Libraries Rule, Bookstores Drool

If you live in Champaign, IL or anyplace somewhat close (namely Urbana) I would highly recommend checking out the brand new Champaign Public Library. As I have perused the shelves of the old library I have watched the new library being built next door and daydreamed about spending time in it one day. Well, that day came. The library opened on January 6th and I was there by January 7th.

"Library Director Marsha Grove predicts that visitors will be amazed by the 122,600-square-foot space, which is three times the size of the building it replaces. 'There’s really no comparison with what we have now,' Grove said. 'We think the public is going to be thrilled and extremely proud when they get a chance to see their new library.'" I was proud of the new library for sure and I just want to spend hours soaking up the atmosphere.

Here are my top 5 favorite things about the new library....

1. Self Checkout everywhere! All you have to do is set your pile of books on this magic pad and the computer knows what you want to check out. What?! That's as cool as the Internet.

2. Seating galore!!! The old library was seriously lacking on a place to sit and read, not this new library. Matt even said he thought there was too much seating. I say impossible!

3. Many conference rooms and study rooms!!! Although I may never use one of these rooms, they looked awesome. I wanted to go sign up for a really hard class at the U of I so I could visit the library and study.

4. More space!!! It was so fun to just wander around the new space and take it all in. The library is huge.

5. It's still free!!! Why buy a new book when you can go to the library and check it out. Look into it people. If you don't have a library card and live in Champaign, I will go with you to the library to get one.

I Love Caucus

Today marks the official beginning of the 2008 Presidential elections for the USA, with the first primary occurring in Iowa for the Republican and Democratic candidates. As I found myself excited about today's events, I did a little reading about the candidates and the outlook for today's primary races. What I stumbled across was this article on how the Iowa Democratic caucus works. How did I not know about this yet (I feel so ignorant)? The caucus format is amazing. People grouped together for what candidate they would vote for! Then they look around and can change their mind! I love it!

The more I thought about it, the more I thought that all primary elections should be done this way and it should be a reality TV show. I mean, how amazing would it be to see the time between the 1st and 2nd votes where candidate support leaders run across the room to try and persuade voters to come to their side? I would totally watch that and I don't like reality TV. I'm starting the campaign now: All Primaries Become Like Iowa Caucuses in 2012!

P.S. Here is another interesting link (video) about the Iowa Democratic caucus.

I Made a Quilt

I just wanted to show off the quilt that I made today for our friends Adam and Erin and their soon to arrive baby. I got a sewing machine for Christmas from my parents and decided that the first thing I want to make was a baby quilt. My mom is an excellent seamstress and has made several things for me including my wedding dress. She taught me how to sew and helped me sew several projects (many of them were extremely challenging and I don't know if I could ever do those types of projects again without my mom's help). But, I have never made a quilt before. So, with some good instructions in hand and confidence in my ability to sew straight seams I started sewing the quilt. It was actually pretty easy but I wasn't always precise enough in my cutting for every square to match up. I didn't cut every square individually but followed some really easy instructions and then just tied it together with yarn to avoid the actual time consuming quilting part.

Merry Christmas!

This is a picture or our house in the snow we got about a week before Christmas. Although it was all melted by Christmas day, it was pretty while it lasted.

Her we are in front of our Christmas tree. The tree is crowded back behind the table and we took the picture with the camera timer so it's not great. But, you get the idea:)

One of the highlights of this Christmas was driving (Matt's dad and brother drove) on some slick and snowy roads in Wisconsin. Matt's parents claimed the weather was the worst it has ever been in the 30 years they've been traveling up there for Christmas.

I hope that everyone had a great Christmas. We had a ton of fun celebrating our first Christmas together. I got to experience my first Christmas in Wisconsin with Matt's extended family, we spent MANY hours in the car, and now I'm trying to figure out where to put all of our presents. (Thanks to our families who gave great gifts and to God who has blessed us with the resources to give.)

Math and Art

Ah....9:50am and I just got out of the shower after getting up 30 min. ago and going to bed 11 hours before that. 11 hours of sleep, yes read it and weep. I am now on Christmas break and plan on enjoying many nights of > 9 hours of sleep. Something happens to me the minute school lets out for Christmas, my body just crashes and wants to sleep and lay on the couch A LOT. Anyway, on to the point of this post. I am going to tell a school story so here it goes....

The last couple of days I have been giving final exams in my classes at school. A few days prior to the final exam I give all of my students a take home final/review that really helps them study for the final. I also stress that this review is worth 10% of the final exam grade, so get it done!!! It is only a completion grade so it is easy to get those points. Most of my students finished and turned the review assignment in, but a few didn't quite get it done. Some of those kids are lazy, going to fail anyway, didn't really need the points to earn the grade they want in my class. But, one of my students who didn't turn in her review is notorious for turning around to get a paper out of her bag and then never looking for it because she forgot what she was doing. So I went and asked her about it while she was working on her final and she said, "I did it, but it is not with me. I have a really good reason, but I don't want to talk to you about it with other students around. I'll talk to you after class."

After class came and up to my desk came the student. This is what she said. "So, I really enjoyed the review assignment. I think it helped me a lot. I did the whole thing and it really helped me a lot. It was great that you gave it to us. But, the thing is I left it at home. I was using it in an art project and I really need it for that." I didn't even know how to respond. I think I just smiled and said, "Have a great Christmas break!"

My Week Of Cilantro

I ramble:

Last week started with a Monday morning trip to the Meijer to get groceries. I was armed with a list created by Anne and a desire to be as efficient as possible. Very soon into my trip at Meijer, I started to look over the grocery list and I realized that efficiency would not be attainable. Here were the items that stumped me:

• Tilapia filets -- there were no fresh filets available, only frozen ones. Is that what Anne wanted? I was pretty sure she said she wanted fresh filets, but there aren't any available.
• Hot pepper sauce -- does this mean a jar of peppers or hot sauce or something in-between?
• Chicken tenders -- this one was frustrating because recently Anne had asked me to get chicken breast tenderloin, so this one had me stumped for a while. Did she want breaded chicken tenders (the frozen kind) or chicken breast tenderloin?
• Cilantro -- what the heck is cilantro? Does it come in a bottle, a bag, or is it in the produce section?

After going through the list and making a tour of the Meijer, I actually found myself stressed out due to my inability to figure out those four items. Seriously, I was experiencing stress. However, I was able to calm myself and make good decisions. And for the record, cilantro is a vegetable that can be found in the produce section.

Well, my week continued and it wasn't a week to be remembered. I wasn't really excited about my job due to a new role that I was given; the weather was turning cold and icy; I found myself becoming lazy in my relationship with God; I weighed myself on our scale at one point in the week and set a career high. All in all, I was ready for the weekend.

My weekend started with a Friday night feast. In celebration of a friend's birthday, Anne and I ventured to a local Mexican restaurant, Dos Reales. I was hungry after a long day and I ordered a meal of chicken tacos with chorizo and rice and beans. After my meal arrived, I noticed an inordinate amount of green stuff on my tacos. It wasn't lettuce, but it still was green so I knew I didn't like it on my taco. Upon closer review, I realized the green substance was none other than cilantro. Apparently, cilantro is a normal addition to the meal I ordered, however I failed to order the tacos without cilantro. Grumpily, I ate my tacos with cilantro scattered all about.

It's amazing how a little vegetable can ruin my week. Cilantro kicked off my Monday with some stressful moments in the Meijer, and ruined my feast on Friday. But the truth is that cilantro didn't ruin my week; I ruined my week by letting the little things in life get to me. Seriously, my life is freakin' awesome. I've got a job that pays me to do things I enjoy (for the most part), I've got a great wife and home, quality friends and family, a solid church, and a God who loves me. But I let cilantro (and other stupid things) ruin my week. The details of life sometimes take the headlines when the priorities sit in the shadows. But it's my fault. And I'm making the choice to not go near cilantro this week. My life's too good for that.

I'm glad I married Matt

This morning I was really glad that I got married. Last night we got about 2-4 inches of snow and the driveway needed to be shoveled so Matt jumped out of bed this morning and shoveled it before I had to leave for school. There are about 3 million other reasons I'm glad to be married to Matt but that one really put me over the top this morning.