Happy Halloween!

Salerno's Pizzeria - Just Say No

First I was afraid, I was petrified
Kept thinking I could never live without you by my side
Bu I spent so many nights thinking how you did me wrong
I grew strong; I learned how to carry on
I will survive

It's true, it's over. Me and my one true Mount Prospect Restaurant love broke up. For three years Eric and I have enjoyed the food from Salerno's Pizzeria, probably spent seriously a couple thousand dollars at the place, and had them cater almost all our parties. But every single time we've had them deliver something they either go to the wrong house or get something wrong with the order. Yes, I realize our street name is just an "Avenue" away from a major road in town, but seriously we tell them at least one or two times per order, "and that's Avenue, not Road." "Yep, we've got that right here. Your order should be there in 45 minutes." An hour twenty later, yep they're on the wrong street. Today the sent the wrong sandwich. I cannot continue to support the incompetence. But it still makes me sad.

(Don't) Fall Into the Gap

"Sale lasts through Monday, October 13." Except they forgot to mention that it ends at 11:59PM EASTERN time. So when I went to check out at 11:10PM Central time, no sale. And that is $20 I could have saved if I knew they only cared about New Englanders. I have been just missing a lot of things lately. Like I asked some of my coworkers to keep an eye out for MLS scholarships since my AmeriCorps money will be running out soon. Turns out there's an awesome scholarship for people in IL who will commit to working in public libraries for a couple years after getting the MLS. 100% paid. The only catch is you have to apply for it before you actually take any classes, but after you've been accepted. So frustrating.

So I wanted to add pictures of Spooky Liam and "We'll Win It All Next Year" Brendan, but why must they only insert at the beginning of my post? We use typepad at the library and you can put the pictures wherever you want. So anyway I'm seeing here if I can start a new paragraph and have my pictures insert there. You'll see how it turns out...

Yeah, it didn't work. Any ideas?

HVAC

One, I simply cannot stand this sensationalized news phenomenon, espcially when it reaches into the Weather Reports. Why on earth is the weather segment sponsored by Feldco? What? And then why is it that every day of nice weather we have is covered with this ominous "It might be nice today - but not for LONG! It's going be awful real soon! Sure it's a beautiful June day, but the blizzards of winter are Right Around The Corner!!! Today's headline - "Don't Expect a Weekend This Warm for a While" Gee, thanks Tom. Cause you meteorologists are so great at what you do. I kid you not, two nights ago the weatherman was saying "And on Saturday, highs in the upper 70's" while the large picture beside his head read "Saturday's high - 68." Ok, so it's network news. Then I flipped to the BBC and the reporter there said "Just 26 days to go until the U.S. presidential election." The large sign beside her head? You guessed it - "25 Days Until Election. " Sheesh people. And yes I understand you want to get your news on the web immediately, so there's bound to be some typos. But isn't anyone editing this stuff once it gets out there? I've seen the same typo in a headline article out there for hours. But I digress. Which I guess is the point of blogs really. Hmm.
So anyway, why is this article buried out there? From the LA Times, October 9, 2008 David Lazarus, "For Insensitivity, Wachovia Refuses to Be Outdone." I think this needs to be front and center every day until someone does something about the fact that these greedy little greedsters are still planning to go through with their wining and dining all-expense-paid cruises to the Greek Isles and their over-the-top luxurious conferences while tax money is being shored up to help them out of their greedy mess. Totally unacceptable.
Lastly, a coworker had this great idea. If Obama wins - Bill Clinton as US ambassador to the UN. And then I thought of these two - Hillary Clinton as Atty General and Bill Cosby as head of Urban Communities. (That's a new office I invented for him. Maybe Heather could run the Chicago office.)

Pudgeless

So using any type of mix is almost always in conflict with my personal code of ethics. I make an exception for No Pudge brownie mix. Of course I cheat and add a handful of choc chips in the batter, and voila! Eating 1/2 to 3/4 of the pan probably significantly alters the no pudge point, but I feel 1/2 to 1/4 less guilty than if I had eaten regular brownies, so that's pretty good! I highly recommend No Pudge for serious chocoholics. In fact, I wonder how their stock is doing these days. That might be a safe haven for your retirement fund.
Brendan can officially walk now! He can also say many, many words. At least five! Mama, Zoey, Ball, Bat, More (that's a new one as of today), Dada, No, Uh-oh. Jeez, what can't this kid do? :o) And Liam? Seriously I can have as intelligent a conversation with that kid as I can with just about anyone. He's for Obama all the way. He also told Eric tonight he could work on a computer when he grows up so he can get a Bentley. Previously he wanted to be a prince or a teacher. He's never wanted to be a librarian. And then yesterday he said he wanted to play the flute, purely to piss me off. He's good. Fortunately he relented and decided upon the clarinet, and we watched some classic Bennie Goodman on youtube.
Yes, I am supposed to be writing that paper about "What Is Browsing?" But with this mild brownie coma I'm in no mood to write. At least not sensibly. And let's not even get started talking about trying to straighten out my AmeriCorps payment to school. It's beyond ridiculous now. And I am NOT paying a late fee, believe you me. Not when I made the payment on September 2nd. Argh. Ok, back to my paper. I hope I'll remember to actually post this one.

Words of Wisdom

Last night, just as we were about to fall asleep,
Eric "It's a lot easier to sleep without a baby in the bed."
Me "It's not easier if the baby is crying outside of the bed."
Eric "It's a lot easier to sleep without a baby."

I had written 11 points of a 13 point paper, due at 11PM Tuesday night. I got home from work at 10:15pm, plenty of time to finish my paper and submit it. Except I forgot all about the paper until 11:45pm. Curses.

Tavis Smiley

So at first I didn't really have any feeling for the show. Eh. Not my thing. Then a year or so ago I read his book What I Know For Sure: My Story of Growing up in America and it opened me up to watching his show, and slowly I have been sucked in and now I am truly a fan. The dark, dimly-lit set is almost so sleepy yo aren't sure what to make of it. But he puts on people who are just so bright and intelligent and they're often not the people you see anywhere else and he actually lets them talk and asks them questions you want to hear the answer to. His laid back approach reminds me of those great actors who are so genuine you think maybe they're not that good, maybe that's just the way they are in real life. But they really are that good. Plus his guests run the gamet from economists to politicians to authors and actors and musicians. It's like reading an old book or watching a foreign film in that you just need to let yourself adjust to how different it is before you can appreciate it. An aside: a few years back while we were living in LA NPR was doing a birthday tribute to Tavis. All these famous people were leaving messages wishing him a happy birthday. For literally 20 minutes I thought they were wishing him a happy 60th birthday. I have no idea why I thought that, but when I got home I asked Eric "Did you know Tavis Smiley is SIXTY?!?!" And Eric was like "I only have a vague idea who you are talking about. So what?" And I'm all (that's the LA way of saying "I'm like") "He is that NPR guy who looks like he is WAY YOUNGER than 60! This is incredible. He looks so amazing for sixty!" Except it turns out he was forty. Oops.

Classic Blue

We are getting our front door, railing and shutters painted today just in time for, you guessed it, nothing! But I'm still excited about it. In other exciting news Brendan can take 8 steps in a row, so real walking should be right around the corner. It doesn't, at this point, seem to be helping his sleeping, nor do teeth # 7 & 8. Too bad.
Liam told me today he wanted a toy kitchen from a catalog we got in the mail. That's great news, I thought, because we just bought Brendan a toy kitchen for his upcoming birthday. Liam pointed to the cheaper kitchen I was originally going to get and said he wanted that one. I said, "Ooo, or what about this (much-more-expensive-Eric-and-I-stayed-up-until-midnight-picking-this-one-out-it's-way-better) one? It has a real-looking microwave!" "No, that one's too expensive," Liam said. (How did he know that?) "Yeah, but don't you like it? It's really cool." "No, I like this one better." "You do? But this one has a much better refrigerator." "No, I like this one better. You can eat at the counter." "You can eat at the counter of this one too! And it looks like granite!" "Can I have my bottle now?" "Ok but isn't this other kitchen so cool?" "No, I like this one better." Curses.