It looks as though my promotion to the Journal Billing Group will actually happen. It was first suggested earlier this year, but was delayed by a round of layoffs, which was really ok with me because it gave me time to have my first review and raise since I've had this job. Now I'll get another raise for changing positions. Yesterday there was a departmental meeting to announce the move, and today Loretta is interviewing a friend of mine from another department for either my current job or the one vacated by Chad, our token male whose last day was Friday.

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Oh, NO!!! All my pictures are gone! All of them!!! AOL says I don't have a page. That's where they all linked from. What happened?

Voluntary Roadside Interviews....I know I would be upset if this happened to me. I believe I would be arrested for refusing to cooperate.

I've begun reading The Shipping News by Annie Proulx. Interesting prose style. Many sentence fragments. Words omitted. Replete with similies, metaphors.

It's not really the wine itself.......

It seems researchers are now saying that wine drinkers just generally lead a healthier lifestyle than non-drinkers or drinkers of beer or other types of liquor.

What Women Drink...

I think the following is really just a joke, but it may have an element of truth in it. Note: I tend to drink wine at home, but when I go out I like to order an Old Fashioned.

Seven New York City bartenders were asked if they could nail a women's personality based on what she drinks. Though interviewed separately, they concurred on almost all counts.

THE RESULTS:
Drink: Beer
Personality: casual, low maintenance, down to earth
Your approach: challenge her to a game of pool

Drink: Blender Drinks
Personality: flakey, annoying, a pain in the ass
Your approach: avoid her, unless you want to be her cabin boy

Drink: White Zinfandel
Personality: easy, thinks she is classy and sophisticated, actually has no clue
Your approach: make her feel smarter than she is...

Drink: Wine
Personality: conservative and classy, sophisticated
Your approach: tell her you wish Reagan had had four more years... Alzheimer's and term limits be damned.

Drink: Mixed Drinks
Personality: older, has picky taste, know what she wants
Your approach: You don't have to approach her. She'll send YOU a drink

Drink: Shots
Personality: hanging with frat-boy pals or looking to get drunk and naked
Your approach: easiest hit in the joint. Nothing to do but wait.

The cupola repairs at church have finally begun. The workmen began erecting the scaffolding on Wednesday. Once it's repaired and repainted, it will be ready to receive the cross, which has been waiting patiently in Pastor Dale's office for the chance to once more illuminate the neighborhood. Chuck took this picture yesterday, and I'm putting it in the upper left hand corner of The Echo in place of the pen-and-ink rendering of the church that usually goes there.

I realized last night that my perception of distance and how long it takes to get somewhere is still colored by a car-less childhood. I have a haircut appointment near six corners at 8:00 a.m. today, and Chuck has an LCC Board meeting in Arlington Heights at 9:00 a.m. (he volunteered to be Treasurer this year). His Suburban is still in the process of being overhauled, as it has been for the last several weeks (I'll really be glad when it's done and I can have sole possession of my Cavalier). I was concerned about how he could drop me off at the hairdresser's and still make his meeting on time. He pointed out that since the expressway opened in 1959, Arlington Heights hasn't been that far away. I'll have to take the bus home, and it's raining, but I guess I won't melt.

The best thing about baby showers at work, other than the food, the gifts, and the fun of surprising someone, is that you don't have to play those stupid games. I made Watergate Salad for my food contribution to Bea's shower. I thought everybody in the world knew how to make it, but several people asked me for the recipe. Here it is:

1 package Jello Instant Pistacio Pudding (4 serving size)
1 can (20 oz.) crushed pineapple in JUICE (undrained)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup miniature marshmallows
2 cups whipped topping (thawed)

Mix first four ingredients (including the juice) in a large bowl
Blend in the whipped topping
Put in serving bowl and chill

I was happy to see Tom at rehearsal last night. It's for sure he'll be in the play. He looks great, and he's very happy about his upcoming marriage.

The most difficult part about staging Finian's Rainbow is the dancing. I'm really glad I'm not one of the dancers. That's never been one of my strong points. I can't even follow the steps on an aerobics exercise tape.

There's a meeting of the RGA Committee this morning, and Loretta is taking the day off, so I have to pay close attention and take notes. I'm wearing a skirt today, and I took extra care with my hair and make-up. I'm not sure it makes much difference, since "business casual" is generally accepted where I work, but everyone at the meeting except me is part of management, so I figured it couldn't hurt. I'm still not sure why I was invited to participate or what my contribution is expected to be.

Several weeks ago, I participated in an argument with a not very bright person regarding genetics. This person insisted that the child of a surrogate mother (that is, where the already fertilized egg is implated in a host mother) would look like the woman who carried the child. Those of us who had taken high school biology told the person in no uncertain terms that this was not the case. Sunday, when I was reading a Dr. Suess book to my grandkids, it suddenly struck me how that idea could have entered someone's head. In "Horton Hatches the Egg" what finally hatches after the elephant so faithfully tends the egg is a bird with an elephant's trunk, ears and tail.

Woe is me! It's time to put together The Echo, the church newsletter that I am responsible for publishing. And of course, I'm still missing articles that were promised to me. Notable among the list of missing blurbs: The Pastor's Corner. The deadline has only been published in the weekly bulletin and announced from the pulpit for THREE WEEKS!

I found out yesterday, through the magic of Instant Messaging, that Tom may be playing the role of the "deputy" to Chuck's "sheriff" in Finian's Rainbow. I'm really so glad, and sort of proud, since I am responsible for him originally auditioning for Trinity Players. He played the role of Howard, the long time boyfriend of Rosemary (my character) in Picnic two years ago. Strange how life imitates fiction. The reason I'm not sure he'll be in this year's production is that he still has to check and make sure he has no conflicts. You see, he's marrying his girlfriend a week after our last performance. After dating her for 18 years.

We visited the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois today. There were some interesting old trains, including some city trolley-bus rail cars. One of those included a "snowsweeper" with an enormous rotating brush to keep the snow off the trolley tracks. Outside the barns where the display trains were kept, there were some seats made out of lion-head architectural remnants of the old LaSalle Street Station which was torn down in 1982 to make way for the new Chicago Board of Trade.

We took a ride on the Nebraska Zephyr, which at one time operated two trains between Chicago and Minneapolis until they were replaced on that popular route with cars that could be coupled and uncoupled. The trains were then switched to the Chicago-Lincoln, Nebraska route, hence the name "Nebraska" Zephyr. The train we rode was built in 1936, and alll the cars on both trains were named for mythological gods and goddesses. The train at the railway museum is the "goddess" train, and we rode in the coach car known as "Minerva".

Bob, one of my lunch buddies, had a birthday today so the four of us went out to lunch. Bennigan's has a new menu. I highly recommend the Caribbean crab cakes.

I'm indebted to Gordon at SomeTHiNG for the link to this year's Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest results. Also known as the "Dark and Stormy Night" contest, the entrants put their worst words forward, attempting to write the most impossibly bad opening line for a novel.

Although we discovered that the source of the water on the kitchen floor was not the dishwasher, but the water dispenser in the freezer door, we decided to get a new dishwasher anyway. The plastic coating on the racks of the old one was starting to wear away, revealing rusting metal beneath. As I may have said before, that appliance was purchased when my 29 year old daughter was a sophomore in high school. It was reaching the end of its useful life anyway. The new one doesn't have a center pole, and therefore has more useful space. Sears very obligingly agreed to deliver it on July 5, when I was off work, and they delivered it early enough for me to have a fun time downtown with Chuck.

The only problem was that the first time I turned it on it made a loud grinding noise during the drain cycle and pumped several gallons of water all over the kitchen floor. This was a much larger puddle than the one left by using the water dispenser. So Chuck took last Monday off from work to wait for the repair man, who said it looked like the unit had been dropped because the motor and the pump were all jammed up together. Rather than order parts to repair the defective unit, we asked for a new one, which was delivered today. This one works fine.

Another very busy weekend! Friday evening I went with Bob, an old family friend, to see the L'Opera Piccola production of La Bohème at The Athenaeum Theatre. I had gotten our tickets directly from Sasha, and they were really great seats. Row F center on the aisle. The voices, especially the sopranos were wonderful, and the whole story was played with a lot of emotion. Bob really likes this opera company, and because of my Trinity Players connection, I was able to introduce him to Sasha, Madeline and Jerry. Before the show we also chatted with David, who was playing cello in the orchestra, Floyd, who was still in a soft cast, but walking without crutch or cane, Annie, Grace, Bev and her boyfriend J.T. Since we were plenty early, I took a few minutes to go inside St. Alphonsus Church, which is right next door. Very impressive. Reminds me of some of the churches I saw in Europe.

Saturday morning Chuck and I drove downtown to meet Viv for breakfast. Viv was in our church youth group while we were in high school, and it's been probably 35 years since we've seen her. She lives in southern California, and came to Chicago after her annual visit with her Dad in Michigan to see her nephew play the role of the "Master DJ" in Chicago Shakespeare Theater's hip-hop, rap version of Comedy of Errors. The production is called The Bomb-itty of Errors, and even though it sounds totally bizarre, Viv said it was great. I remember Viv as being sort of soft and roundish when she was a teenager, almost to the point of being chunky, but now she's skinny, angular and very tan; typically southern California, I guess. She's been married and divorced four times, but three of those were to the same man. Some folks just never learn. They're great friends, she says, as long as they're not married. He had a horse named Ocean Sound run in the Kentucky Derby this year and she got to accompany them (the ex-husband and the horse) on the paddock walk. We looked for her on TV, but since the horse was a real long-shot the media didn't waste the film.

Sunday I actually went to church for the first time this summer. It was our week to pack 100 lunches for the Night Ministry after coffee hour. Then later in the afternoon we went to Lynne's surprise 50th birthday party. She's the one whose lawn we decorated a few weeks ago. She and Rick had been out of town for the weekend and her two girls and her mother took care of all the arrangements. She was completely surprised. They have the most wonderful, heated swimming pool and I think I spent at least two hours in it. I think I need to swim more often. My back and my knee (my usual places for aches and pains) don't hurt at all today.

I am stuffed! Loretta took me and several others who helped with the end of month reporting to Wholly Frijoles Mexican Restaurant for a "thank-you" lunch.

I'm a penguin. What are you? Take the quiz here and find out.

what's your inner flower?

[c] s u g a r d e w

Get brain-freeze for free in honor of today's date. (A free Slurpee at 7-11, in case this link doesn't work after today.)

Will FINALLY sent me a picture of my newest granddaughter, Heather Jean.

Rehearsals for Finian's Rainbow have started. I'm in the chorus, as I figured I would be, and Chuck has the role of the obnoxious sheriff. I had really big roles two years in a row: Rosemary in Picnic in 2000 and Julia in Lend Me a Tenor last year. So I'm happy to sing in the chorus and take the occasional throw-away line not assigned to a regular character this year. So far I have one line, spoken when the needed money to save the Mahoney's land from being sold for back taxes drifts down from a tree: "It's a windfall!" I was in the chorus of this musical when Elmhurst College did it in 1967. It's amazing how well I still remember the words and music after all this time.

Everyone in the Chicagoland area, mark your calendars! Six performances only! Sept. 13, 14, 20, & 21 at 8:00 p.m. and Sept. 15 & 22 at 2:00 p.m. Address: Trinity Lutheran Church, 5106 N. LaCrosse Ave., Chicago, IL. Phone for more details: (773) 736-1457.

I read an interview with Tom Hanks about his new movie, The Road to Perdition, which was filmed here in Chicago. I feel I have a connection with this movie, because when I was still working at the auction, they were selling off items that were used on the set. A lot of 30's style light fixtures, as I remember. Direct Auction is owned by some members of my church, and I worked there every other Tuesday evening when they had the antique auctions, doing data entry. It was fun and interesting, but after 5 years getting home past midnight and getting up at six for my real job got a bit wearing.

Chuck and I were both off from work on Friday, and we found out that a young man from our church was going to play piano at the Taste of Chicago, so we went again! It was a bit cooler than last Friday, but plenty hot in the sun. Max was very poised, and I didn't hear any mistakes.

After Max's performance, we took the free trolley to Navy Pier again (does this sound like something we did just a week ago?). This time we went for a 90 minute ride on the four-masted schooner Windy, which was what Chuck wanted to do last week, but we couldn't because the 3:00 p.m. sailing was for a private charter that day. It was a perfect day for sailing. I got to help raise the jib sail (that's the little one at the front of the boat) and Chuck helped raise the foresail. I'm glad I'm not prone to motion sickness; I think a few of the passengers were not enjoying the ride as much as I was. I found the ride quite exhilerating.

Diana and Rick came over with the four little ones on the 4th. We had gotten an inflatable pool for the kids to cool off in. Diana and I got in, too. The water was pretty cold, but the kids didn't seem to mind. Alex almost looked like he was really swimming. I wore the new swimsuit I got that morning at Outdoor World. Their clothes are pretty pricey, but it's so rare for me to find a swimsuit I like.

Jim was over, too, and when it got dark he got out the illegal fireworks that had been sitting in the guest room closet since the end of November. Jim's folks live in North Carolina, and when he goes to visit them, he drives through several states where you can buy really good fireworks. They shot off some bottle rockets and firecrackers in the back yard, and then we went down to the school park so we could share the bigger stuff with the folks that had gathered to see what they could of the Niles fireworks display and to shoot off their own illegal fireworks. I don't think the law against fireworks is very strictly enforced.

Being very sensible people, we watched the July 3 Grant Park fireworks display on television in air-conditioned comfort, while listening to the simulcast of the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra on WFMT radio. James Paul, the director of the Orchestra was heard bemoaning the fact that he is the only person who doesn't get to see the fireworks. He has his back to the action while he directs. He has headphones on and has to direct the orchestra to play as he hears the pre-recorded music, because it is timed to the explosions.

There was an arial shot of the sea of humanity spread out all over the park. We went to the Taste of Chicago and the fireworks on July 3 once, in 1991, the year of Desert Storm and also the year Chuck retired from the Air Force and we moved back home to Chicago. Once was enough. The problem is not so much the crowds when you are there. Everyone is usually fairly polite. The problem is getting home. People have been arriving at the park over the course of many hours, but when the event is over, everyone has to leave at once, and there is a great crush of people walking. The time we went, I was actually afraid the bridge would collapse when some idiot decided to start everyone doing the "bunny hop" while trying to exit the park. Even though the City operates extra rapid transit trains and buses, there is no good way to handle that many people. We ended up bypassing the subway, where the line stretched up the steps, down the block and around the corner, and walked several more blocks to Union Station and got a Metra train back to our neighborhood. We still had a mile to walk from the train station to get home, but it was a nice night, and at least we didn't have to stand in line.