First it was Dutch elm disease, then the Asian longhorned beetle. Yesterday Rich, my neighbor who is a marine biologist in charge of Lake Michigan, told me about the emerald ash borer. I hope they can get it under control before it does too much damage.

This brings to mind the apricot tree we had in our backyard in Texas. It died, and I didn't know why. My neighbor there informed me that it was "fruit borers" and I could have saved the tree if I had sprayed it. Who knew? Certainly not me.

How to Get Fired We got a new temp in our department this week. Here are the things the old one did to get herself canned:

1. Walked around talking to people instead of sitting at her desk doing her work
2. Had long phone conversations with her friends instead of doing her work (and her cube was right next to the boss's office)
3. Fell asleep at her desk instead of doing her work
4. Ignored verbal warnings from the boss and continued the above substitutes for work

She kept saying she wanted to be hired full time, but sabatoged any chance of that even if there were not a hiring freeze on. She's young. I hope she learns.

I just spoke to my daughter-in-law, Donna, in Germany. She doesn't have an exact date yet for when Will is getting back there to the family, but thinks it may be around the beginning of May. She said that he was among the first group of Army personnel to go into the Baghdad Airport after the Marines had secured it. She said that it was a lot more than he was ready for and he is changing his plans to make the Army his career. She thinks he's still in Iraq, but may be moved back to Kuwait by mid-week. Very good news.

HOORAY! We finally heard from Will. It was just a short e-mail saying he is fine and will be home (back in Germany) soon, but it was so wonderful to have that much communication from him. What a wonderful Easter present!

I just got back from my annual mammogram. My mammogram technician is a 10-year breast cancer survivor, and has found her mission in life. She wanted to make absolutely sure of getting an accurate picture, which means LOTS of compression. This is the most painful one I remember having, but I suppose it's like birthdays. If one considers the alternative, one never complains about them. After the x-ray, I treated myself to a Belgian waffle smothered in strawberries, bananas and whipped cream at Tre Kroner

It was another beautiful, warm day today. A little too warm where I work, since the air conditioning was not functioning. We sweated in the still air in our little gray cubicles. Finally, our "facilities engineer" found us some fans to move some of the air, and the people from the Human Resource department passed out popsicles. I got a sky-blue one.

Chuck and Ben are off this week from work and school, respectively, and they spent the afternoon at the "friendly confines" of Wrigley Field watching the Cubs win. They got to see Sammy Sosa hit another home run, and I've already forgotten what else Chuck told me, but anyway they had a great time. They arrived home about the same time I came home from work, and I waved to them when I saw them getting off the bus at the end of our block. Public transportation is the best way to go. No parking worries, and you can't get much more convenient than having the bus stop three doors away.

We set a record here in Chicago today. The temperature got up to 85 degrees F. The previous record for this date of 83 or 84 was set in 1941. It's very low humidity today, too, which is unusual for this area, so close to Lake Michigan. It's a day that draws people outside like a magnet. I took a walk with a friend of mine at lunchtime, someone who doesn't usually enjoy walking, but we went much further than originally planned. I hope we have a few more days like this. It somehow doesn't seem like exercise when it's so pleasant.

The down side is my seasonal allergies. I was out of Claritin, so I had the itchy eyes, sneezes, etc. when I came back in. I went to WalMart after work and got my "fix". I wonder how it mixes with wine? Well, I guess I'll find out.

When I got in the car yesterday, I heard a song on WFMT that I recognized. I hadn’t heard it announced, and I had to dig back in my memory a bit to remember why I knew it. It was one of Franz Schubert’s “Songs Without Words” , but this particular one I remember from an arrangement that had words.

I was a member of Polyhymnia, a women’s chorus at Elmhurst College in 1969. Polyhymnia ("Poly") was named for one of the nine muses, and the chorus performed all their music from memory, most of it a cappella. It was Mrs. Viola Repp’s last year as our director before retirement, and we were preparing music for our last concert under her direction.

When we first started rehearsing “To Music” by Franz Schubert, everyone hated it. We couldn’t get a sense of how it was supposed to sound, and it seemed like nothing but a cacophony of strange, unrelated notes. We were on the point of rebellion regarding this piece, but Mrs. Repp would not be swayed. “This is my last year and my last concert, and you will sing this piece.”

There was nothing to do but dig in and learn it. Each section leader scheduled extra (required) sectional rehearsals outside of the regular five-day-a-week rehearsal time. As we mastered the notes, the dynamics began to fall into place and give the song shape. By the time we really had it, the piece had become one of our favorites.

Thou lovely art, how often in dark hours,
when life's tumult wraps me round,
have you kindled my heart to loving warmth,
transported me to a better world.

I got busted by the water police while at the Symphony last night. I had changed purses because my large black purse was big enough to accomodate a water bottle. Since I have a cold (feeling much better today, thanks), keeping my throat moist is absolutely necessary in order to avoid choking, coughing, and otherwise annoying other music lovers. I am normally very discreet about taking the occasional sip, and I never make any noise. However, during intermission we were standing up at our seats and Chuck was engaged in conversation with the gentleman seated behind us. As usual, I was just listening. I absent-mindedly took a swallow of water while standing up, facing backwards towards the lobby, in full view of Brünnhilde the Usher. She yelled "Ma'am!" twice before I realized that I was the object of her wrath. "Ma'am! You have to drink your bottled water out in the lobby!" I just said, "Sorry," and put the bottle back in my purse. I guess she didn't feel like making too much of an issue of it. Or maybe she didn't think she could manage the trek down to my row to drag me out.

We sit in the nosebleed seats, and one needs oxygen and climbing equipment in order to navigate the steep angle from the top row of the gallery down to Row E, where we sit. Which is why we stand at our seats during intermission rather than going out to the lobby. We've been sitting in these same seats since the 1996 season, and once we get there, the seats are just fine. I've finally gotten used to the sound of the orchestra being a bit behind the beat of the conductor. Light travels faster than sound, you know.

In September of last year, we did have the opportunity to hear the orchestra from a different perspective

Chuck carried some old doors that had been taking up space in the garage out to the front of the house for the garbage men to pick up yesterday. He claims that was my anniversary present. What a guy.

The Symphony was great. It's hard to bead Beethoven and Schumann. Even the modern piece they played in the beginning wasn't too bad.

It's been a really quick week. Finished our taxes on Friday evening, and my honesty in reporting Chuck's extra income resulted in us having to pay $40.00. Then after mailing them on Saturday, I got a statement from the life insurance company showing interest earned, which was not included. Too bad. I should have gotten that form at the end of January.

The Spaghetti Supper and Nickel Social was Saturday evening, and as usual ticket #1111 got lots of loot. No, it's not fixed. We buy a $100.00 package of 5-cent tickets every year, so we're bound to win something. One unusual thing was a "Quasar" pen, a ball point pen with a clear barrel that constantly changes colors as you write.

The rest of the week has been pretty typical. LCC rehearsal Monday, tap & jazz class Tuesday, Cabinet Meeting Wednesday, and tonight we go to the symphony. And I'm fighting a cold. Hopefully winning.

Today is our 32nd wedding anniversary. Chuck hasn't said anything about it yet.

Well, it's April. Time to do the taxes. I'm almost finished with the Federal, and at this point it looks like we'll get about $200.00 back. But I have to go back and put in an item of income I forgot about. Chuck gets a small monthly stipend from the church for directing the choir, and since he didn't get a 1099 for it, I forgot until he reminded me. Oh, yes, and I have to call the life insurance company today, because I didn't get a 1099-INT from them. I wonder if those two items are going to wipe out our refund?

It turned out I didn't have to make a decision, as it was made for me. I neither danced nor sang. I worked until 10:00 p.m. last night. George decided he wanted us to process another $200,000.00 in Journal Billing claims for the month of March, the last day of which was yesterday.