Things are back to normal around here. Chuck got back from his three-week "meander" out to Arizona Saturday, and Ben flew back yesterday from visiting his dad and Diana in Arizona.

Chuck got to see everything he had planned to see except for the Memphis Belle, which had been moved from Mud Island along the riverwalk in Memphis to a site where it is undergoing further restoration. He visited Scott AFB, where we spent over 7 years. He called me from the Long Branch Saloon in Dodge City, KS one evening. He went to Dalhart, TX and stayed the night with an old friend, the best man at our wedding. He saw the Grand Canyon, and finally got out to Page, AZ and spent a few days with Diana and took the grandkids fishing in Lake Powell. He saw Carlsbad and Roswell, and visited Abilene, TX and took a picture of the house we owned and lived in when we were there.

The solitude was an interesting experience, but it's nice to have everyone home.

The folks from the CTA and Metra came out to work yesterday to explain to everyone the best routes for getting to our new building. I already knew how to get there, but I got a free pen and a transit map of Chicago.

I'm definitely leaning towards taking public transportation. By doing so, I'll have some built-in walking, built-in reading time, and I can pay for it with pre-tax dollars. Not a bad deal.

Yesterday was "clean-up" day in our department in preparation for the big move. At our new place, all the lateral file drawers will be three drawers high rather than four. Some weeks ago we had emptied the top drawer of each cabinet. Yesterday, Loretta was informed that a.) the second drawer had to be emptied that day because there was a crew there to convert the files into three-drawer ones, and b.) that the file cabinets would not be moved filled, as was originally thought.

We grabbed enough moving boxes for the files in the second drawers in our department, plus two each for our personal files. It's a good thing we did so early, because I heard that they ran out of moving boxes. This move is not as well-planned as it could be.

We had to take home all our personal things yesterday. I didn't have nearly the amount of things other folks have, just two plants, two glass paperweights and a couple of pictures, but my cube sure looks naked now. And it will be a month until our department moves to the new building.

Yesterday I had my first pedicure ever. My boss, Loretta, gets them all the time, and she had told me it was an experience not to be missed. I kept thinkng, "What's the big deal? Why should I pay so much for polished toes?" Well, now I know. It's so much more than that. You sit in a massaging chair, sipping cool water while your feet soak in a relaxing whirlpool bath. The toenails get cut and shaped, the cuticles get pushed back and trimmed, the dead skin on the foot is removed and the whole foot and lower leg is exfoliated. It's wonderful! You must try it.

Here are some instructions for the perfect home pedicure in case you still don't want to go the spa route, even after my glowing recommendation.

You won't go blind. In fact, it's actually good for you!

I just registered both my home phone numbers with the Do Not Call list. Starting in October I will be free from callers interrupting dinner wanting me to buy aluminum siding for my brick home, switch credit cards or phone companies, or buy a time-share in the Okefenokee Swamp.

Dinner isn't the only inconvenient time these folks call. It's usually when I'm expecting a call from someone I know. I may be in the basement playing musical laundry loads when I hear the phone ring and dash upstairs only to hear my name mispronounced, which is good for an immediate hangup. Another frequent occasion is when I'm in the shower and end up running to the phone dripping wet and naked.

Several people I know refuse to answer the phone at all, even when they are right next to it. They let the answering machine get it, and if they hear a familiar voice, they might pick up. I'm not very good at doing that. I always have hope that it may be someone I really want to talk to or someone calling with some really good news.

I sure hope there's a working computer on my desk when I go in to work today. the new IT guy came and installed a working CD-ROM drive on my computer yesterday, and when we tried to boot it back up, the computer refused to talk to the network and there was a "temperature" warning. He took the box upstairs to try to breathe some life into it, and he also promised me it would have more RAM when I get it back.

My company finally held a communications meeting yesterday that gave us some official information about the move to the new building.

I had taken the Blue Line there on Saturday, just to see where it was. The building is one of three identical ones, and we are in the middle one. It's just under a mile walk from the train stop, but there is a shuttle bus for the office building complex that leaves the terminal every half hour in the morning and evening. There is a five story covered parking garage with an underground walkway to the building. There is a cafeteria, day care center, hair salon, convenience store, and health club in the building.

I would have to leave work a good deal earlier than I do now to take public transportation, but it might be worth it just for the chance to build some walking into my normal daily routine, something I haven't done for way too long. Also, there is an arrangement for buying the transit fares with pre-tax dollars, which may make it financially worthwhile. I must investigate that possibility.

A sample of the "workspaces" was unveiled at yesterday's meeting. I think there may be about as much file space as we have now, and there is also a locker for each cube so one can hang a coat and store shoes and boots out of the way. Everyone will be getting new flat-screen monitors for their computers, which will be much more space efficient than the huge CRTs everyone has now.

The move will take place over three different weekends, with my group going in the second wave on August 16th. I'm looking forward to it.

We went to the Taste of Chicago on the 4th, early, which in my opinion is the only time to go, by public transportation, which in my opinion is the only way to go. We got there just as it opened at 11:00 and I headed straight for the lobster tail and garlic potatoes all the way at the end. There was no way I was going to miss it this year! One of the best values in "taste" portions was a half-pita sandwich from Cousins Restaurant, a Turkish restaurant that used to be on Clark Street in the heart of Andersonville, but has since moved to someplace on Irving Park Road.

While I was there, I purchased a Chicago Card at the CTA booth. This transit card has a chip inside of it, and you don't have to dig in your pocket or purse for it. Just hold your wallet or purse against the spot on the fare meter or turnstyle until you hear the ding. It is registered, so if you ever lose it, you can have it replaced with the value that was on it at the time it was lost. Very cool.

Last night we blocked the first act, and we actually got through the whole thing. I get to be unconditionally nasty and quite dramatic in places. After the first character dies, I find one of the china Indians "bro-o-o-ken", and that ends the first act.

I brought my knitting to rehearsal, and Madeline told me I was doing it wrong. "No self-respecting English lady would knit in that "German" manner, " she said. Instead of holding the yarn in my right hand and throwing it over the stitches, I hold it in my left hand and loop it over. I don't know why I do it that way, but I've never felt comfortable any other way. Not that I knit that often. I bet I haven't knit anything in 25 years. Well, I'm not going to change my style now.

Six of us went out to eat after rehearsal, including Floyd, Annie, Grace, Tony, Tom (Nan's DH), and me. I just have so much fun with that group. Annie is Korean, and every time she learns a new word, she feels compelled to use it constantly for at least a week. I used the word "flustered", and I expect to be hearing it a few times at the next rehearsal, which isn't until next Tuesday, due to the holiday.

Sunday was the first reading of the play. There are only two cast members that I don't know. The rest are mostly the old team: the two Toms, Bob, Sasha, Madeline, Tony. Floyd got Charlie from LCC to play the role of the manservant that Chuck turned down. And Mary will be stage manager again. I got some yarn last night to start the "nondescript gray knitting" called for in my part. It's lucky I know how to knit.

The kids from College Works Painting started on the wood trim on the outside of our house yesterday. I think the scraping and priming will take longer than the painting itself.