One thing I've learned these past couple months: I may feel like barfing, but I can still think in an emergency and immediately leap to contingencies. Work ones, at least. I'm a little boggled at that, but I am a planner at heart. I may waffle a bit a the onset (needing someone to tell me GET OUT when I've just heard the halon go off-hello lack of preservation instincts- there's a bit of denial of reality happening at that moment.) I just never considered myself any good at not having a plan, and having to formulate one on the fly when...I just want to barf. But give me a minute, and I'll have the immediate-after shit covered. Cause I'm a planner.

It's a sports-watching day: I spent the day out in the central Valley watching college students from all over the country play Ultimate Frisbee. Me, I was cold: I had a long sleeved shirt on, and then a pretty heavy wool sweater, then a windblocking fleece jacket, and a hat and gloves and a cashmere scarf. Whereas many of these kids were in shorts, or shorts over running tights.

It was hella fun: my oldest niece is one of the captains of her team, and we put them all up last night and cheered them on today and saw them beat a couple of other teams, and then went over to watch the boys' team play.

It made me miss my old frisbee-playing days, but I suspect my feet couldn't take it any more.

I also met a totally wonderful golden retriever who loves him a frisbee. And I got a windburn.

And now I am at home with my feet up and a Pisco sour, and life is pretty good.

News from Wisconsin... tomorrow the protesters are bring vuvuzelas.

This theatre review was posted yesterday:

Parrish's play — which reaches with more passion, wisdom and lyricism towards civic definition (and redefinition) than any Chicago work I've seen in a long, long time — captures this precise moment of Chicago's re-invention with such astonishing alacrity that you want Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel and those jockeying to share his power to put down the reports, resumes and briefing books this Saturday night and head, not to party with the Bulls, but over to Belmont Avenue where they might ponder the living soul of the paradoxical town they will soon be leading, and to whose citizens they will need to articulate a vision that goes deeper than parking meters.

Tonight, Rahm Emanuel was in the audience.

News from Wisconsin... tomorrow the protesters are bring vuvuzelas.

Oh man. That's...hardcore. Vicious.

>News from Wisconsin... tomorrow the protesters are bring vuvuzelas.

Oh man. That's...hardcore. Vicious.

Only vicious if they bring vuvuzelas not just tomorrow,but Monday.

Dear Upstair Neighbor

I under stand you have two young children who, apparently, like to jump everywhere instead of walk. It is 10:30 at night. What the heck. The thudding and bumping is ridiculous.

No Love, Me

I have had a few different people occupy the upstairs apartment in the 2.5 years I have lived here. This is the first family I have wanted to confront.

Oh nice, now it sounds like they are running laps.

Things finally calmed down upstairs, so I decided it was safe to go to bed. The kid's bedroom must be above mine. More thudding and I can hear the dad saying something.

I've never had a problem like this before with apartment neighbors. I don't want to be confrontational, but yikes.

That's annoying, SuziQ. I lived below a family with small children for a year once. We use to hear a loud thud, the sound of something rolling, and then a baby crying. Over and over. We called it "bowling for babies."

We use to hear a loud thud, the sound of something rolling, and then a baby crying. Over and over.

Testing the theory of gravity and/or whether Paul or Jamie Buchman is right about the floor having that slant, the child drops her/his bottle; it rolls, simultaneously providing data supporting both Jamie and Newton's hypotheses. Sadly the child then realizes his/her arms are not long enough to reach the bottle and must fetch the tall lab assistant to retrieve it for purposes of making that pesky hunger sensation go away. However, because both good science and the neurological development of babies require repetition, it has to start over again soon.