To avoid snapping off and being hot weather crazy like all those other people, Miz M recommends:
walking real slow and visualizing the ocean.
Monday, July 31, 2006
People Get Crazy In This Hot Weather, Baby
Just saw a man on lunch hour standing around smoking a pipe. A pipe!
It's 99 degrees and dude is smoking a pipe!
This is not a moment to reflect, sir! It's days like this that you should switch to cigarettes!
It's 99 degrees and dude is smoking a pipe!
This is not a moment to reflect, sir! It's days like this that you should switch to cigarettes!
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Miz M is in the field this week
I've been outdoors all week for work and play, and thus been away from computers and much to blog about. This week I went fish sampling in downtown Chicago. We found several medium-sized large mouth bass, a white perch, and some blunt-nosed minnows along with some junk fish. It was amazing! I also rode on a barge, and helped install a floating wetland near Lathrop Homes. Unfortunately, I have no pictures to share!
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Mardi Gras Beads, BluBlockers, and a Photo of a Naughty Nurse
I've seen/heard a few crazy characters this week, but nothing so notable to warrant more than this list:
1) I was in Evanston on Wednesday and about to put a quarter into a parking meter when a lady in her 40's rushed up to me asking for spare change. She seemed well-dressed, but was wearing shiny plastic mardi gras beads. All I could think was: is this a sociology graduate student at Northwestern University doing a project? What's up with the mardi gras beads? Would a real person that needs my change be wearing that?
2) I went out to a bar this week with a group of friends. It was pretty much just our group, and one other young dancing guy, and another older woman with a long jean skirt and BluBlocker sunglasses. Was this the mother of the dancing guy? A Mrs. Robinson-esque situation? She glommed onto our group and was dancing with us, told a man in our group that I was a "classy lady" (all true), and fed us a line about the old days in Las Vegas. Apparently, that was before women had to be 6'11" tall like nowadays. And, um, when showgirls wore BluBlockers? Uh-huh.
3) One of my aunts was in town last week and her and her family (husband, three kids, plus another cousin) stopped by my apartment unexpectedly. This aunt is of the extremely liberal variety: she lives on a commune (no flush toilets) and councils college women re: eating disorders and other gender issues. It's great! She definitely lives by her beliefs. However, I suspected that she was not too pleased when she saw a photo of me from Halloween - naughty nurse outfit, blond wig. Whoops! Not a liberal-leaning costume, really. And I thought, her opinion of this is probably similar to another aunt who is extremely conservative. Blood is blood, you know?
1) I was in Evanston on Wednesday and about to put a quarter into a parking meter when a lady in her 40's rushed up to me asking for spare change. She seemed well-dressed, but was wearing shiny plastic mardi gras beads. All I could think was: is this a sociology graduate student at Northwestern University doing a project? What's up with the mardi gras beads? Would a real person that needs my change be wearing that?
2) I went out to a bar this week with a group of friends. It was pretty much just our group, and one other young dancing guy, and another older woman with a long jean skirt and BluBlocker sunglasses. Was this the mother of the dancing guy? A Mrs. Robinson-esque situation? She glommed onto our group and was dancing with us, told a man in our group that I was a "classy lady" (all true), and fed us a line about the old days in Las Vegas. Apparently, that was before women had to be 6'11" tall like nowadays. And, um, when showgirls wore BluBlockers? Uh-huh.
3) One of my aunts was in town last week and her and her family (husband, three kids, plus another cousin) stopped by my apartment unexpectedly. This aunt is of the extremely liberal variety: she lives on a commune (no flush toilets) and councils college women re: eating disorders and other gender issues. It's great! She definitely lives by her beliefs. However, I suspected that she was not too pleased when she saw a photo of me from Halloween - naughty nurse outfit, blond wig. Whoops! Not a liberal-leaning costume, really. And I thought, her opinion of this is probably similar to another aunt who is extremely conservative. Blood is blood, you know?
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Creep While Driving: 3rd Time Is Still Not A Charm
What is it with these driving creeps?
Yesterday, I encountered another creep in the car.
I was driving to my jewelry class and I was waiting at a stoplight, minding my own business. I keep hearing a little friendly "beep-beep" honking from the car next to me, which I assumed was to geared towards a lady with a stroller who was trying to cross the street. When she crossed, and the person kept honking, I looked over.
"I hope this is not out of line," the man stuttered, "but I think you're really beautiful."
"Thanks," I said, and turned away.
But he kept talking.
"I was wondering if you wanted to go out to lunch or dinner sometime. Do you want to have lunch or dinner?"
"No, I don't think so," I said.
Being hit on while driving is a new phenomenon I've started experiencing only this summer. It does seem like a more old fashioned way of trying to get dates, I suppose. An alternative for those people who "don't want to meet someone in a bar," and for whom the Internet just isn't reaping the return in dates that one expected. But meeting someone from the car? How likely is that to work?
If I had to repeat that situation again, I might handle it differently. Instead of rejecting him flat-out, I should have proposed that we have a "driving date." He could drive around in his car; I'll drive around in mine. Then, we can both blog about it. No awkward conversations. No real interactions.
Now if I only got his license plate number...
Yesterday, I encountered another creep in the car.
I was driving to my jewelry class and I was waiting at a stoplight, minding my own business. I keep hearing a little friendly "beep-beep" honking from the car next to me, which I assumed was to geared towards a lady with a stroller who was trying to cross the street. When she crossed, and the person kept honking, I looked over.
"I hope this is not out of line," the man stuttered, "but I think you're really beautiful."
"Thanks," I said, and turned away.
But he kept talking.
"I was wondering if you wanted to go out to lunch or dinner sometime. Do you want to have lunch or dinner?"
"No, I don't think so," I said.
Being hit on while driving is a new phenomenon I've started experiencing only this summer. It does seem like a more old fashioned way of trying to get dates, I suppose. An alternative for those people who "don't want to meet someone in a bar," and for whom the Internet just isn't reaping the return in dates that one expected. But meeting someone from the car? How likely is that to work?
If I had to repeat that situation again, I might handle it differently. Instead of rejecting him flat-out, I should have proposed that we have a "driving date." He could drive around in his car; I'll drive around in mine. Then, we can both blog about it. No awkward conversations. No real interactions.
Now if I only got his license plate number...
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
D-O-G spells Urngh?!?!?
I saw my 10-month old cousin on Monday night. She has two little snaggle tooths in her bottom jaw. She stands up while holding onto things; she crawls; she sticks out her tongue a lot, but she doesn't make many verbal-type noises yet. I was playing with her with some toys (an Everbody Poops rattle???) and I decided that I was going to try to teach her something to encourage talking. Why not experiment on the kid?
She has these foam letters and numbers that interlock together to spell words. I tried to link all the letters "A-B-C-D-E" together to tell her what's up with the letters of the alphabet. But she was totally bored by all that, so I moved on to spelling some words. The nearest letters I could find were the ole "D-O-G." Perfect! An easy three letter word that could be demonstrated with a sound, "Ruff! Ruff!"
"D-O-G!" I spelled, "Dog! It spells dog! Ruff! Ruff!" She looked at me with biggest wrinkle in her eyebrow, and her lip stuck out with her two little snaggle tooths pointing north and south. I could tell that this was the face she makes when her neurotransmitters are firing full throttle. I wish I could say that I witnessed her first word right then: "dog!" But no. She hasn't even said "daddy" yet. But after our little learning session, she did make some loud baby yells of excitement. "Urgnh! Ugrunh! Uuuuughgh!" Which I felt was some serious progress.
She has these foam letters and numbers that interlock together to spell words. I tried to link all the letters "A-B-C-D-E" together to tell her what's up with the letters of the alphabet. But she was totally bored by all that, so I moved on to spelling some words. The nearest letters I could find were the ole "D-O-G." Perfect! An easy three letter word that could be demonstrated with a sound, "Ruff! Ruff!"
"D-O-G!" I spelled, "Dog! It spells dog! Ruff! Ruff!" She looked at me with biggest wrinkle in her eyebrow, and her lip stuck out with her two little snaggle tooths pointing north and south. I could tell that this was the face she makes when her neurotransmitters are firing full throttle. I wish I could say that I witnessed her first word right then: "dog!" But no. She hasn't even said "daddy" yet. But after our little learning session, she did make some loud baby yells of excitement. "Urgnh! Ugrunh! Uuuuughgh!" Which I felt was some serious progress.
Metalsmithing Class #2 - Copper sawing
Today in my metalsmithing/jewelry class we learned about roller printing and sawing copper. I don't have a pretty picture for you this time because we didn't finish the project. First we imprinted the copper with some sort of textured thing. The most interesting imprint that I found was by pressing a piece of thick lace tablecloth between two copper pieces in the rolling machine. Zowie! It kind of looked like a textured animal print. Like a alligator. But, again, made from a scrap of tablecloth.
Then we had to saw the copper with these microscopic saws into a predetermined shape. It was really hard! Both because I used my hands in a new physical way (hand cramps!) and also because of the complexity of learning a new activity - left hand clamping the copper, right hand relaxed but upright with the wrist cocked back while sawing. It was so hard to keep the right hand relaxed even though it really helped with the sawing! And the concentration required of course made for the crunched shoulders, bad posture, and the lil' tongue sticking out of the side of the mouth.
A lot of the ladies in the class decided just to stick with rings because they were so frustrated. I enjoyed the challenge, however. It got me tensed up and excited about something not related to drama about work or dating. Also, the concept and experience of working with metal is interesting and weird in and of itself. I always thought metal was so rigid, but it turns out that it is quite malleable and there are many tricks to easily changing its form. It's kind of mysterious and cool.
Then we had to saw the copper with these microscopic saws into a predetermined shape. It was really hard! Both because I used my hands in a new physical way (hand cramps!) and also because of the complexity of learning a new activity - left hand clamping the copper, right hand relaxed but upright with the wrist cocked back while sawing. It was so hard to keep the right hand relaxed even though it really helped with the sawing! And the concentration required of course made for the crunched shoulders, bad posture, and the lil' tongue sticking out of the side of the mouth.
A lot of the ladies in the class decided just to stick with rings because they were so frustrated. I enjoyed the challenge, however. It got me tensed up and excited about something not related to drama about work or dating. Also, the concept and experience of working with metal is interesting and weird in and of itself. I always thought metal was so rigid, but it turns out that it is quite malleable and there are many tricks to easily changing its form. It's kind of mysterious and cool.
Monday, July 03, 2006
Miz M has been on va-cay!
That's right. I've been on vacation from work and other responsibilities for about a week and a half. The mental break has been delicious, and much needed, and has also dissipated the need for blog rants. Go figure.
There were some good things that happened that I will blog about. In addition to my jewelry project, I saw some magestic bald eagles on vacation. I had to wait 1.5 hours in line to buy a Chicago city sticker, but made friends with some really funny people. I went to a wedding. But mostly, I had some time off work to do what I felt like doing, when I felt like doing it.
There were some good things that happened that I will blog about. In addition to my jewelry project, I saw some magestic bald eagles on vacation. I had to wait 1.5 hours in line to buy a Chicago city sticker, but made friends with some really funny people. I went to a wedding. But mostly, I had some time off work to do what I felt like doing, when I felt like doing it.
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