Crazy In Love

Life, work and personal, is still busy.

Work: We’re still at a high population with some violent offenders but we’re all settling into a nice groove wherein we understand what to expect from one another.  This happens every so often, our population seems to completely refresh in the blink of an eye and we have to customize the way we do things to suit the needs of the population.  It can be frustrating but at least it keeps us on our toes and keeps things interesting.

There are a couple of special projects I’ve been asked to work on over the last couple of months and I can’t help but be over come with a feeling of guilt that they are not finished yet.  Oh, it’s not for a lack of trying but I find it difficult to focus with the hustle and bustle of the day and when I only get 15-20 minutes here and there to work on it… well, it just doesn’t get done.  I have made progress though, so I don’t feel too badly about it, but it’s still something that nags at me from time to time.  Ah, the Catholic guilt… a blessing and a curse.

Personal: So much has been going on in the last few weeks so I’ll just give you the highlights:

• Auto Show - I love the Auto Show!  I’ve gone almost every year for the last 8 or so years and it never fails to excite me.  It’s just fun.  I love checking out the new cars and finding the one I would buy if I was in the market and the other one I’d buy if money was not an issue.  I like to do my research and be prepared for most things in life and this is just my way of being prepared in the event that someone put a gun to my head and said I had to buy a car right now with $X.xx budget.  I know that situation will likely never realize, but it’s just something I enjoy.  I really love cars, actually.  Noah and I did pick out what we hope to be his new car, since he’ll be due for one in the next year or so.  We both are loving the Mini Cooper S Clubman / Mini John Cooper Works Clubman - They’re both Mini Coopers only an extended version that actually fits people comfortably
• I got my car back!  One month to the day from when I dropped it off.  They replaced a ton of stuff and it seems to be good as new.  When all was said and done the total was just over $8K which means that I definitely totaled my car.  While I am glad to have my car back and glad that it will be paid off in just a couple of months… it sure would have been nice to have the original estimate reflect the total because I could have paid off my existing loan and put down a nice down payment on a new car.  That thought brings me a little sadness, thinking how close I was to getting a new car, but I am also glad that I get to have a few more years with my little SUV that I love so much.  Really, I was giddy going into the repair shop to pick it up, about on par with how excited I was when I went ot the dealership to take it home.
• Blue Man Group - My parents, Noah, and I all went to see Blue Man Group last Thursday and it was AWESOME!  I used to live just a few blocks from the theatre and wish I had gone to see it back then but in college it’s hard to work shows like that into the budget.
• Tito came to visit!  (Tito is one of my roommates from college - her actual name is Kate but living with two girls named Kate made for some confusion so one of the Kates was arbitrarily nicknamed “Tito” to avoid said confusion.)  She’s living in Indiana with not a whole lot on her plate at the moment so I invited her out to hang on a couple of my days off.  We went up to the city, stayed up late talking, gorged ourselves on IHOP (the free shortstacks on Fat Tuesday were calling our names), and saw Clive Owen be a badass in The International.  Every time I getto spend time with friends I don’t see very often it also makes me ache that those times are so few and far between most of the time.  I am thanful that I get to spend whatever time I can with friends, especially as our lives take on new directions.
• Jackie’s band concert.  As an elective, Jackie is taking band at Loyola and has a couple obligatory concerts this semester.  Tito and I drove up to the city to attend, along with our other buddy and former roommate Kate, my sister Meg, and my parents.  It was a very nice concert and I also got to see the remodeling they did on the beautiful Skyscraper Building (now called Mundelien Center) at Loyola.  After the concert we all headed to Leona’s (a local chain Italian restaurant) where my parents treated us all to a delicious pizza dinner and tiramisu dessert.  It was amazing and we all had a really great time getting to chit chat and enjoy each other’s company.
• The office is really coming along, slowly but surely.  I’m actively working on a built in bookcase today (started it last week and have been giving it what little spare time at home I’ve had to give) and with any luck it will be up and running late tonight or tomorrow morning.  The goal for the rest of the weekend is to put on the finishing touches so we can call it done.  As with the rest of the house, the only thing missing will probably be the wall art we are still deciding on.  Noah is thrilled with his new office /Noah space, as am I.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 27th, 2009 at 3:30 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.