Kalen's Deck of Many Things

I spent this morning working in the garden.  It's always a learning experience for me, seeing as how I knew next to nothing about gardening or landscaping before we started this project.  I really love it, though.  Getting down and dirty, working with my hands, and just really interacting with God's creation.  Today I was cleaning and weeding.  I had left the gardens to just do what they would over the winter, and I learned a lot just from watching how things are coming back this spring.  The periwinkles have really taken off.  The bed in front of the picture window is full of little purple flowers, and it looks absolutely gorgeous.  The day lilies have also come back with a vengeance, though they haven't put out flowers yet.  I could have pulled the dead leaves in the fall, though, as they are growing back from the roots.  Same for the archangels and the sage, both of which are starting to poke through the mulch.  I think they'll do well again this year.  The front long bed, along the driveway, probably needs some work and new plants this year, since it's still fairly sparse.  I know we had planted something in between the sage, though I can't remember what.  There are some small sprouts at regular intervals, though, so I'll keep an eye on those to see how they come in.

The side bed is interesting.  I cut back the grasses, which Mom and I would like to get rid of.  We'll see what happens with those this year.  The ivy is taking over in some spots.  I'm not sure what to do with the ivy.  It doesn't really look dead, but it doesn't look great either.  I may wind up cutting back some of it later, if only to dig out the dead rose bushes and put in whatever we decide to replace them with.  Stupid late frost last year, killing my pretty roses and daisies.  There's a little patch of clover at the end of the bed that's technically a weed, but it looks so pretty, and it's so hard to pull, that I think I'll leave it alone.

The back bed is, as always, my biggest challenge.  The pinks are still doing really well, and the sage back there is coming back again.  The butterfly bushes are a pain.  I trimmed them back the way I'm supposed to, although a month late.  Honestly, if they don't come back, I'll be just as happy.  They're huge, sprawling, a pain to deadhead, and only pretty for about a week.  A few of the new things are starting to come back, but the soil is really loose, so I'm afraid to do too much pulling around the new growth for fear of pulling out the roots.  None of the orange flowers (the butterfly flowers or whatever the other thing was that's in there) have put up sprouts yet, though I really hope they come back.  They're really pretty.  Something obviously has made a home there, as there was a big new hole and several smaller ones.  Weeds are still the most prolific thing growing on the far side, and the only thing that *doesn't* come up by the roots when I pull on them.  I still think that bed would have been a good candidate for a wildflower garden.  I still have some weeding to do in back, but I needed a break.

I should have another update soon with car stuff and book and movie reviews.  Other things are progressing in a favorable fashion, and will also get an update soon.  I hope to get back to updating at least once a week, so keep checking back and annoy me if I don't!

It's been a lot longer than I meant it to be since I last updated.  Mostly because not much has changed since last time.  I'm still working at the library, still dating Cody, and still waiting to hear about my various grad school and scholarship applications.  But, I did just buy myself a digital camera yesterday.  It's a FujiFilm FinePix S700.  I haven't gotten a chance to really try out all the features yet (hopefully, I'll get to play with it a bit more this weekend at MavenCon), but it seems really cool so far.  It's got a 10x optical zoom, which was my main consideration in buying a camera, and kind of an SLR-look to it, which I like.  I also bought myself a new winter coat and some leather gloves on clearance at Sears on Monday.  The coat was originally $130 and the gloves were $35.  I got both for $17.86 total.  For once, my procrastination pays off!

Today, I got my driver's license renewed.  Fairly painless - there was basically no one in line when I got to the DMV this morning, and the whole trip, including driving there and back, took me about 30 minutes.  The one thing that kind of grated on me was when I was standing at the head of the line waiting to be called, and I saw a guy at one of the counters looking at me, not doing anything.  So I asked if he was ready for me, and he rudely directed me to "get a number".  There was one guy ahead of me at the information desk, arguing with the clerk about what identification he needed.  Luckily, another lady stepped over to the side almost immediately after that and got me my number, after which I was free to go down to another nice lady at the counter (who, upon hearing my weight, said "you don't look it"). 

My birthday is this Sunday, and I'll be playing games at MavenCon and then hanging out with Cody.  I've got a nice, long weekend off from work (I work 9-5 tomorrow, and then I'm off until 5 pm Tuesday).  It feels like I've been 25 for a really long time, with everything that's happened in the past year.  The future is bright, though, and I can't wait to see what's in store for me this year.

So, I've been working at the library for nearly 3 weeks now.  It's an awesome job, and everything I hoped it would be.  The kids are, for the most part, adorable and well-behaved.  We have several regulars that I'm starting to recognize.  My co-workers are the best, and we all work really well together.  In addition to the usual reference work of being on-desk, I'm working on updating and reorganizing our "Series and Sequels" binder.  I'm up to the Ds so far, after about a week.  I'm creating a database so we can easily see which titles we have and which volumes are needed to complete a series.  I also plan to make new pages for the binder once I'm done with the database project, since the current ones are outdated, messy, or both.  Working on this project has also taught me that the names "Alice" and "Arthur" start to look weird after you've typed them for the 15th time.  Strangely, names that do not look weird on repeated entry include "Artemis", "Bailey", and "Cam".  I've also observed a few storytimes in preparation for eventually getting to lead my own.  Apparently, I'm also a big hit with the teens.  I was working with our YA librarian the other day, and she commented that they're usually pretty wary of new staff, but that they took to me right away.  I think it helps that I've worked with teens before, at camp and with the youth group, and I really enjoy being around them.  I'm sure being relatively young and sharing some of their interests is a plus with them as well.

One bad (well, not really) thing about working in the children's department is the temptation of books far below my reading level.  I really do want to challenge myself with my reading a bit more, but I keep hearing the siren call of the ones I can finish in one sitting.  My JF and YA reading wish list has probably tripled, at least, since I started work.  Of course, I've also seen a few books in the adult section that sound interesting.  I think I just need to go browse the stacks tomorrow after my shift. 

Well, I haven't updated in a long time.  This is something I hope to change - I'd like to get back to updating a few times a week, anyway - I just frequently don't feel like I have much of anything to write about.  Things are going pretty well for me, overall.  It's hard to believe that tomorrow is New Year's Eve, but looking back on the year, it seems like 2006 was a long time ago.  With everything that's happened, it's really no wonder, though.  It's had its ups and downs, but overall, it's been a good year.

Cody and I have been dating for a little over 3 months now.  It's hard to believe - it seems like it's been a lot longer and and lot shorter than that at the same time.  He'll be visiting this weekend, and we're going to the Star Wars exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry.  I got the tickets as part of his Christmas present.  Then, I'm planning to go down to Indy the next weekend for the Mavens meeting (and of course, to spend time with Cody).

I've still been babysitting occasionally for Griffin - the two-year-old son of one of Mom's old co-workers.  He's a cutie - he has such a mischievous grin.  Last night, I went over about 6 pm so his parents could have a night out for dinner.  He wasn't too happy to see me at first, but once his mom and dad left, he was fine.  We played with his new train set and a few of his other Christmas presents before bed, and he went to bed surprisingly easily.  He usually lays awake in his crib for an hour or so, just chattering to himself and playing with his toys.  This time, he was silent after about  5-10 minutes.  Then I watched Shrek on TNT until his parents came home.

My latest big news, which a number of you already know about, is my new job!  Barring any problems with my references, I'll be working as a "youth services assistant" (that's children's librarian to most people, though I won't be an actual librarian until I get my master's) at the West Chicago Public Library.  I don't know many details yet, but I'll let you know when I hear from them sometime this week.  I'm really excited about getting this job, though.  It's exactly what I wanted, though I would have taken just about any library job (and a number of non-library jobs, really).  I think starting this job will get 2008 off on the right foot.

All right, back to the updates.

The first weekend in September was Jason and Amanda's wedding.  I had planned to drive down to Normal to pick Kathy up that Thursday, but I was babysitting that evening, and by the time I started out, I was so tired, I knew I'd never make it all the way there.  Instead, she drove up here Friday after a meeting with her coordinating teacher.  Then, the two of us headed up to Detroit (well, more specifically, Ypsilanti, which is closer to Ann Arbor).  We got in around 9ish, but only Rich was there.  The three of us hung out until Mike and Jason got back, and then we watched movies on a projector Jason had borrowed from work.  We wound up watching "Blades of Glory", which I had not seen (and really, had no intention of seeing, but it wound up being pretty good), and "National Treasure", which Jason and I had watched a few years ago, but which Mike hadn't seen yet.

On Saturday morning, we all got ready and caravaned to the site where the wedding was going to be.  It was outside by the lake, and it was beautiful.  The day was perfect for an outside wedding - clear and warm.  The ceremony was nice, if a bit long.  The pastor kept going on about what makes a good marriage, until I think even Danielle got the point.  Afterward, I joined Jason's mom in corralling Danielle and the ring bearer so they wouldn't get their clothes dirty playing on the nearby playground.  Pictures were taken, and then we all headed over to the reception site.  They weren't quite ready for us, though, so we spent a while hanging around outside.  Dinner was good - served buffet-style.   Kathy and I sat with another of Jason's friends, Tom, who I think I may have met once before, and a couple of Amanda's friends who didn't talk much.  After dinner, we spent most of the night on the dance floor.  Danielle had a blast, running around the perimeter of the dance floor and dancing with pretty much everyone there.  Kathy and I mostly danced with each other or in a group with Amanda and her bridesmaids (her sister and best friend), and occasionally Jason, Mike, Rich, and Tom joined us.  When we got tired of dancing, we all hung out at the head table and chatted.  Much later, Kathy and I took Tom back to Jason's house where his car was parked and where we were staying.  The next morning, Kathy and I watched some YouTube videos with Mike and Rich before heading home.

Sunday night, I was chatting with Cody again.  We'd been chatting online pretty much everyday since GenCon, except for one day when I was sick, and of course the two days I was in Michigan.  That night, however, was a little different.  After we'd been talking for a while, Cody said that he had a crush on me, and I had to admit that I had a crush on him too.  I was already planning to go down to Indianapolis a few weeks later for the GenCon Mavens meeting, so he asked if I'd like to go out afterward, and I accepted.  I made plans to stay with John and Rachel, who I'd met while playing Three Dragon Ante at GenCon, and we started planning things to do over the weekend.

September 22nd - Matt's birthday - was the day of the meeting.  I planned to leave home around 7 am so I could make it to Cody's place by  11 Eastern time, but of course I never leave anywhere on time.  I got on the road about 7:30, and wound up getting into Greenwood about noon.  We spent some time talking before heading out to the meeting, which was being held at a park not too far away.  It was nice getting to see everyone again, and we had a good potluck picnic lunch to eat while we attended to business.  After the meeting, Cody took me to see where he worked.  He works for Reebok, and they make some of the shirts and jerseys and such there.  We got to tour the factory floor and see some things being made, which was really cool. 

For dinner, we went back into the city to the Ram.  Although they do a lot of catering to gamers during GenCon, I've actually never been there during the con because it's usually really busy.  It's still a nice place, though.  We talked a lot, and actually had a discussion about D&D characters.  Cody stopped me at one point to confirm that we were, in fact, talking about gaming on a date.  After dinner, we went for a really nice walk around Monument Circle and along the Canal.  It was a gorgeous night, and we spent a while sitting on a bench beside the water and watching the sunset.  We walked back to his car in the twilight and headed over to John and Rachel's house.  There, we watched the Mystery Science Theater 3000 movie - I'd seen the television show, but not the movie.  It was hilarious - I think I laughed through most of the movie.  Then John and Cody performed a bit of Guitar Hero for us, and the four of us played Red Dragon Inn, a tavern-themed card game. 

The next morning, we all went to church together.  It was nice - a different sort of service than I'm used to, but I thought the sermon was good.  We had lunch at Wendy's and went back to John and Rachel's to watch the Colts game.  I finally headed out at 5, but not before discovering that sometime during the weekend, my cell phone, car charger, and CD case had been taken out of my car.  I planned to drive to Urbana to watch the Bears game with Matt and help him move out the next day.  I got most of the way there before realizing that I didn't actually know how to get to the apartment where he was staying, and had no good way of contacting him without my phone.  I drove to Urbana anyway, and attempted to find a pay phone.  Not exactly the easiest thing in the age of cell phones.  I found one at the local Meijer (the one I used to work at, bleh), but it didn't work.  I decided to try driving down the road I thought the apartment was on, and briefly considered stopping at our friends Julie and Lorcan's house to call Matt, but ultimately wound up just heading home.  However, that put me in 2 1/2 hours after everyone was expecting me to have gotten in somewhere.  Mom and Dad were waiting for me in the living room, and Mom told me to call Kathy and Cody so they wouldn't worry anymore.  Ah well, that'll teach me not to just keep my phone on me at all times.

Next time on..... Kalen's blog - adventures in babysitting, and Cody comes to Chicago.

Hey, I promise I'll have a real update soon, but I just had to pass this along.  As many of you know, I regularly read Tomato Nation, a blog by Sarah D. Bunting (Sars), one of the founders of Television Without Pity.  Well, the Tomato Nation fall contest is in full swing, and already, in less than 24 hours, it has raised over $18,000 for Donors Choose, a charity that lets potential donors pick classroom projects to help fund.  So if you like kids, prizes, or philanthropy, check out these links to find out how you can help. 

http://tomatonation.com/?page_id=1625
http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/viewChallenge.html?id=17169

Then, when Sars's appearance in New York City in a tomato costume is sweeping YouTube, you can proudly say that you made it happen.

Um, hi!  *ahem*  I really did mean to update before now.  A lot has been going on, but I guess I should stick with telling things in chronological order.  It all makes a lot more sense that way, anyway.

So, anyway, Thursday of GenCon.  Matt and I had our first game of the day together, so we left the hotel at the same time.  On the way to the convention center, we stopped at a local CVS so Matt could grab a disposable camera.  I was wearing my "wench" outfit, which can get a bit hot, so I pushed up the sleeves to my elbow.   We headed to the board game hall, and had to realize that there were actually two rooms divided by an airwall before finding the table we were supposed to be at.  We were playing the "Order of the Stick" boardgame, with the new expansion known as "The Shortening".  The game, in its original form, can last an extremely long time.  Although I'm not entirely sure exactly how the new rules options make it shorter - we just wound up announcing when the dungeon started collapsing when time was starting to run out.  It was a lot of fun, though.  After the game, I headed over to the tavern for my bag check shift.  This was when the True Arena round that Kathy mentioned on her blog was going on, so I had to occasionally pop over to cheer for Ryan.  I also helped a bit with the second round of True Arena that day, which wound up being a little crazy.  We had it on our tavern schedule for 4 pm, but it was on the GenCon schedule for 5 pm, so we had to do a bit of juggling to make sure that everyone who had signed up got a chance to compete.  I think we managed to make everyone happy, though.

After my shifts, Kathy and I met up with Dad and the boys for our True Dungeon run, where they told us about the 4th edition announcement.  I played the druid, figuring we could use the extra healing, although I don't think I used all of my spells.  Having the druid did come in handy a little on one puzzle (though we didn't exactly figure out the clue I got for us).  More on our run on Dad's blog, but the Plane of Shadow at the end of the adventure was really cool, if a bit claustrophobic.  I just kept my hand on Ryan's back and told him to keep moving.  For those who weren't there, the Plane of Shadow consisted of two fabric/vinyl walls that I think were blown in around us by compressed air as we walked through a tunnel.  It was pitch black - I couldn't even see my arm in front of me.  It was a fun effect, though.  As Dad mentioned, after the run, we went to Houlihan's for a nice, late-ish dinner and a few rousing hands of Fluxx. 

Friday, I didn't have to be to the tavern until early afternoon.  I got up around 9 am and got down to the convention center right as the dealer hall was opening for the day.  I wandered around and ran into a few people I know.  I visited Heidi (Lesimony from the forums, and last year's volunteer coordinator for the tavern) at her booth, and ran into Shawna (Ladyflame, who I had met at a Mavens meeting in April and one of the Wenches who Kathy and I went to St. Louis with in June) just outside the hall.  I also sat for a while in the auction, where they were on one of their war game sections.  I didn't know most of the games they were selling, but it was fun just watching as the prices mounted. 

For my tavern shift, I was on wandering NPC, so I helped out with the True Arena rounds and the Bar Fight, as well as flitting around welcoming patrons and answering questions.  I also wound up helping a lot with the mead distribution for forumites, since I knew what was going on with that.  Later that evening, I got to run Three Dragon Ante, a card game I've played a lot with Dad and the boys, for tavern patrons and in one case, a bunch of other tavern volunteers who were off-duty.  Cody (Shrieking Emu, who I met last year during the Harry Potter LARP Kathy and I did) was scheduled to take over for me, but I was wrapped up in a game when he got there, so we wound up running it together.  I also got to re-meet John (The Science), who I had met last year while in line for the Mythbusters seminar, and met his wife Rachel (Pixilated).   I wore Cody's Very Fine Hat (TM) for a while, which gave me the luck I needed to win several gambits.  We played almost until the tavern closed, and I didn't realize until the next morning that somehow, I had neglected to eat all day...

Until I woke up in the middle of the night feeling very sick.  I'll spare you all the details, but I think it's enough to say that I did not sleep very well.  I wound up skipping my 8 am game on Saturday (the Living Greyhawk special) and slept in for a while.  My tavern shift for the day didn't start until early afternoon again.  I finally got up around 11 am, and realized while attempting to get dressed that there was no one around to help me zip up my dress.  I managed to get it most of the way zipped, put on my backpack to cover the area between my shoulder blades that was still unzipped, and hiked over to the tavern.  Luckily, Kathy was working door at the time, so I got her to finish zipping me up and headed downstairs to Starbucks for a balanced meal of carbs, caffeine, sugar, and fruit (also known as a Caramel Frappacino and a blueberry muffin).  Once again, I was running Three Dragon Ante and working as the wandering NPC.  I also got to help with the True Arena finals, which was a lot of fun.  The competition was very close, and the championship bout came down to the very last few slides.  We had a good crowd gathered for it, which made it all the more exciting.

After the finals were over, I headed out to the Knights of the Dinner Table live reading.  Ryan's strip from last year was read again, though it wasn't as funny without Ryan reading.  Still, good times were had by all.  I may skip next year, though, since it tends to be a lot of the same strips every year.  We'll have to see what other things I decide to do.  Afterward, Ryan, Tony, and I headed out to the GenCon dance.  We got a bit lost on the way there, but finally found the place only an hour after it started.  I ran into Cody and Amber (LarpPrincess) and her husband shortly after we arrived, while we were still looking for a place to ditch our stuff.   For a while, Ryan, Tony, and I kind of just hung out and danced by ourselves on the edge of the dance floor, until I decided to wander around and see who else I knew there.  I found Amy and Gina (Pixie of Death) with some of their friends up by the front, and we wound up joining their group.  We had a blast, even when the speakers gave out for a little while during "Brown-Eyed Girl".  We could still sort of hear the music from the DJ stand upstairs, so we sang along at the top of our lungs.  They got the speakers working again shortly after that, and we danced and killed our eardrums until the very end of the dance.  Ears ringing, we stumbled back to the hotel room and got to bed at around 2 am.

Strangely, I had very little trouble dragging myself out of bed a mere 5 hours later for our 8 am run through the Living Kalamar special.  Our table managed to clear out the first few encounters fairly easily, only to struggle with the final battle.  I wound up being the last character standing, and took out the baddies with some well-timed summoned hippogriffs.  Though I kept forgetting to give them the bonuses they should have had with my various special items and abilities.  Maybe I was a little more tired than I thought.  After that was done, we swung through the dealer hall one last time, and got to meet Feedback, from the first season of "Who Wants to Be a Superhero?"  He was really cool, and a lot of fun to talk to.  Then, we headed over to the True Dungeon Riddle Reveal, where I learned how close (and yet how far) we were on a lot of the puzzles.  A last lunch at Houlihan's, a quick picture in the parking garage, and we were on our way home.  The trip back seemed so much longer than the way there, probably partially because I was stuck in the backseat behind Dad, and my legs were really bugging me.

Well, there hasn't been a whole lot going on since I got home from D.C, except that little thing that comes around every August.  That's right, it's the long-awaited GenCon report (Part One)!

Despite my best intentions, I wound up doing the majority (read: all) of my packing  on Tuesday morning.  I wound up with 5 bags, not including my purse - my overnight bag for staying in the hotel Tuesday night, my medium-sized suitcase with most of my clothes in it, my garment bag with Kathy and my costume dresses, my backpack with gaming stuff, and my messenger bag with my laptop and books to read in the car.  I also had a large box full of games for Wednesday night gaming (more on that in a bit), and some pillows in case the hotel didn't have enough.  Kathy and I loaded up as much as possible in her car and headed out to get some lunch before hitting the road.  Kathy took the first driving shift, and I read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (book 5).  Yeah, I'm still way behind and haven't even started book 7 yet.  Traffic was decent, and we got to the Super 8 we were staying in for the night about 20-30 minutes before Dad and the boys.  We walked over to the Texas Roadhouse (a steak place and/or barbecue joint) for dinner, where I got some really good ribs.

Wednesday, we woke up bright and early after a fairly restless night for me (I never sleep well in hotels, really), and headed the rest of the way into downtown Indy.  We parked at our hotel's garage, but couldn't check in until later that afternoon.  So, we hoofed it down to the Hyatt, where Dad and the boys were going to be judging for pre-GenCon Verbobonc Madness.  Kathy and I hung out at Dad's table for a while, then left to get lunch and head over to the Marriott for True Dungeon set-up.  The dungeon walls had been setup, but since they hadn't been able to get the ballroom until late afternoon on Tuesday (I think), not much else was done.  We helped hang decorations in a couple different rooms (rubber skulls in what I'll later call the floor puzzle room, and fake foliage in two "outdoor" areas leading to the wizard's tower in each of the two dungeons), and I helped set up two nine-foot tall wraith puppets/costumes.  These were really awesome, they went over a volunteer's head and sat on their shoulders with backpack-type hip supports, and the volunteer could then move the arms and possibly walk around.  We also helped get rules and sign-ups for the various games hung up in the tavern. 

Around 5 pm, I walked back over to the car and grabbed my box of games, then went back over to the Hyatt for the Stink, a party for members of the GenCon forums.  I spent most of the time talking to some of my fellow Gamer Wenches (the girl gamer group on the forums), though I wish I'd gone around and met some of the other people I've talked to on the forums and chats.  I did have fun, though - in fact, the reason I didn't make it very far from our Wenches' table was that I was having too much fun talking to people there, and then they started the "stage time" where the different gaming groups got to give a little speech and the awards were presented.  After the Stink, it was time for Wednesday night gaming.  The Wenches' hosted a board games party, which is why I brought the box full of games.  I played "Kill Doctor Lucky" with one of the other Wenches, called MadCity on the forums, and a few other people who had signed up.  Then I ran a game of "Settlers of Catan" for most of the same people.  Meanwhile, other people got some use out of my Order of the Stick board game and my copy of "Cranium".  I watched the game of Cranium after I finished with Settlers and talked with Amy (LibertyDawn on the forums), who had been playing another game.  Then, she helped me carry the box of games back to my hotel (it was really heavy).

Okay, my fingers are getting a little tired from typing right now, so I'll be back tomorrow with the report for Thursday and Friday.

Okay, so here's the rest of the D.C. report.  On Wednesday, we slept in, got packed, and headed over to Union Station for some final souveneir shopping.  We had planned to do that the night before, but hadn't really realized what time it was getting to be while we were eating, and the shops closed at 9.  We headed back to the hotel, got the rest of our stuff, and checked out about 11:30.  We had planned to visit Arlington National Cemetery on our way out of town, but the signs were somewhat confusing and we wound up going back towards the Lincoln Memorial.  I tried to turn around, but wound up on a completely different highway than the one going toward Arlington - luckily, it was the one one which we had come into D.C. in the first place, so I knew how to get on the road from there.  We decided that we'd just have to go back for the 100th anniversary singalong in 5 years for a shorter trip to visit some of the places we missed this time.  :)

We drove for about 6 1/2 hours with stops for lunch and a little souveneir shopping in Pennsylvania.  Kathy had made reservations at a Super 8 in Elyria, Ohio, so we spent the night there.  The next morning, we headed back to Cleveland to check out the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.  It was somewhat interesting, but not something I would pay the fairly hefty admission for more than once.  Lots of costumes and guitars, a little bit of rock and roll history, and a few really interesting pieces revealing bits of the musician's lives (eg John Lennon's high school cartoons making fun of his teachers).  We left there just after 2 pm Eastern time and got home before 7 pm Central. 

We have a ton of pictures from the trip - I'll have to get Kathy to upload them somewhere since I think they're all on her computer at the moment.  My favorite is the picture of Kathy on the steps of the Capitol, pretending to be a bill.

An interesting tidbit - the Pennsylvania turnpike takes I-Pass.  The Indiana and Ohio turnpikes don't have automated payment systems (yet - I've heard IN is working on one), so we had to pay cash there.  However, I did like the travel/service plazas which provide convenient places to get gas and food without having to actually get off the turnpike.

Not a whole lot has been going on since we got home.  I've been trying to get things clean and organized, along with some gardening.  Two of the classes ISU claimed I still needed were finally waived, although I still have to pick up a humanities.  I'm trying to get into an internet class that technically started Monday, otherwise I may have to try commuting or something.  Trying to find a job, too, but no luck on that front yet.  I should take this time to get walking again, especially since I've put on a pound or two since moving home.  More on that later.  Right now it's time for bed.

I've been meaning to update, but I was wiped out pretty much every night we were in D.C., and really haven't been spending much time on my computer since then. I'll pick up from where Kathy left off.

On Monday, we toured the Library of Congress and the Capitol building. We also saw the White House and the Supreme Court, but only from the outside. We walked down to the Capitol at about 9:30 and got tickets for the 1:45 tour. Tickets are free, but have to be picked up at a small building at the bottom of the Hill on the day of the tour. Then, we walked over to the Library of Congress and discovered that it wasn't quite open yet. It was already kind of hot, and the line was in full sun, so we decided to go sit on the steps in the shade until the line started moving. We got in with only a few minutes to go before the 10:30 tours started, so we joined the group waiting. The tour guide pointed out a bunch of stuff I never would have noticed otherwise, and we got to look out over the reading room (you can go inside if you have a reader's card, but I wasn't sure how to accomplish that), so that was pretty cool.

After our tour, we hopped on a subway over to the White House and got a few pictures from the fence overlooking the back lawn (ie, the side you see in most pictures). Then, we headed back to the subway, grabbing a bite to eat from a street vendor (just a snack, but the D.C. street vendors are fairly nice and actually reasonably priced) and stumbling on the "Extra Mile" volunteer memorial pathway, and in particular, the Juliette Gordon Low medallion, which was cool. I had wanted to see it, but wasn't sure exactly where it was. By the time we got back to Capitol Hill, we were just in time to get in line for our tour. Another cool, informational tour. The statuary was particularly interesting - each state has 2 statues on display at all times, in various areas of the building.     They can call back one statue at any time to replace with a new one, assuring that the collection is frequently changing. The main statuary hall is in the original chambers for one of the houses, I can't remember which one right now.  Illinois had one of Frances Willard up in the main statuary hall, the first female statue in the collection, and the second is apparently James Shields, in the Hall of Columns, but our tour guide didn't point that one out. You can see the complete list here, though.

Anyway, after we left the Capitol, we were pretty tired and had planned to just head back to the hotel.  But, we got a bit turned around on our directions and wound up almost right next to the Supreme Court anyway, so we decided to walk over and take some pictures.

On Tuesday, we got a good set of directions and hopped on public transit to the National Cathedral, which involved taking both the subway and a bus.  The tour was pretty good, but I thought the most interesting part was seeing where Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan are interred in one of the small chapels below the main sanctuary.  The Space Window was also cool - it's a stained glass window with a piece of moon rock embedded in the design.  I didn't realize either that the cathedral was only finished in 1994.  There are supposed to be some really cool gargoyles, including a Darth Vader one, but we only saw a few since there was some construction around the building, and we didn't have any binoculars.  So, we caught the bus down to the zoo.  Again, it was pretty hot out, so we didn't plan on staying long.  We saw the panda exhibit, which was really nice, and walked around some of the rest of the grounds, checking out the bird house and grabbing lunch as well as a quick snack of a watermelon-flavored ice thing.  The bird house was really cool - they had an area called the Flight Exhibit, which was completely open with lots of landscaping that the birds could fly around in and you could just sit and let them fly around you.  Not that they got terribly close, but it made for a nice place to take pictures.  We also went to the small mammal house and saw a demonstration where they were attempting to train two howler monkeys (trying to get the male to be less protective of the female when two keepers were in the enclosure).

Later that night, we went to dinner at Union Station at a decent restaurant called America, which served a wide variety of food representing different areas of the country - no Chicago though.  I hypothesized that this was because they had a Pizzeria Uno just across the hall.  Then, we caught a bus down to the Lincoln Memorial, which was all lit up for the night.  We also got a good view out over the reflecting pool of the Washington Monument lit up.  After another slight mix-up over which way to go to catch the bus back, we decided just to walk back to our hotel.  It was about a 2.5 mile walk, which normally wouldn't be too bad, but which felt a lot longer after a full day.

This entry is getting pretty long, and my browser is acting up, so I'll finish this tomorrow.