Monday, October 31, 2005

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! We don't have any candy this year because no little kid ever ventures to our door. Maybe its too scary. Anyways, its nice and warm out today, in the 60's and overcast. Thats how it usually is, but a little cooler.

In the picture, thats Bobby as Batman, Romy and the drunken Superman, and me, as Superwoman. We were at Jerene's annual Halloween party. We spent most of the time watching the White Sox play their first game of the World Series.

Then yesterday, it was Nicole's last day in Chicago with us, so we went downtown because it was sooo nice out.
We parked in Lincoln Park, and walked to the Hancock in hopes of getting a coffee at the lounge on the 96th floor. No luck, the bastards don't let you sit there unless you're 21 years old.
So, the bimbo waitress said, "So sorry. . ." and began taking away the napkins she layed down on our table. We got a better view of Chicago in the bathroom anyway. But the guys didn't!

Whatever. . . So we moved on to the beach, and finally to a park that is hidden away near the Lincoln Park Zoo and the Peggy Notebaert Museum. It looks Frank Lloyd Wright-ish. Anyway, we plan on making s'mores there next time, and some brats.

Saturday, October 29, 2005

Stylin' Comfy-Semi-Pants

This weekend, Nicole brought me some stylin' comfy-semi-pants that she sewed. She got some fabric at her super walmart store, and sewed me three pairs, and one for herself too. Later, she'll make Romy a pair also (they should be pretty stylin' as well!!).

My first pair has all goldfish fabric. The second has 3 peices of Diet Coke, and one teapot design. The third is all crazy with teapots, a fishy-scene, and goldfish all in one pair of comfy pants! She did the majority of the sewing last weekend, and then finished up on Monday, when her school was canceled because of Hurricane Wilma!!

We decided to go to Caribou Coffee Thursday night in our stylin' pants, but Marcel chickened out on wearing his Gucci sweatpants with us! What a party pooper!

After Caribou, we stopped in Trader Joes to get some Exstra, Staropramen, and some orange sorbet from France that you eat out of actual oranges shelled out! It was kinda cool!

Friday, October 21, 2005

The 54th/Cermak Nightmare!!

It always happens at UIC, that on the way home, you'll always miss the Forest Park L-train because of the 54th/Cermak nightmare.













It happens like this:
3:50pm Class gets out.
Hurry, gotta rush, power walk to the train station.
Wait, I have to go pee kinda, I'll just stop in the bathroom.
2 minutes later, out of the bathroom.
Power walking to the train, oh no, I hope I didn't miss it.
The paranoia is starting.
3:56pm Nearing the expressway.
And just as you get a sight of the tracks, there comes the Forest Park train, right under your feet! Damn!
Punch in my card ::Bleep::
Walk down the steps to the platform,
Wait at the platform for AT LEAST 20 minutes, UHHHHHGGG!!!

Or, it happens like this:
3:50pm Class gets out.
Hurry, gotta rush, power walk to the train station.
Wait, I have to go pee kinda, but I can't stop in the bathroom or I'll miss the train.
Power walking to the train, oh no, I hope I don't miss it, or pee in my pants!
The paranoia is starting.
3:54pm Nearing the expressway.
And just as you get to the tracks, everything thing looks good, no train yet.
Punch in my card ::Bleep::
Walk down the steps to the platform.
Hang head over the tracks to look down and see if the train lights are shining out of its tunnel.
Wait, I see lights! Which train is it?
Blurry light of the sign, coming closer. . . uhhhh is it more blue-ish, or white-ish!?
Oh no, I think its more white-ish.
Damn it is. . . .
It's the freakin 54th/Cermak NIGHTMARE!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday, October 15, 2005

Weird News from Discover Magazine

This morning, I opened up the brand new issue of Discover magazine. While I was eating breakfast, I came across these little snipets of info:

Some parasitic hair worm can actually brain-wash grasshopppers by introducing a protein which will drive it to water, where the grasshopper drowns and the worms reproduce. That's crazy!
Did you know you emit light!? I wonder if it works by going into a pitch dark room, and sticking out your palm!
The sea anemone wars must be funny to watch! I imagine something like lord of the rings in slow-mo!!! I wonder what the "scout" anemones look like when they're on the hunt!

Yesterday, I met my new student. I am tutoring her for AP Calculus. She goes to OPRF high school in Oak Park. We were originally gonna go to the library, but they were closing too early, so we sat down in the smallest Caribou in the world! It only had three small tables. The whole place was practically taken up by the bar and cash register thing.

Oh yeah, check this out, I am starting to lose weight! Finally my efforts are paying off:
125.8 lb.
25.5% body fat

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Snake eats Gator!

This was discovered in the Everglades one week ago: A 13 ft. Burmese python, dead with it's stomach busted open, with an American alligator's tail and rear legs sticking out of it! The snake swallowed the 6 ft. gator whole, and both died in the process. The snake is not native to the Everglades, and was likely an abandoned pet. Romy's mom gave me this Chicago Tribune newspaper clipping today.

It looks really gross! The Tribune says that the snake was the attacker. Pythons have first been spotted in the Everglades since the 1980s.

127.0 lb.
26.5% body fat


Wednesday, October 12, 2005

I tried making Chai Tea Latte

Yesterday night, I made some chai tea latte. Romy's mom brought us some tea bags.

So, since I ran out of Vanilla tea to make, I tried it out. First I brewed up 1/2 gal of the tea using 5 tea bags. Then I let it seep for about 20 minutes. I poured it over with about a cup of whole milk, and mixed in some sugar (6 packets of Splenda). Then I put it in the fridge overnight.
I tried it this morning, and what it looks like is a milky tea, with spices mixed around in it, kind of like horchata (the mexican rice milk), but it tastes spicier. It is something different, thats for sure! I kind of like it.

128.0 lb
26.0% body fat

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Trans-Siberian Railroad

We are planning on taking the Trans-Siberian Railroad from Moscow to Vladivostok next summer. Right now, I'm planning out a lot of things, including a fun excursion at Lake Baikal, where we will go hiking, camping, and kayaking! I can't wait already!

Sunday, October 09, 2005

Confusion on the toll road

We were on the toll way to DeKalb, picking up some car parts for Romy's 1970 Buick. Three or four times each way, to get to DeKalb from Chicago, you have to pay an 80 cent toll if you don't have the IPass sticker on your car. We don't have it because we rarely use the toll way.
Well, digging in our money bag, I was searching for quarters, dimes, nickels, etc. when I came across some Kuwaiti money, or dinars. One coin was square shaped. Most of them had a Kuwaiti ship called a dhow on them. They are very very old. Romy must of dumped them in the sac. I thought I'd post the picture, because its kinda interesting!
PS:
128.4 lbs
26.5% body fat

Friday, October 07, 2005

Sardinia by Kayak

I turned in a travel story to STATravel monthly magazine. Lets hope I win and get published!!
The hot Italian sun was beating down on us. My muscles were aching. I was constantly being pelted by chinese water tourture-like splashes of salt water, drying up and leaving me coated with a whitish crust. And you know what? I wanted more, and I never wanted it to end!
Early that July morning, me and my fiance set out on kayaks to explore part of the east coast of Sardinia, between Calaganone and Cala Luna. It was an ominous start to the day. Over night, a huge ripping wind picked up over the coast, and we spend more of the night huddled in our small backpacking tent surrounded by the howling noises, wondering what was going on. When we woke up, it had subsided, but the water was still choppy, with some stronger gusts of wind here and there.
But that was not going to deter us from exploring the coast that day. So off we went under the beautiful Sardinian sunshine, into our two neon colored kayaks, and onto the blue-green, pristine waters of the Mediteranean Sea.I had never kayaked in my life until that day. I was nervous, and the choppy-ness of the water kinda scared me, but I was absolutely not going to let this opportunity pass me by! I was amazed at the smooth cuts me and my kayak made through the water, and the quick speed we set off on. And right away, I felt so stable that any fear of tipping over just washed away in the waves of the sea.
Right away, I was taken by the beauty of Sardinia's coastline as seen from the water. We paddled by huge cliffs, hundreds of feet high, with trees somehow growing out of bare rock, and clutching for life. Cliff birds sailed in and out and around us over head, calling and crying out. In the background, I heard the soft sound of the waves hitting the coast, carving out little niches and caves. Shortly into the trip, we steered out kayaks into one of these caves. It was an awesome feeling to float into it, through the huge mouth, and into the dark, cool, and spooky quiet inards. Our voices echoed against the cavern walls, as we were sealed from the outside world. We took a short rest to cool down, and to just reflect on the beauty.
As we continued to paddle down the coast, heading south towards Cala Luna, we passed many wild beaches, formed because of the constant pounding of the the waves against softer rocks. They were almost hiden; you can only access them by a couple hours hike from the nearest town, or by boat. It was at one such beach, named Cala Oddoanna, that we stopped for lunch - Italian bread and Nutella (great lunch!). There was also a small cave here, which was just on land. It was so dark and scary though, we couldn't go in past a few meters. It was just too dark, and cold!!
After swimming, and recharging, we paddled out again, my muscles aching. But that was no drawback. My arms kept paddling, and the pain was completely forgetten once we saw the next coastal formations to come. My jaw dropped as we paddled through the shallow, clear waters, past rocks with sea urchins and plants stuck under the surface. And we could see little fish swimming in schools all around. It was near by that we stopped at a very shallow inlet, when we discover what might be the smallest beach in the world! We called it "Cala Minibeach," and it was just the size for two kayaks, and two people to stand on it!
It was afternoon when we reached our final destination, Cala Luna. Tired, we plopped on this big, moon shaped beach, and rested for a while. I was sad to think that we had to start heading back soon. That day was really a wild adventure!

Romy is so sick!

Romy is so sick today! He woke up with a sore throat, just like me on Monday. He has a signature trademark of sticking a kleenex up his nose when he is sick, so that the snot doesn't run out everywhere! Ewwwww. . .

Well, he didn't want me to take this picture, oh well!

Hopefully he will get better soon!

What a cutie!!!!!

And he just woke up too.

-Romy's comment:
"boo this picture, I said not to take it!"

STill no change. .

Well, I don't know but I've been hovering around this weight for three days now. . .
129.6 lb.
26.5% body fat

I've made a new gym schedule too.
Tuesdays, 7:45-9:00am
Thursdays, 8:15-10:00am
Sundays 8:30-10:30am.
This is a good schedule because I will still get to go to my step aerobics class on Thursdays, and on Sunday morning, we will do a Cardio Kickboxing class. I can't wait till Sunday! It will be our first class. It should be fun.

Tonight, we are celebrating the Tuition Waivor. And now Romy is sick with the same thing I had. BTW, I'm getting a lot better now, so only after 4 days, its almost completely gone. I must've had an antibody for it. Yes!

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Thanks Honor's College UIC!!!

I am soooooooooooooo happy! Last month, I applied for an Honor's College Tuition Waivor. They give out two or so a semester. You have to fill out a form, and then write an essay describing how a tuition waivor would change your life. So I did.
And yesterday, I got this in my e-mail:

Dear Jennifer :

On behalf of the Honors College Tuition Waiver Selection Committee, I am very pleased to inform you that you have been named as a recipient of an Honors College Tuition Waiver for the fall 2005 semester.

The competition for these waivers was very keen. You can take great pride in your academic achievement to date-and best wishes for a successful fall semester!

Sincerely,
Janet Madia
Executive Associate Dean

So then I checked my UIC account to see how much they gave me:

Honors College Waiver $3,580.00

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

I'm going to school today.

I'm going to school today, only because I have a lab for ECE225, which I can't miss. I will have to be tortured by my lab partner again!! Ahhhh! She is sooooooo stupid! I hope I give my sickness to my lab partner.
On a better note, I am starting to feel better. Now I have a cold, runny nose, small headache. Much better than yesterday. I basically slept all day, which was nice, even though it was soooooo beautiful outside!

128.2 lb.
26.5% body fat

Monday, October 03, 2005

Trip to the dunes.

On Sunday, we took a trip to the dunes. We left at around 9:30am, and on the way we saw a big cargo ship getting loaded or unloaded at the canal. This is near the Illinois/Indiana border.

Thats Romy putting in some money at the Indiana Toll Road station. I think the toll was 15 cents. Thats so cheap!

In Hammond I got a large iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts. After we got through Hammond, we got on Cline Ave. Its a highway in the sky, built for all the steel mill and oil refinery workers. Now its kept up for the casinos. All along it are cool steel mills, so I took some pics:



This building looks cooler at night.

We stayed on the beach until lunch time, and then we went to Fortune House for lunch. I think I caught a cold over there because now I'm sick! :-(

day two

I am getting sick, my troat hurts and my nose is starting to stuff up.

127.6 lb.
26.5 % body fat

Sunday, October 02, 2005

Start of my new program. . .

I am starting a new program to lose weight. I NEED TO LOSE 10 POUNDS!
I will weigh myself every morning, and post it here, hopefully it will help me actually lose it faster this way.

128.0 lb.
27.0% body fat

Saturday, October 01, 2005

Party Dumbass!

Did you ever know a party dumbass?
His name is Mike, and he's a party dumbass.
(He's the one with the Virginia shirt.)
He is a grad student we met in Prague.
He always has a weird little smile on his face thats creepy.
And he has a forced laugh.
He tries to put a German accent on any foreign language that he's learning.
He tried speaking Czech with a German accent.
He has weird party dumbass friends too.
The other guy in the photo is okay, we called him little Mike,
because party dumbass was monsterous.
The photo was taken at Romy's graduation party in Podebrady, CZ, at the "castle."
It didn't look much like a castle, but oh well. We also left there with a Kozel beer glass.
Below is the "castle" the party was at: