Responsibilities....

Jessica has asked me to 'plant sit' for a week. You know, water it every couple days and try not to kill it. This is a tall order. We'll see how green my thumb is....

Update to come.

Shoutout

So, as I blogged about earlier, the Chicago Sun-Times had a 'birthday party' a couple weeks ago. I met my new friend (but longtime facebook friend) Richard Roeper (from "At the Movies" - formerly "Ebert & Roeper", formerly "Siskel & Ebert"; also writer of a daily column in the paper). Anyhow, I happened to bump into him and the group he was talking with (inadvertently, of course) and I pointed out our cyber-camaraderie.

"Ah, cool. Yeah, I'm hardly ever on facebook actually." I then pointed out "but you update your profile every day". He seemed less than thrilled and said "yeah, I guess". Sensing that my parachute was turning into a knapsack, I changed the subject to his new book and asked if he would be willing to autograph my copy. Talk about how to win friends and influence people - he was more than eager to help. So, hopefully it'll come back through the interoffice mail in a week or two.

Since Richard was so nice - I'm giving his new book some free publicity. He's tackling some interesting topics in there - such as new age philosophy, reality tv scandals and faux religious images.

Review to come.

Too Late To Apologize

I'm sorry. I haven't updated much lately. Lame, I know. But, people pointed it out to me!! People are reading my blog! So exciting! It gets me every time....

There will be some better posts later today and tomorrow....

Baby Talk

Rant of the day - couples who talk baby talk to each other - IN PUBLIC! WHY? Why, why why!?

I don't have too much to say on the subject (for once) - but I'm just wondering...what exactly is the thinking here? Is this some way of showing your love for each other to the world? Really, we can all do without it.

I know most of you will agree with this being an annoyance - some of you will defend it and say there's something cute or romantic about it....but there's one couple I know who very regularly talks baby talk to each other. When I look at them - I can't help but wonder - is it because they lack the ability to have an actual adult conversation with each other?

Over-Education

So Obama keeps talking about how one of his objectives, as president, would be to make student loans more accessible. He then segues into what I'd describe as some nonsense about mandatory volunteer work in exchange for money for education. (if it's mandatory, are you really volunteering?)

Ok - I realize my parents paid for my college, and many don't have the luxury - so I realize some of you will write this off as out of touch.

I know plenty of people who took out student loans. I do not know one single person who wanted to go to college and wasn't able to because they couldn't get the money (maybe I don't know the right people for this). To the naked eye, it seems that student loans are too easy to get.

I realize the argument here is that some loans had huge interest rates, etc. Don't get me wrong - I understand that's a huge burden - having to write a check for hundreds of dollars every months for around 15 years of one's life.

However, this doesn't seem to be enough of a deterrent to some people uselessly educating themselves. I know it sounds weird - how can an education ever be useless....however, student loans, IN THEORY, is the government making an investment in students by giving them money for education - they are going to then use it to pursue a career that will give back to society, a career that will pull a good salary that can then be taxed, a career that will strengthen industry in the United States from an international perspective.

However, many people are going to college and continuing to work in retail and restaurant jobs (in non-manager roles). Too many people are going to college and taking on useless, non-vocational majors (sociology anyone? how about some leisure studies? or let's go for just plain, old fashioned English!).

EVEN WORSE - and I type this with COMPLETE and UTTER DISGUST (I'm sure those who know me know why) - I STILL, in this day and age, know a lot of women who are going to college for solely for an MRS degree. Seriously - huge waste of money - just go hang out at the bars on a college campus and don't waste tens of thousands of dollars.

That, and another issue - for some who have always excelled academically, going to school is easier than working. I know so many people who got straight A's, graduated, worked a year, struggled with it and defaulted back to becoming a full-time student. They might be happier, but they're burning money instead of making it. In the same sense that someone wouldn't purchase an $80K car and not plan on using - why are people doing this with college?

There's the old saying - college isn't for everyone, someone needs to be the trash collector.

However, on a more serious note - I do believe in the premise of a student loan - that someone from a humble upbringing who has a dream and works very hard can become the doctor, engineer, teacher, or whatever he or she has always dreamed of being - that these career options are not exclusive to trust fund babies. If I were in charge of this whole 'doling out student loan' business - I would base decisions on who gets a loan based on who has an actual career plan (sorry to the future 'undecideds' of America). Those who have an actual vocational majors in lucrative career paths would get the low interest loans.

Do I Come From a Land Down Under?

The other day I had lunch with a friend of mine and her coworker (who I was meeting for the first time). After lunch, my friend relayed to me that her coworker was wondering 'where I'm from originally'. The coworker's guess was 'Australia'. Because of, you know, my accent....

This is far from the first time it's happened to me (Australia has come in as a guess before, however, the overwhelming favorite is Boston), and it probably won't be the last.

Sigh. I'm suburban born and raised, both my parents have lived their life in the Chicagoland area as well.

This inspires me to plan a trip to Boston, just to see if they talk like me. Any takers?

Living with the 'Rents

So I was perusing facebook earlier today and noticed that some high school acquaintances from my grade (so pretty much 25 year olds) were hosting a party in my hometown of Mt. Prospect. I'm going off on a limb and guessing the event is taking place at someone's parents' house.

My three best friends from high school (all of whom have undergraduate as well as advanced degrees from respected universities and jobs in their fields) are currently shacking up with mom and dad in the Northwest 'burbs.

What percentage of 25 year-olds in the Chicagoland area are currently living with their parents? Of those who aren't, how many aren't living with a significant other? I constantly find myself at a loss for friends to go out with in the city - all of my friends with the exception of about two are either living in the burbs or living with their spouse (or almost spouse).

But regardless of the second group - what's with the surge of 20 somethings living at home? Is there a good explanation for this? Do we not want to grow up? Do entry-level salaries suck that bad? Are we all more about saving these days? What is the story?

Why I Don't Like Obama

So I supported Hillary Clinton. Obviously.

Throughout my backing of her, I knew I was supporting a flawed individual with skeletons in the closet. I would imagine all of Hillary's supporters would say the same. I believe McCain's supporters might make a similar statement about him.

I'd like to wager a guess that there are good amount of Obama supporters (at least those I met) think they are supporting a pure and wondrous being. He's a CHICAGO POLITICIAN. The chances of this being true are about the same as ME getting elected president this November. Call me a cynic (I wear the title with pride) - I don't f*#&ing buy it, Obama.

Here's my problem with him: he ran a campaign based purely on hypocrisy. AND SO MANY PEOPLE DIDN'T NOTICE. He made some statements about how 'he's about a different kind of politics". ok. He's not into the mudslinging; those kind of things distract from the real issues. fine. He comes out and says he's different, he's about change, blah blah blah. But in saying this, he pretty much insinuates (and at times outright says) that all of his competition is about old school politics, distractions, etc. In doing so, HE SLINGS MUD ON HIS COMPETITION. That's the whole platform of his campaign - vote for me because I'm not like these other guys who really really suck!! Hypocrisy in its purest form!! He is a brilliant manipulator (which is really a quality I personally could live without in a president).

His supporters, who all think he's 'not like the rest' will all argue that one should vote for him because Hillary Clinton, John McCain, or whomever else there is, is worse for reasons x, y and z. It's a big giant mud bath, which last time I checked, was the politics we're trying to get away from!!

One thing I will give Barack is that he's very smart - he's not unaware of what's taken place. He's just basking in the fact that everyone else seems to be.

I'll end it with this - I'm not saying I won't vote for Obama. But I'm still looking for a good reason to that doesn't involve "because the alternative sucks". That platform backfired on John Kerry - let's learn from recent history, Democrats!

Before I Have to Start Supporting Him (Solely Because of the Supreme Court)

Observation, Part 2

Today I meandered into the Coach store around 200 S. LaSalle. Coach is currently suffering from what I call "Starbucks Syndrome". I wasn't in the store but five seconds when I heard "love that purse" in reference to the purse I was carrying (it was a Coach bag, mind you). Ten seconds later "I love the way you matched your sweater to your bag". "Great outfit". Ugh, ugh, ugh!! I'm not a piece of toast, stop buttering me up! One girl segued her comment about my purple bag and purple sweater into "and did you see this purple scarf? we also have a purple wallet".

I couldn't take it. I walked out; I bought nothing. I went straight into Starbucks and got a latte.

RIP

It's going to take me a little while to cope with this one....

The Sign Says it All

The word before "I'm Polish" is "dupa".

This was what the inside of the second best bar I went to last night looked like.