8.21.2006

I'm still here ...

Sorry for the lack of updates lately … It seems I’ve been consumed with baseball (both watching and playing it) and computer problems, on top of having a string of bad luck that just hasn’t put me in much of a mood for blogging …

But I do have new posts in the works … so keep checking back …

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In the meantime, I will share this with you today …

I spent another day in the Windy City (yes, today was one of the days I could say ‘I love my job …’). As always, I took that relaxing train ride into the Loop, joined the city dwellers -- iPods in our ears, and grooving to music, er, podcasts -- and walked some of my favorite streets.
But the task of the day was reviewing one of the latest exhibits to hit the Museum of Science & Industry, ‘Frogs: A Chorus of Colors.’

Wow. Who knew a bunch of frogs could be so exciting!?!

This exhibit boasts more than 150 live! frogs from 15 different countries in a wide array of dazzling colors, shapes and sizes. It’s truly amazing and eye-catching stuff. … On top of that, there’s a load of interactive exhibits and activities -- do a virtual dissection of a frog, use cameras to zoom in and get a close-up of various frogs, conduct a chorus of frog calls, compare your long jump to that of a frog, play frog trivia, and watch some seriously amusing and comical National Geographic videos of frogs in their natural habitats …

Of all the museum exhibits I’ve been lucky to see in the last year, I gotta say this was one of my favorites. Highly recommended if you’re in the area!

* * *

So remember that ‘string of bad luck’ I referred to? (Story of my summer. No. Story of my year. One of these days I’ll write a whole post about that too …) …

… Leaving for the museum this morning and trying to catch my train, I was running a little late. Of course, when I got to the train station, the parking lot was full. Fine. I drove around the entire lot twice and found no available spots. But I had to park somewhere -- my train was due to leave any minute. So I parked in an open space, although it wasn’t a marked parking spot. No big deal, I thought, I’ve seen a ton of other people do it, and I’ve done it a couple times. I threw my parking pass on the dashboard and jogged to get my boarding pass and get on the train …

Lo and behold, when I returned to my car late this afternoon, there’s not one, but two! parking tickets attached to my windshield. The city had given me a $25 ticket for parking in an unmarked space and a $5 ticket for leaving my parking pass UPSIDE DOWN on my dashboard.

Oh. My. Gosh.

I was speechless. At the absurdity of it all.

$5 for leaving my friggin’ parking pass upside down.

Ugh.

And as if I hadn’t had enough excitement today, I had to make a speedy trek home to grab the city water bill that was due today, and Kates and I had yet to pay. I figured I would be home mid-afternoon, in plenty of time to pay the bill and do some errands. Instead, I spent more time at the museum than I’d planned, and I didn’t pull into our driveway until about 4:20 -- 10 minutes before the municipal building was set to close.

I ran inside our house, grabbed the bill, and then drove ‘quickly’ to the municipal building. I pulled into the parking lot there at exactly 4:30, and ran to the front doors.

The building wasn’t locked yet. There’s still time.
Walked down the hall. The light at the payment desk is still on. We’re still good.
Get to the counter. The clerk’s still there. … ‘Can I pay this quick?’

‘ I just logged off my computer?’

‘Oh.’

She starts it back up. Yes!

Two minutes later the bill was paid. Thank you.

Maybe my luck’s starting to change …

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