D’oh! This morning I realized that they’ve been double-deducting my transit card from my paycheck: instead of charging me once a month, they’ve been charging me twice a month! And of course it’s only taken me, umm, five months to even notice this. So I guess I’m as stupid as my payroll department.

The good news is that I spoke to a real nice lady in the Benefits Dep’t and on my next paycheck I’ll get a $375 refund. Just so happens to be the paycheck which will contain my unpaid week of vacation. Maybe it’s all karma?

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My birthday dinner last night at the House of Wah Sun was pretty darn fun. Our waitress was a dear, despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that we were a group of giggling, semi-loud inebriates. Great tiki-style drinks, especially considering the price ($5.50-$7.95). I had only three and I was majorly sauced. Our waitress gave me the first one on the house, and at dinner’s end brought a scoop of ice cream with a candle on it and everyone sang Happy Birthday. Great food too. I plan to go there more often, no doubt about it; finally I’ve found a place that’s easy to get to and lots of fun!

Being 32 is OK so far. No hangover.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Ray Bradbury!

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Sorta Summary

I’ve been trying to figure out a fun way to sum up the vacation but I don’t think I can do it. Anyway, it was really pretty nice. Saugatuck was sort of dull, but since my goal was to do as little as possible it was just fine. I think I was able to adjust to the “nothingless” easier than Andy—we talked about that. I was mostly happy just to read (the book on Disco was very good, and I’m really digging Deborah Eisenberg’s stories), listen to my iPod, eat and watch random mediocre TV. I do wish it hadn’t rained off and on the whole time (never did make it out for a swim) and that my allergies hadn’t been going nuts so much, but oh well. I don’t think I’ll really want to go back to Saugatuck (too tourist-centric). Maybe Madison? David Lynch goes there in the summertime occasionally.
 
Having the rental car was both liberating and constricting. We certainly made good use of it: a seriously large IKEA run, a huge grocery trip, etc. But I breathed a sigh of relief after we dropped off the car at Midway. I prefer being a pedestrian, thanks very much.
 
The IKEA stuff has already made a big difference in our living room. Next weekend we’re rearranging the office and the place will practically look like a new apartment.
 
Back to work. What I am realizing is that, in a perfect world, I would find a reasonably well-paid job that I could work at four days a week, leaving time to do my freelance stuff. Heh, right. I have been nibbling here and there for the past few weeks but there’s nothing definite to grab onto thus far (the one really practical-sounding job just wouldn’t pay enough to live on).
 
I had my performance review here at work week before last. I don’t feel like launching into a blow-by-blow, but bottom line was: blech. My final score was “exceptional” yet I got little more than nitpicking criticism, the absurd accusation that “the quality of your work is very high but there isn’t enough quantity” (despite doing two people’s jobs as is), and a complete lack of upgrades in the benefits department. So. Because things here remain rather chaotic I know that I’ll probably be able to coast for awhile without any consequences, during which time I can continue job hunting. Part of me is so damn eager to just quit cold turkey, 2 week’s notice thanks very much for the ride, but I don’t think I can do that when it comes right down to it. Aargh.
 
Tomorrow is my birthday. Chinese food dinner + tropical drinks.
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In a little while we’ll be on the road to Saugatuck. We picked up the rental car yesterday without any problems. It’s so weird how exotic it feels to have a car and be driving it around Chicago. I reserved a sub-compact car but since they didn’t have any and I politely refused the attempt at an upsell, they gave me a free upgrade to a Mercury sub-SUV (!)  Whoa. I feel like such a rich loser in a way, although it actually gets better gas mileage than the car I had reserved.

We drove around for about 45 minutes yesterday trying to find a parking space before finally giving in and using a garage instead. $20, damn it. I am so glad I don’t own a car.

However, I AM glad to have the use of a car at the moment. They’re getting rid of various office furniture at work and there’s a five-drawer legal-sized filing cabinet with Andy’s name on it. So just before we leave down we’re snagging it. It won’t exactly be fun to lug the thing home and up three flights of stairs to the apartment just before leaving town, but it’s now or never. He’ll be busy filling it for weeks to come, merrily humming all the while.

We sorta had a mini-epic DVD fest this weekend: on Saturday night we watched The Seven Samurai and last night we watched The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. Are there any action films made within the past thirty years that haven’t ripped off something from at least one of the two? Andy had never seen either and thoroughly enjoyed them.

Plenty of sunshine. It should be a pleasant drive out of the city (and it’ll take less than three hours to get there). I even burned a secret mix CD to play in the car.

See y’all next weekend.

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My week-long vacation begins in just over an hour, and boy am I thrilled. Andy and I will start things off right with a free concert of Mahler at Millennium Park this evening. There’ll be a nice bottle of chilled rose and a picnic basket from Pastoral. Tomorrow I’ll do some writing work so that the week ahead is all clear. Sunday afternoon we pick up the rental car, and Monday we’ll drive to Saugatuck. Return on Friday with a swing through the IKEA in Bolingbrook. 

There’ll be some changes made by this time next week. But I can’t write about that yet.

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Only six weeks later than when it should have occurred, I’m finally having my performance review here at work in half an hour. Wish me luck. I gotta give ’em hell.

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Anyone up for the 7:30 show of Killer of Sheep tomorrow night at the Music Box?

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I created this last night for 

and it went over well, so I’m posting it here. If you like minty things it’ll be right up your alley.

GREEN CHIMNEY

juice of 1 lime
2 oz. light rum
3/4 oz. white creme de menthe
3/4 oz. sour mix

Shake everything vigorously with ice and then strain into a tall glass half-filled with ice. Garnish with lime wedge.

HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE SOUR MIX:

In a mixing cup, combine 1 1/4 cups raw sugar with 3/4 cup slightly warm filtered water. Mix very well (a whisk works well) until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add 1 3/4 cups fresh squeezed lemon juice and mix well. Using a funnel, pour sour mix into a 750mL bottle. (Tip: save an empty liqueur bottle, wash and clean thoroughly and peel off label). Sour mix can be stored in your fridge almost indefinitely.

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Bergman 101

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