Full Contact Flag Football

I joined a flag football team!

The Texas Exes, my alumni association, puts together sports teams. I thought it would be fun, so I am playing coed flag football now! I am a Slot Back apparently. I really have no idea what that position is, but I am trying to follow the plays!

First of all, I was right. It is fun!

Second of all, here is a list of my injuries:

I was knocked off of my feet by a fellow teammate. That produced:

• One mildly scraped knee,
• One whiplashed neck,
• One breath knocked out of me

A competitor from the other team kicked me in the thigh with his cleated shoe. That produced:

• A whopper of a bruise on my left thigh

I caught a ball poorly. That produced:

• One badly sprained right ring finger…

…And this is the winner injury! My finger is a lovely shade of purple! It is also very swollen. I am mildly proud of this injury. I showed it off at the office today, and the response from the guys was “WHOA! Dude. Are you sure it’s not broken??” The answer is yes, I am fairly sure it’s not broken, given I can mostly bend my finger…but it does look bad, and it does not feel good! I have had it taped for the last 24 hours, and I iced it yesterday, and have been taking Advil. I think that’s about all I can do.

I am also sort of proud of myself, considering I don’t think of myself as athletic, I think I played fairly well, and I was tough. I never stopped playing, even given all the hits I took. I think the reality is, I can handle a fair amount of pain. But I also love to have an injury to complain about! I don’t complain because I am a wimp, but more because I am proud I got hurt. Does that make sense? I know it’s a little strange, but something tells me some of you understand that…

Lincoln Park in Color

Lincoln Park in Color, originally uploaded by tonguetyed.

I went on a bike ride on my “new-to-me” bike today. It was such a beautiful day! And the park is amazing to bike through!

Click through this picture and take a look at the rest of the shots I took.

Shake, Rattle and Roll!

I felt the earthquake! Here in Chicago!!

This morning there was an earthquake on the New Madrid fault. From my childhood in St. Louis, I know that the New Madrid fault runs through the very southern tip of Missouri. The earthquake was a 5.4 this morning. The news is repeatedly saying that this the strongest earthquake in 40 years, which I am sure it is, but they seem to be ignoring the fact that there have been similar earthquakes in the region much more recently. I have now felt two earthquakes in my lifetime. The first was a 4.6 in St. Louis from the same fault line! I was in 5th or 6th grade, so it must have been around 1990.
This morning though, the quake was strong enough to wake me from dead sleep! My bed was shaking! And my first instinct was that it was an earthquake! But I couldn’t believe I was right! I got up and went into the bathroom and two little glass candle holders that hang instead of resting on a surface were swinging! And a hook that hangs off of a bar was swaying wildly!! I couldn’t believe what I was seeing!

What a start to the day!!

I think the reason I felt the earthquake so strongly is because I am in a tall building. I am sure it was even worse is highrises! Can you imagine? Tall buildings amplify the shaking, so I am sure the tall downtown highrises felt like a carnival ride!

Can’t wait to see what other people felt at the office!

Things I am Loving About Chicago…And Things I am Hating

LOVE:

• I love walking to the train every morning
• I love listening to my iPod all the way to work everyday and reading a book on the train
• I love going out without needing to drive anywhere…cabs are my friend!
• I love living 5 stories up. We had a thunderstorm two nights ago, and I swear thunder is louder up here!
• I love that people equate a good bar with good food here “Wilde is a great bar!” “But how’s the food??”
• I love Lake Shore Drive
• I love the architecture

HATE:

• I hate that my El stop closed and I have to walk farther to the next El stop
• I hate looking for a new apartment…It is the most ridiculously difficult task I have attempted in ages
• I hate that it’s hard to wear heels here, for fear of walking long distances
• I hate that my kitchen is currently the size of a postage stamp
• I hate that I likely won’t find a new home as nice as my house in Dallas…For TWICE the cost, and with a roommate!
• I hate that we might have snow this weekend…Although, it almost certainly won’t stick…I cannot wait for warm weather!

Great News Headline

CNN was promoting a story coming up about the protests in San Francisco during the torch run over China’s Human Rights issues…The anchor referred to this story as…ready for it??

Bothered by The Bay

…Oh yes he did!! It made me laugh out loud! That has to be one of the most ridiculous headlines I’ve ever heard!

Great Book

I am currently reading the book, Dream When You’re Feeling Blue, by Elizabeth Berg. Can I please recommend this book to you?

Apparently, Elizabeth Berg has written 16 books. How have I not read anything she has written before? If her other work is anything close to as great as this, I have been seriously denied for some time.

Dream When You’re Feeling Blue is about three sisters living in Chicago during WWII. They write letters to their boyfriends, and to boys they meet at USO dances, and go about their daily lives with nearly every aspect of living impacted by the war. One sister joins the ranks of Rosie the Riveter, while one gets pregnant by her fiance while he is home on leave to bury his mother. But they just write and write and write.

Today, I reached a passage from the fiance where he describes D-Day to his fiance back at home. I was nearly crying on the train to work! The book in general is not a sad book. In fact, it makes me think of how I would have liked to live in that time, but that passage–the description of the young boys dead just moments after they hit the beach, or worse, drowning before they even made it to the beach because their gear was so heavy it pulled them under in the deeper water–that passage got me.

The story of the sisters is fascinating, but the way this country pulled together to fight a common, evil enemy is tremendous to read about (I have always loved WWII books). I just wish we had such a powerful common enemy and common goal. I would be so proud to support the war if we were in a situation like that again instead of the contentious war we find ourselves in.

If you have a chance, pick this book up. It is an easy read, and I think, a fascinating one.

Volley–Whaa?

Just a quick note on volleyball…

There is an INDOOR Sand Volleyball bar here!!!
How did I not know this sooner???

I also discovered a MeetUp.org group that gets together just to play volleyball! FUN!

Has Spring, Sprung?

This weekend, we FINALLY got a taste of spring! It was in the 60s all weekend, and you should have seen the shorts that came out! When I lived in Missouri, I was about 10. One of my favorite moments of the year was that first day that it felt like spring. We would throw on our shorts and play outside as though it were 80 degrees.

It was so beautiful. I was infinitely more appreciative of this first warm day than I ever was in Texas. In Texas, it was just a sign of the heat to come. And really, in Texas, 60 degrees never signified a thing. It could be 60 in January!

Ahhh, seasons!! How I missed them!

(And I won’t be mentioning that it will be back in the 40s and 50s this week!)