Oratorical Animal

Happy To Be In The Neighborhood

So, this is the weekend. On Friday, we worked all day in our "new" office building (Character. It has Character.). In truth, I like the new place a lot--everybody is close by in this single building and I have nice view of the Red Herring. Hung the last picture on the wall and all was good. We got a lot done, ran home to feed the livestock, and then packed up for...

the Kathy Mattea show at the Research Park. We grabbed some Jimmy Johns and chips, a coupla beers, portable, comfy chairs, and got there about 6:30. Lovely outdoor stage. A nice slope (In Champaign-Urbana?) created clear sight lines and we had perfect weather. Roughly 1500 sweet, nice, polite midwesterners and their children and their dogs and their picnic baskets, applauding Ryan Groff's amazing voice and then nearly two hours of Kathy Mattea, featuring songs from her Coal CD as well as her mainstream work. All free. Because, y'know, we live in the C-U.

Followed by Saturday morning at the Farmer's Market--wonderful food, a sweet beagle up for adoption (Sigh), and a certain Chancellor making the rds., shaking the hands. Yard work made us feel very accomplished, followed by fresh grilled chicken (from the Moore Family Farm), fresh sweetcorn from the Market (and it has hit its peak!), fresh broccoli from Finnemurph Farms :), and two very small and extraordinarily tasty strawberries from same farm. Of course, there was the matter of the small back to school shopping trip squezzed into the afternoon. New clothes and Barnes and Noble required.

I like living here.

Flames! Flames Everywhere! Oh the Humanity!

So, the Animal fires up his birthday cake on the same day as Pat Buchanan and k.d. lang. There's an interesting combo at a party.

Minnesota Nice

I knew this way before Matt Yglesias did. It's why I'm here at Corn U. Always nice to have a little scientific confirmation, though.

You Know You're Now Living in Illinois When...

This headline greets you when you wake up: "Does Urbana Courthouse Plaza Need Giant Lincoln Head?" Well, duh. Of course.

Two boys are playing outside of the breakfast cafe. Each has a big John Deere tractor.

You're thinking it sounds like a candidate for the Chicago City Council: O'Biden.

Before the Coffee

I see the NYT headline: "Gates Endorses $20 Billion Bid to Aid Afghans." Ah, I think, it's nice of Bill Gates to help the Afghans. "Bigger Army for Kabul." Wait--Bill Gates is giving them an ARMY?!

Robert Gates. Secretary of Defense. Not even Bill has 20b. Note to self: Get outside of some coffee. Before trying to think.

Thoughts while Unpacking

1. I have a lot of stuff

2. Correction. I have a lot of books.

3. Guys who pack, load, drive, and unpack work so much harder than I do that it frightens me.

4. Rooms that seemed very big now seem too small.

5. Welcome to the neighborhood! We will now tear up your street and replace it.

6. Seriously. I have a lot of books.

7. More stuff should have gone into that dumpster.

8. Everyone in the sixties slept in a double bed and built houses accordingly. Thus, we will soon be the proud owners of split queen box springs.

9. In the South, one must learn the salesperson's entire life history, those of her nearest and dearest, and every purchase takes at least an hour. In the Midwest, one can walk in, buy the boxsprings, and leave in 10 minutes.

10. I'm home. 

American Capitalism

It's amazing. If you call a phone company or a cable company or a newspaper, or whatever for help, you work through a long menu of automated choices. If you call to cancel, they immediately connect you with a very concerned service representative. S/he is quite eager to discuss the matter. Remarkable, that.

Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On

Well, not a whole lot. But I experienced my first earthquake. 5.2 on the Richter scale, which is enough, I discovered, to shake the room and give one a remarkable feeling of helplessness. I'm sure first efforts will supply visual aids. I'm sure blogos will be mad she missed this.

Weathertime

I love NPR. And, as the big move to Corn U comes ever closer, I'm realizing that my public radio experience is going to change. I'm looking forward to WILL; it seems like a great station and we'll continue to support it. But I have to say--moving back to the corn and soybean belt reminds me of a fundamental midwestern truth: weather rules.

In Dawgland, we get a brief ten second update at the top and bottom of the hour on Morning edition. Ohhhhh, no. That is unacceptable at Corn U. There is weather at the top and bottom of each hour. There is weather in between. There is weather for the CU. There is weather for the state. There is weather for the farmers. There is weather for the farmers in Argentina and Brazil (I'm going to know a LOT about South American weather). There is a call in weather show every Friday morning. You call, give Eeyore the weatherman your destination for the weekend or the next week, and he'll explain just what version of the Apocalypse you can expect in, say, Fort Wayne, IN or Oshkosh WI ("Ohhhh, I don't know about goin that direction. It's gonna snow. It's really gonna snow. Expect 5-500 inches. Be caaaareful.")

In Corn Country, Weather rules.  Welcome back home, John.

Mmmmmmm

Yep, this is exactly true and Ezra is right as well. The immediate happiness jolt from even one chocolate chip cookie, especially if fresh out of the oven, is beyond measurement.