Life Goals: The Field Museum

So, since college (or: as long as I can now remember, because college was a long time ago) I've wanted to visit Chicago's Field Museum. Namely, because of the lions on view there, known as the Man-Eaters of Tsavo:

Did you ever see the movie in the 1990's starring Val Kilmer, called "The Ghost in the Darkness?" It was based on this true story. In the late 1890's, two mane-less lions (a kind of species found in some parts of the African bush) killed around 140 local tribesmen who were helping put down lines for a rail road (in a small village in Kenya). The circumstances were so extraordinary that they sparked (reinforced?) all kinds of demonic lore, and many workers refused to take part in the efforts until the lions were killed.

Another intriguing aspect of this true story is that the lions were actively hunting men, who are usually not on their menu. The story, including the very dangerous challenge of finding and killing them, is fascinating. The guy (I want to say a General?) who eventually hunted them down displayed their furs as rugs in his home until he grew old and sold them - along with the lion's skulls - to the Field Museum for the then-whopping sum of $5,000.

This picture includes the actual lion skulls (showing damage from gun shots) and furs, although these lions are smaller than the actual ones.

Anyhoo, for G and me, going to the Field Museum and seeing this exhibit = one of life's goals achieved. It was spectacular.

I would highly recommend any exhibit here, but we focused on the dinosaurs, ancient Egypt, their special China exhibit, and their special ancient Greek exhibit.

A few pics from our day:

Ancient cell phones. (JK - tools)

3D film about the Galapagos

Am currently sitting in the airport working on a paper due tomorrow. Crossing our fingers and hoping we beat the snow storm to Denver. Oh, the fun of flying.

More Chicago adventures to come soon! We heart Chicago!

Chicago!

Hello from the Windy City!

G was here for work and I decided to join him over the weekend. I've never been here before and so far I love it.

For obvious reasons.

Deep dish pizza from Giordanos! I got the first flight out of Denver yesterday (and did two hours of homework on the plane) so I was able to get here and meet up with G and be at the best pizza place in the world by noon. I don't mess around.

As G said, after eating this it's gonna be hard to go back to Papa John's.

We then burned off calories (not really) by meandering to the Willis Tower (formally the Sears Tower) and venturing out above the city.

Literally.

We went out on the glass ledges that extend four feet from the building. We were on the 103rd floor here. It was awesome.

The weather has been fantastic! Sunny and in the mid- to upper-forties! Can't complain about that, what with the coming blizzard that we're going to deal with when (if?) we get back to Denver.

This past week was a doozy for both of us, so when the afternoon rolled around I napped while G watched the Avengers (for the millionth time) in the hotel room. Glorious, glorious hotel naps. The only thing that got me out of bed was the thought of pub food.

We went all out and had hard cider.

Then went to the Palmer House Hilton downtown - home of the original brownie, created in (they told us) 1893. I do believe I will. Consider it historical research. Consider it tasty.

Then it was back to the room for a few hours of grading (sigh) before returning to glorious sleep. Not bad for Day 1! More tomorrow!

TGIF, people!

Photo bomb from the stock show.

Lucy Says Hi!

Just kidding. She doesn't say hi.

Lucy couldn't care less about me or you or this blog.

Life is great for her these days because no one is ever home. She doesn't have to, you know, socialize (read: put up with lovins and kisses on her nose).

Life is pretty crazy for the humans, though.

The good news is that there's really no time to eat. So the 3 pounds I gained over the holidays is slowly coming off.

The bad news is that there's really no time to sleep. And that realllllllly cramps my style.

I've decided that everything - the entirety of my life and all my meaningful endeavors - would be balanced perfectly if (1) I didn't have to grade, and (2) I didn't have to write papers. If I could eliminate those two things but keep everything else, BAM, done.

You interested in helping me out? How about a couple of King Sooper's coupons?

TGIF, people!

That's interesting.

But it is not the book I'm looking for.

Catching Up!

Lordy, what a week. It's 5:30 and I'm in my pj's with a load of laundry in the washer and the latest episode of Real Housewives of Whatever on in the background. But we need to catch up. Let's do this bullet point style.

* BOTH of my classes are great! At the beginning of the semester, I hope and pray for "normal" or "OK" or "fine" or, Lord help me, "not psycho." But my classes are great! I'm sure there will be some issues here and there (that's life) but already they are opening up and coming to see me after class and one student has already visited my office! I can do this.

I try to start the semester off on a stricter note than I eventually maintain. I'm still funny and enthusiastic and jokey, but I run a tight ship at first in the hopes that I won't have big discipline problems later. I try to be like this.

But the students laugh at me (which can be a good thing!) and it makes me feel like I look like this.

*After the chaos of last semester I worked very hard to arrange a day off. And that day is Friday. I'm a genius. Of course the day will usually be full of grading and prepping for class and doing my own reading/writing, but still.

*We had our first date night this week! We went to a real restaurant and paid good money for a good meal. There was wine and cheese and appetizers and desserts. I could get used to this. Even in the middle of a crazy week.

*The date night is a big goal of mine, and speaking of that, I haven't done many other things lately, goal-wise. The first couple of weeks of class are like that. The big goals are rolling along and I'm making progress, but remember the daily goals? One small change each day? Hahahahaha I haven't done that in like 10 days at this point. So, you know, that's gotta start up again soon. Like, tomorrow.

The best alcoholic coffee EVAHHH.

*I've watched two really good movies lately. Put these on your list immediately:

The Martian

The Spy

And that's all I got. I'm going to enjoy this weekend because from next week until May I'll be grading like a mofracker.

The First Day

I survived the first day of class! This week is typically pretty easy and I only have to work part-time at the writing consultant job, but hey, survival is survival. Next week is when it hits the fan.

I stood up in front of 25 students who looked at me like this:

Another sweetie from the Stock Show.

25 more stares like that tomorrow.

So far so good.