Trump Tower

After quite a lot of controversy, construction on the Trump Tower started last year. There was quite a lot of work to do before they could actually start building. Here's the progress as of today. You can see the IBM building in the background. Here's a picture of how the Tower will look when built.

Trump Tower, Chicago
Originally uploaded by buccaneerbetty.

The Trump site says that it will be delivered in 2008 (although wikipedia lists the completion date as 2009), with 98 floors, making it the second largest building in the world. In contrast, the Chrysler Building, which at the time of completion in 1929 was the world's tallest building, has 77 floors. The Chrysler Building was built with an average of 4 floors per week with no worker deaths. So far, it seems that the Trump Tower is not concerned with meeting that pace - but I'll keep you posted.

Cracked under pressure

When people admire something I have on, I have a bad habit of telling them where I bought it and for how much (usually because I got it for cheap, at a cheap store, but I consider it a bargain). Today I was wearing one of those pieces of clothing. I was determined, though, to not tell anyone about it.
Just as the office building elevator doors were closing, a person from work snuck in. Despite the fact that everyone knows you are supposed to stare at either the floor indicator or the little information screen they have in there, she proceeded to stare right at me. She said, "pretty shirt." I thanked her but I could still feel the weight of her stare on me. I glanced at her and saw that she was staring at me and her mouth was hanging open a little - like she couldn't believe the stupid thing I had said - even though I had been quietly looking at the screen, following elevator etiquette. I couldn't stand it and told her that I bought it at Walmart for $7. I was kinda hoping she'd be embarrassed for me - after all - who admits to that kind of thing (except me)? Instead (to her credit) she said, "Well, that makes it even prettier!" AAAAnnnnd the stare went on. I made some inane comment about the weather while she just stared at me.
At our BBQ in Yosemite, I was talking to a couple of my friends and we agreed that everyone has some kind of karma. They each had karma that encouraged people to always cut in line in front of them. Mine is clearly one that calls for other people to stare at me.

Oriental Institute

This weekend Cowboy and I went to the Oriental Institute at the U of C. Cowboy and I both went to U of C so it was interesting to see all the changes (for the better) that have been instituted since we've been there. There were tours - maybe freshmans or perspective students - whoever they were they looked YOUNG. Has it really been that long since I was one of them? I digress...
The Oriental Institute rocked! It is my second favorite museum in Chicago after the Art Institute. They've opened two new galleries, full of "new" reliefs excavated from tombs and cities. The building itself has been recently renovated (I believe to put in a climate control system) and is beautiful. It's an old stone building, typical of the gothic architectural style on campus, with exposed beams that are designed with (perhaps painted to look like?) inlay. The Persian Gallery is said to hold the best archeological collection of artifacts from the area now known as Iran. There's an amazing black limestone head of a bull in there (click on the gallery link and scroll just a bit so you can get an idea of the size!) that I always enjoy seeing. The Egyptian Gallery also has a gi-normous King Tut. And, from the Mesopotamian Gallery, here's a pic of the winged bull, or lamassu. This is just one of the amazing pieces they have on display - and they only display about 4% of their collection.

winged bull, oriental institute
Originally uploaded by buccaneerbetty.

Many of the early excavations were led by James Henry Breasted who was possibly a model for Indiana Jones. When I saw a photo of him, his wife and son on an expedition, however, I wondered if he was also a model for Radcliffe Emerson in the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters. In turn, I often wonder if The Mummy was based on the Amelia Peabody books. I have to admit, most of what I know about ancient Egypt comes from gleaning information from her books. I like to think that sounds worse than it is - she did get her PhD in Egyptology from U of C after all.

Incredible discovery

Cowboy and I happened upon the Food Network's Wedding Cake Challenge. Check it out and look at the slideshow of the competing cakes - they were really amazing! One competitor was Cakeman Raven who owns a bakery in Harlem. His cake was incredible - and it was red velvet. "What's that?" I asked Cowboy. He gave me an incredulous look. "You've never had red velvet?" His eyes lit up - knowing he was going to introduce me to something I was going to love. "We'll have to try it."
Meanwhile, I was really annoyed that there is a type of cake out there that I have never had. I looked it up on the web and found out that it is a cake with a mild chocolate flavor (only 2 tbs of cocoa powder) with a whole lot of red food coloring. I got a recipe and rustled up the ingredients. Using my new silicone bake ware from RoadRunner and Prince E, I made red velvet cupcakes. (Silicone bake ware HIGHLY recommended - so easy to clean) They were pretty good, but I think I need to try it from a bakery for comparison. Everyone seems to rave about it.
By the way, during my internet mecca for this mysterious treat, I found this great tribute to cupcakes (which helped fuel my need for cake even more).

Not so funny in real life

When I was growing up, my friend Amy had a Commodore 64. We played a game - I think it was called "Black Magic." It was a lot of fun. I remember, though, that your little man could get carried away by a falcon - which, depending on where you were in the level, could be good or bad. I remember yelling "NOOOOOOO!" plenty a time at the tiny monitor.
Recently, I found out that this has really happened at one time in history! New research suggests that a prehistoric eagle carried away and killed a Taung child, a human ancestor who lived two million years ago. Scientists originally thought a big cat killed the three and a half year old little hominid. However, claw and beak marks inside the skull suggest the bird plunged a talon into the child's brain through the eye and carried the poor little one to its nest. The fact that the skull was found among monkey and tortoise remains similar to that found today near nests of the African crowned eagle also supports this theory.
Can you imagine? That calls for quite a "NOOOOO!"

training pains

I ran last week for the first time in weeks. It kicked my dupa. I was nervous to try again, but I made it down to the treadmill and gave it a whirl. The first few minutes were full of pain. My muscles were like machines that had sat unused for a long time and were now being asked to chug away at full speed without the benefit of being oiled. I was even starting to wonder if I'd developed exercise-induced asthma. After a few minutes though, I think my body remembered what to do, and I relaxed into it. I can't say it was fun, but it went a lot better. At least I'm not dreading the next time.
What I have going for me is that I'm starting up my training program nice and slow. My schedule now compared to what I was doing before the wedding looks pretty pathetic. I gotta remember that next time I want to lounge around on a beach (or my couch).

Insomnia, swimming and appendicitis

Cowboy has had pseudo-appendicitis for over a week now. It's not appendicitis (at least not acute or ruptured) but he had symptoms that sure sounded like it, and sure knocked him out. To make a long story short, he has been sitting on the couch playing poker on the computer and watching Season 5 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. (This is the season Buffy goes downhill, in my opinion)
Anyway, I don't know if I've been suffering sympathy pains or what but I have developed insomnia over the last few days. As a result, I feel like I've been hit by a train - every morning - and it doesn't go away. Tonight, I was feeling achy and wide-awake, so we went for a swim at 11:30pm. It was so nice. The cool water felt perfect. It reminded me of going swimming at night in Hawaii. (Sigh.) Now we're back in our humble abode and I'm still wide-awake.
The upshot is that Cowboy has finally had enough of our uncomfortable couch and has promised me a new one for my birthday. Yippee! I've been gunning for this for over a year!

Spamalot!

For Valentine's Day / 10 year anniversary, I got Cowboy 2 tickets to see Spamalot. I have to admit, I wasn't THAT excited to see it, and I even suggested that he take a friend instead of me. The date snuck up on us, and he forgot to plan it with his friend. I was looking forward to seeing a show, and thought I would even put up with a room full of dorky boys who can recite the whole movie from memory (Cowboy included). (I have seen the movie and I didn't really get into it.) Turns out, I LOVED it!!! It was so fantastically funny! Cowboy says it follows the movie, and while I recognized a couple of scenes, it definitely introduces some original material - not to mention the obvious addition of the songs. Basically, it kept the silliness level, and there were even a couple of songs about songs. There were lots of little surprises, though, and I was so delighted to just experience the spectacle. Anyway, I highly recommend it - should it come to your city.
The next one on the list is the Pirate Queen. This is about one of my favorite pirates Grace O'Malley - daughter of a chieftain in 16th century Ireland. The story the musical is based on fails to tell one tidbit that I like - when she was divorcing husband #2, she locked him out of her castle, barricaded herself and family inside, fought with him until they were divorced - all while running her pirate empire.

Adventure part 3

Back from Hawaii, we settle into exploring the rugged California coast. We drove up to Mendocino. It's not a drive for the faint of stomach. We made it into Fort Bragg for lunch and took a tour of the botanical gardens. The rhododendrons were in bloom and the gardens continued all the way to the coast. This coastline is definitely different from the ones we had been seeing for a week, but this is the kind of rugged shoreline that I'm used to - and miss.

Mendocino Coast
Originally uploaded by buccaneerbetty.

On the way back through the gardens from the coastline, we saw deer and explored parts of the homestead of one of the early settlers.

Mendocino Coast, California
Originally uploaded by buccaneerbetty.

As always, I was sad to leave California. When we finally started our drive home - we went through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and up Illinois to home sweet home. The ride home was fun. We saw the Petrified Forest in Arizona, and lots of other places as they popped up along the way. Of course, we also had to try and stay ahead of bad weather - we drove through Texas on the one day without a tornado. Flagstaff AZ was very pretty - lots of trees and a rather nice city - seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Oklahoma City was really nice but it was early May with bugs the size of trucks and humidity that gave me a 'fro in a heartbeat - not the city for me. Texas is interesting - complete with washbasins in the shape of the State of Texas and gas station attendants recommending fried rattlesnake to us. Cowboy and I do plan to return to New Mexico when we can spend more time there. I will have to post a couple of photos from this segment once I get them uploaded.

Adventure part 2

Finally! The honeymoon! We ran off to Kauai. The perfect island for chilling out. We had a convertible and explored to our hearts content. Of course, we also spent plenty of time at the hotel - I think some people just come and never leave this hotel. Amazing place - right on the beach on the S. Shore with loads of swimming pools that are more like lazy rivers with all these secret nooks, waterfalls and little waterslides connecting one another. Here's where we stayed.

Grand Hyatt Kauai
Originally uploaded by buccaneerbetty.

Here's the view of and behind our hotel.

Kauai, South Shore
Originally uploaded by buccaneerbetty.

Surfers, crazy guys jumping off cliffs that overhang over the water, and turtles! Can you see them?

Turtles on South Shore Kauai
Originally uploaded by buccaneerbetty.

We drove up to Waimea Canyon and what a sight! This is just one of the views.

Waimea Canyon, Kauai
Originally uploaded by buccaneerbetty.

In short, a perfect vacation. We explored when we wanted to, relaxed when we wanted, and ate a ton. Here's one of the island delicacies.

Shave ice!
Originally uploaded by buccaneerbetty.

Whirlwind Adventure

that included getting married. (Part I)
We had a blast in the last three weeks. We flew out to California and headed to Yosemite. We got married after a couple of days on the lawn behind the Ahwahnee hotel, in the middle of Yosemite Valley. We even surprised everyone by having my dad perform the ceremony! Here's a shot of Yosemite Falls which served as the background for our ceremony. We even had deer show up! They were grazing maybe 15 feet away from all of us as the wedding party walked in!

Yosemite Falls
Originally uploaded by buccaneerbetty.

The wedding was great! We had a short ceremony, which was good because despite the amazing temps the 2 days before, it was actually a little cool. We found a way to include both families, which I think turned out very nicely. Cowboy designed the ceremony himself (a few days before we left), and I was very impressed. It turned out very lovely. Afterwards, we went inside the Ahwahnee and ate. They had the HUGE fireplaces lit, so people could warm up practically inside them. The room for the reception had huge floor to ceiling windows so we could still see the towering cliffs, forest and waterfalls outside. We ate, toasted, ate some more and then had dessert. The toasts were very nice. Cowboy was really happy with the people who toasted us from my side - he said Dr. 90210 got "me" across and my sister got the right emotion. They were both very sweet and I will remember them forever. Everyone sang "Sto Lat" to us - a polish tradition and we cut the cake. I think our cake topper was a big hit - we didn't really like the traditional ones so we had a figurine of Hawkgirl and Green Arrow (from Justice League) stand on top. The pastry chef made us a platform of chocolate for them so they wouldn't have to sink knee deep in our cake. We also had a dessert action station - all things flaming!
After eating so much, we hopped on a bus for a 2 hour tour of the valley. It was great - our guide was quite funny, and we saw the highlights of the valley. We even saw a climber scaling El Capitan! The guide had lots of anecdotal stories about famous climbers in the past and some tragic climbs as well. We saw Bridalviel Falls, the Cathedral Spires, Half Dome, not to mention all the seasonal waterfalls and amazing forestry along the way.
It ended way too soon. Luckily, I got to spend some time with my friends (who kick ass by making it all the way out there) before they were to leave the next day. Not enough time, but I was happy to have that small amount.
We stuck around for a couple more days before heading out to Napa. We drove through Napa for a day and flew out to Kauai the next. Stay tuned.

El Capitan Yosemite National Park

El Capitan Yosemite National Park
Originally uploaded by Jims outside photos.

A recent photo of Yosemite. Less than a month away! I'm so excited!

what does it say when the smell is the problem?

A couple of weeks ago a co-worker sent an email about how a guy died while working in his office over the weekend, and he wasn't found for a few days. I thought how incredible it was that no one found him.

A few days ago, friends of mine found their upstairs neighbor was dead and that he had been dead for a few days. Apparently, he had lived there with a roommate. The roommate told my friends that he was moving out because the man was violent. A few days later, the man's relative came looking for him and discovered his body. The police came and the landlord was told that he better get everything out of the apartment fast because the man had been dead for a few days and if they didn't remove everything from the apartment, the smell would never come out. The landlord quickly emptied the apartment that same day. (I'm assuming that despite the previous allegation of violence there was no sign of foul play, or they would not have had enough time to process everything as a crime scene.) I've heard that there are cleaning crews that special in these types of thing, but where do you put the stuff? Just regular storage? How disheartening that the practical considerations so quickly take control of the situation.

In search of material goods

While investigating islands in the South Pacific as a possible destination for our upcoming honeymoon, I learned of an interesting religion. On Tanna, a small island belonging to the nation of Vanuatu (between Fiji and New Guinea), there is a group of people known as the John Frums. The John Frums are followers of a "cargo cult" that worships a WWII GI named - you guessed it - John Frum.
Cargo cults develop when the material wealth of the outside world suddenly descends on indigenous tribes. Such was the case when Frum appeared in Tanna with jeeps, radios, motorcycles, canned meat and candy. Since these items could not be made directly from products of the land or sea, they were products of magic.
When Frum left the island, he promised he'd bring planeloads and shiploads of cargo - if the people would pray to them. They do to this day. Although he has never returned to the island, they say he lives in Yasur, the island's sacred volcano.

Mount Yasur Volcano, Tanna Island Vanuatu
Originally uploaded by RayBans.

In worship, the men drink kava, and all observe kastom.

how-kava-is-made-1
Originally uploaded by Graham Crumb.

February 15 is John Frum Day when they pull out all the stops.

Aside from the kava drinking, I can understand certain aspects of this religion. On a different level, I too appreciate the abrupt change in lifestyle an upgrade in material goods can bring. (We bought our first car on Thursday. I love it!)
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Oscar boycott hiatus

For the first time in several years, I actually watched the Oscars. I have boycotted them for a while because it seems to me that they don't always award merit - but rather decide on popularity. I'm not sure it was worth breaking my boycott - this year was pretty uneventful. EXCEPT, early on, Jon Stewart made some joke about Scientology and they panned the audience for reaction and my friend from law school with whom I lived in Ireland was right there next to Joaquin Phoenix!!! I think she was a seat-filler. How cool is that?
I hear there were a lot of great movies out there and maybe if I'd seen more of them I would've felt differently. The movies I watched: the short documentaries, and Crash - which I watched right before the Oscars started. Crash ended up winning, and it was a great choice. What an amazing movie. It was so painful to watch this intense movie - I haven't even fully digested it yet. I normally don't like the kind of movies where it's a bunch of shorts put together, but it came together pretty nicely in this one. I appreciated the portrayal of bigotry without making the characters into caricatures of racists. I also appreciated how there were only a couple of seemingly uncorrupted people in the whole film (out of many) without the obvious "good guys" that are typically written into such storylines.

I really enjoyed Reese Witherspoon's speech - she said she tried to live by June Carter's mantra which was that she lived her life trying to matter. Easier said than done.

Sharks are delicious

In the midst of our honeymoon planning discussion, a news story breaks that a snorkeler was eaten by a shark off the coast of Maui, at a popular snorkeling site. Cowboy announces that it's final - he's not going in the water. I told him to bring a book or he'll get bored waiting for me as I snorkel. He says sharks are the blights of the sea and are only good for eating. This, of course, makes no sense, and he's only saying it to press my buttons as I am infinitely fascinated by sharks.
The update: deciding between Hawaii - which would include Maui, Kauai, and the Big Island, or the Western Coast of Mexico. I wanted to go to the gulf side, but that will be rainy season. I remember we went to Belize about a month before rainy season, and the storms that were already rolling in (only at night, luckily) were magnificent and a little scary. I don't want to chance running into those in full bloom, especially if we might not even have the use of our days like we did in Belize. I think Western Mexico might be okay, but I'll have to double check that.

Hot Glass

I've been taking a class on the Studio Glass movement. It's a young art movement where most, if not all, of the masters are still around. The class was short, with 2 out of the 5 classes being field trips. One was to the instructor's glass gallery where we saw an exhibition for Bertil Vallien and Lino Tagliapietra. Totally different styles - each so wonderful to see. Vallien casts the glass in a sand mold - often by ladling the liquid glass in. Doing it this way, he can drop things into the glass to give it a sculpture quality, with figures (small or large) trapped inside the glass. This method also causes the sand to fuse to the glass and it gives the glass a grainy look that can be left alone or polished depending on the look he wants to achieve. Tagliapietra is a glass blower. He tends to do lots of elaborate, elongated vessels that are sculptural in nature.
My descriptions are not doing them justice - even if you think you are not into glass, just check out these pages.
Today we went on a field trip to see glass blown. There was a full house - lots of glass blowers working to make items for an upcoming fundraiser. You could tell by watching them that there were a few bad-asses in particular, and it was fun to watch them so effortlessly contort and shape this molten piece of glass into something beautiful and functional.
Alas, I fear I will never create anything so appreciated. Somehow, legal arguments - brilliant as I think some turn out - just don't do it for people.

Strange work-out day

Today my workout was successful in spite of myself. First, I lifted. I am trying to get over a newfound aversion to lifting weights. I don't know where this came from - I am not afraid of getting bulky (but at the first sign of a big neck, you better let me know). I used to do it 3x a week and loved it - you can do it at home while you watch tv, what's better than that? Lately, I've been dreading it, so it fell by the wayside. Not good, 'cause my wedding dress shows a lot of arm. Then, I went for a swim. On my way down, I realize I forgot to take off my engagement ring. It's already a little loose on me, so I put it on my fattest finger and figured it can only help my stroke by making sure I keep my fingers together (not the time for jazz hands). I then realize I forgot my swim cap. I figure I can do without it this time, hop in the pool and start out without my much needed goggles and earplugs. Sheesh! After the swim, I run on the treadmill. I liked this because with wet hair, I was cooler for longer. About 1/2 way through, a girl gets on the elliptical in front of me and let's just say, her tight t-shirt was not effective in doubling as a very important undergarment she "forgot" to wear. Without using my favorite phrase "train wreck", which I use too much, I can only say that if there was a photo of this going back to the jury - I'd have to object to it on obscenity grounds. I thought I was going to loose an eye. Despite all this, I got through my very long workout, and even did some stretching. Here's my latest endorsement of a product up to the level of my Columbia jacket (gasp!, I know!) Yoga for Athletes rocks! I have the deluxe version which has the following workouts: regular + relaxation, power emphasis, flexibility emphasis, and 6 mini workouts that are sport specific. I am familiar with most of the poses he goes through (they are fairly basic), but when I use the sport specific workouts, I stretch muscles I didn't know I could reach. Maravilloso!

Another spectacular season...of reality tv

Actually, all I watch is Project Runway. Love it! This season has great talent. I'm pulling for the Eng girl who likes her clothes to be "well researched," whatever that means. There are a number of people to watch, though. I already like this season better than last - the bar has been raised this time around, notwithstanding the guy who completely broke down after challenge two and was crying in front of the judges while he wailed that fashion meant so much to him. Train wreck. Tonight they made a design for "My Scene" barbie. I guess "My Scene" barbie is like 16-18 and hip. I'm really out of touch with barbie - are 16-18 year olds buying these, or are they for young girls to play with teenager barbies instead of women barbies? The designers had to come up with a new concept for her and show it off on a model (blonde wig included) and make a smaller version for the barbie. While the runway show was going on, the designers were sitting there holding their little styled up barbies.

Side note: last I heard about the Katie Holmes/ Tom Cruise saga was that her father was drafting the pre-nup. One look at this article on celebrity pre-nups and I understand why it's taking him so long to draft it. Apparently, they are agreeing to weight limits for the wife, random drug testing by either spouse, and many more unbelievable things!

wedding

I've had an annoying day, so rather than whine about all the things I want to whine about, I will write about my wedding. I have 2 reasons for doing this: 1) I'm excited about it, and 2) hopefully I will be inspired to do some more much needed planning of it.
All our save-the-date / announcements have gone out and now everyone knows we are getting married in Yosemite at the Ahwahnee Hotel. We sent out puzzle boxes (also known as secret boxes) with a ribbon inside. You had to figure out that you needed to wrap the ribbon around something to read the writing. The writing then directed you to our website and the final answer of where we are getting married. We did it this way because certain people were already complaining about traveling. (It may come as a surprise to you, as it did to me, that not all wedding news is happy news for everyone.) No matter where we had it - SOMEONE had to travel, so we are making everyone travel to Yosemite. The fact that it was a surprise and no one expected Yosemite - diffused it a little. Plus, once you see pictures of the hotel and the park - only grinches can really complain. Here are some particularly lovely photos by QT Luong. We are getting married outside - with a waterfall in the background. April and May are peak waterfall months, so it should be roaring!