Something I didn't even know I wanted

I celebrated my birthday last week. True, 46 puts me closer to 50 than to 40, but it was monumental for another reason-- John actually surprised me with my gift. Now, I love him dearly, but that guy simply doesn't have much of an imagination and my gifts are usually pretty predictable. I'm not complaining because one of his comfort zones just happens to be jewelry-- he definitely ascribes to the "you can't go wrong with sapphires" school of thought.

This year, however, he got me an iPhone (cue the chorus of angels). Why an iPhone? I dunno. I never professed more than a passing interest in one. Sure, a bunch of my friends have one, but since I'm wired (both literally and figuratively) so much at work, I tend to resist being "too connected." Despite myself, it's true love. True addiction.

So far, my favorite apps are of the barnyard variety. I have a cow game (you put them in their pens according to their color-- bovine segregation as Veronica so accurately calls it), a chicken game (sort of a word scramble thing) and something truly miraculous called Sheep Launcher. It requires very little skill and dexterity, which makes it perfect for me.

For the past two days, I've been enamored with listening to police radio from various parts of the country (although I always manage to come back to Chicago-- mostly, I think, because I can visualize the locations they're talking about).

Fun stuff. I don't know how I lived without it. Thank you, honey.

The BEST 5K. Ever.

Whoever decided to combine hockey with running is a genius. Today we did the Mad Dash To Madison 5K run, in conjunction with the Blackhawks training camp festival. Before the race, Hawks anthem singer Jim Cornelison (I'm probably botching the spelling of his name) treated us to his rendition of the national anthem-- and just like inside the UC, everyone clapped and cheered the entire time. Also pre-race, we got to meet, shake hands with and talk to Stan Mikita, who signed my singlet. What a bit thrill that was. Wish I would've thought enough to get a picture, too.

Race conditions weren't ideal, but they weren't horrible either... the temps were upper 60's, but the humidity was over 75% and the dreaded sun was out. I went out pretty fast, for me (9:40 for the first mile and comparable for the second), but around 2.5 miles, I started to fade-- too much sun, couldn't breathe. So as much as I wanted to go sub-30, it didn't happen today. Finished at 31:50. Ahh, that's okay. I had more fun just soaking up the atmosphere. Hockey's back!!

After the race, there was an open Blackhawks practice to attend. What fun! We had great seats and nothing beats a juicy hotdog and cold beer at 10:00 in the morning. Let's go Hawks!! Regarding the pictures above, I have no idea what happened to big Buff and friends' uniforms-- they look like the glow in the dark and the ice is a weird, spooky color. But it's pretty cool looking, huh?!

Hampster Patrol Incorporated

Here are some pictures of Baylee (white and gray cat), Sheila (dark cat) and Jessica (redheaded calico cat) gazing longingly at the hampster cage. (The cage is on top of the white storage units.) New friend? Tasty snack? It's up for debate.

Bono!

On Saturday, we went to Soldier Field to see the U2 concert. Since the blue line isn't running from our stop, we walked to Taylor and took a cab to the bottom of "Mount Roosevelt" and walked the rest of the way.

First order of business was to brave the mobs at the t-shirt stand because I MUST have at least one. The older I get, the less I like crowds.

We weren't able to get tickets together and since I'm the bigger fan, I got the best seat. I was in section 136, row 16, seat 19 (on the aisle, which was a mixed blessing). Luckily, most of the people around me were well behaved, except the Eurotrash couple right next to me. Mr. Eurotrash (with slicked back black hair and way, way too much cologne) and Ms. Eurotrash practically had sex right there in front of me, so intense were their makeout sessions (ummm... to the tune of Sunday Bloody Sunday??). When they weren't probing each other's tonsils, Ms. Eurotrash was flailing around like she had some disorder, thereby nailing me in the boob at least twice with her elbow. My hairy eyeball didn't do much, but luckily she traded seats with her love interest, so I was relieved.

John was up in the 338 section, but he said his seats were very good too. And he didn't have the racy seatmates that I had.

What can I possibly say about the concert? I screamed uncontrollably when I first laid eyes on Bono. As always, they put on a terrific show, no holds barred. Although their latest CD isn't really my favorite, the songs are much better live. I was riveted and the two hours or so passed in a heartbeat.

Finding John afterwards wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be, but getting out of the stadium was as difficult as I thought it would be. The worst part of it was on the west side of the Field Museum before you went through the underpass onto the museum campus area. What a bottleneck! We had to walk the whole way to Harrison and Wabash (or thereabouts) to get a cab, so that kind of sucked.

In all, though, what an amazing night. Wow.

Where the Wild Things Are

We didn't start the day thinking we'd get new pets. It just sort of happened that way. Last Saturday we were in Schaumburg shopping-- Woodfield Mall and the like. Before going home, John mentioned that he needed to stop in the pet store to get some supplies for his fish tank. It's a big store and one we don't go to very often, so I opted to come in, too. Right inside the door were hampsters. Not just ANY hampsters-- Siberian Dwarf hampsters. We haven't had hampsters since we were children. So we looked. And they ran in their wheels... gosh, like little marathoners! I felt a weird connection. John was grinning ear to ear. So we bought two. The hampsters were cheap. Their "habitat" (a fancy word for a plastic playland) was not so cheap. They're both males. The smaller dark furred guy we named Jack and the chubby, white furred guy is Teddy (yeah, I admit to carrying my Kennedy fascination a bit too far). The habitat is bi-level... the upper level is reached thru a tube that runs from the lower level, on the outside of their cage. The enclosed running wheel is attached to the outside of the upper level. It's an abode well suited to the hampster version of Better Homes and Gardens. For a short anxious while we thought our hampsters may be not smart enough to climb the tube, but they mastered it after a day or so. There's only been one bite (Teddy on John-- I'm not brave enough to paw at them just yet). They're cute and a lot of fun to watch. The cats think so too.