of duty when our best pitcher was the incontinent Mike Morgan and I realized I belong there just as much as anyone.

So this afternoon once the Cubs logos appeared and the tarp was full deployed I found myself clapping. Then I heard the crowd clapping. Ahh, yes. A conditioned response I didn't even know I possessed. And I realized that old adage, you can take the girl out of Wrigley Field. But you can't take Wrigely Field out of the girl.

So long, everybody!

Up There or Down There In Another Four Years

My subject header is a George Harrison quote that I heard over and over again everytime I watched "The Compleat Beatles" documentary in High School. I was trying to think of an appropriate title or quote to describe the social phenomena of relocating ones self to a place where they don't know anyone.

In November, I will have lived in Florida for four years. I wonder how I lasted for four years down here, despite all the bouts I've had with handling my first real single family with a yard and attached garage home, disability for six months, pets coming and going, and three hurricanes. It's a huge achievment in and of itself. But the part that I can't believe I lasted through was three years of general loneliness.

Don't get me wrong - I was very blessed to have two friends who are also neighbors that were and still are the ones I can count on for a night out or to pick me up when my crap car breaks down in the middle of no where. But generally speaking, I've always been a hyper social person and was always used to having a million things to do rather than generally nothing.

When I left BP for a local job, I knew that things would start to change. My old belief that it takes 18 months to 2 years to fully establish your social life in a new place never materialized because I traveled all the time. The ability to call a friend in the middle of the week and say, "hey, wanna go out for Chinese food?" never happened. They couldn't count on me or even get to know me.

Now that I have a local job, my local friendships have become stronger but I also have finally started to hit the social stride I'm used to - that of being a wee bit overbooked. This weekend I went to a party and had a great time - and it was with friends that are down to earth, normal people that I could have grown up with. This weekend I'm having another party (the third one I've had since July after three years of nothing). I've met new people, I am learning about the city I live in more than ever, and just finding that I have no time to just be alone anymore. I remember that feeling when I lived in Chicago shortly before I made the decision to move.

Around this time last year, I remember talking to my friend in Atlanta and she was going out with her girlfriends for lunch on the weekend. I remember being so jealous of that simple act of cameraderie that was not developed in my own life here. Finally, I can say things are changing and looking up on all fronts.

The Produce Section, again

So I took my grocery list written in German to the local Publix this morning. As I zoomed over to pick my my "Apfel", there was a couple sitting there hovering over the apples trying to decide which ones to pick out. I waited patiently, perusing the lemons. Then they shifted down a smidge and I grabbed my bag of Gala apples and heard them speaking in German. That made me snicker but I did slightly crumple up my grocery list because heaven forbid they see that and start talking to me in German.

I got a coupon for a free movie rental today and I rented and watched "Fever Pitch." What a good movie, I loved it. I think I could relate to both sides of the story. I don't want to be a sport season widow, but I would want to hang myself if I missed a 7-0 comeback in the bottom of the 8th or 9th.

As you can tell, today is not exactly a wild and fun day here in Orlando. I went out with some friends last night and had a lot of fun. So early this morning I got on my bike for a very long ride, did all my stretches, weights and push ups, sit ups which I absolutely hate but realize the neccessity of every day that I grow older. Then I went and did my errands, watched a movie. I also cleaned the entire kitchen and living room. My vacuum cleaner broke, though, which I need a new one like I need a hole in the head. Tonight I'm grilling so I'll probably go for another ride in the afternoon as the evening hours are getting lovely and cool now that September is here.

Welt Google

Thanks to the Google, I wrote up my grocery list today in German. I will put an asterisk beside the words I didn't have to look up but actually managed to learn at some point in life:

Eier*
Milch*
Apfel*
Schweinkotellet (half*, I knew the Schwein part)
Rosmarin Frisch*
Huhnkotellet*
Salat
Spinat*
Sandwichfleisch*
Vodka SoBe (I can't write the funny german B on this keyboard)

This could be an interesting way to learn your food nouns. Next week I'll do my list in Italiano. Interestingly, not only is my grocery list written in German, the contents are pretty prominent in Germany. Schwein, Apfel, Salat.. Mmm, what I would love for a bit of the sparkling apple juice right now.

If I were to do that in French, I'm not sure I could.. Letsee if the six years of French has paid off..

Ouef
Lait
Pommes
..?
Rosmarie?..
Poulet
Salade
..?
.. - but I do know you'd buy it at a charcuterie
Vodka sauce

Mon Dieu, ma francais est tres tres mal. La langue stupide! ou, peut-etre, je suis stupide. Oui, c'est vrai. Je suis stupide. J'etudie francais pour six ans et j'ai oublier tout les mots. Parce que, je parle meilleur allemand apres deux vacances. Il est très triste, n'est-ce pas? Euhh...peut-etre..je parle plus francais que la pensée de I. Fichus noms de nourriture.

Translated:

My god, my french is really really bad. The stupid language! Or, maybe, I'm stupid. Yes, that's right. I'm stupid. I studied french for six years and I have forgotten all the words. But, I speak more German after 2 vacations. It's very said, don't think? Uhhhh...maybe..I speak more french than I though. Damn food nouns.

Martha is no eejit

I've been home sick for a few days and have had a chance to see Martha Stewart's reincarnation. Her show is no longer the starchy, crisp corners of well shot and edited perfection but rather a live show, in a studio audience with celebrity guests. It's like her old show collided with the Ellen Degeneres show. It's actually amazing how she could have been locked away for awhile and yet come back into TV and the media on virtually the perfect note.

But today, it was utterly surreal. Her guest was (P)Diddy. She rapped (and it actually wasn't anywhere near as terrifying as you might think) and wore bling. But that wasn't what was surreal. It was Diddy sitting there making Dim Sum in her studio kitchen and if that wasn't insane enough, he was in the CRAFT ROOM making home made WRAPPING PAPER.

Diddy was cooking and making crafts. Making crafts!!

I realized it's a smart move on his behalf. Rap and hip hop have been around for close to ten years now and the teenagers and young adults who originally new him as Puff Daddy or whatever are now parents that include stay at home mom's. So by appearing on Martha Stewart, he realigned himself with a part of his audience that has grown up and found him to be irrelevant in their new minivan and Gymboree filled lives. Smart move, despite looking very uncool.

I'm looking forward to when Bono is a guest and learns how to sew up poultry and makes a home made candle from pieces of road debris or summat.

Nature's Table

I've been sick the last few days so I haven't been up to blogging. I had a terrible cold, fever, sore foot, sore neck - so much so I couldn't bear typing or sitting at the desk.

It seems that things with Hurricane Katrina are starting to come under some semblence of control. We fortunately only had the most outer bands of Ophelia. I've noticed, though, that during these hurricanes and even the ones that skirt by, I get this enormous sneezing fits and massive migraine headaches. I wonder if that's the change in pressure but someone said they heard it's because the hurricanes bring with it allergans that don't normally exist here in Florida. I don't know if that's a myth or not but I do notice I'm very sensitive.

This morning was another day with Nature for me. I heard something rustling around downstairs. I went down and nothing was there so I had no idea what it was I heard. Then while enjoying my morning cuppa I saw it: a big ol frog. This is the third time a frog of larger proportions has been in my house. I have no idea how or why the buggers get in here. The first two times I nearly had to be institutionalized. Now, I'm a pro. I get the popcorn bowl and slide an old LP under it and carry it out of the house. The popcorn bowl is perfect for frog catching because it feels like popcorn popping in it as you carry the froggie out.

Turkey and mushrooms, anyone?

That's what you'd get if you were to eat off the land as I witnessed it on my bike ride on Saturday (before I succumbed to an absolute fever). I saw another big flock of turkeys roaming around and for some reason mushrooms everywhere. Maybe they're toad stools. I don't know what the difference is (or if there is a difference) between a portabello mushroom and a toad stool, unforunately. Nor do I know how to catch a turkey and cook it with toad stools/portabello.

Speaking of mushrooms, I am learning how well they flavor your more 'homestyle' type foods. I made chicken broth and pot roast over the last couple of weeks and dumped baby bellas in there just for the heck of it. It turns out it's an excellent flavoring even though I can't tolerate the texture of it. Big shout out to Janet for turning me onto that even though she blames me for her rotten pot roast.

Well I'm off to work shortly to earn my pay. I dislike working.

Angst Quote of the Week:
"Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief. All kill their inspiration and then sing about their grief."