Regularly scheduled programming....

Tuesnight bike ride is still on, 9:30 at Powell's.

Shirking...

Though the weather's beautiful and I'll be longing to go, I'm going to have to skip the 9:30 ride this evening. Please, go and enjoy yourselves for me!

The state of the stacks (first in a series)

Fat Cyclist keeps us informed as to his weight, a public self-shaming into positive progress. I hereby tell you, with the same goal, the total height of all the stacks of crap paper on my desk.

147 cm

Draw a Picture of a Bird Day

This is time sensitive, so I'm not going to rewrite; I'm just going to quote an email I received this morning.

Today, I would like to share something important with you. Several months ago it came to my attention that this day, April 8th, is none other than Draw a Picture of a Bird Day. Please join me in embracing this ridiculous holiday by (you guessed it) taking some time out of your day to draw a picture of a bird. I encourage you to do this whenever you please... over breakfast, in class, while walking across the Midway, during naptime, really your options are as wide open as the soon-to-be bird-filled sky!

Continuity and change

I've recently had the opportunity to sit on a committee meeting with two candidates for a senior student life position at the university. One seemed to fit right in here, to take immediately to the intellectual climate here of analysis and discussion. The other candidate brought an entirely different level of energy, and the discussion we had was exciting, spinning off ideas for activities, about how to make connections and draw students together, multiply energies and channel disparate groups toward common goals. Part of what was so appealing about candidate 2 was the fact that this campus already has plenty of what C1 brings to the table--detached, careful, intellectual practice.

The quesion is, when does this desire for something different transform the place into something different? Do we have a responsibility to preserve the uniquely, um, contemplative nature of this institution?

Reading Material

I'm too busy to read stuff (let alone write), so you'll have to. New additions to the "Chicago Links" there on the right:
I Hate My Developer--required reading for anyone thinking about buying into a condo conversion, and really sharp observations about life on the South Side.

General Carlessness--bike riding and editing; sound familiar? But with more content of public interest than I usually muster. (I've been utterly remiss in not linking here sooner!)

Those two are both excellent and full of stories of life in the neighborhoods I straddle (I claim Woodlawn, living and working south of the midway, but I'm in University-occupied territory, which makes for overlapping geographical identities).

Chicagoist--news, events, and observations about the city. Chicagoist's borealic focus may lead to its removal from my blogroll, but the writing's good and the topics interesting. Whether a few weeks of things I'll not see around town gets to me or not is to be determined.


The following may or may not make the blogroll; after I have some time to devote to reading them, they'll appear there or not. But you may find them interesting now.
District 299 blog. about Chicago Public Schools ChiKat and Swim and Glitter are the personal blogs of a couple of (white) south siders. Interesting observations and all, but they might prove too personal. Yochicago is another recent discovery, and seems to focus entirely on real estate.

Observations on the legal system.

1) I always thought subpoenas would come on nicer paper.

2) The hearsay rule is really really strict. I had no idea.

Small revelations, then, rather than simple observations.

If you haven't heard: Good News!

We're having triplets! Two more girls and a boy, due in July, but the doctor says that they'll probably come early.