Tuesday, April 25

So my calendar says I need to cancel Comcast soon. We don't want to pay for the one week we're here in May. No internet for May. I'll repeat..I won't be on the internet in May! Call me! 712.389.5933.

So this morning a few of us were going to meet at 8:30 to head over to the Chicago Board of Trade with Ryan as VIP guests. My alarm supposedly went off at 7, but I surely didn't hear it! I woke up at 8..said a bad word and had only a few minutes to get ready and get over to the Hilton hotel to meet everyone at 8:30. Well, it takes 20-25 minutes to get down there on the train, so I decided to splurge and just get a cab...that would only take 10-15 minutes. It was raining buckets this morning so I spent like 3 seconds on my hair...just let it go wet and wild...it was raining anyway!
Ten bucks later..I did get to the Hilton on time...I was happy!

The Chicago Board of Trade was amazing! We watched a short film on the history of the place and the hand signals and stuff and then went down to the floor just before 9:30. The bell went off, the clocks struck 9:30 and the hands went up, papers flew, voices raised! We stood there in awe for about 15 minutes, then started chatting with the communications director of the CBOT. She answered questions about the process and stuff. What I found interesting was the hand signals. There are different ones for buy and sell and how many. Oh, we visited the options market for agriculture. There's also a financial options market that we could have visited, too. Right next door. This room was big and had 4 or 5 pits. It really is like the game Pit if you've ever played it. Lots of yelling and trading. I'm amazed that these guys can negotiate and come to a deal with hand signals. Yes, I said guys. I only saw three women on the floor and they weren't the ones shouting. It would be a very stressful place to work, I decided.

After the CBOT, we went back to the Hilton for more sessions and lunch and more sessions. Well, of course I had my 10 page paper still on my mind, so I skipped the afternoon session after lunch and came back to the apartment to take a nap and gather my thoughts before writing.
I also had a baseball game to go to. The Cubs vs. the Florida Marlins at Wrigley Field.

I made a beautiful dinner for the ladies here and took off for Wrigley Field. Just getting off the train there were people selling shirts, peanuts, tickets, etc. ANYTHING you could want for a baseball game. I walked past the sellers and found my seat...my COLD seat. You see, it was freezing after the rain stopped. I heard it even snowed in some places today. Yikes.
So I attempted to warm up my seat and then gave up.
Wrigley Field was set up really neat. No one had a bad seat. I could even see the players' faces from my seat up in Section 263 seat 14. I was amazed at how low we could get before being asked our seat number. I could almost get to the lowest section of the field. Well, if I really tried, I probably could have gone all the way down to the bottom.
I tried to find Ryan, who had a seat behind home plate, but couldnt find him so I stood there like a fool and watched the players. I really don't like baseball. It's pretty boring unless you're really really into the game.
I walked back to my seat to find a ton of other Chicago Semester people there..finally! I found a little bit better of a seat and sat there beside Katie Helder and Jeff Navis. I don't think I would have stayed as long as I did if it wasn't for them. :)
The game started around 7:10ish. And you should be proud of me that I stayed all the way until 8:20! The score was 1-0 for the Cubs. Man, in baseball it seems that it's boring boring boring and then something interesting happens but we all miss what happens because it's so fast. The teams should get points for other things..then games would be more intersting. Like points for hits or bunts or cool pitches or hitting the players. Anyway, I nearly froze my fingers off, but I did manage to get a few pictures. I'll add them soon!

Monday, April 24

I was up early to get to the Easter Seals Training Conference again at the Hilton. Even before the very first session, the Welcome Session, I met three of the former/present Easter Seals ambassadors. They're kids/adults who have overcome a disability and who really show what Easter Seals is about. I met Matty, Ryan and Bridgette. Matty is 13? years old and has overcome many effects of his Cerebral Palsy. He's cute AND hilarious!

Ryan is from Little Rock, Iowa, which is very close to Rock Rapids, which of course is very close to Sioux Center! Amazing little connections EVERYWHERE! I got to sit beside Ryan and his mom and talk more about Iowa and Dordt and farming and everything. They're very nice people, and Ryan has overcome a lot since his car accident. Doctors told him that he'd never walk again or farm again. Now he's walking with a cane and hopes to, in 10 years, walk without his cane. Amazing. He's also farming 60 acres (?) in Little Rock with his brother. (His father died a few years after the accident) but Ryan farms the land--corn and soybeans. Anyway, Ryan's 29 and Bridgette is around 30 as well.

All of those ambassadors for Easter Seals are very articulate as well--they each spoke at the Welcome Session after Jim, the head CEO of headquarters here in Chicago. Bridgette is in a wheelchair and works downtown in the loop at the Federal Reserve.

The rest of the day was filled with sessions and steaks! We had steak for lunch. Mmmmm, I do like steak once in a while. This one was a little too pink in the center, but what I did eat was delicious! Monday night we had the Awards dinner for Easter Seals affiliates who had raised a lot of money or were innovative in their services ..stuff like that. Once again we had steak and potato and vegetables and salad and rolls. It's amazing how good steak can be after months not eating much meat at all. Sweet. This one was thick, too!
So yah, steak, um I wore a dress. I like wearing nice dresses and heels.

Sunday, April 23

Park in the morning...Wow, every time I go to that church I feel like the speaker is talking directly to me. The sermons/messages have applied to me every time. It's almost weird, but I know that's a good sign. If only I could pick that church up and move it to Sioux Center for next year. I'll miss it. We heard about the building plans within the next year to fix up a building in Cabrini Green. Oh man, I know they'll do great work in that neighborhood.
I hope next week to go to Willow Creek, if I can find a ride. Mom said I HAVE to go there...it's a mega church...I've heard a lot of mixed feelings about those churches, but I'm really looking forward to going because Park Community church is a daughter church of Willow Creek...I hope the service on Sunday isn't too simple though.

This afternoon I went to the ESTC (Easter Seals Training Conference) Media Training session. I enjoyed it a lot..and took lots of notes. The session was about making the most of media and communication and the right way to go about it if something negative happens in the company. Tomorrow through Wednesday I'll be at this conference...other people at the conference are CEOs and other executives from various Easter Seals affiliates from around the country.

Saturday, April 22

Up early to Run my 10k. I did train for three weeks or so for this, but I do run at least 4 times a week so it wasn't too bad. My goal was to finished within 60 minutes because I wasn't too motivated that morning. I did treat it a little bit like a leisurely run at some points.
I finished a little over 50 mintes...so not bad!
There were four other Chicago Semester people involved inthe race, and they were there at the end to cheer me on. They did the 5k, and Sung Yeon and I did the 10k. It was a lot warmer than I expected, so I poured a few cups of water over my head throughout the race!
We got sweet goodie bags with lots of Wrigley gum (the corporate sponsor) and coupons. I would have had to pay 25 dollars, but I got some money from some co-workers so the registration fee was waived because I raised 50 dollars.
After the race, I went to bed for a few hours...okay, 4 hours, and then a bunch of us went over to the CS office to watch a documentary called Invisible Children.

www.invisiblechildren.com

This movie really touched all of us. Check out the site. I'll be doing a night journey and sleeping on the streets of Chicago with hundreds more next Friday. I'll take pictures and tell you all about it. Check out the site though. Order the documentary...it's amazing.

Oh, it's about kids in Uganda and how many of them get abducted to fight and kill for the Rebels in the Bush. Very good story.

Friday, April 21

I went into work early because I had to get 250 folders made and put in boxes by NOON for an Easter Seals training conference this week. It was my job to put powerpoint notes and two cds in folders for the participants of this session. I was a little nervous because I spent all of Thursday working on a spreadsheet and letter for another supervisor.
I do have the most interesting things happen at work, don't I? (okay, sarcasm)
Anyway, the folders got finished and boxed up by noon and I spent the afternoon finishing the letters and labels. I do like mail merge (not sarcasm). I'm glad I understand it and can manipulate Microsoft Word to do exactly what I want. Maybe it's just because I have more patience with technology than other people.
I've noticed that so many people--mostly women--around my work have no patience for the printer or copier. I don't mind pushing a few buttons or trying to figure things out, but these ladies will have none of it! They can get so worked up about things if they don't go their way right away.
I don't want to be like that....

Friday night Pam and I had nothing planned...although I did win a party at Funk that I couldn't go to (because, once again, I'm not an adult....)
We spent the night out shopping at Target--looking at digital cameras, and Nordstrom Rack--looking at cheap clothes. It reminds me of Winners, but more of a sears layout to the store.
I played cards and had a wonderful mixed drink courtesy of Chris and was able to see a handful of people come back from the bars more than just tipsy. :)

Thursday, April 20

Thursday after work I ran with just enough time left over for a shower before our Arts event. The event was called "Back of the Throat" and it was held at the Chicago Temple in the loop.
The play was about the interrogation of an Arab man after 9/11. The actors were very good. So good that at times I wanted to yell at them during the play to stop manipulating the Arab man. It was challenging, honest, frightening, disturbing at times. There were parts that were appropriately awkward...and we were not sure how to feel. I was amazed that this interrogation/manipulation actually goes on in the US.

There were great feelings of fear, anger, frustration. I hated the FBI agents. They kept flipping back and forth between treating him as innocent and treating him like a terrorist because he was Arab. He was an artist and had books about guns and basically any topic in his apartment, but these FBI agents kept speculating and looking too deeply into his books and his background and relationships.

I really liked the different interaction between Khadid and other characters. They did an awesome job of using the one stage to show the different stories everyone had. I enjoyed the mix of humor and seriuosness to keep the audience captivated and keep the play real.

Tuesday, Wednesday, April 18 and 19

I can't remember much happening on these days...Wednesday morning we got smoothies at the CS office before class. My practicum group final presentation went alright. I know it was boring to listen to, but I'm glad it's over now.
In the afternoon I went shopping for jeans, and I bet you I tried on nearly every pair in my size in that place. I ended up walking out of Plato's closet with just one pair, but happy that I found that one pair.