Oh, that's random.

Our cable guy came to church yesterday. Per Amanda's invite. He walked into Sacrament Meeting with a suit on. He left right after. 

This morning I heard Can't Touch This, by M.C. Hammer circa 1990. It was on FM 100.3, a light station. Took me back. 

Both things put a smile on my face. Both things made me laugh. Both things way random. 

Chicagoans love their....

Before I complete the phrase of this blog's title. Can I discuss my new love? Kirk Hinrich. Why? He plays ball. He's tall. He's not bad looking at all. He helped lead us to become 7th seed.

Okay moving on. Tuesday night my brother, Jonathan, Amanda and I went to the Bulls vs. Pistons game at the United Center. I discovered a Chicago fact. A way of life. A passion, if you will. Chicago people love their McDonald's.

This is the order of things [north] Chicagoans as a whole care about.

1. McDonald's

2. The Cubs

3. The Bull's

I'll explain.

Starting with #3. The Bull's. We love our Bull's. How could we not? Six World Championships. That's nothing to sneeze at. Jordan, Pippen, Rodman, Kukoc....Our elite list of players could go on forever. Currently we have Gordon, Rose, Thomas and of course my new personal favorite Hinrich.

#2 The Cubs. At the game, everyone was either in Bull's or Cub's gear. We north Chicagoans love our Cubs. We don't care if they let us down season after season. We don't care that they are not the best. We just love them for who they are. We love the classic Wrigley Field, laced with its ivy walls. We love singing the 7th inning stretch, Take Me Out to the Ball Game. We love proudly donning a Cubs sticker on the back of our cars. And you know what? This season could very well be the season. I'm just saying.

#3 McDonald's. To preface this one. Let me throw out a few statements that my Kansas roommate has made.

"I have never eaten so much McDonald's in my life as I have these past three months in Chicago."

"There's a McDonald's on every corner in this city!"

"I love Kirk (Hinrich). I really do. I mean it. I LOVE him." (He played for Kansas University. All through the game we were both falling in love with him. Amanda because of the Kansas connection, me just because.)

Okay, so getting to this post's whole thesis. Kirk played a fantastic game. He's the reason we won 99-91. The only reason really.

Every home game McDonald's does this promo that if the Bull's win the game AND break a 100, everyone in the audience gets a free Big Mac. As you can tell from a paragraph ago, we missed that Big Mac by 1 point.

For about five minutes during the fourth quarter, the Bull's only needed 4 points to give us all free Big Macs. The crowd was nuts. Everyone was screaming, "BIG MAC!!!" With just seconds left on the clock, Hinrich took two free throws. The first one swished in. We were going crazy. He takes the second one. It misses. The crowd boos! The Bull's try desperately to rebound, but to no avail. The buzzer buzzes and that's game. The stadium was so angry. Never mind that we won. WE DIDN'T GET OUR FREE BIG MACS!

Hinrich is interviewed immediately after the game for his superb playing, and what does the crowd do for the star of the game. The man of the evening. The one who led us to victory. To 7th seedship. We boo him. All of us. And then immediately after I boo him, I'm embarassed. It's a freaking Big Mac. They cost freaking $3 dollars. I think my freaking ticket was more than freaking $50 with taxes and fees. Plus, I don't even like Big Macs! But by the time I thought about this, the damage had already been done.

Hinrich finished his interview, looks up at his angry fans and says, "I'm sorry!"

It's apparent that he has become acclimated to the Chicago ways. You don't get us our McDonald's - you better apologize! Just kidding, Kirk. Good game. Good game.

Dear Winter, I am so over you

This is how I feel about my life right now. Flying by with everything around me in a blur. Can you believe winter is over? I can't. Am I sad about this? Absolutely not. Am I incredibly stoked for spring and summer? Yes. I went to Sports Authority today to purchase rollerblades. (my friend Gretch and I have big plans to rollerblade often this spring. many, many years ago we were rollerblading fanatics. we miss those days.) As I was contemplating purchase decisions, the picture to the right and the memory of ice skating down at Millennium Park popped into my head. I loved the winter. I really did. I had some great times during it. But, I am extremely grateful the weather is warming up, and that I don't have to drive home from work in the snow, and that I don't have to scrape, shovel, or slip in the ice and snow and that pretty soon I can play outside almost all day long (minus work, boo). Swim, rollerblade, play tennis, a little bit of soccer here and there, go to Cubs games, jog in the early mornings, drive to and from work with my windows down, wear capris, flip-flops, sunbathe, bike by the lake, fireworks, concerts in the park, movies in the park, bbq, the list really is endless. Goodbye winter, I don't think I really will miss you at all these next few months. But, please be sure to come right before Christmas. I'll be really wanting you then.

I heart southwest airlines

I wish I had been on this flight....rapping flight attendant. 

WHAT IS GOING ON IN THE WORLD?????

Mandy Moore is married to a 34 year old. ?

Bristol Palin and her fiancee split. ?

Vince Vaughn is engaged. ?

And I have a private yoga instructor. ?

Correction. My apartment has a private yoga instructor. Otis. That's his real name I put on the check, but he goes by a different name that I can't remember. Yoga is an intense work out. Especially when you have a private instructor. I took a yoga class in college and then one this summer right after my mission. They were always in large group sessions, where I could leisurely go at my own pace. Skip when I wanted. Do my own intensity. Those days are gone. This guy sees everything. Notices everything. Corrects everything. Last night I was all nice and stretched and this morning I was sore. It felt good. Thank you, [Otis]. Namaste.

Why I like heels

It rained today. I wore heels. 

I got strange looks the majority of the day.

It snowed and was icy three weekends ago. I wore my pink Jessica Simpson heels on a date. 

I know he thought I was crazy. 

Here's the thing though. 

With heels, you never have to worry about your jeans getting soaked at the bottom.

Heels can act as ice picks. And because you are taller you can wade through deeper snow piles worry free. 

Yes I have snow boots. 

No I do not have rain boots. I did dream about having rain boots at three o'clock this morning as I heard rain beating on my window. 

But, really? Do I really need rain boots? No. Do I really need snow boots? Only for sledding/snow activities. That's it. 

Don't Get Between a Girl and Her Coldstone

Tonight was the season premiere of Dancing with the Stars. I had to work late. Until 6:30. I got home just as it was coming on. I threw on my workout clothes jumped on our elliptical, and watched couples twirl and spin on TV. I wish I could say I worked up my own sweat. But, that'd be a lie. Truth be told though, a window was open right next to me, so maybe that's the reason?After DWTS and after a great dinner with the roomies, Amanda and I decided we needed a good FHE treat. She had been craving Coldstone for weeks (actually two years, she just got back from Argentina a bit ago, they don't have it there). So, I Googled the closest Coldstone to us, 6.24 miles, and we headed out.

Here's the part where I get angry.

Have you ever been so upset with someone, but all the things that you could say don't come to your mind or mouth until post situation, so instead you're just really nice and get walked all over?

Well, we got to Coldstone on North Ave. downtown, paralleled parked (fabulous job with that p.s. Amanda), and walked the half block to the creamery. Lights were on, people were in line, and THE DOORS WERE LOCKED!!! We were in shock. I was mad that we had travelled 6.24 miles just to turn around. Amanda had been craving it for two years and was losing patience. A nice man in line saw us, and shrugged his shoulders when he saw our faces. The Coldstone worker saw the nice man's shrug, and points to his wrist (mind you there was no watch) and mouths, "We're closed." Now, I must interject here. I had Googled the store, it said it was open until 10:00 p.m. The sign on the door, physically right in front of us said it was open until 10:00 p.m. The current time as the worker was pointing to his naked wrist was 9:31 p.m. We continued to stand there. And then in anger, we called the store. The employee answers, "Coldstone." I say, "Yes. I looked up your store hours on the Internet and it says you're open until 10:00 p.m. The sign at the front of your store says you're open until 10:00 p.m. The current time is 9:32 p.m." He responds, "We're short on employees tonight, so in order to not stay here until 1:00 a.m., I'm closing early."

Now, as soon as I walked away from the situation I thought of the following things to say in reply to his very un-customer service statement.

- Oh? Do you have a hot date?

- Do you know what the current unemployment rate is?

- Sorry to inconvenience you're evening by being a customer.

- What is your manager's phone number?

- Oh? Are you in a hurry to be unemployed?

Instead, I said, "Oh I understand" (because a little bit of me understands that, but my experience working at Target in Guest Service, my high school two-year employment at Hallmark, my four-month waitressing at an Argentine restaurant in college and my current career in PR bending over backwards for customers and clients does not, hence the post anger.)

The employee went on to say, "There's another store down the street. You can go there." My frustration at the moment though did elicit my feminine damsel in distress desire for very specific directions, which I demanded from him and received.

And the whole time we were driving to the other store Amanda and I furiously threw responses to his rude statement back and forth. Our fury allowed us to ask the manager at the other store for the owner's number, and we WILL be calling Coldstone HQ tomorrow.

However, the ice cream was quite delightful. Amanda got Peanut Butter Cup Perfection. I got Cheesecake Fantasy. We picked up Raspberry Sorbet for Ruth.

Great FHE. Good Evening. Terrible Customer Service.

And over 400 people applied for one janitorial position just recently. If we can't have quantity, can we at least get quality?

And now, in closing. Thank you Ruth, for allowing me to listen to your Beattles Love Remix while I wrote this post. It was very calming. Someday maybe we'll go see the cirque de soleil (sp?) show in Vegas together.